Happy feet

I’ve mentioned several times how problematic my feet are. In the last couple of weeks I bought two new pairs of shoes. One from the Wider Fit online shoe shop, and one from Yours Clothing.

The Fife by DB shoes

The first pair is a good quality patent leather in a reasonably simpel design. I do like how there’s no decoration or embellishment. For some reason most wider fit footwear come with little flower decorations either embroidered or laser cut. I’m not a little girl - and I don’t do little flowers, so I’m very pleased with these shoes. The fit is bearable though not perfect. 

Can anyone tell me how to pose on a staircase?

You can see me wearing them in this quick photo using my phone, one EARLY morning, on my way down this cork-screw staircase. I didn’t know how to pose as you can see! The leather jacket is one of the very few thrifted items in my wardrobe.

The second pair of shoes is a trainer type with Memory-foam sole and a stretch fabric upper.

They were only 32€!

This is like walking on feathers! Really, I was was in the seventh Heaven when I got these. I kept them on all day long. They only needed a little suede cushion at the heel to stay on. So when I was going to Copenhagen for a girl’s day out this Friday, they were the obvious choice.

In front of Design Museum Danmark

In this panic photo taken by my daughter using my phone again you can see the shoes and how straight I’m still standing, after walking several kilometers. I’m not sure these shoes will ever be considered beautiful but they’re so extremely comfortable that I ordered another pair straight away. Apart from that I’m a bit of a mess, the new leopard print coat not hanging straight, my hair looking like the feathers on a sick chicken! But I’m having a great day with my daughter, my mum and her sister.

A raspberry filled cake with dried petals of cornflower topping the icing, superb!

The girl’s day out included a coffee and cake start at Torvehallerne food stalls, a bit of shopping in our famous pedestrian street Strøget and a visit to our design museum to see dresses designed by Erik Mortensen for Balmain. 

The exhibition also included a number of his sketches

The exhibition was breath-taking. Erik Mortensen mastered the clean, sculptural silhouettes as well as exotic and ornate pieces in luxury fabric with lots of metallic embroidery and beadwork. This exhibition is called I'm black velvet, and it does contain lots of black velvet gowns, fit for a queen. In fact he did count several queens among his customers. If you love couture gowns this is the exhibition for you!

Up till Friday morning I worked hard on a family project, tracing the footsteps of our ancestor’s. I’ve been doing genealogy before, but concentrated on my grandmother’s branch. This time I looked at my grandfather’s family.

Much to my mum’s and aunt’s surprise I revealed that their grand father, my great grandfather, was a slaughterhouse worker. All they (and later I) ever heard was how fantastic their grandfather was. He was a talented joiner who co-owned and ran Høng Stolefabrik, right up till his death. My great grandmother had the manners of a Duchess, and cleverly bypassed the fact that she had married a common worker’s son! Also, my grandfather was born less than four weeks after the wedding - no where near comme il faut in 1915!

These chairs are now highly collectable!

Apart from those fun facts, my aim is to trace the part of our family that emigrated to Argentina in the early 1900s. I know one of the women quite unusually was named Benny, so I should have a fair chance of identifying any far out relatives in the Danish community that still exists. I mean, who doesn’t want to meet their Aunt Benny?

That’s it for now - a busy week and weekend awaits, hopefully resulting in lots of outfit photos showing some of my new clothes.

The best to all of you, 

Love Kaffesoester

A Cinderella story

Although, not how I found my prince!

When you read my introduction on the right side of this page, it says I’m a shoe lover. Funny that I hate shoe shopping, right?

For as long as I can remember I’ve had issues with shoes. Since I usually buy them 2 sizes larger than I really need, they’re too long. And they come off! I’ve dropped shoes everywhere even with all sorts of "stuffing": On dance floors, stair cases and crossing the street. 

It’s so embarrassing, and quite dangerous! I bet there’s a few princes who’s had a good laugh over the years. They never came to my rescue...

Sometimes I buy just one size up, and live with the pain of too narrow shoes. However, just getting to the point of actually finding a shoe that I can squeeze my foot into is hard work, and painful. Well, that’s hopefully all in the past now.

A few months ago a shop assistent in a specialist shoe shop took the time to measure my feet. No doctors or specialists has ever done this before since my feet do look “normal”. She told me that I should give up trying to find ready made shoes - my feet are simply too abnormal. It turns out the length of my feet equals the width (so I’m more like the evil sisters than actually Cindarella). She recommended bespoke shoes.

The typical orthopaedic shoe

That’s just not fair to a shoe lover!

However, I have had a bit of luck since that horrible day, finding the Wider fit shoes online shop in the UK. They’re both manufacturers and retailers.

They provide shoes in widths up to 8E, D being a regular shoe, E being a wide fit, double EE = Extra wide and so on. Not only are the shoes wider, they’re also have a deeper toe box - just what I need!

I have bought several pairs now, but only one is a near good fit, after adding extra padding in the heel. But it’s still so much better than what I had, and looks better than what the usual Danish bespoke shoe makers offer. 

Not the most comfortable but still quite good - and not so boring!

The best fitting, but a bit boring

Style-wise there’s a limit. Have a look at the sandals and you see why I haven’t been able to get myself to buy a pair. Boots are a problem too, and wellies are not in the range at all. 

My possibilities - colour options are not shown here

My hope is that next summer there’ll be one or two sandals that are more to my taste. 

