Flirty Filosopher

Happy Valentine's Day! (a bit belated one :)

When it comes to celebration, I am in! When it comes to celebrations of love, I am in all the ways! All sorts of love deserve to be celebrated - romantic love is just one form of it (feels wonderful though), and what about love to your kids, parents, siblings, friends? And how about love to the place you live in, to the ocean, to the mountains? And don't forget about love to your pets! And all your little beloved цацки? (Collectors will understand!) Love of writing? Love of being free? Love of life, for pity's sake!

There are conversations of maximalism vs. minimalism I've read in the last few days (I loved the article "On Maximalism" and the interesting discussion at Buttercup's Frocks here and the "More Is More" post by Vintage Vixen here). Here are my two kopecks. I am not against minimalism as a form of aesthetics - but that is all it is to me, just one form of aesthetics. Please, no guilt, shame and life changing revelation. Anything can be life changing, indeed - literally anything. Try immigration to a new continent, for instance. Learn to live (and write!) in a totally new language environment. Create a business from scratch, with no capital or connections. It will change your life, I bet. Art (and fashion and style are forms of art) is for play. It supposed to be fun and it supposed to be genuine. Many fashionistas sort of forget about it, become too thinky. Whenever you try to copy someone else's approach, whenever it is not coming from within you, it becomes a product, not art. 

I feel like "less clutter" from time to time - simpler shapes, neutral palette, less details. Though it doesn't last long enough with me - I do not live minimalism. But I get it when other people do - we all are different. I am more of an expressionist myself. I also get it when people become minimalistic when they are forced to live in certain conditions for a while. I grew up in a poor country. It isn't rich now, but the gap between the poor and the rich is getting bigger every day. Back in 1970-80s, we were all pretty much the same, with rare exceptions (which, living in a small town in the center of the huge country, were not even so visible to me). It started changing in 1990s and continues to change. But back in those days we were all pretty equally poor. Besides,  our government owned stores were mostly empty or contained something completely uninspiring. If it was clothing, paints or fabric, then lots of gray or some very weird, very blah shades of green, blue, etc. This is how I grew up, and so I understand what it means to have one pair of boots for winter, and not what you really love - what you were able to get (and not for just one winter too - for years!), one blazer, one pencil skirt, one necklace. And all of it has to go with the rest of your wardrobe - so it is mostly very basic stuff in very basic colors. There are always exceptions, of course. If you learn sewing and knitting (which many of us did at a pretty early age), then you create something when you get a piece of fabric or a bunch of yarn. And that is minimalism, my friends. Not aesthetics minimalism, but a way of living. It doesn't mean that we were miserable though - we had fun with what we had. And restrictions can definitely force you to get more creative. But there are plenty of other ways to explore creativity, and restrictions also make you suffer. I do not want to be a minimalist by choice, and even though I understand the aesthetics, I have to say it isn't warming to my heart. I love stuff! My home is full of stuff - just because we all love it! 

Here is another thing. I love colors too. We went to an Eric Carle exhibit last summer. It was partly about his amazing children's books illustrations (he published over 70 books) and partly about what he calls "art art" - his own art inspirations which he does just for himself. Do you understand the difference? Not for the public, not for the publishers, not for anyone - just all for himself. We, creative people, absolutely must do it. Think about style blogging. There are so many ways to do your blog - almost endless ways. And while for some bloggers it is a way to earn cash, for others it is just the simple joy of being creative and being totally FREE, and for still others it can be all things in between. But I think those of us who blog mostly for themselves, do our own little version of "art art". It doesn't have to be perfect, professional, profound or anything like that. It just has to be genuine - come from inside of us. That's all. And we all need it. People often call this way "my creative outlet". If someone else likes it - fine, but most important that you do it because you like it. 

Back to my little Eric Carle story, there was a video of his interview where he told us about his childhood (he grew up in Germany), his study and his teachers, parents, first job etc. At some point in the film he talks about his love of colors, mentioning that, as a human being, we are incapable of seeing more colors than our eyes can detect. Think of that. This talented and successful artist in his 80s admits to us his desire to be able to see EVEN MORE COLORS than his eyes are capable of seeing today ... and his inability to see more colors makes him genuinely sad. I would probably never even think of this as an idea, but I do get what he means. Oh you should have seen his eyes in that moment! He was pure as a child.

I guess all it comes down to this ... do what truly makes you happy, what resonates with you on the deepest level. We all experience it at some time. This true joy we feel when we can't help but smile to ourselves. If minimalism makes you feel that - by all means, live minimalism! If colors, colors and even more colors make you feel that - then live colors! And why limit yourself to only one form of aesthetics, anyway? One day, you may feel like minimalism - so do it. Another day, the colors of the rainbow may be on your mind and you may want a gazillion bracelets on your hands - then do just that! Why try to fit yourself in boxes when you can live your life box-free?

I wasn't philosophical on Valentine's Day though. I just wanted to spend a day with my most beloved ones, and even though I had my period of rejecting calendar holidays, I do not feel that way any longer. So I put my flirty skirt on (I wore it here as well) and played with some bright colors and jewelry. I am not big on pink so far, although I feel like it can be the beginning of a new love - I wear (and love) magenta! So I added a favorite bright sweater, something warm and spicy, and a bunch of colorful necklaces just to be playful, and I was ready to celebrate love... in all of its forms! Maybe not your typical Valentine's Day outfit - but I like it!

After being turned away by a couple of big fancy restaurants (it was late lunch time), which surprised us a lot, to say the least, we ended up in a lovely little Italian place in an older building, located in a charming part of town, and the whole experience was amazing. We had a family Valentine's Day (you may spot my kid's shoulder next to me on the photo above :) - tasty lunch, a little house wine and lots of delicious left overs. I had one of best cioppino I've ever tasted!

Later that night, I changed my shoes to a fun pair of boots with a very vintage feel to them - they compliment the flirty and feminine skirt so well! I will have to take a better photo of these outfit some time though as it was getting too dark for decent pictures. So far, you can take a better look of the boots here.

Skirt - Christopher and Banks. Sweater, blazer, earrings and one of necklaces - Lane Bryant (another, wooden necklace - antique mall find for $3). Flats - Born. Boots - German brand of comfy shoes Josef Seibel. Purse - B Makowsky. Tights - Hue. Ring - boutique find ($5 and I love it!).

Only one thing is missing in my outfit... I so felt like a flower in my hair! Sadly, I don't have any. Luckily, I can keep my eyes open for such things from now on! ;)

Here is to love!