Friday Fashion | Valentina Expressions

Shoes Tell Your Story | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

08 Sep 2013 4 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #ArtOfDressing, #ItalianLifeStyle, #PolishedShoes, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #SciusciáItalianFilm, #ShoeShiningKit, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

A jazzy music from the ’30 was filling the air of San Francisco’s street the other day. As I got closer, I recognized the music of Duke Ellington playing from of a boom box sitting on the pavement next to a shoeshine stall. I looked around and suddenly I was catapulted in a different time in a different country.

John_Thomson_-_The_Independent_Shoe-Black_(AIC_2012.234.19)_-_cropped

Photo by John Thompson – Wikimedia Commons Public Domain – The Independent Shoe-Black by John Thomson, 1877.

The colors of the street turned sepia colors and I was a girl in Italy walking together with my father, in a time when men took a great care of their exterior appearance and just like women, men too went into extensive hours of grooming to achieve a polished look. In my vision, shoeshine stalls were at almost every city block, ice cream vendors screamed to have the best ice cream of the entire city and bicyclists filled the streets with only a few cars, but the sound of San Francisco’s cable car returned me to reality. The magic of being in another era lasted a few seconds.

The street shoeshine stalls are disappearing in Italy too, as people find more convenient to polish their shoes at home. However, there is a majority of people in Italy still cleaning their shoes before leaving home. Italian people wear leather shoes more often than tennis shoes and the “dandy” affected look is still very much a high game in Italy. To have dirty shoes is a sign of sloppiness and uncaring to make bella figura, the Italian art of looking good in the eyes of others.

Kids shined shoes of American GIs during WWII out of necessity to make extra money. Italian film-maker Vittorio De Sica took inspiration from this new street activity to produce a film called Sciuscia’, which was the word kids shouted to American soldiers to attract their attention and let them know they were open to shine shoes. It was the way English sounded to them Shoeshine – Sciuscia’. They served only men and continued to these days.

An Italian shoeshine is a colorful street character. The man who wants to shine his shoes will be asked to sit on the high chair while the shoeshine will sing at him some Opera Aria or any well-known pop music, otherwise the two men will start talking about politics and sport, two favorite subjects men talk about in the street with strangers. A shoeshine might not be a highly educated person, but can speak four or more languages easily. At times, I heard them babble in Japanese, Chinese and Arabic, aside from the common European languages they have mastered well and mostly learned in the street from tourists. Rest assured that at the end of his service, the shoes are like brand new and the customer leaves amused.

Every home in Italy owns one elegant wooden box with all the necessary items to shine shoes beautifully and if not they have the basic creams and brushes lose in a drawer. I have a cedar box my mother left me and every time I go out the door, I polish my shoes and remember.
Now, it’s September and as every September it’s time to go through my shoes, get rid of the pairs I don’t want anymore and polish all the winter shoes. My shoes are well kept and someone else will have the chance to enjoy them the second time around.

Feet are the end of our body and often are not the prettiest part. They support the weight and the beating of the walk. We make them swollen and tired, the least we can do, is to make them look good. Shoes tell the story of who we are and men with polished shoes have my attention! Ciao,
Valentina
Open this link and scroll down the page to find my Fashion Services
https://valentinadesigns.com/services

Valentina Cirasola has been a lifetime designer in fashion and interiors. Her extensive knowledge of colors and materials led her in both directions successfully. Vogue Italy and many prominent publications in California featured her work. Among designing and remodeling homes, designing custom-made furniture and writing books, Valentina is now teaching etiquette, table manners, table setting and life style. Check out her latest book Red-A Voyage Into Colors on the subject of colors, available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Fashion Is A Pain | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

19 Jul 2013 8 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #2013FallColors, #2013FashionColors, #FendiFashion, #LouisVuitton, #Miuccia, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Fashion never stops to amaze me! Every season, every year, new inspirations twist our way of dressing and yet guess where designers draw their ideas? The past, again and again regurgitated in new million facets!
This fall 2013, the choice of designs and colors have fallen on the Tudor and Medieval fashion. Alexander McQueen and a few others took Tudor’s fashion to a new height. Although the look is very pretty and most appropriate for Opera soirée, I don’t think women will want to dress in crinolines again crowned with tiaras!

