Tell a Different Story

My taste in fashion, as well as my taste in life, is very eclectic, and after a few whimsical and retro inspired styles, I got hungry for some cool casual modern.

Contempo

Thank you for your kind, thoughtful comments on my last post, beautiful stylish ladies! And thank you so much for sharing your stories and thoughts. We both are very touched, Mama and I.

On to today's outfit (last Saturday actually).

I know contemporary fashion is not at all everybody's cup of tea. Some of my beloved blogging friends, women of distinctive and unique style, are not especially impressed or even interested in today's fashion. I actually happen to like it, or rather I came to like it - I came a long way. Remember I told you that I sort of took a vacation from fashion? Well during that vacation, things changed - they actually changed a lot. If you would take that vacation with me, you'd probably notice it too. One day I realized that I just don't get today's fashion. What's with the proportions, with the lines, what's with everything, and where is beauty in it all? What sort of fashion is it and why don't we all go back to the 90s or something. Why the 90s? I think because it was a time when I was young and hip, had a career, had money to spend on clothes, was not married, had no kids, no big ambitious plans, free as a bird, with active interest in fashion and style. I knew how to appreciate that fashion.  

Change of Focus

There is this Russian bard song by Oleg Mityaev which has such words, "Summer is a little life." I think what it means is, Summer is like a separate life, life within life, when whatever happened before it, as well as whatever comes after it, won't affect anything that happens now. And I find it so easy to fall under the summer charm, and I even think that it is necessary for us people to disconnect from the past and to not cling to the future, just take a summer as its own little life, separate from our memories or dreams.  

Internal Sunshine

Can you believe it?

This is my 100th post!

So just a little shy of 7 months ago, I started this blog. I started it just for myself. The Summer before, I discovered that there are such things as personal style blogs. Personal style (not fashion so much) was something I became really interested in after a few years of wearing dark blue jeans literally every single day, with something loose over them to hide my thickened body. But then I discovered all sorts of women who were posing in front of the camera and posting photos of themselves, and they looked so pretty and so confident, and they were saying something like "Style is not a size, but an attitude" and a bunch of other cool stuff about positive body image.

Quirky

I came across these pair of shoes last Spring at Nordstrom Rack. They are by Jeffrey Campbell, quite an edgy Californian brand of shoes, and they are nothing like I've had before - or even like I've seen before. Quite cosmic. Quite edgy. Quite quirky. I had no idea how I would wear them, but I felt instantly in love, almost like with an art object. I love everything about them! There is not one single detail I don't enjoy. They are partly vintage, partly hippy, and partly Japan to me.

Holiday Break

When I lived in Russia, New Year was the biggest and most beloved holiday for me - as it was and still is for the majority of Russians. The way we celebrated it was very similar to the way Americans celebrate Christmas. We decorated Christmas trees inside of our apartments or houses, and there was also a huuuuuge tree outside - in every town, every city neighborhood. Those outdoor trees would be decorated with lights and hand made decorations (made by children in public schools). I lived in Siberia, and along with the tall decorated Christmas tree, we would have beautiful ice towns with fortresses, slides and figures of fairy tale characters. The whole family would gather around a beautifully arranged dinner table with tons of tasty Russian foods, we would open a bottle of champagne and welcome and greet the New Year with all our big open hearts as soon as the clock  strikes 12... This would repeat every December 31st, over and over again, year after year, with very little variations - and yes, I just absolutely loved it! When you change continents, you take a few things with you and leave many things behind. And it goes for some traditions too.

Let It Snow: Part 2

Part 1 is here.

Since snow is such a rare visitor here in Seattle, we love to come out and play when we get a chance. This time, we were digging our writers' closets for some good finds, appropriate for playing snowy/wintry outfits!

Let It Snow: Part 1

Part 2 is here.

I woke up this morning while it still was dark outside, though something was noticeably different when I glanced over toward the window, looking to see what time it was. I looked back again. It was nice and white, and even though the sky was still dark above my head, above our little cottage, above the whole town and the Sound, the ground was light, covered with little sugar coating. SNOW!! First one this year. I am so happy to live in our mild climate. I am happy that snow here by the coastline is mostly decorative and usually melts by noon.

When my family woke up, Anna and I picked a couple of outfits to show off in this lovely little snow. Justin suggested that we take photos as soon as we can - and he was right. Everything melted just a couple of hours later!

Cold Days... Old Days...

We have an unusually cold week here in Seattle. What I love about these days - the sky is perfectly clear almost all the time (rare, rare for us). The temperature is in the 40s during the day and 30s at night. It is so cold - it even made me get my very old and dear to my heart camel coat out!

Youthful

Our unusually foggy weather calls for cozy lately. I didn't want to get out of these soft and comfy leggings (first shown here) even for my library work. (Did I tell you that I am a storyteller?) I decided to give it a more professional look by wearing a white office shirt and a bright cardigan to break the two week long fog!

Special Day

It was a special day calling for a special mood and special outfit! As I have told you before, dresses and skirts are on my mind lately. Yet, I wasn't satisfied with anything from my wardrobe on that particular day. While pants are staples of my everyday wardrobe, and seem like nothing special as a general rule... yet there are no "general rules" when you are trying to create something special! Do you agree? These pair of Hue leggings were very unusual for me. They created just the right playful and sexy mood I wanted that day. Why? It was Justin's birthday! And everything was special about that day! :)