Bon Ton by Alexia Sant Manduca

ISSUE 1 JUNE 2015

BON TON

MALTESE ELEGANCE

BON TON

Model : Sandra De Gaetano Designer : Charles & Ron Make up : Make up by Sands Hair : Stranje hairdressers 4

BON TON

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BON TON

FRISSON IN THE NEW WORLD

16-23

NEW FOOD 46-55

REVEALING THE REAL PICTURE 38-45

REFINED BLENDS

NATURAL BLENDS

18-25

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MALTESE ELEGANCE 2-11

BON TON START OF SOMETHING NEW

BON TON The fashion world has been women’s domain, and the fashion magazine a showcase for fashion designers’ and manufacturers’ wares. Bon Ton is no different. This first issue, June 2015, features fashion spreads of local brands both new, like Carla Grima, Saz Mifsud and I Gioelli di Nina and more established, internationallyrecognised Charles and Ron. These have not been selected at random, but to appeal to latter-day fashionistas no longer satisfied with short-lived trends. New-age, intelligent women are after real style, quality and comfort that show their individual looks and personality to their best advantage. They care whether clothes are made from sustainable materials by people who love their craft. In addition, these designers’ brands show successful original thinking through their own start-ups. Three are women reflecting the strong female presence - top icon is Anna Wintour as Vogue editor-in-chief - in the fashion industry since the early seventies and the women’s liberation movement.

ISSUE 1 - JUNE 2015 Layout & artwork design : Alexia Sant Manduca Printing : Pixel Perfect Printing Contributors : Charles Borg , Carla Grima , Saz Mifsud , Nadya Pantalleresco , Christine Meli , Donna Borg Leynaud , Michela Mifsud , Sandra De gaetano , Ivana Drenska ,and Stanje Hairdressers 14

Today’s woman cares about issues. The clothes she chooses must project a female archetype image she can identify with not turn her into a sex object. Leading figures such as fashion and personality photographers Cindy Sherman, Helmut Newton and Nick Knight are featured in dedicated articles for their idiosyncratic take on the

fashion icon. She also objects to discrimination by race and colour so black cover model Jourdan Dunn’s stand against racial prejudice in fashion appears in another article. Discrimination is likewise about a look which often little resembles reality. Magazine models are taller, thinner, have bigger hair than us, an unblemished skin in unnatural skin tones and perfect pearly whites reflecting good dental work not nature. Photoshop manipulation is much to blame. Coming clean about beauty advertising campaign in Soap with a social mission fought against this restricted view of the ideal female beauty. Magazine advertising, editorial comment and images impact the life choices of so many young women. It’s disturbing to see not only models with unachievable looks, but also promoting activities that are hazardous to health. In the smokescreen explores glamourized cigarette smoking in adverts and fashion spreads. Bon Ton has no such advertising and the bugbears of the socially conscious reader have been excluded. Instead recipes for some delectable, healthy summer food that takes little time and effort have been dished up in perfect taste.

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“FASHION CHANGES 16

BON TON

REFINED BLENDS

Carl Grima Collection featuring Donna Borg Leynaud & Michela Mifsud Jewellery by I GIOELLI DI NINA Make up by Christine Meli Hair by Stranje Hair stylists

Model : Donna Borg Leynaud Designers : Carl Grima & I GIOLELLI DI NINA Make-up : Christine Meli Hair : Stranje hairdressers

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REVEALED BLENDS 21 20

BON TON REVEALED BLENDS

Model : Michela Mifsud Designers : Carl Grima & I GIOLELLI DI NINA Make-up : Christine Meli Hair : Stranje hairdressers

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Nick Knight’s reputation for pushing boundaries technically and creatively at every opportunity and being at the forefront of innovation is deeply attractive.

or a fashion photographer Nick Knight is anything but conformist, continually challenging conventional ideals of beauty. He has worked on a range of controversial issues during his career - from racism to disability, to ageism, and more recently fat-ism. Knight For this and other reasons he has earned a Says Knight, “I don’t want to reflect social change, I want to cause social change.” One way he has achieved this is by being an important catalyst of the digital age bringing about fundamental change within the “closed” fashion system. In this way, he has radically changed the way fashion media is created and viewed. Knight started shooting for Vogue covers in November 1993.This was the beginning of a series of the most creative images. It led to his being one of the most prolific cover photographers.. His creativity was not limited to the execution of the photography for the covers but also creating the initial concept. Notable among these appeared in Vogue magazine with editions dedicated to ‘age ‘shape’ and ‘power’ in which the female archetypes were chosen from all generations depicting their different styles. This was great from the advertising viewpoint since it targeted different markets while strengthening circulation. But it did more than that, it also sent a message for the empowerment individuals.

