Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Miss Landmine in Angola: demonstrating the heart and soul of beauty pageants

Posted on April 2, 2008June 13, 2014 by cheryl

Miss Cuando Cubango, Generosa Cassinda, 30 years old with two children, a contestant in this year’s Miss Landmine Survivor, Angola.

A world event of sorts is today held in the capital of the war torn country of Angola. The initiative to hold a beauty pageant for land mine victims in Angola, was taken by Norwegian artist Morten Traavik who whilst visiting Angola noticed two things – the abundance of one legged and crippled people about and the population’s great interest in beauty pageants. Continue reading “Miss Landmine in Angola: demonstrating the heart and soul of beauty pageants” →

Fat common sense

Posted on April 2, 2008June 14, 2013 by cheryl

In today’s Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet Dr. Annika Dahlqvist, who has her own blog on eating healthy argues in an open letter that children are stumped in their growth and intelligence development by a lack of natural fats in their diet. The Swedish public food authority Livsmedelsverket, retaliates on her standpoint, saying that Dahlqvist has no scientific grounds making such claims. Dahlqvist naturally retaliates right back and will do so on national live television later today.

The general standpoint that natural fats are good for the body and in fact help maintain weight, is a continuation of a more and more pronounced public opinion in Sweden, that questions the goodness of low fat products and a low fat diet.
Continue reading “Fat common sense” →

Clean lines that seduce, with Nicole Miller

Posted on April 1, 2008June 13, 2013 by cheryl

Nicole Miller wedding dress in Princess silhouette from her Bridal Collection

Time must be passing fast for all summer brides-to-be with the onset of spring. One of my American favourite designers for dresses in general is Nicole Miller, who has a fairly comprehensive collection that encompasses a gamut of occasions, including Nicole Miller Signature (red carpet looks), Nicole Miller Collection RTW, Nicole Miller Studio (everyday sportswear), a Bridal Collection and popular bridesmaids line. Nicole Miller also does bags, shoes and accessories to match that perfect dress. Continue reading “Clean lines that seduce, with Nicole Miller” →

Gianmarco Lorenzi – Wicked!

Posted on March 29, 2008June 14, 2013 by cheryl

Satin embroidered heels by Gianmarco Lorenzi

In line with the drive for RED this spring, I couldn’t help but notice these wicked Italian made, 11 cm stilettos by Gianmarco Lorenzi. One of my favourites for shoes, Gianmarco Lorenzi whose philosophy is always sexy, feminine and border pushing on fetish, is infamous for 12 – 14 cm heels even in their autumn / winter collections. Continue reading “Gianmarco Lorenzi – Wicked!” →

The Fabergé Coronation Egg, 1897

Posted on March 22, 2008April 18, 2014 by cheryl

The Coronation Egg, by Karl Fabergé, 1897

As a child, I remember having loads of fun painting Easter eggs. This activity was often followed by Easter egg hunts in the school gardens.

This Easter, I have on my mind a different kind of egg, one that is a little more luxurious and most impossible to find at an Easter egg hunt – the Fabergé Coronation Egg from 1897, which is one of my favourites of the 56 produced by Fabergé from 1885 to 1917.
Continue reading “The Fabergé Coronation Egg, 1897” →

Easter weather

Posted on March 21, 2008October 11, 2014 by cheryl

Photo: Jan-Erik Nilsson
A bouncy yellow despite the cold

It’s a snowy Easter for Sweden this year. A picture here of our poor Easter Lilies battling the snow in our garden. Stubborn resilience.

The editors of Göteborgs Posten loved the picture so much that they had it published in GP – Vårtecken on 22 March 2008 with JE’s corresponding caption

Vart tog våren vägen? frågar våra småpåskliljor som såg så hoppfulla ut så sent som i går

“Where did the Spring go?” asked our small Easter Lilies, bright and hopeful as recent as the day before.

Feng Shui vogue for 2008

Posted on March 19, 2008June 29, 2025 by cheryl

White smocked cotton voile blouse with accents of red roses
Red tulip shorts, Patrizia Pepe
Limited edition Luella Gisele bag by Luella Bartley, in tangerine
C-buckle peep toe shoes with wooden stacked heels, Chloé
Seashell ear hoops in a golden hue

I’ve always been aware that colours, when it comes to wardrobe, can correlate to a person’s mood on a day to day basis. And in a broader influence, surrounding colours can lift moods or make people depressed. An individual’s personality can also be described in terms of colour. Most would understand the sentence, Meeting Alex changed her life, where she was a walking shade of grey before, she is today a myriad of pinks, greens and vermillion!
Continue reading “Feng Shui vogue for 2008” →

Geisha and Japanese architecture on the runways

Posted on March 15, 2008June 14, 2013 by cheryl

Louis Vuitton skyscraper structural shoes, Fall 2008, RTW. Photo: Matteo Volta.

Sarah Mower’s words, “…otherwise it’s lumpy going” about Louis Vuitton’s Fall RTW 2008 collection, echoed in my head when I perused the shoes that Marc Jacobs had come up with for the runway show. One can always trust Marc Jacobs to be on the innovative front and I mostly celebrate crazy innovative, but here I could mostly only gawk in flabbergast at this runway collection of shoes.

For one thing, I thought lower heeled shoes were the way to go, after previous seasons of skyscraper platforms such as YSL’s Tribute, Louboutin’s Declic and most of Gianmarco Lorenzi’s super platform boots / shoes with 14 cm heels. I was wrong. Continue reading “Geisha and Japanese architecture on the runways” →

The evolutionizing concept of luxury goods

Posted on March 13, 2008June 29, 2025 by cheryl

Scarlett Johansson for Louis Vuitton, featuring the That’s Love collection of bags

The definitions of luxury

Luxury is an extensive concept which connects with extravagance, prestige and elitism (Dubois and Czellar, 2002). Some standard dictionary definitions of luxury could include:

Something inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort.
Something expensive or hard to obtain.
Sumptuous living or surroundings: lives in luxury.

One could see how the above three definitions found in the American Heritage Dictionary, are intertwined and difficult to separate. A very broad definition of what is luxury, from Coco Chanel reflects this interlacing of definitions to form a concept of luxury: “Luxury is a necessity that begins when necessity ends” (Gradvall, 2007). Continue reading “The evolutionizing concept of luxury goods” →

Louis Vuitton Monogram Vernis Porte-Trésor International wallet

Posted on March 11, 2008May 17, 2014 by cheryl

The Louis Vuitton Monogram Vernis line, developed in 1998 by Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton began with several baby soft colours, one of which was the coveted Marshmallow Pink as you see in the above pictures of the Porte-Trésor International wallet. Other soft pastels included a lavender, a light yellow and a neutral pearly beige, which is just a tad lighter in shade than the noisette (a sort of latte) colour launched in just about 2006/7. Continue reading “Louis Vuitton Monogram Vernis Porte-Trésor International wallet” →