My top 10 fashion brands: Free people.

When I still lived in NYC, Free People store was one of those I visited on a regular, if nothing else at least to window shop and get styling inspirations. Pieces I find myself buying most often are turquoise silver jewelry, vegan leather pants, shorts, dresses and jackets as well as tights and leggings, thermal shirts and maxi cotton dresses. Last time I checked out the page there were also a couple of cute pairs of shoes.

Since some of the top 10 fashion brands which I adore (i.e. Rugby RL) do not deliver to Croatia yet (unless I ask some of my friends who still work there to buy it and ship it to me) I was thrilled to find out that Free People actually do! The shipping cost is not bad at all, especially if you order more pieces at a time.

Here are some of my favorite pieces and looks.

I would totally recommend to every city girl to check out Free People collections, cause at first I thought of the brand as being a bit to hippy for my personal taste but after buying couple of little things I kept coming back.

Although my personal style is somewhere in between Audrey Hepburn and rocker-chic, or to be quite honest totally bipolar at times, I tend to find bunch of fashion forward pieces of a good quality, quite comfortable and fairly priced here.

While many things I buy when discounted mostly due to cost of shipping and most of the times they do have my size left at seasons end.

You can check out more of their stuff on Facebook & follow them via Twitter for news.

January collection video:

All photos and a video are property of Free People.

5 Fashion tips for vertically gifted men

Since I am quite tall (six-two) and my boyfriend is also very tall I have a compassion and emotional reason why I have investigated, experienced and put together what I learned about where to find, how and where to look for and how to go about finding appropriate and right fitting clothing for tall men (meaning: above six feet tall).

Challenges most tall man experience are finding pants that are not too short, shirts which are not too tight or too short in the waist, shoes of appropriate size as well as the right size dress clothing... in order not to keep walking around in sportswear all of the time.

Most common mistake tall man do is that they just buy the biggest sizes of everything and don’t try stuff on in the store before buying them.

So, here are some of the things I have learned:

1. Have confidence in your look.

Being tall is gorgeous and attractive. Statistics show that tall people have better chances of getting  a job then the shorter people, they are better paid and girls prefer tall man as they look more protective and stronger J So, accept the fact that you are tall, be confident, don’t slouch, stand proud and tall and put some effort into your look and into choice of your clothing.

2. Custom order key pieces.

By key pieces I mean basics in your closet which never go out of style. These are investment pieces in which you should invest some money in and which you can wear many, many times so they will definitely pay themselves of if we look at the price per wear ratio.

Put some time into finding a good tailor who will measure you and custom make your key pieces according to your body size and type. This way you will get some key pieces you can always turn to like:

- Black wool suite for winter

- Black silk or satin suite for summer 

- White & black dress shirts

- Black woolen winter coat

3. Don’t go over the top.

Ok, so, you are tall. You WILL get noticed, so don’t go over the top with mixing too many colors and prints. If you are wearing a suite, don’t be afraid of wearing a more fitted, solid color dark one and choose an interesting tie as a trendy detail.

4. Know tall people friendly casual wear brands 
(and remember or write down your size in each brand as these my vary)

According to my boyfriends experience and my research, bellow are some of the brands that have appropriate sizes of jeans, t-shirts and sweaters for tall muscular and long and lanky built men :


- JeansShop in NY– jeans
- John Varvatos – pants, shirts, suites, shoes
- Ralph Lauren – shirts, pants, belts
- G-star  Raw / G-star on Asos.com– T-shirts, jeans and sweaters
- Diesel– jeans
- Mustang- jeans
- Review – jackets, scarves
- Converse – t-shirts
- True Religion

5. Invest in comfortable shoes.

It is so very important to choose a comfortable, right size shoes if you are tall. Especially if you are an athlete and you workout every single day and carry some old injuries around – in this case choice of the footwear is crucial!

Here are some multi brand sites holding cool shoes of big sizes.


- Big Shoes
- Oddball
- Bigman
- Mr. Porter
- Large Feet

“So long and lanky, my suit it should thank me.” 