In addition, to this Knight also explores the male psyche focusing of the contrast between men’s desires to those of women. The 2004 Pirelli Calendar displays Knight’s photographic imagery, created in collaboration with Peter Saville, the graphic designer, with heavy use of Photoshop.

FRISSON IN THE FASHION WORLD

PHOTO -REALISM

In the Vogue issue “Inside, power & Glamour’ Knight explores the different facets of the female archetype. He creates a visual debate about whether a woman can be feminine and frivolous in her workplace fashion choices while getting the job done, or whether she is still expected to wear a barely modified copy of the male uniform, the serious suit in order to survive in big business.

The results were bodies twisted in psychotropic fields of poppies or suburban threesome scenarios, the resulting images were distorted and blurred, their identities masked as were those of their authors, until they occupied an aesthetic zone halfway between Razzle, a UK soft-porn magazine and a Rorschach test.

Understandably, this provoked anger and controversy, most recently in November, with the use of the tagline “The perfect body,” alongside images of the unattainable physiques of a group of Angels, used to promote a brassiere line marketed as “Body”. It prompted social media protests, an online petition and resulted in the brassiere company changing the slogan to “A Body for Everyone”.

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FRISSON IN THE FASHION WORLD

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Yet in the face of this controversy Knight remains unabashed. “I don’t see why taking a pimple off somebody’s nose or changing their eye colour, or elongating their body or anything else, is wrong,” he states. As a result his 10 magazine covers are digitally manipulated to an extreme. He goes further than simply trying to render the models flawless. His aim is to change their shape beyond the realm of the possible into fantastic creations that a clearly fictitious. His photography transcends ‘likeness’ – which becomes irrelevant – and instead exists for its aesthetic form. Nick Knight has captured everyone from Victoria Beckham to many other iconic personalities one of these was Lady Gaga. He worked with Gaga to develop “Born This Way” acting as director for her music video from the start. Knight wanted Gaga to push herself harder than she had ever done before. “So naturally he wanted me to puke on myself and eat a bovine heart and do all sorts of other things.” Needless to say this video left an instant impact on the audiences and gave Gaga a new visual identity for this already iconic performer. Among other videos Knight also worked on the “Black Skinheads” video with both Kanye West and later with a nude Kim Kardashian in the nude for the cover and spread of L’officiel Hommes . Sophia Neophitou’s, ‘supermodels’ cast for Victoria’s Secret lingerie have also appeared in front of Nick Knight’s lens. But then his sensitivity to the possibilities of the human body has always been finely tuned. Born in London in 1958, Knight studied biology for a year after school to become a doctor, but was soon lured away from medicine by photography. Nick Knight has consistently challenged conventional notions of beauty in fashion magazines and is fêted for his groundbreaking creative collaborations with leading designers.

BON TON FRISSON IN THE FASHION WORLD

GENDER IDENTITY Cynthia â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cindyâ&#x20AC;? Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American photographer and film director, best known for her conceptual portraits.

f Cindy Sherman is generally held to be one of the most important and influential contemporary artists it is because she has sustained an eloquent, and provocative exploration of self-image. Drawing from the unlimited supply of images found in movies, TV, magazines, the Internet, and art history, Sherman has captured herself in a range of guises and personas which are at turns amusing and disturbing, distasteful and affecting.. Working as her own model for more than 30 years she creates her photographs by assuming multiple roles that of photographer, model, makeup artist, hairdresser, stylist, and wardrobe mistress. With an arsenal of wigs, costumes, makeup, prosthetics, and props, Sherman has created an illusory world of of intriguing tableaus featuring various physiques and characters , from screen siren, to clown, to aging socialite. Why does she do it?As a result she create awareness about the dangers of poor self-image a cause of , which can lead to even The bright light and highcontrast colour of her work seems to highlight hobsession with glamour.

