Fashion revolution is every day

Sustainable is a word I will never tire of hearing, saying and a lifestyle I will always be compelled to practice. Depending on the generation, you encounter people that are thrilled to use it, know about it, want to share their practices, discoveries and habits for a better world or simply tag people that prcatice it as tree huggers (as if it were a dishonor). 

There's people, so very much 2001, that don't want to know, duck their head under the sand like an ostrich, still arrogantly believing that "someone" will do it for them, whether in politics, enviroment, education, health, minorities and they don't have the responsibility to do anything. 

It's time to wake up and be active citizens, choose your cause and do anything that it's in your power and more, go the extra step, don't wrap your eyes with prosciutto. Our children are born in a world in which they will have to deal with the mistakes that us and the generation before us have made. We can't reverse global warming, landfills of plastic bottles, deadly polluted rivers, but it's in our power to stop the deterioration. 

HOW?

I am going to give you two suggestions. 

Fashion Revolution because fashion is about feeling good, fashion is knowing that what you wear hasn't been produced under slavery conditions, that nobody has to work 120 hours overtime a month for that damn t-shirt that you will wear 3 times and throw away because it's destroyed and it will, itself, pile up in a landfill that will never disappear from Earth. Fashion is about not wanting more, but desiring a piece so much that you end up cherishing, taking care of, mending, fixing and wearing it for as long as you can. Fashion is knowing who made the clothes that you wear, knowing where did it all begun, feeling empowered by knowing that you saved money to purchase that beautiful item you wanted.

All of the above is the way I grew up thinking that fashion was about, it's why I fell in love with fashion, it's the Italian way of dressing, owning your style with that conscience that you always are appropriate wherever you go, because luxury is first a state of mind. 

It's a Revolution that wants to bring back things to where they were before, the Italian way I must say.  Join the movement and help spread the voice, and if you want a crush course on how to attain it, get the book here.

NOTE: Sharing some pictures of the masterclass held at Miami Dade College's Fashion Institute during Miami Fashion Week where we were enlightened by Orsola de Castro, the founder of Fashion Revolution, Barbara Hulanicki, OBE founder of legendary Biba and fashion visionaire supreme and Willie Walters, director of fashion at London's Central Saint Martins

Plastic Free July and every month. 

Why? I am going to give you 7 reasons that the Italian in me would use to convince you:

1. who needs a straw, really? Unless you had dental surgery

2. who drinks coffee in the paper/plastic cup?

3. who eats food from foam containers? Honestly, they make an annoying noise and make the food taste weirdly synthetic. 

4. why would you eat from plastic plates with plastic cutlery? China and silverware is not meant to keep for Sundays. 

5. how gross and vulgar is that Solo red cup? (<--- you bet Cecilia knows better when she'll be in college)

6. who does groceries without recycled bags anymore? In Italy they charge you for every plastic bag the supermarket provides you, and it's been like this for as long as I remember. 

7. why would you drink water from a plastic bottle? Do you even know how many bacteria are stored in that bottle and that it is not recyclable? 

Accept the pledge & CHOOSE TO REFUSE

NOTE: did you notice how I was holding a plastic coffee cup at the event with Barbara Hulanicki? Since after I took the pledge, I have been so resilient to choose to refuse and wherever I go I ask for a glass or porcelain cup for my coffee. It doesn't hurt asking, you get the side eye, but they always have it. 

En Avance celebrates 24 years of timeless elegance

March 24 marked the 24th anniversary of En Avance one of the most long-lived multi brand stores in Miami. Its story, as many other boutiques around the world, started with the vision and impeccable taste of Karen Quinones, an arbiter of taste.

En Avance is an all-encompassing lifestyle boutique, the ones that you enter to be inspired, when you get that shopping itch, you know when you get the 3 pm sugar crave and you don’t want Starbucks, but Laduree. It’s like a moodboard, you enter a world of style, elegance, permeated by chic, Assouline books and Maison Francis Kurdjian fine fragrances included.

