Tag Archives | fujifilm X10

Benetton “The Art of Knit” Pop Up

By Sabrina on October 3, 2012 in Fashion, Installations, NYFW, Shopping

I popped along to Benetton’s first ever pop up concept store, The Art of Knit in New York’s SoHo (area so named because it’s south of Houston Street. Soho in London is thought to named after a hunting cry). I know things.

April Ludgate - Because we're smart - Parks and Recreation

I do have a confession to make. I enjoy summer because it’s brighter and the longer days and it’s warmer, but I cannot deal with extremes of weather. What can I say, I’m a Brit. Mild is how we like it best. Too much sun gives me a migraine. I just got an extra freckle because of the bloody American sun! It may not be a surprise that I’m waiting for cooler weather to come. Mainly because it’s really humid. But also so I can layer up.

Why do I like layering? Because I like to wear more clothes. Summer requires a lot less clothing, and it’s hard to showcase my fabulous wardrobe which is understandably, tailored for cooler climes. Namely, knitwear. I love a good cardigan. I fear these words will come back to haunt me as the weather turns and I start whining about how cold it is.

Upon arriving, I was greeted by this:

And then this:

Also, this, this, and this:

Needless to say I was quite tickled because I am a pervert. The rather saucy sculptures, named LANA SUTRA were created by artist Erik Ravelo, who is part of FABRICA, the art collective who designed the space and the pieces in the pop up. The store is blocked by colour and men’s and womenswear are all mixed together. Upon entering the store assistant gleefully pointed out that I matched the first (green) display. That was completely unintentional.

Similar to this, but a lot more blinding.

Correct grammar. I wept tears of joy.

To see how an unused garage became this wondrous woolly palace, see this rather nifty timelapse below:

Benetton “The Art of Knit” 135 Crosby Street, NY 10012
Until 31st December 2012
Nearest Subway: Broadway/Lafayette Street: B, D, F, M

Photos taken on a Fujifilm X10 courtesy of TALK PR. More photos can be seen on Flickr.

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Where in the World is Sabrina?

By Sabrina on August 25, 2012 in What's Poppin'

I got asked today by one of my best friends what was happening with my blog. How terrible of me, it has been completely neglected. I last blogged almost… a month and a half ago. Deary me, that is appalling. I sincerely apologise. It’s been so long that my Google Analytics disconnected itself and I have NO spam comments. Yesterday, blog virtuoso and friend Abimarvel reminded me it was my God given right to blog (sp). So I shall give you a quick rundown on where I’ve been, since I haven’t been blogging and get right back onto this. Because it’s not like I haven’t been doing stuff. I’ve been doing too much is the issue.

1. I was in the London 2012 Opening Ceremony as a dancer in the Thanks Tim section. From July onwards, most of my free time was spent rehearsing (in the rain) for The Greatest Show on Earth. I shall wax lyrical a bit later, and here are some photos to show you that I’m not telling pies and also that I now own a “Frankie Say Relax” T-Shirt. Not “Frankie Says Relax” because those aren’t the real deal. Ha!

HALLO

LOOK THERE I AM

Here I am again.

Gosh I’m adorable

Myself and my very good friend Bee, in his 70s Freddie Mercury costume and myself in my 80s/90s Raver costume.

2. I spent a lot of time at the Olympics, because I got a few tickets, luckily have siblings who also got tickets, and additionally have friends who got tickets. The atmosphere in London was simply electric. There are no other words. I also got to athlete bother two of my utmost favourites, Jessica Ennis and Greg Rutherford (phwoar) as someone mentioned that they were passing so I hotfooted it after them. In the rain. With holey shoes. They were SO NICE. Their minders didn’t want them to stop as they were going to interviews but Greg Rutherford stopped and everything.

Terrible angle, but yes you can appreciate the gorgeous ginger power. And yes I did ask him if people say he looks like Neil Patrick Harris. He responded “All the time.”

