MY Magazine vol. 2

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VOL.2

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#PASSION #FASHION #MUSIC #ART


TO ME, MUSIC IS LIFE ITSELF KRISTOFFER SAKURAI Stylist and principal dancer

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B&O PLAY by BANG & OLUFSEN


MY music


MY art


Photographer Thomas Skou


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The Danish musician Mø appeared in Danish radio two years ago with the hit-single ’Pilgrim’ and since then things has moved fast for the 25-year old singer. This year she has received praises for her debut album ”No Mythologies To Follow”, she has played sold out concerts in America and Sporty Spice has called her the modern incarnation of girl power. Still Mø insist on taking one day at a time, because according to her she still has not really made it yet. Text Fie West Madsen

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t is difficult to find a music-interested person in Denmark who does not know the name Mø by now. She had her big breakthrough on Danish radio in march 2013 with the single ”Pilgrim” and already back then she won a bunch of awards without even having a debut-album out yet and several music critics and medias predicted that this girl with the edgy black look and a new electro-indie-pop-sound would become the next big thing.

A year and a half later it seems they were right. Mø with the real name Karen Marie Ørsted released her first album “No Mythologies To Follow” in March earlier this year and it was well received by both critics and fans just as the world outside of Denmark started to notice that a very special artist was rising in the small country in the north. Mø means maiden or virgin in Danish and the name is hard to pronounce outside of Scandinavia, since the letter ø does not exist anywhere else, so instead they call her Moo or Muuh like the Canadian celebrity interviewer Nardwuar did, when he interviewed Mø in Vancouver in the spring. The name is difficult but connecting to the music is not. This spring and summer Mø toured Europe and the United States and played sold-out concerts just as she performed on the popular talk show Jimmy Kimmel. In June she was on Time Magazine’s list of the 25 best songs of 2014 with her song “Don’t wanna dance with somebody”. Mø herself is stunned about how she was received outside of Denmark, especially in the United States.  - In Denmark it is always really cool to play because people know my music and me pretty well. When we play sold out concerts in the rest of Europe people is also really nice and really into the music which is so cool, but it is like in America they just know how to take it to the next level – in a good way. There is this feeling of excitement, which is pretty new, and you can really feel that people think you’re exiting. I have also noticed how many people who actually sing along to all the songs, Mø tells and adds that some audiences have really surprised her.  - When we played in Seattle I could not even go out amongst the audience without them carrying me around, you know. I usually like to take a walk around the audience while

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Photographer Thomas Skou


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Photographer Thomas Skou


performing but they just grabbed me and let me stage-dive on top of them, it was just fucking awesome, Mø laughs when telling the anecdote.

Important to stay grounded And those kind of reactions has come as a surprise for the 25-year old singer, though she will not let it get to her head.  - Well, all shows were sold out, so I thought that since so many bought a ticket, they probably knew me a little bit. But I had not in a million years imagined that the crowd would sing along on every song and be that into it. Then again, it is important to not make it a bigger thing than it is, Mø says in a serious voice.  Because even though the album has been well received, she is playing sold out gigs in America and Europe and has collaborated with huge star Diplo, Mø insist on not seeing herself as a successful artist. The business is too unpredictable for that.  - I think you have to keep your feet on the ground. Because yes, of course it is amazing and I am thrilled that thing are the way they are and everything is going well but the business is like every other creative business – it takes really hard work and it is fucking hard. Everything happens fast and there are probably already 100 new names a lot more interesting than me, if you know what I mean? The situation can turn around quickly if you do not keep fresh and new and on the other hand a lot of artists end up loosing themselves because they are desperate about staying in top of the charts or in the spotlight, and I would like to avoid that. For me it is important to hold on to who I am and not act stupid or negligently just because I think everything is going so well at the moment, because it might not stay that way, Mø says and elaborates:  - I never tell myself that I am nothing, of course. But I do not want to make myself into some kind of mega star. I am not walking around saying: “This is fucking cool, everything is going so well, fuck I am talented, fuck I am good.” Why should I? You know with these things that of course you have to work hard and you have to have some sort of talent, but there are also so many other factors that matters and that is why you need to stay grounded. I think arrogance is a really ugly thing.