WHITE OVER BLACK Jourdan Sherise Dunn (born 3 August 1990). She is a British fashion model. She has attracted attention because of the paucity of black models in the fashion modelling industry.

f you see a black model on the cover of a prestigious women’s fashion magazine, take a long hard look. It may be years till you see another one if history is anything to go by. The lack of racial diversity and therefore insensitivity is an old story that goes far beyond fashion magazine covers. Not everyone is putting up with these attitudes quietly, however. Jourdan Dunn is arguably the most popular British model today, along with pal Cara Delevingne, and was among the top-searched models on Google in 2014. When Dunn featured on the front cover of Miss Vogue in April 2014, it was a much deserved win for her while Vogue was seen to end its shameful run of homogenously white cover models. Many felt Dunn’s appearance was hardly a fashion forward moment for non-white models and that it was early days to celebrate. Yet when Dunn fronted the cover of British Vogue alone for this first time this year, in February it was seen as a massive personal and professional achievement. After all, the last time a black model has solely graced that prestigious cover was 13 years. That was Naomi Campbell in 2002. Dunn is not afraid personal views on racism within the fashion industry and views Vogue’s decision to shoot her for the February edition as an incredible breakthrough.

Not only does she feel proud and honoured herself to be selected for the cover of such a prestigious magazine as a black woman and model. This is not the first time Dunn has spoken out bravely about how she is often turned away because the client “doesn’t want any more black girls” and has suffered rejection because she’s “coloured”. Her inevitable conclusion is that the fashion industry has a problem with race, which goes far beyond fashio magazine covers.

FRISSON IN THE FASHION WORLD

BON TON However, ending years of cover discrimination is an important step in improving universal racial status in fashion publications. Dunn isn’t the only fashion figure to speak out against the lack of racial diversity in the industry. The Diversity Coalition, spearheaded by activist and former model Bethann Hardison, sent a letter to the governing bodies in each of the four fashion capitals.

“The people who control the industry… They say if you have a black face on a magazine cover it won’t sell – but there’s no real evidence for that.” The letter stated that “eyes are on an industry that season after season watches design houses consistently use one or no models of color.” “No matter the intention, the result is racism. Not accepting another based on the color of their skin is clearly beyond aesthetic when it is consistent with the designer’s brand. Whether it’s the decision of the designer, stylist or casting director, that decision to use basically all white models reveals a trait that is unbecoming to modern society.

It can no longer be accepted, nor confused by the use of the Asian model.” There have been some notable exceptions, in spite of this, during the wave of Black Power movements that were sweeping North America.Johnson and her success helped break down racial barriers in the fashion industry and in society. Johnson states: “ I was lucky to have been part of something that gave generations of AfricanAmerican women a sense of belonging that we didn’t have until then.”

BON TON

f you look around you, the representation of female stereotypes in the media stands in sharp contrast to reality. The images in most magazines are of glorified ideals. In addition to this, women in fashion magazines have always been largely portrayed as sex symbols, some might downgrade this to sex objects. Helmut Newton, a former Vogue photographer, goes for stark sexual images that are disturbing at the same time. He once positioned a female model dressed in black stockings and high heels in a wheelchair – more fetishist than traditionally sexy for most people. “When I see a woman, I always look immediately at her shoes and hope they’re high because high heels make a women look sexy and dangerous,” said Newton.

Yet what about the wheelchair? Is this a symbol of helplessness? Perhaps. It’s clear that whatever symbols are the message remains the same: women as the weaker sex, the sensual corrupters of men, old stereotypes in short that may have little in commonwith ordinary women. If women are at the heart of Newton’s work, he treats them harshly. He does not exactly portray the girl next door. There’s no romanticism, or even political correctness, just the darker side of womankind. Wallis Annenberg, CEO of the Annenberg Foundation said of Newton: “[he] deepened our understanding of changing gender roles, of the ways in which beauty creates its own kind of power and corruption.”

Yet while Newton as photographer is technically in charge of the outcome of the image, you feel it is the women in his images who are in control. These femme fatales lurk ominously in anonymous hotel rooms, by the limpid innocence of a pool, or next to the domestication of a washing machine at once changing the nature of these mundane environments into someplace sinister.

