Crazy for MDG Sunglasses

Well it looks like the Queen of Pop has another big hit on her hands… Following her successful turn advertising Dolce and Gabanna’s Spring / Summer 2010 collection, Madonna has joined forces with the Italian duo to design and produce a portfolio of fabulous sunglasses. With a history of bold fashion choices and a popular collaboration with H and M, it’s unsurprising that the original Material Girl has chosen to venture further down the fashion path.

Available next month at Shade Station, the MDG collection consists of 6 pairs of oversized sunglasses that have had both fashion people and journalists gushing.
It is the first time D and G have ever ‘co-branded’ a collection and it is testament to the strength of their relationship with Madonna, that she is the first. Of the alliance they said “Designing an eyewear line with Madonna was a new experience for us. The oversized and wraparound designs are sexy and very feminine, like our clothes. Madonna’s creative contribution and unique point of view were key, even in designing the MDG logo.”

The MDG sunglasses bear both Madonna’s name and the MDG logo on each arm and are definitely one of the hottest brands to be seen in this summer. Of the six styles, three are classic Riviera style, with thick black frames in round, square and oval with dark lenses. There is an unusual pair with transparent red frames and mottled red and grey arms and the final two are more ‘matrix’ looking with a metal top bar and graduated lenses.

The hype around this first MDG Sunglasses collection is enormous and we can’t wait to get our sweaty hands on these knock out shades! We’re certain this range is going to go like hot cakes so to be sure you’re in Vogue this Summer keep a keen eye on Shade Station…

Blogging

I'm currently sat in class 3/4 of the way through a 12 hr social media crash course.... Ultimately I'm hoping it will give me some hints and tips to help me write my Digital Marketing Plan for my Digital Diploma and also enable me to promote The Marketers' Forum to a greater extent online.

So far I've learnt the importance of discovering your 'Core Process' in order to display your vulnerability online and encourage people to engage and participate with you, particularly when blogging. After some discussion, soul searching and a little help I came to realise my 'Core Process' is 'Creating Environments'. With this in mind, I need to go ahead and let this drive my online activity and build my 'brand'.

Until people start engaging with my blogs and participating with comments and discussion, I am simply 'Social Broadcasting'(Penny Power). In time I hope this will change and I can encourage people who read my blogs to get involved!

Blogs should be the 'nerve centre' to your website!

We love Ray Bans!

Have you seen the one where the guy gets a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses tattooed to his face? Or the one where the
chameleon changes colour every time it touches a 'Colourized' pair of Ray Ban sunnies? Or the one where a cow gives birth to a naked skinny man wearing white Ray Ban shades? Or even the one where 100 people freestyle wearing a selection of Ray Ban sunglasses?

Thanks to the internet, companies like Ray Ban are finding crazy, hilarious and abstract ways to advertise their product and make some global noise. Clever, off-the wall short virals are without a doubt one of the hottest ways in 2010 to get people talking about a brand. Ray Ban has always been slightly ahead of the curve and their sunglasses appeal massively to the internet generation, thanks to their retro, classic designs, cool advertising and huge celebrity endorsement.

Hot young thing Marina, the flame haired lead singer of band 'Marina and the Diamonds', always carries a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarers in her handbag, even at red carpet events. In this month’s Instyle magazine she is quoted at The Brits saying her Wayfarers "... are great on no make-up days." Other fans of Ray Bans are well documented. You name a young Hollywood celebrity and they’ve probably been pictured in a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarers, Ray Ban Clubmasters or the classic Ray Ban Aviator.

New to the Ray Ban collective this year is the Rare Prints line and The Outdoorsman range. Adding a fresh twist to 2 old classics, Ray Ban have rejuvenated their already incredibly popular Wayfarer and Aviator styles to bring them bang up to date for a new decade. The humble Wayfarer has been attacked with stripes, pastel floral patterns and even a subway map for 2010 and the ever so stylish ‘suits anyone’ Aviator has been given a facelift with a luxurious hint of leather across the bridge,

If the Met Office is anything to go by, we’re in for a scorcher this Summer, so make sure you spend the sunny season protecting your eyes with the coolest brand on the sunglasses block.

70's Influenced Tom Ford Shades

Although Tom Ford’s directorial debut ‘A Single Man’ narrowly missed out of an Oscar this year for it’s leading man, Ford was still a winner in the fashion stakes. Dressing both the Oscar hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, he also created a one off tuxedo for Colin Firth with ‘For Colin Firth’ stitched inside the jacket.

Actors like Brad Pitt, are well known to be fans of Tom Ford’s stylish clothes label and although Ford hasn’t yet produced a fashion line for women, he designs sunglasses for both sexes. The current Tom Ford sunglasses campaign shot by the man himself, sees ‘About a Boy’ actor and current Tom Ford muse, Nicholas Hoult, looking suave working the camera with honey blonde model Carolyn Murphy. The campaign is playful and sexy, with both Hoult and Murphy taking it in turns to wear his and hers, thick black 70’s influenced Tom Ford sunglasses.

