The padded bikini is not only stylish, but it is also practical attire for activities on the beach, such as sunbathing, or taking a dip in the sea. For those not familiar with buying this sort of bikini, a good course of action is to turn to luxury brands that already have the current fashion trends covered and good quality materials to boot. By investing in a padded bikini by a reputable brand, you can be confident that you are getting good value for the money you are paying. It is worth paying a higher price if you can be reassured that the most creative designers had an input into the patterns and cut of the bikini as well as fabric that will give your body support in the right places.

You may want to go straight to high end designer labels that offer a swimwear collection. For example, Missoni have string bikinis with a padded top that looks great with their iconic and distinctive prints in a range of colours. Be daring by wearing a bright green padded bikini! You will definitely stand out from the crowd. Sometimes, just knowing that your swimming costume is made by a respected fashion house can boost confidence as it makes you feel empowered due to the coveted brand, striking designs and expensive material used. Swimwear choice is a very personal decision and as such, it helps to reflect a woman’s personal sense of style.

Alternatively, women can decide to wear a padded bikini from a brand that specialises in beachwear. Heidi Klein offers a wide variety of clothes and accessories aimed at people trying to pack a holiday wardrobe for their vacation. Furthermore, Heidi Klein also stocks padded bikinis in lots of styles and designs, giving plenty of choice to women wanting to look chic and elegant at the seaside. For instance, the halter neck, bandeau, one piece and wide strap bikinis are just a few examples of the style of bikini they sell. The colour and prints on the padded bikinis are quite diverse in their designs. Some are plain in colour as a classic black or white bikini never goes out of fashion. However, there are other more detailed and unique patterns where women can pick swimwear to show off their body and sartorial decisions. Popular designs include bows and stripes. There are also brightly coloured bikinis in red, orange and pink to add glamour to an outfit for the beach or swimming pool. Floral prints are also available from Heidi Klein.

Pear Shaped – for a pear-shaped woman it is best to avoid the more clingy type pencil skirts as these often attract attention to the thigh and hip area. Instead an A-line long skirt is able to give a more attractive look with its ability to fit snugly at the waist area but is able to skim over the hip area. Also, a full-skirt also offers a great fit with it skimming the hips to provide a nice balance to the body. Aim to avoid the skirts that are either gathered or full at the hip, such as tulip-type skirts and peplum skirts as these have the potential to draw attention the hip area, and make you appear wider.

Hourglass Shaped – it helps with this body shape to go with styles which are tapered slightly less in the hemline. A pencil skirt can look great provided that it is able to hug the curves, rather than squeeze. A high-waist skirt is often able to highlight the waist area and break up the longer body if on the tall side.
Apple Shaped – if a larger sized stomach area sees to dictate the style of clothing worm than it might benefit to search out the skirts with a flat front and side fastenings, as this helps with limiting unnecessary bulk at the waist-line. A particular style to suit the apple shape includes the skirts with inverted pleats which start below the stomach area, which helps with drawing attention from the waist area.

Boyish Shaped – for those in need of creating an illusion of more feminine curves, a tulip styled skirt might benefit. A skirt of this nature is designed so that it gathers at the waist and as it moves down the body towards the knees it gets narrower. Some of the fashionable peplum skirts also work great due to the added feminine frills for creating curves, while some of the full skirts with front-positioned pockets can also look great.

Leggings are often considered as a fashion item associated with the eighties era and only to be worn in situations such as doing Jane Fonda’s workout DVDS. However, over the years leggings fashion has slowly but surely come back on trend and many of the top retailers now stock the garment in every pattern, print and colour.

Often what can be a problem when many consider how to wear the garment is whether they are deemed as casual or not. They can often be associated with everyday wear or even for gym wear which can put people off the idea of wearing them for night time occasions.

However, since the development of styles such as wet look leggings or leather leggings, more and more people are wearing the garment to even go clubbing in. Worn with a dressy top and with sky high heels, leg wear can help to accentuate the legs by both making a person look taller and making the legs look more toned and structured.

