THE TRIUMPHAL RETURN OF THE DIADEM

Silvia Madina

The hair is a mirror of our health and vitality and for that reason it is very important to support it beautiful and bright. The accessories for hair are many and the variety of them is enormous, but undoubtedly one of the most practical and beautiful ornaments is the diadem. It returned from the past and again triumphs in the fashion trends.

In ancient Greece the diadem was used as a prize for those, who conquer in the games and in Rome used it the emperors. The diadem (from Greek “διάδημα” – bind) in the past was wearing only from the noblest and significant person like a symbol of power, glory and beauty. The ancient tsars from East, as later the rulers in Egypt, Greece and Rome stock on splendidly ornamented diadems and ribbons for hair, to underline their majesty. During the Renaissance the jewelry and the ornaments for hair formed as the most important detail in the whole clothing.

Today a lot of fashion houses and designers impose the diadem and the different type of ribbons for hair as a stylish woman accessory. Designers like “Mosquito”, “Dolce and Gabbana”, “Valentino” stake on the diadem, personifying it in their models for summer. Their works appear in various forms, colors and styles. “Valentino” stacks on the splendid and complicated forms, and “Burberry” accents on the hippy-influence through extensible materials and bended scarves, covering the ears. “Prada” beats all expectations with encrusted stones in the materials of turbans and scarves for had, in which can be felt the nostalgic bright of 40s.

The sun reminds of the coming of the spring and the summer and of the fresh trends of hot season. This ancient accessory today returns and it is one of the most fashionable and chic accessories of the season. The diadem is as practical, and also majestic. It gives style and completeness of the hair cut and it is a final element for the perfect image. If you want to be in step of the fashion tendencies and to be noticeable, you have to bring diadem.

The diadem has many varieties - that is why you can always find an appropriate diadem for your toilet and your image. It can be worn at the office, at the beach, in the clubs, as well as to more refined places and at official occasions.

The diadem is very suitable for people without bang, because the diadem adjust the hair on the back and it that way it doesn’t embarrass them. Today it is very fashionable the using of diadem from also from girls with a bang. The diadem is put over the bang and makes the image innocent and at the same time refined.

The materials, from that are made the diadems, are various – leather, patent leather, textile, velvet, plastic. They can be with metal ornaments, stones, beads or ribbons. The color variety predisposes to make a whole collection from this coquette accessory.

The diadem is bewitching famous person and it can be noticed as a unseparable part of the hair cuts as of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, as of Oprah Winfrey, Madonna, Jessica Alba and Vanessa Hudgens. It gives incomparable feeling of freshness, innocence, playfulness and a breath of palace splendor and magnificence.

Photos:
1. Diodit I with a diadem from white ribbon, a symbol of the Hellenic majesty.
Photo: www.wikipedia.org
2. Princess Diana with her majestic diadem.
Photo: www.englishmonarchs.co.uk
3. – 9. The diadems can be in different colors and patterns, with different decorations and ornaments.
Photo: www.eroll.co.uk
10. Paris Hilton.
11. Vanessa Hudgens.
12. Nicole Richie.
13. Jessica Alba.
Source: www.wikipedia.org, www.about.com

Read: 5840 times                                                  © Fashion Lifestyle Magazine, issue 8, Mart 2008

The shoes “Mat-star” – A family story of success

Lili Goleminova
Viktoria Cholakova

Two brothers come from Syria, to graduate in Bulgaria – the one of them – medicine, and the other – dentistry. They take their diplomas, but the road of their life is found to be connected with the beauty of the shoes, but not with that, that they had studied. With their brothers, who are businessmen, with the good knowledge of Bulgaria and to a great extent thanks to their sense, inherited from their father, who is an owner of a shoe store in Syria, in 1994, the brothers Maziad create their own company. The company is registered in Bulgaria and they are proud, that „it is associated at the European market, where lately we are entering, namely with Bulgaria”. This story tells us the brother-dentist in his sunny office, covered, of course, with shoes – each one more beautiful than the others.

„MAT” is an abbreviation from the letters of the names of the owners, but later they add „star” for harmony, to become the name like a real logo. „It passed time, until „Mat-star” really became a brand. When we saw, that already our shoes really are different from all of the shoes at the market, we understood that we transform „Mat-Star” in an emblem and we already defend this name as a quality, like materials, like fashion line, like a range of colors – like everything. We love our work, this is the most important! It’s good to be the first, to be unique, but if you don’t love, what are you doing – there’s no chance to make the things like you really want to”.

„The market in Bulgaria has changed extremely from the years „after the transformations” – continues his story dr. Maziad. Before we imported many thousand of pairs from one model and we sold them immediately – there didn’t existed concurrence. Now, because of the great variety of offering, the Bulgarian is more opened to the fashion, more informed, he travels more and already to realize the same quantity of selling, we have to import less pairs from many models. Instead of 10 000 pairs from one model as used to be now we sell at 1000 pairs from 10 models. The Bulgarian is already more pretentious, he see what is the fashion in France, in USA, he has bigger requirements... And when he returns from abroad and he sees the same in Bulgaria – he buys it immediately. And the prices are still very different – in Europe the quality shoes cost over 100 EUR, but here the prices are from 10 to 20 EUR for comfortable and beautiful shoes.”

