Shooting Falabella

I was sent to an audition in Barcelona just after the Christmas holidays. The audition was for Falabella's Autumn-Winter'12 campaign. 

Falabella is a retail store that can be found in Argentina, Chile, Colombia & Peru. They were looking for two girls to star in their next campaign, which they were shooting in Barcelona. After a couple of castings, a call-back & a couple of weeks' wait- they chose Brianda Fitz James & I as the faces & guest bloggers for the campaign. Each of us had one style they had to represent- I was going to represent Glam Rock.

I flew out to Barcelona a couple of days previous to the shoot for preparation- they wanted us to meet the team first, hair & make-up tests, run through the looks, talk to press, etc. On the cold morning of January 27th, the whole team (including press) of about 150 people were gathered at the meeting point in the heart of Barcelona, in Borne. 

It was a long shoot (about 14 hours), but I had such a good time. The days of preparation before meant everything was perfectly organized, & everybody knew what they were doing. The entire team was great.   I loved working with director Martin Romanella. It was lovely working with Brianda, who was shooting on the same day & I got to catch up with between shots (when she was shooting I was preparing, and vice-versa). After spending most of the day shooting at Barcelona Forum, we moved to an old factory for the last couple of shots. That is where I met Alba, & got to sing a few seconds of one of my songs :) 

The campaign also consisted in creating looks for Falabella's catalogue. I enjoyed styling, accessorizing & being involved in the creation of the looks for the brand's catalogue shoot. 

A couple of weeks ago, the campaign video came out, as well as the first of my guest posts for their website (click here to see the campaign + posts). I was able to film a little bit during the shoot, & finally sat down to put it all together. The video brings lovely memories, of a lovely day, with lovely people :) 

Thank you Falabella! 

Lx

My Item of the Week

HEATTECH

A week after Paris Fashion Week, I find myself back in Madrid enjoying the beautiful (almost) Spring weather. 

There are a few brands missing flagship stores in Spain. One of these brands is Uniqlo- one of my favourite brands for basic items of clothing. 

In 2003, Japanese brand Uniqlo launched HEATTECH. This line has all sorts of items of clothing (socks,   shorts, t.shirts, tights, etc) that generate heat & trap it so your body stays nice and warm. This line is perfect for winter basics. 

The reason I am writing about this now is because I'd forgotten how amazing they were. I'd lost the only one I had from a couple of years ago. So whilst I was in Paris, I visited their store to stock up on a few long sleeved t-shirts (you can never have enough black sleeved t-shirts :D). They kept me warm during the cold, rainy days in Paris. I wore them under absolutely everything (Le Grand Palais is very cold, so I wore under the Chanel top for the AW'12 show). 

They were so useful, I decided I'd buy a couple of short sleeved t's for Spring & any other tricky sunny days. That's when I found the one with black & white stripes. I wore it for the first time this weekend, where I spent the day in beautiful Retiro Park (Madrid). The weather was lovely- I had my bikini top on underneath so I could sunbathe! But as soon as the sun started to set...the cold weather came back & I was glad to be wearing my warm t-shirt. 

They are great. I recommend these tops to those of you who hate being cold as much as I do. 

I'd like to end today's post with a song. Miike Snow's video for The Wave just came out, and I can't stop listening/watching it. 

Hope you have a lovely day :) 

Lx

PFW: Chanel

HB x HC (to read post in Spanish, click here)

I first went to a Chanel show back in October'11, it was an honour to be invited again this time around.

Yesterday there were hundreds of people at Le Grand Palais, waiting to see what Karl Lagerfeld had created for Fall-Winter 2012.

The venue is already amazing inside (and out) on its own- but looked even more amazing with what I can only describe as kryptonite out of a Superman Movie.

Top, boots & clutch by Chanel

Jeans from American Apparel

The show & collection was excellent. I loved the colours that have been used (specially the combinations of grey, blue, green & fucsia); the big coats; the cute little quilted backpacks...and fell in love with every single pair of shoes in the show. I also loved the "eyebrow bling" detail on the models. 

