The old adage "I can do anything, but not everything suits me" when it comes to being fashionable, definitely is overrated.

If you ever thought you have to give up your small "sins" in terms of clothes to shoes, here are some tips to overcome that plague that is the crisis, for you and all your family.
Advice number one: Recycle your closet. Surely you have some clothes that you no longer use, or they were out of fashion, or the color do not favor you, but it can change them, or attach details that make the difference. Add sparkles or small notes, as buttons, ribbons, and bows on those clothes that considers outdated. What are lacking are not the neat things that certainly you have saved in your home, or you can purchase in a haberdashery at affordable prices, just use your imagination. If the color of a garment no longer pleases you, provided it is cotton or linen (it is essential that it is made of natural fiber), you can change it with different shades of colors that exist in the market, just soak the piece in water, and wait to dry. But there is another revolution in the textile market that you can use and abuse, are the tissues that change when exposed to sunlight, it is true, is not a joke, you can add patterns, stripes, whatever you want, after a certain time in the sun is printed on the fabric what you decided to create and then adapts to your pleasure.
PS - For the lazier or less gifted in sewing, ask a friend to help you, or if you prefer there are now workshops that transform clothes, take a number and ask for the price.
Advice number two: Attack secondhand stores. It may not be still very Portuguese habit, but you do not know the lost opportunities when you avoid entering in these spaces. Just refer to your closet again, how many clothes you like, but you do not use that are in excellent condition? The same happens in these stores, lets says that the "junk" of some is the treasure of others, I guarantee it. You will find these sites full of charm and good taste, many have beautiful clothes, well maintained and with unbeatable prices. Enjoy and let the prejudices on the door.

A rara design by hand is a concept of sustainable accessories developed by Teresa Vasconcelos, designer and Neide Ferreira, restorer, who joined their valences in which resulted a collections of pieces made with recycled products and unique and unusual materials.

In that context appears rara design by hand?
Teresa: In a conversation during a coffee, we were questioning us about our economy especially in Madera, the problem of shops in the center of Funchal are closing and we are getting virtually no traditional trade and how this will evolve when we all end up dressing equal or go outside to have different clothes. Then we came with the idea to create a project where there was some innovation through the use of recycled products and handling materials.

It's an idea that both shared, as a team?
TV: Was not an idea we shared. We were talking about the topic. Me and Neide we like accessories and pieces out of the ordinary and we felt it was a good opportunity to rehearse and let new hypotheses have emerged. This work has one month, but it seems that was a long time, because the demand has been quite good. We had no idea we were going to have so much support from people and maybe in some ways was a shortage.

You noted that many of the materials were saved why? You had this idea on the back of your mind?
Neide Ferreira: We are mothers and teachers and as you know in terms of budget were getting worse and so we always have a tendency to save everything and anything, because we know that in the future we will use it in something for the boys at school. Turned out not to be the case and we ended up using the materials to another function more commercial.

Tell me about the pieces themselves, the creative process begins with the materials, or you already have an idea who to put it into practice?
TV: We first did a market study, a diachronic and synchronic analysis and what happened in the market over time and we tried to see if the materials we wanted to work had been used previously, this was our first concern. We are in a restrictive island, small, the aim was not to copy styles, materials or ideas of others, has to do with our work ethic. After this research we investigate what happens to this material when it reacts with certain things was that the way we find solutions. We had never worked on these fabrics and were investigating. There were also things that did not work and learn from it.

Is contemporary jewelry; the Olival jewels are idealized and manufactured by Catarina Olival Rodrigues. They are pieces that transport us to a delicate, sophisticated and unique universe inspired by the island of Madeira.

You're from a scientific area yet you produce jewelry, where arise this passion?
Catarina Olival Rodrigues: The passion comes from childhood. Always attended painting courses, fine arts and direct myself to health, because everyone told me that the arts have no future. I took a course in cardiopneumology as a diagnostic and therapeutic technician, but while I was doing the course, my mother who is my revolutionary told me to enroll me in a jewelry course, I took it alongside my degree.

What attracts you in particular towards jewelry?
COR: What attracts me is that we learn to do everything in jewelry from the fittings of the earrings to the last detail, I do not buy anything, I do everything from home, grab a plate in silver on gold, only now with the descent of the money power, decided to use brass wire and work all, just acquire the stones to fit. Otherwise everything is thought of, imagined and made by me.

