Roma E. Black's Blog

The upcoming spring is the best time to get rid of old habits and some additional kilograms. Wow, what do I say, what extra kilos? Now when everybody is fit and with an insane six-pack on a stomach, there is no way that some extra kilos got stuck to somebody’s thighs. So let’s think about why we need a detox in the spring? 
Is it reasonable that we are supposed to drink detoxifying cocktails, herbal mixtures or some nasty clays if we kept to green juices and steamed vegetables all year long? Ok, maybe a few, but really a few times we sinned with a piece of chocolate or an ice cream, but it really does not count. Where is the line between being healthy and blindly following the food fashion? Are we buying a white zebra coat of the next season because we saw it on Chiara Ferragni, do we eat the same things as our favorite bloggers or other celebrities?  Maybe it has gone a bit too far, that also our health has been put into the hands of the marketing machine. Gluten bad, gluten killer we’ve heard everywhere, and suddenly social campaigns supporting gluten involved celebrities like Kardashians and went viral. Beautiful women eating pizza and burgers, claiming that it is ok to eat gluten. And then we thought, no, this gluten cannot harm us, because these goddesses eat it and they still look like million dollars babes.  

Even on Instagram marketing companies created a hashtag – #girlswithgluten, what makes a lot of women post their photos with gluten food with hope to become just as famous as the celebrities who did it first. So we find ourselves in a bind because we want to be like those influencers, even if our tummy filled with gluten food hurts. But we are looking at the filtered celebs photos and we think, oh no, I have a poor metabolism.
All this fun in being thin, thinking I’m fashionable because I’m skinny is also a trap. The role models that we follow on Instagram are driving us into an everyday struggle for muscular buttocks, slender thighs and a flat stomach. Today, fashion is not limited to functional things, it is not enough that you will be wearing the latest Gucci collection, buy a car in the color of this season or you decorate your apartment the way Lena Perminova did. Oh no! Your body, including your hair, must also be subject to seasonal changes, according to the calendar of the fashion weeks. I have always been interested in how to have a short bob in the spring-summer season, and just two months later enjoy long hair in the autumn. 
Years later, I discovered that some wigs and hairpieces were created just to trick everyone that even hair can be easily adapted to the next season. 

So what is the detox fashion victim supposed to depend on? Perhaps taking a look at yourself and asking the question if my life habits really have to be dictated by influencers, who are paid for promoting a given trend? Do I want to be a target group for a product or diet? Do I, however, deserve to look at myself as an individual who can sometimes be inspired by a celebrity, but does not live according to a schedule of a promo campaign? If we are a fashion victim, then we are merely a victim, someone who puts down their life, including sacryfying their free will. Who do we choose to entrust our fate – to fashion and food companies? So maybe it’s time to go detox and separate from them? Instead of being a fashion victim, sign up to becoming fashion conscious, an individual who filters  all this social media mess and chooses what is best for her, and only for her.

The post When does a fashion victim have to go detox? appeared first on The Fashion Intruder.

The most straightforward answer is that The Fashion Intruder is about fashion, and today, without Karl, high fashion does not exist. But for me, Lagerfeld was a brilliant guy, who knew how to direct your life to get what you want, even if everything seems to be set up.

Therefore, references to Karl’s wisdom were the right background of the Sofia Ricci’s life change. Sofia having had enough of working in a legal corporation, doing overtime and sucking up to customers, came up with the idea of ​​quitting her job and escaping to the posh world of fashion. She was so thrilled that she did not realize that the whimsical fashion world, her promised land is not at all different from the world of a legal corporation. Today, after all, big fashion houses, apart from small exceptions – such as Chanel – belong to huge corporations filled with political correctness and procedures which regulate every step of their employees. It seems that pursuing her dreams, Sofia falls out of the frying pan. In this unequal fight with the system, she often wonders what Karl would do, as he was the only strong enough person to bypass the system working in the fashion world. He was part of Chanel, but with a guarantee of freedom, he could do whatever he wanted, and nobody accused him of leaving his office before 17:00. Lagerfeld was a role model of independence and independent thinking in the world ruled by corporations. So, everything depends on what you have in your mind.
The brand Chanel is now probably a lot more popular than Coco Chanel was in her era. (Sure, there were no influencers or the Internet at that time). I drew such a conclusion after comparing Chanel visibility in the media with a fashion house bearing the name of her biggest rival – Elsa Schiaparelli. Once they both went head to head, and now, thanks to Karl, Chanel is still in the lead, while Schiaparelli is fighting for its place at the end of the peloton. In this example, you can see what a significant role Karl played in the development of Chanel. Karl himself became part of the mainstream, appearing on clothes and accessories.  