Miuccia Prada latest “Miu Miu” collection has interpreted women as androids, in my opinion. Dark colors and mostly black are the choices of this collection. With the exception of a few bright pieces, the collection seems quite gloomy to me. She highly structured her clothes and body shapes are cinched in tight belts. Shoes are flat, bulky, kind of tanks for feet.

Louis Vuitton has resurrected the feminine shape, small waist, and voluptuous curves and no it doesn’t mean that women have become submitted creatures or sexy pot. Woman’s beauty should be celebrated with clothes that emphasize it and elevate it.

In the fall 2013 Italian designers envision women in punk clothes and Mohicans fur hair extension. You read it right fur hair extension!

There isn’t anything new under the sun. Ideas are cooked, re-cooked and re-proposed as leftover food with new flavors. I see more creativity in street fashion, at least people don’t have the pretense of wanting to be designers and feel freer to express themselves with shapes and colors best suitable for their moods. (Photos below: Elle.com)

I encourage people to embrace color, always pushing them outside their comfort zones. This fall 2013 try the versatile color palette. Get into the warm “Linden Green” with the “Carafe” accented with the vibrant “Samba” or “Koi”, but then “Beaujolais” “Koi” and “Emerald” together are so tempting. Whatever colors you chose this fall, must feel comfortable and exalt your personality.

(Photo: Pantone)

Coordinating the right colors will affect your day, productivity and spirit. My Skype line is always open and I am here to help. Ciao,
Valentina

Fashion Services

https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, working in the USA and Europe. Born in Italy and in a family of artists, style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB

Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Dress To Kill? Not Really | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

08 May 2013 10 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #DesigningWithColors, #FashionTrends, #HowToDressForAnyOccasion, #HowToUseColors, #ImageConsulting, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #RulesOfDressing, #VintageAccessories

Dress to kill? Not really. It’s my desire to get out of the house well put together even when I am wearing very casual clothes. If my soul is happy I am happy too, if my eyes are pleased I am pleased too and if my attire can strike a conversation and produce business, I will be even happier. Yesterday, I was dressed as I look in the picture.

I was browsing in a department store, looking for curiosities nothing in particular. At one moment a woman approached me asking for my opinion about some clothes she was thinking of buying. She said “I was well put together” and that was good enough for her to feel confident the opinion of a stranger was going to have a weight on her buying decision.

I explained to her from the point of view of a designer (but she didn’t know it at that moment) and with simple words why she should have bought one thing versus the other. Then someone else was listening and she got closer to really listen in. Then another woman got closer and more women arrived I don’t know from where. Pretty soon I had a small crowd asking my opinion on a variety of decisions and style for them. I should have asked the store to hire me as their fashion consultant!

The reason my outfit attracted people and their interest, was not just the inviting, summer yellow color of my hat.
There are rules for dressing up as there are rules for decorating homes. One can use them to the letter in a strict way, or as guidelines. The important thing is to know how to create balance, rhythm, and harmony. Those women even without knowing the fashion subject, sensed it I had it all together and felt naturally attracted by my energy.

In my outfit, I have all three elements. White is not a good color for my face, but it is needed in the summer to keep cool, thus to balance my figure I put it on the bottom part of my body. The white and dark blue stripes of my top create a rhythm because they go in three different directions; the ruched sides of this top are perfect to disguise and trick the eye just like the effect of Trompe-l’oeil designs in homes. The top had to be long enough to cover my bottom, as white tends to enlarge areas where nature has played very generously. My purse, sandals, and sunglasses are dark blue. However, without the element of surprise, that “vintage sunny yellow hat”, this ensemble would have been a common mise and it would not have sparked conversation in the store.