The retro style oversized sunglasses Carolyn Murphy is sporting, are called ‘Nico’ and are from the new Tom Ford sunglasses range. Other new sunnies include Aviator style ‘Ramone’, ‘Peter’ and ‘Marco’, oversize cut out styles ‘Carla’ and ‘Clemence’, thick contemporary frames ‘Patek’ and ‘Claudia’ and the Tom Ford ’special cross over’ designs ‘Eugenia’ and ‘Georgette’.

Lux Michael Kors watches

Michael Kors is an American power house. Not only is he a lux designer of great note, he has a starring role in TV’s Project Runway and is the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America (that’s the fashion Oscars to you and me!) Where does a man who is juggling some serious balls have time to breathe, let alone embark on new projects? His latest is a fabulous new make-up line in collaboration with Estee Lauder, aptly named ‘Very Hollywood’.

Michael Kors counts some of Hollywood’s leading ladies among his loyal fans. Packing a punch at the Oscar parties this year was Jennifer Hudson in a midnight blue Michael Kors gown and comedian of the moment, Tina Fey, in a dazzling one-shouldered Kors number. These ladies made the headlines and created quite a buzz for the Michael Kors brand…

Michael describes the type of women he creates clothes and watches for as “… a woman of any age, any nationality and who is fashion conscious without being a fashion victim”. Sounds like anyone of us, if only we could afford some of his beautiful designer lux clothing! Thankfully his watches, sunglasses and accessories are a little more affordable.

Michael Kors watches are very elegant and stylish, in keeping with the beautiful clothes he produces. We especially love all the tortoiseshell watches in his collection. Tortoiseshell continues to have a strong fashion presence this year and Kors ensures there’s plenty of the wonderful print to go around. There’s no shortage of vintage gold and white Michael Kors watches either, which all makes for a classically decadent collection.

A New Adventure

From miserable, grey, wet Heathrow to a hazy sun in the morning sky over Abu Dhabi. After a 7 hour flight spent watching '500 Days of Summer' and the brilliant 'Up'and attempting to get a little shut eye I've arrived to a gleaming Middle Eastern airport. Having had minimal sleep and aware that it should be the middle of the UK night, it feels very odd suddenly landing in bright sunlight at what should be 3.30am. As we cruised in to land the landscape is truly original and fascinating. Hugging the shoreline are large shimmering buildings, entirely dwarfing tiny houses and creating an amazing sense of scale. I thought I could see huge schools of fish in the clear water, however that may have been coral, but the water was bright blue and then perfect sand on the shore and then miles more sand and greeny blue waterways and canals. It's a beautiful sight and really remarkable. It's absolutely man-made, as the symmetry is so precise, but I can't really see how and why those canals would be used. There are random individual houses on their own sandy islands surrounded by these waterways and no apparent way, bar a boat to get anywhere! People have said to me that Abu Dhabi is like a huge building site and certainly once I'd got past the beauty of the initial coastline and the surrounding area and nearing the airport it does open up into a massive construction site. There are some fascinating buildings - a huge globe, again, just on it's own gleaming in the morning sun and from where I'm sitting overlooking the runway there's a beautiful curved control tower - like a large sail. I'd like the opportunity to go into Abu Dhabi itself but I guess that will wait for another time, as it is I'm on my way to Sydney - a city in a country that I've yet to visit and I'm about to embark on 3 months of living and working in a totally new and exciting environment. Bye Bye Britain, so long cold weather, farewell Christmas around the fire - Aussie here I come!

Join the 'Fash Pack' with Oddity Candy Watches from Adidas

Colour is big news this summer and Shade Station is spoiling you with our on-trend colour palette and amazing selection of designer watches and sunglasses. For your fashionable summer wristwear look no further than Adidas and their new Oddity Candy range. The equivalent to Lancôme’s Juicy Tube Lipgloss for lips these brightly coloured watches will arm you with perfect digital timing and the necessary pop of colour on your wrist to embrace this season's trend.

"But I don't 'do' sport!"

Yes, that may be the case but we bet you still wear Adidas shell toes to the pub and have worn an adidas tracksuit or hooded top to the supermarket at some point. Adidas is of course the premier sports label, however it is also a lifestyle label. Stella McCartney and Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto both know this, as does glossy magazine, Instyle, which featured the Adidas wrist-candy in last months issue. The point is; Adidas Oddity Candy watches are both functional and superbly fashionable.

With a rainbow selection of hues, the Oddity Candy range has colours to suit all tastes, from turquoise and dusky red to green and baby pink. For those with more traditional tastes, white and black are available and those who embrace colour will love the Adidas Oddity Candy watch in ‘vibrant orange’, which is exclusive to Shade Station.

For all your pursuits this summer, colour is a must and the easiest way to wear it, is a burst of Oddity Candy on your wrist!