Such a designer, who wins clients’ attention, is a real treasure. So what will happen now, when Mr. Lagerfeld is no longer with us? Who will tell us that wearing artificial pearls for 3000 euros is still in fashion? Who will lead us to buy tweed clothes, which look like being taken straight from the wardrobe of our grandmothers for the price of a small car? And that was Karl’s magic, whatever he touched, he transformed it into an object of desire. That’s why he and only he could be for Sofia Ricci a role model showing how to survive and even conquer the world of high fashion. 
Wherever you are Mr. Lagerfeld, I thank you for the inspiration and the will to fight for my dreams on my own terms. 
I do not know if Karl read The Fashion Intruder, but he definitely received it wrapped in rough black silk, recorded on a white Kindle. Unfortunately, I will never hear his feedback…

The post The Fashion Intruder, probably the last novel written about Karl Lagerfeld during his lifetime. Why did I choose him to be the main source of inspiration while chasing my dreams? appeared first on The Fashion Intruder.

Is it not enough to have one exclusive story about a girl who accidentally found herself in the world of high fashion? Why write books like The Fashion Intruder and other stories of an ordinary girl who unexpectedly experiences the fashion world? And what if you are a fashion lover, you follow its history, analyze almost every new project of increasingly more crazy designers? And would you like to read something about what you love genuinely? Do you happen to know by heart the quotes from The Devil wears Prada, Sex and the City or Gossip Girl? So maybe it is high time you collected your stories, enriched them with a few industry anecdotes and wrote your own novel? 

Would you ever write a book for which you have been waiting so long, and which you would eventually read with pleasure? I just did it, without even wondering if it makes any sense. I spent almost five years constructing the plot, the characters’ and choosing the setting. The Fashion Intruder is a mix of everything that I love: fashion, ballet and of course the affair. All this is embellished with Italian dolce vita, mysterious Rome, chic Paris, crazy Moscow, twisted London and undiscovered Warsaw. This is The Fashion Intruder. So if you are bored with this whole Chanel, Gucci, and Balenciaga’s mess and would like to know who is the coolest girl in town, experience crazy love in Rome, glamorous fight in Paris and break your new Louboutin’s heel in London, then you have just discovered the world of The Fashion Intruder. 

The post Do we need more stories like The Devil wears Prada? appeared first on The Fashion Intruder.

It seems like a stupid question, because what kind of clothes we are wearing in a given season if not the clothes from this season, but after watching the ending fashion weeks, I came to the conclusion that dressing in the current season’s clothes makes you a  loser, predisposed only to the world of high fashion. 
If we look at front rows, we will see that celebrities are already dressed in garments from the new collection, just presented on the catwalk. The same is with fashion bloggers, who are always at least one season ahead of us, ordinary customers who want to spend their hard-earned money on the „It – bag” that is a “must have” this season. Well, we’re stuck as this race will never end! What’s worse, it can make us develop a real neurosis!

At my lawyer’s work, it is essential to have a well-tailored black suit, no one judges whether it is from the current or the upcoming collection. The classic and dark color does everything. But the things get really dicey when I want to meet fashion people or have lunch with an editor-in-chief or what is the worst to attend a fashion show. In panic, I storm through my wardrobe, eventually deciding on black jeans and black turtleneck, which is the only safe option that I know will protect me from being judged. So perhaps it’s better not to meet people from the fashion world if they stress me so much? But what if I simply like them? Is this clothing madness triggered by Instagram or too much E television? Maybe the fashion people like me just the way I am, and for them is doesn’t matter how I look? For them, fashion is the same job as law for me, so my attorney’s suit is for them the same as the clothes from the latest collections?