Nobody spotted Jennis because she was walking with her hood up, but I did! I was going to tell her how gorgeous she is but I didn’t want to seem creepier than I already was.

3. Due to both of the above I’ve barely been fashionising. There is nothing quite like having the Olympics in your home town. And I’m wonderful at procrastination so I’ve kept putting off blogging, then putting some time aside, but then getting overwhelmed with the amount I have to do…so putting it off again…

Happy as a clam

4. On Thursday I went to my first fashion event in a while, the launch of Plongée Clothing (pronounced Plaun-jay as opposed to Plon-gi as I say) invited by the wonderful Nik Thakkar at the lovely Riding House Cafe. Named after the French word for ‘diving’ (plunge, geddit?), the label is a collection of classic separates inspired by the ease of lifestyle in the South of France, for those who love effortless dressing that doesn’t need to be brash, OTT or flashy, with lots of detailing which is extremely well priced for the quality, I was pleasantly surprised to say.

It was a delightful evening tempered with lots (and lots of dessert). I had a filling two days prior and my dentist told me off for eating too many sweets. Well, I regret (mostly) nothing.

The little diver is pink because I have a vagina.

5. I am also moving to New York in a few weeks for permsies. I can do that thanks to my wonderful mother, as I hold US residency. Ergo, I will do that. More on that later.

And yes I will blog sooner expanding on all these points, and more! And keep your eyes out for a redesign also.

xxxo and all that – Sabrina

Photos taken on a Fujifilm X10 courtesy of TALK PR

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Levi’s Print Workshop with Anthony Burrill – 13th July to 3rd Aug #PrintLondon

By Sabrina on July 16, 2012 in Collaborations, Events, Fashion, Limited Edition, Things to Do

The joys of full time employment is that I no longer have to worry so much about money and cobbling together my pennies for travel. The downside is that I can no longer rock up to things in the middle of the day. Luckily Levi’s began their Print London workshop at 8am, enough time to head over, have some breakfast and get to work on time. And *bonus* onus, at 8am, it isn’t as busy.

Obligatory food shot

I headed to the Regent Street flagship for the launch of the Levi’s Print Workshop in conjunction with graphic artist and typographist (is that a word? COINED IT) Anthony Burrill. The Print Workshop is the fifth of its kind for Levi’s and is running during the Olympics, following previous workshops in San Fran, LA, New York and Berlin.

There are three iconic graphics created by Mr Burrill; THE CITY IS OURS TONIGHT – DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE? and THIS IS NOT THE WEST which is only available in the Levi’s in Boxpark in Shoreditch. Because, obviously, the East is where it’s at.

Our print for the day (Thursday) was WORDS HAVE POWER. Damn straight. The power of the word is mightier than the sword.

I was scared that I was going to burn myself, which is nothing new, considering I burn myself on an almost everyday occurrence, but success! I didn’t, and now I have a new t-shirt which gives people even more of an excuse to look at my chest!

PRINTING WITH PURPOSE. My new motto for life.

Additionally, if you fancy yourself as a bit of a wordsmith, you can get involved by tweeting @Levis_UK with the hashtag #PrintLondon with your own bit of lyrical genius. Tweet a Londonesque quote of 6 words or less, and if it’s the most popular that day, it’ll be the print graphic for the next day in the live workshop. If you’re around the area, you can also pop into store and pin it to the memo board.

I also ran into Niran who took some hilarious photos of me which are on Hypebeast.

The Levi’s® Print Workshop runs from 13th July to 3rd August at Levi’s Flagship, 174-176 Regent Street,
London W1. Get involved by tweeting @Levis_UK with #PrintLondon.

Photos taken on a Fujifilm X10 courtesy of TALK PR.

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Givenchy, Dahlia and Me

By Sabrina on June 20, 2012 in Beauty, Events

I headed over to the Givenchy launch of their new lady fragrance, Dahlia Noir at Il Bottacio yesterday after work. The event started at 5, but I didn’t get there until 6 whereas I missed the talk from the managing director of Givenchy UK. Ah, dear.

