Mary's Fashion Diary

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I must admit that out of all the fashion trends, I didn't jump right in on tote bags. In my fashionista years, I don't think you would have ever caught me wearing them, I had all these fabulous large bags with plenty of room to carry stuff (but which were also heavy, so I exchanged them for backpacks a couple of years ago).

This summer we traveled to Spain, and we noticed both in Madrid and Barcelona most people would carry tote bags. So we got our own tote bag from a store (we chose one in the colors of the Pride flag, I still love to carry it), because we would always have bottles of water and sunscreen cream with us. That's when we both learned tote bags are a game changer, they're so light and easy to travel with! The moment we returned to Romania, we both started wearing them on a regular basis. 

Still, to me a tote bag is a great accessory to make a fashion statement. It's like a blank canvas waiting to be filled with your favorite prints/quotes/stories. That's when I got the idea I have to have one with Adrian's illustrations on it, and I'm so happy we were able to find a print on demand brand which would also align with our sustainability principles, while making a high quality product. You can find Adrian's illustrations printed on different items in his Printoteca shop or you can enter the GIVEAWAY I'm hosting on my Instagram here, where you can win a product of your choice from the shop!

And while we're on the subject of fashion statements, I am absolutely in love with my new joggers, designed by Smaranda Almasan. It's the first time I actually had to courage to try sequin pants, I just always imagined they would be difficult to wear and I would have to be extra careful, but luckily these are joggers, so they're so comfy I even took them out for a walk on this hill. It's also the first time I own something in the houndstooth pattern, and I'll admit I'm hooked, I've already decided on my next buy: a houndstooth top!
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It feels a bit surreal writing this- do people still read fashion blogs anymore? I can't really handle the answer to that! I decided a week ago I'm going to start blogging again. It's mainly because I still love fashion so much, and people are getting tired of my way too long Instagram captions which tend to be odes to fashion items at times. I still want to have my little virtual fashion diary, because I love when I can read about what I believed in the past about one thing or another, or about the places I visited and what really moved me. 

So, here I am- I'm an Endocrinology resident doctor now, which is what I always dreamed about when I thought what medical field I would like the most to work in. I also envisioned that with my first salary I would buy a pair of high end shoes, but oh, how things have changed since I was 18 haha. For the past 12 months, all our finances have gone into renovating an old apartment on a budget, which has been challenging, not only because it takes so much work and patience, but also because we are both fashion lovers and we had to put an embargo on buying new clothes. 

Fortunately, we made an exception recently because my partner knew that what my soul really needed was this kimono from Smaranda Almasan's new collection "Bird of Paradise". To say I love the clothes of this brand is an understatement- I know at some point in my life I'll have all my closet filled with pieces from Smaranda Almasan and I'll tell you why. 

First of all, I think you can see for yourself how they look- the silhouettes are just what I usually tend to wear, and the prints and colors are amazing! But what you really have to feel for yourself is the fabric- it's high quality and it has become my favorite thing to wear (in the winter season, it was the same with a sweater from the same brand, with the softest fabric ever). 

I also admire the fact sustainability is a priority for the brand, therefore each piece is made on demand. It's exactly what I dreamed about when I had this blog and I was young and I could barely afford clothes from brands like Zara- I always felt guilty about buying fast fashion and I would always tell my mom the minute I'll be able to afford it, I would become a buyer more conscious to the environment. 

When I first saw this kimono, I remembered why fashion has always been such an important part of my life- it was love at first sight, especially for the embroidery this particular design had. On my Easter holiday, literally every single member of my family admired it and asked me where I got it from so I decided I have to show it to you as well, and my sister took some photos of me on that same day. 

How can something you wear bring you so much happiness? I guess it's the magic of a truly talented and passionate designer, you can literally feel how everything was carefully crafted, and that every single detail was taken into consideration.

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♪Summer Days - Martin Garrix feat. Macklemore ♪

Long time no post, I'm about to turn 24 really soon and I have to admit I miss blogging. A lot of things have changed in my life- like the fact I have two nephews and one niece now. I love them all so much, I'm so happy I was able to arrange my schedule so that I could be present for my youngest nephew's christening this Sunday. Picking a dress for the occasion was stressful up until I visited Paris again and I went shopping at the Galeries Lafayette- Claudie Pierlot was literally the first store I entered there and this dress was waiting for me - 70% off, I call this one of the birthday gifts I got myself (the other one will be a donation to the charity which is closest to my heart). 