The boutique has the Karen imprint allover it from Fornasetti to the Vintner’s daughter couture face oil, from Sacai to Philosophy, from Racil to Donna Karan’s label Urban Zen. The boutique tells a story with each piece hand-picked by Karen who travels extensively during fashion month to the fashion capitals and off season to places and culturally absorbs habits, colors, artisanal techniques and blends everything in a most exquisite high-brow low of taste.

The store is everything I preach in the book: slow fashion, quality, research, chic, elegant, lifestyle, fun, intellectual stimulation, understated luxury, conversation, style. And I am saying this not to flatter myself, but an another way of showing how Italian style can be lived anywhere and it’s not acquired through an hedonistic treadmill of “look at me look at me how perfectly photo-shopped I am, I look like everyone else and you should too”, but by sober normality based on taste, culture, education, curiosity that become habits. Karen is all that, her vitality, profound knowledge and exquisite sense of style perspire in every inch of her boutique.

““Luxury resides in the mind when it revolves around quality not quantity. Time is the only element in your life that is luxurious when it abounds.””

— The Cheat Sheet of Italian Style, page 49

In the occasion of the anniversary celebration, and in true En Avance style, the dynamic duo behind Arje’ was the guest of honor presenting Chapter 1 of their collection. I got to chat with them a bit as it seemed we were drawn to each other from the moment I walked into the store. For Oliver and Bessie it’s all about the origin, the essence of everything, where quality originates. They have taken the engulfed fashion system into pieces and re-elaborated the puzzle into a new formula and reinterpretation of see-now-buy-now

There’s a strong element of fluidity, the collections are chapters, that follow a person’s life and adapt to the experience and the body like rainwater, pure modern luxury. They brought the fashion system back to one single principle relationship. Through the relationship with the manufacturers, built over the years, the have the fabrics produced in the color and nuances they choose for the chapter, and they commit to buy directly the quantity they will be producing and selling, skipping the phase of the sample production, which is at the same time a financial burden that can be avoided and commitment to reduce waste and make the product sustainable.

The cultivate the relationship with the stores and buyers who buy what they see, or “feel” in Arje' language, and sell their clients right away, cutting the wait time, and providing immediate esthetic remuneration. The same way I met Oliver and Bessie during the trunk show, many others have done it during the months of March and April. Instead of selling from a showroom at closed doors, with the trunkshow formula they interact with their ideal clientele, absorb ideas, styles, suggestions, tips, taste the pulse and take notes for the following chapter.

The collections are called chapters, you may have noticed, and not seasons, because it’s not about the weather or the climate, but about the relationship with your body, you change jobs, you move to a new city or country, you change marital status, you have a baby regardless of the seasons, what changes is the essence and with that your body and style evolve.

This idea of the partnership whether is with a vendor or with your own body, is fully reflected in En Avance where you go to build your wardrobe, not to mindlessly purchase to fill in a superficial gap.

The store is that place that shows how sustainability is chic, elegant, unique, sensual, modern. 

Heart in Hands award for No More Tears

I was one of the lucky participants of the “Heart in Hand" Award event organized to raise funds for No More Tears that took place October 1st at The Sacred Space in Wynwood.

"No More Tears" is a non-profit organization that assists and empowers victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. It was founded by Somy Ali who still leads it dedicating 100% of her time, efforts and revenue from donors to the organization.

Being herself a victim of domestic abuse twice before even turning 10, Somy channeled the strength and power needed to resurrect herself from those devastating moments to help other women stand strong on their feet again.

Knowing that Miami is the third place in the US with over 9000 cases a year of human trafficking is creepy, scary and disgusting. It happens in our backyard and danger lurks in disguise, evidently.

The organizing committee was composed of two handful of talented, powerful, strong, smart women who understood two things: collaborating is the best form of success and being victim of human trafficking or domestic violence should not exist on earth, or any other planet where human beings are allowed.

