#BoldFashion | Valentina Expressions

Colors Matter | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

Welcome to a Friday Fashion episode.

The question is always: black clothes or color clothes? The answer for me is always color clothes and I will never stop saying this, people wearing black, to my eyes, look as if they are mourning their life.

The youth of today prefers black as the uniform of the century and they wear it 24/7. The youth of today want to fit in the crowd and don’t much care to be original. The youth of today follows a current common to all and want to be approved by their peers who all wear the same style and the same colors, black, grey and beige.

Then, there is the crowd of adults who falls in the same category of the “army of people dressed in black” as I call them. They think black is elegant, easy to wear and slimming.
True, black is elegant, especially for evening events and glitz, in the day light it take energy away.
True, black is easy to wear, because it doesn’t need any thinking or artistic skills to match it with something else and more black items. It’s also easy to wear because it doesn’t show any dirt….
As far as slimming….. it will work if you believe it …. Black doesn’t receive or reflect light, thus a large person dressed in black looks like a dark large box. (Click on each photo to view it larger).

In my life, I never wanted to fit in. I dress in all colors, I put on what I like and looks good on me, regardless of fashion rules of the moment. I don’t paste myself with well-known signatures to feel important or rich. My everyday clothes are colorful, smart and stylish, enough to push two guys working in a grocery store to talk about my colors for an unusual long time, even disregarding the line building up behind me. One was a cashier, the other one helped bagging the grocery.

They were dressed in black, both had faces decorated with rings and tattoo covering arms and necks. They smiled and greeted me, I smiled back. They looked and kept looking, I smiled and kept smiling.
Then the cashier guy unexpectedly bursted in compliments. It seemed everything on me had caught their attention. They described my blue sunglasses (from Sorrento, Italy) like a blue sky on my face. They couldn’t believe such bright green apple pants combined with the night blue crocheted sweater was matching so well. It was almost like going through an x-ray machine, they scanned everything I had on and declared I was the best dressed woman passing in front of their eyes that day.
I thought I was only dressed casually for grocery, what would they say if they seen me really dressed for an occasion….

The conversation evolved from my colorful fashion to my colorful food and what I was going to cook with the items I bought. The guys were truly surprised that I had crocheted my sweater and I could cook as well.
Well, I will leave this last issue to a different post on Lost Art.

Front side – https://www.etsy.com/shop/ValentinaExpressions

Back side – https://www.etsy.com/shop/ValentinaExpressions

This only tells me one think: if these guys see an army of people dressed in black, gray and beige, day in and day out, what is there to be excited? The same would be in offices, in the street and any other place. Then, someone trots along with color energy, suddenly people smile, feel happy and inclined to start a friendly conversation. It means colors open people’s eyes wide and wake them up from the sedated colors they see every day.

Fashion should be fun and invigorating, it should give us confidence to express ourselves, it should make people smile and wanting to admire us.
Be a leader with a contagious personality. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

I am Valentina, a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style has surrounded me since the beginning of my life. My many years of experience in design business led me to offer consultations in both fashion and interiors, so much so that I can remodel homes as well as personal images. I am passionate about colors and I encourage my clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear. I am the author of three books, one of which is a book on color theory: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Maverick Of Style | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

Welcome to my Friday Fashion episode.

Call her “A rare bird of fashion”, call her “A Maverick of Style”, the woman with huge round frame glasses is still making headlines in her third age of life.

She says a beautiful woman can live off her look as long as her natural beauty vanishes, but an interesting woman who says and does interesting things and she is not necessarily beautiful will always attract people to her because her quirks. This is Iris Apfel, interior, fashion designer of the rich and famous and business woman. In her career, among many activities, she produced Old World wallpaper to decorate most historic homes in the country and even the White House under various administrations.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Today some people look at her with a bit of envy and a lot of admiration. She is a fashion icon and an example to follow.
Her strong fashion sense can raise the dead and can also inculcate a strong self-esteem in those women who do not have it. She can dare with bold jewelry, bold clothes and colors making everything fit together perfectly.
The secret of her successful combinations is having no rules and pair accessories that don’t look put together on purpose.

Jewelry Collection

Ethnic Jewelry

Necklaces

Scarab Bracelets

Exhibition

Sculpting

Jewelry Collection

Sculpting

(Photo credits to KQED – I photographed them from my TV while watching a program dedicated to Iris).

Dressing up, she says, should be a great experience for every woman, creating originality while following one’s personality, making a personal style, putting things together differently every time and breaking rules. She encourages to play, have fun with fashion and amuse people with the clothes.

According to Iris, composing, layering and sculpting are the three key elements when putting an outfit together.
Composing the outfit based on one’s body shape. It is the same process a musician uses to compose music with different notes that make harmonious sounds.
Layering colors to awaken dormant energy. Layering lines and patterns to create an interesting rhythm.
Sculpting is done with accessories, large and small, glitz and flat finish, long and short, ethnic, antiques, vintage and modern, finally playing with texture that makes jewelry appear as one piece.

Iris owns one of the few most beautiful jewelry collections in the country and often lends it for exhibition in museums. It conquers visitors with great success every time. It seems to her that “finally people caught up with her style and as much as they don’t want to be bothered with it, as everybody wears the black uniform these days, they do yearn for style”.

She could never be friend with anyone who wasn’t curious, commented in a TV show, I couldn’t either, I add. She is a very interesting character the reason why she is lasting so long, touching and inspiring so many people.
Be different, be curious and experiment with new looks, you will see many doors opening for you. Ciao,
Valentina
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. To better help people in 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