This is how I do it, I live my life with simple rules or common sense, as I like to refer to.

• Wearing a griffe on the clothes doesn’t make me feel more important. I know who I am and how I can help people, the griffe does absolutely nothing for me.
• Any common outfit can be dressed up with eccentric or interesting details.
• Personalize my mises as much as possible, not because I demand attention, my brain tells me it I am not interested in looking like everybody else.
• When using colors I keep it down to three and use only 10% of one of the three. In the outfit in the photo, my 10% is yellow.
• Wear colors that exalt my personality and make me feel good, regardless of fashion dictum.

Designing to me is building. In designing a personal image I build personal style; in designing a home I built harmony and in designing food or tables I build flavors. Voila’ I am here and prompt as ever to help. Consultations on-line are available. Ciao,
Valentina

Fashion Services

https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, working in the USA and Europe. Born in Italy and in a family of artists, style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience in fashion and interior designing led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can create your personal image or your private space. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

The Gift Of A Leap Day | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

01 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #2012SpringFashion, #AnimalPrints, #LeapDay, #March2012LeapDay, #RedVoyageIntoColors

“Leap Day in the Gregorian calendar is a date that occurs in most years that are evenly divisible by 4, such as 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Years that are evenly divisible by 100 do not contain a leap day, with the exception of years that are evenly divisible by 400, which do contain a leap day; thus 1900 did not contain a leap day while 2000 did. […] […] a complete revolution around the sun takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours. Every four years, during which an extra 24 hours have accumulated, one extra day is added to keep the count coordinated with the sun’s apparent position.[…]” Wikipedia says.

I hope that you have taken advantage of the gift of an extra day to do something fun.
Yesterday, my business, of course, was on my mind, as every day. I start very early in the morning and I go on and on, without noticing the hours, mixing pleasure and work.
However, yesterday at one point, I decided to enjoy my leap day and left my studio for a discovery mission. I visited a few fashion stores and then I sat at a fancy café for a delicious and relaxing cappuccino. While I was sitting at the café I went over in my mind on the items I had seen in stores and what I am considering buying.

(Dolce & Gabbana crystal embellished stretch tulle bust)
Animal print pants will still be around this spring and even though I have plenty of them, I wouldn’t mind having a red pair. They are so fabulous under a blazer.
Could never have enough of corsets in all shapes and forms, especially if they are encrusted.

(Sandal – https://www.gilt.com/brand/pencey/product/85481954-pencey-alexus-platform-sandal)

There is a plethora of shoes in stores, half of which are not even worth considering due to cheap material that will do nothing for the feet only hurt them. I am Italian and accustomed to super good quality shoes, I refuse to put plastic shoes on my feet. The right choice of shoes will contribute to the sexiness of the feet worth admiring. Unfortunately, women will fill up their wardrobe senseless with shoes, no matter what.

In the last few years, women shoes resemble more like heavy tanks than sexy shoes, adding only heaviness to the legs and that trend is still continuing in the spring. The chunky heels are back in fashion, at least they are better for supporting the weight of the body. Heavy, massive shoes are not really becoming for women with very muscular or heavy legs, but often women will wear what is in fashion at all cost instead of what looks good for their body shape, or skin coloration.

In the spring fashion, there are so many bright and sunny colors, vividness and gentleness. There are more colors in the spring palette than in any other palette and not much of dark colors.
Spring people (light skin and hair with low contrast coloration) should avoid dark color, especially white and black. The colors of the Far East are perfect for a spring person: light purple, peach, saffron, orange, bright green, turquoise or soft lilac and light blues. The choice of colors is endless this coming spring.

I saw many flowery prints and powdery colors, dusty beige, pearl gray, or dusty rose. I tried on a lovely dusty rose leather jacket, the shape, and the design were absolutely gorgeous, but the delicate color washed out my golden tone skin and blonde hair. I had to let it go with disappointment. Knowing about colors helps me not to buy on impulse. The wrong color will drag me down and the face will look opaque as if the light has been turned off.