Here is a little video of the show & after party, presented by the lovely Elisa :) 

Once again, it was like a dream come true. 

Chanel had organized two little events later on in the day.

The first was a cocktail to celebrate the opening of the brand's new store on 51 Avenue Montaigne,  designed by Peter Marino. The store is huuge, it is like one big box of (very tempting) candy, and looks exactly what you'd expect Coco Chanel's house to be like in 2012. My favourite part of the store is the glass pearl necklace that drops from the ceiling of the second floor, down to the main floor.

Last but not least, was the dinner at la Maison Blanche, a 2min walk away from the store. There was a live performance by Django Django , with beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower & river Seine. It was so lovely to see Elisa & Poppy again. I cannot imagine a better way of spending my last night in Paris :)

Time to get packing, I can't believe Fashion Week is almost over! Thank you Chanel for a lovely day, & Harper's Bazaar Spain for this lovely week in this beautiful city.

 See you in Madrid!

Lx

PFW: Loewe

(To read post in Spanish, click here)

I love black.

Some days I wake up & think: "let's try something different today", and wear anything but black. As soon  as I'm about to walk out the door, I turn around & run back to my room, into the arms of my lovely black clothes. I've come to terms with the fact that I am completely useless when it comes to wearing colours. I also know that I'm probably not the only one with the same issue :D

Loewe's AW'12 collection will be every leather-wearing, dark colour lover's guilty pleasure. I was at the Loewe show at Université Paris Descartes on Saturday evening, and walked out of the show with a huge smile on my face. The cut of the coats; the gorgeous leather jackets, trenches & coats; the amazing plaid skirts...even the detail on the buttons of the garments!

After the show I went to a dinner organized by the brand at Caviar Kaspia- where I feasted on crab salad & delicious caviar jacket potato. I wore a shirt-dress from Maria Escote's "Shock" collection. 

I had a lovely time at the dinner, & adored the show. I think this is one of Stuart Vevers best collections for Loewe, & one of my favourite collections for next fall-winter :)

Lx

The invitation to the show came with an "Amazona" Loewe bag made out of paper.

PFW: Viktor & Rolf

(To read post in Spanish click here)

Bonjour from Paris!

I still cannot believe I am here. 

The flight got in pretty late on Friday night, & the next day I was on my way to a couple of shows. I was at the beautiful Jardins des Tuileries for Viktor & Rolf. 

Jacket: María Escoté

Top: American Apparel

Bag: Chanel

Boots: Jeffrey Campbell Lita Spike

Shows at the Tuileries are usually pretty complicated to get to- there is a lot of traffic in the area, you need to park up and walk through the gardens (across heel-unfriendly floor) to find the entrance, and the huge marquee in the gardens sits a good amount of people. There is always a queue to get in, etc.

What never ceases to surprise me is that, when the show begins, even if it has been pretty hectic to get to and there are so many people catching up in this same space, it all goes quiet. Everybody sits & watches carefully, ready to be transported to the world that the designer has created. 

Viktor & Rolf show took us to the middle of the woods, like little red riding hood. 

Here is a video with the favourite looks of the show :)

Lx

Gaby's Tips #2

Natural Make-up

Hello from Madrid airport!

After spending the entire morning cleaning up my room, packing my suitcases & recovering from last night's party- Harper's Bazaar Spain 2nd anniversary (click here if you want to see my pics from last night)- I am finally waiting to board my flight to Paris.

On Tuesday, I met up with lovely make-up artist Gabriel Llano to learn a few new tips & make a March video tutorial. Gaby gave me tips on how to do a very natural make-up look.

I hope you find the tutorial useful, & have a great weekend :)

Voyez-vous à Paris!

Lx

Ps. If after watching this vid you want more Gaby's Tips, you can check out the mini tutorial for eyeliner we filmed on the same day for my blog on StyleLovely x

HB x HC: Poppy Delevingne

(To read post in Spanish, click here) 

Last month I had the pleasure of meeting lovely Poppy. 

