fashion SPROUTS

If there is a reason why I keep going into gossip and celeb blogs, this is it. I love watching the transforming process some celebrities go through and how some of them blossom, turning into truly fashion icons. Whether the reason for the change is a personal view on clothing or a very talented stylist, I do not care. I can appreciate both things as a result of experimenting with fashion, because this is what it is all about, getting to the point where you've found your style.

For the past few weeks —maybe months— this amazingly cute actress has been popping up in blogs everywhere because of the stylish turn she's experienced. Rachel Bilson became extremely famous from her role in The O.C., where Mischa Barton got most of the attention and the good clothing. And something similar happened outside the show. Once the series was over, however, she started this process I've been talking about. The result is this lovely and —I hope— endless list of perfectly composed outfits based on beautiful simplicity and smart clothing. The last pictures of her going to Barney's in NYC coped it all. Behold.

Now, my "surprises" of the day have been MK Olsen and Josh Hartnett. I've always been a fan of Mary-Kate —although it is her sister who has me enchanted— but her last ensemble is definitely one of my favourites. 

Nevertheless, if surprises is the topic for today, I cannot skip this. I confess I have been keeping an eye on them since the first time I found out about The Jonas Brothers. Three bros; a 20-year-old, a 18-year-old and a 15-year-old one have proved that you don't need to wait for eternity to look stylish. I assume they have a professional working behind them, but this is only a guess, I'm not certain. Whichever way it is, their looks don't stop atonishing me. I would define their style as sort of a Brit preppy meets American East coast meets ethnic-retro-cool. It's simply unexplainable, but you can't stop looking.

[Credit photos: JustJared & Dlisted]

I'm off.

CELEB hunt

During the past few days, a few of my favourite (for diverse reasons) celebrities have been poping out showing their new looks around.

Pregnant Nicole Richie has been appearing in daylight more often lately, and thank God! I really missed her casual chic and the way she uses black all the time. It's just amazing. Thanks bitch!

High School Musical has already come out on DVD in the States and that means some promos here and there. Zach Efron went for a very cool look mixing white chucks and skinny denim with a shirt, a tie and a waistcoat. 

And to cope it all he added a retro jacket ro bring some shine and classiness in. I wonder who chose that outfit for him.

One of his HSM partners, Ashley Tisdale, seems to be getitng carried away in terms of fashion. She just arrived in Maui for some resting or whatever and she tought that Louis Vuitton was the best options. Of course, she had to carry all of it herself because otherwise we wouln't tell it's hers and that would be such a shame. The worst part of it is that she's wearing a tracksuit!!

It had been a while since I last spotted a candid of Heath Ledger out and about town. I never had thought we would turn into an eclectic version of a fashion freak. It is actually a ver interesting outfit and, why not, fashion estatement. It takes both loads of confidence and personality to pull that off without looking over-done or over-thought. Good job, mate.

And to finish, the most exquisite dessert. Selma Blair has been nice enough to let the whole world admire her endless style and beauty one more time. And we cannot get enough of it. The boots are fantastic, I absolutely love the height and the color!

I'm off.

[Credit photos: JustJared]

remember, remember the 8th of NOVEMBER

Roberto Cavalli's collection for H&M was, by far, the biggest disappointment out of all the designer collaborations with the Swedish company.
It was 8th of November in London —grey and rainy— and I decided, quite late though, that a visit to H&M was the right thing to do since Cavalli's collection was premiering that day. When I finally got to the other side of Oxford Street from the underground exit I had very mistakenly chosen, the adventure begun. Loads of hysterical women elbowed and look-killed each other to grab the leftovers of the catastrophe the collection was. The men line was even worse, white and black leopard prints on the sides of shirts and prices that were not worth it. Only a few pieces from the womens wear were actually good; my favourite, the mini zebra-print dress.
If this was not enough for my poor stomach to take, today I find in style.com's main page a video from the NYC premiere of the collection in one of H&M's biggest stores. And everything was self-explained. Roberto Cavalli has deteriorated ot the point of looking like a drunken Italian rich pimp with touches of tackiness and a frightening orange-ish tan. Can't even talk about the cigar.

Odes shall be written about this tragedy.

I'm off.

CRUEL intentions...