It was a good exercise thinking of spring in this rainy, leap day and a much-appreciated gift from the cosmos. I was also rolling in my thoughts amused at the knowledge that in some countries, on leap day, women can propose marriage to a man and wondering how many did and got accepted, or how many did not get accepted and must wait four more years for the same chance.

Using colors is an art. Either one is gifted at birth, or one must learn it.
“To see the sunlight, one must have sunny eyes” ~ Anonymus.

Should you need my help in selecting architectural colors, or fashion colors, please do not hesitate to contact me by leaving your name in the box below.
Please share me with your circles freely. Ciao,
Valentina

Fashion Services

https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual. She is the author of RED-A Voyage Into Colors, the forthcoming book on the subject of colors. Check out her two published books on

©Come Mia Nonna: http://goo.gl/T0eL36

©Sin of A Queen: http://goo.gl/JA4WMO

The Ridicule, A Piece Of History | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

28 Feb 2011 6 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #HistoryOfFashion, #Masks, #Ridicule, #ValentinaCirasolaFashionDesigner, #XIXCenturyFashion, Costume

When a woman of the XIX century was getting ready to go out had many things to coordinate for her outfit. The parasol, a pair of gloves and a hat, a shawl and the fan to disguise her blushing at the compliments from a man.

By then, the woman’s dressing ensemble had become a little less complicated than the previous centuries, nonetheless, feminine frills still continue to exist. One accessory she couldn’t forget to take before leaving the house was the “Ridicule”.

Silk Ridicule

It was a small purse in the shape of a sack with a long silk decorative cord, worn hanging from the arm. Inside the Ridicule, the woman used to put a lipstick, a handkerchief and a mirror, which by that time was a popular item to carry in the purse.
If the woman of the XIX went dancing, one important item was kept in the Ridicule: a little book where she noted the names of the men who asked her to dance. Each man had a number on that list, she would accept their gallantry as she went through the list and took the center floor.

Last night going to the masquerade ball, you know is Carnevale at this time of the year, I wore a Ridicule with my costume. I found it a few years ago in an antique shop in Italy. I wanted it so bad, but the price was so high that I had to let out my bargaining skills in order to get it somewhat at my price.

Pompadour

Back to the masquerade ball of last night, I was wearing a beautiful Pompadour purse in my hand and the Ridicule hanging from my rhinestone-studded belts. Of course, a few people were curious to know what was that thing hanging from the belt. Telling the story of the Ridicule last night was an experience all by itself.

It was a bit like a lesson on the history of costumes, a bit of story-telling, quite a few laughs, but the important part was that my Ridicule became an icebreaker with people I met for the first time and a conversation piece. The modern woman (me) was carrying business cards and cellular phone in the Ridicule, no name of any man waiting to dance with me. How times have changed!

If you are interested in creating a fashion statement for yourself and for your home décor, I am here to help you, just leave your name and comment in the box below. Ciao,
Valentina

Fashion Services
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990 and a Fashion Designer. She blends well fashion and interior in any of her design work. Being Italian born and raised, Valentina’s design work has been influenced by Classicism and stylish, timeless designs. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Author of three books available on:
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Fashion Plays With Opposites This Fall | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

15 Sep 2010 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #EuropeanFashion, #FallColors2010, #FashionFall2010, #FashionTrend2010, #ImageConsulting, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Italians take fashion really serious in their everyday dressing and their everyday life. Home fashion is directly related to the catwalk fashion, the two fields live with each other in harmony. Even though we cannot change our home fashion every time a fashion collection is presented on the catwalk, we can at least take some guidance from it to renew our spaces.

The colors this years are dark wines with gold highlights, grey shades with brown, aubergine with silver tones, pinks with reds, bronze with copper and silver accents, silver and whites, animal prints with lines, floral with geometric. Most of the opposites are represented for both men and women. All of these combinations work well with traditional or contemporary styles, making our design work for both sexes a bit easier. Even the passamanterie as an accent can add a touch of class and personality in a modern décor and deconstruct a traditional décor with graphic lines can lighten and revive a tired home style.