It started in a punk band Before she even had to think about keeping grounded, before Mø existed, Karen Marie Ørsted grew up in Ubberød, a small town a little outside of Odense in the middle of Denmark. She refers to it as a normal province-life, not much happened and she had a perfectly good childhood. In her teenage-years she became a part of the punk-environment in Odense and at age 18 she and a friend formed the punk-band “Mor” which means mother. They had a signature song called “Fisse i dit fjæs” or “Pussy in your face” in English. Back then the sound was trashier and the lyrics simpler. The band Mor had some success and played concerts in different countries in Europe – though never with a huge crowd – but in 2009 Karen Marie started her own project, which eventually ended up being Mø as we know today. Ironically enough the first song she and her producer Ronni Vindahl created together was called “Maiden”. He produced the song for her and she performed at a Danish music festival for upcoming artists called “Spot Festival”. After the festival Mø was a name surrounded by a lot of hype and less than a year after one of her first songs were playing non-stop on the Danish radios. The sound of Mø that we know today is a pop-electro-sound with a soul feeling and even though she is musically far away from the punk-sound back in the days with the band “Mor”, her admired stage presence and ability to dance, sweat, jump, walk around among the audience and just let go comes from those days, Mø explains.  - Back then when I played in Mor it was just my friend and I who programed the music and it was playing from a computer when we played gigs. That meant that there were only the two of us on stage so we had to be very physical and crazy on stage. I think that part has definitely stayed with me, expressing myself on the stage. Also I am really restless and have a lot of energy in me and when I am on stage playing songs which I am very emotionally involved in it makes sense to express it through my body as well. The energy, the anger, the joy or what the music expresses, it all culminates in the expression on stage. I have also been inspired by all the punk concerts I have gone to and I have been really inspired by the Danish band Reptile Youth, their lead singer Mads goes crazy on stage and it is awesome.

Mø and Karen is the same thing On stage she gives her all in the performance and that goes for all of the aspects in being Mø. She writes her own lyrics, which are inspired, by her own world but also about being young in general.  - It is a lot about being young, restless, in despair and being a dreamer in our modern, crazy society. For me it is about communicating these feelings to people and about being real. About not being anyone that you are not. I want to touch people and maybe they can relate to it as well. Maybe it can change something for them. My music is not a concept but a mix of a lot of things I have been through creatively and personally, Mø says. And music is a personal thing for her. In fact, everything she does as Mø is directly connected to her as Karen Marie Ørsted. She does not have a persona to turn into when she is on stage or a mask to put on, it is all her. Anything else would not work for her.  - There is not really a line separating Mø and Karen Marie. The only difference is that when I am in the studio or on the stage I let myself go to the deepest of feelings inside me. You do

not walk around like that with your feelings on the outside otherwise. It is difficult for me to explain exactly what Mø is because it is just me, you know? And it can be difficult sometimes because people have a certain perception of me, sometimes as a star, sometimes as an idiot, I do not know about that, but whenever people say something I cannot just put on a facade and laugh about it, because it is all me. But even though Mø has chosen to be all her as an artist and she can feel exposed at times, she would not have it any other way.  - No matter who I meet I am always the same as if I am hanging out with an old friend but that is the way it should be, anything else would be completely crap, Mø laughs and adds:  - People would hate me if I was playing some fucking character I had build around myself. Fuck that, I did not want to do that at all. And I would not be able to do it either.

A new symbol of Girl Power Something that inspired Karen Marie Ørsted to be herself was the girl group Spice Girls whom Karen was a huge fan of growing up. That is also the reason why she earlier this year did a cover song of the Spice Girls song ”Say You’ll Be There” which became a big hit in especially Denmark. In March Mø won a big Danish music award called “The P3 Gold Award” and to everyone’s surprise Melanie C (Sporty Spice) who was always Mø’s biggest idol was the one presenting her with the award. A clearly chocked Mø started crying when she saw her idol, and when Melanie C said that Mø had so much girl power that she could have been a Spice Girl, Mø gave up and fell to her knees. Even though it is almost six months ago, Mø still remember the night as one of the craziest nights for her.  - I had planned a speech in case I won the award but I could not complete it at all, I was too moved. And I do not remember anything from when I was taken to the stage – I had a total blackout. It was like a giant bubble and I could not believe it at all. It was almost religious. It was so crazy and amazing. In her speech for me she said the craziest things anyone has ever said to me, and after the show we talked backstage and she was really nice and cool and she said I was cool and we should keep in touch. I told her that it was a crazy experience for me to meet her, but I think she could see that already, Mø laughs and says that she would not reject doing a duet if the suggestion came up. One of the things that touched Mø the most was Melanie C’s comparison between Mø and girl power. A comparison that several national and international media has made as well, and Mø does not hide that she is proud of the words and if she can influence young girls in some way that Spice Girls influenced her, it would be a dream come true.  - It is really beautiful because it was Spice Girls who back in the days made me want to be a musician and it was their music that helped me gaining confidence through something I was good at. I found the strength in being who I am because of them, so if I in any way can symbolize girl power for young girls too then it would really be amazing. It would be the best thing that could happen. You make music because you want to communicate and want to be understood and want other people to feel understood through the music. Like art can be a part of changing structures in a society I believe that music can also create something new that can have a great influence, if not on society then on individuals. It had a great influence on me and if I can do that for somebody else it would be great, Mø tells.

