The 706-page piece of luxury tells about 30 years of innovations in fashion, art, cinema and communications.

The book is named simply Prada costs only $150. Would you like to buy one?

Fashion is not only about beautiful images, it is a lifestyle, it is a mission. And you can make this mission your life just think about fashion career and in order to think about it you have to be a fashion-addicted person. I mean it. All your school notebooks must be filled with numerous clothes illustrations and sketches, your friends and relatives must be fed up with your stories about Galliano and Dior, you should always recommend your friends how to change their boring outfits. That’s it? Then why not think about fashion design or even visual merchandising.

In the first case you’ll have fantastic opportunities to create your own clothes and even accessories, to analyze fashion trends and to set them not only follow. And in the second case you are welcome to create your own shops’ design. Namely you will decide how and where to locate this or that collection and how to place clothes in such a way them to attract people and what is more how to persuade them that these items are worth buying. Don’t miss!

People have used perfume, and oils for thousands of years in lesser or greater amounts. The early Egyptians used special perfumed balms in religious aims. Many plants such as rose and peppermint were used to extract perfumed oil from them. It is amazing, but after trying a plenty of ways of perfume creating, we still make fragrances in the same way as our ancestors did.

What Is Perfume Made From?

This question has been puzzling me for a rather long period of time. Moreover, why some fragrances are long-lasting and some aren’t? So, girls, it is essential to know, that perfume is made from about 78% to 95% of denatured ethyl alcohol and the rest of it are essential oils. 

Before buying a perfume, carefully read what you are going to buy:

Perfume is the costly form of fragrance because it contains nearly 22% of essential oils. 

Eau de Parfum (or EDP), includes with between 15 and 22% essential oils.

Eau de Toilette (or EDT) has 8 to 15% oils.

Eau de Cologne possesses just 4% essential oils.

Eau Fraiche with 1 to 3% essential oils.

Finally, I am ready to share with you tips for wearing perfume

When applying perfumes try to apply them only to pulse points, I am talking about the folds in the crook of our elbows and back of knees, wrists, cleavage and neck. Very often we can see in various ads, after applying perfumes, people rub wrists together. FORGET IT! This procedure crushes the smell. 

The next tip is spraying a small doze of perfume into the air and then you have to walk straight into the perfume. Thus, every part of your body will be saturated with perfume.

It is not right to apply perfume to the neck, because it has a tendency to rise. But it is a perfect idea to put a small cotton ball with your beloved scent in your bra. You will always smell delicious.

Don’t forget about layering perfumes. I mean, try to buy a lot products with the same smell. For instance, use not only fragrance, but lotion, shower gel and even spray with the same scent.

Keep all your bottles tightly stopped, as well as far away from direct heat and sunlight. May be it sounds too trite, but all these can spoil your fragrance. Once you have noticed your fragrance looks darker, it is not a scent that it used to be. Nowadays, more and more perfumes come either in blue or opaque bottles and they help to preserve perfumes.

While choosing a smell, be sure you like it and not your friends or family. Try to remember, that each perfume has not less than 3 notes and often it takes half an hour to truly develop. 

Good luck and be sure, scents are extremely important in our lives. They can drive a person crazy or angry. So, be careful.

Never fit a dress to the body but train the body to fit the dress
Elsa Schiaparelli

Once I came across this phrase, I made my mind to find more about its author and I was shocked, shame on me I haven’t told anything about Elsa Schiaparelli yet. 

… Bright, talented, aristocratic, secretive, Elsa had friends everywhere from Paris to Hollywood, she liked the Surrealists and said her word to the world of fashion…

Elsa Schiaparelli belongs to one of the greatest designers of the 20th century. Her fantastic clothes are still admired today. She was born in Italy (Rome) in 1890. Childhood of Elsa was as bright as she was and sometimes she made her parents’ heads go round. It was a shock when Elsa came to a ball in Paris with material just around her body (it was her vision of a dress), everybody was even more shocked  when it started to unravel.

