Orion London

A little birdie told me the gorgeous dresses by Orion London will soon be available in Belgium!

Adored by the likes of Cameron Diaz, Beyonce, Sienna Miller and many more, I am very happy I will soon be able to get my hands on one of their beautiful tie dye dresses, which are very feminine and can be worn during the day with flats or boots, with a stylish black blazer or a worn out leather jacket. Sigh...all I need now is a Marni S/S 2010 scarf to match them with!

check out orionlondon.co.uk !

Mad Lipstick

After watching a new great episode of Mad Men, I could not help but wonder if Betty would frown upon our beauty habits.

I think she would.

Feminism brought choice and women today can be as career-minded as men. But it seems this revolution led to a dimise of femininity. A working mother no longer has the time to put the same amount of effort into her appearance as Mrs. Draper did back in the day. A few swipes of mascara and most of us are good to go. We would much rather get those ten minutes of extra sleep than drag ourselves out of bed just to put on our faces in a more precise way.

Understandable as this may be, it can bother me.

Walking down the street in the rain, seeing those make-up free faces, I sometimes long for that little hint of glamour women so treasured not so long ago. While everything around us is turning gray and cold, it could be so nice to be surrounded by a little reminder of beauty in our everyday life. We have reached a point where we just won't bother anymore and I find this sad.

The talented Peter Philips (who is doing wonders at Chanel) once said in an interview he used to watch his mother get ready to go outside and was mesmerized by her beauty ritual. He too expressed his empathy for a working woman who just wants to stay in bed an extra couple of minutes, but also wants to remind us of the overall effect that putting a little bit more effort into our looks has on our general wellbeing. When you walk around knowing you look good, you will feel it too. A Trinny and Susannah philosophy if you will, to apply to your beauty habits.

Philips also pointed out you don't need to loose sleep to look (and feel) better: there is no better or cheaper way to light up your face than with a beautiful red lipstick. Don't be frightened, a red lip needn't be old-fashioned. Just look at Karlie or Natalia, wearing nothing more than a few swipes of mascara and a gorgeous bright red lip, both looking very modern, practical and glamourous at the same time.

Head to MAC and check out these colours: Dark Side, Chili, Russian Red, Brave Red and Ruby Woo. On days when you're just not feeling up to it, opt for a very subtle and very wearable version of this tinted lip by wearing the MAC tinted lip conditioner in Plum Perfect.

It's time for a new revolution of the feminine kind.

Natural according to Stella

Stella McCartney sent her models down the runway looking radiant, healthy (except for Anja Rubik, who is a shadow of who she was a couple of years ago) and most of all, happy. We even caught the super Natasha "the Walk" Poly giving the audience and photographers a supersmile! Enter the return of The Happy Model, as opposed to those stern looks on an army of anonymous models. Designers finally took notice and treated fashion the way it should be treated: as an escape from reality. Reality being economic crisis, escape being beautiful, happy people wearing gorgeous colourful clothes. Thank you, Stella.

Our favorite vegetarian looked very beautiful, glowing skin and all! I wonder if she treated the models with her organic skincare line Nude... You could not spot one girl without seemingly super soft skin. It was moisturized to the core! Hair was given a wash and did not need a whole bunch of product (hurray!). Lashes were curled (a beauty must! Get that Shu Uemura eyelash curler!). Lips were tinted with a light gloss (don't do overly glossy lips, you just want them to look moist and well taken care off). Cheeks were touched with an almost bronzy blush (a very sparkly, but very good highlighter is Shimmer Brick in Nude by Bobbi Brown, will last you a lifetime and you can use the individual shades for your eyes, they are very pigmented so you can layer up) and eyebrows were filled in a little bit.

Don't be fooled, this no make-up make-up look needs a tad of work, you want to look polished, but not overdone. Natural, but still with the help of a make-up brush. We are not all Natalia Vodianova, most of us need a bit of work. But that is, off course, what is exciting about make-up!

Our dearest Stella furthermore announced she wanted to return to easy fashion. Perhaps as a response to an overload of Balmain, shoulderpads and eighties fashion, she questioned a real woman's desire for the harsh fashion we have been seeing on the runway the latest seasons.
Hence, she wanted to make use of colour, flowy ànd flowery dresses. I love her new collection and look forward to seeing it on the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Bosworth.

Natural has never been so enticing.

Tim Van Steenbergen meets Paris

It was a proud day for Belgium the 30th of September 2009.

Fashionwise that is.

One of its most promising export products Tim Van Steenbergen showed his collection at Espace Commines in Paris.

His prêt-à-porter collection for Spring/Summer 2010 was beautiful.

It was feminine.

Whimsical.

Colourful without being overly flashy.

The make-up was every girl's dream for summer and left the girls looking fresh with a hint of a tan. Wouldn't you want to show up to a party looking like this? The ladies looked their best with contoured cheeks and nude, pinkish lips. Girls from the city who look like they've come right off the beach.

The hairartists did a great job with the models hair slicked back, although the grey hair was a bit questionable.

His very Prada-esque collection was shown by various belgian models, which I personally think was a great choice on his part. It was a beautiful exhibition of belgian talent, in more ways than one.

Well done, Tim.

I Heart Poppy

Poppy Delevigne is the next hot thing around town, so watch out for her. A former London socialite (eat your heart out, Paris Hilton) and the daughter of Pandora Stevens (who holds a high position at Selfridge's), she is soon conquering the fashion scene as a model.

She does a great job at setting off her fresh face with a british quirkiness in the way she dresses, while still managing to look grown-up chic.

It is no wonder Karl Lagerfeld recently chose her among others to be brand ambassadors for Chanel.

I mean...what. a. great. job.

From now on my dream is to be Brand Ambassador for Chanel. Come on!

Karl, who probably is not unaware of the outburst of envy this has on other women, has even named his little group of five chosen ones "Les Fidèles de Chanel".

Too much. Can not handle this. They should give out membership cards.

But we have to give credit where credit is due, Poppy's general happy attitude combined with her flair for fashion and her proclaimed "love for Chanel" (Name one woman (ONE!) who would not happily proclaim her L.O.V.E. for Chanel. One.) make her an ideal modern muse.

FASHIONAIR agrees with me and made a little feature film about Poppy titled "Poppy hearts London".

Click on the link below and let Poppy be your personal tourguide and show you her favorite places in London.

http://www.fashionair.com/index.php?action=watch&itemID=410078