Mr.StrictlyIntimate
the Life, the Love and the Sex of Vienna.Archive for Burberry
The “ME” in the Stories I Tell
First of all, I don’t take myself that seriously. I take what I do seriously, and I try to do a good job. (Denzel Washington in GQ US Oct 2012)
At University I feel like being at a point of struggling lately. I don’t have a problem with my grades or my motivation or with the environment. I am actually quite comfortable there, though, there are a few things that really bug me, but hey, you can find things that bug you or make you mad or angry always somewhere, somehow. So, that’s no big deal for me.
As you already know from some earlier entries, I am getting my master’s degree in Journalism and New Media — if you haven’t known so far, you know now. These studies involve a lot of writing, heavy writing. Sometimes these written exposés try to take me out of my comfort zone and I’m going there, out of it. But early on, when signing the contract with the university, I kind of made a pact with myself. I swore to everything that’s worth the world to me, you know, Burberry; VOGUE; Jane Austen; that, no matter what I was about to say or write or do, it would always be consisting of three things: HONESTY, STYLE and AUTHENTICITY.
With everything I write and have people read I want them to not just get to know me and my point of view, I want to present them the perspective of someone finally having an opinion and putting it out there. Even if they do not agree with what I have to say or like the way I say things but at least, it makes them think about my words and actions and opinions and maybe even gets them to form their own opinions — either on me or the topics I write about. I don’t want people to always agree with me, I think most people don’t get that I live for making them speechless; wondering if I’m really being serious. I love to make people laugh or cry reading my words. I love people to be confused by my words; to later on think about what I said once. I want them to form an opinion about my words — either good or bad.
But, what I want the utmost is for them to always find ME in the words I write, the stories I tell!
That’s not because I think I am the most brilliant person in the world, or the most talented, or the most articulate, or the one everyone has to listen to. I know, compared to a lot of other more influential people I might am not influential at all but still — who I am reflects who I want to be. And one day I want to make a change. I want to show people that they can achieve anything they want if they truly stay themselves and go ahead with it. Pull it off relentlessly.
I just want people to know that they can rely on me having an opinion; having a character that I can put out there, a character that doesn’t give a fuck about the things other people say just because they do not like the fact that I’m straight forward and relentlessly sincere. That is the authenticity in my words. I know, I may put a lot of fashion words in writing because I love the visual language and emotional depth of clothing. I want to be a character, people trust because they know one hundred percent that I am honest with them, and straight forward, and that everything I say and write and do is authentically constituting myself. Giving them a part of something they might be able to relate to.
This is who I am and I can’t understand why people always try to force you to be more like the others or more formal or writing based on guidelines. I write what I think and feel and would say in every second I live and breathe, for everything I always wanted to do.
Don’t get me wrong — I do abide by a certain set of rules when it comes to writing, like grammar or spelling. But what I want people to understand and accept and respect and tolerate is the fact that out there one must be himself and unique in order to survive this crazy mixed up world. That is what I am — that is what I believe in — that is what makes me truly special and different. I know who I am and I always make sure people understand that no matter what I say and write and do — it’s done by myself. With outspoken HONESTY, sharp STYLE and one hundred percent AUTHENTICITY. All three in capital letters.
Take it, or leave it.
Amen Fashion.
XOXO
Burberry Prorsum: The S/S13 Amazement
Burberry Prorsum Womenswear Invitation
With tears in my eyes and a heart that was skipping a heavy beat every time a new outfit appeared on the runway, I was watching the Burberry Prorsum fashion show from London Fashion Week today. Let me tell you one thing, apart from the beautifully touching and perfectly fitting music, Christopher Bailey has created a Spring / Summer 2013 collection for Burberry that just blew me away and left me shivering breathlessly and speechlessly.
I just sat there staring at the amazingly drafted clothes and thought to myself, ‘THIS must be what heaven feels like.’
I know, this all might sound a bit overly dramatic but believe me if you’ve been through what I’ve been through and if fashion turned out to be the only thing that can save you from failing you will find yourself in a world where everything all of a sudden seems brighter and more beautiful just because you can dress up and go out; or simply wake up in the morning and jump out of bed because a new outfit is waiting for you; or you can just sit there, staring at your wardrobe putting together outfits for a whole week, losing yourself in the most precious of fabrics, designs, labels.
To this date, nothing made me feel more beautiful, precious and happy than wearing Burberry. It is not about people seeing the label you wear because mostly, they can’t see. It is just about the feeling it gives you to know you’ve bought yourself something that is marvelous in design and quality; reflecting tradition that was found back in 1856 with Thomas Burberry and that still lives on. It gives me the feeling that I can live on forever if I just work hard for all the goals I want to achieve; for all the dreams I have in mind; for all the love for fashion I have inside me – to let it all out and create something uniquely amazing. For myself, and for others.