When got married when she was only 18-year-old, she gave birth to a baby and afterwards her husband left her. So, she returned to Paris with a young child. In 1928 Elsa had some luck. She created a black sweater with a white bow at the neck and it was shown in the French VOGUE. This time Schiaparelli was shocked, so she hired a group of Armenian women to knit them.

That is how her business started. She rented a small room and started designing apparel for Golf, tennis, and other kinds of sport. Since that time her things were welcomed and often guests in VOGUE.

Since 1930, “Schiap” started experimenting with costume jewellery. She was great in combining unusual materials, her decisions were real breakthroughs. So, she became famous. What I like the most is her incredible buttons (cupids, rabbit’s hooves, clowns), fastenings (butterflies, fruits, vegetables), and hats. Schiaparelli took her inspiration in Surrealism.  In 1934 was opened her first shop in London.

Among her clients were Marlene Dietrich, Gloria Swanson and Tallulah Bankhead, but none of them liked her provocative apparel, they bought exceptionally elegant clothes.

In 1937 she created the back-to-front suit, and it was copied by Karl Lagerfield in 1986. Elsa always made accents either on zippers, buttons or colours. She liked bright colours and their unusual combinations. In 1954 and Schiaparelli left her work and wrote her autobiography entitled “My Shocking Life”.

She died in 1973. Her fashion house was re-opened in 1977 and you can still buy things from it. And many designers nowadays still adore Schiaparelli’s style, her desire to be the first one, her strength and her ability to make the headlines!  

Really, she is beautiful, slim, and attractive, she has everything she wants and no matter the event, Barbie girl always looks stunning. Most designers in a very quick way have realized how profitable it is. And they started creating their own variants of Barbie-dolls.

Actually, they are not simply dolls anymore. They are cool dolls, cool and extremely expensive toys, nobody plays with them, most people buy such dolls in order to show them to their friends and to feel proud, that they are capable of spending more than $300 to buy a single doll.

Dear fashion-lovers, 3 cool dolls are to your attention and we start from Barbie, she deserves it.

• Barbie dolls

  The first Barbie-doll was created in 1959, the American business woman – Ruth Handler considered to be its creator. Design of dolls was inspired by a doll from Germany – Bild Lilly. Barbie dolls had incredible market success and only in recent years they faced the music – competitors – Bratz dolls.

  History

  Ruth had a young daughter – Barbara who while playing with her dolls, adored giving them adult roles. Most toys were made in the form of infants. In 1956 Ruth made a trip to Germany and there met a doll – Bild Lilli, this doll was not a child, she had a body of a young woman and children were gaga over dressing it. So, after returning to the USA Ruth designed her own doll, her husband worked at the Mattel Toy Company and on March 9, 1959 Barbie was born. Her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

  Barbie is not a doll, it is a cultural icon, possessing many honours and awards (as a toy).

  Controversies

  Barbie doll became an idol, an example to follow for most girls-teenagers; they want to look like she looks, to behave the same as she behaves and to be as slim as she is. And they never care about the aftermaths.

  In slang Barbie-girl means a shallow and not interesting, even stupid girl. Also Barbie was criticized for promoting an unrealistic idea of constitution, thus, pushing girls to anorexia. And in 1997 the waist of a doll was redesigned in order to suit contemporary requirements.

  
  

• Blythe dolls

  The 1^st Blythe doll was created Kenner in 1972. Many reliable sources suggest that the original Blythe was designed by Marvin Glass & Associates. Blythe had one incredible and very noticeable detail – her eyes changed colour from green to pink to blue to orange with the pull of the special string at the back of Blythe’s doll head and most children founded it awkward. But only 30 years after the first release Blythe doll became really popular.

  One thousand of Blythe dolls by the Parco Limited Edition sold out in less than an hour, Blythe became popular. They are not for children, they are for collectors, they range in price from USD$6o to USD$300.

  So, now Blythe dolls are representatives from China, but they are cool and so nice, with such big heads and incredible eyes.

