Dressful

Chronicles of last night: fashion design students' (from Ljubljana's Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering) show at Kino Šiška. An hour and 15 minutes long show is a show 45 minutes too long, but if it brings the uncondensed energy that comes with young people and their early work, who am I to complain? I am so easily impressed with people who channel their energy into creating something beautiful, and yesterday was no exception.

Important notice: I changed Dressful's URL to http://www.dressful.com (with www). Please update your bookmarks. If I'm on your blogroll, I'd appreciate if you updated the link too. Thank you!

1. If you're in town during fashion week, you won't escape fashion week. Bumping into masses of people coming from shows is practically unavoidable no matter where you are. I promise this will happen to you even if you're not interested in fashion week and try to stay away from it as much as possible.

2. Some people dress eccentrically and hang around the shows to get noticed (without actually going to shows). It makes for a pretty awkward situation when they look at you and your camera because they want you to take their photo and it's so obvious. The Sartorialist and Jak & Jil phenomenon gone bizarre, I guess.

3. Every part of your body will feel the consequences of bringing heavy photo equipment to shows. This is why nobody ever does it (except me). By the way, my left shoulder is still bruised.

4. Taking a taxi is not the quickest way to get from one show to another. It might actually be the slowest. This is because the VIPs are taking taxis/chauffeured cars and they're all going in the same direction - the next show. The streets clog up in a matter of seconds. Taking the metro seems to be the best option in Milan (especially because Milan traffic is insane even without jams - it's best to skip it altogether).

Me outside the Emporio Armani Fall/Winter 2011/2012 show

I attended the Maybelline New York 2011 limited edition calendar presentation yesterday. The event took place at Salon, one of my favorite restaurants in the city with super lavish interior design and atmosphere (it's perfect for the more glamorous occasions. I also celebrated my most recent birthday there, although it wasn't as glamorous as yesterday's event).

The inspiration behind the Maybelline 2011 calendar (shot by Kenneth Willardt) is a typical New York SoHo building where each tenant is a fabulous model living in her own eccentric world. Of course, the adjective "typical" got ditched in the creative process - the photos and make-up (by Charlotte Willer) are anything but. Total glamboyance!

Rabbit no. 1 and models

Yours truly stalking Rabbit 2

(thank you Katja for the photo)

When I grow up, something like this is going to be a vital part of my apartment.

P.S. Thank you Maybelline for including The Falsies Black Drama mascara in the gift bag. I've been wanting to try it for months, but I was hesitant because I already have a black mascara. #minimalist Surprise: The Falsies works much better on my eyelashes than the other black mascara. Très chic!

A couple of months ago I found out about Jane Doe vintage shop browsing Serbian fashion forums and immediately made a mental note to check it out the next time I'm in Belgrade. A real vintage shop (stocking only items from before the 90s) in one of my favorite cities sounded incredibly promising; I believe every city with an identity has its share of highly specific clothes - you'll come across a piece and it'll hit you how very much it's reminiscent of a particular time and place (the insane "Lepa Brena at the culmination of her 80s kitsch" black and gold blazer with extremely puffy shoulders, glittery dots and bows that I bought at Jane Doe, perfectly conscious of the fact that I'm probably never going to wear it, is the very embodiment of this concept). I went to other Belgrade vintage and second-hand stores prior to my venture to Jane Doe, but the latter was the only one that really lived up to my wishes and expectations in terms of both selection of items and atmosphere.

Many stores, regardless of what they sell, aim for that "make yourself comfortable" and "feel like at home" character, but very few of them actually succeed because it's rather difficult to maintain cozy mood if your employees aren't genuinely interested in making it work it too. What I liked best about Jane Doe was that it made me feel like I could stay there all day just browsing racks and trying on clothes. Its owner, Bojana, is super nice and puts a lot of energy into interacting with vintage/fashion enthusiasts visiting the shop. Bojana is in her 20s and runs Jane Doe completely by herself. She was the first one to take the plunge into opening a vintage shop in Belgrade, a gesture that has definitely paid off as she's established a steady base of regular customers.

Jane Doe (located on Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 161a) sells clothes, shoes, bags, hats and jewelry; the entire place (including the little front yard) is lavishly decorated with trinkets such as old magazines, illustrations and toys. The philosophy behind the name of the shop is that without an owner, every piece loses its identity and gets the label "Jane Doe". When you buy the piece, you give it a new identity and remove the label. Although I think the "Jane Doe" label suggests quite a bit of identity due to the shop being an all-around inspiring abode, I was happy to remove it from two blazers. Needless to say, Jane Doe is now one of my favorite places in Belgrade.

P.S. It's official: Dressful's first giveaway will be announced next Monday, September 20!