Transition Made Easy: 7 Outfits for 7th Blogiversary

SEPTEMBER 2013

It's hard to believe at times that I've been writing this blog for almost exactly 7 years (the actual anniversary is in early September). When I look back to these 7 years, I remember them with a fond heart, and I feel a little sad that I don't seem to find time for blogging these days. I certainly didn't loose interest in dressing up, and hopefully I'll continue taking pictures of my future outfits and posting them on a regular basis some day. But before I can do that, I'm in a transitional period - I'm not where I used to be any more, and not where I want to arrive yet. Which is an interesting place to be! Today, in honor of my upcoming 7 year Blogiversary, I went through my blog to find some of my favorite transitional outfits which I'm happy to share with you just as a reminder to myself and my readers that transitions don't have to be hard or boring. Let's see how we can play with them!

April Showers, Fridays for Future and My Contribution to the World

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments on my previous posts!!! They brought so much joy to my heart, and I mean it. I do miss interacting with you guys, and I feel like I am very much behind each of your real life series. I lurked at your blogs a few times in the past few months and have every intention to catch up some day, though it is still challenging at this point. I thought that my workload would be lighter in April, but boy I was wrong! After finishing with one gig, I continued keeping myself busy with new ones, and after family time, trying to keep the house in at least a tiny bit reasonable state of chaos, and time to rest and recharge, there is very little time for blogging and fashion. But it isn't a bad thing, and even rare style and blog encounters can still provide fun as well as a break from other activities and responsibilities.

Modish Matrons #31: Black and White

 

Just as billions of others, I wanted to start the new year with a bang! In real life, I usually celebrate at home with my family or, as it is this year, one-on-one with Justin, my one true love (our daughter spends New Year's Eve with her closest friends, for the first time). And I usually wear something nice and comfortable. But here on the blog, I celebrate New Year partying with my dear blogging friends TINA und BEATE, wearing something extra fancy - because really, when else to wear this outfit if not for the New Year's party?

6 Romantic Outfit Ideas

While I am still on the mend and have no new outfits to share, I thought I'd look into In The Writer's Closet for romantic date outfit ideas - surely, in almost 4.5 years of blogging I came up with some! They are not necessarily traditional in a Valentine's Day sense, but the beauty of getting to know myself during the years experimenting with my personal style is that I can wear what I feel like, depending on my mood and nothing else. If my mood flows towards the traditionally romantic colors and shapes, I go with it, and if it doesn't, then I don't - as simple as that. So in this post I invite you to see my picks and maybe look into your closet in a new light and discover what kind of unexpected romantic outfits you can create with your clothes. When we don't have any preconceived notion in our heads, we realize that our sense of what is romantic can be quite broad, and it changes from day to day. If we follow our current mood and trust that inner sense of what feels romantic right now, we can come up with fresh outfits and surprise both our romantic partner and also ourselves. 

Modish Matrons #17: Art Deco

I am so happy to welcome friends to the new Modish Matrons party!

In November, the theme is inspired by my writer's imagination...and my writer's closet. I've chosen Art Deco, one of the most fascinating styles of visual arts that became truly international and dominated the world of art, design, fashion, jewelry, cars, trains, ocean liners, and of course architecture - for decades between the two world wars. I simply could not resist picking this theme for our Modish Matrons improvisations! I hope you are as eager as I am to read my beautiful co-hosts BEATE's and TINA's posts and see their visual/wearable interpretations of the theme.

Modish Matrons #15: Inspired by Nature

Hello, dear friends, and welcome to the 15th issue of MODISH MATRONS!

This month, Tina is leading the way with the theme she offers - Inspired by Nature! And what can be better, especially when I am such a huge fan of green? And, as you will soon discover, I am not the only one. Do visit my adorable friends TINA und BEATE to see all the masterful details of their, naturally, GREEN outfits!

Modish Matrons #14: Sealife

Hello and welcome to the 14th installation of Modish Matrons, a creative link-up that my beautiful, charming and talented friends BEATE and TINA, as well as myself offer on the 1st day of every month. Join us with your interpretation of the theme or come as you are, we stay open for the whole month.

Where Transformation Happens and What I Wore

Last Saturday, Tacoma Little Theatre (I wrote about it a few times before, e.g., HERE about its almost 100 year history) presented a one evening benefit reading of LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE by Nora and Delia Ephron based on the bestselling book by Ilene Beckerman. Directed by Suzy Willhoft, one of my favorite local directors, it was a wonderful evening of both laughs and tears, and on too many occasions I felt like I was having a conversation with my dearest blogging friends. It was a series of monologues and dialogues about clothes, style, relationships with our mothers and sisters, and about life. That feeling that we have nothing to wear, or how we can never can find anything in our closet, or how when we finally put an outfit on, we are now too sweaty, and how impossible a simple act of going to the bathroom becomes when we wear a jumpsuit, and finally THE question - when and why black became our favorite color... these and many more things that Justin said he hears from me on a regular basis. What can I say? I wish you were there! And maybe we all need to check out that book!

Only Jumpsuits

It's been a busy week and busy weekend with Mother's Day celebration, going to some of my favorite places. Our weather still cannot quite decide whether it should finally become warm and sunny or stay cold and rainy for just a little longer, which makes it tricky to choose what to wear. So in the end I took it easy and wore jumpsuits. One is old and has appeared on the blog numerous times, but this time in a new combination (photo in a garden), and the other one was purchased earlier in Spring and waited for just the right occasion. That occasion happened to be the season finale at Symphony Tacoma, with the world premier piece Fire Mountain by Daniel Ott. If you are interested in learning a little about this unique event, HERE is a review by John Falskow which I find quite profound. 

