...HIT ME BRITNEY ONE MORE TIME

written by Raminta Paukstyte

Miss Britney Spears turned 30 on Friday (December the 2nd) and with it the desparing realisation that time doesn't stand still, looking back how rapidly and suddenly idols change. Britney used to be the goddess for many teenage girls but times change and princesses do also. Sadly but true - she is not that pop princess anymore.

I used to love Britney. Absolutely adore her, actually. Those big eyes, blonde wavy hair - I am sure there was something in her innocent look that every teen girl tried to seek. And there was nothing wrong with that.

I kept buying magazines just because of her every time I found a little picture of the girl who did it again inside of them... I was proud of myself knowing word for word (as I've learnt them by heart!) and kept singing every single song she sang, even though I didn't know English then.

Then there's  even more embarrassing (?!) memory that I tried to do my hair in the way not a girl, not yet a woman did and looked for clohes similar to those she wore, so that I could look like her. All in all: that was all rather positive impact she gave to me.

It's not even because she got older or something that we stopped admiring the girl next door look. We don't actually need that innocence anymore - sadly or not - it is no longer attractive in this sexualized society we live in. Then it comes to judgment - what do we have attractive today?

There's no such a thing as 'innocence'.  We have Rihanna, pop princess, who sings about how badly she wants sex and that chains and whips excite her...

We also have Lady Gaga, whose music video clips could surely compete with pornography and American culture "beauty", music awards' winner Nicky Minaj, whose plastic surgery-shaped ass for a public eye is much more important than she and her music is. Some artists,  to be honest, actually deserve much more to be nominated and awarded for  the best bump of the year rather than the best album of the year, but, anyway...

This is where it all goes. What is wrong with that? I'd rather be kicked and misunderstood but would ask the new, next generation's Britney to hit us, babies, one more time, because I'd never like to see my future-teen-daughter seeking to look like one of those new, sexualized pop princesses. 

Britney Spears performing ...baby one more time

CuteCarryTV - Jovian Mandagie islamic fashion festival 2011( IFF 2011)

CuteCarryTV - Kenzo Islamic Fashion Festival 2011 ( IFF 2011)



Islamic Fashion Festival KL 2011 - Sneak Peek by Women of Malaysia


IFFNov 2011.Ghea Panggabean






CuteCarry TV: Islamic Fashion STYLO Grand Prix Fashion Week 2011

the show Fashion TV Club, in Chisinau, Moldova

A model performs on the catwalk during the opening of the show Fashion TV Club, in Chisinau, Moldova, 24 November 2011. Romanian fashion designer, Catalin Botezatu present the pret-a-porte collection for women

A model performs on the catwalk during the opening of the show Fashion TV Club, in Chisinau, Moldova, 24 November 2011. Moldova's fashion designers, Feodora Banzaru and Alina Leanca present their collection.

A model performs on the catwalk during the opening of the show Fashion TV Club, in Chisinau, Moldova, 24 November 2011. Romanian fashion designer, Catalin Botezatu present the pret-a-porte collection for women.





A model performs on the catwalk during the opening of the show Fashion TV Club, in Chisinau, Moldova, 24 November 2011. Moldova's fashion designers, Feodora Banzaru and Alina Leanca present their collection.


A model performs on the catwalk during the opening of the show Fashion TV Club, in Chisinau, Moldova, 24 November 2011. Moldova's fashion designers, Feodora Banzaru and Alina Leanca present their collection.

Halloween Party at Soho Club with F Vodka - Zhuhai | FashionTV - FTV









Yuki Torii 50th Anniversary Spring Summer Collection 2012




Junko Yoshioka - Bridal SS 2012




Dante Park Club FashionTV Party with Michel Adam by Fashion_TV

Models display underwear ...South Korean brand "MovereJean"

Models display underwear by South Korean brand "MovereJean" in Tokyo on November 24, 2011.

Personal Fashion Memoir: "The Higher the Heel, the Closer to Heaven"

It started when I was a little girl gloating over the gorgeous dresses on the television screen, when I first saw Miss Universe beauty contest. For somebody else it would have been the actual dress, but for me it was more about that subtle and inspiring feminine walk, which my bittersweet memory muscled in on. I’ve always wanted to be that girl - confident and beautiful - ever since. I felt it was something about the footwear.  And now, I know, that it was all about the heels... 

by Raminta Paukstyte

Falling in love with them came gradually, though. Switching from the black leather steel toe boots to high-heels wasn’t easy for a 16-year-old-punk me. Something radical should have happened, but there was nothing - just a dramatic, ultimate fashion contradiction. I started attending a modelling school at the age of 16 and here the confession continues...

That was the first time in my life I was not sure what I was doing, but, I absolutely loved it. We were taught various things, including dancing, acting, posing, that helped me to obtain and develop self-confidence in the role of model, although I found catwalk lessons really challenging sometimes. In the very beggining, it was quite embarrassing to appear on a catwalk with such a confidence as if you were a diva (making sure everybody believed you actually were), while everyone was watching you, especially while other girls secretly laughed at me. 

