Goddess of.. Haute Couture!

Sunday was the best day of my weekend! Mom and I drove out of town to go see the museum exhibit on The Golden Age of Couture : Paris & London - 1947 to 1957.

The museum had over 215 pieces (most if not all came where shipped in from the Victoria & Albert museum in London) of "Haute Couture" fashion from the late '40s & '50s and they did not disappoint. It's no secret that I have a very profound interest in fashion so this exhibit was really wonderful for me.

The expression "golden age of couture" was coined by Dior and mainly refers to the post-WW2 period when the "new look" was created in reaction to the deprivation & sacrifices brought on by World War 2. The "new look" term came from Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar magazine, to describe this figure marked by a very thin waist & round and fleshy shoulders. In other words, the "new look" got rid of clothes that hid the female form.

Allow me to share some of the couture beauties that were on display.

Christian Dior

"Zémire" evening ensemble

fall / winter collection

1954-1955

Christian Dior

"Bar" suit and hat

About 1955

Christian Dior

"Cygne Noir" (Black swan) evening dress

1949

Cristóbal Balenciaga

"Barrel" suit

1951

Cristóbal Balenciaga

Evening dress (The bow is Dior inspired)

About 1955

Balmain

Dress and petticoat

About 1950

Balmain

Evening dress

About 1950

Jean Dessès
Evening dress
About 1953

Jean Dessès
Evening dress
1948

Jean Dessès
Evening dress
1951
 
There were many more but this is just a looksie for you, bloggies.

Happy thirst-day, bloggies !

** Don't forget to enter the NuvoNova jewelry Giveaway by CLICKING HERE **

Goddess of .. B'day Giveaway #3 - NuvoNova !

::: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED :::

Alrighty, so I'm a little late on posting this third giveaway.. but I will give you one more day to enter it ! Let's all continue to celebrate my upcoming 25th birthday (May 9th) by giving you some more presents, right ?!

Yesterday, I revealed the winner of last week's LouLouBell gift. The winner will receive the beautiful Classic Damask - Flat Bottom Zipper Pouch / Small Cosmetic Carry Along , congrats !! Big thanks to Lyndsay of LouLouBell for the wonderful giveaway :o)

**Click here to see who last week's lucky winner is !**

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And now on to this week's giveaway :

NuvoNova is a London, UK based Etsy store, operated by the lovely Clara (who works as a Junior Designer for a UK fashion brand) since May 2008. NuvoNova sells necklaces with a wonderful vintage feel (all of them come in an adorable matching pouch), photo albums, ribbon-bound notebooks, womanswear (all made from scratch and adorned with a cute bow) and a variety of other items (tote bags, labels, printed cotton pouches, original prints, framed prints, pocket mirrors, stationnary and note/postcards). I love everything in her Etsy store, we definitely have very similar taste !

Let me share some of my favorite items with you :

Bows, roses and a feminine touch ..

Be sexy, Stay classy..

The cat's out of the bag now ..

There's nothing neutral about this shade of grey ..

The lucky winner will get to pick one of these 7 necklaces:

Mini angel wing necklace with matching pouch

Mini bow necklace with matching pouch

Mini nova necklace with matching pouch

Mini skull necklace with matching pouch

Mini spider necklace with matching pouch

Mini pistol necklace with matching pouch

Mini key necklace with matching pouch

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NuvoNova

Giveaway Rules

**Open to followers worldwide**

To enter this giveaway :

1. Follow my blog (through Google Friend Connect)
2. Tell me which one of the 7 NuvoNova necklaces offered you would pick if you won ?

For additional entries :

- Follow me on Twitter (1 extra entry)

- Be my friend on Facebook (1 extra entry)
- Blog / Twitter about the NuvoNova giveaway (2 extra entries)
- Buy an item from NuvoNova's Etsy store (5 extra entries)

That's a total of 10 possible chances to win, so get on it.. Stat !

The giveaway is opened from Tuesday, April 27th 2010 to Monday, May 3rd 2010.

The winner will be announced next Tuesday, May 4th 2010.

Good luck, Bloggies !

P.S. Please note that I am not receiving ANY kind of compensation for doing this giveaway. I support NuvoNova's etsy store simply because I love their items and I asked for them to do a giveaway as a "Thank you" to my loyal followers.

Goddess of .. LouLouBell Giveaway Winner !

This week, I've decided to keep my little weekend re-cap for another post later, probably on wednesday, and just announce the LouLouBell giveaway winner right away !

The lucky winner of the Classic Damask

Flat Bottom Zipper Pouch / Small Cosmetic Carry Along 

from LouLouBell's Etsy store is :

And lucky numero UNO is :

The very endearing and honest, fellow law-school graduate :

Non Sequitur Chica @ Non Sequitur Chica - the blog !

Congrats girl ! You said you needed a new toiletries bag so here it comes :o)

I will send you an e-mail to get your home address and LouLouBell will send you your lovely prize very soon !

Thank you all for participating !

Oh ! And I just want to throw it out there, because someone questioned my blogger / lawyer sense of integrity this week (and I deleted their post because they did not want to be entered into the giveaway), that I am NOT receiving ANY kind of compensation for doing these giveaways. I support LouLouBell's etsy store simply and fully because I love every one of her items and I asked her to do a giveaway with me as a "Thank you" to my loyal followers.

Have a great week, bloggies !

I will be posting another wonderful giveaway later tonight..