It is the start of a good year for Miss Delevingne. She is one of Chanel's ambassadors, as well as the face of the new Zadig & Voltaire fragrance. She can add that to her list of campaigns that she has shot in the past for the likes of Laura Ashley, River Island, Mango, etc.

Poppy was in Madrid shooting an editorial for Harper's Bazaar & Pierre Balmain (Balmain's diffusion line). It was towards the end of January, on a cold Saturday afternoon. 

When you watch her work, you can understand why so many brands & designers want to work & collaborate with her. Poppy is sweet, polite, friendly...and lots of fun. 

Here is my eight minute interview with Poppy :)  

Enjoy! 

Lx

Jesus Christ

ft Proxies

Back in October I went to England to work on a new project, a demo. It had been something I'd wanted to do for a very long time, but had been putting aside in fear- as it is an unknown territory to me.  

Last summer I turned 22 and realized that if it was something I truly wanted to do, I'd have to start soon. So I did. 

I got on a plane to England, and started working on my demo- with the help of Proxies. Joe, Josh, Alex & Jordan have helped since day 1- and made it all less scary. 

It was an honor when they asked if I would sing on their cover of Brand New's "Jesus Christ"- the first of their Cover Sessions. The video, filmed by Jordan Green, was uploaded last week. 

I'd like to thank Proxies for this lovely opportunity, the experience was great & I had such a good time at the video shoot! 

You can catch Proxies on their website, Twitter & Facebook :) 

Lx

My Item of the Week

I simply had to. 

I'd been looking for a satchel since last fall. I'd tried them on in all sizes & colours, but could never really decide on which colour I wanted. 

England makes lovely satchels. Zatchels is a brand based in Leicester that manufactures leather satchels & ships them worldwide. I came across this brand last monday, & fell in love with their Love Hearts collection.  

I bought it online, & it arrived 3 days later! I have not taken it off all week :D

It has accompanied me all around Sherwood Forest- where I've spent the weekend swimming, spa-ing, eating (LOADS) and feeding ducks & swans. One of the most relaxing weekends I've spent in a very long time. 

Hope you are having a lovely day. My day shall be spent travelling from Sherwood Forest to Stansted airport- I'm going back to Spain after a lovely couple of weeks in England (demo almost finished!). 

See you in Madrid :) 

Lx

Shooting Vanidad

When I was asked to be the cover of Spanish fashion magazine Vanidad, I couldn't quite believe it. 

I don't think I really believed it until I finally saw the magazine when it came out last week.

On December 16th, I met the Vanidad team, along with stylist Noelia Terrón, make-up artist Guille Matellano & manicurist Lorena Herruzo at Rafa Gallar's photo studio (who I'd previously shot with for the Harper's Bazaar Spain editorial). 

This shoot was very special to me for a few reasons.

It is my first magazine cover, and I can't imagine having worked with a more lovely & fun team. I had such a great time. 

Those of you who have been reading HoraConfessions since I started it back in 2009 will remember- what I like to call- the "elbow incident". I broke my elbow whilst shooting an editorial in London- the editorial was for Vanidad! Regardless of what happened, the team of people I worked with back then were amazing- they rushed me to hospital & didn't leave all day. They also called for months after that to see how the recuperation was going. We all laughed when they realized I was the "elbow girl". 

Here is a backstage + interview made by Mario Ximénez & Álvaro Delgado at the shoot. 

Thank you Vanidad, for a photo shoot & pictures that I shall never forget!

I hope you have a lovely weekend :) 

Lx

You can find more backstage footage on Vanidad.es. 

Valantine's Day

 

Hello from England! 
I've been here visiting since last week. 

I just wanted to write a quick post to give the names (and stories) of the St Valantine's competition winners. 

There was only supposed to be one winner, however after receiving stories in English and Spanish I realized translating stories would make them lose their essence, so I decided it would only be fair to have two winners.

