SJP, YSL, HM - so many letters...

Red and pink combinations have fascinated me for a long time now - and I still can't get enough! Last year I bought a dress from H&M, that didn't fit. Prior I had found photos of a vintage Yves Saint Laurent dress, and later Sarah Jessica Parker. I knew what I wanted, but didn't find it.

Red and pink inspiration

That was until yesterday! I've had the skirt for a long time, the jacket too (you've seen it a few times on the blog lately), but the top is new - and it does it's job very well!

Finally!

The red colour isn't my best but with this jacket, or maybe a scarf, I think I can carry it off. The boots are my very old Footprints, by Birkenstock.

The jacket connects the top and skirt very nicely

In the zig-zag pattern of the jacket there's a lot of burgundy so I'm now looking for a burgundy top to wear with the skirt - which I think would look great too.

Of course the outfit would be nothing without my ring!

Currently favorite ring

Today I dropped all colours and went for an all beige outfit, well except for the boots! Although this beige outfit is neutral, and in theory should be quite discrete, I did cause a stir - again!

Beige skirt and top, new boots

The silver boots was today's eye magnet! The silk scarf is a gift from my daughter, and I love it, but it didn't get much attention.

Not your usual silver boot

The boots are from Irregular Choice, and I bought them on the spring sale. They're very warm, lined with fur, and loose fitting and comfortable.

Cheese and beans

This morning I actually got applause from the school canteen staff. Apparently they're waiting every morning to see what I'm wearing - I have an audience! I guess I've established my reputation as an eccentric dresser once and for all!

Imagine what I'll be like at 70 and 80!

colour texture pattern shine

Although I'm not a big fan of Stacy and Clinton from American What Not To Wear, I do think their mantra: Colour, Texture, Pattern, Shine is a good tool when putting outfits together.

Today I got my green collection out! So I had colour - texture came from the velvet jacket, pattern from the kaftan and shine from the shoes.

The green collection with black shoes

Of course I do have more green pieces than these, but these are the favorites! I'm ashamed to admit that this jacket has been waiting for a button replacement for a couple of years... See how it looks from the back:

Very fitted at the waist...

I know that I was very visible because I had elevator-eyes following me all day long, even without the jacket on! Therefore this is the obvious candidate for Visible Monday at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style blog!

Silk kaftan from Tone Barker

The silk kaftan is from Tone Barker, a Danish brand. I have no idea where she has her things manufactured - if it's here in Denmark or in Poland, China or somewhere else. The design is brilliant as I can choose if I want to tie it in the back or in the front, or just leave loose.

Today - tied in the back

The fabric of the kaftan is a devoré silk. I tried to take photos, but the fabric just looked flat. When I get the chance I'll borrow my husbands camera and lens, and get you a proper photo. Instead you can have another look at the velvet jacket and my rings!

The rings match the silk scarf, nice?

Friday's and Saturday's dinners changed dates with each other, so Friday I had to just throw something on in a couple of minutes (husbands sometimes overestimate their wives' telepathic abilities)! Saturday I wore what was planned, but was in a rush since plans were changed again, and deadline shortened by 2 hours! Here's how I looked, stressed but dressed!

Dress that needs to be aired once a week

Friday, going for dinner at friends house in the countryside, called for jeans, and my new warm jacket (not worn inside the house though!) and red lips!

New Marks & Spencer jacket

The jacket is so lightweight and still warm that I don't know how I've survived without it! The buttons are not quite my style, but I've been too busy to care about it. And last time I replaced buttons it took me like two years!


Here's a close up, showing you the quilt, and my red lips!

Friday night in the countryside outfit!

Now I'm headed over to Patti's Visible Monday party to see what everybody else have come up with!


Wishing you all a lovely week!

Two black dresses with coloured leg wear

Considering how little black clothes I own it's surprising to see myself in black dresses twice the same week! Of course I had to add colourful leg wear and accessories.

The first dress is from this summer. I thought I could only wear it at more festive occasions but decided to try and come up with less party-oriented version.

Bad hair day, great leg day

I like the way it shows off my curves, and offices in general can do with some more curves, right? My usual collection of bangles is missing - non of them seemed right for this dress.


