Andrés Sardá

Catalan designer Andrés Sardá has one of the best swimwear collections for Spring/Summer 2009. From a nautical one-piece to a hot red bikini, there is something for everybody.

With a family history in the textile industry, Andrés Sardá started out in Barcelona and worked up to Jackie Kennedy on a major magazine cover in the USA wearing one of his pieces. This season, you’ll find the more high fashion pieces in the Andrés Sardá signature line and his other lines, Risk and University, offer easy-to-wear bikinis in the latest trends from nautical to bright prints.

The first thing that springs to mind when you see Andrés Sardá’s SS09 swimwear collection is that there is such a variety of options that everybody will find something to suit them. There are strapless and halterneck bikinis and one-pieces as well as stylish beach cover-ups in a variety of colours. You will be spoilt for choice with floral and butterfly designs, fringing and feathers, block colours and leopard and tribal prints.

However, despite such a wide selection it remains a cohesive and stylish collection. Most importantly, the key to Andrés Sardá is a commitment to wearability for women across the globe, meaning that you can dive into the pool with confidence!

For more information or to find out where to buy Andrés Sardá products go to http://www.andressarda.com/ 

This article was recently published on Running in Heels.

Hey Lady! You want sunbed?!


A couple of weeks ago I went to Alanya in Turkey with Mark, my boyfriend, as celebration for both of our birthdays and also for finishing university. Alanya is a small town on the Mediterranean coast and was once a gift from Marc Antony to Cleopatra. He apparently proposed to her there by the castle on the hill!

It was a fantastic holiday with lots of fabulous little memories. We went on a sunset cruise one evening and a whole day cruise the next day. We ate out EVERY day, spent waaay too much money and haggled in the bazaars for some Turkish Apple Tea and Turkish Delight (a given!). We even tried out some traditional Turkish dancing! I was praised by the bellydancer for my natural talent (blush!) and Mark put his all into some traditional folk dance that involved taking a “Turkish Viagra” shot!

A few funny things that happened. One in particular was hilarious. Everywhere we went people were constantly trying to get us to buy things from meals in their restaurants to knock-off designer t-shirts. The best one was when we got off the bus one day having been to the beach and we were walking along the ROADSIDE. A guy popped his head out of the trees along the beach and shouted “Hello, hello! You want sunbed?!” We were nowhere near the beach! Hilarious! (Maybe you had to be there..!)
Holiday Reading: 
  • Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro
  • Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer
  • Humble Pie by Gordon Ramsay. 

I thoroughly recommend Gordon Ramsay’s autobiography – It was a real page-turner!

The Fashion

  • Bikinis by Next and Kelly Brook for New Look 
  • Sunglasses by Just Cavalli
  • Summer dresses by H&M, New Look and NafNaf

Welcome to the Real World…


This week, I finished my university course. Exams are over, summer is here and blogging is back! Blogs will recommence from this weekend – I do hope that you are all as excited as I am!

Thanks for your emails so far – Any ideas, comments, suggestions? Email stefaniegraceblog@gmail.com !
photo credit: trendupdates.com

Updates: Letter to my Readers


It has been over a month since I last blogged! Sincere apologies to my fans and readers – I know that there are a few of you! I am actually in my final year at university and have all of my final exams at the moment, so life isn’t that much fun and I haven’t got that much free time! I do however have a couple of updates on the site for you, so I’d like to keep you all informed:

If you haven’t already noticed, I have added a new email address to this site, so that you can email me if you want to ask any specific questions or have any need to contact me. Please do keep leaving comments on the blogs though – they’re lovely to receive and also let me know what you all like to read! The email is stefaniegraceblog@gmail.com – I’d love to hear from you! Especially if you have any ideas on what you’d like to see more of on this site!
Also, for those of you on Twitter, you can follow me as @stefaniegrace. Tweeting is much easier than blogging at the moment, so I haven’t completely dropped off the radar!
Thirdly, I have also added a little section on the other sites that I write for:
  • Running in Heels is a fabulous pan-european website covering everything from art and politics to food and fashion. My personal author’s profile can be found here.
  • Sanctuary Adornments is my university newspaper. I am one of the fashion editors and recently set up a blog to work alongside the fashion section’s website.
  • Amazona is something that I’m sure some of my readers will have already heard about, as I mention them quite a lot. Amazona Style is a new company selling fashion accessories and shoes in larger sizes for taller women. I write for Amazona Style’s Blog. You’ll find a lot of interesting reads on there! Amazona herself is particularly opinionated!!
So, I hope that these sites will keep you busy for the next couple of weeks. As soon as I’ve got these finals out of the way (I’m currently 5 down, 5 to go…!) I’ll be back with lots of lovely blogs for you all to enjoy! In the meantime, let me know what you’d like to see!
x x  Stef  x x
photo credit: artsjournal.com

Redress Fashion Show: Supporting Ethical Trade

On Friday night, I attended the REDRESS fashion show at my university’s Guild, the student union. The event was organised by the People and Planet Society and was to raise awareness of the exploitation of workers in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan. The evening began with an excellent student band called ‘Barcode’ who sang a variety of classic and popular songs, whilst dressed down, as it was ‘just a charity fashion show’; they didn’t want to get all dressed up, presumably in non-ethical clothing! After the band, I ran upstairs to hit the vintage market stalls and Go Green Swap Shop that was set up in order to raise money for charity. I managed to find a fabulous little black leather long-strapped bag and a super, metallic 80s waist belt from the vintage stalls.
The show started, fashionably late, with a casual runway with T-shirts from ethical clothing company Level Pegging. All of the models were students, and some were better than others. One in particular that caught my eye was a graceful, tall, slender redhead who pounded the catwalk just like a professional. Something that she should definitely consider! 

The second round was entitled the hippy round and featured clothing from Nomad. At times the models weren’t ready in time, so the chirpy presenter had the crowd do mexican waves and chant “We heart Ethical Trade!”, which was good fun! Reworked, ethical, vintage clothing filled the runway along the themes of gothic and vintage look. The idea behind this is ‘clothes with a history’ and the recycling of old clothes as an alternative to the High Street. The final part was underwear, but not Victoria Secret-style, nor ‘second-hand, dirty, vintage’. Models wore ‘pants to poverty’ knickers and cotton vests and looked casual and happy as they declared ‘Pants to Poverty‘ and encouraged us to REDRESS FASHION.

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable night and I’d love to see something like it again some time. The event has totally turned me on to looking out for ethical fashion, re-using and recycling my old clothes and I definitely want to explore more in Birmingham, starting the Vintage Market every Saturday in Digbeth.
Expect more blogs to come on vintage and ethical fashion in the future!

Less slacking!!

My life has been a bit manic lately, so I haven’t had chance to blog. I’ve moved back to Bham and started my final year at university. Life got hectic. I had a friend living with me whilst she found a house and had no internet, not to mention the workload!! 

However, I am back on track now, so I’ll be right back on everything this weekend! It’s wonderful to be back in Birmingham, especially seeing all of my old friends and making lots of new ones! I’ve signed up to a couple of yoga classes, joined the netball team and also am hoping to get out and about with the international students! Also, I’m very determined to keep up with my uni workload, my fashion course and this blog! Wish me luck!

Next Step…

I have signed up to write for the Adornment (Fashion and Beauty) section of “The Sanctuary”, the new student newspaper at the University of Birmingham. Juggling that with final year work may be a challenge, but I am really looking forward to experiencing these things first hand. I have also put my name down for a French module next year entitled “La Presse et son discours: analyse et ecriture”. It is all about the style and analysis of French newspapers etc, so I’m hoping that I get it, as its another small step into learning more about the world of journalism. I still haven’t got round to finishing my article for Module 2 of my fashion journalism course, as life is just getting in the way and I really want it to be good, so I dont want to just sit and rush it out, just to send it off! Though it is tempting, considering how little free time I have at the moment!

I should probably stop writing blogs and get on it!!