Leti, Spain -- (click here to read story in Spanish)

Mike, Bristol UK -- (English story below)

I met a girl in autumn of 2009. She was studying abroad, and became friends with my crazy housemate who was on holiday in the same city. He encouraged us to talk. I expected her to be one of his usual girls (I use the term "girl" loosely...), but I was pleasantly surprised when our Skype connection established and the most beautiful face I've seen appeared on the other end. "Hello darling" she said. I was told she was French but she sounded very English. 

This girl and I spoke a lot over the next few weeks. We grew close. I became more and more excited to meet her after she told me she was coming to stay in my city, so much so that I began to wonder if my feelings for this stranger I had yet to meet were irrational. Soon, the day came. I didn't tell her I was traveling over from my school town to home for her arrival and asked my friend to keep my attendance a secret. On the drive over I saw a silly toy animal which I decided to nickname Bruce. I bought it but to this day I am not really sure why, but I am glad I did. 

I snook into the apartment and then walked into the kitchen. There she was. In hindsight, she perhaps seemed a little flustered but at the time I didn't realise because all I noticed was; she was lovely. The same beautiful face from the computer screen, but in real life and with a glowing aura of attraction around her. Yes, she was lovely. 

That night we spent time talking. She retired to bed early. I made up some silly story about my inability to sleep on sofas and my bad back, which I don't think she believed it but conceded that we should share a bed anyway, as soon as my housemate went to bed. I gave her the Bruce toy and we shared a laugh. I couldn't work out if she thought I was totally stupid or a tiny bit cute -- I am still not sure! I returned and spoke to my housemate for a while. I told him he had done well finding such a pretty girl and I spoke about how attractive I found her. Then he left to sleep.    

I entered my bedroom, where the girl was sleeping. She was already asleep. What a beautiful thing she was. To this day I can acquire endless wonder by watching her sleep, to see such a delightful beauty resting is truly a strange sensation that I feel I will never get used to. I crept into bed and stirred her from her sleep in doing so. She curled up to my body and cuddled up to my side in a half-sleepy-half-affectionate state. My heart rate rose. I wanted to kiss her. The feelings I had for this girl hours after meeting her out-weighed those that I had ever had after weeks of previous relationships. I felt her breath on my neck. Her hand resting on my chest. I wanted to kiss her. I tilted my head to press against her forehead. My heartbeat rising more and more. I think she could feel it. I wanted to kiss her.

Then, I did. And it was the one kiss I will remember forever. That was the day I met the girl I love.

The two winners will be contacted via email regarding your Guess t-shirt prizes.

Thank you so much for participating & sharing your lovely stories with me- they've got me feeling all romantic!  

Happy Valantine's Day :)

Lx

St. Valantine's Competition

I was a teenager when I went out on my first date. 

My mother dropped me off at the movies in my town, where I had arranged to meet up with a boy. We watched Men In Black II. I am an extremely clumsy person (I always make a fool out of myself at the most inappropriate of times), & managed to spill my huge drink (coca cola) all over my lap. It was the end of summer- so I was in soaking summer clothes in a full-blast air-con cinema. As soon as the movie ended, we walked outside (I still had coca cola all over me)- only to see my dad waiting at the exit.

I don't think I'll ever forget my first date. Nothing is more awkward than a first date. Do you remember yours?

As you probably know, Valanetine's Day is next week, so I thought it would be nice for a little competition. Guess has brought out a limited edition t-shirt for Valantine's Day (pictured above), which you can get it for free if you spend more than 100€ in their flagship store, or buy it for 44€. You can also win this t-shirt by entering my competition.

Here are the details:

- Think of the most memorable date you've ever been on: it can be funny, melancholic, romantic, etc. (it doesn't have to be your first date. It can be about any date you like.
- You can send in the story in English or Spanish.
- The t-shirt is for girls, but guys are more than welcome to participate (maybe you'd like to win the tee for your sister/girlfriend/grandmother).
- Email me your story (laura@horaconfessions.com) before February 13th.

The winner will be announced on February 14th :) 

Good Luck!! 

 Lx