The back side isn't too bad either - I love the little bow on the bolero! The hair is awful, but so much better today, which you will see in a minute!

The bolero is just the right legth!

 

Remember you can click the photos and get larger versions of them! Coloured opaque tights  and (new) shoes are my favorite way to change an outfit. These shoes are from last year, and extremely comfortable! They already have lots of mileage!

Irregular Choice shoes and We Love Color tights

Yesterday I was at the hairdresser to have my hair dyed. I wore old rags so any dye stains wouldn't ruin loved pieces. So, no outfit photos from yesterday!

Today, however, I was back in black! This dress is years old, and have been worn many times (and appeared an embarrassing number of times on the blog too!), with lots of different accessories.

Old knit dress

I still can't believe the original price was less than  17 $! it has got to be the cheapest dress in my closet!The hair looks so much better today (in my opinion), and with the jeggings and the trainers, it was an incredibly comfortable outfit - I felt good!

In addition to all this my physiotherapist did a great job on my back, and the school project that was due today, went very well, and my husband called me, asking if I was up for a restaurant visit tonight!

Bangles of the day!

Next week is going to be horribly busy! I'm trying to come up with outfits that are easy, comfortable and stylish. With the weather changing into true autumn weather - dark, wet and windy, dressing becomes even more of a challenge. Whatever I end up wearing, I'm planning on sharing it all with you, of course!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Office wear

This weekend was so busy - first we went to IKEA to get a couple of new book cases, among other things! Back home the assembly job waited - among other jobs! Afterwards my home office looked very different - so I thought it would make a nice backdrop for my outfit photos. And what I wear in my office is office wear, right?

Look! New shoes!

You can't tell that my feet are killing me, but they are! The shoes are brand new, and this being the last day without rain in many days, meant I had to wear them, although they needed a bit of extra padding here and there.

The rest of the outfit may be slightly boring but the shoes certainly caught people's eyes! They're from Irregular Choice of course - my favorite brand!

You Legend

The heels are covered in gold glitter, what more can a girl ask for?

Gold heels

I can already see many outfits where these shoes will be a valuable addition. I know that I have a skirt, that has been waiting for a year, at least! The heels are around 2,5 inches high - and very easy to walk in. Just perfect for a day at the office!

My office

My laptop is still in my bag somewhere else, since I just came home from school. Normally it would cover most of the desk. I only have a small desk, otherwise I'll start many projects at the same time. Now I have to finish what I'm at before starting the next - there isn't room for anything else!


Now, my feet are hurting badly and I have to sit down for the rest of the post! Since it's Monday, Patti has invited everyone to the Visible Monday party at Not Dead Yet Style blog, and I'm joining, sitting down!

Smiling but in pain!

I think tomorrows footwear may be slightly less fashionable... 
 
Have a great week everyone and see you soon!

Ruched top and draped top

The top I'm wearing today is really from June. It's lined in the torso part so it's been too warm to wear, until today. With some typical wet and windy autumn weather this top is perfect!

Lace top from Kaliko

What I really like about this top, apart from the colour, is the draping which suits my body shape very well. It's about the only lace item in my wardrobe even though it's in all the shops! So far I don't see any reason to get more lace, but I'd love more tops like this in a plain fabric!


If you try to ignore the strange quality of the photo (due to my husband's experiments with his new camera!), you should be able to see the colour better in this picture:

Kaki lace top

Remember you can always click the photos and get a very large version!

Earlier this week I wore one of my ruched tops, from H&M. It has a lovely Asian inspired print which makes it better than plain black for my colouring. I have an old jacket in Chinese brocade that begged to come out and play with the top, see how perfect they were for each other:

Chinese pattern mix on top

My dog thought it was his turn to be the model. When I told him no he was very, very disappointed!

Could he look more sad?

By coincidence the lining of the jacket matched the top's print, and I had to show you!

light blue flowers and lining

Now, all that's missing is a close up of the necklaces - so here it is! The Zara diamonds, and a homemade coral necklace.

Favorite diamonds and coral

It seemed very appropriate at the end of the post, that this is where you see the end of me...

Nicely fitted jacket

This week has been very busy, and the next will be absolutely chaotic. At school my grroup and I are handing in an assignment, showing that we're mastering database building skills...