Not making music to satisfy Even though it is less than six months since her debut-album was released, Mø and her producer Ronni Vindahl is already writing new music and this fall is going to be spent writing even more while also going on more tours. Everything has gone really fast for Mø the past year and with a successful debut-album and a sold out concerts in Europe and America it is always a question whether a new artist can live up to the hype with the difficult second album, but that is not something that worries Mø who just wants to keep on making music.  - Of course you think about the second album and whether it is going to be successful but I think every debuting artist face that problem. I can clearly imagine a scenario where a lot of people would say: ”Shut up that second album is pure crap.” But if that is the case I guess I am just going to make a third one, Mø laughs.  - You will not get anywhere if you let yourself be controlled by your fear for what might happen. My producers and me are going to make the music we feel like making. We do not have to make anything that has to live up to certain expectations or that has to sound a certain way in order to please people. You have to make the music that feels right. Now I sound like a hippie, but you have to make the music you have in your heart. Of course you should have ambitions and of course the music has to be tight and in a good quality but it has to feel right and it should not be done because of stress, pressure or expectations. Besides a second, a third and a lot more albums to come, Mø dreams of going back to America to connect even more with the audience who has already shown they like the 25-year old Danish singer’s music. She also wants to get her music out in the rest of the world, but things should not be rushed, Mø explains.  - It would be really cool to tour in other parts of the world as well, but I really like America and all my favourite bands are from there so I really want to go back there. It is also an amazing market over there that I really want to focus on some more. You got to take one day at a time, because you cannot be everywhere at once.

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About mø Full name: Karen Marie Ørsted Age: 25 years old, born 1988 From: Grew up in Ubberød outside of Odense in Denmark Hits: ”Pilgrim”, ”Glass”, ”Don’t wanna dance with nobody”, ”Say You’ll Be There” (cover) Album: Debut album ”No Mythologies To Follow” from march 2013 Fun facts: Played at Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show and has done the song ”XXX 88” with the American DJ and producer Diplo momomoyouth.com facebook.com/momomoyouth

Photographer Helena Lundquist

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Roskilde Festival Text Fie West Madsen | Photograper Helena Lundquist

The Orange Feeling Roskilde Festival is a music and culture festival witch takes place every year in the beginning of july in the city of Roskilde, Denmark. The festival has existed since 1971 and is by now the biggest music festival in Northern Europe with around 100.000 festival guests from all over the world. Bob Marley, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Kayne West, Björk, Rihanna, Coldplay, Iron Maiden, Arctic Monkeys, Bob Dylan, Metallica, Nirvana and The Rolling Stones are just some of the world famous names who has performed at the festival’s biggest stage “Orange Stage” during the years. The special orange tent canvas on top of the stage used to belong to The Rolling Stones who used it for their Europe tour in 1976 before Roskilde Festival bought it in 1978 and named the stage from “Big Stage” to “Orange Stage” and the stage has been a symbol of the festival ever since just as the term “Orange Feeling” is used to describe the very specific feeling that unites everyone who participates in Roskilde Festival. Most of the festival is based on volunteer work and during the festival more than 30.000 volunteers work at Roskilde Festival both in the camping areas, at the gates, in the food stalls and around the stages. The festival is a non-profit organization and the profits of the festival is used to support humanitarian and cultural work.

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If you can dream it, you can do it Photograper Dennis Stenild Filter Management Models Sebastian S Scoop models Stylist Alma Hair & make up Jan Stuhr Le Management Retouch Kenoe

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W hite Horse

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Feather top FREYA DALSJØ Tank ANN DEMEULEMEESTER Trousers ANN DEMEULEMEESTER

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Feather top FREYA DALSJØ Tank ANN DEMEULEMEESTER

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Dress CELINE Gloves LANVIN

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Photographer Lizette Mikkelsen Model Tea Scoop Models Stylist Kristoffer Sakurai Tomorrow Management & Rebecca Weddel-Weddelsborg Hair & Make up Line Bille Retouch WeTouch

