Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Fly me to the moon.

   The moon is always an inspiration, full moon, half moon, red moon...moon reflects sunlight, also reflects people's imagination. Like this time,The theme of Patrizia Pepe 2012 FW RTW show was  " Breakfast on the moon". As usual, Patrizia Pepe keep the glamour and  feminine style, also inspired by the moon fantasy legends, presented a futuristic, classic and modern chic show. Urban elegant young
ladys travel from moon to the earth, future to the present. "Retro luxury" with shiny elements, great material, neutral cut style and feminine decorative details, combine with traditional technicals and futuristic avant-garde ideas together. The whole show presented as if walking on the moon with a charming and a light way. Also, the other impressive thing was the lovely sequins in the end of the show,it was very dreamy and delightful. 
  The event party after the show was impressive and creative( I love how they arrange the table names as moon types). It was a very enjoyable night , wish took my camera that day to take a lot of great pictures, but like I said every time I went traveling, some accidents seem to happened. Shini took a lot of amazing pictures during the event, then I posted the pictures she took as well as the pictures she took for me( I love them so much!) . Time I spent in Firenze (Florence)  was very nice and unforgettable, I already started to miss that beautiful city now!

Illustration by Nancy.Z
Event photography by Shini Park

















Sunday, 29 January 2012

Spring where are you...

   When the airplane arrived at Berlin airport from Paris, people closed their coats immediately and screamed " Jesus, it is so freezing!" Yeah...it is Berlin...nothing really changes, but much colder. Paris feels like spring compare to this. Now I really wish I was still on the journey.
    The title originally should be " How could I survive from this cold- Chapter 2". But actually whatever how many layers you put on, you just couldn't survive. So I prefer changing some interesting title. Since I put the last look with my coat, I had realized I didn't take that much of my outwear looks in my general life. So I decided to take some my casual daily outwears recently instead of dramatic looks.  This big coat and the other one are my favorite during this winter, like I said, my way to against cold is wearing oversized 
outwear and so many layers of tights. This coat looks pretty "comic" style, a lot of people on the street said " It is so funny, you look just like a cartoon character!"  Yes I love reading comics, Taiyo Matsumoto is one of my favorite. This look is somehow inspired by the styles from his works. The inspiration not just come from any exact character, somehow the inspiration is how he drew these charaters. For example like the glasses hair accessories styles in" Tekkonkinkreet"(I love comic and animation version both) and outfit look from "No.5" Inoue Takehiko and him are the most stylish comic master artists in Japan from my opinion.(Mainly I mean their works.)  
    Whatever drawing or dressing, having a unique style is truly impressing.


Sunglasses by Topshop
Hat and coat by HENRIK VIBSKOV
Glove from vintage shop
Flats by handmade

Illustration by Nancy.Z
Photography by Ajdin.B



The longest coat I have.

My pose looks like a problem character. But It is funny!

Seriously I couldn't feel my face at that moment, my tear dropped without any reason. I really hope the weather could become warmer.

"No.5"  , It is available to watch it on IPAD, the best app ever!
Tekkonkinkreet animation version
No.5 and Japanese brother.

Tekkonkinkreet comic cover



Friday, 27 January 2012

Poetic dream on your body.

   Since the beginning of this month I visited Milan-Firenze-Paris.  Men's Fashion weeks and Haute Couture made fashion atmosphere warmed up already.  And don't forget 2012 FW Fashion weeks will start next month! 
   Recently I read Pier Paolo Piccioli with Style.com's conversations during Haute Couture presentation, he said,"Fashion needs culture or it becomes empty." I can't agree more, all the designers' inspiration from different cultures and histories, especially classic cultures, which people still loves the most after year by year.  I think the best platform to present classic inspirations are Haute Couture collections.
  The new collections of Haute Couture for this season you can tell designers still stick on romantic and feminine elements, transparency, lace, embroidered...Nothing is new, but designers focus on the details more and more. Truly classic like Valentino, soft fairy like Elie saab, Royal elegance like Chanel, Glamour gothic like Givenchy, they find all have their way to continue and make them more extreme.These designs are not only clothes, but also like Jewellry- shinny, luxury and poetry.
  Just came back to Berlin from Paris this morning without sleep...I think I have to apologize my efficiency always being so slow when I go traveling to other cities. Sometime I wondered why my trips were so dramatic, always so many accidents!

Pictures from Style.com








Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Hibernating in Fashion

   Berlin is lovely, but not during winter. Too much humidity and too much rain, incredibly cold as always, everything just really drive people insane.  I guess when I took some looks with simple outfit, you might think the place where I live is very warm. But....don't forget, it is Berlin. Today taking pictures it felt so bitterly cold with the wind blowing at my face as I was taking pictures!
     No so many people anywhere to be seen, they must be hibernating until winter breaks, so with new life and fresh flowers the interesting people will come out to show off their clothes and vivid personalities. How to be survived from this cold weather but look elegant at the same time? For me, oversized coat with many layers woolen tights will be a good solution, but if you want to show off your style properly here, it is better to wait a little bit until spring comes. This is the exiting thing when you live in Berlin, the summers are very nice and not so much because of the bright sun (this is also always welcomed) but the people are full of energy and spend all their time outside drinking, talking and smiling. Im sure this summer I will do more traveling in europe, from Norway to Paris, London, Spain and a number of amazing places.
   Where Will you travel to this Spring or Summer? Tell me! Or suggestions for pictures with nice scenery? 

