What I wore today

Blouse: flea market, trousers: Noa Noa, shoes: Converse.

Difficulties of summerwear

I find it ridiculously difficult to get dressed in warm weather.

1) It is hot, so I can't really do layers as much as I would want to.

2) I am pale and bony, and don't want to expose myself too much, plus I need to protect myself from the evil beams.

3) Colours seem so different in sunlight (and on pale, sun-exposed skin) that I get confused.

4) Due to heat, anything that is too tight or too clingy becomes very irritating.

Take today, for example. It isn't exactly high summer yet, but 20 degrees celcius is pretty warm. Not that I want to go running around in flip-flops and hotpants like my fellow country(wo)men, but I do appreciate a tiny bit lighter clothing than usual. It is too warm to wear tights, but way too early to expose my white legs, so I have to opt for trousers. All of my t-shirts seem too tight and uncomfortable to be worn on their own. So this is what I ended up wearing:

Ugh. This outfit is totally not me. Well, I was comfortable. On their own, I like each piece I am wearing. The Paul & Joe- trousers are probably the best pair of pants I own (check out the embroidery below), and the blue tunic is very airy and light. But together... umm... I just don't feel like I look the way I feel. Which would be fine, but then I got a text about potential free beer in town, and didn't even pursue any because I was uncomfortable being (and looking) comfortable. Does this make any sense?? And yes, you are not seeing things, I have sunburn all over my chest. Oh summer, how I love thee!

P.S. I really need a holiday. Two more days at work and then I am out!

No repair required

I found this wonderful piece of furniture at the local second hand store. The store keeper asked me what I was going to do with it, since the locks are rusty, the paint chipped, and the doors don't close properly. I said: "Nothing, I like it just the way it is." This is how my furniture needs to be: used, crooked, with a true sense of history of their own.

Satin shoe frenzy

Me and Suvi went to look for shoes to match her graduation dress. A while back I bought these gorgeous satin platform pumps in dark blue, but little did I know that they were also available in red. Well, they are mine now, both colours!

I didn't actually end up wearing them with this outfit, but I thought they looked superb nevertheless. In the end I went for comfort and wore my gray Converse. Oh, needless to say, we didn't find the right shoes for Suvi's dress. Instead she got the coolest blue pumps ever, with wide silver stripes.

All the king's horses

What to do when one finds a perfect print, but the garment in question is about four sizes too big? I came across this problem a while ago when I found a great blouse at the flea market. At first I thought that I could take it in, but it would have been too much of a time-consuming (and brain-wrecking) project. What is a girl to do? Well, one certainly will not wear the blouse - as a blouse.

Spring & Scarlett

What is it about spring? Something about the warmth, the daylight that beams down until 10 pm now, the way nature just bursts out into the open... It just seems that life is more meaningful. I really feel it in my bones, I am not just saying it because sunshine makes me happy.

I sometimes wonder if I am just awfully naive about the way I want to look at the world. You know how people sometimes say that "life is not a movie", or that "the reality is x & y"... Bollocks, I say, the world is a wonderful five-star-movie, and we all have the starring role.

As I am writing this, I have Scarlett Johansson's version of Falling Down in my head. Tom Waits is of course Tom Waits, but I don't know, there is something about Scarlett's singing that I quite like.

A little sick

I haven't had the chance to post about anything in the past couple of days because I have been feeling under the weather. I figured that there wouldn't be too much point in posting an outfit picture where I am wearing my pyjamas.

The bird in the picture is the Eurasian Bittern (Botaurus stellaris). It is one of my favourite birds just because it is so mysterious, hiding in the reed, sounding like a boat-horn. In my current state I would love to have its abilities of not being seen. I promise I will be back as soon as I feel better!

The UFF countdown

I just woke up after having slept for 13 hours. (It has been a rough week at work, with the fashion show and a lot of extra stuff to take care of.) I am sorry about my scruffy no make-up & bed hair appearance, but I was too excited to post about my UFF finds as soon as I got up.

