50's WEEKEND CASUAL IN THE SUNSHINE

The knitted sweater is my grandmother's from the fifties, the rest is old, new stuff. Or how would one put it; new-old, old-new. Hmm. Later in the Easter weekend it got so warm one could stay out with short sleeves on. Finally!

I feel there's been an awful lot of pictures of me here on this blog lately. You know sometimes when blogging this 'what-the-hell-am-I-doing-just-posting-pictures-of-myself-here-all-the-time'-feeling comes over you. Another case of the 'blogsistential crisis' perhaps. But I do remember this little poll I had last autumn where it turned out that in the end outfit posts were the most required. Le sigh. And from time to time there has been very little of those too. I blog in cycles I guess.

Umm, well yes, anyway, if you just can't get enough I suggest you like The Freelancer's Fashion Blog on Facebook too. In the beginning I had no exact idea why I started that page, I just thought it'd be smart at some point or something like that. But it perhaps turned out a less official version of the blog, more face to face interaction. (I mean, as face to face as you can go in the virtual world...) It's also been rather useful. And it is quite fun!

Anyway, now's the time to like it if you will - this blog is reaching 2,000 followers trough Blogger soon and the Facebook page is slowly but certainly climbing up to 1,000 likes. I'm putting togheter something nice for all of you when 2000+1000 happens!

(Btw I also think I look like a squirrel in the first picture but I posted it anyway.)

SUNSHINE AND THE SIXTIES

The jacket, bag and gloves are vintage, the dress Trashy Diva. And the shades are oh yes mint green!

A TOUCH OF NEW LOOK OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

Well here's something you haven't heard me say before (ha-ha):
I have a new pair of shoes! Pretty ones!

I love the fact that they make my feet look rather tiny. Not that they are big to start with, but I still kind of like it if they happen to apepar tiny.

I also have a giant rose.


Pretty similar to the black beret-outfit I did some time ago, but by changing the skirt one gets a totally different feel. This is loosely inspired by the New Look. Perhaps what I would have worn if I'd have been me sixty years ago exactly. And lived in, well, Paris perhaps.

I somewhere read someone saying you can't dress 'vintagy' unless you wear actual vintage or in some cases well done repro, but I claim that's not true - it's in the over all style and the details that the look lies; not the actual products. For me at least. Here I'm just wearing plain high street. But of course I'm not trying to be accurate or re-create an exact look; I seldom do, I only dress inspired by what I like.



The blouse is H&M (still haven't removed the zipper...), Skirt Zara, shoes from Next and betl from vivien of Holloway. The giant rose in made by Frollein von Sofa and the little beret is, as most of you know, by Molla Mills.

A SMALL VICTORY

(and two small victory rolls)

Hah! After more than five, yes, five months (Damn you, climate!) I can finally wear heels outside!

A pretty big victory actually.

BABY BLUE, PASTEL YELLOW AND PALE GREEN

(Dungarees from Tara Starlet)

OHOY!

I hve a new sailor top form Tara Starlet.

Sailor stuff always makes me go a little wild. Hey ohoy!

And see, as soon as the sailor hat is gone I'm all nice and calm again.
So I left it at home and put my beret on again for outside (I think I'm going to have to do at tag called 'my beret' soon).

(Had to leave the red shoes at home too and go for my winter boots too as that damn snow still hangs around.)

PARDON MY BLACK & PARDON MY BERET

But yes, ahum, there's been a lot of that lately.

No spring vibes here no!
Welcome to the black-blog where you can get inspiration on how to wear basically the same tuff in similar ways!

No, but seriously, lately I've done a lot of proving ones point regarding black ensembles as the easiest to go for when doing long days and in a hurry -I'm really waiting for some time off... I just always seem to get involved in or take on new projects after one is finished. And most of them are fun or interesting to do. But I should learn to take it easy too!

Here are some of the things I've done and will do lately, packing my bag the night before and leaving home at 05.40 in the morning for work: Thursday - to the studio for the PS show after work and home in the evening. Friday - did a burlesque themed shoot right after work (in the harbour! It got a bit cold after a while :) And this weekend I'll spend 25hours in the harbour as usual (that's the way it goes when on weekend duty, every third week) and on Monday I'll go straight from work to the Casino where we have an evening show. And on Tuesday I need to go to the accountant to get last year's declarations signed and then on to a shoot and then a meeting.

But you know what? I seem to have Wednesday and Friday free (although I'm sure I will come up with something..) so I can actually go to the gym and finally tidy up at home! Droool.