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Evren Tekinoktay

Winning a war with a scissor and pencil The artist Evren Tekinoktay has studied art at some of the finest art schools, she has had exhibitions all over the world and she has designed clothes for Prince. But the 41-year-old Turkish born artist has always had a hard time accepting her own way of doing art and if there is one thing she hates it is when the works gets too polite. Text Fie West Madsen | Photographer Lizette Mikkelsen | Hair & make up Sidsel Marie Bøg, Tomorrow Management

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o not worry – the cups are clean, Evren Tekinoktay laughs as she serves coffee in small porcelain cups she just picked up from the kitchen in her atelier at Østerbro in Copenhagen. The floors are covered in different colours of paint. Giant collages and posters with Evren’s own artwork are on the walls and screws, paper clips, doll heads and paint is lying around the room only waiting to become part of a new piece of art.  - Actually, I have to admit that I hate to have people visit here, Evren says.  - It is very disturbing to have people coming in here and mostly my work gets disturbed a whole week before having visitors, because I know they are coming, and they are going to look. This room is crazy intimate and that is why I do not like to have people here very often. For the same reason I do not use any assistant. This is my space. The collages that now fills up Evren Tekinoktay’s atelier has become her signature method as an artist, and the art form already interested her when she was just a young girl.  - As a child I was drawing a lot and I was drawing everything that was on my anxious mind. Already back then I spend time creating small collages in a classical manner; found images, cut outs and a lot of glueing. To be on my own within this world of recreating images was extremely soothing, and was something that I found peace in. However, when I became a young teenager I turned into a complete sports freak and I kind of lost the touch of being able to sit still with paper and scissors, Evren tells.

Canteen-love and the impossible painting But all that changed when Evren graduated high school and started a short termed stay at the school Vallekilde, where she experimented with different creative courses offered by the school. She went on a trip with the school to Amsterdam and visited Gerrit Rietveld Academie School of

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Fine Arts. However she barely saw anything there but the canteen and that was enough for Evren.  - I was instantly in love. The canteen was the heart of the academy. Here young students from all over the world were having their lunch and the atmosphere was very appealing to me. After this brief impression of what an art academy could be like, I started a great fantasy and pictured myself having lunch in that canteen. And within seven days after returning from Amsterdam I decided to apply for the art school. Normally you have to go through a couple of tests in order to enter an art academy, but without knowing why Evren got directly accepted within her first apply to the academy in Amsterdam, she moved from Denmark to Amsterdam at age 19 to start her four year art education. Something that sounds like a dream for many came true for Evren. However, it was four hard years. She had lost her father three years back and the feeling of grief still had not left and on top of that the self-critical struggle of painting was there most of the time.  - I remember my academy time as one big fight. Mostly against my own way of doing art, you can call it my handwriting, and how can one feel like that and still make work with your hands? While studying we were all the time being reminded that only 2 precent of us would actually make it. Some fellow art students got thrown out of the school and some quit themselves. Only the stubborn and hard working ones managed to finish the education. I was obsessive with not giving up but I also managed to develop a mad critical sense, which was a high pressure to work under. Somehow it is something that I can use in my work today.

Underwear as a new art form After the four years in Amsterdam a teacher encouraged Evren to apply for another two years education at the Jan Van Eyck Art Institute in Maastricht


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and once again she got in even though the chance was one in a million. One of her last projects in Holland was a book of collages and at the age of 25 Evren had finished six years of art education and was finally returning back to Denmark and Copenhagen. She had missed her hometown, her mother and her friends. But quickly Evren found herself in a new void. She got married to the Danish artist Tal R and moved in with him in his childhood home. She quickly got her first solo exhibition in a gallery in Berlin, however she was not fulfilled. She wanted to create a space that was steady and fantastic, not just an exhibition up and running for a month.  - While staying in Berlin during an art residency, I strolled coincidently down a street and saw an underwear store that was build as a bedroom. This opened my eyes for the underwear universe for the first time and somehow I felt a strong link between the world of underwear and my own art, since in general I had been drawn to femininity, sex and gender in my work. For two nights I did not sleep and I knew I had a new idea that I had to bring to life. To me underwear now was the sub consciousness of clothing. In 2003 Evren opened the store ”Tekinoktays Finest Lingerie” in Copenhagen and everything was self-made; the posters on the walls, the curtains in the windows, and the interior in the shop even the way the underwear hung in the store.  - It was a very personal project that involved women in my entire family from Istanbul. Everyone had done something; a curtain, a hanger or a tiny lavender bag. I learned so much by creating a shop from nothing and I really enjoyed being in charge of it all.

