My Pick from LFW

Eley Kishimoto

Issa London

Amy ~ Emma ~ Eva

GULUDO BEACH LODGE is the eco camp where my husband and I spent an intense but inspirational week. Made of a number of adobe and tented bandas lined up on the beach and overlooking the Indian Ocean, it has been built using local craftsmen and traditional techniques and materials. Everything in Guludo Beach Lodge is ecologically proofed, perfectly blended with the seascape and ethically ran. So, no electricity, but only recycled paper, compost toilet, and locally sourced food, organically prepared. The owners, Amy and Neil, a young couple from the UK, have not only managed to coherently adhere to a responsible tourism, but they actually use tourism to relieve poverty in the full respect and admiration of the country's traditions. It is ths anthropological approach and the authenticity of their intentions that deeply impressed me. As well as employing a staff of 50 Mozambicans, they support the local tradesmen and their produce, and give a big slice of the revenue (namely, close to 10%!) to their foundation NEMA. Nema has been helping 12 communities in Northern Mozambique, approximately 15,000 people, addressing five main areas: health, water, education, enterprise and environment. Some of the achievements so far are:
- Feeding 550 children one nutritious school meal every day
- Providing clean water for over 12,000 people from 29 water points.
- Providing over 4,400 mosquito nets to mothers of young children.
- Currently fund 79 Secondary School Scholars. They are also building a school and a craft shop in Guludo village which I visited during my stay. The craft shop is financed by the personal savings of Emma, the chef. And the school's work is project-managed by Eva, the operational manager of Nema. These three young ladies, three English roses with an admirable inner strength, have become my 2009 inspirations! Before I tell you all about my fantastic experience with Amy, Emma, Eva and the children of Guludo, please watch this informative video which shows the difference Amy & Co. are making to this slice of the world.

MOZAMBIQUE

Some beautiful portraits from the last part of my African honeymoon:

"A travel always starts with a departure, ends with an arrival and carries on with a tale..."

Diamantini & Domeniconi

Diamantini & Domeniconi's clocks, my friend's family creations, are cutting edge design pieces, functional and decorative at once.

The revisited cuckoo clock becomes bi-dimensional, and its jagged shape and grainy wood mimic so aptly the natural world that you can almost single out reindeer, snow flakes, open forests and Norwegian fjords on it? The peeking bird could not find a better nest!

The butterfly clock is my second pick from the collection. I just love how these colourful butterflies, forged from the clock, come to life and take off to fly free in the sky. [The rhyme was totally unintentional.]

Butterfly Round

The irony and playfulness of these models simply inject a dart of good mood in me:

Uomino Wall Showtime

I love the name (Forget Me Not) and symbolism of this post-it clock. It is a great gift for your beloved.

Non ti Scordar di Me

They are creative accessories which can also be creatively arranged in your house:

Check out more incredibly original models on their super-sleek website: www.diamantinidomeniconi.it

How many bottles to make a handbag?

Matt & Nat

These bags are very special, not only for their stylish, roomy and funky look, but also for their material: they are made of recycled plastic bottles! I touched them with my own hands and can report and guarantee they are manufactured to the highest standards! The story behind:

"MATT & NAT’s 21 water bottle initiative has further stepped up our commitment to social responsibility and to the environment; all linings are made from recycled plastic water bottles. A message inside of each bag will let you know exactly how many bottles were recycled to produce your accessory.

For the Fall 2009 collection, there is one men’s collection (FEUTRE) and one women’s collection (SUEDE) where the shell is also made using recycled plastic water bottles—up to 55 for certain styles.

In 1991, Co-owner and Creative Director Inder Bedi was challenged by a mahatma to go vegetarian for thirty days. It was during this time that Inder devised the business plan for an eco/vegan fashion house. First written as a university project in 1995 and eventually launched as MATT & NAT.

By combining cutting edge fashion and social responsibility, a balance of opposites emerges, representing the duality of MATT & NAT's soul."

You could argue that using recycled material for a design product is not the solution to the global warming as the production chain, involving transportation etc., still contributes to carbon emissions, but I think that this initiative (quality & attractive product + ethical materials) contributes to a cultural shift in people's receptiveness to the environment issue. Endless models and colours are available on their website and are currently sold for half price! I will soon get one, but the choice is overwhelming!