.. so come back and enter for your chance to win :)

Goddess of .. B'day Giveaway #2 - LouLouBell !

::: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED :::

This is my second post today, I wrote a first one about my fun, fun, FUN weekend and I also revealed the winner to last week's Charming Rebecca giveaway. The winner gets to pick any item in the Etsy store, YAY !

**Click here to see who the lucky winner is !**

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Without further ado, it's giveaway time again, Bloggies !

LouLouBell is a Canadian Etsy store, based in Nova Scotia, selling all types of deliciously adorable pouches & wristlets .. and hair pins.. that are just to DIE for. The patterns used are adorable and always very classy. I am a big fan of the Damask prints for example.. so versatile and chic.

The lucky winner will receive the following item :

The "Classic Damask - Flat Bottom Zipper Pouch / Small Cosmetic Carry Along" !

Item description is as follows :

This would be the perfect size for tossing into your big bag or overnighter bag for your makeup, jewelry or other small accessories. Conveniently stands on its own and opening is nice and large. Measures 5" across at zipper, 4.5" high and 2.5" wide across flat bottom. Made of cotton outer, denim inner for strength and durability, and interfaced for shape.

This would also make a nice gift bag, stuff it with candy or other goodies, and then it's reusable!

It's awesome, uh ?! Seeeee, I told you. You are lucky, I'd love to win it !

So useful, you just throw your money, cards, keys & make-up in there .. and then, you can transfer it from one purse to another.. without having to worry about having your "essentials" with you, at ALL times. It's genius. And pretty. Extra points for making it so adorable, LouLouBell !

Here are some of my favorite pieces from the LouLouBell store :

 

Black really does go with everything..

 

When you're going to San Francisco, you're gonna wear some flowers in your hair ..

 

Medallions are a girl's best friend ..

  

Oh and did I mention I love the Damask prints ..

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LouLouBell
Giveaway Rules

**Open to followers worldwide**

To enter this giveaway :

1. Follow my blog (through Google Friend Connect)
2. Tell me what your favorite LouLouBell item is ?

For additional entries (Please, leave a separate comment for each) :

• Follow LouLouBell's blog (1 extra entry)
• Follow @LouLouBell on Twitter (1 extra entry)
• Blog / Twitter about the LouLouBell giveaway (2 extra entries)
• Buy an item from LouLouBell's Etsy store (5 extra entries) 

That's a total of 10 possible chances to win, so get on it.. Stat !

The giveaway is opened from Monday, April 19th 2010 to Sunday, April 25th 2010.

The winner will be announced next Monday, April 26th 2010.

Good luck, Bloggies !

P.S. Please note that I am not receiving ANY kind of compensation for doing this giveaway. I support LouLouBell's etsy store simply because I love their items and I asked for them to do a giveaway as a "Thank you" to my loyal followers.

Goddess of .. Charming Rebecca Giveaway Winner !

 Good morning, Bloggies ! How was your weekend ?

I hope it was as fun as mine :o)

  

I spent my friday night with a bunch of my girlfriends (and two of their boyfriends)
at a Brasilian restaurant we'd been wanting to try for a while !  

The food was wonderful : All-you-can-eat 10 sorts of meat grilled on charcoal (pork sausages, chicken , turkey wrapped in bacon, roast pork, top sirloin, strip sirloin, flat sirloin, contre-filet, rib of beef, rib steak, filet mignon, lamb, etc.), served with all-you-can-eat mixed greens salad, sweet potatoes, rice and sauteed mushrooms ! Delicious !! One after the other, the waiters came to our table with a different type of meat and they would slice it fresh in our plates, it was so fun and the meat was juicy !

And dessert : Grilled pineapple with cinnamon or vanilla ice cream, + coffee or tea !

Oh and we can't forget the entertainment : Samba dancers !

Then, on saturday night, I was expecting to start entering the data / entries for the Charming Rebecca giveaway in an Excel spreadsheet .. yes, those were my totally exciting typical saturday plans. However, around 11pm, my friend Violet called me and we decided to go out for drinks ! We had such a blast, good conversation, good drinks and we met some cool people :o)

And on sunday afternoon, I met up with Violet again : We walked around town for about an hour, fed peanuts to some squirrels and pigeons (Yes, we're totally aware that we are strange pigeon ladies, à la Home Alone, lol.) and then, we stopped for lunch (warm vegetable soup & swiss cheese burger).

On the walk back home, we stopped at the park and enjoyed the sun a little. It was laid-back, relaxing and very fun ! Who said crazy pigeon ladies can't have fun ?!

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You've been very patient, listening to me yap-yap-yap away about my weekend and my pigeons ! Unless you just skipped to this part, either way, I love you and I thank you for visiting my blog. But if you read the whole thing, I love you more. Also, I wanted say thanks for entering the giveaway .. I had WAY more entries than I ever thought possible and hopefully, you enjoyed discovering Charming Rebecca's items !! After spending hours on Excel, entering all your comments / entries to the giveaway, I have the results of the Charming Rebecca giveaway for you.. drumroll, please !

The lucky winner of one item of your choice
from Charming Rebecca's Etsy store is :

The wonderfully sweet and inspiring

Summer @ "B" is for... Brown, Breathe & Believe !

Congrats girl ! Now the fun begins, picking your new piece of jewelry :o)

Thank you all for participating !
Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway, there's more stuff to win..