Hello, hello, baby, you called? I can’t hear a thing I have got no service, in the club, you see, you see.
Wha-Wha-What did you say, huh? You’re breaking up on me.

A fashion blogger’s paradise: LuisaViaRoma let me style and model clothing from their boutique. Here’s what I wore (it’s one of my favorites from my Styling Lab):

Black and white, wool cloth tuxedo jacket: Pierre Balmain (get it here)
Vintage printed crepe de chine skirt and top: Caterina Gatta
Blue belt, satin on leather: Fausto Puglisi (similar to this)
Woven neon bracelet: Carolina Bucci (buy it here)
Retro handset accessory: Pop Phones

My blue lips match my blue crepe-de-chine dress by Vionnet.

Il Duomo (Florence’s famous cathedral) has an eerie glow at night.

Ruffled leather jacket: Alexander McQueen
Neon peep-toe pumps: Casadei (get them here)
Gold nappa clutch: Rochas (they also have a tote)

Seba did a Gothic monk look — appropriate, for the dark cathedral. He’s wearing Rick Owens everything, and necklaces by Andrea Giunti.

Do you prefer my Firenze4Ever photos from this year, or 2011? You can see all my Italy and Europe coverage in this category.

A peek at what goes on behind the scenes. I’m grateful for my assistant Sara, who helped me in and out of high heels.

Thanks to Luisaviaroma, Sebastiano and I stayed in a 5-star hotel, the Savoy. The doorman wore a top hat!

Our window overlooked the antique carousel, near the Piazza della Repubblica. V-fingers to that.

PS: Thanks to We are Hype, a new community site for fashion lovers, for featuring me in an interview and Lookbook. And to Moov Magazine for interviewing me about fashion and business.

Also, major Chinese website Sohu featured me in an article about top fashion bloggers. If you spot me in press, can you kindly let me know? Send me an email or a tweet, thanks!

Do you like the Italian and international clothing brands that I’m wearing? How do they compare to the Japanese / Goth designers I usually feature?

Let’s continue our Tokyo shopping trip. I took photos inside Studio Alta, the Shinjuku department store for gyaru / gal / youth street fashion.

From Shinjuku Station east exit, walk straight and you’ll find Alta. There’s lots of colorful, electro fashion here.

This Jaoanese shop girl, dressed as a pirate, won my heart.

She’s captain of a new boutique, Fernopaa.

It’s rocker-80s: loads of studs, leopard print, toy soldier hats.

Dig the pirate girl’s arm jewelry, and the punked-out doll at counter.

As soon as you enter the glass doors of Studio Alta, you’ll find doll eyelashes, nail polish, and Hello Kitty cosmetics.

Also near the entrance: Liz Lisa.

The girly, gyaru brand is very popular in Japan.

Shoe stores are scattered throughout the building.

Animal prints and cute accessories are always in season.

The basement has a cool stockings / socks store.

Don’t overlook Claires, or the takoyaki and taiyaki stands! (The octopus balls are only 500 yen.)

What else can you find in Studio Alta? Sweet lingerie and PJs..

Street, punky clothing (quite well-priced, around $30-50 per item).

Some of the latest styles are… questionable.

But you can’t go wrong with nail art decals, and AC/DC backpacks.

PS: Speaking of shopping, thank you to Racked for interviewing me about my favorite obscure shop in LA: Hyaena Gallery! And arigato Kyoko for the drawing on the left, inspired by Yukiro and me.

What do you think of gal style in Japan? Which items and stores did you like best, out of the photos in this post? Let’s chat in the comments.

At Luisaviaroma, we fashion bloggers didn’t merely dress up in designer clothing. We also lent our names to a good cause.

Each blogger adopted one of 20 Steiff pug dogs, customized by famous couture designers. These toys will be sold, and all proceeds donated to Unicef to support disadvantaged children.

That’s why we all got a Luisaviaroma t-shirt with a pug puppy, dressed like Marie Antoinette!

Designers such as Balmain, Emilio Pucci, Mary Katrantzou, and David Koma dressed the dogs in high fashion. I adopted the Worth Couture pug. She’s got a Gothic Lolita flair, don’t you think?

This design house is a fitting choice. Charles Frederick Worth is considered the father of haute couture, and his elegant designs were the toast of 19th century Paris. I’d wear his long trailing skirts and corsets in a heartbeat.