So how would you define the "olive jewels"? What distinguishes them from the other?
COR: Is a person who likes to have something different from others, because there are a thousand stores with jewelry pieces all equal and I can create a personalized jewelry, more expensive or cheaper, and you can travel worldwide nobody will have an equal. It is made for a particular person with love, care and dedication. Every woman likes to have an exclusive piece and it is a privilege.

Who uses your jewelry?
COR: Are women since the age of 10 to eighty years old. There are no age limits, are jewels for those who enjoy sophisticated pieces for all occasions, is that the customer decides.

Spring fashion tendencies on the portuguese designer collections

Anabela Baldaque returned to the Portugal Fashion catwalks with a collection that leaves no room for doubt about the consistency of her personal mark as a designer. Her coordinated always reflect a very chic, ethereal and very romantic elegance which is translated into discrete patterned and delicate fabrics. The silhouette is apparently simplified, however, very feminine. The pieces she prepared for this spring-summer bet mainly a mixture of trends that mark the new season, the plants, the metals and crayons.

It is a brand that sells fun clothes on the internet suitable for all our feminine moods. It is a project of Rita Neto betting especially in collections very unique and easy to combine on day-to-day bases.

How emerges "Alice in the mood"?
Rita Neto: It came about two years ago, more or less. Quite simply, people want to purchase something different the stores and find nothing, because everything is expensive. I thought I'd find funny things out there, unfortunately most of my suppliers are foreigners, and began to bring them here. It started as a joke, but was leading and was growing.

There are two components in this concept, the textile and accessories, has always been your initial idea or just happen?
RN: It just happen, in fact, the part of the accessories is very recent. Alice tin this fall slowly started to come with bags, because before it was just textiles, finally a bit of everything.

Tell me a little bit about the collections, what are you looking to be different?
RN: I always try to address some trends that mark the season. I seek different pieces, unusual, they are not equal those seen in Zara or Mango, not depreciating. I seek something more unique, with quality and obviously with a value that allows people to access a sweater or a t-shirt. The aim is to acquire 3 or 4 clothes, they are funny, without a big financial effort, this was the beginning of Alice.

You said earlier that your suppliers were all foreigners, this happened because you could not find in the national production pieces that reflect Alice?
RN: Had before, I worked with two Portuguese brands. Portuguese producers and creators national mingle a little, they ones manufacturers / designers, have very cute clothes, but it is well above the values ​​that I want to sell, let alone online.

So it's easier to get those differentiated pieces abroad?
RN: Yes, unfortunately it is a struggle that I have, like other people. If I could I only marketed Portuguese products, because there are already excellent and I did, only the reality in terms of business is much more profitable to acquire brands with more competitive prices, the clothes are cute and with a reasonable quality. In Spain there are many with these characteristics.

It's one of the big trends for next spring summer 2013

I know that we are still taking their first steps in the winter and it seems somewhat incongruous to speak of trends for next spring-summer, but fashion is a competitive market that requires constant renewal, which must be always one step forward in terms of news and textile innovation, hence it is necessary a strong bet in parades pre-season, say it's a glimpse of what awaits us and that will surely complement our closet always overcrowded. One of the most liked were printed and Portuguese designers were up to the challenge, Fátima Lopes presented a collection based on tropicalismo with prints that reflected the island of Madeira. It was a personal tribute to the land that gave birth and showed that patterned flowers of various icons of the region. The coordinated guided by a great job modeling bet that the cutouts on the bias which incidentally, are always the hallmark of this designer Madeira.

Again I do a little historical review of the industry nationally.

Prior to April 25th, 1974 the Portuguese were dressed according to the rules impose by the government, basic colors, especially black, white and gray, the necklines were modest, with skirts below the knee, the lines were straight leaving little room for the imagination, a minimalist silhouette, almost abstract, the result of a closed world that left little room for the influences that could come from abroad. In post-revolution of the carnations everything changed little by little the Portuguese women felt a great need to deconstruct this rigid image and joined forces with the fashion trends from abroad, the bodies took their curves, skirts rose several inches above, the color palettes were more varied and they wore more psychedelic patterns of the fabrics, the image reflected the spirit of a country open to new emotions and are eager to be free from a heavy and amorphous past.