The room was filled with tears of emotion, watching the documentary with the testimony of victims who were rescued, saved and given a second chance in life, listening to the heartfelt acceptance speeches of the five recipients of the Heart in Hands Award, made me realize that's an epidemic. It’s like cancer: you can’t close your eyes and wrap them in prosciutto because “those things don’t happen to you”, we all have instead a moral responsibility to do something.

It may not have happened to us, we may have been lucky to have had strong women and men raising us to be confident and our brothers to be good men, future husbands and fathers, but the risks that our daughters and children may incur in criminal minds disguised as angels are too high not to give us the goosebumps and prompt us to be proactive.

I will have the honor of interviewing Somy for my "style + substance" because she is one badass woman from whom we all have something to learn.

WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL? 

All about THAT pink

I remember vividly how I never wanted to be a pink girl, and how adamantly I would ask everybody to ask me what's my favorite color because I would surprise them with Blu'.

I somehow conditioned myself to be a blue girl, just because I never wanted to be like the other girls. 

I found the article Is There Some Reasons Millennial Women Love This Color on The Cut extremely interesting. By "this" it meant pale pink, peach, quartz, rose gold, salmon, creamy, dusty rose.

I am not a Millennial, yet I manifest affinity with many traits of this microscopied and scrutinized generation. Millennials this, Millennials there ... 

Where I grew up, girls in school would wear a long white coat with a pink bow in the back, something very Alice in Wonderland as school uniform, and the boys' version was blue and short.

It is a liberating thought, knowing that my daughter (almost on the cusp of being a Millennial) is not growing up with those mental restrictions. Guess what: she never liked Barbie or anything pink she’d have in the closet.

I can't help but wonder (... I have been binging on SATC lately):

Is “your favorite color” something that comes with genes or it becomes an acquired taste?

My friend Gabriella, of Su Misura Journeys says:  

“I'm loving pink these days. When I was young I hated it because my mother made me wear it all the time. But I love the soft nuanced shades. Italy does pink so well. Also the beige leather at Ferragamo had an almost pink undertone back then. So warm. I also saw it on walls. They called it 'carne' pink mixed with white and yellow in such a subtle and interesting way.”

I love how she uses different nuances, from walls to leather goods, there’s nothing defined, categorized or labeled, it happens nonchalantly, like a disceveled wall and a Madonna in the streets of Florence. 

But now that it's a color Millennial women like, looks like we ough to squeeze in, like when you grab a leg and the girl on the other side that other leg of that only one pair of pants left on sale.

A hot summer afternoon of skinny-dipping

It's the dog days of summer and rated R headlines are all the rage, especially if you are vacationing, sipping rose' under the striped umbrella at Soho beach house. If you are cooling off in Montauk, you are not exhonerated either, this is a headline that is supposed to attract the highest traffic. 

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You will not be disappointed.

In chic-landia (here)  you know not to expect #OOTD, celebrity spotting or make-up tutorials because 

1. we don't follow trends, we set them;
2. we don't believe in the force of the outfit-of-the-day, because what works for me today doesn't necessarily work or mean anything for anyone else's body or wallet;
3. we wear "barely there" make-up, instead we take skincare as religiously as the morning coffee;
4. also, we don't wear skinny pants and this is a long story you'll fid more about in the book 

So, what the heck are we talking about?

Thank you for reading until here, because what's about to unfold is as juicy and sultry as skinny dipping. 

For real.  

It all started with a bunch of wild girlfriends and a conversation in which we established that European women wear lingerie outside the boudoir, yet also go braless when they feel like it, and that includes the beach (with a certain filter when children are prancing around) because we don't fancy tan lines.

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ombre' sequinned bikini

Then, it continued with the reality that when it's time to start wearing a bra, in Italy, we are accompanied to the lingerie store where the expert sales associates (aka, the owner that has dressed the entire family, generation after generation) find us THE bra. 