As I got to the cash register, I noticed the saleswoman had her name on necklace , it was golden and so beautiful, I kept admiring it. I've always been fascinated with customized jewelry, I think I've been taking mental notes like " Get name necklace " even way back when I was a teenager, yet this item somehow still isn't part of my jewelry collection. I remember searching for a website about nine years ago (wow, I feel old just writing this!) and there was no suitable option, whilst I can buy it now from GetNameNecklace. Things change, the fashion industry has grown in the online world at an incredible pace, I'm happy you can now find things you only dreamed of having after just one simple search.

As I was getting to leave for the party my mom told me "the back of the dress is extraordinary, but" *sighs* "you could really use a simple, yet unique necklace in the front". I knew she was right, because I had the exact thing in mind- a rose gold necklace, small, with "Mary" spelled on it. I think you'll agree with me, seeing this photo with the front of the dress:


The party may be over, but my determination to get a customized necklace is not. And if you've been thinking about this type of purchase for some time as well, you can choose to buy here! The only reason why I didn't order one right after I came from the party is the fact that I discovered on their site infinity necklaces and rings as well, and I'm fascinated with them (again, rose gold is my favorite shade!). Therefore, I'm thinking of maybe getting the name necklace and an infinity ring. For me, jewelry is the most personal item you own in your closet. Of course I love to build a story around every single purchase that I make, but it's different when it's a ring, a bracelet or a statement necklace. It's probably because I don't rotate jewellery as often as I change my outfits, so wearing them on a daily basis makes me feel more attached to them. If you're a fan on personalized jewellery like I am you can go here! What about you- do you feel like jewels are the pieces you hold dearest? I'd love to hear your opinion on this subject!
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Madrid

♪ Reborn - Kids See Ghosts ♪

I wanted to post this back when I visited Madrid back in February, but then the second semester started and I never got round to pick my favorite photos from the ones we took on our last full day in Madrid. As this summer I'm going back to two places I've seen before, I was searching through the blog today for the travel blogs I wrote years ago and I realized how helpful they are to me! This blog truly is my virtual diary, just as the name goes, because there are many small details that I've forgotten in the span of 5 years about some of my trips, but the moment I read my old blog stories, it all came back in a matter of seconds. That's why I decided to share a guide on my last day in Madrid, while the memories are still unfaded.

Our third day was our most prolific one because we were determined to see everything we couldn't visit in the first two days. We rented a place on Airbnb in Lavapiés  which is a neighbourhood famous for the amazing street art, the buildings are so artistic! We took a 15 minutes walk around the streets we knew we'd find the most amazing graffiti , en route to our next destination: Atocha train station. Although it's the largest railway station in Madrid, we visited it for a different reason: the station in famous the palm trees and luxurious vegetation it has inside! I loved it so much, if all the train stations would look like this, you would catch me more using a train. Next up, we walked past the Reina Sofia Museum, Caixa Forum and Prado Museum (photos & review on my first post of Madrid here ) to say our farewell, and we arrived at the end of Gran Via, in front of the iconic Metropolis building, where S. took some amazing photos I will cherish my whole life. Next up: Puerta del Sol where I finally found the perfume of my dreams on sale at Sephora: Black Opium by Yves Saint Laurent. Then followed a little break: we saw Plaza Mayor, Madrid's main square, had lunch at Mercado de San Miguel (and the best sangria ever!) and dessert at the world-famous Chocolatería San Ginés -they have a history of serving churros with hot chocolate and I was in heaven!