Could it be the case that because all media are torpedoing me with new fashion trends, I feel like I had better pack my past season clothes and throw them into a cavernous wardrobe forever?

Why do we let ourselves be manipulated so that we still want new things? Why do we assume that what we already have is imperfect and tedious? Have you ever wondered what the psychology students at the marketing department are learning? Yes, that’s what they learn, how to force us to want new stuff that we did not need just a minute before watching the last ad. They are masters of manipulation and will be as long that we do not ask ourselves – will a new couple of Louboutin make my life better, do I buy it because I’m sad, doesn’t my husband love me and will my friends envy me? It is well known that during a process of buying, we escape a little from what is in us, the purchase of a new thing works on us like an injection of endorphins. Why, however, does it keep our mood at a high level so short?
Bying a new fashion item doesn’t spare us from being overwhelmed with life. So how about starting to enjoy it the way it is here and now? I am not talking about asceticism and giving up shopping at all. 

So how is it with fashion weeks? Why the brands’ owners make a huge show twice a year, inviting thousands of celebrities and build spectacular scenography for these shows?  All this so that we could feel, that with the help of new shoes or handbag we will become part of the high fashion world, to which we continuously tend to contribute with a new purchase every season. 

But as you can realize by observing the front rows of a fashion show, a regular fashion-conscious client will always be doomed even wearing the latest dress bought at Harrods. This piece of clothing will be a season behind what’s worn by the celebrities and fashion bloggers during the show. So why play this game if you can never win it?

October is the month of fighting breast cancer, so as every year the bars of well-paid PR agencies have started with new, beautifully prepared projects that are supposed to sensitize us to breast cancer patients and draw our attention to this disease.

So in October we have a limited series of cosmetics in pink packages, sweet cookies covered in pink icing and hundreds of thousands of celebrities smiling at us holding some pink stuff in their hands. Everything looks nice, so why am I picking on? Such a campaign is, after all, admirable, showing each of engaged brands as caring for their existing or future clients.

Let’s take a closer look at these beautiful Instagram photographs of products that are supposed to support the treatment of breast cancer. As the first glance, I’ll take some makeup products. In the cosmetics stores, while looking around, I realized that there was a really great choice of things if I wanted to support the October fight against cancer. A vast selection of lipsticks, shadows or creams. However, the problem begins when I read what was used to produce these cosmetics. What do we put on our skin each day to become beautiful beings just like the ones from Instagram, which our brain is constantly torpedoed with? So what do we have there?
The majority of active substances used in the ‘pink cosmetics’ are not of organic origin, so in short, they contain heavy chemistry there. How is it for cancer? Nobody knows thoroughly, but for instance in the US some long-term battles against cosmetics companies have recently been won. In one of those cases the verdict demonstrated that the product had caused ovarian cancer. So how is it?

On the one hand, we have a cosmetic packed with chemistry, and on the other side wrapped in a beautiful pink package, which is supposed to support the fight against cancer. Does it make sense at all?

Moreover, let’s think about how much profit the company has from participating in such a campaign? The rule is usually that a certain percentage – 10 or 20 from the purchase price is transferred to the fight against cancer.  So 80-90% still stays in the pockets of the cosmetics company.  

Some money from the campaign is donated for research on the mutation of the BRCA1. This gene will be activated only in some of its carriers, developing breast cancer. So not everybody with this mutation will necessarily have this type of cancer in the future. It is the environmental factors that influence who with this gene will be exposed to this disease. Among the environmental factors, we can also count cosmetics which we use as part of our daily routine.

However, such a campaign is great PR for a given brand, which not only drives the sale of its cosmetics, the same time giving the company many profits – because as I wrote before – 80-90% of the cosmetics’ price are still the company’s earnings. 
Simultaneously, most of those brands keep in cages thousands of animals on which these chemicals are tested. And we, during Octobers’ campaigns are so happy that the cosmetics companies are supportive!

Already the top of the hypocrisy is making pink, sugar-filled desserts, the sales of which will also support the fight against cancer. If we look at medical history, it was long ago discovered in PET (Positron Emission Tomography) research that cancer cells eat glucose at a rapid rate, which means that cancer cells as anaerobes desperately need glucose to live. By providing sugar to a sick person, we stimulate their illness. OK, I know that I’m picking on, the cakes are mainly eaten by healthy people who support the fight against cancer. However, every time I see such a contradiction I ask myself, what is the purpose of this campaign with a beautiful pink cookie served in a confectionery of a five-star hotel? Is it a health matter or we just have a promotion of this brand?