That everyone's size is composed by a lot of elements, the ribs, the breast, the shoulders, her posture, her walking and sitting habits that cannot be just confined to a number and a letter. 

That whatever the bra is, a triangle, under-wired or balconnet, padded or semi-padded, lace, tulle, lycra, cotton, it is supposed to make us feel naked, it doesn't show, mark, cut, shows too much, holds the breasts enough not to make it overflow or unflattering.

That we hand-wash said bras and let them dry flat.  In other words, Sophia Loren in her heated 1963 movie "Ieri, Oggi, Domani" didn't do anything far away from reality. Not that every Italian woman looks as damn sensual while manipulating black stockings and garther, but that stockings, bras and underwear hanging in the bathroom is pretty much a true scene as that truth that we talk with our hands. 

As you can imagine, the conversation went BEEP and exponentially happier by the many chilled glasses of rose' circulating. Shortly after, it was decided to all go spend an afternoon at La Perla, the quintessence of Italian lingerie, to make all gf's acquainted with the wolrd of luxury lingerie and feel a bit closer to Sophia.

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I can read anything, even a catalogue

My first job in Miami was in the showroom of La Perla from where I was representing, distributing, merchandizing, marketing, speaking, breathing, wearing their bras and underwear to the Caribbean. And you may imagine how, walking into the boutique, was for me a joyful flashback, to when I had the luxury to be handling every day the most gorgeous collections and was privileged to fit their sample size as a glove. 

Reminiscing of all the techniques, history of the looms and the family who used to own La Perla, sparked up the passion again and the desire to know more of a luxurious world that one can wear without anyone knowing (or maybe only the ones that should know.) 

Lace under-wire or removable pads? coffee or prosecco anyone? is blush or white the most neutral color? fuchsia or sapphire lace? bralette or triangle for home lounging, Leavers lace or Chantilly? laser-cut or soutage bathing suit, hand embroidery and the Maison collection. 

It was a deep-dive into a world where every piece is luscious, sultry, plush, luxurious, alluring, evoking a moment between you and your skin. And there you have the skinny-dipping. 

How easy it is to get used to luxury? Luxury is a state of the mind that prescinds from the monetary value and allows you to be a kid again. Anyone can be a queen for a night, a moment, an afternoon, just act "as if" to feel that richness that nobody will be able to take away. 

On second thoughts, an afternoon at La Perla should be required by law before obtaining a license to be a woman. 

dealing with the F word

Fashion’s July is the month that starts with the sparkles and then sends everyone to Slim Aaron-esque summer vacation.

I am not referring to the 4th of July, but couture and, being Couture, it happens in Paris.

Angelo Flaccavento wrote a punkish article on Business of Fashion on the status of Couture and how it’s been somehow occupied and populated by aliens, that is the ones that don’t belong to Couture, but tag-along. It’s a bit like the phenomenon of Art Basel Miami Beach: from being an art show, to one of the most lucrative and successful art shows world-wide, to: everybody hops on the caravan and everything is dressed up as an excuse to create a party around it. And you see things of Fellinian envy.

“Couture is couture - fashion to the nth degree and the last remaining remnant of the old world concept of fashion as a language and privilege of the elite.”

— "Identity Theft at Paris Couture" - Angelo Flaccavento, Business of Fashion

Couture gives “validation”, couture is couture, “fashion to the nth degree and the last remaining remnant of the old world concept of fashion as a language and privilege of the elite.”

It’s a moment of change in Fashion, gender blending and that awkward almost blurring vicinity between ready-to-wear and couture, which is what Flaccavento is sensing after his week in Paris. Couture is old-school, based on rules that are crystallized in the past, it's slow, it's unique, not replicable or Instagrammable in a #ootd

If fashion were a religion, couture would be its god, the tipping point of Mount Olympus, very much noble and aristocratic and less democratic, if the parallel would hold. 

