My Passport To Style | Shares Mia Jafaris Unique Silk Scarf Designs

I was excited to discover scarf designer Mia Jafari, Mia is a London based Persian who combine themes symbolic of the British seaside with a delightful vivid technicolor palette and bold symmetrical design elements strongly associated with eastern architecture and decor that create a clean, calm, opulent feel ; little fairground horses prance in a circle around a hand with a heart in its palm against a sea of startling aqua blue silk on the Asia Manhattan scarf, the colour intensity of the aqua is so dazzling it almost makes my eyes ache! Purple buckets and spades, aqua lipstick bullets and bikinis punctuate the repeat lime medallions that boarder the central design of this silk scarf.

 This a feast of London and eastern culture, is almost baroque in its decadence, though the supreme skill of the design is the marriage of colour and symmetry which mean that the piece does not feel crowded and every element feels like it was destined to be included in the designers vision, like a great plate of food That must have fashion accessory the scarf, just got Karma!

The packaging is pretty decadent too and you might be surprised at the prices that represents such a unique labour of love.Delivary is free worldwide! Each scarf come with a swarovski encrusted swing tag.  To see more of Mias stunning designs visit  miajafari.co.uk

 

My Passport To Style | Alphabet Chic

 T is for........ Trunk the kind you want with you when your on a Steamship, half of dressing well, is knowing where to find your things, get that right and you feel invincible! 

  credits - theconranshop.co.uk

My Passport To Style | Dragon King Of Bhutan Weds Bride

My love of bright colour and pattern comes from the Nepalese side of my family. Just had to share this happy wedding snap of the dragon King of Bhutan marrying his commoner wife Pema in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. 

My Passport To Style | Reviews Sacred Locks Range For Thick And Wavy Hair

At the risk of sounding a little ungrateful naturally wavy hair is not all about glamorous shiny bouncing waves, I have lost count of the number of damp northern days that have left me with a halo of frizz so big I have dared not venture out of the house without jamming a hat firmly on my head first, I have tried many so called hair smoothing serums, however some of them contain so many chemicals they have left my sensitive's scalp in a mess and the effects have been short lived. Whilst on my monthly quest to find the one, I came across green beauty bible award winner Sacred Locks by Louise Galvin and was able to review her collection for thick or curly hair here on My Passport To Style, much to my delight.

No Nasties Here

The ingredients list which include lemon peel oil, mandarin orange oil, geranium macutalum oil and martini oil sound so deliciously fragrant I feel like sprinkling them over my morning porridge. However instead I decide to put the range through its paces.



With no Petrochemicals, Synthetic, with no SLS, PEG’s, Parabens , Silicone, I felt reassured that no nasty toxins would be entering my scalp or polluting the planet, the smell of the shampoo was subtle but pleasant, like a lot of non chemical shampoos the lather is not as full, but more than adequate. I have only recently started dying my hair and have found out one of the unpleasant effects of this is that my hair goes straw like when rinsed and get matted during the rinsing process even before I used the conditioner my hair did not mat and felt much smoother. The conditioner contains honey and vegetable proteins which is supposed to help with curl definition and the Sacred Locks hair mask has a very nice uplifting orange scent and uses seaside plum a natural silicone which are included to help smooth chemically damaged hair without creating build up.

Blow Dry Time And The Moment Of Truth

Usually I steer clear of blow drying my hair as it is often the enemy of my frizz prone locks and let my hair dry naturally, but wanting to test the range to the max I decided to blow dry my hair using my diffuser, I was left with soft waves that were much more defined, no halo of frizz and lovely sheen to my dark hair. Result! The Sacred Locks shampoo for thick or wavy hair retails at £22.00. the conditioner £24.00 and the hair masque £26.00 which for a specialist carbon neutral range which boasts Emily Blunt as one of its fans is pretty competitively priced.  


I was also sent sacred locks environmentally friendly colour removal kit which I will review here next time, as have decided to use semi permanent natural dyes on my hair which are less likely to cause cancer than some of the more aggressive chemical dyes available, but would like to take my base colour back to its true original colour by stripping out permanent dye used in the past. Visit founder Louise Galvin and her award winning green product range here.

My Passport To Style | Jonathan Saunders Auntumn/Winter 2011

Every now and then you find a designer that knocks you off balance such is their level of skill and creativity, they are not as many designers do, simply reworking the styles of the past into something fresh they are creating purely from within themselves and their own library of creations. Scottish designer Jonthan Saunders with a BA in textile designs is able to do this and the magic ingredient used, is his abillity to elevate the world of print and colour to a whole other level, take this simple shift dress, that is printed to look like a two piece, great for short waisted women like myself as it creates the illusion of a longer waist not using cut, but colour and print.

 Bunny In The Headlights!

 When I first spotted this dress, I was like a bunny caught if the headlights, (Saunders clothes do that to you, they draw you into their world) when an animal flashed into my head.Want to know what it was? A sleek black panther with brilliant green eyes, before you think I have lost the plot, when I broke it down I realised that my association with the designer and this animal was more than just about the colours used such as the black and the large green diamond used to ofset the tunic top of the dress, the connection to a panther is more about the air of mystery and supreme confidence Sauders designs evoke, the foilage prints are very organic but he has cleverly mixed acid brights with neutrals that give a edgy feel and contrasted that with the bold placement of large geometric shape, that adds up to a sleek sequence of pattern, shape and colour.