Hat by H&M
Scarf and Top from Vintage shop
Shorts by A.P.C
Flats by Celine
Coat by Isabel Marant

Illustration by Nancy.Z
Photography by Ajdin.B










Monday, 23 January 2012

Happy Dragon year.

   Usually every Chinese new year people love to decorate a lot of red color things (flowers, paintings, words, etc), wearing red outfit, red bags, giving benefit red bags to kids... Red is the luckiest and most alive color in Chinese culture. So I think I will post some my works in red to celebrate.  I drew this pictures few months ago, it was inspired by Japanese traditional painting and Klimt's similar technics. Originally in Chinese culture(Japan as well ), cranes and pine trees mean having eternal healthy life, endless wealth and lucky.   It is my best wishes for everyone in the dragon year as well.

   I wish everybody has a lovely Dragon year.


Sunday, 22 January 2012

Berlin Fashion Week Impression-Hugo Boss 2012 FW.

 Usually Berlin Fashion Week is a warm up start of the whole intense fashion weeks schedule. It grows up so much faster than I expected, now it starts to become a professional and international event.  And Hugo Boss is one of the most important shows among them during Berlin Fashion Week.
   Like I said the last time, Hugo Boss presented a kind of German classic style, neutral, neat, strong and sporty.The newest collection show which was just launched this week kept their traditional elements, but also tried to find a new route. I may say the whole new collection were somehow...beyond modern, more turn to futurism. From my opinion, fashion futurism doesn't have to be the costume of Sci-fi movies,  the trend of future is keeping traditional style, advancing the cuts from architecture, exploring the digital print technics and new fabrics. It seems like German fashion style already found their the best way to present-classic simple style, solid color, architectural cut and great fabrics.

Illustration by Nancy.Z











Saturday, 21 January 2012

My personal picks.

 This was the third time I cooperated with Boticca.com,It was so much fun to recommend these creative independent designer's pieces from my point of view. Accessories are the important items for styling the outfits, especially the dramatic and funny pieces. Usually I'm busy and can't go shopping properly, so I love to go online and pick unique designs. I respect these young and original designer's work, Also,some of the designs that I have right now, often I wear it and has become something that accompanies me.
   It is important for me to encourage in my own way artists and designers especially when they are original and creative, for after all how else can I have nice images without the designers that create such diverse and imaginative products.For me, it's important to have creativity in design, something that does not look so typical as so many others out there which can be bland at best. 




Also, I had cooperated with Elleshop China for " Insider's favorite" column in the end of last year. Classic, dramatic, poetic items are always my favorite choices, especially for festival celebrations. Actually I just realized Chinese new year is coming, It will be the Dragon year on next monday!

Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Shangri-La.

     What could reflect human's cultures and creations completely? What could always be inspiration for artists, movie makers and designers? What could always stay eternally in fashion trend?  I will say that is ethnic nationality cultures absolutely. There is such a wide diversity of culture on this planet and it feels somehwat special to me that in this corner of the milky way we exist and amongsts our selves there is vibrance and diversity from China, Japan, Turkish, Sweedish, Spanish, English, Latin America e.t.c. But sadly, this diversity is becoming less and less, in terms of Art this is a negative. People from different background have a different perspective on the world. When you see artists, fashion designers or any "Designer" from another country create art it is always different than what you create and you wonder "How is it so different and amazing from my own!?" But, they also will think the same about you "Grass is always greener on the other side". 
     The more we merge together the more originality becomes less and less, that creative force of a small group of people that would live together in tight knit communities dissipates more with time untill in the end there is one face, one color, one way of thinking...one big global city. Ok, so this is bleak and dismall maybe, but it can turn the other way and at times it seems that people are trying even harder to be individualistic. So there is hope yet! Ethnic cultures also inspire me, small groups of people who are creative in Textile design. You can see on the clothes that the patterns have a meaning, a narrative exists there. The same as a tatto was originaly meant to be something deeply important, a show of a clan or tribe, telling the story of the persons life where each line of the ink had some meaning. Now everything has become a fast food way of living for profit and money. I have to say, this is why I love other artists, and other fashion designers (the ones I have on the list in my head) who create art and textile or which ever medium because of their drive and obsession to create. To create ANY type of art is not out of love for money as I said but for peer approval. When your a kid and making art you love to show other people and this exites you right? I still feel like this every time I make a drawing and upload it for you all to see. The comments and fans fuel me so much (maybe I should say thank you now for always liking my art? THANKS!).
  The theme called:"Shangri-La", which is a description of exotic paradise like places on the 
southwest of China.The outfit inspirations mixed Miao(and other small nationalities around it) 's 
embroidered style, Tibetan and Mongolian men's outfit elements on the north. But I mixed it with 
a modern, neat way. You may know mongolia and tibet more than miao, actually their accessories 
and embroidered works are the greatest I saw so far, also their works are very decorated, it inspired 
many great designers such as Lee Mcqueen. I wish next time when I travel there I could wear their real
costume properly, after all It is difficult to find whole exotic traditional costumes in Europe.
Weaving is the most original and also the most impressive way to present a nationality culture since thousands years ago. Embroidered pieces are more like drawings, these colorful patterns could be abstract geometric, plants,people's life, religion... I really think they could include anything in the universe.

Collar and Belt by 
Miao ethnic nationality
handmade piece
Top and Skirt by COS
Tights by Bebaroque
Heels by Melissa

Illustration by Nancy.Z
Photography by Ajdin.B







Inspirations- Miao's female outfit.
Inspirations- Miao's female outfit.

Miao's textile details


Miao and other southwest nationalities' embroidered items.

Present Miao's outfit & Ancient's Miao's oufit