Made in Greeceland

As any disorganized person who's governed by spontaneity, I often like saying that chaos breeds creation and with this post I will try to prove just that. Greece is battling with the sixth consecutive year of "THE CRISIS!!!" and an increasing number of shops are closing down in Athens. Yet not all hope is lost, as a new wave of young entrepreneurial designers  has simultaneously emerged and it looks like they are here to stay. So this post is dedicated to all the young creative people that against all odds are taking a chance and embarking on their own little adventure by making all these beautiful things in Greeceland.

Enjoy a selection of my favorite brands...

KARAVAN clothing

Hippie chic handmade clothes for all you traveling ladies out there.
The lovers boustier is one of my favorite items during the summer holidays.

Myrto Anastasopoulou Jewellery

Truly unique jewellery, I get stopped constantly to receive complements for my 2 butterfly rings, I also happen to know the girl behind them and she's the real gem!

BLANC

Extremely classy and unique handmade hats, probably my favorite purchase of the season!

MOHXA

Surf/skater chic from the beautiful boyz of Paleo Faliro, the little piece of beach paradise that I grew up in. Their Hawaiian shirts are an absolute must!

ippolito 

Sometimes less is more. Bags in classy and simple designs made out of excellent quality leather and in amazing pastel colors.

FOREVER ATHENS

US militaria and workwear classics with a local artisan touch. 

MYKSA

Faux fair for all the fashionistas that keep pretending they have a conscience

DIGITARIA 

Greek couture with an edge

The Real Intellectuals 

For some awesome handcrafted biker shit. Beautiful people that have also set up a beautiful store in the center of Athens.

And I couldn't help but end on a Greek note…

Summer in Paradise Lost

Sun, sea, heat and time seems to have lost it's meaning and relevance. Greetings from Greeceland aka my own private paradise lost. As my annual hermit, detox retreat is about to come to an end I thought I would share some of my favorite things that made this holiday paradisiacal. And what better way to start than music. My most beautifulest friend Giuseppe aka Porcarorama has made a Sunshine Summer and Moonlight Nights mixtape that I have been listening to on repeat all summer long. Just press play and trust me when I say that this is the ultimate summer soundtrack.

And of course one should always look the part. Hawaiian shirts should be included in everyone's summer attire, especially the ones made by my beautiful surfer boyz from Paleo Faliro, the seaside area in Athens where I grew up. I am beyond proud of them for launching, in the midst of the financial crisis,  their own brand MOHXA, of ossom clothes worn by the surfers, skaters, hipsters and THE GROWLERS! They say that chaos breeds creation and such start ups by young people in Greece have started proliferating despite the financial crisis or precisely because of it. As a principle I am a big fan of MADE IN GREECE so check them out. Below is my summer's favorite. 

And cause one of my favorite activities whilst being a lazy sunbather is reading here are some of the books I enjoyed and a few of my favorite quotes from this summer's reading list. Enjoy, they all come highly recommended.

The timeless classic which needs no further introductions.

"There is much to be said for contentment and painlessness, for those bearable and submissive days, on which neither pain nor pleasure is audible but pass by whispering and on tip-toe. But the worst of it it that it is just this contentment that I cannot endure. After a short time it fills me with irrepressible hatred and nausea. In desperation I have to escape and throw myself on the road to pleasure, or, if that cannot be, on the road to pain…A wild longing for strong emotions and sensations seethes in me, a rage against this toneless, flat, normal and sterile life…For what I always hated and detested and cursed above all things was this was this contentment, this healthiness and comfort, this carefully preserved optimism of the middle classes, this fat and prosperous brood of mediocrity."  

Hermann Hesse Steppenwolf

On an entirely different note I also devoured the ultimate summer read,  a cross between a pulp fiction crime novel and the genius of the likes of Mr Philip Roth"The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair" by 30 year old Joel Dicker is a real page turner and the perfect book to accompany you to the beach. At times repetitive and not a literary masterpiece yet nonetheless hilarious and well written and I was thoroughly impressed by the accurate grasp and depiction of American society that a young Swiss man has. I say enjoy this one as a guilty pleasure. 

Tom Robbins  in one of my favorite authors, witty, sexy, hilarious and with a sublime command of the english language, what is there not to love! Needless to say when his "autobiography" or more accurately what he has termed A True Account of an Imaginative Life was published under the title  "Tibetan Peach Pie" I couldn't wait to get my hands on it and I was in no way disappointed. 

"You see, at that juncture in my life I wasn't evolved enough to understand the fluid nature of romantic love (its indifference to human cravings for permanence and certainty); its uncivilized, undomesticated nature (less alike a pretty melody than a foxish barking at the moon), or, more importantly perhaps, that it's a privilege to love someone, to truly love them; and while it's paradisiacal if she or he loves you back, it's unfair to demand or expect reciprocity. We should consider ourselves lucky, honored, blessed that we possess the capacity to feel tenderness of such magnitude and be grateful even when that love is not returned. Love is the only game in which we win even when we lose." 

Almond picking has become one of my favorite summertime activities...

Because I am basically incapable of ever writing anything about summer without including something from GRACELAND…..Diamonds on the soles of her shoes….

My favorite beach 

Man Ray revisited or the kind of photos my mum takes when we are on holiday together 

Pastel decadence in Greeceland