Fearless Beauty

 These are timeless clothes, for confident women who know who they are and are drawn to the exotic, they are fearless in their approach to life, not suprisingly Saunders stately following includes Madonna and Michelle Obamma. I could lock myself in a room of his prints and be lost for hours in their beauty, this award Scottish designer is a design talent of epic proportions who understands who to flatter a womens shape.

    

credits Jonathon Saunders

My Passport To Style | A Date With Dr Marten





With texture playing such a big part in luxe looks this Autumn/Winter 2011 season, I was excited to discover that the iconic masculine Dr Marten shoe which is so current this A/W has been elevated to new dizzy luxe heights, by the addition of some new finishes and materials, Dr Marten have used metalics in their new collection as well as ostrich hide, which adds a really organic feel, almost conker like, which resonates so well during autumn. I have had a faux ostrich pumpkin satchel for years that still works brilliantly when I need to add a dash of texture to a new look.



ostrich and conker skin not that different asthetically







credits for last 3 images style bubble  

My Passport To Style | Stella Mccartneys Spring 2012 Collection

Hi Gals, me thinks Stella Mccartneys latest collection was inspired rather heavily by paisley print, i'm impressed by the diversity of designs she created that reflect the curves of this famous tear drop design that hails from Kashmir, where it was first woven into wool shawls. These are my favourite pieces from her recent collection. Do you love Paisley or hate it? What are your thoughts on Stellas latest collection, gals? 

My Passport To Style | Alphabet Chic

B is for.....

 Belt Buckle collection, Bellissimo! 

credits- victorialouise.co.uk

My Passport To Style | Granny Gives Long Distance Beauty Tips!

Hi Gals, grannys not around right now she is enjoying the sea air off the Almafi coast, however she decided that readers of My Passport To Style might apreciate her insight when it comes to matters relating to personal grooming and beauty. I have to confess to getting slightly huffy as I had something planned for this slot, however Granny it such a charmer she won me round and her second slot here, given that Granny says a blog is just a inflated word for diary she is doing pretty well to put in a second appearance! So after a long drawn out phone call with granny. She imparted the following hard won wisdom regarding a beauty regime that she credits with keeping her looking the way she does. I was not about to tell her I had been doing it all wrong, but was very was suprised to learn that Granny credits her svelte nose that I have long admired, to nights spent with a clothes peg at the end of her nose! You have to admire her courage!

Grannys hard won beauty and grooming tips

1. Granny credits washing in cold water as the secret to small pores and silky smooth skin.

2.Next she advices to only sleep on your back, if your marital snuggles suffer,so be it she says sternly, this is the only route to reducing the wrinkes around your eyes.

3.Granny says that in her day bloating had never been heard of and neither had passing on the bread basket! She credits her slim tum and tight jaw line to chewing each mouthful of food one hundred times!

4. Next she advocates only wearing fitted clothing or if you are wearing somthing loose to always wear a belt with no acceptions, the reason which was drilled into her by her ballet instructor is good posture, if we are aware of our tummy and our waist we are more likely to pull them in, thus strengthening the muscles which leads to a flatter stomache. 

Bellissimo granny!

credits - hubpages.com

  

My Passport To Style | Marc Jacobs Summer 2012 Collection, At Paris Fashion Week

ill fitting lady like does not work

The question on every ones lips right now is will Marc Jacobs take over the helm at Dior? Well firstly I need to say I'm a huge fan of the man and his work, but in my opinion there were some pieces that just did not work, you know the saying a model can wear a bin liner and still look great, well it simply is not true, I know Vivienne Westwood will be displeased with me for saying that, sorry Vivienne.

Now to explain my bin liner analogy of course non of Mark Jacobs clothes looked remotely like a bin liner, however some of his detailing in this collection was supersized and as such looked ill fitting in my opinion, such as his collars and some of the skirts, now of course this is pure Marc Jacobs to be playful with proportions and materials which is often what women love about Marc Jacobs, because of his ability to inject a youthfulness into even the most sophisticated of looks and this season is the season of playing with proportion, we are seeing cocoon coats and sloping shoulders popping up all over the high street right now.


But fit never goes out of fashion and where as a cocoon coat might work beautifully to disguise a fuller shaped bottom half and show of shapely calves on a real woman, on a model who is let's face it is pretty angular, where Marc had played with shape by stretching out skirt lines, these dresses from his collection ended up looking like pretty, but rather deflated stiff crisp packets, rendering the models wearing these pieces awkward in their ill fitting garments and helpless rather than carefree.


There was much to love however, in this collection, clever use of metallic's, pastels and primary colours all held together by a variety of textured floral shapes. Mr Jacobs masterfully combined large flower laser cut outs, with a clean sporty aesthetic the crisp white roll neck featured was cut to perfection, the navy and white large broderie anglaise pattern, biker jacket with navy small broderie anglaise print skirt was achingly chic, as was the egg yolk yellow swing coat again in broderie anglaise with large collar cream collar. Marc Jacobs popularity stems from his intuitive sense of knowing what women want from clothing and what men like to see women wearing, the two are of course completely different, but Marc Jacobs genius, is in his ability to combine the two so seamlessly .