There are a variety of prints available on the market today. From everything to American flag print to moustache print. A recent trend that has hit various retailers is that of galaxy print. This print can be seen in dresses, skirts, tops and in particular leggings which seem to be flying off the shelves. Various celebrities have been seen sporting the wet look styles including Kim Kardashian who is seen wearing them on a weekly basis. This has also contributed to the popularity in leggings.

So how can leggings be worn? With almost anything as showcased to us by celebrities. Rihanna is frequently spotted in brand BOY’s printed leggings and teams them with other clashing prints for a truly unique look. Many believe that if leggings have a vivid printed design they must be worn with plain garments. However this is not necessarily true as clashing prints is a frequent trend that is seen on various catwalks in both London and Paris.

A key trend that has been seen in high street retailers for a few months now is that of peplum. The peplum design is great for curvier figures and helps to cover up and lumps and bumps. First starting in dresses, peplum tops have now become extremely popular and look fantastic with tight leggings.

The first step in choosing the perfect suit is deciding on the fabric. It needs to be versatile throughout the seasons, and be comfortable as well as hard wearing. High-quality worsted wool blends are a popular and versatile choice. Try to avoid blends with a large amount of polyester as this can cheapen the look of suit and make it uncomfortable to wear. Be sure to crinkle the fabric to ensure it does not remain crinkled, as you want a fabric that will bounce back throughout the day.

The colour, and pattern are equally as important as the material, as they can go a long way to how the suit looks, and how the suit makes you appear. Black, navy and gray suits are all popular and classic colours, as are pinstriped or plain patterns. If you do opt for a pattern, ensure that the patterns line up on the seams of the shoulders and lapels, and ensure that the pattern is one that will flatter your body shape.

Choose a style of jacket that will suit your shape and fit comfortably. The single breasted jacket is a classic style, or you also have the option of double breasted and button-to-collar jacket styles. You will also need to consider the preferred length of the jacket, as some prefer short and cropped style jackets, whereas others prefer a long, below the hips style.

It very much depends on personal preference and what is most comfortable as to whether you opt for a skirt suit, trouser suit, or a three piece suit (interchangeable skirt, trousers and jacket).

If opting for trousers, choose a style that will flatter your height and shape. Remember pleats in trousers are dressier and roomier, and flat-front trousers are slimming. Uncuffed trousers will elongate the legs, and cuffed legs are more formal. Consider the size of heels, if any, that you plan to wear with the suit, and take a pair of shoes with the same heel size with you when trying the suit on, to ensure the trousers fall at the right length with the shoes.

Glass is 100% recyclable and can be reused to make a variety of objects. For every ton that is recycled, more than a ton of raw materials needed to create new is saved. Using cullet, or recycled pieces, takes 40% less energy than making new glass, as cullet melts at a much lower temperature. It also eliminates the million year wait for each bottle or jar ending life in a landfill to breakdown.

If you are a jewelry fashion aficionado you will agree that recycling at its best is the use of recycled glass for jewelry making. The idea is simple: take trash that will take a million years to break down in a landfill and turn it into exquisite pieces of wearable art. The process of using recycled glass for jewelry is eco aware chic. Using old windows, drink bottles, dishes, cups, and jars the material is turned into cullet. In one studio an artist cuts the glass, assembles the pieces into a design, than fires it in a kiln to fuse the pieces together creating a unique design. Another artist uses a three foot tall magnifying glass to focus sunlight (3,000 degrees!) to melt the glass. The molten glass naturally forms an elegant droplet shape.

Each artist uses different types of recycled glass and process in creating their own unique design. The following list gives you some idea of these creative processes.

• • Most readily noticed is Brand Glass Jewelry. This simply is re-using branded bottles and jars – like soda, beer, wine, and liquor bottles – working the glass pieces into different pieces of jewelry.

• • One very interesting type is Sea Glass Jewelry. Mimicking a natural process, post-consumer glass is cut into pieces and sand tumbled in an artificial environment. The result is glass pieces that looks like true sea glass.