I couldn't believe my luck with this mint green jacket. The colour, the cut, the black embroided detail... If I had visited UFF at the 7-euro day, I would have bought it already then, but I got this gem for 4 euros. The gold pencil skirt was 4 euros as well. It is a little bit wide at the waistband (it is pinned back in the picture), but I will take it in a little once I get a chance.

The poofy blue cardigan (4 e) is from UFF's weird Tirol-collection. I don't know where on earth they get this stuff from! The Sound of Music producers, perhaps? The skirt (2 e) is a bit long, and I was originally thinking of hemming it, but I don't know, now that I see it in the picture I kind of like the lenght with this much volume. What do you think?

This coat was a true find. Does anything get more Hitchcock heroine than this? I love the shape, as well as the fabric. If my fingers know their stuff (as they should), it is silk cashmere. I can't believe no one else snapped it before me. I got it for 2 euros! 2!

I haven't bought belts in a while. These three were 1 euro each. The clutch below is actually from Fida, from a week ago. I paid 1,50 for it.

Isto, in case you are reading this, if you still have an extra camera stand, I would be more than interested to buy one off you so I could maybe get rid of the blurriness in my photos!

Super high fashion!

High fashion, darlings! Yes, me and my buddies from work had our fashion show today. After two weeks of organising everything between heaven and earth, working late in the evenings and killing our brain cells trying to figure out perfect outfits, we got it all together. The end result was a feast to the eye.

The make-up and hair are by Piia Hiltunen. Very Dior, very couture, non..?

Second hand people

This week is the legendary countdown week at UFF. Every single piece of clothing costs the same amount, and as the days go by, the amount gets less and less, and the closer we get to the one-euro-day. On this coming Saturday, everything will cost one euro!

Yesterday I went to see what was on offer for 4 euros. Well, there was a lot. Jeans, leather jackets, thick winter coats, dozens of 60's print dresses, you name it. I got a couple of things, and I will post pictures of my finds at some point. My visit to UFF got me thinking though.

If you ask someone why they buy second hand clothing, the most typical answer covers these three points: 1) "I want to combat consumerism and protect the environment", 2) "I don't want to spend much money on clothes" and 3) "I want to wear individualistic pieces that support my own style and make me stand out from the crowd". It is this third element that got me thinking. Why are so many second-hand-wearers starting to look the same to me? Everyone of us at UFF yesterday had our own individual style, but we all looked like we were a part of a bigger whole.

Take one look at hel-looks, and despite the myriad range of styles, there are a couple of common threads that connect many people whose pictures are portrayed there. There is "the young & intellectual wears vintage"- look, and "the hippy wears second hand", for example. I don't even know what I am getting at, really. I just think there is something weird about how these individualism-driven second hand people end up looking alike.

Whatever it is, Hel-looks sure doesn't portray the "I am poor and I have to wear clothes that someone else wore first"-people.

Sunny Sunday

These are my mom's favourite flowers. Since it is Mother's day, I went over to my mom's and hung out with her and the rest of the family for most of the day. This is what I wore:

It was very warm and sunny so I just had to wear flowers. The cardigan is from UFF, the blouse is my grandmother's old, the skirt is from H&M and the tulle from UFF. Beaded slippers are from Ravel, I bought them in London years ago. Here is a print detail from the skirt:

These handkerchieves are from Fida. I wonder when it became okay to blow one's nose on ugly paper tissues rather than something pretty? The fan is from a flea market.

Fida fix of the week

I found a couple of really wonderful pieces of clothing at Fida today. First, this pink skirt. It is self-made, and it is clearly made of curtains. The skirt is see-through, but a little petticoat will work wonders.

This black pencil skirt has a wonderful shape to it. It is draped from one side. The material is raw silk.

For some reason this skirt looks almost orange in this picture, but it is actually bright pink. It has a bit of a tulip shape to it.

This dress is so me! I am going to shorten it though, I think knee-length would be ideal.

And finally: hmm, is it just another white vintage blouse..?