Nevertheless, for a fashion hard-core extremist like me, confined in the steamiest and most un-glamorous corner I could ever be left at, I need beauty, I need Fashion with the big F, my “eye has to travel” like editrix extraordinaire Diana Vreeland said perfectly in her own special and creative language.

To make everyone up to speed, a couturier is a créateur de mode appointed by the French Chambre Syndicale de la haute couture and designated by France’s Ministry of Industry, a very specific denomination, it’s like the equivalence of a D.O.C. wine or being “Made in Italy” or being an OBE, it doesn’t happen overnight and when you are, you are. There are 8 Italian designers out of 98 and all I am going to do now is to share my absolutely favorites.

Some facts (you may know or not) in chronological order:

1.   Valentino’s duo, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli after many years at the helm of the house, split. Rumors were circulating for a while, since the March runway shows, but it was announced the same day the couture collection was shown. Piccioli remains the sole creative director, Maria Grazia is out. They brought the brand up to the limelight, hard workers, skilled, tenacious and capable to maintain the high standards of the Emperor himself, Mr. Valentino Garavani.

2.   Christian Dior, orphan for a few seasons of a creative director after Raf Simons left, tadaaaahhh, has a new creative director, the first woman in the history of the house, and guess who it is? Right: Maria Grazia Chiuri: all the best #girlsrock

3.   Fendi showed the collection in Rome, because first they are from Rome and second this year they are celebrating the 90 years of the atelier. Models and furs seemingly walked on the waters (aka, a see-through plexiglass runway) of the Fontana di Trevi, in a fairy tale reminiscing of Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” . Karl (Lagerfeld, as you will get used at how in fashion we call the masters by their first name) even tossed the three coins. It must have been magic, that’s all I can say.

On another note, you may have seen some images of Dolce & Gabbana who threw their version of couture Alta Moda, closing off an entire neighborhood of Napoli: they are not couturiers. 

The 2016 State of Fashion: a Manifesto

What’s Fashion anyways?

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I get the question quite often from people that live what I see as a disconnect from what the runways are and what trickles down to the department stores.

They are outsiders, yes, but what does Fashion look to someone who is not ingrained in the industry and doesn’t speak Prada?

Fashion is a dream, story-telling, is transmitting a feeling, an emotion, an experience meant to a like-minded audience.

Fashion is performance, reminiscence, hint, teasing, a whiff of an aroma, a smell loaded with memories and translated on the collection, runway or presentation.

Fashion is believing in a story and telling it as it is.

Fashion is loving despite the oddities.

Fashion is process, not massive production, it doesn’t have to please everybody.

Fashion is luxury, not fast food nor instant gratification.

Did social media break the system?

Are runways supposed to break the Internet?

Do we still look at Fashion as the dream?

Is New York fashion week finished? Leandra Medine of Man Repeller thinks that it all started when Fashion Week became a trend, and as any good trend, they come and go. What do we do until the cycle comes back? Live in clothes, she suggests.

In a more straight-forward manner, NYT’s critic extraordinaire Cathy Horyn  questions the authenticity of Fashion in the era of social media. She draws almost a graph, the higher the social media bru-ha-ha the higher the level of insanity or absurdity. And honestly, were I a designer, especially a first-timer, I wouldn’t want to be having to hire a bitch of a publicist to help me shrug from my shoulders  the label of “absurd” signed by The New York Times.

The fashion-buying public is aware of where presentation ends and branded content begins.

In New York, more than any other fashion week, we have assisted to an exaggeration of social media content. To capitalize on social media buzz, brands have opted to switch the seasons starting September when the fall collections would be presented and February would go for spring.