Probably the hardest thing in the whole day was walking after that lunch to the Royal Palace and the Almudena Cathedral , but once we got to visit the breathtaking palace, it all got better. After our last tourist activity, we managed to walk to our apartment and rest for one hour and then came the most exhausting activity of them all: shopping for our loved ones. The stores were closing at 10 PM so we had 3 hours to manage, and I actually ended getting some cool stuff for myself as well. I couldn't help taking a picture of all the souvenirs I got, I really have a lot of friends and family and I'm happy I was able to return with something for them, although the gifts occupied a whole bed and it took a lot of creativity to pack them, but I'm always up for a challenge!
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Bernabeu

"I only wave the white flag when Real Madrid wins" - Rio , La Casa de Papel

Long time, no blogging, and when you write a travel story long time after the trip took place, it all comes out differently. Because you don't remember every single detail, but you know the feelings you had when you encountered certain places.

This is a very special post, and it took a lot for me to write it because there are a million ways I could do it. I could write it the day we took the photos, after Real Madrid beat PSG on Bernabeu, or when I got at home I thought about giving every single detail of the Bernabeu tour for the fans. As I am writing this, Real Madrid qualified for the third time in a row in the UCL final! Therefore, I decided to tell you a little story about my unconditional love for Real Madrid so you can understand why I'm smiling like a little kid at Disneyland in all these photos.

People tell me all the time " Don't you get bored of rooting for Real Madrid? What's the fun in being a fan for a team which is just expected to win everything?" Let's get one thing straight. When I became a Real Madrid fan, it was all about that Camerun effect they talk about in "La Casa de Papel" (meaning, when you see Brazil playing against Camerun at World Cup, you're always going to root for Camerun, it's human nature to root for the underdog). Real Madrid had a strong team, but weren't getting anywhere in the UCL. They were barely getting into 1/8 stage and losing there. And still, I fell in love with the team not just because of that, but I also saw they had something which represents me to the core: a strive for perfection.  I'm aware perfection isn't achievable, but the drive for it makes you the best in your field. And every single player to be presented at Bernabeu had that in his eyes and a fighting spirit! No matter how many years went by, the spirit and the need to win everything is there. And I think that's the core of Real Madrid's team spirit, I love how when we're a couple of goals down they motivate themselves and come back stronger.

And one more thing I need to point out for the ones that tell me "it's so easy when you have the most talented players in the world". I don't know how far talent gets you. There are way more talented people who never earned even 1/100 of what Real Madrid players make. And why? Because I think this team has the most hard-working players. That's the right word. And I don't mean just the amount of time they spend on the field and in the gym afterwards, but the fact they dedicate every single aspect of their life to their career at this club. See how Cristiano Ronaldo eats in order to still run like that on the field. See how Marco Asensio describes his usual days at just 22 years old (my age). I saw an interview in Spanish a while ago and I'll give you the summary: practice, lunch, a nap, dinner, some time spent with family (sometimes watching football games) & he doesn't really like to go out in clubs etc. That's someone who deserves to lift the UCL at 21, so let's not just let the newspapers praise their talent. Committing to your job with such determination gets you the trophies!

And speaking of trophies, let's get back to my Bernabeu tour. I've never been so emotional like the minute I walked into their UCL trophy room. Because I remembered every single final I saw them take the trophy home. In the last two years, it was during finals season (just like it will be this year as well) and it didn't matter. I couldn't study, I just had to live in the moment and cheer them on, even in front of my TV and with stacks of books around me. And I knew, looking at all those trophies, we deserve to get in the final this year as well, and I'm so happy to blog about this now. Just when I thought the tour couldn't get better, after the trophy room we entered a room with a short movie projected on a black wall (the players are like twice your size, to get the picture). This movie made me shed some tears of joy because it was basically the whole route we had to take in 2017 for the UCL - all the goals and big shots. Even my best friend who wasn't a Real Madrid fan per se got major goosebumps and we stayed there to watch it 3 times. Haters will say it's just common marketing, but I know I need some good fairytales in my life, and that movie was the best. Real Madrid, with all the magic goals, comebacks, secret handshakes, tough-love from the fans, fantasy records, is in my heart forever! When I hear the word "CHAMPION" the team pops into my mind first and I know it will always be like that.

PS: The outfit photos are all taken at the Bernabeu because I took so many photos on the tour my phone died and we had to rely on my bff's phone for the rest of the day. I'm wearing a H&M kimono dress because the blue details match the stadium and also because, being one of the most popular teams in the world, the Real Madrid jersey is too high-priced for me! I keep waiting for a season that will make me fall in LOVE with the jersey, because I know for a fact I'm only gonna buy one haha.