New Friends for Old Friends

This bold jumpsuit is a good old friend, one of my favorite pieces, and I showed it twice on the blog (HERE and HERE). I tried to pair it with my long ivory vest (THIS ONE), but it didn't look quite right - you see, due to the uniquely cut sleeves it's not easy to find the right jacket to wear with it. It's a picky number, it likes to be a star and shine alone. Coupled with most partners it just looks random and goofy ... or plain ordinary. But if you find the right pair, then they both will shine, and so will their union - the whole ensemble will sing even more beautifully. It is true not only about this jumpsuit, of course! With other clothes too. And even with people! 

Yves Saint Laurent: Love Me Forever

 “Without an elegance of the heart, there is no elegance.”

~ Yves Saint Laurent 

During our winter break in December, I claimed one of my Christmas presents, a trip/event of my choice, and chose to spend a day in Seattle and visit an exhibit that intrigued me ever since I first heard about it - Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style at SAM. I did not know much about this world famous designer, so I spent some time reading about his life, but the impressions about him as a person and artist, really came to life after visiting the museum. I have to say it was one of best museum exhibitions I've seen - very detailed, educational and simply enchanting. I selected 17 photos from well over a hundred that Justin took at the museum, feeling inspired by the exhibit as well. If you'd like to see more photos, I created a video (photo album) on YouTube, which you can find at the end of my post, where I also posted a few of my outfit pictures. I hope you enjoy!

Dear December

Hello December, 

You greet me with raindrops falling from your heavy gray sky. With cold outbursts of wind that feel prickly against my cheeks and mess up my hair. With your short, barely noticeable by a night owl light spans. With long dark evenings that remind me why since the beginning of time, people celebrate light in this darkest of all months.

Five Outfits

This past October was record high on rain here - 12 inches vs. average 2 inches of rain. November is leaning the same direction so far. To take a break from the gray and wet weather and shake things up a bit, I thought I'd look at photos from 2016 which haven't been published yet. Even though these outfits are less elaborate compared to some, they were still fun to wear - "stylish, but not too stylish", as they say in my favorite British sitcom As Time Goes By. But my outfits don't exit just by themselves. If I wore an outfit, it means I went places and did stuff. So let's see what I've been up to in these few months.

Playful in a Park

 

Parks are for playing! Whether you play sports, enjoy time with your family and friends, or go for a walk, it's all about joy. We've been experiencing rainy weather here for the past few days, but there was some glorious sunshine too, and we took advantage of a sunny day to play in a local park and enjoy Autumn leafage this past Sunday.

A Focused Bohemian

For many years, I have had a soft spot for all sorts of jackets, blazers and coats. My latest coats-infused madness aside (there will be time for spilling the beans in the Fall), I think I still can share some great jackets like this one, even in the heat of the Summer.

Ode to Culottes + Video

I'm even happy that the weather is on the cool side these days - I have the chance to wear new items from early Spring (or even not so new), but some things I did not have a chance to wear this season because we got hot days starting in late March, which is surprisingly early for our part of the world. So now when it's mid 60s and breezy, I enjoy layering. 

Finest

It's the beginning of vacation season, and my blogging friends post from all sorts of beautiful, exciting places - new cities, new countries, where they travel. Looking at these pictures, you might think that I am also on a vacation, perhaps exploring grand castles somewhere in Europe.

Happy Valley: Trip to Sequim

Back in May, Justin surprised me with a little getaway to the beautiful Olympic peninsula. He reserved a room in a nice hotel for a couple of nights, we packed a few things, got gas for our faithful Outback and left for an adventure on Friday night. It is only a couple of hours from our home, but that way we could get plenty of rest and an early start the next morning.

Fine-Tuning

Stripes can be surprisingly flattering, and this jumpsuit is made masterfully in this sense. A couple of things to tell you about this outfit. First, as much as I love finding new things, I also love combining the things I already own in a new way, and that's exactly what's happening here. And second, as much as I love natural fabrics, there is a certain temperature range (around 60 F, or 15 C) when I absolutely love wearing po-ly-es-ter. I know, it sounds strange and some of you are wincing now! But to me, a girl who more than anything else is for acceptance and inclusion, there is something attractive and comforting even in polyester.

Attitude

After seeing Samantha's post at her blog Fake Fabulous today, I wanted to wear my overalls. I said it many times in my blog, and I will say it again. Aging not only did not limit my choices, on the contrary, I became much more adventurous in style, and it does not come from a desire to epatage, nope - it comes from feeling freer inside. I also learn tons from you, my lovely friends-in-style, you must know that. You give me a reason to not get into an old set of rules and become a boring middle aged person who has nothing better to do than critique bold choices of those who feel happy and playful, no matter what age or shape they are. I'll be open with you. As a young person, "good taste" seemed so important to me. Now? Good attitude. Happiness. True joy. Being alive and celebrating it. Those things. The difference is easy to identify. "Good taste" is always in the eyes of others, so called "authorities". Good attitude comes from within. It is impossible to give it an outside measurement. It is purely authentic. It is genuine.