I know that I haven’t been posting a whole lot lately, but you know how it is… aren’t we all busy bees? Anyhow, last week, I was in Berlin and satisfied my fashionista heart by going to the German Historical Museum (or simply: Deutsches Historisches Museum) to check out their temporary exhibition about the fashion of Europe throughout the last three centuries. It’s called “Fashioning Fashion” and what you get for your 8 Euros (or 4 if you are a student) is tons of beautiful dresses with information on the fabrics, the making, and the people who wore them.

Most dresses back in the 18th century consisted of many layers, skirts, tight corsets, and butt padding. Yes, back then, a puffy behind was very trendy. Especially the French fashion with its feminine ruffles impressed me and I was shocked that most of these dresses didn’t even look that different from what you can see on Haute Couture runways nowadays. With a little less padding and fewer layers, I am sure you could still wear some of them today.

Fashioning Fashion will be shown until 29 July, so if you’re in Berlin at the moment, go and check it out!

As I am writing this, I am sitting on my balcony with a glass of lime juice and the cool goodie bag that LigaStudios sent to me. This is just one of the great aspects of being a blogger; if you don’t find interesting brands/magazines/websites yourself, sometimes, they will find you! This is exactly what happened with LigaStudios. Thanks to their approach (big shout-out to Julian!), I am now aware of this fairly new project that describes itself as “Great Stuff For Cosmopolitan Travelers“.

Am I a Cosmopolitan Traveler? Hell yeah! Traveling is definitely in the top three of my favorite things in the world list (among fashion and food, of course) so I am naturally interested in what’s going on in other places. In the LigaStudios Journal, a Cosmopolitan Traveler is described as being defined not by his (or her in my case) location, but more by his openness and interest for zeitgeist themes and love for detail. Since I have lived in three different locations, I am definitely not defined by them and I would say that zeitgeist is my middle name.

To get to the point though, LigaStudios is interesting, because it’s more about a feeling than a specific topic. On their website, you can find articles about traveling, fashion, design, culture, and people. It’s got a really modern feel to it and is definitely a nice read.

I also want to mention their Berlin Guide that was launched earlier this year. It’s called “Berlin Inspires” and as a Berliner myself, I absolutely loved flicking through. The guide offers great advice about the best places for food, clubbing, shopping etc. and even I found a lot of places in there that I hadn’t heard of before and now desperately want to visit.

Ok, enough from me, just check it out yourself if zeitgeist is your middle name, too: Ligastudios.com

A few days ago I had one of those OMG-I-NEED-TO-HAVE-THIS-moments. I was walking along Friedrichstrasse in Berlin, it was a sunday afternoon and I decided to check out the shop windows at Quartier 206, because they are always very creative. Of course, I also had to walk by the Schumacher store, which brought back nice memories of the Vogue Fashion’s Night Out two years ago. In the Schumacher window, I saw it: The perfect bracelet! Thanks to the internet, I quickly found it in the online store. It’s the Splendor bracelet and it’s 119 Euros. Not too bad, but not too cheap either. I love the mix of classic gold with neon nylon, great contrast! If I didn’t need all my money for my upcoming New York trip, I would probably spend it on this lovely accessory.

Pictures: my own, Schumacher

I’m in my hometown for a few days before going to… wait for it… New York City! I’m very excited about NY but of course also enjoying Berlin, especially because the weather is perrrfect at the moment. Today was the first really warm and sunny day, so I took the opportunity to walk along Kudamm after having my first outdoors beer this year at Cafe am Neuen See. It felt so good to soak up the sun!

At H&M I made a great bargain from the Trend line, a beautiful white silk blend jacket was 60% off. Zara had some really amazing stuff, it’s just way too expensive for what it is, you can hardly get a Zara bag under 100 Euros anymore. Last but not least I went to the freshly opened Urban Outfitters at Kudamm. Thank god it wasn’t too crowded in there anymore. Still, it was a bit disappointing as the selection just wasn’t as big as the UO in Frankfurt.

I ended this wonderful spring day with a Latte at my favorite Starbucks and a stroll along Kantstrasse. Loving the big city vibe!

Get ready for candy colors!!! When I walked into the H&M in Frankfurt that carries the Trend line the other day, I was blinded by the beauty of Mint, Peach, and Pink. Those three colors are definitely very prominent in the spring collection of Trend and I couldn’t be happier about it. I spent about 20 minutes looking through all the clothes; there are so many pretty silk blouses, tailored blazers, leather shorts, and also great accessories like pearl collars (which I bought, post about it will follow soon) or statement necklaces. It’s a wonderful spring collection that is definitely worth a look.

I don’t think a lot of people are aware of the Trend line of H&M. To those who don’t know it, the Trend line is a slightly more expensive line of H&M that often uses better quality fabrics and is a bit more ‘trendy’ than the other lines, meaning, it picks up the looks from the runways faster and the pieces therefore are a bit more ‘daring’ than the usual H&M clothes. Trend is only sold in bigger branches of H&M, in Frankfurt it’s the one at Zeil, in Berlin there are at least two, one at Kudamm and one at Friedrichstr. So if you haven’t checked out Trend yet, I recommend you do so!