I read about the collection of a few fashion designers for fall 2010. I love their ideas, their use of colors, patterns and the impact they will have on both fashion and home interiors. I love the game of opposites they want us to play. At times fashion takes a plain boring direction, but this fall, we have a lot to revise.

The new hues are daring and delicious, poetic with a touch of medieval beauty.
British designer Alexander McQueen revived the hand-loomed Jacquard with the impression of digital photography. McQueen left us his beautiful collection, representing his vision of Medieval Madonnas and Byzantine Empresses before he died in Feb.2010 at age 40. I absolutely adore his 2010 collection.

Designer, Andrew Gn, calls his fall collection a “modern rococo”, wanting to return to the 18th-century look with a touch of 21st century. He sees narrow jackets with stand up collars and row of front buttons. He revives the passamanterie trimming on velvet coats and bustier. The highlights of his collection are embroidered leather on the shoulder of coats, or neckline, oversize belt buckles with heavy incrustations and anything ruched, which hide all that women don’t want to show.

As you can see playing with opposites makes an interesting environment, one that speaks about character.

If your home is in the neutral tones the new bold colors of this fall 2010 are very chic and lively, add some pieces of dramatic furniture and bold accessories, voila’ you have a new home to come to. Perhaps the only thing to do for an upgraded look is to change throw pillows and window coverings, or the accessories all together, or repaint some walls in the metallic faux finish tones and not necessarily all in this order.

Homes do need to be refreshed every so often, your eyes and your soul will appreciate it. Allow colors into your life and allow your friends to enjoy it too, after all, beauty is made to share with others.

My design career started in fashion and for 15 years I was very happy in my fashion company before settling in the interior designing business. Now, with the long fashion experience and my 20 years in interior designing, I can guide my clients in the right choices for their beautiful homes.

I would love to help you or your friends and family transitioning into new color and the new you. Love to hear your comment. Ciao,
Valentina

Fashion Services
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as a designer since 1990, she is also a former fashion designer. She has helped a variegated group of fun people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors, and exteriors. She blends well fashion and interior in any of her design work. She loves to create the unusual. She is known as the “colorist”.
Valentina is also a published author of ©Come Mia Nonna – A Return To Simplicity. Her second book: ©Sins Of A Queen is in the printing and due to be released around Nov.2010 and she is the forthcoming author of the book on ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors.
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Talking To The Shoes | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

20 Jun 2010 2 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #HighHeelsShoes, #ShoeBox, #ShoeCloset, #ShoeStorage, #ShoeStyle, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor

For someone who is used to walk every day on high heels is not easy to fall off the shoes. It takes balance, full concentration and a lot of attention to where the feet are going. On high heels, women cannot afford to be clumsy, or they will lose their “good impression”. High heels dictate a straight up posture and a very feminine coquetry attitude.

During the centuries, shoes gained more importance and became more visible as the skirts became shorter. They went from being simple strips of cloth to wrap around feet so the feet wouldn’t have to touch the ground directly, to the leather sandals the Romans wore. There were shoes on stilts as high as 20” to get through rain and muddy streets and then there were heels from low to medium made of wood. Shoes with heels in the XVII Century were made of silk, brocade, embroideries, and laces to be matched with the colored silk stocking.
Leather boots also came into fashion, high up to the knees and above. In the ’60s Mary Quant invented the forever young “mini skirt” and high boots became an adorable addition. I wore them both shamelessly.

Shoe heels also grew in height according to the forever changing fashion rules.

In Venice, the red heel for both men and women was considered a very sexy element of the shoe and it was an “attention grabber”. Showing the red heel from underneath the dress meant looking for trouble!

Shoes are a fetish, status symbols and the tradition of a nation. Some are real object d’art, some are impossible to wear (see the skeleton stiletto in my photo).

