Latest ChinaShop Pieces
[ 14 November 2009 ]
Hopeless Hotel
Hopeless Hotel is my new favourite lingerie line. Based in Melbourne, Australia, this is a one woman show. Owned, operated & lovingly hand-stitched by Gabrielle Adamidis, her vintage-inspired delicates are in a league all of their own.
With her latest range inspired by Jaws, this is one unconventional place to look to for your skimpy but fabulous underthings. She says, “I love basing my collections around a film… But instead of the obvious things I like looking further into screenshots, like the shape of the shark’s teeth & gums, the shape of the old boat, the swell of the ocean, & then translating that into shapes for the underwear.” Any cinephile will be delighted to hear that she has tabs on basing future ranges around Revenge of the Nerds, Singin’ in the Rain, Jurassic Park, The Graduate, Heavy Metal Parking Lot, & anything featuring Vincent Price!...
Rethinking Outerwear
Revise… hats. They have a new shape & beautiful peaks to propel us forward into the future. It’s not all shapeless beanies & loose-fitting snoods any more! Equestrian helmets, bowlers, cloches, turbans & ushankas can all be snapped up for a pittance & worn to great effect. They’re wonderful for disguising a bad hair day, & somehow able to miraculously garner attention while at the same time diverting it away from your rain-soaked visage. Don’t be afraid of this fabulous accessory…
Jimmy Choo & Sonia Rykiel for H&M
Designer collaborations with retail giants like Target, The Gap & H&M seem to be a dime a dozen these days. Kate Moss works with TopShop, Rodarte teamed up with Target & even Alexander McQueen has released capsule collections so that people who aren’t on the very top of the fashion pile can get in on the fun.
What’s the value of these deals? It’s really all about economics. Of course — like there was ever any doubt! The appeal of the designer label brings a new type of customer to the mass-market retailer, while women who don’t read Vogue are given more exposure to the high-end label in question. There’s definite hype factor, too: the idea that those of us on a modest budget can suddenly own something by one of our most desired labels sends the internet all a-flutter.
But is it really worth it?...
The WORLD Brought To You By New Zealand
Known for their distinctive & bold use of color, wild silhouettes & a radical, subversive sense of humor, WORLD are one of New Zealand’s most fantastic exports. Founded by Denise L’Estrange-Corbet & Francis Hooper in 1989, they say that “the initial idea for WORLD was hatched at a bus stop late one night”...
Love letters & feather headdresses,
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Wish it rained more in “the OC” so I could make use of those deliciously beautiful umbrellas!
I used to live in “the OC” [shudder] and when I had to walk home from school it seemed like it was raining half the year :[
Now, where we REALLY need more rain is good old Arizona! Those umbrellas really are to die for.
I love, love, love Hopeless Lingerie! The lingerie blog Guilty Pleasures is actually holding a gift certificate giveaway for her lingerie line right now (http://guilty-pleasures.org/christmas-lingerie-giveaway).
I also posted some photos from the Sonia Rykiel lingerie collection up on my lingerie blog this week. I really like the peach teddy (http://bit.ly/19iBZw) and the black silk kimono (http://bit.ly/8ujtd). Plus, the prices seem very reasonable. :-)
i have an umbrella thats a frog its so adorable i wish it was still winter here so i could use it more >.<
loving your writing atm gala. im addicted..
xx
Miss S
Oooooo Jimmy Choo @ H&M really!? (Drool) Also, can u believe Winners is carrying Gwen Stefani’s LAMB & Harijuku Lovers shoes?! (Double drool!!) I think I may be my own Santa this year!! XD Wish they carried these umbrellies! They’re too cute!
Do you help collaborate with China Shop or are these posts some kind of advertising?
wow that is a lot of china shop info…
i love the lingerie!
Hi Gala, I have a problem with loading your pictures and sometimes when I try to comment, the preview page looks fine, but the comment doesn’t get posted when I hit the submit button… Just thought I’d let you know! Have a fabulous sunday!
Bailey — I write for them! I post links once a week so that people know about it :>
Mausumi — I know, things are weird. I’m doing what I can! xo
What disappoints me about these types of lovely handmade lingerie lines like Hopeless Hotel or LouLou Loves You is that they don’t seem to cater to those of us with a big rack. I couldn’t even entertain the idea of wearing the bras they sell because there doesn’t seem to be much support. Sad face.
Samantha – I have the opposite problem. Being a very small-chested femme, I’m stuck pining after pretty bras forever. :(
Gotta love the ushankas – especially the ones with pom-poms :)
I agree with Samantha, I’m a D cup and that may not be mahoosive but half of the high-street stores only seem to cater for those C and below.
I was trying to read the “Rethinking Outerwear” but when I clicked the link to ChinaShop, only the title of the article came up, and I got some sort of error. I tried going to ChinaShop directly, and clicked on the Fashion tab, but still could not view the article. Is something wrong with ChinaShop’s web site? Can you perhaps post this article somewhere else in full (I’d really like to read it)?
Medusa – I had the same problem when trying to read the Chinashop articles in Explorer. I went back to the old fave Mozilla – hope this helps :)
OMG – I am totally in love with Hopeless Hotel’s lingerie — it is beautiful!!
Samantha — I know, it is sad news for girls with big boobies. Though I have to say, if there’s no underwire (& there usually isn’t), it doesn’t really support anyone. I could be totally wrong but I tend to think of anything without an underwire as ornamental rather than practical. I have small bosoms but I still wear an underwire pretty much every day… Maybe this will alleviate some of your envy?! xo
Nell! — Thanks for helping Medusa out! I don’t use Explorer so didn’t know that. Mwah!
How come I can never see pictures on your blog? I use Firefox and instead, I see small boxes with words in them.
Looks like a great lingerie line! Love those Aussies, they are so fun with design!
xoxo
www.chicsetera.com
—CHIC news from Paris—
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Oh, cool! That lingerie is sexayyy :-P
Kiki: I use flock and sometimes that happens to me too. I think it happens when Gala’s site (and server) is really busy, so I either just refresh the page, or come back later when it’s less busy.
Aw, that heart-shaped umbrella!! Sooooo cute! That would be perfect for the current Seattle weather, Lord help me.