Hungary for more…

Couldn’t resist the pun. So anyway, here we have the cover of the July issue of Hungarian Glamour, featuring Hungarian model Eniko Mihalik, and I love it! Ever so Eastern European and fairytale-like. She reminds me of a queen in a Brothers Grim fairytale. Those of you who’ve read my blog before may know that I do love fairytale-like models and folklore-inspired editorials.

You might remember Eniko’s  kitten-like face from H&M’s A/W 2009 campaign.

But I prefer her in the cover shoot, where there’s something more regal and mature about her.

The clothes that Eniko wears are by Hungarian designer, Renata Gyöngyösi, and check out those opulent sleeves! Without sounding too much like a camp fashion stereotype and gushing all over the place, I LOVE the use of studs and how they modernise and toughen everything up here – so it’s not entirely a carbon copy of an outfit from a BBC period drama.

Renata Gyöngyösi’s SS 11 collection at Budapest Fashion Week. Images via fashioninquisitive.com and pestiside.hu

What’s more, Renata seems to be one step ahead with her S/S 2011 collection, which kind of draws parallels with the A/W 11 royal and revolution trend seen in Vivienne Westwood and PPQ. So hopefully this means she won’t be one of those designers to fade into the distance.

Vintage appeal: Atelier Mayer shows off its treasures

Recently, I was lucky enough to attend an Atelier Mayer event, hosted by AM director Carmen Haid, in the beautiful Notting Hill home of her close friend. This was one swanky town-house complete with grand piano [being played, I might add] chandeliers, a glass mezzanine overlooking an uber-modern kitchen… You’d think that the products would be in danger of being completely overshadowed [I for one, was pretty bowled over by all this before I even got to the clothes…]…. but then, you get to the clothes.

There’s the grand piano

The event was simply a way of showing items off, as you can’t always grasp their full allure via the website, and so here, everyone got to touch, try on and buy – except me, who just touched, tried on and put back on the rail. (With prices starting at around £400, I resigned myself to sticking with Topshop).

The ground floor housed rails of vintage clothing from an 80s Chloe blazer to a 50s Chanel skirt and sparkly 20s numbers in between. Some of the items were incredible!  Ma fave was the one bearing all white, bridal-esque dresses… It’s important to remember that this wasn’t long after the Royal Wedding and I was still, like, mourning it. I still am. (KM till I die!)

Downstairs housed a marble worktop strewn with what looked like the contents of a pirate’s treasure chest. Welcome to Atelier Mayer accessories.

Then there were the bags….

… And check out the cute little Atelier Mayer bags and roses adorning the front of the house! It’s the AM version of party balloons on the front door.

Chanel Mobile Art

Once upon a time, in 2007, Karl Lagerfeld commissioned a Chanel exhibition centred around that bag. The exhibition proved the iconic ‘2.55’ quilted Chanel bag to not only be a hit with fashionistas and celebrities, but apparently artists too.  20 of them – international, contemporary artists that is – were so inspired by the bag that they were selected to have their unique visions showcased in the exhibition. Now, this wasn’t just any old exhibition, it was one that managed to be displayed in the same exhibition space no matter what country it was in… What? Is this a  some kind of riddle or some wild feat of Derren Brown?  Oh no, it is simply a giant collapsible container, being used as an exhibition space. And by collapsible container, I mean, after each stint in a country it is literally dismantled and shipped to it’s next port of call.

Iraqi born British architect, Zaha Hadid is the brains behind this futuristic and spaceship-like creation. What I love most about the project is not the container itself, nor the Chanel exhibition inside it (although that does sound amazing), but the fact that the exhibition and its container are not mutually exclusive, rather the two together are a work of art.

Above pictures show some of the pieces inside the Chanel exhibition

It has toured the globe for 4 years as one giant metaphor for the way fashion spreads throughout the world, and after visiting Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York, the Contemporary Art Container has come to rest in Paris outside the doors of the the Arab World Institute. Karl has kindly donated the container to the institute who have now inaugurated a new exhibition – ‘Une Architecture’ that celebrates the work of its designer, Zaha, through a series of models, prototypes, sculptures, paintings and projections. The container will be in Paris until October 30th this year.

Karl and Zaha at the launch of the Chanel exhibition

Imagination: “What you’d expect Neverland to smell like…”

Went along to the launch of Imagination, the new fragrance by Disney, at the new Oxford Street Disney Store last week. Being a self-confessed Disney fan myself (I’m talking old Disney though – Mickey Mouse, Princess Aurora and all that), it was a magical evening for me. Not only have they launched a fragrance range but they have a whole new store with a whollllle neeewww wuurrrlddd within it.

The new concept store made me want to be a child again. At risk of sounding like an Old Mother Hubbard – kids do not know they’re born these days! Visitors have a host of activities to keep them occupied (as if the floor to ceiling high shelves of Woody and Buzz weren’t enough) including interactive magic mirrors and trees.

The Magic (interactive) Tree…

The Magic Mirror – Waving one of the princess wands in front of it will conjure up one of four well-known Disney princesses

And the fragrance range Imagination is just as charming as the new store. Consisting of 4 products; a home candle, room spray, hand and body lotion and hand wash, it is meant to evoke the scent of an enchanted forest – natural, leafy and fresh. Before I knew this, I genuinely remarked that it reminded me of woodland, so a clever little thing it is! I am told that the top notes are; leaves, wild mint and crystallised white sap, the middle notes; apple skin, watermelon, pine and green ivy and the base notes; vetiver, bark, cedar and moss.

I might also add that their other debut fragrance, Wonder, is AMAZING. Anyone that likes babies or marshmallows will love this!  This one is meant to evoke that scrummy new born baby smell that we all love and actually, it really does. They are very good at making things smell accurate, I’ll say that.

Wonder – yumsies

Next, they plan to bring out 4 new ‘tween’ fragrances entitled; Magic, Pixie Dust, Imagination Winter and A Princess Wish. Oh to be 11 again! I would’ve killed to have just owned something called ‘Pixie Dust’.