Dahlia Noir is the 2012 release of the previous Dahlia Noir fragrance back in 2011. Upon heading up the candlelit stairs (although I did feel a bit like Giles when he found the body of Jenny Calendar) I was greeted with a waft of Dahlia Noir and a Givenchy bar.

Buffy flashback

Do you think I could get one of these in my house?

Dahlia Noir comes in EDT and EDP versions and is launching in August (with a 10 day exclusive in July to Harrods, natch). I’m no olfactorialist but I do know what I like. The fragrance specialist (doctor? scientist?) wafted a cloud of Dahlia Noir Parfum under my nose and it smelt like scented powder, the kind your mother used to have, but more flowery and lighter. I also found it quite comforting, but also a romantic but peppery sort. Crikey.

The Givenchy fragrance specialist then handed me the EDT which was a whole other ballpark. She told me it was ‘luminous’ and ‘galloping over the hills at full force’(sic). Well I don’t know about that, but it was a lot brighter, and fruitier. Smelt like an expensive fruity cocktail. But the classy kind that you get in upscale hotel bars and restaurants, not happy hour at the place around the corner.

The Givenchy x Baccarat Dahlia Noir crystal bottle

The name did throw me off, as I was expecting a much heavier fragrance, but Dahlia Noir is definitely a surprise. The ad campaign stars Tisci muse, Mariacarla Bosco and is shot in black and white with lots of abstraction and clean shapes. I tried to get some stills of it, but alas, it’s not out until July.

Givenchy dress worn in the ad for Dahlia Noir

Il Bottacio is a beautiful event space in Mayfair where I’ve been to a lot of fancy press days with glittery biscuits(?) and as always was the perfect excuse to pull out my new Fujifilm X10 and take pictures, of which I know now how to use the camera. I also discovered the black and white film mode – simulating black and white film photography in three different settings and decided to try it out.

I think they came out ok – what do you think?

FujiFilm X10 courtesy of TALK PR

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Photo Finish

By Sabrina on February 9, 2012 in Reviews, Tech-U-Like

As many of my followers, and readers know – I don’t have a camera because some bitch broke mine, and legged it. As a blogger and stylist, I need a bloody camera. Something more substantial than a point and shoot, but I don’t need an SLR. So I asked my friend Bay for suggestions, and he said Fujifilm X10.

The Fujifilm X10 is 12MP, comes in black with a retro body which I loved, with a viewfinder and LCD monitor. As soon as I opened it, it took me a half hour to figure out how to turn it on. Why? It doesn’t have a power button. That was pretty annoying. It turns on, by taking the cap off, and turning the lens. Additionally you can’t view the photos you’ve already taken by just pressing the Play button, but have to turn the camera on via the lens before you can. That’s pretty annoying.

Fujifilm X10

Not obvious in the slightest.

Despite that foible, I immediately starting monkeying around with it. It’s got a decent heft to it, but not as much as an SLR and you would definitely notice if you dropped it. And it has a pretty decent battery life without flash, for me it lasted for about 2 days of continuous picture shooting everyday. The Fujifilm X10 also has a cute pop up flash, which does tend to kill the battery pretty quickly if you’re shooting at night or in a dark place, primarily with flash, as well as multi-shot, taking seven pictures at a time.

Oh but the settings, the wonderful settings, and the things you can do with the camera. I found that I didn’t really have to use the flash too much, as the lens is absolutely fantastic – F2.0-2.8 Fujinon Optical 4x Zoom Lens (28-112mm), extends to full telephoto and really picks up natural light. Some may say there are TOO many settings, but I like that. It’s the kind of camera where you can just use the Auto setting and be done with it, but I started shooting in Manual and monkeying around with the settings. And as a bonus you can shoot in JPEG and RAW.

Froventures

The Fujifilm X10 has 360 Mode where you sweep the camera with purpose and capture a 360 image. I kept being interrupted by people whilst trying to sweep, so I got about 300 degrees. These two were taken with no flash in a very dark room.