I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

The denim uniform and Indian art exhibition revisited

On Everybody Everywear the monthly challenge for September is "back to school". It has been a few years since I left school (the school I'm attending now is an business academy), and we didn't wear a uniform.

Looking back at my childhood, remembering what I wore, I realize that I almost always wore the exact same thing: Jeans, t-shirt, trainers, a denim jacket and a large scarf. That was my "uniform" for years!

Old uniform

This is as close to my old denim outfits as I can get. The jacket is now fitted, the jeans are dark wash and the trainers are black Ecco instead of the white Adidas. Back then the scarf would be a Keffiyeh, inspired by Yasser Arafat. Now it's a piece of Indian cotton fabric.

Old denim jacket from Noa Noa

The jacket is about ten years old, but still a favorite although I haven't worn it much lately. The shape is more like a fitted blazer than a classic denim jacket, which suits my body shape so much better.

Two different denim colours

I wore this jacket so often that I got a bit tired of it. Now that I've had a break, it may be time to pull it out from the closet again. Doesn't it look OK with the dark wash denim?


Now back to the art exhibition! Apart from Manish Arora who I favoured yesterday, there were others, very talented fashion designers with some amazing creations. Here's a few more (remember to click the photos to have them enlarged - the difference is significant):

Amit Aggerwal

Prashant Verma, blue dress - Manish Arora other dress

Little Shilpa

Manish Arora, again!

and again!

The creation by Little Shilpa reminded me of Hans Christian Andersen's tale 'The Emperor's new clothes'... It's a very beautiful creation, but there isn't a lot of it!

If you take a closer look at the blue peacock print dress by Prashant Verma, you'll see my reflection in the semi -transparent screen next to the dress. It took a few photos to get it right as the screens were turning all the time!

The fashion part of the exhibition was absolutely breathtaking! The craftsmanship that was used on these creations was unbelievable! Many pieces were decorated heavily, with lots of blingy parts - beads, sequins, lurex. The colours weren't as "Indian" as I was expecting, maybe more harmonious? Anyway, every single creation was a masterpiece to me!


The rest of the exhibition introduced me to some fantastic artists - I've made collages as above, with the artist's name underneath.


 

Vivan Sundaram

The red dress is made of bras, the other one, old trainers!

Ravinder Reddy

These sculptures really turned heads! The shadows on the floor are very interesting too.

Doshi Levien

The mirrors on the walls are fantastic and the furniture just amazing, to look at! I sat in the yellow chair - it was extremely hard!

Rina Banerjee

Rina Banerjee

I love how the artist combines the strangest materials such as seashells, feathers, dolls' heads, drift wood and much more. These strong colours are very Indian to me.

Atul Dodiya

This is really double paintings. It's two layers, the top is a motorized metal roller shutter that pulls away and reveals a picture painted on canvas, when a button is pressed.

Jitish Kallat

This collage is just brilliant! I saw many visitors having trouble leaving this one - there's so much to look at. I like the way it meets in the corner, very original.

The next picture is an introduction to the installation Escape! Resume/Reset. I took so many photos as there was so many details, and I didn't want to leave any out.

Introduction to Escape Airlines

Click the picture to enlarge - and read!

Thukral & Tagra

View from "the end" of the installation

The lamps were tilted and formed SOS on the wall

Masks and bags like on real airlines, plus matching bags!

The gaming arcade in the lower right corner!

This installation was hard to leave, I just wanted to sit in those gorgeous chairs and watch Indian films. It's hard to imagine the amount of work it has taken to produce everything. There was the incredible paintings on the wall, with flashing lights, the carpet pieces, the upholstery in different, printed Indian cottons, the matching bags, sleep masks, pillows... There was so much to explore, and not enough time!

Finally, the one piece that touched me the most, Subodh Gupta's Terminal!

Subodh Gupta

It's just brass, but it's so beautiful. I've included the introduction from the museum. It's my foot in the lower middle photo!

Introduction to 'Terminal'

 This is without comparison the longest post ever on this blog! However, I loved everything I saw on this exhibition, and wanted to share it. I hope you too have enjoyed the tour !

A last photo of 'Terminal'

Subodh Gupta