I knew some of them did. There was even a reason for that. I was the only girl in the group who never stopped wearing military leather steel toe boots. The thing is, I never wanted to be the girl next door. I thought I’d rather look cool. I’m sure I did. 

I couldn’t tell anyone and kept hiding the fact that I was carrying heels with me to my classes, so that I wouldn’t lose, what I thought, was my own identity. That’s how my very first experience with high-heels started. Poorly and cautiously. 

"I couldn't tell anyone and kept hiding the fact that I was carrying heels with me to my classes, so that I wouldn't lose, what I thought, my own identity was"

I would never have guessed I would be soon running about the busy streets of one of the fashion capitals; running in circles from one metro to another, catching and breathing hot air from the buses. holding a map in my hands and, at the same time, having twelve-centimetre-high platform wedges on, when thermometer showed no less than 33 degress. That all happened after only a year.

I lived and worked as an assistant in a modelling agency in Milan. This city made my reinvention possible. Living there became an endless catwalk that worked even stronger than a scary mirror hall. It didn’t even matter that italians were already shorter without me even wearing heels. “I’m living in Milan“ - I kept repeating to myself.  I became aware of that and didn’t go back to my teenage look again. 

Now my boyfriend comments, with reproach, “Why do you nearly always wear heels?“ I know that on occasions like this I appear to be an inch taller than him. However, that doesn’t stop me wearing my beloved platform shoes. I love them... both. And why shouldn’t I? I am not yet Miss Universe, but I am, at least, confident and beautiful. 

Trend : Lace

Trend : Lace by afp-fashion

How the New Media Works: Print vs. Online

(Target publication: http://www.nma.co.uk/)

Business to business article by Raminta Paukstyte

World’s leading fashion Website Style.com has just launched the print magazine this Monday, 31st of Oct. That could be seen as a risky step in this “networkable” society we live in. Many concerns have been expressed during the last years, especially after digital products, such as iPad appeared. Print is consistently predicted being in crisis. How online publishers challenge the “offline” market?  Is the print dead?

What “online market” really matters?


Social media is becoming more and more significant; it is the tool for many of new organisations and businesses to start and expand their branding campaigns. Kristina Vasilieva, who started as a model and today she is also a photographer, a graphic designer, an executive beauty editor for faceonmagazine.com, High End retoucher and a digital artist, who also owns KVmedia Studio explained, how the New Media allows succeeding and how she attempts to benefit from that: “Personally I don’t think that any other media form could help to achieve this level of authority I have now. I literally don't have enough time in my day unless it will be reasonably beneficial to myself and my businesses.”

Taking into account career prospects, while print magazines reduce jobs, online websites keep expanding them. “I used to be a magazine writer, but when the winds started to shift, I ventured into the virtual world”, an ex feature writer, now a blogger, Ronnie Citron-Fink wrote for Care2.com. There is immediacy, indeed, to write about things and explore them in the most interactive and accessible way, the “offline” dimension cannot offer. 

Where the “offline” market overcomes the new media platforms


Information is definitely more accessible online; however it is not always reliable. “Everyone is opening up online magazines and blogs, but not everyone can be a reliable publisher”, Adam Danyal, the branding consultant and the founder and director of Superstarmagazine.com said.
Similarly, difficulty remains in finding quality contents. Everyone is writing the same content that can simply be copied across hundreds of websites, so that the strongest story may not always be read. Results we get while searching for a story on Web are categorized depending not only on its relevance; e marketing is the leading stage for that (Google AdWords, for instance). There is information overload, especially in the entertainment sector, and it cannot be controlled or regulated, as it would be in print publications. 

Is the print dying? 

The “battery life” for digital devises such as the iPad and other digital products is still not good enough. It is first of all an imaginary dimension, so that it cannot fully compensate the hard copy of a magazine. Additionally, advertisers still pay much more for print editions than they would ever pay for an online magazine. Having these factors in mind, a very recent Style.com decision to launch a brand new print magazine could be possibly seen not as challenging as respectful. It can make a difference.

Adam Danyal had also something to add to this: “I have also always wanted to launch a print version. I think it creates a new dimension into reaching an “offline” market that is only used to a physical product and to tap into the 'offline' advertising market.” Print will always be there, even if it is a declining market. “Women still prefer having a physical copy of the magazine to read on the train or when travelling”, Adam Danyal said. 


Looking to the future


Writing for print requires a continuous investment in time and greater analysis of the regular reader needs. Major companies (such as Apple, iPad) are pushing this further and no doubt publishers are, and, nevertheless will be, taking even more advantage of that.

There are more considerations of how future magazines can transform. The major new trend we are seeing, especially in fashion industry, is the publishing of content as it happens (such a fashion show) on online magazines such as Now Fashion or reporting about it live on Twitter. This might expand into other sectors, such as music and film too. A very likely prediction to happen is that print will become more exclusive and we will see a rise in luxury magazines that are targeted at a niche market. Ideally, subscriptions will be forgotten once there is an established market leader that delivers quality content, instantaneously on whichever device we are using.