Action shot with flash in low light.

There’s also a mode where the camera takes two shots: one with flash and one without flash, which is helpful in low light.

Auto mode, no flash, indoor lighting.

Soft focus mode, no flash, indoor lighting.

Firework mode, outside, no flash, long shutter speed.

Interior shot with low light, no flash.

Outdoor shot, low light and rain. No flash.

Interior shots, bright light, I was tweaking with the ISO here, but I can’t recall the exact settings.

Zoomed image, exterior light.

All outdoor shots on Oxford St, pity the glare was picked up from the windows. I changed up the modes to try avoid the glare on the windows, but as it was black inside, the glass reflected all the light outside.

Additionally the video recording on it is superb, recording in full HD and with a pretty decent microphone with no tinny sounds. I’m no super techie, but from what I used of the cam, I was very pleased.

It is a lot pricier than other similar models such as the Panasonic Lumix, it’s retailing at the moment from £416 about the price of a lower end DSLR, but for me, it’s so worth it, as it performs imo just as well as a DSLR and with a huge range of options and settings and more importantly is more compact. I’ve never fell in love with an electronic device, but I think this might be it.

FujiFilm X10 courtesy of BEAM PR (now TALK PR)

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Check Out My (Churro) Balls

By Sabrina on January 23, 2012 in Reviews, Sabrina likes, Tech-U-Like

Another photo-heavy post as I’ve been reviewing the FujiFilm X10 and of course, I had to get snap happy with everything I did. So much so, that I miss having a camera more than ever.

Christmas tends to be the only time of year I cook, not because I can’t, but because I feel too lazy the rest of the year. I tend to live off ramen and yoghurt/cereal combos. But Christmas I go all out because, well, why not. It’s usually cold, and having the oven blazing most of the day warms me right up. Also I didn’t have a kitchen for two-thirds of a year and it was tres difficile.

Near the end of last year I had a penchant for churros and I started eating them about three times a week (for about a week). I looked up the recipe, and saw it was hella simple, and thought why not make my own?

I used an amended version of these two recipes from New York Times and From Argentina with Love

1 cup water
1/2 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

I actually have US measuring cups which is why I tend to use American recipes, but if you need to convert you can find lots of converters on Google. I like to use The Metric Kitchen.

I looked up that it’s good to use eggs at room temperature, so I stuck my eggs in a glass of warm water (there’s a joke here). My laptop is old and heavy, a bit like me.

This was my first foray with using the camera, and since my friend Bay had borrowed it, killed the battery, and also forgot to return the charger to me, I was snapping quickly in a somewhat panicky fashion before the battery ran out. Grrr. I used the Auto setting at first (because I am a camera n00b) with no flash (and I have a bright kitchen).

Dumped the water, boiled it then added the butter, sugar and turned it down and melted it ‘gently’. (Gentle-ish) until it makes a ball.

Baller Baby.

I then cracked the eggs and beat them separately and added them a little bit at a time AFTER turning off the dough on the cooker and letting it cool for a bit because
otherwise you get scrambled eggs with your churro dough. And mix it fast. I don’t have a paddle beater because I’m not middle class, so I beat it like a beggar boy in a foreign country.

Aladdin I’m looking at you, street rat.

I was going to try fill them with dulce de leche and my older sister brought some over, which turned out to be mouldy. Moron. Never fear, being a brown person means I have (my mother has) a plethora of spices in the cupboards.

1 part cinamon (a tablespoon) to 3 parts sugar (3 tablespoons – I used light brown soft sugar)

I have a concertina bottle with a star tip (seen in first photo) which I use for icing, but the thought of forcing the churro dough into it just to force it out made me feel a bit ill. So I cut off the corner of a freezer bag and stuck the tip through to pipe the dough into a pan. I thought I was so snazzy. I didn’t bother using a thermometer to check the temp of the oil, that’s for fassies. Just warm it up on a medium heat for a couple of minutes.

