Finding Nirvana

Inspiration Monday

This Monday our inspiration from Two Birds is Ashley Tisdale (I have no idea who she is). 

Her jacket has an interesting embroidered detail that I like, I also like her western style boots.

It's kind of strange, but I didn't have a little black dress. Generally, I don't own a big amount of black clothes at all. 

This time I just dressed up in my violet Uniqlo dress and threw on a scarf that I brought in Japan.

So here I look more like a Hollywood diva from the forties, who is hiding from the paparazzi behind dark glasses and a scarf.  

 

Pop Art

In the age of pop art, a dress could just be a dress, and speak for itself without all these layers of identity (C)

White & Burgundy

Winter pastels #3, on a very windy day

Here you can see Winter pastels #1 and Winter pastels #2

Inspiration Monday

Today is Inspiration Monday over at Two Birds and our inspiration is Taylor Momsen. I think this snapshot is about five years old, but it still looks modern and likeable. I love it, especially the gray jacket, and of course the blue ankle booties; they really make the outfit! Also, I think that Taylor Momsen looks unusually sophisticated here, more commonly she can be seen in grunge style.

What about my outfit? It's impossible to be sophisticated, if you like and buy the opposite  type of clothes. As usual, my cardigan and skirt bring me a more artistic and bohemian look.

 

Creature on the shoulders

Inspiration Monday

Two Birds picked Emma Roberts, and her fun, dressy outfit as our inspiration this week. I love the mirror floral print on the dress. I don't have any print quite like Emma's, but I think the print on my dress is also interesting and very cute. And it's a mix shades of two of my favorite colors - purple and gray.

 

Maxi dress

Sweater dress

This is a sweater-dress, the same as the previous one, which is also from Uniqlo. Love this Japanese company, but sometimes they don't design the height for non-asian people. Despite the fact that this dress is a little bit short for my taste, I bought it anyway because I love this color! I used to wear it without any skirt or pants, but now I'm feeling uncomfortable without them, so I'm using this sweater-dress more like a tunic.

Tuesday dress

This is a Uniqlo dress, one of the most frequently worn of my dresses. It`s roomy and comfy. You can also see it under my summer dress if you follow this link.

Striped dress

The Old Navy striped dress is the newest object in my dress collection. I bought it before Christmas.

Did you know that in the13th and14th centuries you would have a big problem if you wore stripes - it was "the devil's cloth". Only heretics, jesters, prostitutes, lepers and the handicapped wore stripes. Praise the Lord. In the last two centuries stripes have taken on positive meanings: freedom, youth, playfulness, and pleasure.

The inspiration for this outfit was from the weekly spotlights theme, "Prints and Patterns" from the Styling in St. Louis blog.
In the beginning I wanted to pair the dress with different brighter patterns, but then I changed my mind. I didn't feel like wearing a noisy and overly colorful outfit. So I played with two colors, white and black, and paired the striped dress with a pied-de-poule scarf that I bought on Canal street in Manhattan.  This cashmere, houndstooth patterned scarf was purchased during a recent trip to NY (I often guess wrong with the weather on trips to New York and I end up being too cold. I usually have to buy a scarf or a hat).

After the snow storm

This is my home dress.  It's a little bit too short to go out in it. Sometimes I use it as a tunic and wear it with pants-you can see it here.  For twenty minutes today I shoveled the sidewalk from the front door to the mailbox.

 I once pinned the infinity scarf on my pinterest, and today I actually wore it as a bolero, as you can see on the left.

Another snowy day

There was a short  period of time in my life that I wore only skirts and dresses, and told all of my friends that I chose this because wearing pants seemed less feminine. How silly I was!

I still love dresses and I wear them much more than many people that I know, but really it's not enough. So this week I am calling for a "winter dresses week." Actually, I started this challenge a little bit early, on Sunday, so I'll show my winter dresses in random order.

Let's start with Monday. This was my dress. I couldn't believe how old this dress was - about twenty years old. I have no idea what was in my mind when I made it; it's not a youthful style. That is probably why I wore it only a few times. Every time that I organized my closet I gave this dress one more chance to be worn -  it's not easy for me to give away stuff that I made myself. So maybe, right now I am old enough for this hairy dress; yep, the  fabric has some fuzziness to it.
Also, it's good to know that my shape has not changed....too much.

Inspiration Monday

Today's Inspiration Monday: Jessica Alba with a very casual outfit. Personally, I wouldn't wear skinny jeans for clothes shopping. It's not comfortable taking them off to try anything on.

Last year my husband and I watched the Super Bowl in Hawaii in one of the sports bars near our hotel. I miss those warm and sunny island days. So for this cold weather Super Bowl party with our friends, I dressed up in a "wahine" ('woman' in Hawaiian) tank and added some hibiscus silver jewelry.


   

Happy Last Day of January!

I’m sure by now everyone is wishing for spring, but we still have one more month of winter, so it's time to be a little foolish around the end of this month.
I don't know if you read, or watched any cartoon or movie, by Danish fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen, but I love one - "The Snow Queen". In this look I felt like one of the characters of the story - I was the Little Robber Girl ("lille Røverpige" in the original) who just grew up. I felt great and full of bright colors on this gray day in January.

  

the original :) 

fuzzy coat + denim

aquarelle

Inspiration Monday

As for our inspiration today - it is Kate Hudson. 

Here she presents a homeless person style.

Oops, I'm telling you, this babushka hat looks as though it was stolen from an old, drunken Russian man...

 or maybe this couple even drank with him - a lot. Just gossip...

I've tried to do my best, but couldn't reproduce this style.

Don't freeze to death

pin it did it

When you are a kid, sometimes you dream of being a princess, like in fairy tales. As you grow older, you realize that you live in a country where their is no royal family, and it's unrealistic to meet a charming prince.

Yep, you cannot to be the princess from your childhood dreams, but you still can be a queen- first of all for yourself. 

It`s easy, just use Elizabeth II's trick and tie your fancy scarf the way that she does.

For my outfit, I just borrow some of her ideas about informal clothes: such as riding boots, riding-breeches, quilted jacket and the scarf, of course.  

Winter Pastels # 2

When I did Winter pastel post last I wished that we had snow on the ground. I longed to know how my light blue coat would reflect on the pristine, white ground.
Today, I got my chance to see.
Yesterday, StyleUp Daily recommended that I try "leather pants, sneakers and a gingham shirt" to see if  this unexpected contrast would make an outfit awesome. At that time we were expecting a storm with totals of 8 to 12 inches of snow, so I wasn't sure I`d be able to wear the sneakers.
Actually, in my area the snow accumulation wasn't too bad, so I recalled another Winter Pastel outfit, and dressed up with my leather coat, sneakers and a gingham shirt.

Inspiration Monday

Today's inspiration from Two Birds is Lea Michele: I wish I had this cool sweater in my closet, but I don`t have anything even close. I must be blind, because I never see the huge chunky and bulky sweaters in the stores. I asked my mom to make me one; I hope she'll finish it by the fall.

French accent

I know it's a myth and stereotype that French people wear beret a lot, it's like thinking that all Americans wear cowboy boots. But the French definitely love black clothes a lot.

Abominable Snowman

Don't wear this Yeti coat in the woods...especially during hunting season. - My husband's joke this morning.