We have seen alternative ways of introducing new ranges, like the Studio-54-themed at DFV or bigger louder lavish ones like Kanye’s or Rihanna, but must agree with Mrs. Horyn on one simple point: the spectacle, the mise en scene, the Hollywood draconian production was smoke in the eye to the industry trader, the buyer, the journalist that is not impressed by the show, but by the quality, workmanship, attention to detail, fil rouge that something that grasps all the senses, despite of the wallet.  Voila’, I couldn’t leave it unsaid

There was a general vibe that wasn’t camaraderie, the see-now-order-now-wear-now was the talk of the town, but may have killed that allure and building desire of waiting those 6 months to have something beautifully confectioned.

To say it with Karl Lagerfeld: it’s a mess 

Now, I don’t live under the leaf of a snow-pea, Fashion is a dream, but it's a business with marketing and sales, or it’s a bad dream. We Must Sell and we must cater to the consumer spending public.

So are the brands embracing the instant-buy system promoting a democratization of fashion?

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Luxury comes from passion and inspiration, it’s a state of mind, creative and inspired work that caters to a few. And it’s good that way. Brands like Burberry or Tom Ford are trying to cut the gap between the heat of the catwalk and the in-store purchase.

To say it with the words of Francois-Henri Pinault, the CEO of Kering Group, the see-now buy-now immediacy ‘negates the dream of luxury’. 

Killing the traditional system of 6-month wait after the catwalk, is simply not feasible and would bring the end of the magic of fashion, the world of suspence.

Besides, where do we leave the wait and appreciation for something that needs time to be made?

The minimalism game is like Pandora's Box, it keeps producing results

wardrobe staples by ChocolateHeels

How would you feel if the Ghost of Christmas Past would come and tell you ‘this month you’ll get rid of 461 things because it’ll free the mind, bring abundance, energy, happiness that your Santa list will take a whole different spin'?

In the month of November I have participated in a minimalist game, commonly known as minsgame. Rules are clear and simple, would say minimal if the pun weren't poorly executed: in a month you eliminate things from the house in an exponential crescendo, the first of the month 1 thing, the second 2 things and so on until the 30th. Think twice, because you don’t really know if you can do the 20, 21, 22 things a day until you face the dare.

My game was called Minsgame BOSS from the initials of the 4 bloggers, Break the Twitch, One Girl Two Cities, Simply Save and Social Sarah, who took upon, conducted, directed and completed it masterfully, with grace and ease.

The practice of minimalism has percolated through certain circles as the new age, a new way of living. Wasn’t it to be expected? As any recurring historic event, in the years after the latest 2008 recession, mindless consumption is no longer cool. Leaving the mall with tons of shopping bags is considered trivial and crass (unless you are a stylist in search of a last minute change props).  Not to consider the rush to Black Friday’s insanity or to the launch of another designer collaboration with H&M.

Not for the faint at heart, minimalism creates discipline, forms a way of thinking. I haven’t been stung by the bug of the Japanese art of decluttering brought to you by famed author Marie Kondo. Gotta say, I am already enough in love with my shoes that I don’t need to implement a supplemental reverence ritual, they hold the highest spot in the shrine.

Declutter is a thing, and there’s more to the discerning eye than just getting rid of stuff. It begins there and penetrates through the deep cracks of the will of not wanting. All unwanted elements that populate the house, either visible or stored, filed, folded, wrapped and hidden create what I think of as chatter, not healthy coffee shop chatter, but the mean one, like that bad voice that tells you: ‘remember me? I’m that friend that gossiped about your divorce while I was buying you this birthday gift and writing this card that you are saving in this box”. Pouf, of the like of the Ghost of Christmas Past, you really don’t want them. 

“Declutter is a thing, and there’s more to the discerning eye than just getting rid of things”

A KonMari example shared by Buzzfeed

MY TAKE

I found it one of the most liberating experiences. I tend to be very Italian when I least expect it (duh), and that is a Country where we rarely move, we live in the house where we were born until we get married, and there’s always enough attic to keep stuff. The habit of keeping is deeply rooted, we don’t toss, throw, dispose, we use all the leaves of a lettuce,  and we don’t challenge ourselves with the question: why? As I was getting ready to move for the non-Italian 6th time in 20 years, it was the perfect occasion.

