Brand introduction: Made in Colkinikha

Made in colkinikha is a cute brand inspired by the cold and Russian lands.
Kate Sakai is the designer (and model too) for the brand.
In 1996 she started modeling for a few magazines when she was younger (like the popular no-non) thanks to the english antique shop her parents owned (since 1982). Which also made her interested in clothes, since she was surrounded by them all the time.
While she was in university, she started MIC and started selling in a department store in Shinjuku.
(Everything has been loosely translated by me from MIC's website, so there may be tons of errors. Point them if you find them!)

You can find her blog also hosted in zozopeople, like MEG' and Syrup.

Colkinikha is said to be a (fictional) place in Rusia, it's a small place with 14ºc of temperature, thus it's a cold place.
This small region is situated among many villages, and even if the color of the sky is grey and it's winter every day, the villager's heart is warm and welcoming.
Thus, when you wear the kind of clothes Colkinikha's habitants wear, you'll get the same feeling.

(All this is taken from their website, I haven't made up anything! haha)

MIC has a romantic side to it, with an obvious reminiscence to western/north Europe feeling, but with a twist, since Sakai goes a bit further than that (physical and creatively), to colder lands in the east like Russia. Which makes great clothes for Mori and Dolly girls.
Her prints sometimes remind me of Tsumori Chisato (which is great, btw! haha)

I specially love their accessories and the watercolor drawings they use for some of their prints (like t-shirts and tights).

You can see their AW collection for 2010 or wheir past catalogues on their website. Which is really cool (there are a couple of catalogues unavailable though, such a pity).
I recommend taking a look at them all. A piece of art every season haha
The ss2009 collection is specially adorable, and the ss2008 is more mori orienter (and the pictures are so pretty too!), but I think this season's the best so far.

Suuuper cute tights from MIC!

MIC doesn't have a physical shop (as far as I know), but they do have an Online shop at the Parco city online shopping mall. They do have a few retailers that can be found in their shoplist section of their blog.

But Sakai also has another trick under her sleeve.
She joined forces with Yasutaka Nakata (Capsule member, MEG producer, etc) to produce a couple of mini-albums to complement MIC.
The duo got the name COLTEMÖNIKHA and together created some amazing electronic/technopop songs. Sakai singing and writing the lyrics and Nakata doing his usual.
The name was the result of joining Contemode (Nakata's label) and Colkinikha.

Coltemonikha have released two mini-albums to date, the first on 17 May 2006 and the second on 26 September of the same year and both are much worth listening.

You can find their songs on youtube (as far as I know, there's no PV for any song).

Magazines. 2nd edition

I've got tons of topics and ideas for posts lately, but I just downloaded these two mags *ahem* and so I felt the urge to post about them!

First one talks about Mori interior design!
And second one is about dolls, with super pretty blythe on the cover, so enjoy the cuteness!
(you can download the whole magazine throught the link on the title)

Mori interior and lifestyle book. Mori girl room
Not summer styling yet, but not too far!

Lace, wood, lots of books, crafting materials here and there, the obliged camera, green (plants), glass. Obviously since one's own room is the extension of your own self, like choosing your style is too, an interior book was a must. And this one is pretty nice.

Two of my fav shots. I'm definetely cleaning my cork board and putting there all my necklaces and shu-shus!

This mag features the ABC of the mori girl, kind of, so it shows quite a lot of mori-ish objects, motifs and ideas.
I love how they talk about general stuff (like lace, keys, fur,...) and in-between they talk about Q-pot specifically. So Q-pot is to Mori what, for example, Lip Service could be to Gal? Nice.

Mori also loves hand-made, so lots of that too.

With lots of shops where you can go (in Japan ahaha) get your mori needs.

I've already written about Made in Colkinikha once, but super lightly, so I'll be doing a more in-deph post about it soon.

Dolly doll

They talk about all kinds of dolls (well, not ALL, but all that are trendy like blythes, pullips and dolfies for example, even some barbies (but bleh).

Also has some snaps of rements and animal-like dollies. It's a great source of inspiration x3

I've seen the frog-doll a few times in pupe, and people really do cute things with them! I wouldn' mind getting one!

The mag features some tutorials too (patterns for clothes, making doll furniture, even one for sewing a bear!), which is one of the things I love the most in a magazine of any kind!

So, what are your fav magazines? Do you like to read them online or you prefer the paper thing?

Magazines

Figaro april 2010
(click on pics to see them bigger)
With lots of beautiful interiors pictures, Figaro brings lots of inspiration once again.

Shows some western-like shops, like bars, restaurants and even "boulangeries" (pretty similar to the one next to my house!) where a baguette costs 300 yens (and I thought it was expensive here...!).

Also shows some nice accessories and interesting stuff to decorate your house/room. Always with that feeling of old and handmade. Also gives the links to some of the stores, pretty nice if you can't go to the actual shop.

In this issue they report some hight clothing brands like Chanel, original skull jewlery and designers from here and there as per usual.

I have to admit I download this magazine just for the pics, I'm not really interested in this mature side of the magazine, so I don't pay that much of attention to the rest (though I'm thankful for the boulangerie map of Tokio).

Mori style-book #2, spring edition
(again, click click click to see pics in bigger version)

Brings the guidelines for a mori girl to still be mori in spring (what will happen in summer? all that layering can't be fresh!). Nice coordinates and new ways of layering, just in time for the spring shopping!

Also shows some stores which sells/are centered in mori style and shows places mori girl likes (like public baths).
And brings the report from the opening party for "Made in Colkinikha", Kate Sakai's brand (she made a duo project with Mister Nakata called Colthemonika, producing two mini-albums, I highly recommend them!) with more random coordinates.
Interview with mori girl Kate Sakai, keyword report, hairstyles, room, ...
Coordinates from mori shops's staff, a couple of weeks's dress-ups, shops, DIY tutorials, ...

Also comes with what I like most when looking at a magazine, hair tutorials!

And above all that, lots of inspiration and pretty pictures!


Now, some of my thoughts on mori style (pictures also from the "rule-book")

Putting aside the fact that you have to be super thiny if you want mori style to look good on you (I mean, layers and layers of clothes will make you look fat unless your clothes are as thin as rolling paper, there's no arguing in here) I really like its organic side.
That doesn't mean you can't do mori if you're not thin. You can do anything you want as long as you think it looks good. And there are always other ways to mori besides layering.

This style uses a color chart (mainly white, beige, brown, green) that makes pale girls look super cute (just add some red blush to make everyone die).

Also lives off plain colors and when they add patterns, it's always a floral/animal one.
Frills are also a mori girl's best friend, and this is one of the parts I love the most.

This two aspects combined seem to be getting in trend right now. Has anyone taken a look at Zara, Blanco or H&M (just for example) lately? they're full of mori-like items. I've just tried on a pair of frill pants at Zara! It was super awesome, since I've never thought I could find something so Liz-lisa in a store like Zara.

So mori is planning to rule the world, just in a shy way, getting out of Japan little by little and conquering the masses.


Scarfs, long vests, even longer shirts, super baggy and denim pants or long skirts/onepieces combined with white/natural colors, leggins, frills, hair accessories, with flowers and animals everywhere make the mori girl (althought you could find more elements, this is just the essencial, or what one could notice the most).

Of course one always copies the aspescts they like the most from each trend and add them to their personal style. I think this is the most interesting part of fashion, see, combine, create (your own style). In a way, following a trend is the easiest thing to do. Finding yourself while getting inspiration from everywhere is the challenge.


Source for both magazines