Outfits and Buildings Telling Stories

It takes time to build a unique collection, and that goes for creating a unique wardrobe as well. Some of you might remember the story of this tapestry coat (OCTOBER 2017), how doubtful I was, keeping the coat in my shopping cart while browsing Goodwill, then leaving it behind, driving back home only to return to the store to rescue this jacket the very next day. I don't know whether it is vintage or not (the label doesn't suggest vintage), but it is well made and I have no regrets purchasing it, even though I did not really need another jacket. But that's the beauty of being a collector - you certainly don't need to add to your collection, but if a new find brings you joy, then that's the right thing to do! And so this jacket joined my general collection of jackets and coats, and is now also a part of my particular collection of tapestry jackets and coats (see my other tapestry coats in APRIL 2017 and MARCH 2019). Unlike many modern pieces which only imitate tapestry (while being prints), all of these pieces are actually made of woven fabric.

From January to March

Hello friends,

This is a catching up post before we get to Spring at full swing here In The Writer's Closet. I gathered a few outfit photos which were taken any time from January through February and most recently March outfits...and of course, some of the life events which went with them.

The Cutest Couple on the Town

 

As you can tell, my new wool berets quickly became my favorite headwear (I soon will show you the other color that I got... can you guess what it is?). Another strong favorite of this Fall is this rust plaid dress by eShakti, made of cozy brushed cotton and fully lined (the style and fabric is similar to the skirts you've seen before, last time in my posts about Portland back in April 2018 HERE and HERE). I wore this dress sleeveless when the weather was warmer earlier this season, but now it is wet, blustery and penetrating - just perfect for layering with turtlenecks! (I guess it is time to refresh my stock with other pretty colors too.)

Modish Matrons #30: Iceland

If you ask me why Iceland even came to my mind when I put together the list of themes for the 2018 Modish Matrons back in December 2017, I couldn't explain - it just did. I have never been to Iceland and I didn't know the first thing about it. Obviously, I had to visit and learn. Or at very least commission sending a photographer to this intriguing far away place. The things we do for blogging, right? 

Dress Up, Dress Down

There is absolutely nothing wrong with either approach to dressing, and I use both, though I mostly show dressed-up versions of my outfits on the blog. In this post, I will share two outfits, very different in style and feel - in some ways, they really couldn't be more different, but I created both and I enjoyed them both equally. I just try to listen to that little bell that goes RING - when something from my wardrobe clicks with my current mood or energy level, and considering the weather and the situation I'm about to enter, I think it's pretty much all I have to know regarding what outfit to pick. It usually takes no more than a few minutes - and I am out the door!

Love Can Still Win

City, just as nature, is full of surprises. Take this little hand painted message which Justin spotted on a bush with bright red berries during our photo session. "Love can still win." Who wrote it? Who was the addressee? Was it a personal message or a social statement? I don't know the answers to these questions, but just like the artist who put thought and effort into this, I too want to believe that Love can still win, if we let it, no matter the situation.

Potpourri

 

A Merriem-Webster dictionary online defines the French word potpourri (literally: "rotten pot", a name for a meat stew popular in 17th century) as "a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices that is usually kept in a jar and used for scent" or as "a miscellaneous collection". In the last September post, I decided to bring you a potpourri of my outfits, suitable for a transitional season. I wore these ensembles either in Spring of this year or in Fall a couple of years back, and even prepared photos for publication, but for whatever reason changed my mind and did not post them before, with one exception, when I posted and then changed my mind and deleted that post (yes, my mood can be that changeable - women, eh?). In this mix, I threw together a bunch of colors, shapes and styles; some leaves, petals, and even some bark; and a few classical paintings to make my potpourri more interesting and palatable. Have I stirred up your curiosity? No more introductions then - dive into my recipe!

Magic Formula

When I look at these pictures, all I see is 100% genuine me. I am not experimenting with new styles, not stretching myself outside of my so-called comfort zone, not channeling anyone, not imitating someone else's style, not feeling inspired by a certain thing or event or a person, and definitely not copying anybody else. This is authentic Natasha. I have worn similar feel outfits (at least, they feel similar to me) since I was very young.  But only now, having observed and absorbed so much in the world of style, I can do things I couldn't do before. It is a more refined genuine version of me, who matured and got seasoned a little, that's probably the best way to put it.

Barefoot from 90 to 60

Have you put away those jackets and cardigans yet? Well, if you live in the PNW, hopefully, you put them not too far away. After a few hot days, the temperature dropped significantly, which suggests outfit adjustments. In this post, I'll show not one, but two outfits from this week - I wore both of them while hanging out in my neighborhood.

My Birthday Suit

I know what you think! Uh-uh, no such luck today, guys! That was the 1973 birthday suit! This is the 2016 one!

Slices of Local History: West Hylebos Wetlands

End of March brought us a treasured gift of sunny and summer-like warm days with temperatures around 70 F. When sun arrives, the whole Puget Sound drops everything they were doing and goes outside to play. And so did we. We took so many walks, that now our legs hurt. I have many pictures to share of places and outfits, and I've decided to start with the most recent ones - our today's trip to the West Hylebos Wetlands Park which is located  in Federal Way, a city between Tacoma and Seattle, and features one of the last remaining peat bogs in the Puget Sound area which volunteers lovingly restore since 1983. There is a blog dedicated to West Hylebos (last updated in May 2015), Blog from the Bog, and an Earth Corps' page dedicated to this park as well - http://www.earthcorps.org/hylebos.php. If you are local and haven't been to this marvel of a nature, please do so soon, I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised.