Jay Z

Pink paparazzi in Madrid.

Since I got a small pink Fuji film camera for Christmas from my boyfriend to always wear in my purse, I took the opportunity to try it out during our afternoon walk around Madrid.  I am totally in love with this small but mighty camera! I don’t have to be careful and look after my big pro camera every single minute cause this one actually fits in every single purse I have J

We used the sunny afternoon to visit some of the Madrid’s best vintage stores and shops like: El Corte Ingles, vintage stores like Lotta, Holala and Templo de Susu where I got the amazing purse, vintage frames and a sweater which you can see bellow on my boyfriend and on its own. We also had some great Rose wine, bought some sexy shower curtains and had some delicious food.

Kisses from Madrid!

Fashion designer crush: Juan Vidal

Spending a lot of time in Madrid Spain lately, I became curious about Spanish fashion and local 

designers. This time I decided to feature one I found particularly interesting.

The son, grandson and great-grandson of tailors while his mother held a boutique, Juan Vidal has grown up surrounded by fabric and patterns. After a childhood defined by fashion, his career choice came as no surprise and he was soon to become one of the exponents of new design from Valencia, on Spain’s east coast.

His talent became obvious at an early age and he produced his first designs when he was just 15. Later, he would begin his Fine Art studies at the University of Barcelona, UB, only to change his mind after the first cycle and transfer to a specialist fashion course at the Felicidad Duce School of Design and Fashion.

In September 2005 Juan participated in Barcelona’s ModaFAD, where he won the Best Collection award. The following year, he presented his first professional collection at Bread & Butter Barcelona and Pasarela Barcelona (July 2006), and went on to reap success at the Pasarela Barcelona, Gaudí Novias, Barcelona Bridal Week, Ego Cibeles, South Cádiz and Valencia Fashion Week.

In 2009, he won Revlon’s Best Collection Award and in 2010, the Tendencias Moda Designer of the Year award before going on to win Peronda’s Best Collection awards for his Autumn-Winter 2011 and Spring-Summer 2012 collections in 2011.

With his participation in the International Zip Zone Paris fairin October, where he received an excellent response from international buyers, 2011 has proven to be a key year for the designer’s entry into the international arena.

His artistic training is evident in his use of colour, as well as in his clearly architectural perception of volume. It is also imprinted on his use of fabrics, to which he adds his personal touch in the form of exquisite embroidery, appliqués and other expert techniques. 

Juan Vidal’s creations are designed with a very chic, sensitive woman in mind; one who, while looking towards the future is familiar with classic cultural references and knows how to appreciate detail.

Here you can see the photos from Juan Vidal's Spring 2012. Collection.

Photo and text source: http://www.fashionfromspain.com

How do you like Vidal's work lovelies?

My top 10 fashion brands: HAKEI

While I was doing a winter closet clean up I realized that most of my clothes comes from a several fashion brands which I have remained loyal to through the years, these are mostly mid to high tier brands, some of which I buy my closet staples from, for which I don’t mind paying higher price for, while others I visit to buy seasonal trendy items.

  Through a series of short posts I will introduce you to my favorite brands which have proven to be of a great quality providing a great price per wear value for me and you might also find something for you there or if nothing else maybe just a creative style inspiration.

I have discovered this amazing Spanish casual wear brand when I started coming to Madrid more frequently to visit my boyfriend. One of the Hakei stores is close to his house, this is where I bought those amazing black biker boots bellow.

Here you can find wider selection of Hakei shoes.

Other then great quality leather and wollen accessories with simple but chic details as braided leather straps and mini metal scull heads on purses, I adore Hakei boots, blazers, jewelry and scarves. Hakei has stores all around Spain but has also opened a store in Paris recently.

Bellow you can see the video from the shooting of the latest Hakei collection advertorial for AW 2011/12. Hopefully you like some of Hakei offering as much as I do :) Trust me, its worth every cent! :)

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