It's that time of the year again. My hair's messy, most of the time, my eyes seem to want to pop out of their sockets and no amount of food is enough. I'm talking about the annual exams - in case I wasn't clear enough in the title. I know quite a few of you, including myself, are preparing themselves for the annuals. Getting ready for an exam in the sartorial sense may perhaps be one of the limited and rare occasions where I hate getting dressed. Nothing's comfortable enough... not to mention - every minute counts when you know an exam's about to start. Still, if I'm not comfortable during the exam, I end up being fidgety and my grade suffers the consequences. If on the other hand I get dressed comfortably, and in a way which is 'me' it tends to affect my grade positively. If you're usually comfortable wearing sweats to school I am in no way judging you against it. I encourage you to wear whatever you deem to be the most comfortable. Speaking for myself, however, regardless of the fact that sweatpants may indeed be the most comfortable piece of apparel in the history of clothing, I won't be wearing any, simply because I'm not comfortable wearing sweatpants. I don't feel put together at all. I'm a firm believer in Power-Dressing. Having said that, I still won't be wearing heels because there's hardly a pair of heels I wouldn't want to take off after a while - and [I have been wanting to say this for a while] heels do not necessarily make an outfit look any better, regardless of the fact that they do make your behind look better.

Moving on to the essence of this post... I've prepared a few outfits which I deem to be exam-ready. As you'll see I steered clear of jewellery. As much as I love it, it's not practical at all during an exam session - when all you'll be hearing is your bangles clanking on the desk and the rings interrupting your writing. The fact that these are items which actually belong to me and photographed on my own bed, makes these outfits more attainable then polyvore sets when I may, sometimes, go a tad overboard with designer pieces. HAH!

I'm studying right now but I took a break by writing in a post. I thought I'd list the basics I've built my wardrobe on. Admittedly, I used to vow by a few wardrobe staples, but I've become more of a person who's constantly on the look-out for statement pieces. However, to make a statement piece work, you need a few basics to get you going... And since there are quite a few pieces classified under 'basics' I will divide this into a series of posts! Who knows, I might write a book about wardrobe basics some day...


I own around six types of this basic of basics. Whenever I'm out shopping a crisp white shirt is the first thing to catch my eye. It's a gift... and a curse. (I promise). Now in no way is this list exhaustive. There are a gazillion types of the white shirt. No compendium is able to record all sightings of the white shirt - the range of clothing pieves that fall under this category are endless. But here are my four favourite picks.

I'm as busy as ever right now - trying to put as much information as I can possibly fathom into my head in preparation for my exams - which, by the way, are only a week away. So amid the panic, and my brain about to reach boiling point, I came here to calm down and catch up with you all - so you'll know I'm still here, alive and kicking, although hardly 'living'.

1. turban-loving.

Since the time left to handle and control my huge hair is limited at the moment, I've found a resurging love for turbans / head-wraps. Now I did my fair share of virtual window-shopping (see what I did there - virtual windows / online shopping haha), since I did not find any better ones, here in Malta, but I did not find a single one I'd be willing to purchase. So I thought, why not make one myself? It's fairly easy trust me. All you need is a metre x metre piece of fabric or a square scarf and the result is the following (I've posted this on the Rouge Reveries facebook page yesterday.. but I thought I'd share it here too.)

[I'm currently loving paisley!]

TIP: I suggest you use cotton fabric for a turban - its easier to handle and the perfect summer fabric. Prints are the preferred option for a turban, but a plain  piece of fabric could look great too - experiment all you want and have fun with it.


Psssst... I'll be posting a how-to vid or step-by-step guide on how-to tie a turban, when I have some time on my hands.

2. in the mood for...

Well, a lot of the fashion world, really, is in the mood for some Spanish-inspired style! This summer, I will be wearing a good number of red and black ensembles, red corsages, feathers and the lot...

3. currently obsessed with...

There are several things really, but top of my list would be this baby from the Balenciaga SS12 collection.

4. The chanel resort show 

I cannot, as a fashion blogger, not mention the Chanel Resort Show in Versailles. It was exquisite. Since I'm not usually one to vouch for the conventional sense of pretty, Karl hit the nail on its head with this collection - incorporating a dose of punk and combining it with the classic Chanel prettiness, I couldn't not love it. It was like Marie Antoinette time-machined her way to the 90s, then to the future, back to the 1800s - bringing with her all the decadence imaginable, including the tiles of the palace floors (see bag image), gone to the beach in the mean time and then travelled to this day and age - her head in place it seems.

 [the 90s are making a comeback. Notice the collar of this jumper? Ring any bells? Also - the creepers!]

5. my latest purchase...

This blog isn't as random as I hoped it to be originally. I wanted it to be a fashion-diary of sorts where I say whatever fashion-related thought crossed my mind as I develop my own personal sense of style. That is, relating to the simplest puzzles - like when is it okay to find a high-street version of a coveted designer item or the basest question - the existential fashion question: what is fashion?
But eventually I began to take le blog too seriously, at which point I began to actually plan posts. This may or may not have been aided by the fact that the readers themselves began to pin-point topics I should blog about.

So here's a random fashion-thought for old times sake. This evening I was having a conversation with a friend about fashion. A conversation which resulted in my becoming more confused than ever in determining the true nature of fashion. You see, everyday I develop a new way, a different punto di vista, if I may, by which I look at fashion. I've always seen it to be an art-form, an art-form based on the intricate details of life.

Let me give you one scenario. You're watching a movie which is based in a natural ambience, like the woods, or the beach, so there aren't any buildings to influence you in determining the era the movie is set in, and there are two people in it, and, really, even if you don't look at the clothing per se, you know the movie is from, say, the seventies.

That's what I believe fashion is about. The little details that make every moment a current one. Whether you're into fashion or not, fashion will influence you.

Now sometimes, fashion can be so honest, like all true art forms, that it scares people. It scares people out of their wits - cue: Oscar Wilde quote.

"A fresh mode of Beauty is absolutely distasteful to [the public], and whenever it appears they get so angry and bewildered that they always use two stupid expressions—one is that the work of art is grossly unintelligible; the other, that the work of art is grossly immoral. What they mean by these words seems to me to be this. When they say a work is grossly unintelligible, they mean that the artist has said or made a beautiful thing that is new; when they describe a work as grossly immoral, they mean that the artist has said or made a beautiful thing that is true."

And since I think writing a post without a single image can be boring I'll leave with a favourite of mine - the now sold-out Balenciaga cut-out boots. Now she's in her happy place thinking of all the outfits she'd wear her imaginary Balenciaga booties with...

First off after the array of Malta Fashion Week related posts, I feel I have to conclude and so I will start with giving a huge fat thank you to the organisers and the minds behind this year's edition of Fashion Week. I was honoured to be a part of it and to be given the opportunity to blog about the events throughout all of last week. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

I stopped midway in my last post because for one thing the post was turning out to be a long one and I eventually had to publish something and secondly because I had to catch up with what I missed doing for a whole week - namely, studying.

So what did I miss?
First off, the Awards previewed the Charles & Ron collection once again - and this time round I could get better photos, having a better camera, and the fact that I could actually watch the show and let my boyfriend take the necessary snaps without having to lift a finger surely helped.