• • With the use of a kiln, Fused Glass Jewelry is created by using several pieces of recycled glass in different colors and textures. The glass pieces are then melted together to create a single beautiful glass piece.

• • Drop Glass Jewelry uses a heat source to melt a recycled glass piece letting the force of gravity pull the piece into a droplet.

• • Stained Glass Jewelry is a reuse of broken glass pieces of different colors and shapes fit together in a creative pattern.

Designer perfumes are popular mainly because of the name written all over the bottle. Who wouldn’t want to say that his perfume is a Gucci, or a D&G? Surely, the great names in the fashion industry wouldn’t dare sign off their names on the bottle if the perfume is not good enough for their taste. Since their name is on the line, they are out to make sure that it’s the best one you’ll have thus far.

There’s an air of elegance in every designer perfume bottle. And since we’re talking about fashion as far as perfumes go, sophistication does play a very important role. And the big names in the fashion industry are the ones who know most what sophistication means. People trust big ticket designers for that.

Even with the fact that designer perfumes are not cheap, the market for these perfumes is still huge. People are buying because they want to enjoy the sheer goodness in these scents. And they especially want the ones created by the biggest names in the industry. For a lot of people, looking good and smelling great doesn’t really have a price tag. They’re willing to go high for as long as they’re getting their money’s worth.

A new player in the perfume market is sure to find it hard to elevate to the ranks of designer perfumes. That’s why they have to be overly competitive. To do it, some try to copy the scent of a particular designer perfume – the closer they get to the scent, the better they think their product will fair. As for the others, they make their price come way low. With a lower price tag, they surely can interest the larger market to spend they money on low cost perfumes than spend heftily on designer brands.

Levis Vintage Clothing Recreates Past Decades

The Levi’s Vintage line provides clothing and items that come from different time periods. Each of their items replicates a certain color, fabric, fit, character, and flair in a specific era. It is one of the goals of the clothing line to bring back the old American Tradition while retelling the brand’s time-honoured story. Some of the common items that are available from this collection include striped tees, chunky cardigans, baseball shirts, roll neck sweaters, soft henleys, and collared shirts. Aside from this, they also have a collection of vintage denim. This classic line features denim products from head to toe including jeans, shorts, jackets, vests and as well as shirts.

Getting the Vintage Levis Look Right

Levi’s will never be the same without having vintage Levi denim and/or a vintage Levi trucker jacket. As well as this, their vintage Levi’s shorts will definitely never fall out of style. The denim jacket of Levi’s is so versatile making it a must have item for your wardrobe. This is why there is no reason for people not to buy items that will remain in style for many years to come. Although the cut and the design of the shorts vary from time to time, the staple cut off type of shorts will always remain the same.

Using vintage styling can be very tricky whether you are using a genuine antique find or even a brand new vintage inspired item. One of the important things that people should remember in using styles from other time periods is never mix designs from different eras in just a single look or outfit. So if the chosen period is the 50s-inspired look with Audrey Hepburn as a fashion icon, then it would be best to stay with the 50s motif and make use of items such as broaches, ballet flats and flicked black eyeliner.

Blending Past Decades With The Present

The only exception to this is that you can also try to use a vintage look and combine it with a modernized design. The black leather biker jacket of Levi’s can be styled in many different ways that can adapt to both present and past trends in fashion. It can be paired with a simple tee, dark distressed jeans and as well as trendy biker boots such as those from Steven Madden. This delivers a very stylish and casual throwback look that is edgy and cool. Aside from this, the same Levi’s jacket and boots can also be worn on top of a white summer dress to produce a very unique and dashing look that pays tribute to the old biker appeal, but still staying very feminine.

The word graffiti, singular graffito, is used to describe every type of unauthorised (and authorised) Street Art. There can be no doubt that there are many who would rather it didn’t exist. Strong emotions caused by the appearance, seemingly miraculously, overnight of yet another tag, passed on the way to work, give a clue as to how important this form of self-expression is.