  
  

• Moogla dolls

  Moogla dolls are great dolls and that are from Russia. Actually, I have never associated this country with high fashion and fashion dolls. But, they created Moogla and Moogla is a cool doll. So, while creating a Moogla, you have to make an image of the future doll (it can be any girl, you have recently met or simply know). Then a creator makes a head, afterwards, a body is made, the details and all parts of a body are polished and look like silk. Then, the whole parts go to a special master, he or she combines them and a doll is ready. The next part is apparel, shoes and accessories. And the last step – make up. Each of these dolls has her own fragrance. Nevertheless, they are real girls.

  These dolls are really amazing: you can brush their hair, wash them with a shampoo and soap, and dry her hair with a fan. Almost like a real person, the only one thing – she can’t talk. By the way, each girl has her own and unique story and it really thrills and touches.
  
  

  Choose the best doll-girl!

The perfume is a limited edition of the Clive Christian signature scent. The all 10 Imperial Majesty perfume bottles are handmade in Baccarat crystal, circled with the 24-karat gold-plated sterling silver and encrusted with a diamond solitaire. The perfume contains extremely expensive sandalwood from India and  vanilla from Tahiti.

The scent from Clive Christian belongs to floral/oriental family of fragrances. 

Story of Valenki 

Valenki are traditional Russian winter boots made of felt. They used to be extremely popular and still a prefect symbol of the Russian Federation. Their story started many years ago, the technology of their producing is unique: each valenok is made from a seamless strip of 100%  lamb wool. Thus, they are extremely warm and healthy felt boots. They are “bathed” in special acid and then in boiling water and before the final step – drying – they are given  a form of a foot.

Valenki are perfect for healing of cold-flu, rheumatic disease. Hairs of wool gently massage feet, make blood circulation much better and take care about immune system. And now, valenki are ideal for cold weather, you’ll stay warm even when it’s 40 degrees C below zero. According to a reliable source, they are more reliable than Swedish or Norwegian ones. Russian valenki were worn by both common people and members of tsar family. Valenki are not waterproof, so most people adore wearing them together with galoshi – special rubber clogs to protect valenki from water, wear and tear.

Many people are against valenki and think they are really ugly. As for me, everybody has the right to express his or her opinion.  But, I really like them, valenki are so cute, so touching and warm. No doubts, they are a bad variant for a fashionable party and a glam evening gown, but in Siberia, Alaska, Canada and other more than cold places, hand-made valenki with ornaments, embroidery and decorations, together with a nice scarf and mittens will be a cool combination.

Sequins are special beads used for decorative purposes, they vary in sizes and shapes, have a wide range of colours. They are still used in some cultures in a form of coins. But modern sequins are made mostly from plastic, very often they are called: diamantes, spangles or the most widely-used paillettes.

Appearing of sequins

The word sequin came from the Arabic “sikka” – a coin. In English it came from French. In various countries, the origin to stitch sequins to clothes was provoked by a desire to show that this particular family is very rich.

So, Manolo Blahnik is a famous Spanish fashion and shoes designer. He is a brilliant designer, I must say. His shoes vary in price from hundreds to thousands and even more of dollars. Their distinctive feature is high heels and, as a rule, his shoes are decorated with beads, ribbons and other cute details. In the US there are 3 boutiques from Manolo Blahnik. Shoes from Manolo can be proud of timeless designs and making women legs look sexy. Enjoy the following pictures, they are stunningly beautiful!

It is particularly popular for its limited availability and limited run (not more than 20.000 copies), also, even if you are a very rich person you can’t buy it, it is presented only to a restricted number of very important people from Pirelli customers and celebrities.

Each Pirelli calendar is a collection of unique images, reflecting a special vision of women beauty – something between glam and style. As a rule, photos are made in places of incredible beauty, like the Seychelles or the Bahamas, Tunisia or Maiorca. To appear on the calendar is a mark of special distinction for even the most popular models (Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Laetitia Casta, Heidi Klum and other models appeared there).

The Pirelli Calendar 2007 was presented at Battersea Evolution Park in London. These year the following stars will be a part of the Pirelli Calendar: Naomi Watts, Gemma ward and Catherine McNeil.