The Talking Dress

It was a beautiful Summer evening. He came back from work at the usual time.

"Are you hungry?" said she. 

"I am," said he.

"How about I warm up dinner for you, and then we go for a nice stroll?" said she.

They loved going for a walk along the shores of the Sound, overlooking the hill where they lived.

"OK. Let's go for a walk first then," said he.

She went to their bedroom to change, as he waited for her in the living room.

"Are you ready for a walk?" said she as she came out.

"Would you like to take me out to dinner?" said the dress.

"WOW! Yes, yes, I would love to take you out to dinner!" said he.

"Let's go for a walk then?" said she.

"Yes, yes! I just must take you out to dinner!" said he.

The dress talked for her, and she let it.

:)

~The End~

Gray & Orange

Another outfit from early March (March 10th) which did not make an appearance in the blog yet. 

I love the way the shades of red and orange play with each other here. They don't seem to interrupt each other, don't seem to dissonate. I'm often amazed how versatile orange is. 

Jewel within a Jewel

This is how this outfit struck me when I looked at the photos - a bluish grayish jewel within an orange jewel... 

I started missing my lighter weight clothes (or Summer clothes if you will). Even though it was 50 F and sunny today, it felt penetrating, too early for light dresses yet. And then, of course, without a doubt, there will be soon plenty of opportunities for wearing my beloved dresses and sandals, and in Summer, I usually miss my warmer clothes. It's a circle. So I thought I'd honor the weather, and the Winter which is slowly becoming Spring... but while it is still Winter, I will honor it by wearing something cozy, but mixed with something lighter too. And that's how this sleeveless dress by Chico's became my choice.

Most Beautiful Month

My dear friends, thank you so much for your wonderful, generous comments to my last post. I'm overwhelmed. I never think of myself as being "always gorgeous", not even a slight bit. Maybe I should show up in PJs or my fuzzy robe (love, love, love) more often. OK, maybe not. Thank you, guys! I am very touched by your kind words, you are amazing!

All right, on to today's look and some other stuff. Today was black, gray and white - the colors of the landscape in many places this time of year.

Warning: Many photos in this post.

Moments of Late Fall 2014 & Winter Solstice

Upper: 1. Family Day in Seattle. 2. Love and Airplanes. 3. Adventures in Music.

Middle: 1. If You Let It (also see Versatile). 2. Rare Guests. 3. Brr.

Lower: 1. Of Kangaroos... 2. Theater Twists. 3. Retro in Tacoma.

I like to look back and see the mosaic I created with my days and in this case with my outfits in a certain period of time. I started this series as a once a month post, but lately do it in bigger chunks of time, say twice a season. So here I gathered a few outfits from early November till late December, right up to Winter Solstice which took place this past Sunday, December 21 this year. Here in America people consider this day the beginning of Winter. Back in Russia, we would always celebrate the beginning of a new season on the first of the month - March 1 for Spring, June 1 for Summer, September 1 for Fall and December 1 for Winter. There really is no right or wrong way to do it. What do you consider the beginning of a new season, personally and culturally? Do share!

Adventures in Music and Deserted City

“Beethoven tells you what it's like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it's like to be human.

 Bach tells you what it's like to be the universe.”

― Douglas Adams

"Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art."

- Claude Debussy

"I'm an adventurer. I like invention, I like discovery."

- Karlheinz Stockhausen

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, 

if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

On October 25, Justin and I visited the Tacoma Symphony. It was a new season grand opening, and it was the first season with a new music director, Sara Ioannides. I wrote about the concert we listened to a year ago when the orchestra was still in the process of interviewing candidates for the music director position HERE in English and HERE, in more details, in Russian. You can also see more of Justin's photographs of the historic Pantages Theater in Tacoma which is considered to be the most beautiful of all Pantages theaters and the oldest one still in operation, and is a part of the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, the largest one between Seattle and Portland, Oregon.

Steampunk... ish

I'm not planning to attend a Halloween party this year, but if I were, I'd come up with a steampunk-ish costume. I can't say I'm a fan, but I find the visual elements of the subculture very interesting and inspiring. What's not to love? The subtle muted color palette, the layering, the textures, both the historical and fantasy influences, the whimsical detailed accessories stimulate imagination and make me want to incorporate at least some of these elements into my everyday style. I first heard of steampunk subculture only a few months back when a friend told Justin and I about a festival in Port Townsend which we consider visiting next year. 

Sequins and Art of Staying Home. In Two Parts

So what do you guys do when you stay at home with the  flu? 

I think I've watched all the shows, read all the blogs, and cooked all the dishes I could think of. That's pretty much all I can manage now. We are not feverish any more and getting better, but I think Anna will stay at home one more day tomorrow, and I will go completely crackers from cabin fever and exercising Mother Theresa's talent (I have only a veeeery tiny bit of that one!). So I decided to play dress up and blog about it. Anna was my photographer. (She later also played dress-up, but - for the record - refused to be photographed.)

Tights as Inspiration

Do you change outfits a few times a day, not for any practical reason, but just 'cause it's fun? I know that since I started blogging, I do. I also very rarely repeat the same outfit again. It's more interesting to find new ways of mixing for me these days. So, this particular outfit actually started as adding these fun floral tights to another outfit I wore earlier in the day. When I put them on, I realized that shoes were wrong, so I changed shoes. Still did not work, so I realized I need to change the whole outfit just because of the tights. Easiest thing to do would be, of course, just add another pair of tights, which would go well with the previous outfit. But this pair was so much fun to look at! I don't remember when I had floral tights last time... when I was 17, perhaps?