But there are many places in the world that hold events to celebrate this form of art. Whether it’s in Bristol, UK, or Melbourne, Australia, there are large sections of society that believes this form of art benefits a city. So where did it come from, this need to express oneself in public sometimes causing outrage to building owners and sometimes ending in court?

The term graffiti once referred to the inscriptions and figure drawings discovered by archaeologists when investigating ancient sites of interest. Perhaps the most famous would be the catacombs of Rome and in the devastated city of Pompeii. The modern usage of the word has grown to include any form of graphics found in and around the streets and alleys, the skyscrapers and road bridges of most modern cities.

The earliest form of graffiti seems to be dated around 30,000 BC. This type of graffiti goes under another name, cave art. But if we are looking at the line between old tagging and new then we need to visit Ephesus in ancient Greece. It would appear that there is a tag, or piece of graffiti, that seems to suggest that a brothel is nearby. Although one might argue this also could be the earliest form of business marketing, the fact that it is scratched into a wall also defines it as graffiti.

From ancient Greece to the Romans, Egypt and beyond, historic graffiti has helped those that study such things to gather a deeper understanding of lifestyles, languages and even pronunciation. This is to highlight that this type of expression has been around for a very long time. Those that currently tag and graffiti in our modern cities are just continuing a very long historic line of personal expression.

It would be crass to say that all objections are wrong and equally as crass to say that all graffiti is vandalism. There are many people from many walks of life who, having experienced the massive street art in Bristol in 2011, have been pleasantly surprised by the effect that it has had on an otherwise rundown and largely ignored part of the city.

As an example to further justify this point of view lets just visit some other sites around the world that have historic graffiti. There is the Mayan site of Tikal, in Guatemala, leaping continents to Ireland we find Viking graffiti surviving at Newgrange Mound, there is evidence also of graffiti in Constantinople (Runes) then there is the graffiti known as Tacherons (builders marks) scratched into Scandinavian church walls. The list goes on; artists such as Rafael and Michelangelo scratched their names into the ruins Domus Aurea and even French soldiers scribing on some monuments their initials whilst taking part in the campaign of Egypt in the Napoleonic era.

So there can be no doubt it is a global phenomenon and an historical activity. The ever evolving face of street art can mean great pieces of art being created on the same wall on almost a daily basis. So if we accept that it is going to happen maybe we should enjoy the expression, colours and creativity that this disposable form of modern Art provides.

• First of all, read your employee handbook to find out what it is that you can and cannot wear to work. It should be written down there what would be allowed during the days designated for dressing down. You should do this first because you would not want to risk your employment because of clothes, would you?
• Try to ask around from employees who have been with the company for some time if they could tell you about their experiences when dressing down casually. Ask them about the kind of clothes they normally wear during those times.
• Less formal is probably a better term for the kind of clothes that you ought to wear on a casual Friday. If you wear a suit normally, then you should go down to wearing polo shirts and slacks. The important thing is that you should still be professional in your clothes.
• Try not to wear the things that you would sport when doing the things that you are passionate about. This is a common mistake of a lot of people who think that they could finally show that they’re some biker dude, by wearing their leather outfit complete with biker boots, or that they’re a soon to be beach bum by walking in wearing their favorite Hawaiian shirt. That simply wouldn’t inspire confidence in your professional abilities.
• Whatever it is that you decide to wear; cleanliness should be something that you ought to think about always. It does not matter how expensive your shirts or shoes are, if you show up in the office looking and smelling like you haven’t showered, it would be pointless. In fact this is something you should remember whether it’s a day for casual dressing or not.
• Don’t risk your reputation at the workplace by experimenting on your casual look. Just play it safe with plain old polo shirts, slacks and loafers. You can never go wrong with that combination of clothes for your casual day. You can complete the ensemble by having a well chosen sports jacket over your attire.

Keep in mind that you are dressing for your work. Even if you are toning down your clothes on that day, it is still supposed to be professional most of all. What you wear to work and what you wear to have fun should be a completely different set of clothes.