...that's when I fell in love with her. A nasty under-age girl playing a hot innocent high-class music student and making out with —hello?— Sarah Michelle Gellar, which used to be as hot in her black leather pants. Selma Blair is now also a fashion icon for me. She hangs out with ever-desintoxicating Pete Doherty and Marc Jacobs and she mixes his creations and Prada's as is she was dealing with Primark stuff.


Then came the haircut and the dying. Hence, Hedi Slimane for Dior Homme. It was the perfect androgynous look: black skinny jeans with a ivory loose tank top, fitted black blazer "à-la-Slimane" and aviators. Just my kinda girl. Great styling moments like this have repeated incesantly ever since, providing the Blair lovers with more overwhelming brilliant fashion moments than we are even able to take. Her haircut inspired fashion-victim Victoria Beckham to have her hair in a way we won't ever be able to forget, but we shouldn't forget either that it was Selma who did it first; and she took it to the next level.

First was the shocking cut, then the shocking über-blond dye and later the army-inspirated cut which was simply the consequence of not cutting your hair for a while. But she'll pull it off in an effortless heartbeat. And I love her, I love her, I love her!








I'm off.

time for a CHANGE

Dear soVIPreaders,

Since I moved to London only a couple of months ago most aspects of my life have suffered a change or better, an improvement. This is why it feels just right to rearrange soVIPzone's late motif; not its essence, but its way of showing contents.
Fashion blogs are not unordinary these days, in fact loads of them rise out of the blue everyday. I feel that the fashion world, like most things in our world now, is walking to quite a snoby direction I strongly disagree with. It is true that there will always be a certain snobism and superficiality to fashion, but its real essence is porsuing beauty through art. That is what I want to do with soVIPzone, find the precious things out there and share them with those who, like me, see fashion as a way of self-expression without worrying about anybody else's opinions.

I shall start my journey through that path now.
There will be no more reviews or anything that follows standards. Everything will be my way, about what I like. soVIPzone will be ME.

I'm off.

SCARIER than halloween

As promised only a day ago and as full proof of soVIPzone's return to regular business I proudly present you with my personally selected list of the most disgusting features of the season.
Every season thousands of new commercials start showing up on TV and on the papers and magazines and it is us who, in the end, have to bear with the fact of having to take one more look at it. Yes, it gets scary, gross and annoying. Have a look at my "favourites".

Let me begin with this unbelievably classy brand that Guess is. Taking that taste is something flying around the air of Guess' corridors, it should not come as a surprise that they managed to take tackiness to a WHOLE new level splashing a black and white picture of a hooker on the new ad for "Guess Gold", the brand's newest perfume. If it smells like the ad it's not good; not by far.
Something I have noticed since I arrived in London is how amazingly popular UGGs are. I never thought this Hollywood-created trend would last for so long in a city this fashion-forward. However, success has not meant anything positive for the brand. UGG's new creations are more appropiate for Skechers. Don't buy them, hopefuly they'll stop when they go to bankruptcy.



Now, once again, i signori Domenico Dolce and Steffano Gabbana have decided to keep going wild, and cheesy. If last season's "Animalia" line devoted to leopard prints wasn't enough, they chose to make it a constant for this Fall's D&G line. Just swell. I name leopard prints the top annoying trend of all times. But, wait, this is not all. Dolce & Gabbana also appears in this list for providing us with the most tasteful collection of adverts including random naked studs. How lovely. (Steven Klein, my prayers are with you. We'll all forget you ever shot this).
Should we talk about lack of originality? Miu Miu surprised me a lot a few seasons back when they started those intense and plastic-coloured ads on magazines, I thought it was quite innovative and interesting. However, when you try to squeeze this sort of invention and make exact-looking commercials for seasons, there's just nothing interesting about it anymore. The same occurs with those shocking Dolce and Gabbana metalic corsets from the Summer collection. They did look as a big statement back then, but reusing a successful item is simply wrong. Sorry.


I feel bad for her, she used to be cute and nice to look at. Not anymore. Keira Knightley and her ludicrous obsession of looking skinnier than Michael Jackson high on kid-candy are at the point where it's not pleasant to stop and stare anymore. First it was the "Coco Mademoiselle" perfume advert for Chanel, where a hat covers the unexistant and bones pretend to be sexy. Then, on October's Vogue UK cover, there she was again; trying to look glamourous in a black gown with silver sequins like a moviestar from the 50's. Guess what? She did not pull it off. There was nothing to fill the dress, bones do not have any expression.