Because the cancer is a disease we are all afraid of, this is a topic that draws our attention, so it’s easy to manipulate us with it.

If the sole advertisement or beautiful packaging in the drugstore does not attract us, we will be torpedoed by gorgeous celebrities who, holding in their hands next versions of pink packaging, shout to us – be as great as we are and support the fight against cancer, buy, buy, buy and do not have any remorse, because you are buying only for a noble purpose.

I am sad while I am writing this because I have been supporting such actions for years, and now I see their second bottom, and I do not want to help this way. Instead, I can pay 100% of the price of a given cosmetic product to the account of the foundation, which supports sick people by organizing for them, for example, psychological or healthy cooking workshops. Why should I wait for some company to donate a few percents of my money to a noble goal one day if I can do it myself today?

A while ago I wrote my book The Fashion Intruder because I wanted to give some pure joy to people. The book is available on Amazon and I’ve decided that all of the money which I will receive from the Amazon’s license in October will be transferred to the Association which supports women who underwent mastectomy as a result of breast cancer. They are beautiful, full of life women who actively face the disease every day.

So for this, I encourage you, make a small transfer to the account of the organization that supports people who are already sick. We will do a lot more good than buying another lipstick in the pink shade.

Have you ever wondered where the bags desirable from all fashionistas come from? Who is sewing them and what are they made of? For many years I had my eyes closed, not wanting to know what a pair of new sneakers or a bag are made of.

I have read so many interviews with the celebrities who, although do not eat animals, or they just say so, march proudly with the new “It bags” each season. The fashion is cruel, does not care about animals, continually soaping our eyes with another deceptive campaign like – Let’s stop using plastic straws or granting some eco prizes awarded this week in Milan. At the same time, millions of animals which were born and raised only to become the desired bags for us are kept on farms.

A few fashion houses have lately decided to stop promoting natural furs, while bags, leather goods or shoes which contribute to over 80% of their revenues are still presented on catwalks all around the world.

So how to combine life in harmony with nature with the high fashion? How do you want to follow fashion and at the same time do not kill animals?

It is true that each of us craves for the new Birkin, we look with envy at the girls posing with its next versions on Instagram. The same is with glossy magazines which continuously encourage us to buy, buy and buy the best version of ourselves. It is as if we were still not perfect, as if a pair of shoes or a new piece of clothing was able to lift our spirits and carry us to an extraordinary caste, inaccessible to others.

I am beating myself in the breast because my wardrobe is so vast, full of leather bags, shoes and accessories. What should I do with them? Should I throw them away? But the animals they are made of had to die, only so that I could boast my new Chanel 2.55. Should I keep all the staff out of respect for them? I talked to my friend who told me that if I were still to carry my leather bags around or wear my leather shoes, other women would see and desire them. This is a holy truth, I have been buying things seen on women passing me on the street many times. So what have I decided to do in the end? I made up my mind to keep them, and let them make a private and beautiful exhibition.

But on the other hand, when choosing some vegan staff, you must also remember not to turn them into non-biodegradable anomalies unable to break down for thousands of years. Now you can buy beautiful bags that are biodegradable. However, by doing this and not wearing my leather goods, will I still be in fashion? Do I want to be perceived as a fashionista for the price of contributing to farm animals, only kept so that I can show off my new Birkin? Are the fashion weeks in which the horrified animals are in the background my world? Not anymore! The Fashion Intruder is my farewell to high fashion. I can be totally unfashionable, but free, aware that behind my clothes there are no factories where beads are sewn on by children who work for the so-called one dollar, or animals that are convicted to die and butchered only so that I can have new sneakers every season. Thank you for such fashion!

 

‘Sofia Ricci? The footballer’s girl who is busy selling clothes? It would be a pity for her. After all, she could be a partner in the legal office.’