Seba chose the Versace dog on the right. Aren’t they a fashionable pair? We’re honored to be part of the “Pug Dogs For Happy Kids” initiative, and glad to continue our charity work.

Here’s a closeup of my look from Day 2 of the Styling Lab. MAC Makeup once again delivered. Silver on the inside corners of my eyes, and bottom eyelashes with extensions for greater length.

And I love my hair by Aveda: tumbling curls, pinned to the side. Soon, I’ll post more photos from our outfits at Luisa.

Have you heard of Worth Couture Paris? Are you inspired by the fashions of previous centuries?

PS: thank you to Vogue India for featuring me in a magazine article (above).

Album of the Day: Children of Bodom – Relentless, Reckless Forever

Luisaviaroma’s Firenze4Ever extravaganza brings together your favorite fashion bloggers: a mix of nationalities, personalities and styles. I suppose I carried the banner for Japanese street / Gothic aesthetics. So I did theatrical, flamboyant makeup: loud and proud!

Each blogger gets to take part in a high-fashion styling lab. Shall I walk you through the steps?

1) Get your face painted by MAC. I showed my makeup artist photos on my iPhone, so he knew what I was going for. And he did a marvelous job.

Fabio put a layer of white under my eyes to enlarge them, then added careful eyeliner definition and top/bottom layers of fake eyelashes. Brown shading added a Sleepy Hollow effect. My blue lips turned me undead, while the bright fuchsia blush raised me back to life.

2) Pick out your three outfits. We got to wear anything we wanted from Luisaviaroma’s latest collections. I picked cute / rock / Goth styles: lace and leather and metal.

I’m wearing a faux leopard fur jacket by Banana Fish, and a t-shirt gifted by Solobuio (the visual factory of Rome-based music video director, Carlo Roberti. We worked on something together… can you guess what it is?)

3) Take part in an interview for Fashion TV. I spoke about my styling choices, and my experiences in Florence thus far.

4) Have your hair styled. Aveda twisted and pinned my hair on top, and added scrunchy bedhead waves.

5) Choose your accessories. An orange clutch, and a cute boy (Sebastiano, of course).

6) Pose, pose, pose. We stormed the streets of Florence with our photographer.

I’m afraid I don’t recall the brands of my clothing (the info was left out of my files by accident). But the boots are unmistakably Camilla Skovgaard – one black, and one white!

A close-up on Seba’s boots. We have many more modeling photos to share: I did SIX looks in total, so stay tuned!

You can preview my styling lab photos on the Luisaviaroma website. Thanks to AOL / My Daily and Style.it for featuring me. More press and TV clips soon.

I leave you with my “Meet the Fashion Bloggers: La Carmina” video, where I talk about Visual Kei bands, and the joys of big eyelashes. Please give it a view and a YouTube Like.

Do you like my first look from Luisaviaroma? What do you think of the MAC makeup? Funny how many found it extreme, but in the subculture, it’s a day in the life…

Album of the Day: The Cure – Disintegration (Remastered)

Where in the World is La Carmina? Soon, the answer is: Florence, Italy! Seba and I were invited again to Luisaviaroma Firenze4Ever (January 5-7th), the international event for top fashion bloggers.

Last June, we had the time of our lives — I felt like a princess, modeling beautiful fashion. One of our favorite memories was dropping by the RED Valentino pop-up store.

Who says you can’t combine anime-cute with haute couture?

Santa, please send me this Valentino dress. The big skirts, lace and bows are very La Carmina.

Our photographer, Kristina Gi, captured the magic.

We loved browsing the garden, and playing with the props.

Can’t wait to be back at Luisa Via Roma. Shenanigans always take place… my poor Innocent World bunny lost his innocence to Bryanboy!

And would you like to join us? Enter the contest to win 30,000 Euros and round-trip ticket to the Florence event (deadline is Dec 7).

I’m looking forward to hanging with Seba and DNR, and eating nonstop.

Bloggers Do It Better t-shirt: gifted from Luisaviaroma
Sunhat: a street stall in Hong Kong
Zebra striped shirt: gifted from Lip Service

What do you think of the Valentino Red collection? Any tips for what to do in Italy, this time around? Perhaps I’ll make some side-trips… where shall I spend New Year’s?

For a preview, see last year’s Luisa photos in this Italy and Europe section.

Song of the Day: Kill Hannah – New York City Speed