(Oh, I almost forgot as somebody will ask anyway: skirt by Olivia Rouge, shoes Melissa, top from H&M just a few weeks ago so yes they probably still have them :), belt by Vivien of Holloway. The bag & beret are vintage.)

BALLET

Things I did yesterday: booked tattoo time (to May, the boys over at Legacy are popular…), bought a thick interior magazine and enjoyed it alone with sushi, edamame and a beer (sometimes dining seul is just the best thing), went to the ballet with Tinker and Aino, wore black and had before all of this spent a long time wet set waving & drying my hair only to notice the nice waves go rather straight very fast due to the moist air..

Going to the ballet was beautiful - I haven't seen a ballet in years. A long time ago I sang some seasons in the choir at the National Opera for the Nutcracker ballet. We got a personnel discount and I went to see the ballets running at that time. Anyway, tanding on the side of the stage in the choir I was surprised to hear how the weightless appearing dancers actually sound rather heavy when they hit the floor after the jumps and how the male dancers sighed of exhaustion when lifting the ballerinas. And also, how sweaty they got.

This time we went to see Manon. It had some very beautiful scenes and the costumes and setting for some of them were superb, the bordello scene for example. Which I unfortunately don't have any pictures of. But it was a lot of pastel tulle there I tell you.

I suppose one reason for us finally managing to see a ballet was the Black Swan - there has been more talk about ballet lately due to that movie. I've seen the film and wasn't blown away, but started liking it a little more the next day and thought about the film for a while, which I guess is a sign of good cinema in a certain way. What I did like right away however was the set of posters LaBoca made for the film:

(Three of them shown here. I left out the one I didn't like that much. click for a bigger view.)

I like film posters made the old school way, drawn, like Fairey's Walk the Line. I have a look at Polish Posters every now and then. But what annoys me a little bit here (listen to the expert talking here now) is the ballerina in the poster the most to the right... there's something about that silhouette that just bugs my eye but I suppose I can live with that.

Well, back to me. Black always works if having to do stuff during a day that will end up more fancy at, for example, the Opera. Well as you know I think black works pretty much at whatever, whenever. My top is from H&M - I really like the cut - it's rather early fifties. Just as the striped top this one has a big zipper halfway down from the neck that I'm thinking of removing and changing to a button and loop instead. Zippers are apparently trendy now.

(And yes, you saw correctly, trousers!)

RED BLACK AND BLUE

So, now I'm off to TV1's Puoli Seitsemän show for the styling. The planning and my actual part was filmed last week already, I will just go there today to see things from behind the scenes. The show will air at 18:30 and you can watch it afterwards from Areena, but only in Finland I'm afraid. Longer versions of all stylings will be available on Olotila; where also the voting will take place, starting from tomorrow.


My hat is by fabulous Fiona Timantti and the skirt is Vivien of Holloway.

HERE'S WHERE I COME UP WITH A SMART HEADLINE IN FRENCH OR ABOUT SPRING

But not this time.

Winter is not quite over yet, but we're getting there - the days will soon be longer than the nights and the wonderfully bright light tells us that warmer days should be arriving anytime now (and also that I should wash my windows).

A high ponytail and striped shirt is a combination that not only has spring all over it, but also screams Capris! Ballerinas! Bicycling in the sunshine! French 60's pop! The last two I can fix but I do not own any capri pants nor ballerinas. Not sure about flats, but I would like a nice pair of cropped pants, only there are none to be found here and with my amount of derrière it gets a little risky relying on the internet to deliver.

Also, a nice way to pimp a basic striped tee (or just any basic shirt) is to add bait of lace to it, as a collar, or just as part of the blouse. While I let some people in the third world do the work for me on this one it should be pretty easy to do this little kind of revamping oneself.

The blouse is H&M and the bangs are not real, as you know.
EDIT: yes, the blouse is from H&M this season, the ecological cotton line. It however has an annoying zipper in the back but it's easily removed, in my opinion it serves no function (but then if you remove it you need to sew it together or add a little hook).

OVER EXPOSED IN BLUE

I love big puffy skirts and wide hems! And red shoes too; if I may add.

This is what I wore today when filming details for a styling-thing I'm participating in at TV1; my part and outfit will air next week's Thursday (Puoli Seitsemän). But more on that later! Now I'm off to Lahti for a gig, ta-ta!

(The dess is vintage from Love Miss Daisy and the shoes fom Andiamo.)

BETTER IN BLACK

The weeks I do my early work shifts I still go for some version of my black uniform I wrote about several years ago. Quick, easy, rather incognito, but still stylish enough considering I get up a bit after five in the morning (or, rather: at night).