I would have never imagined, even in my wildest dreams —or nightmares—, that this was going to happen. Sasha Pivovarova, my russian baby, is featured in Swarovski's ads for Winter and they are beyond horrid. It is too painful looking at my gorgeous eastern beauty in that hideous clothing and wrong make-up. I'm here for you, hun.


Being a model has to be hard these days, that's for sure. But it means more hard work if you are a Lacoste model. They have been jumping around like crazy for a while; that has to be exhausting. Put on the next outfit, have your hair and makeup done and there, go, jump your butt off honey! Well, gotta make your living, right?
Versace's love for white was never a secret, they create their basic line based on white (like that hideous bag Britney carries everywhere) and mistakes are made, of course. This time, not only the background and the accessories of the ads are white, but all three dresses in it too. Is that supposed to be a statement? That Versace has enough skills as to come up with a whole collection in white and make it work? That is something only Valentino can do!

I love the fact that every season means the appearance of a new "IT" bag and I like even more that designers have to fight —in terms of business— with each other for only one to achieve this. But apparently watching this success from the outside makes you feel the strange urge of run and dive in the pool. Cartier —the old jewelery and watch house— decided to go for it and create a bag. There is actually nothing special nor horrible about it, but it is because of this that it means an insult as "it" bags have to be out there and be desired.
Mr. Michael Kors used to be object of my respect, a person I would refer to as "the American Giorgio Armani" and this is a name I do not dare to use in vain, you know that. But lately Mr. Kors has decided to sort of let go and make others choose his advertisments for every collection even when the latter are not the brightest of his career. This season's paper ads are dumb, like they hired a just-got-out-of-uni publicist. I hate it. And speaking of dumb. Some months ago the italian denim brand Diesel prepared a set of attention-catching commercials with "funny" statements at the bottom. Well, NOT FUNNY! They have been keeping on doing them non-stop now and, yes I want to buy their jeans —that's not new!— but I also feel a very strong desire of stabing myself in the eye.


I have saved the best for the end, as you do with dessert. Two words: Jennifer Hudson. One word: Yuk! I'm not a fan, you know that, but which kind of person would look like a hook-ish Ursula from The Little Mermaid to promote Avon??!!! If that look and that face —and God! that voice and accent— were not enough, she decided to use her beauty and talent to be the face of the most random company ever (with all my respect to Avon). Jenny, Jenny, you sneaky thing!


And now, for the grand finale, give it up for Spanish stars —and now designers?— Penélope and Mónica Cruz!! The Spanish brand Mango has very wise management, get a couple of stars and make them tell everyone they "collaborated" on the designing of the line. The result: uncountable sales! The problem with this is that not only Penélope is annoying to death or that they did not do a thing concerning "their" designs or that the clothes are "blah"; the problem is that wherever you went this fall you would find them in billboards, buses, magazines, newspapers... are milk bottles next?
Anyway, the season's news are pretty much done so we can rest for a little while until Spring kicks in and we'll have to put up with the usual crap.

I'm off.

PS. Stay tuned for an update next week: "Hottest items of the season".

UPDATE!: soVIPmusts for women and men have been updated!

HARDCORE cold, part II

As promised, here it is!

Since we, men, have always been a little left behind in fashion matters I decided to add four more looks to the original twenty this special was supposed to include. Behold the art created for Fall/Winter 2007.



Alessandro Dell'Acqua includes bright hues in the shape of coats and jackets. Red dances with grey and black, giving them just the exact touch of modernity without being over the top.


It is quite suprising to find a Fall collection for which fresh is the best description. But McQueen thought it right; his models and outfits look like they were taken out of a Ken "Barbie" doll box and maximized to fit a human. There is always something spiritual about Alexander's creations.


Does it look familiar? Duh. Balenciaga's men line shares inspiration with that devoted to women, for once we get to enjoy of the strongest trends of the season. Pants widen up just enough to let us walk more comfortably and still look cool. Genious.


Christopher Bailey is a lucky man. This season's trends include as an important focal point trench coats, which instantly rockets Burberry Prorsum to the head of coats-selling for Winter. Ink blue and oversize are to be considered if you want to look hot this season.


Calvin Klein collection leaves its usual monochromatic inclinations to broaden the color range. The magnificent simplicity that has always made special the brand allowes it to include bright colors with no risk of looking tacky. Take a look at the leather two-pieces nobody will wear.