Even now he is still considered to be one of the greatest photographers of the twentieth-century, who revolutionized fashion photography with the provocative style and erotic content of his work.

Up to his death at the age of 84 in 2004, Newton, born in 1920 of mixed German and Australian origin, worked hard at creating aesthetically exciting images that exposed the multiplicity of the female archetype.

These femme fatales lurk ominously in anonymous hotel rooms, by the limpid innocence of a pool, or next to the domestication of a washing machine at once changing the nature of these mundane environments into someplace sinister.

This work is still being exhibited, primarily in Europe and mostly in Berlin, where the Helmut Newton Stiftung, the foundation taking care of the artist’s oeuvre in Berlin, is based.

He was in an accident on 23 January 2004, when his car sped out of control and hit a wall in the driveway of the Chateau Marmont Hotel, which had for several years served as his residence in Southern California

Helmut Newton was a GermanAustralian photographer. He was a “prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer.

The Newton woman says, “Go ahead, try it, but it’s going to cost you more than you think.”

FRISSON IN THE FASHION WORLD

FEMME FATALE

In various spreads Newton captures the somewhat tawdry, and what should be private moments in the lives of the wealthy and their luxurious surroundings in dark shadow and glossy vulgarity. It’s a form of voyeurism.Many have called him a misogynist because of the psychosexual mind games that seem to dominate his work.

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BON TON

Smoking ads are used many times a day, frequently in social settings. Each time the package design and brand are visible they convey a particular image. This visual impact is enough to stimulate the purchase of a brand even if the consumer does not consciously recall the brand name.

SMOKE SCREEN

hough the whole world is aware of the hazards of smoking and in a bid to save people’s lives as well as cutting down to size a hefty health bill, governments have tried to make cigarettes less attractive and make it more difficult for the manufacturers to advertise them. With little success it seems, since the fashion industry has largely ignored the warnings. “The idea is intriguing to us because if someone is reading Vogue magazine and all of a sudden sees this runway model holding cigarettes, that would give us a lot of credibility,” states Patrick Carroll, chief executive of Freedom, which imports cigarettes from Colombia. There’s no doubt about it, there seems to be an unbreakable link between fashion and smoking. Within fashion circles people still light up in large numbers and ignoring smoking bans.

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REVEALING THE REAL PICTURE

The sixties and seventies women’s lib generation saw the female market targeted with brands specifically for women.

From the early 20th century up to recently when the use of cigarettes started to fall because of greater health awareness and even now, smoking has definitely been considered cool. Smoking was perceived as the ingredient that added spice to an ordinary, dull life. A health-conscious world has now decided that smoking is no longer a personal choice, but rather one that concerns those around you.

A number of models, even supermodels such as Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, appear in the social media or celebrity press smoking in their everyday life. Meanwhile, fashion designers are more than willing to associate their brand and products with smoking. Gucci handbags, for instance, appeared in several top European fashion magazines last autumn showing cigarette ash artfully scattered across their expensive bags. The tobacco industry’s targeted marketing to women in the United States and elsewhere is not news, but it provides insight into current and future industry marketing tactics.. At the beginning of the present century, the industry faced formidable odds, as smoking was considered ‘improper’ for the fairer sex, consequently, few women smoked.

As social mores changed so did people’s attitudes to female smokers. The Second World War particularly saw a huge rise in smoking among women, even in Europe where American cigarettes were bartered for other favours along with nylon stockings.

“So why does something, that can

The sixties and seventies women’s lib generation saw the female market targeted with brands specifically for women.

be so desirable

thanks to many of the world’s

potentially damage your own health and that of others permanently, continue to

among older and younger generations? Probably, because

fashion and role models it

continues to have a glamorous, must-have image.”

BON TON Decade by decade, from the magazine’s 1892 debut to today, the book is both a chronicle of evolving culture and evolving style, featuring beautiful photographs by artists such as Irving Penn, Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, Richard Avedon, Herb Ritts, and Bruce Weber, along with the stories behind those iconic shots.