Accepting the handwriting After 9,5 years Evren closed her shop last year, because the project was over for her. Along with keeping the store going she had been exhibiting in London, Istanbul and other cities in Europe, and selling art to the

world famous art collector Charles Saatchi. She has kept her interest in femininity in her art and has slowly grown into accepting her way of doing art – accepting her handwriting.  - You have a certain style of handwriting, it starts a place and then it evolves as you grow. Those years in Holland I could not stand my handwriting but now I have reached a point where I have to embrace it. My way of working is collage and I am back where I started as a child. And the fact that the handwriting is strongly influenced by femininity and gender is not a coincidence, because women always played a big role in Evren’s family.  - My family consist of matriarchs, the women in control, so I think I have a congenital arrogance towards men, Evren laughs.  - I think it is cool to be a woman; we are a cool gender and should not be ashamed. I think because of my family, women and gender in general has always interested me, but I do not like the word feminine when it comes to art, because people always associate it with something pretty and kind. Feminine can also be aggressive in my opinion. Just look at me, Evren says and laughs again. She is wearing green skinny jeans with dots, sneakers and a sweatshirt. Evren likes to play with the thought of gender and have always had a big passion for Prince who previously inspired her to do a whole exhibition at the Copenhagen gallery IMO. And at the moment her atelier is also filled with bits and pieces that are going to end up at a new exhibition in the beginning of next year. Evren’s work right now is covered with transvestites from the 50’s and a big collage is already on the wall. But even though the artist has come to terms with her own art, she is still critical and a perfectionist.  - I have worked on it for two and a half months, but it is not done yet. I keep adding a little bit every day. It is a good thing I have a deadline, the artist laughs.

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Evren & her Hero Prince has been a great influence on Evren Tekinoktay. She thinks he has been raising the barn of gender and has taken glamour beyond glitter For two years she used to talk with him in dreams at night and used him as a corresponding figure in her art One day a big dream came true when Prince all of a sudden wanted one of Evren’s designs

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About Evren Tekinoktay Born in 1972 Grew up at Ă˜sterbro in Copenhagen and has turkish parents Is married to the danish artist Tal R and they live with their two children in Copenhagen Studied at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Holland in 1993-97 Jan van Eyck Akademie in Holland in 1997-99 the Royal Danish Academy 1998-99 Evren has had solo-exhibitions at GALERIST in Istanbul, The Approach in London and IMO in Copenhagen and several other places in Denmark amongst others Besides art Evren has also done several fashion collaborations with Moonspoon Saloon and she has designed an outfit that ended up on the singer Prince

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S ara mia Photograper

Lizette Mikkelsen Models

Sara Mia

Le Management Stylist Fadi Morad Hair & make up Sanne Anndriani Le Management

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Dress ZARA Blindfold SOMETHING WICKED @ ILL7

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Panties LASCIVIOUS @ ILL7 Vintage cape CARMEN & FANTASIO Latex gloves LUST

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Bondage dress BORDELLE @ ILL7

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Vintage dress CARMEN & FANTASIO Whip LUST

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Corset LASCIVIOUS Tights LUST

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Latex skirt LUST Vintage silk obi CARMEN & FANTASIO

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Mapusa market, India Photograper Helena Lundquist

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Helena Lundquist Photographer Helena Lundquist went to India in the winter 2013 with the purpose of portraying different and interesting local people and spontaneous situations she would meet on her way. To catch the moment in a given situation is her biggest passion when taking pictures and that was exactly what she found at Mupsa Marked in Goa where this series is shot in december 2013. Helena Lundquist is a 24 year old freelance photographer. In 2009 she studied at Copenhagen School of Film and Photography and she just graduated from the Danish Media and Journalism School with a degree in photographic communication. She has previously worked for big danish institutions and companies such as Cover Magazine, Danish Fashion Institute, designer Mads Nørregaard and Roskilde Festival.

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Misty Minds Photograper/Digital imaging Kenneth Ă˜ksnebjerg Model Astrid Le Management Stylist Mads Ronnborg Hair & make up Sam Shimoun Scoop Models

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Pels LANVIN

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Top PRADA Skirt TEMPERLEY Fur FENDI

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Top MARNI Trousers MARNI Shoes PRADA

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Fur DIOR Close MCQUEEN Skirt DRIES

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Fur MICHAEL KORS Suit HERR VON EDEN Skirt CHRISTOPHER KANE

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Top PRADA

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