Their magical power is to turn the feet, a nonsexual part of the body, into a sexual excitement. That’s why we can’t have enough of them in all colors and styles. In Italy, during my growing up, I had a new pair of shoes at the beginning of the school year, generally brown, one new pair for Christmas in black for the elegant gatherings with family and friends and one pair of sandals for the Summer. Three pairs were all I had and they were supposed to last at least a couple of years. All the people I knew had the same custom or just about. Now, living in America, I cannot begin to count how many pairs of shoes I own and just like everybody else, I fell under their spell.
(Vertebrate heels by Dsquared )

Growing up in Italy, I often accompanied my fancy young aunts in their shoes shopping. I remember the salesperson asking if they wanted two strings or three strings sandals. The merchandise in Italy was never and still isn’t exposed for the customers to reach, touch and try on. Salespeople are there to find what you are looking for, they are your gofer. Sandals with two strings were a best seller, more exposed the feet were the sexier they looked. To me, now living in America, it isn’t any more a question of how many strings, it’s a question of how many pairs I can fit in the shopping cart and I like it! Thanks for all the choices available to me.
We all have such an irrational obsession with shoes that we must plan the right space for them in our homes.

One of the relevant aspects of my profession as a designer is to know how people are going to use their container furniture from kitchen and bath cabinetries to closets. I must know all their habits in order to design their wellbeing and comfortable living.

How to make a morning dressing process less stressful and be able to choose the right shoes for the right outfit without stirring ourselves crazy?
(Photo left: BH&G)

Take a photograph of one shoe per pair, print it from your computer and stick it on each box of shoes. It will be easier to find and match them with the outfit. Shoes will be talking to you much easier, instead of you losing time finding them. A walking closet, of course, is an ideal solution, where clothes and shoes can be displayed as your own shopping store. As an interior designer working in remodeling all kind of spaces, it is very important to me and to my clients to have an organizational team at our disposal. The team is made of professional organizers who know how to get us through an elimination process easily and painless before we start any demolition and remodeling project. This is my precious added value to my customers.
A simple order is the foundation of all good things.

Fashion Services

https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is an interior designer, in business since 1990 and a former fashion designer. She helps people realizing their dream spaces in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. Valentina is also a published author of three books:

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Sailors Are In Town | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

12 Jun 2010 5 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #EuropeanFashion, #NauticalColors, #NauticalFashion, #SailorStyle, #StripedFabrics

Stripes again! It seems as every other year stripes want to be vacationing with us in the Summer. This year white and blue stripes are everywhere with a touch of red and gold. The new city relaxed elegance is not about common striped t-shirts, white short pants, and white tennis shoes.

(Cropped jacket Polyvore)

It is about combining elegant daytime jackets with gold buttons, or decorative vintage passamantery with city shorts and sandals propped on high heels.
(Ellie Anchor Pin Up Hell Pumps)

Nautical theme and cruise time will give us the refreshing feeling of elegant nights spent at the Yacht Club, even if we don’t go on any vacation. Treat yourself with these small luxuries!

In your home this Summer relax with beach style décor. Create a cottage easy living with coastal breezy colors. Keep it sophisticated, then any beach accent can be added. (Photo left BH&G).

The fabric on the chairs embellished with mother of pearls buttons makes an elegant beach feeling.
It is just right to host casual parties in semi-formal settings. The slip-on covers can be changed in the fall with autumn colors for a different mood.

Change the look of any mirrors with an incrustation of seashells that you have brought back from the island vacations and if you didn’t go to the island lately, any gift shop or import shop in your town will have shells of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Shells look very happy on coffee tables in decorative glass vases, even more happy if they are repurposed in your garden as decorative elements, or as a potting solution.