The eighties brought about the emergence of so-called designers. Ana Salazar, Fatima Lopes and Augustus are some of the compelling names of this revolutionary process that led to the emergence of the first brands made in Portugal. There was even a big growth and modernization of the textile industry which was hitherto stagnant and outdated. From the nineties until today there was a great effort by various organizations to promote the participation of the industry in numerous international events linked to fashion and the differentiation and consolidation of some brands abroad. However, contrary to what you may think, women in this area, although they have been the main driver of this change, contributed little or nothing over the years to sedimentation of national designers. After two decades they continue to omit the Portuguese national brands in favor of foreign, it reaches the point of having companies with products with foreign names in order to sell well. However, there is not only bad news; the Portuguese textile row is currently responsible for 11% of our exports, a clear sign of the market in relation to the quality of our products.

It is one of the colors of his winter that lasts until the summer.

The blue Klein, patented by French artist Yves Klein aka the name, is one of the big bets for the color palette of this fall-winter. It's almost vibrant hue helps to detach us from a certain nostalgic silhouette associated with a colder climate, giving an exciting note to the coordinate. It is a tone that leaves no one indifferent and at the same time works very well collectively with other colors. From the fabrics, to nails, to makeup blue Klein gives certain sophistication to the woman who wears it. It is above all a relaxing color that conveys calm and balance before a society dominated by social upheavals as the result of a global economic crisis. The Portuguese fashion industry watches closely this new market trends that is also showed in several pieces of the designers collections that highlight this tone. This was the case of designer Katty Xiomara with her very feminine and refined coordinates.

It is one of the dresses that is one of the trends for this winter.

The peplum dress is one of the strongest bets of this winter. But I have doubts about its famed ability to create slimmer silhouettes, you can even hide the most persistent fats is true, but if you look at it very carefully the waist does seem slimmer, quite the contrary, women who wear seem fatter. It is not a model appropriate for all types of bodies. You may disagree of course, but follow my reasoning, this dress was part of new look Dior in postwar, in the '50s, a time when a Europe dilapidated by war needed a new direction and more children to be born and you may wonder what all this has to do with it? Everything. Fashion is always a reflection of an era and it is the small details that we found a portrait of a society, of in a certain lifestyle. If you look carefully the peplum dress highlights the hips, extending it, subliminally brings us to mind fertile bodies. It may seem far-fetched, but it is not. Over the centuries fashion played a very prominent as a marker of social class, but not only. Somehow it also reflected the great changes that marked a particular historical period in time. In the Middle Ages, the dresses were cut at chest level with the aim of highlighting the belly, women seemed pregnant constantly and that was important nonverbal image in a world ravaged by plague. And more examples I could enunciate, what interests me is to decode the trends and in this case the peplum dress is a reflection of an aging continent, in the middle of an economic crisis, a time not very conducive for more children being born and now you believe what I trying to say?

It is one of the key pieces of any male or female wardrobe.

The shirt had its origin in Upper Egypt, more specifically in the court of the pharaohs who created a piece called Kalasiris, which consisted of two rectangles of cloth sewn on the sides with an opening for the head to pass. Since antiquity that this clothe has evolved over the centuries and won the format that we know today, while it became a symbol of social status patent by the choice of fabrics, the embroidered applied and especially for its whiteness, the more the shirt was white was the highest social stratum of the person who wore it. Until the nineteenth century, the collar was always used up, as paintings of those times show, only from the year 1853 came to be used down to the point to distinguish the rich from the poor by color, i.e. nobility and bourgeoisie wore the white collar and workers the blue. Now you realize the symbolism attributed to economic crimes?

In the twentieth century the shirt acquires its unisex status, specifically in 1930 thanks to Coco Chanel and since then, this garment also becomes part of women's wardrobes. The shirt has also become an essential element in the world of work, is a benchmark of professionalism and consists of all the dress codes for businesses companies, in particular in its white version. On the other hand, remains a symbol of power, try remembering the silhouette of the yuppies of the 80s to have a sense of their importance in terms of class differentiation. For women, the shirt is a complement of femininity and in this matter we are not very picky, we used all kinds of patterns and colors that fit our style, giving the shirt a statute of basic piece in our closet. This year the catwalks showed the best that can be combined with a shirt and we cannot say that we are lacking good reasons to use it, even if you have to steal it from the wardrobe of your husband, boyfriend or brother. Anything goes, so use it every day.

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