A POR LA 13!
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Madrid day one

I took some time before writing about Madrid because I needed to tone down the excitement a notch. Because travelling is so subjective and if I wrote this the minute I got back home I'm pretty sure it would have been all in caps and lots of exclamation points haha. But seriously, I never visited one city which made me feel so at home before this trip. It has everything I ever wanted: glorious art museums, my favorite football team in the world (spoiler alert : the next post will be exclusively about this), clean streets, magnificient arhitecture, amazing history (I basically wanted to move in the Royal Palace!), great shopping and INCREDIBLE PEOPLE! I will make a comparison to Paris, because it's always been the city of my dreams. When I visited Paris, it had all the things I previously mentioned (minus the Real Madrid team) but somehow I felt a sort of unease. I mean, it wasn't so safe to walk on the main boulevards at night (not the case for Madrid!), everything was more expensive and people were polite, but in Spain they're so loving and helpful! It's like they have a 6th sense for tourists who need help. I was sceptical at first because I never encountered such an hospitality in a big city, maybe we were blessed with this incredible experience because we stayed in the lovely neighborhood of Lavapies.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you must know how much I love Andy Warhol.  Although Andy may have taken his art lightly at times, famously saying "art is what you can get away with" I disagree with anyone who thinks what Andy did was not art. In my opinion, he is the father of the most fun & joyful art to watch: POP ART. My personality is a paradox, I admit: I can read for months books of history and stare in front of a Botticelli paintings for hours, but there is also a side of me who reads Mindy Kaling's crazy funny books and won't leave the sketches section Andy made for Vogue & so many fashion brands over the years! I don't get people who say you can be only into one type of culture/art. Pop art history is so fascinating, there are so many commercials which Andy invented and which are still going strong today and I bet you have no idea, I'm a fan and I just learned about the Absolut sketch on my trip to Madrid. Somehow, luck follows me when I visit a city: it's the third time I went somewhere and I found a pop-up Andy Warhol exhibition! This one in Madrid is really ground-breaking, with over 300 works of Andy, so much history and massive gift shop with all Andy Warhol things inspired (good thing I had my bff Simona with me and she only let me buy the small souvenirs, otherwise I'm pretty sure I would have spent most of my money on day one!). You can find it until May at Caixa Forum Madrid. I was so impressed with the fact they recreated one of Andy's project which people aren't really familiar with: CLOUDS. Andy made this from the NASA fabrics, in an era when everyone was obsessed with silver because it represented space and our hopes for the future. It's shocking how you can enter a room and just play with giant clouds, no they don't feel like helium balloons, you just want to move there, you could see everyone with a giant smile on their faces as they entered the room!

After this whole incredible experience, we visited the Prado museum. I loved it so so much, Velazquez is a genius, I'm so happy I got to see so many of his works, the famous "Las Meninas" is so moving, we just didn't want to leave its side. Also, the Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymous Bosch left me speechless. I recommend visiting the Prado museum before the Royal Palace like we did because the museum is full of paintings of all the royals of Spain and when you get to the Royal Palace you'll be like "I know them all! I know their history! This king was painted by Velazquez". After that, we took a stroll and we ended up in front of this iconic Metropolis building and then enjoyed the exctiment on Gran Via because it was match night- Real Madrid was playing against PSG in UCL. It was one of my biggest dream to see the match on the Bernabeu but we couldn't afford the tickets. Still, watching the match in Madrid is a whole different experience than at home- the whole city freezes, everyone is so focused & you should hear the noise&joy when the team scores. They won 3-1 and it was a perfect way to end our first night in Madrid!


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MARY MANAILA

I'm a fashion addict& blogger from Romania. Send questions, love or just a simple e-mail at:
marymeetsfashion@gmail.com


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About me

All the pictures with my outfits are taken by me, with my camera and they are strictly copyrighted!


Possible runway and other collection photos are taken from style.com, or TUMBLR, and I usually post the source.

My inspirational posts contains photos from TUMBLR , and I credit the blog that I found them on. However, if you own any of them, please contact me so I can remove it/credit properly.
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