...certainly not! The label says YSL Rive Gauche!

Along with the above, I got a small off-white leather purse, another bow-tie (black, this time) and a handful of old-fashioned handkerchieves. All in total: 27 euros!

Tired feet, working late

Sheesh, it is midnight and I just got home from work. From work! How insane is that? The company I work for is organising a fashion show next week, and we are running behind everything that needs to get done.

On my way home a dodgy man started chatting me up on the train, and his pick-up line was by far one of the funniest I have heard in a long time: "So... are you going home from a wedding?" Well, this is what I wore:

I replied: "No, I wear this type of stuff every day." He looked completely puzzled, trying to figure out why I looked like a 12-year-old boy wearing his own birthday cake, but he still asked me if I was going to take the same train the next day and if he could meet me on the train. I politely declined.

Charles Ryder & co. Revisited

Guess who this is? Well yes, it is Emma Thompson - - - as Lady Marchmain..!

"What what what?"-I hear you say. Yes, indeed. The ever-so-lovely Susie Bubble was my source of this information: Julian Jarrold has filmed Brideshead Revisited this year. How did I not know of this before now??!? How?!

Now, the book by Evelyn Waugh is probably the one book I would take with me on a desert island. I don't think I have ever seen decay being portrayed in such a heart-breaking, yet beautiful manner, and that's saying a lot considering what the major themes of world literature are. There's a lot of decay out there, but no one quite does it the way Mr Waugh does.

As if one's favourite book being filmed in the first place wasn't bad enough, here's my dilemma: the 1981 miniseries Brideshead Revisited is my all time tv-favourite. I have seen the entire series probably at least five times.

I really don't know what to make of the up-and-coming film adaptation. How can I ever watch Charles Ryder being played by someone else than Jeremy Irons? Is it just me, or is Anthony Andrews actually Sebastian Flyte?

Well, apparently not. Here's the new Sebastian. His name is Ben Whishaw.

I don't know about everyone else, but for me this is worse than Keira Knightley playing Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Not that I know anything about this Wishwash guy, he is probably very talented and all that, but he can't be Sebastian. He just can't. I don't even want to think about Matthew Goode as Charles. This just ain't right.

(The still-images are taken from Style Bubble)

Ring ring! + other Sunday stuff

It's such a shame people don't have home phones anymore. Sure, mobile ones are very practical and all that, but when do they ever look this cool?

I found the phone at the flea market today, and in my post-champagne party shakiness I didn't even think twice about buying it just because it just looks so wonderful. What makes the phone super special is the text on it, which means "The State's Railways", the company that my mother worked for in the 1970s.

I also bought these two framed pictures, for 3 euros each. They seem really old to me, and I think the frames are made of some kind of paper mass. The portraits are beautiful too. The green glasses are actually mustard containers. My mom told me that back in the good old days mustard was sold in these types of jars, and afterwards the jars were used as drinking glasses. I got all three for 80 cents.

Next, old Georgian tea containers.

And last but not least, this beautiful chair that me and Minni found abandoned at the junk yard.

The Converse are back!

The weather has been fantastic, and I have had two days off in the middle of the week. It doesn't get much better than that, despite the fact that I have had tons of things to do (cleaning, helping my mom and stepfather move house, getting organised for a champagne party I am hosting tomorrow...). I am wearing my sister's old top, a Lindex cardigan and tights, an H&M skirt and beads, Three Bags purse, and my spring/summer easy-way-out shoes: Converse.

Don't know much about art...

...but I know if I like something or not. Despite the fact that portraits of single (as opposed to a group of) women are supposed to be bad feng shui, I like these:

Portrait of Anna Ostroumova by Constantin Somov, 1910.

Portrait of Anna Akhmatova by Nathan Altman, 1915


Portrait of Ida Rubinstein by Valentin Serov, 1910


Portrait of Varia Chitakova by Yuri Pimenov, 1935


Portrait of Nadejda Jdanovitch by Pavel Fedotov, 1849