Slava Zaitsev, Ethnic Colour Explosion

by Helene, Mexico

Slava Zaitsev Spring 2017 collection Russian ethnic costumes

Recently I have read a post about successful celebrities. The author was insisting that for success just talent isn’t enough. One shall have a proper background, implying that his or her parents were able to invest in the child’s development. Otherwise, doesn’t matter how talented the child is, he or she will be a failure.

While watching this fashion show, I was thinking to myself: “Yes, in this case the post author was 100% right, creating such stylish outfits would be impossible if Slava had poor parents… Taste and this fine feeling of beauty and elegance do not come from nowhere.” The diversity of his outfits, most of which could serve as an icon of style and elegance, inspired me to read little bit more about the designer, Slava Zaitsev.

I was amazed and to some extent shocked: his mother was a usual housewife, and she has never had any beautiful clothes. Actually, that is why Slava creates such looks, rich and elegant, to somehow compensate for that mum`s feeling of, probably pain and hope that once at least her child will be able to have what she couldn’t afford. Inspired by richness and brightness of Russian national colours, Slava creates masterpieces (yes, and I am not afraid of using this word!) that can be worn in everyday live and for women of all sizes. Each of his creations is well-balanced, elegant and distinctive at the same time.

Slava Zaitsev Spring 2017 collection Russian entire red outfit

I am not a fan of red colour, I practically never wear it because my shyness dampens the joy, even if this of high quality and of truly elegant style. My mum always taught me never to wear everything of the same colour.

Perhaps I am too old school? If I would be a celebrity, like a famous TV host let’s say, I’d probably easily flaunt something like this in front of the paparazzi, with an expensive car to match. That would be a real gutsy statement!

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - OCTOBER 13: A model walks the runway at the SLAVA ZAITSEV fashion show during day five of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia SS17 at Manege on October 13, 2016 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

A row of models dressed in white parade down the catwalk in crisp white tights and nostalgic hats. I would say, elegance is a key word to all looks created by this designer.

Slava Zaitsev Spring 2017 collection Russian fashion week white tights

Any shade of pink is quite a controversial colour. These outfits, however, show this shade in a different light, rather not connected with all the Barbie glamour, but with the elegance of a mature lady that isn’t afraid of experiments. Confident and yet charming.

Slava Zaitsev Spring 2017 collection Russian checkered gingham skirt

This skirt would look equally nice on a slim woman and on a fuller figured woman or a woman coming from a cultural background that requires full body coverage (ex. Chechen republic). Slava Zaitsev is famous for also creating clothes for women who are “just bigger than average”. His work is very versatile, he even designed athlete’s uniforms for 1980s Moscow Olympic games.

Slava Zaitsev Spring 2017 collection Russian checkered gingham jacket

Here is a one more casual style for the ladies with fuller figures, it accentuates the feminine lines. It would, in my opinion, be more interesting to see an actual plus size model wear something like this to show women of all sizes that it is not difficult to select good styles for their shape.

Slava Zaitsev Spring 2017 collection Russian neon colours

Wait a second here, what a daring design, but didn’t my mum teach me not to wear more than three colours at once? I would like to get a better look at the dress underneath the jacket because this orange/black combination with stripes on the side seems pretty cool.

Slava Zaitsev Spring 2017 collection Russian Asian influence jacketjpg

Slava’s designs show a lot of cultural roots to them. He uses very unusual combination of accessories, scarves, and so on to create his looks.

Slava Zaitsev Spring 2017 collection Russian blue and gold outfit

Here is a luxury mix of royal blue and gold.  Hosiery matches the rest of the outfit and adds a special elegant touch as if it is a business lady heading to some artistic exhibition.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - OCTOBER 13: A model walks the runway at the SLAVA ZAITSEV fashion show during day five of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia SS17 at Manege on October 13, 2016 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

Here is another example of a dress that would be appropriate for a woman with a fuller figure. The head piece is pretty avant-garde in my opinion, but it nicely finishes this whole Mongolian-like concept.

Slava Zaitsev Spring 2017 collection Russian red dress

What a classic colour combination – red and black, with mesh for elegance. Romantic and mysterious, but so different from the rest of the collection.

Slava Zaitsev Spring 2017 collection Russian dress

In my opinion Slava Zaitsev has his own unique signature, just like the iconic Dior and Chanel who were his inspirations. His designs are so well composed that they don’t require any cheap shock factors in order be remembered.

Calgary Stampede 2017 and Hosiery

Disclaimer: I love all the festivities of the Calgary Stampede, with exception of the horse races and rodeo. My Stampede experience did not include cheering over cruelty. 

I wanted until the last day of the Calgary Stampede to post whatever photos I got from there. It was a lot of fun this year and I enjoyed all the crafts shows, art shows, and farm animal exhibits. I even got to watch some beautiful Clandestine horses all dressed up.

I went there 3 times and I got to see only 5 women in pantyhose. As you see, 3 of them I managed to photograph and the shot without shoes beside saddles is of my own legs in ultra sheer pantyhose.

Candid Photos of Women from Calgary Stampede

Calgary Stampede 2017 pantyhose

I saw this girl actually outside of the Stampede grounds, she was at a shopping mall and she said that she was dressed up for the event. I ran into some salon after her, complimenting her on how nice she looks in her denim outfit. She was very happy to pose for a photo.

Calgary Stampede 2017 pantyhose and sneakers

Here is a photo of a young woman wearing all black despite the heat. She had a particular clothing style that she didn’t part with regardless of all the gingham shirt and ripped denim shorts hype around her.

