Vintage nostalgia

Vintage, classic, old, timeless …. my afternoon walk around Jordaan ….

It’s basically a return to the past ….

vintage lamp

vintage glasses

vintage bag

vintage gowns

vintage purse

vintage tin box & door knocker

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Vintage Cookie Box

Gift giving! I love it love it love it !

I consider buying or making gifts, wrapping them and attaching a small note as a very pleasurable and feel-good experience, especially when you don’t know the person and you need to make sure you got it just right.

Recently, I am in love with charity shops and all the bargains you can get there. Last weekend I spotted an amazing vintage tin box at Oxfam. I bought it immediately because the box was so unusual and original and I knew it would work perfectly as a cookie box for my friend’s parents whom I was just about to visit in Germany. I baked a dozen of soft and finger-licking raspberry cookies (recipe by Princess Misia, the baking guru from Let’s get stupid together) and put them in the vintage box. I have to say, those brown-pinky cookies in this old fashion box turned into a very charming present ♥

Keep your eyes open for authentic tin boxes – they can be quite useful nearer Christmas time…

I can already imagine those beautiful Xmas cookies in your jars, tins and paper boxes you sourced yourself in charity shops, markets or grandma’s attics! Besides, it can be quite an interesting credit crunch yummy gift idea ♥

Raspberry cookies a la Princess Misia

(http://letsgetstupid.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/raspberry-cookies/)

by Asia(Jo)

You will need:
150g butter, soft
150g brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup spelt flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 200°C. Sift flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. In separate bowl, cream butter with sugar using an electric mixer. Add vanilla extract and eggs and mix until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix until fully incorporated. Stir in raspberries (watch out not to break them too much). Chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 min. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop about 2 tablespoons of the dough per cookie into the baking sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

by Asia(Jo)

by Asia(Jo)

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On the walls of Brick Lane

I love London and its diversity, dynamism and originality. This is a city of modernity and conservatism, a city of contrasts where different every-day-realities melt all together. There are hundreds of secret corners that offer something unforgettable, something unique, something  inspiring.

Brick Lane, one of my favourite areas of London and the epicenter of the Bangladeshi community, is a place of disorder, culture melange, vintage fashion, vibrant treasure and trash market, unconventional individuals and attention grabbing street art.

Visiting Brick Lane is like experimenting Indian culture and quirky London at the same time, where tradition meets liberation and liberation meets tradition, where Easts meets the West and West meets the East …

What fascinates me about Brick Lane is its kitsch, energy and the history behind as London’s centre of textile.

Today, Brick Lane’s identity can be explained by what’s happening on its walls …. pure madness ….

Ps: Fashionistans and vintage stuff lovers  - don’t miss Beyond Retro shop and its classic, ageless vogue treasures at bargain prices!

For more images of Brick Lane please visit my Flicker photos

by Asia(Jo)

by Asia(Jo)

by Asia(Jo)

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The Furrytale – when the Beast meets the Beauty

Passion for Fashion in a fairy-tale style ….

London. Fashion Styling for Professionals at Central Saint Martins - a course, which gave a new direction to my fashion dream.

Styling is not about mix & matching & accessorizing clothes – it’s s about presenting clothes that hide a story behind, that boost the wearer’s self-esteem and look desirable. It’s about playing with clothes wisely, giving them meanings and life. As a stylist you have to be versatile but always sure about your own view on fashion and the visual identity you implement in your editorials (fashion stories). As a stylist you have to be ready to deliver perfection at all times, the words “it’s impossible” don’t exist; what exists is you doing more than possible to make your fashion story absolutely perfect.

The A/W 09 trends, me and my team worked on, were fur & sheer. Those two opposing ideas made us really excited about sophistication and delicacy, about seduction and fear, about masculinity and femininity, about nude and wrapped, about fragility and animal instincts … this is how we found ourselves twisting a well known fairy-tell “Beauty and the Beast” … this is when our concept of “beastly beauty” was born … a goddess ready to attack if you ever cross that line of her territory …

There was an endless preparation and  a long photo-shoot but eventually The Furrytale fashion was brought to life!

The End.

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Celebrating Mademoiselle Coco

These days are all about the most iconic fashion figure – Coco Chanel. With “Coco Avant Chanel”  hitting cinemas today, let Mademoiselle’s eternal, supreme style reign in your closet.

Little Black  Dress, Quilted Handbag, Long Multiple Pearl Rope, Pants and Colorless Jacket – dig  them out and  play dress-up!

Become an Art Deco soigné woman.

“Vintage Paris Couture” by Jessiica Clayton

I got this book from my beloved friend Gaby who knows and trusts my fashion dream.

by Asia(Jo)

Fashion editorial: Little Black Dress

by Asia(Jo)

by Asia(Jo)

by Asia(Jo)

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