Don’t they look nice and churro like? Then the bag burst and this happened.

They turned into churro blobs

Don’t get me wrong, they tasted great and were very crunchy and sweet. I couldn’t be arsed to faff around with another freezer bag, so I decided in the style The Amateur Gourmet to just fuck it and make balls. Except I used my hands instead of spoons, because of the butter content, it was so smooth and greasy. It slipped right off the hands. Into the pan. Where it fried nicely.

Since the balls are more doughy than the strips as such, they take a little longer to cook. If you need me to tell you how long they’ll take, I despair. About 3 minutes on each side on a medium-low heat (I have a violent cooker). Just don’t burn them. They should be a nice bronze shade.

I waited for them to cool for a bit, and then tossed them all in the other freezer bag containing my cinnamon sugar mix and shook them with vim and vigour. Don’t bother rolling them around on a plate in your sugar mix. It takes ages, you’re more likely to burn your fingers and it’s wasteful. Just do what I say.

There ya go. Homemade churros. Simple fatty goodness you can whip up easily.

Photos taken on a FujiFilm X10 courtesy of BEAM PR

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I Apologise For My Absence

By Sabrina on January 21, 2012 in Visuals, What's Poppin'

One of my resolutions was to blog more regularly. I’ve failed on that, mainly because of being busy, and also having too many things to blog.

You’d think that was a boon and would make it much easier to blog every day. However, when you don’t get the time to sit down and write a post, things build up and I’m less likely to blog. Vicious cycle huh?

*sigh* Streamlining and rethinking quite a few things in my life right now. Please bear with me dear readers. I have been Tumbling a lot more – I haven’t completely disappeared, it’s just been easier to share photos and gifs at present.

One of the things I’ve been doing is taking a lot more photos. I took this photo after visiting the ‘Words Words Words’ pop-up in Selfridges. You pull a handle, and a fortune pops out. You’re actually supposed to return the ball, but the nice lady said I could keep it. Isn’t it a pretty picture? I took it at night, under the glow of the main entrance.

Also I bloody well hope 2012 will be well-defined.

Photo taken on a FujiFilm X10 courtesy of BEAM PR

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In another life, I’m a half-assed food blogger

By Sabrina on January 12, 2012 in Reviews, Tech-U-Like, Visuals

Photos taken on a Fujifilm X10 courtesy of BEAM PR

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All Navy Everything

By Sabrina on January 3, 2012 in Designers, Fashion, FREE STUFF, Tech-U-Like

I know black on black on black is the ultimate colour combination but I really do like navy. After years of wearing all black, I find navy more soothing, and just as slimming FYI.

I won Glam’s Xmas Giveaway (thanks again for all your Google +1s!) where I wanted to win a pair of trousers that I’d had my eye on a long time. I even contacted the retailer and asked them to hold it, such was my belief that I would hound enough people to win (which I did). And it was still there…until they announced the winner on Wednesday 21st, and the trousers had gone. GONE. GONE. GONE. Sad face. Apparently they forgot. WELL SCREW YOU.

Glam allowed me to choose an alternate prize, and in the spirit of all-gifts-should-be-practical and the fact that I have really bad shoulder pain from carrying too much stuff in my handbag and that both hands should be free in a metropolitan urban environment, I chose a Fred Perry navy backpack.

Whoops, fluff.

In the spirit of navy gifts, my good friend and designer of amazing bespoke dresses Lira Leirner made me an incredible navy wool bow tie as a Christmas gift and gave it to me before she threw her hot chocolate (thankfully it was cold by then) all over my chinos.

Alas the camera battery died before I could take a photo of the front, but I shall outfit post it up soon.

I’m sure you’re also wondering how I took super fly photos (considering I don’t own a camera). I’m currently reviewing the Fujifilm X10 – so expect a full post on that soon.

Photos taken on a Fujifilm X10 courtesy of BEAM PR.

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