Calgary Stampede 2017 pantyhose and fun socks

This shot was taken of the sales girls at the Stampede, they had some art booth and both of them were happy to show off their cool legwear. As you see, one was wearing cool bi-denier tights (with a small run in them unfortunately) and the other one put on mix & match knee socks. A lot of these sales staff were not even from Calgary, I spoke to several who flew in from Toronto just for the event.

My Own Legs & Calgary Stampede Pedicure

Calgary Stampede 2017 pantyhose 5 den ultra sheer

My own legs, of course! If you look closely, I even did a Calgary Stampede pedicure with the CS letters. There are better close up shots of that in an earlier post. I wore 5 den pantyhose and flats just because I knew I’ll be doing a lot of walking and I wanted to be comfortable.

Compression Hosiery on a Calgary Woman

On my last day of the Stampede I saw a mature woman in some really nice shiny tights and I immediately thought to be Wolford Neon 40. My curiosity had no boundaries and I willingly ran into a “miracle” beauty cream sales booth after that lady and had to hang out there a little bit until I could find a moment to ask her, while an awfully rude and pushy Israeli sales person was circling me like a shark.

Finally I couldn’t wait anymore, and since any kind of rudeness seemed to be quite common at that booth, I interrupted another one of those sales sharks who was putting on some cream on that lady in order to ask my important question – “I am so sorry, are those pantyhose you are wearing happen to be Wolford Neon 40? They look expensive.”

That lady confirmed that those are in fact expensive, but those are not Wolford. She pays $30/pair for compression hosiery. I was really surprised actually that compression pantyhose could look so good because somehow I wouldn’t think that something medicinal could be also glamorous.

I had to leave and I couldn’t talk to that nice woman any longer, but I do wish with all my heart that she didn’t in fact proceed and buy anything at that booth. While I was waiting they smeared something under my eye to show “how the miracle cream engaged the muscles and the hyaluronic acid in it smoothes out the skin”, but in fact it was something like glue that started tightening on my skin and I had to wash my face later to get rid of that peeling layer. This is a cut throat industry and the sales staff make no money unless they get you somehow to buy something, regardless of the method used.

… and the Lack of Compression Hosiery

Yesterday I went to a Stampede Breakfast in my community with my neighbour. There was a realtor there at her booth and I got to see her legs, the part showing under the hem of her dress and the start of her cowboy boots. I said that she has hairy legs to my neighour and he had a look and said that her legs are just simply blue. I went to have another look and both of us were right – black unshaved hair and varicose veins together! Why go like this to an event where you are trying to market yourself? She’d look perfectly fine in jeans like the rest of the crowd.

In conclusion here I’d like to say that the whole point of the Stampede wear is to embrace the cowboy lifestyle and dress up like a farm girl. It’s unfair to even expect anyone to think about city clothing like pantyhose and heels when this is the spirit of the event, hence here is the reason for such a few sightings. There is a place and time for everything.

Giuseppe Palmisano and 300 Women in White Tights Art Project

This work is by an Italian Aritst, Giuseppe Palmisano, it just happened a few days ago in Pesaro, Italy, on June 25th. He scouted 300 women to wear white tights and pose for him. The art project is called Empty (Vuoto). Surprisingly, women did it free of charge just to support the art. They didn’t even get to keep the tights.

I’ve read somewhere that he is going to repeat it with darker skin ladies wearing black tights. However, I’m doing all this through Google Translate, so if someone here speaks Italian, can you have a look and let us know?

Giuseppe welcomes all women, regardless of size and age, but they can’t have any distracting tattoos. I couldn’t include all the photos that I found just because ladies are topless and I am trying to draw a line somewhere in terms of what I want to display on this blog, even though I think that artistic nudity is beautiful.

iosonopipo-vuoto models posing in white tights art

iosonopipo-vuoto white tights hanging on chairs

iosonopipo-vuoto women in white tights posing for an art project

iosonopipo-vuoto women in white tights posing for an art project 2

 

eBay changes affecting Canadian sellers

Dear customers, a lot of you bought from me previously on eBay for whatever reason. Well, with their recent changes, a Canadian top seller like me is completely discouraged to sell to Canadian customers! Ironic.

This all boils down to the fact that in order to maintain my top seller status, I need to provide tracking 95% of the time. eBay launched their spring seller update on June 20th, probably just in time to celebrate #Canada150 birthday, our country turning 150 years old.

To ship a light pair of stockings without tracking as letter mail would cost me $1.80 Canadian. To ship it with tracking would mean a little bit over $12 Canadian. Big difference! Who’d pay that?

I recently bought a t-shirt from another Canadian seller, before these changes kicked  in, and she sent it to me via letter mail, charging me only $3.50 shipping. With the current requirements she would have to charge me probably about $13 to ship and that would be a real deal breaker.

If I don’t abide by those regulations, I’ll lose my top seller status and I no longer will rank as high as I do in eBay search. This may affect my business.

As a result, my target eBay customer is a US-based one because I can use a logistics company to take those packages across the border and pay domestic USPS rates that provide tracking and are so much lower than Canadian shipping rates.

In conclusion, please, no matter where you are based, I encourage you to buy from this site rather than from eBay. Without eBay fees I can offer better sales on products. All pricing on this site is in Canadian dollars and you are still fully protected by Paypal’s policies.

 

Fishnet tights & socks are in fashion for Spring 2017

Lately I had many inquiries about fishnet socks, especially short ankle ones. There seems to be a trend on the runway to wear anything fishnet, like tops and tights.

fishnet tights and socks are in fashion for spring 2017 collage

fishnet tights and socks are in fashion for spring 2017

Here is one of my photos from Instagram, taken recently, of my legs in fancy fishnet tights. It’s not a new pair, but all the sudden I feel more fashionable about wearing it.

Fiore Vera pantyhose