I've never been a full-on Fashion person.
As in, keeping up with every show in every new season, and knowing every up-and-coming designer was never my thing.
Besides, back when I got into Fashion (2006), it was really hard to get my hands on any magazine besides Vogue or Elle - Brazil edition, so I got better value for money from books that could either teach me the craft or teach me about the designers that'd mastered theirs - and therefore didn't have to chase every new trend.
That's the story of how a small-town girl got into Yohji, Comme des Garçons and Balenciaga instead of Dolce & Gabbana.
And now that I'm allowing myself some creative freedom - since there's no guarantee my business will make it past the 5-year mark, no matter how "good" it is - I'm finally starting to connect the dots, as Steve Jobs said in that famous Stanford speech every blogger loves.
I already talked how magical girls, anime, videogames and other childish stuff formed my taste, but just recently I realised: I'm still trying to live my Cristóbal Balenciaga wearable couture fantasy.
It started with this dress, on this book:
But of course, the penny only dropped with an animated infographic:
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This one's for another classic Balenciaga silhouette, the Baby doll dress, but the elements are still there.
To this day, I still love the little sleeve formed by a soft pleat next to the arm, and the way the fabric hangs away from the body.
But when you have no balls to attend...
Don't know about you, but I need cool everyday clothes more than I need opulent silk gowns.
So this time I made a shirt. And washing machine-friendly, of course.
I called it Aloha kimono shirt, because I thought I was only being inspired by kimono construction and Hawaiian prints.
You can always pair it with my cotton kilt, in case you're missing a billowy skirt.