Bright Metallic Trench Coat
Bright Metallic Trench Coat Detail
Metallic Python Vinyl Capelet
Metallic Python Vinyl Capelet Detail
Metallic Corset Jacket
Metallic Corset Jacket Detail
The collection couldn’t have been more inspiring, more soothing, and more diverse in fabric than it has been. We saw trench coats from metallic lurex mixed with a technical fabric to make it lightweight and comfortable yet perfectly structured. Also an amazingly bright, bold and beautiful capelet in metallic python leather and bright vinyl with a python leather laminated with reflective foil to act as a frame for the tailored transparent vinyl. Corset jackets made from metallic and silk fibres crafted in plissé fabric featuring a bustier bodice and corseted back to give a sculpted silhouette.
Peacock Feathered Trench Coat
Peacock Feathered Trench Coat Detail
Tailored Satin Capelet
Tailored Satin Capelet Detail
Sculptural Dégradé Bubble Coat
Sculptural Dégradé Bubble Coat Detail
What didn’t just make me gasp but let Anna Wintour surprisingly turn her sunglass protected head with amazement (there you see the connection to the headline) was the marvelously beautiful peacock feathered trench coat with iridescent peacock plumage rosettes, crafted using couture techniques. Each of these feathers was placed by hand and afterwards stitched into a geometric floral design. The trench is finished with a collar made of rich satin and heritage-influenced epaulettes, cuff straps and a satin belt.
Absolute highlights have been all those beautifully tailored capelets, especially the ones made from floating satin. The canopy shape shelters the shoulders from the cold and is detailed with a leather latch. The dégradé effect on the blue coat results from a design painted by hand. Printed on silk the hand painted color changes its character to a dramatic twist.
Laser-Cut Leather Caban
Laser-Cut Leather Caban Detail
Last but not least, I found this caban to be worth mentioning for its pure beauty! Crafted from rich leather in a unique lace design it is laminated with a thin layer of metallic foil while the leather is laser cut then washed to soften the metallic sheen.
If this collection doesn’t take away all the doubts of fashion haters that this world is uniquely rich of talent, depth and beauty I can just say screw you! What Christopher Bailey created for the Spring/Summer 2013 season is not just divine but one of the most beautiful Burberry Prorsum Womenswear collection I have ever seen! Kudos, Christopher Bailey!
XOXO
P.S.: All pictures courtesy of Burberry.co.uk. You can see the whole show and shop the looks exclusively for one week: Burberry Prorsum Spring/Summer 2013 Show.
The Airport
All packed with my favourite Burberry pieces and four killer outfits I am currently sitting in a café at the Vienna International Airport waiting for my boarding to begin. One more hour to go…
As I am sitting here I am observing the people in their partly hideous, partly glamorous, and partly weird outfits. I see green and red coloured hair. I see some Dior and I see some H&M. I see some people who care about what they are wearing and I see some who don’t – at all. I see MacBooks and iPads and HPs and Sonys. People with mobile phones in busy calls and people just typing or texting or playing with their iPhones and Samsungs and Nokias… I see people already drinking beer (am I the only one with a correctly working watch reading 10.57 am?) and I see some having coffee or tea or water. Wait… I need another coffee.
I sit here, observing all these people while listening to the new album of one of my favourite bands The Gaslight Anthem. ‘Handwritten’ was released in July by Mercury Records and is a masterpiece that stands for itself. Those who came across this band before will maybe know their major hit songs ‘The ’59 Sound’ or ‘Great Expectations,’ which is one of the few songs that nowadays really, really gets to me.
You know what? I love it here – I love the people uneasily looking at their watches every ten seconds just to make sure the plane doesn’t depart without them. I love the people busily occupied with themselves and the people wandering around to grab a bite, or a drink. I just love the busyness in the air – damn, I am addicted to that.
I will relax now to read my VOGUE – stay tuned because there is way more to come. Today is a very busy day.
XOXO
P.S.: Here’s a little hint on where I am really going:
Nelly Furtado – Spirit Indestructible
[Album: The Spirit Indestructible]
Vienna: the Fashion City. Fail.
Currently when I am in public wandering round the streets or being on the way to a meeting or a dinner I find myself being observed by people crossing my way in a very strange manner. The minute people look at me the weird way they do I am wondering if there is something wrong with my face or my outfit and then the next second I find myself realizing I am still in Vienna and we all know – Vienna is in no way ‘Fashion Forward’ even though a lot of Austrian designers, some of which are bad, some of which are extraordinarily good, some of which are truly irrelevant; and fashion bloggers who find themselves being so incredibly important in this fucked up country, try to turn it around by saying ‘Vienna is on the way to becoming a fashion city.’
