Trend Alert: A Southern Company opens it's doors in West Virginia

Written by Bridgette Kidd

A Southern Company is a new boutique starting in Huntington West Virginia. A boutique, starting as a small business to bring diversity in fashion to Huntington, West Virginia. They provide West Virginia with a sense of style of their own. Bringing together all different brands, they have come together to change the fashion in West Virginia. West Virginia not very known for their fashion is about the get a whole different way to shop. The boutique is located in an old warehouse, that actually used to be a Keebler cookie factory, and then a printing shop, for many years, history has unraveled in this magnificent building. Bringing underground, one-of-a-kind pieces. A southern company is here, to bring new and upcoming clothing, furniture, and accessories. Nothing has ever been done there, this innovative, and intense. We are working toward providing the rural areas with a sense of pride in fashion. Banding together local artists and musicians to offer their work in our store, and having events.

 Huntington hopefully is ready for us, beacause this boutique is about to take off!

Up in the hills

Mirante do Arvrão: before you turn your nose to this name, make sure you memorize it. This is the hippest hotel in Rio de Janeiro, located in the "neighbourhood" the is attracting the most attention from tourists and locals alike, the Vidigal slum. That's right: after the police intervention and the pacification of those areas, the city resident's found out the one of the coolest views of the city are up on those hills and they are surely not going to miss it. Although the area is mostly humble, there is nothing low key about this hotel. Designed by the famous architect Helio Pellegrino, it combines comfort, design and breathtaking views. 

The cool thermometer of the place just went up several degrees when Lu D'Angelo, one of the most requested and photographed it girls of the city choose the place to host a party called HighHeel Vidigal, this Friday,  February 7th. The goal is to put the kids to dance to the set of DJs until they get tired enough to watch one of the most beautiful sunrises in the world. Are the slums the new hotspot in Rio? Around and About is keeping an eye on that trend. 

Freezing Fashion

During the last edition of the Winter Olympics, in Vancouver, one of the event main attractions was the Norwegian Curling Team. Actually, few people were really interested in the sport per se (although it envolves a lot of strategy and is fairly interesting, it ended up best know as the game where crazy guys dry up the floor with little brooms) but in the uniforms the scandinavian guys were wearing. Unlike the rest of the athletes, they choose very colourful pants as their team official garment. 

The team's uniform during the Vancouver edition of the Winter Olympics, in 2010. 

This year, the games are just about to start at the freezing city of Sochi, Russia. Full of style, the Norwegian Team is riding the fashion wave that made them famous and is coming at full throttle, both inside the ring and out. Take a look at the uniforms they choose to represent themselves! We, Brazilians, know little about winter but since we are crazy for everything full of colours and prints, we've already found a team to root for. 

Their chosen outfit for the Sochi edition of the games. 

Fashion Thursday: Brasil Desigual

The international fashion brands have been hitting hard on the Brazilian market. If you follow the retail scene, or simply shops in a mall, you are well aware of that. The big news, which I found out while browsing the stands of Salão Bossa Nova looking for trends, is the arrival of the Spanish brand Desigual along this shores.

It is possible that you have already stumbled in front of one of their stores during a trip. Desigual, a brand born and bred in Barcelona, can now be found all over Europe and on the US. More than clothes, those Spanish trendsetters are selling us ideas. Every single collection is divided in three themes: sex, fun and love. Those three pillars solidify the brand's identity, catering to free spirited women. 

Up until this moment, there is no concrete plans about opening actual physical stores in the country. They do, however, plan to invest in an e-commerce very soon. When they decide to take the next step and make their presence on the streets, Brazilian women, free spirited by nature, will surely embrace them. 

Travel Wednesday: Montenegro

Montenegro, a tiny piece of land that was once part of the Republic of Yugoslavia, joined Serbia after the country's break down and is now a sovereign State, has already started to be discovered by tourists al over Europe (probably due to the guest appearance in 007: Cassino Royale). The country is still less hyped than it's neighbour, Croatia, but it's attractions goes far beyond the usual Mediterranean fare.





Although Montenegro is also served with the beautiful beaches of the area, there is a huge amount of parks and ecological areas, as well as lakes and cities that look like they stayed frozen in time. It is said that up there, you can easily get to know radically different landscapes such as alpine mountains, canyons, lakes, beaches, forests, medieval palaces and old villages, all crammed on a space smaller than Wales. Maybe that's the reason why the country is now a popular destination among bike lovers. The cycling trips along the coast are ever more frequent.

There are many ways to get there, by land, air or sea. The best way to enjoy the landscape, however, is to catch a ferry in Italy. The ride costs about 60 euros from the Italian city of Bari to Montenegro. You must remember that, because the topography is so widely varied, it's impossible to predict the climatic changes. However, as a rule of the thumb, wintertime tends to be really cold. The main city in the country is Kotor. Staying there, you are able to visit the other attractions such as the Black Lake and Lake Skadar, Biogradska National Park, among others. The local currency is the euro and you must keep in mind that stores, restaurants and small hotels might nor accept credit cards. 

Other posts from Travel Wednesday:

Mianmar

Style Tuesday: Playing house with Qubis

If you have small children at home, you know how hard it is to keep your house tidy and the kids entertained at the same time. In order to give a solution to a seemingly impossible task, a British design company called Qubis came up with the idea to put together the aesthetics of modern architecture and the functionality of toys.





The theory behind it is that children enjoy sitting on the floor. Due to their small sizes, their field of vision is no higher that half a meter. Nothing better than to adapt a place for their toys at the bottom of your home furniture.





Although it looks like an old fashioned toy, it is possible to keep the kids entertained with the addition of a few extras. The walls of the doll house, for instance, can be changes. So can the furniture and decor.





The population of the tiny houses is also provided by Qubis. When the playtime is over, the kids must simply stuff everything inside a bag. Attention moms that are fond of that idea: it's perfectly OK to join the playtime. It's not OK, however, to obsess about cleaning the doll house. That space doen not belong to you!

Other posts from Style Tuesday:

MYcord

Eco Monday: A DIY Project

The Do it Yourself (DIY) trend has been gaining power over the last couple of years. Today, we're able to find many websites to teach us how to make every little project under the sun. Last week, my niece Jade Lopes came up with a project herself and I was totally in awe. It's a small plant vase created with burned out light bulbs. She showed us the step-by-step process to recreating it.

You'll need:

Light bulbs 

A piece of string (preferably nylon)

Pliers

Wire

Straws and tiny flowers

1- Remove the back part of the lightbulb using the pliers to get rid of the middle of it. If you need to, use a serrated knife to break the seal. 

2- The complicated part comes now: removing the interior of the light bulb. Since the common pliers are too thick, try working with one special for nails. Have some patience. 

3- When you're able to break the interior of the bulb, get rid of the broken glass. 

4- Now you'll be able to have an idea of the final result. With a piece a wire, create a strap (just like a bag). Place it safely around the top of the bulb. Remember that we'll place water inside. 

5- Tie a piece of the string to the wire and the other piece to the straw. Fill the bulb with water being careful to pour the right amount in order for the container to stay in the right position. 

 

Jade worked with pieces of string of different lengths in order to obtain asymmetric results.  

Other posts from Eco Monday

A week eating fully raw