VDM: The Magazine

As you may or may not remember, I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been producing my own fashion magazine for my editorial journalism module at uni. At the time I could only show you the article and a mock front cover for the publication, but alas, everything is finished and I can now show you the full thing! Hooray! 

When I was given my brief (it was all about diversity, identity and ideals) for the module, I immediately knew that I wanted the magazine to reflect Vita di Moda. From the content, to the style in which articles were written and indeed, how the fonts and general aesthetics of the magazine looked. In the end, I came up with VDM for the title (pretty self explanatory, really) and tried to style the magazine around my personality and identity as much as possible. Having my own publication is something which I have thought about as a career option after university, so I hope it gets some positive feedback. 

All content - written and photography - is my own, so it's taken me a while to produce and I'm really pleased with the result. I hope you guys like it as well and don't forget to let me know in the comments section what you all think!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE MAGAZINE AT ISSUU

Location, location, location

Times Are Changing:

We're Relocating!

If you're a blogger yourself, you may have recently been renewing your domain names and potentially, like me, having issues doing so. With my first year at university having just finished a couple of weeks ago, I think it's fair to say that I was under a bit of stress and couldn't really focus on VdM and getting things such as content and indeed the domain name fixed once it was reaching its expiry date. As a result, you may have been typing Vita di Moda into your search bar and coming up empty - for that I am truly sorry. It is only now when I'm home visiting for Summer, that I've been able to get things sorted and focus 110% on it. 

Although we're no longer .com, I hope you'll all find that a .co.uk URL is just as suitable for the blog and easy enough for you to all type into Google or the top search bar when popping round for a visit. It could have been worse though, I was about 10 seconds away from changing the blog name altogether. Just the thought of rebranding is enough to give me a nightmare, so I'm glad it didn't come to that! 

If you could all do me a huge favour and tweet this post, or even just mention the URL change on Twitter/Facebook or word of mouth when you see your friends, that would be fantastic. A total rebrand would have been hellish, but a simple address change is going to be just as challenging - help me make it as smooth as possible?

Maria xo

Exclusive Saunt&Sinner Competition!

Christmas Competition:

Saunt&Sinner Hand Printed Scarf

If you're unaware of the luxury fashion brand Saunt&Sinner then you really must educate yourself a little. Some may think I'm being a little bias loving their products so much when they are in fact based in Glasgow - my home town - but I can assure you that it is their raw talent and absolutely gorgeous prints that had me at hello. That and the fact that they are passionate about keeping design, manufacturing and luxury in Scotland, when most new designers fly the nest overseas!

"Based in Glasgow, the creative heart of Scotland, the foundations for the luxury womenswear label Saunt & Sinner collections, are beautiful textures, unique prints and expressive pattern cutting.Proudly, each garment is designed and produced where possible in Scotland. Saunt & Sinner is a brand that is a must have in any wardrobe due to its uniqueness and the high standard of quality of product. Collections will be limited editions and create a feeling of individuality and exclusivity for the customer whilst including them and making them feel part of the luxury brand.When you own a piece by Saunt & Sinner, you own a piece of Saunt & Sinner"

S&S will be launching their AW'13 collection next March (an event which I am hoping to attend), and their gorgeous limited edition "Heather" scarf is currently selling for £180 at sauntandsinner.co.uk, so in the spirit of things, they are generously giving one of you lucky lot the chance to win a little Christmas present! I myself have this scarf and knew immediately that it would be something that my readers would love as well. 

Interested? All you have to do is follow a few simple steps
(all of which are mandatory) and the scarf could be yours!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Winner will be chosen using a generator such as Random.org*

The competition will run from Dec 4th to 24th and is open to everyone worldwide. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favour!

**Update: The Winner is ... #17 Sarah Morbey! Congratulations! Your scarf should hopefully be with you shortly (give or take with the postal service over Christmas & New Year) :) xo

LBH: Little Black Handbags.

LUISAVIAROMA:
Little Black Handbag

Handbags: if you're a woman and you don't have a closet overridden with them, then what are you doing with your life? They say money can't buy happiness, but money can buy handbags (and other fashionable items) and that's kind of the same thing, no?

Yesterday you saw my AW'12 picks from Luisa Via Roma, but I realised that I didn't actually include any handbags in that post, and just focused mainly on the clothes. Well, let me correct that now and bring you my fave selection of LBH - Little Black Handbags.