Once again, color is not a key word however it does show up several times in the collection. Coats go up to the waist to let the long sweaters show. Think Costume National. Think GREY.


Used as we should be to Dior's rockstar looks, it came as a great surprise that skinny and rehab would keep company to that look this season. I would definitely say it is a pretty interesting statement as it is to be able to put together any particular trend with an especific style.


Could anyone please tell Domenico and Steffano to come out out the bubble? it must have a little hole, though, because despite it they got the season's trends to their collection. I sort of find amusing how they put together their amazing jeans with an awful silver oversized wool sweater. Try to survive.


As womenswear did, Dsquared2's line for men has an obvious "dominatrix" inpiration. Fortunately, Dean and Dan could help dominatrix to be all over the place and bring back their Canadian view for most of the mens collection. I would definitely wear most of them.


Fendi achieves a great success in the modernization process. It adds very innovative accessories and overalls like this one in the picture to the house's classicism. I would sell myself to get that piece.


Giorgio Armani updates his signature looks with loads of fur and leather on his jackets and hats. High necks get mixed with different cuts of blazers giving the wearer elegant and modern looks like this one.


Here comes my favourite of the season. I personally love the whole hunting look. As if you were going to an idyllic british cottage and really desire to look wonderful at all times. Gucci is totally my thing.


See? Hermés manages to do with menswear the same done with womenswear. Updated looks apparently intended for riding but so chic and yet casual that they make a remarkable piece of ready-to-wear for the nowadays' man. Signature leather and silk scarves for men; just magnificent.


A country getaway is quite a recurring theme in the winter. Designers seem to think they can go no wrong with it, well thank God! John Varvatos spiced his F/W 2007 collection with glimpses of rockstar to his looks. It almost seems like rehab in the mountains or Mr. Kobain plays in the snow. Whatever it is, no one should miss this collection.


I always have a hard time trying to classify Marc Jacobs' collections into an only category of inspiration. This season's is sort of a nerd goes cool. He mixes british preppy with his very own and undescribable style and the result was this; a compilation of very well-cut garments with the coolness only Mr. Jacobs knows how to provide his art with.


I'm starting to fear the possible fact that I do not get Michael Kors at all. I used to think I did and I adored his creations, but not lately. His last three collections have caused confusion in my mind; sometimes it seems like he tries too hard and there are times when the sensation is of lack of willingness. While I try to figure out my opinion on the New York designer, have a look at his way of introducing the season's trends into his usual thinking.


Here goes my other favourite for Fall. He is usually just swell whichever the season or the inspiration are. This time he amazes us —yet again— with his outstanding ability to bring preppy to adult men. Folks, grab some of Paul Smith's stuff and rock it at the office!


Miuccia Prada created her lines for men and women at a time. Her particular degradé settled an important trend for Fall and so did her treated and colored wool sweaters and two-pieces. It is definitely not the most wearable collection for winter but it quite a fashion statement.


I have always been into Ralph Lauren's clothing, not only for matching most of my thinking concerning fashion, but for his delicate taste in country menswear. This time, he has created his personal universe in which Robin Hood rules again in the forest but dressed more comfortably and definitely chicer. Very interesting.


Véronique Branquinho brings together formal and casual wear. It's the perfect brand to find those special and good-quality pieces you so much desire to have in the back of your wardrobe for as long as you live. Classic with a touch of authenticity.


American preppy (yes, I'm already sick of this word) goes crazy; this is how I named Viktor & Rolf compilation of garments for the Fall. Oh, and yellow is all over the place!


Yohi Yamamoto performs a mixture of his trademarked freakness with all colors while combining them with different-cut garments to create layers and shapes.


Absolutely French-tastic! Yves Saint Laurent makes a perfect mixing with classic wool pieces and oversized sweaters and cardigans together with coats in different cuts and the wonderful dark green and mustard. Two must-colors to look really elegant in Winter.


This brand is pretty much a starter on the runway yet; however, Z Zegna reaches the perfect combination of a homeless and the old newspaper kids/Oliver Twist with just the right amount of preppy in the shape of wool goods.



This is it. My personal selection of the best 24 looks from the greatest Fall/Winter 2007 shows. Hope you have enjoyed it, I certainly have.
Stay tuned this comig week for a new update: the list of soVIP Fall reviews you'll be finding in your coolness source during September.
I'm off.

[Credit photos: style.com]