I’m so proud of my baby called Berlin Fashion Week. I’ve been to the first one in 2007 and I’ve seen it grow during the past five years - literally. And I’m not talking about the number of events and designers, which, of course, maximized, too. I’m talking about the Berlin Fashion Week tent which, to my surprise, got a lot bigger compared to 2010. It has two floors now!!! In fact, there are lots of changes concerning the tent. There is now a studio where designers can present their collections in different ways and where journalists and guests can see the clothes up close, which is great. There are more lounge seats, drinks, food, and there’s even a massage corner where you can get free massages! GREAT idea if you ask me! So, first impression this morning: I like the tent.

The first presentation I went to was 1913. Lots of cashmere, knit, sweaters, and shorts. Think comfy but expensive sunday afternoon on the couch. I really liked the make up of the models, orange eyeshadow and lipstick and undone hair.

After that, I went to the Lena Hoschek show, which btw started 30 min late. Thats a little too late for my taste. To make up for it, the show went for 25 minutes and everyone got a big goodie bag! That’s a whole lot of outfits so, well done, Frau Hoschek! The collection was really beautiful as well, the outfits seemed inspired by Paris in the 1940s.

After grabbing some lunch with a friend of mine, I went to the Mariusz Przybylski presentation which was held in one of the most beautiful hotels in the world, the Adlon (yes, that’s the one where Michael Jackson nearly dropped lil Blanket off the balcon). Finding the room was an experience itself, because of the extravagant interior design of the hotel. Mariusz Przybylski showed a collection of suits for men and women. My absolute favorite was a white one, adorned with Swarovski stones. Oh how I love sparkly things.

Speaking of sparkly, Harald Glööckler wore sparkly stones all over his body. On his face, his chest, his pants, everywhere. He was like a disco ball. But see for yourself in the pictures below.

Preparing for Berlin Fashion Week isn’t as easy as one might think. The schedule craziness starts about two weeks before Fashion Week when the PR agencies are sending out invitations and reminders. During this time, I get about four times as many e-mails as usual and let me tell you, it is not easy to stay organized and on top of everything. There are so many events all squeezed into four days, it’s mayhem. So far, my schedule includes 12 fashion shows, 2 showrooms, 1 blogger event, and some after show parties.

So, because those four days will be quite hectic, it is important to have some essentials in your handbag. You can see mine above, I got this pretty suede bag at Mango and it has the perfect size for fashion week! Inside, you will find (from left to right):

A Moschino notebook that I bought during Vogue’s FNO last year, in there I will write down notes about every fashion show, which I will turn into proper articles later on.

The Fashion Rescue Kit, that I got at my very first Fashion Week 4 years ago (geez, I’m old!!!), packed with sewing stuff, hair bands, band aids etc.

Paul Frank Lipsmacker and MAC Lipgloss.

VERY IMPORTANT! My Press ID, without which I would not get inside the tent.

Benefit Concealer and NYX Cream Blusher, two essentials that make me look fresher and more awake than I will actually be.

My wallet, my camera, gum, oh and, what you can see at the bottom is a paper fan that always comes in handy when it gets hot in the tent.

What’s missing in this picture, of course, because I took this picture with it, is my iphone in which I saved my schedule and invitations. VERY important!

So, as you can see, I’ll be carrying around quite some stuff plus goodie bags and giveaways from the designers, but I’m more than happy to carry those ;) Four days to go! I’ll keep you posted.

JOOP! posted the first picture of their S/S 2012 campaign on their facebook page and, well, it’s not that great. The dress is pretty boring, the model pretty dull, the poses quite unnatural, it’s waaaay too photoshopped, BUT, the background is what I love about it. You can see the Berlin skyline with the Fernsehturm and the park inn building. So, as a Berliner, I must like this ad. It’s also making me excited about the upcoming Mercedes-Benz Berlin Fashion Week in 10 days. After two seasons that I missed becaue of bloody exams, I will be there again and go to many fashion shows, showrooms and other fashionable events. Of course I’ll keep you posted on everything!

Aaaaand the third Vogue Fashion’s Night Out is over. Last night, the shopping streets of Berlin were packed until midnight and I was in the middle of it, of course! I tried to soak in as much as possible of the third FNO and went to, what felt like, 50 stores. Starting with Schumacher, which was amazing as always. Dorothee Schumacher greeted everyone personally and handed her guests fortune cookies and lucky charms. After half an hour there, I went into aaaall the participating shops at Kudamm, for example Tommy Hilfiger or Louis Vuitton. Most of them had their own DJ, some snacks, and lots of drinks for the customers. After four glasses of champagne I took the free FNO Shuttle to Friedrichstraße and spent the rest of the night at the Marc Jacobs store - with even more drinks - Oh and, what i bought? Some really nice boots at Zara! Enjoy my pictures…

Finally I have written all my exams for this semester and can now look forward to a week in Berlin, followed by a week in Greece. To reward myself for all the hard exam preparation, I went to Primark a few days ago and came back with two full bags of clothes and accessories. Oh my god…I just can’t resist price tags saying “Buy me! I’m so cheap!”. As you can see, I got a beautiful sheer red dress, a really cool hippie-esque white shirt with fringes and a super cute mint green ruffle dress for only 7 Euros! How can you say no to that? I also got some purple feathery earrings, an owl necklace and brown boots. Yes, I may be addicted to Primark Shopping and it will not get better next year as there will be two new Primarks opening in Berlin! One will be at Schlossstrasse and the other one at Alexanderplatz, the first one is supposed to open in March 2012.

Anyways, tomorrow I am off to Berlin!!! I cant wait to be in my hometown again and walk around Hackescher Markt and Kudamm. And of course… do some shopping. Sigh… I need more money.