There I find myself saying, ‘NO. It definitely isn’t!’ Just because a city has stores like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Giorgio Armani, it doesn’t become fashionably. Having shops like that is called economy. Just because a city all of a sudden has the idea of hosting its own fashion week, it doesn’t become a fashion metropolis. If you have ever visited the Vienna Fashion Week you’ll realize that it’s called embarrassing. Embarrassing because all of a sudden all bloggers become fashion bloggers just because they post pictures of their stupid outfits because they don’t have anything important to say.
Embarrassing because all these bloggers suddenly become journalists and demand accreditation because they are so important.
Embarrassing because Vienna’s elite of Z-list celebrities all of a sudden decide they are oh so A-list that they have to be photographed at the VFW just because they will then be in shiny magazines where everyone can see their fabulousness.
None of these people really have an understanding for fashion or a sense for style. Fashion and its history always vanishes at celebrations like these in Vienna – just to make space for people who are full of themselves showing off what they do not have — class, style and elegance. That is the main problem of Vienna’s society and the reason it will never turn to a fashion city, fashion metropolis or capital of fashion. Because people here just do not have class. They do not have an understanding for the changes fashion has been through and its history. Fashion is far more than going to a store being able to purchase a €3.400 Burberry trench coat. It is far more than going to Zara and getting yourself an outfit you can post about the next day. Fashion is knowledge. Knowledge of its dimensions — its reach, its history, its global impacts, its designers, its collaborations, its cultural impacts, its influences, its politics, its development.
To me it is rather ridiculous to post an outfit on one’s blog calling themselves journalists or fashion bloggers because there is nothing connected to the meaning and understanding of ‘fashion’ at all. All there really is, is lack of attention that needs to be compensated. And that is what Vienna’s Z-listers and ‘fashion’ bloggers who only post about their outfits really do for a living.
To be continued…
(…because I have a lot more to add!)
XOXO
P.S.: I know the way I wrote this is very open and yes I do know that a lot of people may be personally attacked with this but that is what I intended to do. Since no one seems to be honest anymore it is about time someone is. And that one seems to be me. I very well know that I am not perfect and that I still have a lot to learn fashion wise but I honestly dare to say I know way more about fashion, its history, its impacts and influences than those wannabe fashionistas.
Untouchable.
Some time ago I believed in love – irrationally, dreamily, vulnerably. I believed that out there was the one person who was able to make you as happy as you possibly can be. I have had this love. Or, I believed I had it. I don’t know. I can’t put it to words… but I will try.
I know that out there is no one I could love as much as I have loved this very special man. He was handsome (still is, as far as I know), polite, had the sense of humor I loved and was in every possible way absolutely right for me. I was happy. Sometimes. Sometimes I was just sad because he wasn’t there. And sometimes because I wasn’t there. It seems, timing was all wrong for the two of us. Or, I was just not the right for him.
Now you may wonder – why past tense? Why am I writing in a time that has passed quicker as I could say ‘Burberry?’ Well, simply because I have realized that sometimes ‘to love is not enough.’ It is not enough to say ‘I love you’ a million times without taking actions, without really showing you that one’s love is able to cross boarders and move mountains.
As time passed by I changed and my belief in love was shattered. This is not supposed to be a story where you all feel sorry for me because I neither want you nor myself to feel sorry for that because we all know that things like that have happened to other people too. So that is what matters. That you are not alone when it comes to things like losing someone you’ve sincerely, dearly and honestly loved.
You should cherish the possibility of having been loved (even if not the way you would have wished it, maybe) or having been able to feel love towards someone, to express it. Because it is only a lost thing if you have never even tried to express what you feel for someone. That is the only waste – Not having experienced love at all.
I may have lost the faith in the existence of love and may have grown to be very cynical and sarcastic about ‘love’ and the way people treat it sometimes but that is only because I have experienced my personal high in loving someone, knowing that there is nothing that can top what was there already. Maybe that is the reason why I do not think about giving it another shot – because, well, simply put, nothing… no one can compare. Nothing and no one ever will. Some feelings are Untouchable. Like a distant star. Like Taylor Swift once sang.
One of the songs that make my heart skip a beat of sadness because of the realness of the song. Perfect for this topic: Emeli Sandé – Suitcase from her debut album ‘Out Version of Events’.
Forgive me, if this might sound all cheesy again but since my cynical self mostly takes the upper hand when it comes to writing it might be a welcoming change to let some emotions come through. It won’t happen that often, trust me. At least for now I have them under control again. Have a fabulous start into the new week. Enjoy your evenings with a glass of wine, like I do. Shiraz. The most brilliant wine of all.
XOXO