WHAT I LEARNED

·         Funny part, through the month, the more things were eliminated, the more people joined the challenge, creating a domino’s effect like one of those chocolate fountains where you dip strawberries.

·         I don’t need to keep all the Christmas cards, bows and wrapping papers from birthdays past, wedding notes all guarded in boxes to keep the memories. The most important word in the above process is memories and those exist whether or not you look at the card. Besides, the above mentioned memorabilia had been guarded in those beautiful decorative boxes and never been looked at.

Preach it girl: how many of you has ever looked at the wedding cards after sending the thank you notes?

·         Clutter absorbs bacteria, dust and ill thoughts. Clutter insinuates itself in the mind and becomes addictive, like junk food, the more you have, the more you want.

·         Finding drawers filled with electronics made me feel like a hoarder, literally. Why would you keep stuff like the first version of a Blackberry (may RIP) or of an iPod? Move on already.

·         It hurts, at times you feel empty, you want to cry, a part of you has been trashed, burned, donated. In truth, it’s only a part of a past you and keeping it alive is counterproductive.

·         Parting is good, find the reason for parting from things, just do it, keep the momentum, don’t stop. Your lifestyle has changed, your body morphed with the years, you moved to a different climate, you divorced, you found the love of your life, all of the above.

·         I became an adamant promoter of ‘save the planet’: can’t possibly think of tossing the unwanted in the trash, not good to the environment nor my conscience. In Miami is not easy to recycle and if you attempt to properly dispose of polluting materials you are looked at a nerdy bohemian from the 70s With this project, I have found out of many new outlets that would make a treasure out of my trash, none or few in South Florida. 

the KonMari shared by Goop 

SOME SPECIAL THOUGHTS ON HOW TO HANDLE THE PRUNING OF THE CLOSET

1.    Clothes that no longer fit are to be tossed, because honestly they will not ever motivate you to lose weight;

2.    Exquisite quality, designer, made-to-measure, evening or occasion pieces belong to a different category that is kept, cherished and passed from one generation to the other. This may be an old continent habit, considering that in this Country mobility and space are of the essence, those ‘heirlooms’ may become an extra volume. Trust me in this, when you open those garment bags your youth comes out bright as a sunray and there’s nothing more energetic.

3.    Wardrobe essentials we know are a must, however because you may recur to wearing them several times during the year, they get worn out easily, you need to give it extra attention and care. Hello, that beautiful white blouse from Dolce & Gabbana, how many times you have received compliments and felt like a million dollar babe? The yellowish stain under the arms will come like the law of gravity for perky breasts and wrinkles, but that’s when it times to move on.

4.    What to do with what you are consciously uncoupling from?

Here is where another part of me gets really adamant: be environmentally conscious. Mother Nature is utterly generous to us, and especially when nobody around me seems to care, it hurts me. I try to lead by example, with all my imperfections, I am no Saint Francis of Assisi.

Unwearable clothing I shred and use for dusting, mopping the floor, fluffy threads of wool I cut and even use as pillow fillers;

Repurpose: consign, sell online like Ebay, donate, gift anyone who will benefit from what you previously loved. Talking fashion, the most coveted sites for the designer’s addicts are The Real Real and The Outnet.  Vestiaire Collective is the latest that collects pre-loved designer clothes from

Recycle, upcycle, and down cycle are different concepts that are cool again, according to Sass Brown who has dedicated the latest years of her career to decode the re-fashioning of fashion. I have met her at The Fashion Project in Bal Harbour, I bought one of her books 'Refashioned' inspirational, fascinating and innovative.

A SIDE NOTE, SIMPLY GLAMOROUS THOUGH: Talking about pre-loved garments, did you know that Margaret Thatcher’s wardrobe will be auctioned off at Christie’s.