Yesterday my caring husband brought home a leaflet about a new macrobiotic cafe in Primrose Hill. Joy! I used to go to the macrobiotic restaurant in my uni city and was so pleased to discover that a branch also opened in my parents' holiday town. I ate there with them in August, and we all enjoyed the quality and simplicity of the well balanced dishes. I explicitly observed that this was a big gap in the UK market and it would be far more popular in avan-garde London than it is in traditional Italy. They couldn't find a better spot than the hippie-chic community of Primrose Hill, a few feet away from one of the most popular yoga centres in town. The idea of macrobiotic cuisine is to reach an equilibrium between the yin and the yang. Some people may find it a bit tasteless, as it was initially developed as a curative nutritional regime, but it has now been developed into a preventive cuisine. "Yang is the initiating impulse, which divides and delineates; yin is the responsive impulse, which nurtures and reunites. Without yang nothing would come into being; without yin all that comes into being would die. yang is mental activity in its forceful aspect, yin the imaginative and poetic, exalting the merely mental to the beautiful. yang goes ahead with things, yin contains things within herself and knows their nature without effort. yang does, yin is. Yang in his givingness bestows the gifts; yin in her being receives, preserves, enhances, and redistributes them. Yang constructs, yin instructs; yang implements, yin complements; yang is strength, yin endurance; yang is knowledge, yin the mystery that reveals itself and becomes knowledge. yang is the discoverer, yin lures toward greater discovery. Yang is the self-developer, inspired by yin, the self dedicator, for her development and his dedication. Yang is the lover, and yin is therefore beloved; yin is the beloved and the source of love. Yang is will and yin is wisdom, and one without the other is neither, and together they are joy. Yang is as the day, turning into night, and yin the night preceding the day; the one is the force that drives the waves of the ocean forward, the other the force that draws them back so that they may go forward again." "Twin Souls," by Patricia Joudry and Maurie D. Pressman

So, if the saying "we are what we eat is true", all of us should try a bit of macrobiotic delicacies to strengthen the yin in us...

by Stylist Amicacarmilla

I had fun at creating these styles on Looklet... Fun application!

Vera rocks also on the Pret-a-Porter catwalk

These Vera Wang dresses are to die for. Note the tailoring, the colours, the prints, the precious decorations, the effortlessness...

VOGUE NIGHT @ LIBERTY

A the Vogue Night event, in simultaneity with other fashion cities, photos from the Vogue Night @ Liberty. I didn't stay long as I was in company of hungry bunnies, so we ended up in a sushi bar and missed Vogue Fashion Editor, but it was still worth the visit as I met her and him.

Liberty's First Floor

Vlad Kaltenieks & Yasmin Sewell

Yasmin Sewell

Richard Nicoll

I could skip this embarrassment, but I think it is a quite funny incident marking my catastrophic début into the world of fashion. This was the first fashion event I ever attended. Me: Oh nice, is this your first collection? Richard: Ehmmm, no, it is actually my 10th collection. Put here an evil look from Vlad. Oh Dear... But Richard was a gentleman. He shyly admitted to be still relatively unknown. Relatively unknown with clothes stocked in Liberty and Brown Fashion? It may be the fantastic work of Yasmin, but he is actually a *habitue* of London Fashion Week, as I then realised. The irony is that, when I googled him, I soon recognised clothes from his past collection which influenced the colour-blocking trend of last year. At the time, I even seriously considered buying this dress, but clearly didn't. I would have remembered his name as I know all the makes of the clothes I own...

DIY Mini-Project ~ Before and After

Here my Hotel Chelsea inspired bathroom!

BEFORE

AFTER

Me, back

A brief message to announce my coming-back with a scary backlog of duties, ideas, chores, nuisances. Sardinia was great and will be posting photos soon. Apart from a short absence next weekend when I will be in Paris to intimately celebrate my belated birthday with my husband, I will be resuming my posting as I am in need of retreating into my domestic bliss to gather my thoughts and enjoy some retrospective moments. Thank-you for keeping up with me and my blog...