Style Hunter’s Diary
Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity.
Ray Douglas Bradbury
It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy.
You can’t try to do things. You simply must do.
Tag: euphoria
Designer Interview – Janina Grigore
Posted in by Poppy
If it’s expressive, eye-catching and intricate jewelry that you are after, then Janina Grigore is the go-to lady. With the belief that jewelry making is more an art form, her love for the art has literally changed her life
Hello Janina, can you please just tell us a little more about yourself?
I was born and grew up in a little town in communist and post-communist Romania and spent a lot of time in the countryside, in my grandparents’ village, at a time when villagers were still wearing gorgeous embroidered and beaded traditional costumes.
It was there that I was taught all types of crafts from sewing, embroidery, knitting to Crochet. I have always loved to draw and paint with watercolours and I was always making dresses for myself and my dolls, cutting up any clothing items I could get my hands on, to my parents desperation. I remember even creating my own fashion catalogue …which looked terrible, but I was so proud of it at the time!
Although I grew up with creative dreams, life took me on a different path. I also loved studying, in fact I was very geeky, and at 14, I started qualifying for yearly National Olympiads in Geography, which required all year round study. After high school I continued studying the subject at university and then after graduation I took up my first role as a Geography teacher in a remote village in eastern Romania, where I lived for two years. In 2006 I relocated to London where I am currently still teaching on a part time basis in a secondary school in east London.
Oasis Earrings
Can you tell us the point when you knew you wanted to become a jewelry designer?
Although I love children and teaching and although I had been using my imagination through my lesson planning, I think my creative soul had been longing to come out to surface in a raw form. Everything changed in 2008, when, in a bookshop, I came across a jewellery-making book, which I bought instantly. I remember the next day I quickly purchased all the necessary tools and materials and started with very simple beading techniques. So, designing and creating has become a true obsession and a therapy for me ever since.
You say that you are fascinated by travel, have you personally done a lot of travelling and if so where have you found the most inspiring place you have been?
When I talk about travelling, I think of both real and imaginary travels. I am certainly a dreamer and having taught geography and studied places for the last 15 years it is obviously one of the reasons why my jewellery making is infused with travelling and exotic inspiration. That aside, I have also visited many beautiful places around the world. It’s hard to choose a favourite but Sri Lanka would come top of my list, which I toured by car two years ago and which inspired me to create my Sigiriya Collection, after I saw some magnificent ancient frescoes representing ‘Heavenly Maidens’ in brilliant colours on a rock wall.
Sigiriya
Sigiriya Necklace
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How to wear costume jewelry
Posted in by Poppy
Want to know a way to get a million dollar look without breaking the bank or breaking into a bank for that matter? We’ve got two words for you; costume jewelry. Adored by the A-list, selected by socialites and kept by those in the know, costume jewelry is your top ticket to the top and here Boticca shows you just how to wear it at every social function.
The night out
A night out is a costume jewelry lovers delight. Throw caution to the wind and mix and match statement earrings, bold bracelets and chunky necklaces for an altogether so-costume-it-must-be-real look.
Aztec Bangle by Jolita Jewellery
The dinner party
The more sedate setting of the dinner party is where one or two key costume jewelry pieces will really come into their own. The trick is to be bold without being overpowering, noticed without knocking everyone out, in short slightly less is certainly more.
Antwerp Earrings by Suzanna Dai (as worn by Alicia Keys)
The work party
If you want to shine at your work do for the right reasons, err on the side of caution and pick one key costume jewelry piece and work your outfit around it. Sure your style might be acres more adventurous but a work function is not the place to debut your nighttime style.
Sigiriya Necklace by Janina Grigore
The first date
A first date is a veritable minefield or possibilities. Talking too much is a big no no as is giving the date the silent treatment, similarly opening the ‘I’m really into fashion’ drawer too early mightput them off. Give the date a taster of your style, reel them in with a few interesting pieces, leaving them to want date two to get more of your quirky, spot-on style.
Leaf and branch earring by Keri Washington
For more ideas simply go to our Best of Costume Jewelry.
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Channel Gatsby Girls for Effortless Christmas Glamor
Posted in by Lauren
Whenever our wardrobe needs a dash of glamor come the party season, there’s only one decade we look to for style inspiration. Clue: It’s NOT the 1950s, despite fashion’s love in with Mad Men and Betty Draper-inspired looks this season.
No, this winter we’ll be reliving the elegance of the Jazz Age, and channeling the heroines of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. The 1920s was a decade of decadence, where ‘Bright Young Things’ lived fast, and led a style revolution, with flapper girls cropping their hair short, and teaming long pearls with decadent headgear. Think Mia Farrow – effortlessly elegant in her drop-waisted dresses in the film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, or the characters in Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies, making mischief in sequins and fur stoles.
When Kate Moss chose the theme for her debauched 30th Birthday, she went for a twenties style bash, named after the title of a novel that summed up this decade – ‘The Beautiful and the Damned’.
So how does a girl get the 1920s look? Why, by adding some decadent accessories of course! Here are our top tips for accessorizing twenties-style. (more…)
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Caped Crusader
Posted in by Lauren
Who ever thought we’d be taking style tips from Batman this winter? Every fashionista worth her salt knows that a cape is the coolest cover up for now.
Whether cute and cosy in fluffy sheepskin at Celine, or sexed up in slick black leather at Givenchy, the catwalks were a sleeve free zone for Autumn/Winter 2010.
So do you dare to wear this season’s hottest trend? Take it from Bruce Wayne – the cape is a style superhero. Practical (experience the joy of being ‘hands free’), cosy (but not stiflingly warm), and surprisingly wearable (throw one on, and you’ve got an instant style update), a cape cuts an impressive silhouette.
But with the cape all over the high street, how do you stand out in a sea of on-trend outerwear?
The best way to add oomph to outerwear is to accessorize – and what better way to decorate a cape than with a beautiful brooch?
Whether you go for an abstract modern design, or work the Victoriana trend with an ornate antique piece, a brooch is the easiest way to add a personal touch to outerwear (and anything else in your wardrobe that needs some sparkle).
Here’s how we’ll be styling our capes this winter – starring some unique brooches found on Boticca.