Molly Wood Garden Design

(Photo right: Giant shell planter -Photo Sunset)

In your backyard, it is easy to create a party for two, a romantic evening tête-a-tête. Use a red and white striped cloth to cover a small bistro table. Cover the seat of a swing and all the cushions around with Sunbrella fabric in stripes and anchor print fabric. Serve a delicious salad in a large clam-shaped bowl. Light candles everywhere, uncork a bottle of Italian prosecco, or a Bellini if you like and a romantic night on the Italian Riviera awaits just outside your backyard. Don’t’ forget to wear one of those nautical shoes as in my photographs. High heels look even better when laying down…..I mean on the grass…..

Please forward this article to anyone you think might be interested in reading it and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. Thank you. Ciao,
Valentina

Fashion Services
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She marries well fashion and interior in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to unattractive spaces into castles.
Valentina is so far a published author
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Ciao Mamma | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

09 May 2010 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #1940VogueMagazine, #EuropeanFashion, #InteriorDesign, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ItalianStyle, Fashion

The Mother – a Queen of every household. My mom sure was The Queen and a lot more! She was our friend and confidant, the angel of our home. Today, I think she was named Angela not by mistake, I think there is a correlation between her name and who she was in her life. Her blond hair was like a golden aura around her face, her blue eyes were so transparent, one could see inside of her soul. Some of her friends thought her eyes reflected the bluish-green water of Adriatic sea in Italy, where we lived.

She was a simple person with a big heart and strong believes. She had empathy and was always ready to help others.
In her early life as a young lady, she was forced into learning to sew, but she would have preferred to go to school to become a psychologist. She was into people, could understand their problems and always gave her helping hand to resolve some rough situations people could not resolve on their own.

“Put a passion in everything you do and make the best of what you have” she kept telling us. This is what she did when she was forced in that trade, but after a while, she became such an expert in the field of sewing that she turned it into a lifetime business. And boy she was good! Her dress designs were in a high demand. She produced only exclusive, one of kind garment for the élite clientele.

(Above Simplicity magazine)

She found her inspiration in magazines like Mademoiselle and Simplicity and made those patterns much better. “Simplicity is the key of elegance” she kept saying. I learned that so well, that I made it the motto of my life. Actually, to that, I added mine: “When life is simple and easy, God answers”.

WWII was a time of scarcity, but for my mom was a time of increased creativity.
She made original dresses out of scrap fabrics. I remember her telling me stories of improvisation and studying better ways to get the most of everything, food, clothing and all the necessary elements of living.

During the war-time, she was photographed many times in one blue-white polka dots dress, which was turned over many times around. One time she had added white-collar and white cuffs, the next time she took off the white details and added red buttons and a red belt. “Make the best of what’s available to you”.

My mom was good at creating fashionable hats also with scraps of materials. Hats of the ’40s were so elegant and feminine.

She faced a lot of adversities in life that made her a tough human being, but she never complained. She thought that out of every adversity there is always something good to learn and found the way to turn any negative experience into a positive one. I am so grateful for this precious teaching.
Her love for life was exceptional.

In the early part of my career, I became a fashion designer, even though she kept repeating: “The needle is very small but very heavy. Go to school and learn a profession instead”. I could not help being attracted by her amazing creations. With a few elegant movements and a few folding and draping of fabrics onto mannequins, she would make any piece of cloth come alive into a beautiful dress. I must thank her for my love of colors, fabrics, and fashion, all the things I took from her and made a successful career for myself. I must thank her for the well-decorated home we lived in, simple and functional, but full of people who brought us much love. Simplicity is the rule I live by. I must thank her for showing me what really matters the most in life and for teaching how any hardship can be turned into a positive experience.

Today, in my career of interior designer, I do well just because my mom taught me how to be into people, how to listen to their problems and how to resolve them. After 20 years of serving a variegated group of people, I am still having a load of fun.
Long live mamma in our hearts and in the hearts of all the people you touched.
Valentina
Interior Designer
in business since 1990 and loving it!

Fashion Services
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear. To better help people all over the world, she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB

Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Silk Stockings | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

20 Feb 2010 6 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #CydCharisse, #EuropeanFashion, #FrenchFashion, #ItalianLifeStyle, #ParisSilkStocking, #SilkShoes, #SilkStocking

The other day, I was visiting a friend at her home. We were sitting across from each other shooting the breeze, talking about this and that and a bit of all.
She noticed my shoes and complimented me on how good I can put things together, but the surprise was underneath. I lifted my pant legs and showed her my silk stocking in golden olive color.

