Sandra‘s Closet

The summer is full of ethnic inspirations, take a journey through Africa and get the beat of the new tribal fashion drum. From impressive masai-inspired prints and bold leopard patterns to powerful beadings and silhouettes, the designers were experimenting a lot. Batik, ikat and tritik techniques helped to create vibrant dyed fabrics with an instant touch of the exotic.

I am always telling my girlfriends if you have enough space for storage, please do not throw out too many things. My tribal look that I wore recently is a proof of my advice as sometimes the rising of a trend might take a few seasons: Dark brown suede belted dress by Prada S/S 2009, clutch, shoes and accessories all by Louis Vuitton S/S 2009.

Great eye-catchers are the leopard-printed stockings. Mine are the Fogal Parda ones, available in two variations.

To keep you posted: For F/W 2010 Wolford will launch awesome leo tights and stockings in four different colour combinations: sahara beige/black, black/black, green/black and fuchsia/black. You should definitely get a pair of those.

One thing is for sure: The new desert queen will be the leader of the fashionista tribe.

LoL, Sandra

Green comes in all shades this summer. Due to the military trend on the runways, camouflage prints and olive colours are among the must-haves. In addition floral patterns were seen everywhere along with soft pastel peppermint tones. Here are some of my suggestions to get the look right. Start mixing different shades and add some flower accessories like the cute Vivienne Westwood bag or Oscar de la Renta headband above.

A great entrance makes the combination of camouflage and animal print. A military jacket like Balmain’s stunning interpretation here is the absolute It-piece this season along with Stella McCartney‘s camouflage print dress.

Mint green is always lovely in union with different water colours like turquoise for example. Do the unexpected and add a bold accessory to get that twist that is so hard to copy.
My preferred choice is yellow as it works great with all sorts of green.

Happy Saint Patrick`s day to my Irish readers!

LoL, Sandra

Since Balmain`s relaunch in 2006, Christophe Decarnin is at the helm of the old French fashion house. He is an amazing designer and I am truly in love with his tough-chic looks. Decarnin is the leader of the disco. This season his military chic is again influencing the chain stores wherever you look. Four seasons in a row Balmain is on fire for me, so so so hot!!! All the pieces I got are my favourites. As I am very petite, the tiny dresses and the amazing jackets with extremely tight sleeves and embellished shoulders seem to be made for me. My trophies this summer will be the destroyed jersey shirt and hot pants. This is perfect combat chic with an easy feminine edge to it.

But let`s face up to the facts his collections are extremely expensive. Therefore I spotted something to avoid the red-hot price tags. Have a look at the Loha Vete collection available through www.luisaviaroma.com and www.matchesfashion.com. You can find similiar T-shirts with lace inserts that are approximately € 210.- and have a good quality (the Balmain one is about € 800.-). The distressed pants are also looking pretty cool.

The least expensive alternative would be to do it yourself. I would recommend using scissors and probably a nail clipper for the small nicks. Take a tee, cut holes into it and poke at some of them with your fingers to enlarge the gaps. Enjoy!

Decarnin is keeping the wheels of fast turning fashion. But let`s see how long this will last… hopefully a long time!

LoL, Sandra