Oswald Vitelli, a colleague from Rossi & Sciarra

 

‘I had never seen an advocate in Balmain’s skimpy dress before that party in Grand Palais in Paris.’

Gaspar Carlsson, forward

 

‘This premiere completely beat me out of the rhythm. Who are you asking about? Sofia Ricci?’

  Eleonore Coquaigne, prima ballerina

 

‘Sofia has always had fashion in her blood and no one was ever able to stop her.’

Véronique Le Blanque, fashion designer

 

‘I love her. That’s all I can say.’

Sal Archer, dancer

As we got a lot of reviews of The Fashion Intruder, we drew conclusions that for each reader the pace of the book is totally different:)

We got some opinions that The Fashion Intruder is a quick read, i.e. #Bookscoffeelifestyle wrote that the beginning of the story starts very fast. The blogger stressed:” Some people might like it but I thought that it was a little challenging to follow the whole narrative for the first 20-30 pages. After that, you understand exactly what is going on and from there you just enjoy the book more and more.

The cities change really often and really fast so you have to remember what happened in what city and always keep those things mind.”.

However, a reader on Goodreads wrote: the story has the slow-paced beginning. In her vast review, she concluded that it was worth to read The Fashion Intruder. She loved “the struggle of the main character that was showed up in here, although she was kind of having a success, she still wanted to chase the dream that had been long in her blood, although so many misfortunes, she was like the example how you have to chase your dream, whatever bad happened coming to you.” 

 

So as we know, there is no accounting for tastes

 

After coming back from Paris, Sofia immediately called Domenico.  As she walked into a restaurant a few hours later, she saw him talking loudly on the phone. Ludovico was sitting next to him, writing something on his laptop.

As Sofia headed in their direction, she was cut off by a short, fat man, evidently the manager of the restaurant. He held a cardboard box and a few papers in his hands.

‘How long do I have to wait for a damned courier? How damned long?’ he kept reiterating, glaring at her. He put the package on the ground and pressed the papers into her hand.

‘What are you talking about?’ Sofia said with a surprised frown. She looked down at the papers, seeing that they were packing lists.

Why does he think I’m a courier? What a jerk! She set the papers down on a nearby barstool.

‘The nerve you have!’ He tugged at her shirt. ‘Come on, who do you work for, girl? You mean to say you’re not from DHL?’ he roared, unconcerned that the guests sitting at nearby tables were observing the whole scene attentively.

Domenico ended his call and, wondering why the restaurant manager had halted Sofia in the entranceway, headed towards them.

Well, Demna, you really did design some true down-to-earth street-wear! She looked down at her Vetements shirt, which had indeed been fashioned out of DHL uniforms. She started to laugh, and tears came to her eyes.

‘Geeze, who are they hiring these days?’ he said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

‘Excuse me, please let her through,’ Domenico shouted. ‘She’s my lawyer.’

‘Get out of here, kid. Now we have two jokesters. I’m gonna call and lodge a complaint.’ The manager continued, squinting his eyes.

‘Ok, ok, so just let me call back to the office and sort everything out.’ Sofia did not feel like having to explain to the chubby manager in such a worked-up mood that clothing that looked like ‘Post-Soviet Fashion’ was the really ‘in’ thing this season. Actually she had spent a few weeks hunting down this particular Vetements shirt.

Without waiting for her explanation, the manager pressed the cardboard box into her hands. Sofia realized that her joke had not gone over well.

‘Sofia, just leave it.’ Domenico said with a laugh. ‘What a crazy mix-up!’

Just then the real DHL courier walked into the restaurant. He was surprised to notice Sofia, but before he managed to open his mouth, she quickly handed him the box.

‘Here, take this package. We had a lot of fun on account of you being so slow to get here,’ Domenico told him, rubbing tears of laughter from his face.

The manager stood in the middle of the restaurant, gaping.

High fashion colliding with the fabric of everyday life, Sofia thought, heading for the table. I can already see the face of Miroslava Duma dressed in Vetements, standing alongside a real DHL employee. She chuckled.

Ludovico set his laptop aside and wrote something on the inside cover of a book about Alexander McQueen. Domenico pulled back a chair for her and they all sat down.

‘Nice shirt,’ Ludo said, fidgeting with a beer coaster. Even though it was lunchtime, all they had on the table was French fries, ketchup and cola.