„We have a professional deformation – share the two brothers – we look at the feet of the people to see if they are wearing our shoes. During I was working as a dentist, I was looking at the people in their teeth, but now – in what they are shod with. What are the materials, who imported them, if it is our model... and what is changing as a tendency...if we saw models that we don’t have, we strive to import them at the market...”

Now in our company people produce the winter collection for the next year. One man follows all the time the tendencies in the fashion – the range of colors, the soles, the materials, he travels at fairs, at fashion exhibitions... We take into consideration with one other regularity, that is still valid, even if a less of power – that what people wear in the west, after on year is accepted in Bulgaria, at least regarding to the mass market. In Sofia maybe one tenth part of the shoe stores offer this, what is selling in Paris now, besides at many lower prices that are inaccessible for the most Bulgarians. We can import directly „the high” fashion trends, but we thing that people here need some more time to „want” really this shoes, and „Mat Star” is looking for its clients mostly in the middle class of the Bulgarians.

The company has good playmates in the production – the factories are mostly in China, and the office there is occupying also with selling, they give information about the tendencies at the market there – because the Asian market is quite different from the European. The toe-caps come from China and here starts the correction according to the Bulgaria market – the consideration of the materials and the range of color, including about the sole. “We want to underline, that the linings are very important for us – like a material, and like a conformity with the design and the color of the shoe. As a whole we strive to combine the trends in the fashion with the specificity of the market here. Because the Bulgarian is a practical person, he wants his shoes to be comfortable, to wear them long time and to be multifunctional – to be appropriate for more different situations. Of course, the richer people buy many shoes, even often – at several colors from every shoe, but „Mat Star” insists to have clients among all of the classes in Bulgaria”, share the brothers Maziad.

„Mat Star” is a company with real family atmosphere, like transferred from the childhood years of the brothers Maziad in Syria. The Bulgarian women who work here feel in the same way. „I like the more sensual things – shares a lady, who is a manager in the company. I am educated in philology and I know how to use the words in beautiful manner. For that reason I’m glad, that in the creation of our collection all of us put a lot of work, a lot of love and a lot of feelings in the choice of every one model. I have a key word for every of our series – for example for our child models it is „care”, we imagine people – in this case the children, who will wear the shoes and the process of the creation is really amazing feeling! For our lady’s collection the key words are „classics” and „tenderness” – it is intended to the classical woman, not to the aggressive contemporary woman. In our teenage models we strive to be stocked „the energy”, and in the man shoes – „the power”. But if we need one word to unify absolutely all our collections, it is undoubtedly „classics”. It is not a chance that the logo of our company is already „Sport and classics”. As a whole the client, that we are looking for is from the so-called „middle class” in Bulgaria, we want for him to wear with self-confidence our shoes and to be proud with them, independently of his age”.

„But we have shoes also for the more capricious, because our assortment is extremely rich – says another lady from the team.” In her opinion the key to the success of „Mat Star” is in the fact, that all the people in the company thing like the client do it – „we always ask our selves „should I wear these shoes and if the answer is „yes” they can already enter in the collection.” „We have internal voting, - breaks into the conversation dr. Ibrahim Maziad – every one of the team has the right to vote and in that way we decide which models to sell”.

For the spring „Mat Star is preparing shoes with the following accents – „patent leather – this is the new tendency, but for Bulgaria we expect to be accepted over to 30 %, shares Ibrahim. It’s about a patent leather as a whole realization, or a patent leather – like an accent in combination with leather. Another accent is the shoe with twist „fish mouth” – we expect to have a great demand in that direction. Also we will include sport shoes with a net inside – in that way the leg will “breath”. As a whole the shoes are comfortable, with low heel, from soft materials. I want to underline, that our shoes are made always from natural materials from the inside – we insist to this.

Even the shoe to be made from the outside from artificial material – from the inside it will be made from natural material! The artificial materials that we work with are very seriously tested – also against allergies! Our eco-materials also are extremely qualitative. Also we offer a great gamma official graduation shoes (the materials are leather and satin) – for the farewell balls, for the first time in combination with little bag, a kind of “a purse”.

Our production, as I said, is concentrated in China, but soon we started to produce in India, and – of course – in Europe. After the entering of Bulgaria in EU, with the falling of the tariff walls, with the others concessions, we can afford already to produce in Europe.

Among the „great admirers” of „Mat Star” is Dimitar Penev at first place – he wears only shoes of this trade mark. Ivo Tanev came once especially, to see where the company is, because he wears its shoes constantly and he wanted to see the people, who make these shoes. In one of the missions of „Big Brother” all of the participants were shod with shoes of „Mat Star”, and after that many clients informed, that they noticed „their” shoes on the TV.

Favorite model – I’m asking? „All of them” – answers the ladies. „Favorite become this model that we see to the worn with pleasure from the people,” – adds dr. Maziad. And when people, working in the company see a teenager with „their” shoes, or a beautiful woman, or an elegant man – so these are the real great moments for all of them who are a part of the family of „Mat Star”.

Photos: Models of “Mat-Star”
Photo: Archive © “Mat-Star”

Read: 5794 times                                                  © Fashion Lifestyle Magazine, issue 8, Mart 2008