And yet the most iconic is the Vogue magazine cover. A full 120 years of the best appear in.an illustrated history Vogue: The Covers (Abrams), which collects more than 300 stunning and provocative images that transformed fashion as they documented those changes.

Over a century after the magazine’s auspicious debut, Vogue’s covers continue to compel and influence as its fashion pages dictate what women should look like.Bay Garnett states “ Illustrators bridge the gap between the commercial art worlds.”

REVEALING THE REAL PICTURE

TOUJOURS EN VOGUE

The Vogue archives reveal that this magazine was unparalleled when it came to recording current culture and thought as well as social ideals through its articles and illustrations, later to the highest standard of photography and through advertisements as well. “ Nowadays , aethetic is important for everything” says Jo Ratcliffe.

Designers used illustrations to inject some soul into the imagery.

f it’s about fashion magazine tradition, then it’s about Vogue, if it’s cutting edge fashion editions it’s about Vogue. It’s not surprising Vogue magazine was there at the beginning and it is still at the apex of the fashion world thanks to exacting editors like Anna Wintour, who always strives to outdo whatever has been done. “The best cover is always the next one, the one you haven’t seen yet.” enabled future they appeared had to the Atlantic .Vogue magazine staff would join their ranks. In the early 1900’s, the female archetype was portrayed in fashion magazines through a series of stylized illustrations. In Vogue, these were largely linear, two-dimensional, but with strong patterns and dynamic curves, greatly inspired by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements.

Until photography gradually replaced illustration, outlines of new styles (rendered in pen-andink or, sometimes, watercolour) appeared in the special March and April “Paris Openings” issues. From Jeanne Lanvin’s straightlined frocks to Christian Dior’s wasp-waisted New Look and in spite of Voici la mode, Mesdames, pour les années: from art pages to pixels, Vogue has always offered the first look—and the final word. From a 20th century artistic perIf it’s about fashion magazine tradition, then it’s about Vogue, if it’s cutting edge fashion editions it’s about Vogue. It’s not surprising Vogue magazine was there at the beginning and it is still at the apex of the fashion world thanks to exacting editors like Anna Wintour, who always strives to outdo whatever has been done. “The best cover is always the next one, the one you haven’t seen yet.”

“We’re photo saturated , so drawings is now special again.” 41

BON TON

The Dove brand was introduced in 1957 in the US, claiming to be a revolutionary new beauty soap that was made up of only mild cleansers and 25% moisturizing cream. Dove’s iconic Beauty Bar promised real beauty. Whether it was the actual bar or the advertising campaigns that pushed it, Dove Beauty Bar grew into one of the world’s most beloved beauty brands offering a range of products: Body Washes, Hand and Body Lotions, Facial Cleansers, Deodorants, Shampoos, Conditioners and Hair Styling products, all developed on the universal premise of real care

COMING CLEAN ABOUT BEAUTY The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is a worldwide marketing campaign launched in 2004.

oap with a social mission? Well that was what the Dove campaign was all about. A still means girls are beset by low self-esteem. Dove’s social mission is to ensure that the next female generations have a longlasting love affair with their selfimage to empower them reach their full potential in life.

A Dove spokesperson had this to say: ‘The Dove Self-Esteem Project helps girls to build body confidence and strengthen their self-worth. So far we have reached over 14 million young people by empowering those closest to them - their parents, teachers and mentors - with the skills.

But its Real Beauty campaign – capital R and capital B - started in 2004. This was radically different. It was designed to appeal to all women not only the ones that fit the supermodel mold. The brand conducted a study of more than 3,000 women in various countries in order to learn about women’s priorities. Real Beauty marketing research showed that in most women’s opinion, power and beauty does not come from a cream or airbrushing solutions, but rather from women’s personalities no matter what they look like. This was a huge move away from its 1970s babe-in-the-bath image. This message was imprinted on everyone’s mind largely thanks to the natural models, picked to look like the girl or woman next door. On the one hand, the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty has a positive message, with the worthy goal of trying to change women’s perception of what constitutes beauty. Dove sought to change the culture of advertising by challenging beauty stereotypes; they selected real women whose appearances are outside the stereotypical norms of beauty (e.g., older women with

wrinkles, overweight women). The real women were attractive and likeable because their female audience could relate to them. It was also a revolutionary within the media.