 

 

‘Stop slathering that crap all over my body! Isn’t it enough that I spend so many hours running around the football pitch?’ said Gaspar Carlsson, glaring at the makeup artist applying a thick layer of dark foundation to his muscles.

‘The photos will be better if I make them darker. We will also change your eye color. Blue is too out-of-a-fable. And that hair: blond is totally out of the question this season. Black is much better. You are meant to look like a youthful god, not some metrosexual prince. The fairy-tale heartthrob look has long gone out of style. A strong, chiseled body and a lusty glare, that’s the ‘must-have’ this season. Don’t worry, the graphics designer will fix everything. You just have to relax and smile at the camera. Don’t stress it,’ added Silvie, applying another layer of bronzer to his thighs.

God, how I hate to pose. I’m gonna kill Tom for getting me into this. I’m thirty-five and still have to keep hearing people tell me about what I need to have fixed up. As if it isn’t bad enough that I’ll be pinned up somewhere for a whole year in just my underpants, they even want me to be wearing fucking makeup and all photoshopped!

Two models came into the photo studio. The campaign these girls and the footballer were to appear in was meant to portray them as a group of carefree friends, enjoying a day of fun-and-sun together.

‘Gaspar, meet Linda and Megan,’ the photographer said, moving toward a screen on which the azure waters of Mauritius were projected. The girls smiled and walked behind him.

‘Linda, cuddle up closer to him, give me a left profile. Gaspar, be more sure of yourself, put your leg, your left leg forward. Wrap your arm around Linda,’ the photographer commanded. ‘No, turn around, look over your left shoulder. Megan, stand up straighter. That’s it. Great. OK, now repeat the sequence. Linda, put your hand on his shoulder.’

More than an hour passed this way. After a short break, when Gaspar hoped that the session was just about finished, Eva came up to him and pressed some skimpy underpants into his hand.

‘You expect me to put those on instead? These are not good enough?’ he muttered, taken by surprise.

‘David didn’t complain. You want to be sexy, right?’ the stylist said with a laugh, showing him the picture of another scantily clad footballer on her iPhone. ‘So put these on and make sure every woman’s gonna dream of ripping them right off you. Silvie should apply something to your stomach, too. We want it to look more well-chiseled.’

Gaspar looked down at his muscles. He had thought his body was flawless: a six-pack stomach, a shapely rear-end, strong arms, and powerful thighs. Hours of exercise a day, a rigorous diet, a regular lifestyle. But for the fashion world even he was still too imperfect to become the face of a luxury brand without a lot of makeup and Photoshop.

OK, have it your way. I guess I signed a pact with the devil, so you can do anything you want with me, he thought, putting on the tight white briefs. As he emerged from the changing room, he noticed that the girlfriends of two of his fellow team members were there in another studio, so he approached them.

‘Hi there!’ he said, giving them a broad smile.

‘Wow, Gaspar, what a hunk you are!’ said Constance, scanning his nearly naked body and pouting her thick lips. ‘You don’t look like that on the pitch, and it’s such a shame. More girls would be interested in football if you did.’ She began to giggle, looking at her friend, who nodded in approval.

‘Thanks, but what are you girls doing here?’ he asked, noticing that in the middle of the studio there were several metal poles, like those used by night-club dancers.

‘Filming our reality show, WAGs London. We are going to learn how to pole-dance like professionals,’ said Viki with a laugh, walking up to one of the metal bars. As soon as she touched it, she began to shake her buttocks and wrap her body around the pole, all the while looking Gaspar straight in the eye.

‘This is what we are gonna do. Does it turn you on?’ Viki gasped a moment later, now with her head thrown back, simulating an orgasm. ‘Or actually, you don’t have to say anything. We’ll find out soon enough,’ she said with a laugh, glancing at his skimpy underwear.

Gaspar didn’t know how to respond. He shook his head and just smiled.

These WAGs are getting crazier all the time, he thought.

‘You are wonderful, without you there would be no football anymore,’ he quipped as he left. The girls blew him kisses, laughing loudly.

As he took his place in front of the camera again, he realized that he was probably too old to get himself a new WAG.