The look in her face was clearly puzzled as if she was asking: What are you wearing? She was surprised to know that I was wearing silk stockings and was even more surprised to learn that my pair of stockings belonged to my mother fifteen years ago. I have had them for that long and who knows how long my mother had that pair of stockings before I subtracted it from her.
Stockings are not the invention of the last century, au contraire.
(Photo left: Cervin Rive Gauche 100% silk lace top hold-ups, £41.99
Available in noir (black), white, gazelle or ivory)

They came about when in the late 1600 fashion dictated that men and women would be equally effeminate in their attires, thus competing with each others in elegance and style. It was a must to complete every outfit with silk stocking, red or pink, or sky blue and light yellow for the most refined people. Silk stockings became so popular that Colbert, French Secretary Of State, ordered the building near Paris of a royal manufacture with about 200 looms to produce the silk stockings in a variety of colors. He also founded a professional school where silk stockings became a new subject to study, therefore making it a new branch of fashion until our days.

Of course with colorful silk stockings, the need, or let’s say the desire to have colorful shoes was born. The shoes were also made of silk, with medium-high heels, embellished with large buckles, roses and rosettes, ribbons and shimmering beads, but the color of the shoes had to be contrasting to the silk stockings.
Human fantasy has no limits, since then a variety of silk stockings were created. Pearls decorated silk stockings of the 1700 and silk embroiders decorated the silk stocking of the 1800. In the ’30s women dresses became much shorter and for the first time the knees were in full view, therefore much more attention was given to colored stockings. Women soon preferred the nude look of the legs, the simple skin color silk stockings lasted until WWII, when the silk fabric was needed to fabricate parachutes for our men fighting in the war. So it happened that the manufactures discovered the nylon, a product made from petroleum and much more fragile than the silk.

Remember I said I possessed my mother’s silk stockings since fifteen years ago and I don’t know how long she had it before I took them? Well, my nylons have never lasted more fifteen days, until I discovered to keep them in the freezer and not in the drawers of my dresser. The cold of the freezer apparently stretches the life of the nylons only a little longer.
I am thinking silk stockings should come back in fashion, they are eco-friendly, will save your money, feel absolutely luxurious and they add luminosity to women’ legs.

(http://www.allposters.com)

I can help decorating with fun posters of pin-up girls in silk stockings to add a playful look to any room, especially music rooms, studios, entries, bathrooms, home gym. Try a little eccentricity here and there when decorating your home to add a punch of fantasy and character, because the banal décor gets old and tiresome after a while.

A good reading is the book: “A Pair of Silk Stockings”. It is an eclectic collection of long-neglected short stories by great women writers best known for their novels. The book includes The Watsons by Jane Austen, The Half Brothers by Elizabeth Gaskell, A Pair of Silk Stockings by Kate Chopin, The Red Room by L.M. Montgomery, Bliss by Katherine Mansfield, The Parvenue by Mary Shelley, The Legacy by Virginia Woolf, and The Wronged Woman by Winifred Holtby. Find it on Amazon, $13.00.

In the 1957 film Silk Stockings Cyd Charisse was so gracefully beautiful and the music so throbbing. Her endless legs were perfect for the silk stockings.

Please forward this article to anyone you think might be interested in reading it and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. Thank you.
In service and with love. Ciao,
Valentina

Open this link and scroll down the page to find my Fashion Services

https://valentinadesigns.com/services

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior and Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe. She marries well fashion and interior in any of her design work. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn ugly spaces into castles. Fashion designing has been her first career choice that made her happy in her own company for fifteen years.
Author of the book: ©Come Mia Nonna–A Return to Simplicity
Book website: outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
Author of the forthcoming book on the subject of colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors.