For anyone who grew up in the UK during the ’70s, the Mr. Men books and TV show were as much a part of childhood as Sesame Street was here in the US. Original Mr. Men characters like Mr. Tickle and Mr. Bump were joined by Little Miss characters, such as Little Miss Bossy, in 1981. Due to their iconic status in British history, the fashion crowd paid tribute to their childhood favorites when author and illustrator Adam Hargreaves (son of the creator Roger Hargreaves) made a limited addition Little Miss Stella modeled after fashion designer Stella McCartney. Now, Mr. Men and Little Miss are making a comeback. Already seen on t-shirts at stores such as Urban Outfitters, the Mr. Men cartoon will be hitting the Cartoon Network in January 2008. Expect global children to be just as enamored as British kids were 30 years ago.

Source: TrendCentral

Sweet dreams with Ikea 

OSLO - Ikea in Norway is opening the Ikea Hostel, where customers can stay overnight if they haven’t finished their shopping. Shoppers will slumber in one of its two Oslo warehouses. Frode Ullebust, a company spokesman, said: “It will be like an alternative hostel. There will be the regular dormitory with lots of beds stacked up together. “We will also have a bridal suite, with a round bed and a hanging chandelier, and the luxury suite, where customers can enjoy breakfast in bed,” he said.  Family rooms will also be available for parents and children.

source: the travel mole

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Propaganda in Bangkok. No, it’s not what you’re thinking, given the recent political turmoil here in the Land of Smiles. Rather, I refer to a Bangkok-based design store called Propaganda, a place that sells whimsical housewares, like the combination chopsticks/spoon pictured above. And tons of other quixotic stuff: quirky plates and dishes, off-beat living room furnishings, picture frames, stationery, bags, and more. Think Ikea, but minus the Scandinavian pragmatism. As the store’s Web site says, Propaganda’s wares are all about “the innate sense of Thai playfulness.” Propaganda can be found in the uber-fancy Emporium mall and the less-swanky but still upscale Siam Discovery Center.

Propaganda [Official site]

Text: Newley Purnell - Gridskipper  Image: Propaganda

Watch the video. Your favourite shoe and handbag designer talks to New York’s Harriet Mays Powell about show girls, sea anemones, and his latest creations.

http://video.nymag.com/?fr_story=ba1cff21e39e15e75f6781e3229e013c85907af7&rf=bm

We decided it was time to reveal our stylists and urban scouts and give you a close-up of the talent accumulating market intelligence or facilitating our style & trend clinics, bespoke shopping & dynamite shopping tours. We are very disserning about the global talent we accumulate, it’s now time to celebrate their greatness. From all over the world we have great stories to tell.

This month we climb inside the handbag of Sydney’s beautiful Nicola Hancock-Thompson.

1. What 1 thing do you have in your wardrobe that has sustained the fashion evolution?

Black Gucci fine stacked wooden heel stretch fabric ankle boots.  Purchased 5 years ago on sale in the Sydney Gucci Boutique - $aud450.00.  They still look like I purchased them yesterday and the pointed toe and stacked wooden heel has never dated.  I love them with jeans or long wide leg pants – and they are dam comfortable!!!  

2. What’s one (1) thing you can’t live without?

 I love Bonds underwear!! – Oh and my husband! (we don’t have a picture of him to link you to)

3. What’s your best career moment?

I have a moment that lasted 5 years with Collette Dinnigan (Nicola is ex-boutique/wholesale headhoncho for this masthead of Australian Couture).  She is an inspirational woman and gave me the most amazing opportunities.

4. Five (5) things on your shopping wish list? Diamond Tennis Bracelet (might have to wait a while for that), 1960s Mercedes Benz 250SL convertible (might be waiting for that also), Hermes Leather passport holder, Chloe tan leather boots, Phillip Lim 3.1 dress – love his stuff!

5. Your ‘top tip’ (shopping or dressing or both).

 Know when to put the $$$.  Not everything has to be designer labels and prices – the key is to know where and when to invest in great pieces and to know that something’s can be cheaper.  It is the understanding of how to constantly change and up date your classics with seasonal “trend” pieces. 

6. Your biggest fashion mistake?

The outfit I made my mother make me for Mufti Day (day when you do not wear your uniform at school) when I was in about form 4 (14 years old). Red Bat wing cardigan and matching red Tube skirt – just so wrong, I hid behind the typing classroom all day. In my minds eye I was going to just look fantastic – but in reality I felt really stupid. 

7. Five (5) of your favourite stores / places to shop.

 Collette Dinnigan, Zara, La Bon Marche – (shoe and bag department), New Zealand (for anything BLACK!), Pelle – William st Paddington for recycled vintage accessories.
8. We know that what you do feels like a hobby and not at all like work. So what is it you do when you are not shopping? 

Aside from my addiction to good coffee and fashion magazines – don’t you just relish sitting down to open the latest edition of vogue with a good coffee!!!!  Just spending time with my husband, and dog.  Having great dinners and evenings out with good friends, I just enjoy making the most of our local Paddington neighborhood.

We love the idea of seasonal wardrobes, but having them in different countries or states well thats sheer decadence of the most fabulous kind. (Not your old gear that still hangs in your childhood bedroom, & only makes a comeback during a home visit).

Well the news in from self storage centre Tankar Storage (Southern Highlands, Australia) is they have had enough requests from Australians living abroad and city folk with an ‘oh so chic’ country pad - for  ‘a small space to hang their transit wardrobe’ that they thought it was time to act and follow the lead of one of their storage clients. 

So here’s the scoop. A couple of years ago, a global nomad and long term storer, insisted on redorating his storage space (which incidentaly he has 3, - for excess cars, tired-of-at- the-moment furniture and more) into a luxury Walk-in Robe for his winter and rotating shirt collection. The amused vendors of this fine storage solution must have told a few of their clients and other best dressed, because over the past 7 months they have retro-fitted 5 of their smallest dust free cells into camphor infused closets. And who is asking for these lux wardobe extensions inclusive of full length mirror? Welcome to 2007 - they are preened straight up and down men!

Should we be using this information to predict the next big trend in fashionable living? Because I wouldn’t mind some of that space myself, for my shoes at least.

My Certified Shopping Therapist said ‘Go Shopping, and I’ll see you in the morning’

 Slip on your flats for heady shopping. Inject your addiction with high voltage retail therapy. Blaze the shopping trails of our urban scouts and stylists who have uncovered the best in Mumbai shopping. Days are created to glide through the city chaos. Expect daily style clinics, local experts to unravel the city, our own city style guides for free-time shopping and excess luxury.
 
This month we are offering a shopping-love-affair deal to Mumbai, the hottest capital in lux and street retail.  
 An exclusive 8-girls-only shopping experience.
 

Temper your shopping addiction with:
 
Glamorous jewels.  Made-to-Measure plush furnishings.  Bespoke perfume and oils.  Hole-in-the-wall boutiques.  Undiscovered street chic.  Market treasures and history.  Carpets and colourful kilms.  Local trinkets and wares.  One-off hand crafts.   Export Indian cotton.  Enduring bargains.  Cherished bling.  Beaded and needled creations. Hot food and cool Hindi sounds.  Aurevedic pampering.  Feather beds. 
 

Read on for the DEAL and WHEN to pack your bags

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We haven’t been shopping in Austin, Texas. But Paul Johnson from a Luxury Travel Blog tells us about the super ‘shop and stay’ deal at the Renaissance Austin Hotel they are shouting about. And if your a lover of ’saver’ coupons and vouchers (probably because you know what drawer or pile they are stashed), well there are plenty - book and splurge….. we can already hear you tottering over in your heals with excitement.

And by the way, Did you know that beds are the best place to spread your wardrobe to work out ‘what goes with what’. Way back in the 80’s Hong Kong big time rag traders urged lux hotels (we think it was the Peninsula Hotel who did it first) to upsize their beds to enable a better ensemble spread. And now, thank you very much, everyone loves their super king.

And getting back onto one’s own bed…laying out  a travel wardrobe is what some of those delightfully ‘not’ put together tourists should be doing before packing their bag. Honestly some of the tribes we see pounding the pavement in the tropics need a heads-up on what not to wear. Spaghetti straps, big arms and birkies are better identifiers of tragedy on holiday than a contiki tour bus.

For more high octane shopping expeditions to the hottest shopping in Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, New York, Instanbul you had better contact us for our brochures because there is nothing mass market about us. Just purely creations for what and how you like to shop. www.styleclinicab.com

At last I truly maybe recognised for being body beautiful even at size 40 (by Spain’s european standards anyway) ! Not a plus size fashion reject.
According to BBC News ‘Spain is to standardise its clothing sizes for women as part of a government drive to ease pressure on young girls over their body size.
Clothes currently on sale in Spain often vary in size from shop to shop, despite carrying the same size label.  The move follows Spain’s ban of ultra-thin models on the catwalk during Madrid fashion week last September.’ Under the new sizing regulations there will be criteria amongst manufacturers to comply to size parity between brands. Yeah! a stylist and fashion shoppers dream.  And that means we shouldn’t see any more muffin rolls because finally our friends on the street will slide it into every size 12 and look magestic. Right?

You know the Spanish are taking the size bodilicious thing so seriously that they are upsizing their shop window mannequins to at least a european size 38! The good news for us though, so far away from Spain’s fashion evolution, is that the global fashion revolution ZARA and MANGO MNG have signed the agreement.

For more read  Spain Resizes Clothes for Women

Bibliochaise: For those who love to read, and show off their personal library, Italian company nobody&co has a fabulous looking seat for you. Literally covered in five meters worth (around 16 feet) of shelving area, the Bibliochaise makes storage look incredibly cool, and cuts down on space taken up by a typical bookshelf. On their site, interested buyers can change the shelf and cushion colors, all with the click of the mouse, in order to create the perfect color combination. Being a bookworm never looked so cool…

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