Black is the great disguise, a perfect way to cover tiredness, pluffiness and bad hairdays. Sometimes in more drastic ways, sometimes in more subtle. I know for some this might not work and colours and flair may do the trick instead, but I am better in black and it has to be lots of it. Especially when getting up early in the morning, having loaded a few ships already before the average office worker has had lunch, and, especially, like here, when having to go some place and be representable in the evening.

(Cat pics added for bonus comments.)


As you know from before my basic trick is to cover my hair with my beret, and make a few big rolls in front. Basically if your hair is not too messy or dirty you could skip the beret and just do a plain chingnon in the back of your hair as the curls in front will look nice enough.

For my hair in this one I rolled four curls, all in the same direction, and secured them with one pin in the middle.

Some highlighter, a good f foundation and lipstick does the trick on my weary face, but I think the most important is to do my eyebrows - I never leave the house without a few quick lines and a brush trough on them.

For my black look I also, always, do a strong eyeliner. Another easy face-saver is to cut a piece of old false eyelashes, about 1-1,5 cm in length and glue it in the outer corner of your eye. The small pieces are really simple and quick to apply, idiot safe to so say, and gives your eyes a totally different look - perfect cat eyes!

You may have noticed, at least I have, that most of my hint and tutorials always contains the words "easy" and "quick" - I like to be fancy, you know that, but I like to get away with as little effort as possible, unless the occasion is very special, then it doesn't matter. But my poiint is that you don't have to have all the time and skill in the world for a nice look!

The dress is an old knitted one from H&M. You've seen it in drawn sometimes in the very beginning of this blog.

Edit : OK; I have to add as you all seem to read the post this way - I do not look like this at five in the morning, of course not! I put on my black stuff yes - the "uniform" I refer and link to or a black dress- but come on, I work in the harbour, outside, no false lash bits or hair rolls... This is after work, when tired and having to go somewhere! But maybe one is not very good at expressing oneself late in the evening when having woken up some 18 hours earlier :)

WEDNESDAY CASUAL AND MID WEEK BLUR

Or, casual and casual, depends on how you see it.

The shirt is Vivien of Holloway and the skirt made for me by Olivia Rouge.

A FINAL TOUCH

Been trying to bring on the warmth -I listen to Hawaiian guitars and we went out for (a lot of) tiki cocktails, but it didn't help - it's just getting colder and colder here! (But it was a good excuse to have lots of tropical drinks.)

Dress - 1950's vintage from Love Miss Daisy

I'VE GOT STRIPES, STRIPES AROUND MY SHOULDERS. AGAIN.

I'm having a stripe-thing going on! I just can't get enough of stripes and I'm waiting to be able to wear striped tops with shorts, wicker bags and cropped jackets and bike around in the sunshine. Oh yes.

And, about the stuff; the following things in the picture are vintage: bag, chairs, table, lamp, beret

...and the following are not: top & cardigan (H&M), fridge (Smeg), shoes (last year's DinSko), skirt (Vivien of Holloway).

OUT AND ABOUT

Well hello, here I am; on my way to do a burlesque workshop at a bachelorette party, then go to our burlesque rehearsal and hopefully out to have dinner with an old friend afterwards.

Now you may wonder: how is that possible? To go out like that. It is minus 15C and the streets are made of ice.
Well, here's how:
You remember the anatomy of dressing when really really cold?
It's not as cold now, but close, so this is one version of it:
First, I am actually wearing two pairs of stockings; thick white cotton ones and a pair of regular, semi thin nude ones on that. As I will be indoors later on I bring my shoes along and wear my winter boots outside; one'd be crazy to go out in shoes like this with half a meter of snow on the ground. I wear a pair of black wool leg warmers or knee high socks for outside too. Then a long sleeved bolero and a thick and long -also old and a bit ugly, but warm- cardigan on top. (Don't worry, nobody gets to see the cardigan, it goes off with the jacket.) With that, my jacket, a scarf, something on the head and hands (quite a lot already, I know, but that's life over here) I'll be just fine.
Ta-ta!

(The pinafore skirt is Vivien of Holloway, T-shirt one of Eddie's, mini beret by Molla Mills, vanity case bag via ebay and shoes from Very.)

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER

...but she does wear terribly sinful red shoes.

The skirt is vintage, blouse Zara, vest old H&M and the shoes are Melissa's Temptations.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Merry Christmas!

(This year you'll have to do without any of my corny or classic Christmas cards, I'll just show you the results of the dress instead, which turned out ok.)

((Everything is vintage; the late 50's sling bakcs were a Christmas gift form K a couple of years ago, the necklace old Dior and the revamped dress from Berlin.))