YESTERDAY'S DRAWN

Here's what I wore yesterday.

This dress, these shoes, this jacket and that same old beret (and these gloves and bag). Yup, now you know that.

THE ANATOMY OF DRESSING WHEN IT'S REALLY REALLY COLD

It has happened. Real winter. It's really cold here. Minus a lot. Like it should be this time of year.
Only it hasn't been like that for years. But so far so good, we still haven't reached the part when it actually hurts to breathe. (But after a few hours work outside by the sea it hurts by now already I tell you, but I've done worse during past years. Not complaining though. Now that we're getting a white christmas and all).

I'm watching teenage girls and selfaware chicks freeze their behinds off in short jackets and skinny jeans. The sadistic asshole part of me secretly laughs at their vanity (or stupidity, however you want it) and makes me feel so relieved that I don't give a damn anymore in that sense - my first priority is to stay warm. (I saw a girl last weekend, visiting a Christmas outdoor fare, wearing satin peeptoes in the snowstorm. Not even I would go that far even though I may push it with wearing open heels as long as possible). I go for what Underbara Clara calls "The Finnish Winter War Chic". Something that she of course says with a pinch of salt and a whole lot of humor, referring to how Finland pre- WWII resisted the Soviet army with the help of an extremely hard and cold winter. And well with a whole lot o f military strategy too. (Those who know their history might find that slightly ironic since those who have tried to invade Russia or The Soviet failed, conquered by the cold. But this time it was the other way around. Sort of.)

But OK enough on war strategy now, the thing I'm after here is the dressing warm to survive the cold, making it nice with layers of knitted socks and sweaters, scarfs and thick jackets. And keeping warm is of course a strategy of it's own.

So here whe go:
The Anatomy of Dressing Warm When Really Really Cold Outside (& still trying to look good).

Fig.1The thing with layering, not the layering thrifty fashionistas do when they pair dresses tops and cadris, but the one that will keep you from freezing, is to have a lot of them - the layers- keeping tight but not being stuffed or unable to move. That will make you colder actually. You might want to add another pair of socks or leg warmers, and perhaps a long sleeved blouse under that cardi too, depends. (Oh damn it takes so long to get dressed in the morning!)


Fig.2But we're quite not done yet:

Fig.3They say the cold will last for two months still. If that's the case this is what I'll look like everyday for two months then. Versatility, yey!
...Unless I get myself a new winter jacket... (hehe).

QUEEN OF HEARTS

I want lots of clothes with Queens of Hearts on them in prints and patterns! Why aren't there any?




I will most likely get myself something with the The Queen of Hearts in it during spring anyway but not as printed on fabric though..

WELL BOYS AND GIRLS, IT'S MERRY CHRISTMAS THEN!

I hope you all have a great Holiday, either way you may spend it!


Last year I cosed up the old flat with a lot of lights in time for the season, this year just the star will have to do since I'm living in a much smaller place now. But it's real cosy this year too - we even got some snow here in time for Christmas Eve! And I got anchor shaped gingerbreas from K.
Christmas ahoy!

If you read my blog last year already you may recall I'm a friend of rather tacky Christmas Cards, the kitchier the better. Last year I photoshopped my cats into packages filled with candy and glitter. This year I've made one for the blog (oh my), which means, you!

You can also cut out the heart and hang it me and my cats your christmas tree (no seriously, don't!! :)

WANTED: LEOPARD GLOVES

Sometimes loosing the most material and otherwise non important things can still make you very sad or deeply frustrated - I had these really nice wool leopard printed gloves with a perfect lenght and a perfect slim fit that I stumbled upon in H&M a couple of years ago. I quite recently lost one of them and now I've been searching everywhere in stores here to find a similar pair but without result. I can't seem to find any proper ones on the internet either; they are either too fancy (like velvet or so, ment for evening wear) or then too ugly or cheap looking (like made of fleece or so) fleece. *sniff sniff*

Anyone got any hints?

(the picture is old. It was in the blog once earlier in a post that had nothing to do with gloves. Just in case anyone thought it looked familiar :)

HIDING IN BLACK

I don’t like leaving home - and seldom do - without being properly dressed and with my hair fixed. But sometimes when I’m really busy; have a lot of freelances jobs to work with and in the same time need to take care of errands around town, or if I have to go to work at strange hours I need to prioritize the comfort in my way of dressing. Even though I might feel like it, I still don’t want to go out looking like I’m about to fetch a pizza on a hangover Sunday afternoon in my pyjamas adn a hoodie. Instead I go for a rather classy and incognito look, which makes me feel a little bit like being in disguise or like I’ve managed to fool the rest of the world that I look good :)

What works for me are the following : I wear all black soft clothes, I put something on my head, I add som detail.

The past week I’ve been living in my black “uniform” ; wearing a pair of comfy velour leisure pants that look like a nice pair of black trousers (which I still don’t own btw) if and only when combined with my black sailor style jacket. I hide my messy hair with my beret or with a black scarf and do a quick make up - a more strong than pretty look; just two sleek and thick strokes of black eyeliner. (I’ve been doing those since I was fourteen so I can get them perfect in five seconds) And then I match the red stripe of my vintage sneakers (yes you read it right; sneakers!) with my mittens and give the whole thing a sailor-ish touch with my anchor bag (which fits things like my calendar, a lot of papers and so on).

In the end it’s actually the jacket that makes the whole thing work so I avoid having to take it of. Illusion ruined, I’m in my leisure wear underneath.

CONE-CATS AND TIGERS

I was supposed to stay in every night and work but instead I went out with X (formerly knowns as J :) to Tavastia to listen to Teddy and the Tigers and Sixgun Republic.

My home is now a kitty-hospital; Pekka-cat is back and getting better. But he wets the bed (=my bed), has to be fed by spoon and wears a cone (so he won't lick his opium bandaid). Therefore Lulu also has to wear a cone (so she won't lick the opium bandaid).
The cone-cats do not like teir current state but things should change for hte better soon.

POSING WITH PEACOCKS

I know there is a risk of me sounding like a new age hippie, but really, every now and then it strikes me how amazing the design of nature is. Just think about it - the ornaments on butterflies wings, the construction of a flower or a seashell, the patterns you see in a leaf if you keep it up towards the light, a peacocks feathers... I bumped in to some peacocks lately and was reminded again that they are some pretty fine looking birds.

(the images above are just googled up, they're not mine)

I've always been fascinated by peacock feathers, and so have also many others - the peacock pattern have been used to decorate buildings, fabrics, jewellery and many more objects for thousands of years. Not to mention skin. I've thought about a peacock tattoo from time to time, on the back perhaps. Who knows, I might still end up with one one day.

While clothing with peacock patterns can look delicious and great, I feel that on me they could be a little bit too much of that "too much" I normally say can be just right.(It's the Christmas tree effect you know, when you're not sure where the dress ends and the tattoos begin...). I'd still love to have some clothes with just small details inspired by the feathers - on a skirt, the back of a dress, somewhere on a shoe, around the collar...





Look! Me on a wlak with the birds.
Ah Helsinki- it's like paradise on earth, were the peacocks just wander around.
(The top is from Carlings, cardigan from Gina Tricot, bag and shoes H&M and skirt selfmade. Not so interesting stuff perhaps, but I kind of match the peacocks a little bit :)


Mr.Peacock.(This one followed me around all day.)

Ok, peacocks do not really walk around everywhere in Helsinki, if you actually believed so. Helsinki is not really that much of paradise on earth either, in case you fell for that too.
:)