When it comes to the perfect handbag for me, it has to be black. Black (not just in bags, but clothing as well) is versatile, sleek, sexy and just a little bit arrogant. It says "I won't bother you, if you don't bother me." - I read that quote once before and felt it was quite fitting: for me anyway. So when I had a little look at bags on LUISAVIAROMA.com for Fall 2012, I was immediately drawn to searching for the perfect LBH. 

As you can see, I've put together a selection of 9 bags: ranging from shoulder bags to evening clutches and shoppers. I hope you enjoy them just as much as I do!

1. ALEXANDER MCQUEEN: Small heroine brushed leather top handle

2. ALEXANDER MCQUEEN: Small knuckle box fur clutch

3. YSL: Medium cabas chyc bicoloured leather bag

4. YSL: Medium cabas chyc top handle bag

5. D&G: Miss dea embroidered suede clutch

6. ALEXANDER WANG: Rocco ponyskin bag

7. GIVENCHY: Medium antigona chic leather top handle

8. ALEXANDER MCQUEEN: Studded leather knucklebox clutch

9. GIVENCHY: Large antigona double face leather tote

Which bag is your favourite? What do you look for when searching for the perfect handbag?

The Upcoming: An Interview With Vita di Moda

The Upcoming:
An Interview With Vita di Moda

Hello my lovelies! Just a little short post for now, but if you are familiar with the on-line magazine The Upcoming, you may perhaps know that they like to interview individuals from various industries from time to time: music, sport, fashion and news, they cover it all. Earlier this weekend I was contacted by them for an interview which which ended up being a lot of fun, so why not pop along to their website and check it out!

(psst!: just click the image to read the interview)

Cosmopolitan Blogger Awards 2012

Cosmopolitan Blogger Awards 2012:
Shortlist!

You may already be aware of the above mentioned shortlist in the Cosmopolitan Blogger Awards 2012, however what you may not know is that Vita di Moda is in the running to take the title of Best New Fashion Blogger! I know, I can hardly believe it myself.
Whilst checking my weekly traffic, I noticed a few hundred hits coming from Cosmo's website. I wondered how that could be, so I clicked on the website and almost jumped through the roof - shortlisted...Vita di Moda! It's insane. I'm over the moon right now!

The shortlisted few in my category are:

Emily Divine, Fashion Fade, Girl In The Lens, It's a LDN Thing, Logan's Runway, London's Closet, Lulu Trixabelle, My African Closet, Pret-a-Reporter, South Molton Style, Style Me Curvy, The Little Magpie and Vita di Moda.

Now, here is where I need you to help me: Can you do me a huge favour and vote over on the website? It'll ask you to vote for someone in each category, all I need you to do is choose Vita di Moda in the Best New Fashion Blog section. It would mean the world to me if you could do this. 

VOTE HERE!

Thanks!

Follow @Maria_Litizia

Winner!

FashionsBlogs
Up & Coming Fashion Blogger 2012!

Click for Q&A

Oh. My. God! Vita di Moda was chosen by public vote as #1 Up & Coming Fashion Blogger 2012!

"With 2,747 Votes VitadiModa.com takes the title!"

Seriously?! Up against 19 other amazing bloggers, I only dreamed of taking the title - but it's real and I'm utterly stunned! I can't express how happy and thankful I am to everyone who voted, so thank you, thank you, thank you! It wouldn't have been possible without you *happy tears*.

There will be an editorial in Runway Magazine soon, so I'll keep you all posted when that goes live as well - Again, thank you times one million! You've all made me so happy.

Click the badge either on the side bar, or in this post if you would like to read the little Q&A that I did when I was chosen for week 19 before the public vote began!

Fashions Blogs #1 Up & Comer

Fashions Blogs:

Vote for Vita di Moda Now!

Over at fashionsblogs.com, a panel of judges have been choosing 20 blogs to put into a final draw. The chosen winner will win a variety of prizes, one of which is an $8000 Editorial in Runway Magazine! You can see how excited I am that Vita di Moda won week #19 and now that the voting has opened, I'm going to need a little favour from you guys.

Click this link here and vote for Vita di Moda. It's just a simple list, click Vita di Moda and then hit 'done'. It couldn't be simpler. Two seconds out of your time is all I'm asking for :)


You can only vote once from now until votes close on June 11th, but you can vote on your laptop/pc AND your mobiles, ipods, ipads, tablet pc's etc etc. Every vote counts, so let's ger Vita di Moda to number 1!

I hope you all vote and I want to thank you in advance for doing so!!