REVEALING THE REAL PICTURE

By 2015 we aim to have helped 15 million girls.’ And this is no soft soap, Real Beauty is a mission statement.

On the other hand, like other advertising campaigns, the main goal was to increase sales and the intelligent consumers knew this. That is the complicated nature of advertising. Yet one must argue that if it does what it promises – giving users a smooth skin, while massaging their selfesteem into shape – what harm can it do? After all, the models used certainly widened the scope of the ‘ideal’ image further than had ever been done before. If it achieved anything at all, other than increased sales, it started a global discussion about the definition of beauty and increasing use of unrealistic, unachievable beauty parameters. Ann Friedman at New York magazine writes “ these ads still uphold that notion that, when it comes to evaluating ourselves and other women, beauty is paramount, the goal shouldn’t be to get women to focus on this, we are all gorgeous in our own way. It should be to get women to do for ourselves what we wish the broader culture would do: judge each other based on intelligence and with and ethical sensibility, not just our faces and bodies.” From a female empowerment point of view this was the first digital campaign to reach over 200 million people worldwide, with over 26 million people participating . According to Vivek, Beatty, and Morgan (2012), the engagement of customers (or potential customers) through the online campaign could build trust. “Individuals will feel that the company cares about them and has their best interests at heart”. This might be optimistic, but if it has succeeded in making some young women more confident about themselves and more likely to achieve their goals that is something..

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NEW FOOD 44 46

BON TON NEW FOOD

STRAWBERRY & RASBERRY SMOOTHIE BY KEITH AZZOPARDI

INGREDIENTS

1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt 1 cup frozen raspberries, unsweetened 1 cup frozen strawberries, unsweetened 他 cup low-fat milk 1 cup ice (about 12 cubes)

METHODS Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Serve immediately.For those with lactose intolerance lactose-free milk may be used in place of regular milk. The yogurt in this smoothie can also aid in digestion.

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BON TON NEW FOOD

SALMON SALAD BY KEITH AZZOPARDI

INGREDIENTS 4 slices of feta cheese squeeze of lemon juice pinch of salt 150 g smoked salmon 150 g mixed salad leaves 200 g sweet cherry tomatoes, halved 100 g dried black olives

METHODS

Mix all the ingredients in a large glass until combined salad.Arrange the salad leaves on two serving plates. Place the tomatoes on top of the salad leaves. Tear the salmon with your finers into a small chunks, arrange on top of the tomatoes. Scatter the olives on top, drizzle with the dressing,decorate with edible flowers. Serve with crusty bread or a roll.

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BON TON NEW FOOD

MACARONS BY DAVID TANTI INGREDIENTS 80g ground almonds 180g icing sugar 150g egg whites at room temperature 250g castor sugar food colouring (paste or powder is ideal)

METHODS Put the ground almonds and icing sugar in a food processor and process to a fine powder. Sift into a large bowl. Put the egg whites and castor sugar in an electric mixer and whisk on medium speed until the mixture forms stable firm peaks that are soft to touch. Add the food colour at this stage. Fold the meringue into the ground almond mixture until the meringue is thick, yet soft enough to fall back into itself. Transfer the mixture into a poping bag with a 7mm plain nozzle. Pipe 4cm diameter rounds onto lined baking sheets, leaving 2.5 cm gap between each macaron.

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Tap the baking sheets lightly underneath to release any excess air and flatten the macarons. Leave the macarons at room temperature until a skin forms (the batter doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stick to your fingers). Cook in a preheated oven at 150 degrees celsius for around 12-13 mins (ideally you take them out of the oven a little before they are completely cooked so that the residual heat finishes the cooking) Pair them according to size and fill them with any filling you like, for example Nutella, jam, lemon curd, chocolate ganache etc.Store them covered in a fridge for around 24 hours so the shells become moist. Serve at room temperature, especially if the filling has chocolate.

BON TON

NATURAL BLENDS

Model : Ivana Drenska Designer : Saz Mifsud Make up : Christine Meli Hair : Stranje Hairstylists 56 54

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BON TON

BUT BUTSTYLE STYLE ENDURES.” ENDURES.”

- COCO CHANEL 60