Normally this is where I would place a photo of me in an outfit showing my new shoes. BUT last week I had a haircut. It was a disaster! Instead you get to see the picture I brought to the hairdresser showing her the result I wanted, and an “after” photo.

Left side: What I asked for and showed my hairdresser - Right side: The result!

Can you believe it? She came with good references from local customers, some also with curly hair - probably not as curly as mine though!

This is far from the first time I’ve had this experience with hairdressers. Apparently my hair is extremely difficult to cut. Even though I give a warning every time, they’re all experts on curly hair, until they’ve had a go at mine. My hair is very fine and sparse and cutting it this short allows my scalp to show in several places. Not what I had in mind. I actually think my husband does it better (he had to cut it a few times when I was very sick).

Late update

It was really my plan to update last week, but I spent all my energy on my friend's funeral. 

Later I learned that as I sat in church my BFF had a heart attack - and luckily survived! But how scary: While burying one friend another one fights for her life - is this the future as we're ageing?

Karen was 77 years old, so not unnatural to have a heart attack, but my BFF is only 57 - a bit early? It does run in her family, but still, at this age? Anyway, filled with chock and sorrow I didn't feel like blogging at all.

I hope you're all safe and well, and having a great time. In Denmark it's school holiday next week so I'll see if my daughter and I can get together with my mum and have a girl's day out in Copenhagen. And maybe a proper outfit post?

Best wishes to everyone

Love Kaffesoester

Blessed by style angels

The last two weeks have been crazy - I've been working day and night to get a school project ready for handing yesterday. I made it, and so far my group and I have done great.

As if things weren't crazy enough, a friend of mine got tickets for one of the Trinny and Susannah shows here in Copenhagen, and she invited me to come along!As they were cancellation tickets I didn't know until an hour and a half before the show. I was sill at school, a 45 min. train ride from Copenhagen - unable to make it home for a change of clothes or getting rid of my enormous laptop!

Here's how we looked, sitting in the studio, before the show started:

My sweet friend Ayesha

Front row seats the whole evening

Just to prove that we were actually there:

The runway

So, if you ever get to see the T&S in Denmark show, I may appear among the audience since they cut up film into bits and place shots of the audience where ever they feel like it. It could be that I'm on the Aarhus or the Helsingor show, although I was really in Copenhagen!

It was fantastic to see how they changed people's appearance - and the victim's reactions. Most of them were truly happy, as were their friends and family. I don't agree with all their decisions but in general they're spot on.

The ladies themselves were of course very elegant, wearing gorgeous ball gowns by Danish designers. Trinny was in a soft "Pink Panther pink" hi low dress with a sequin waistband, and Susannah was in Lemon a lemon yellow floor length dress which I think was by Malene Birger.

Since I had plenty of eye contact with both ladies I count myself blessed by these style angels! Of course I do realize that the angelic appearance is strongest on the runway, wearing ball gowns!

As soon as I got home that evening I took my outfit photos. But at 10 pm, having only slept 4 hours the previous night, I was dead tired - and I think it shows!

Wishing I was in bed already!

The necklace isn't new, but I've been reluctant to wear it since it's the last item I purchased from H&M. By coincidence this necklace will be on TV. Here's a close up:

Too tired to care about camera angles!

I got home late form school on the day before, so the one photo that isn't all blurred, shows my new shoes, and the lovely green tights that should have been light blue. I was so tired in the morning when I got dressed that I didn't notice the different colour!

 

Green tights instead of light blue

As I mentioned earlier I handed in a project at school yesterday. We also had a presentation so I tried to dress for that:

Coral red and nay blue will be a classic soon?

I glad I kept this dress. It's so easy to style in different ways and with lots of other colours. It looks alright from the back too:

Amazing that polyester can look like this!

I got quite a few suggestions on how to improve the fit of this dress, like taking in the top where it meets the sleeves. But as you see the back is gathered which will course some strange drape like lines on the back. So, I've decided to be  contend with the current shape and fit, and focus on my remixing choices.


The shoes are new, from Irregular Choice's Bed of Roses range, and on sale (around 1/3 of the original price!), and they're a combination of red patent leather and red glitter tweed - who can ask for more in a shoe?

Lovely warm tweed shoes for winter!

The wedge heels are fantastic for hours on my feet, walking to the bus stop and around school.

Glitter tweed!

Mostly I forget to take photos of the coats I'm wearing, but I really liked the result yesterday so here's me, ready to face the Danish autumn weather:

Oops! Forgot to close the bag properly.

Last but certainly not least - my new haircut! There wasn't any wind blowing on the photos in my last post - I just had really bad hair! I'm so happy with this, although the aim is to have a bit more length.

Not a hint of grey hair at my age!

This is it for now - I'm rushing out of the door in a few minutes. I have surprise tickets for the whole family to a fun event in Tivoli in Copenhagen. More on that tomorrow!

Have a lovely weekend!

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!

3 kinds of wild spots

First of all: Thank you to everyone for your nice comments. Apparently there's something wrong with the "followers" button, I'll have a look at it in the next few days.

During this week I have been very busy and stressed. My studies are taking up all my time these days. That is until today. Because today I went to see a new hairdresser, and had a haircut! The old one was so awful with so many mistakes that the new haircut can't quite hide it. But in three months time it will be better, Susanne promised.

As for my outfit it's all accidental. I had placed the top on my table to put it away later, next to the jewellery that I was considering getting rid of. On the chair by the table I had hung the trousers to dry. I just liked the combination of the different sized similar patterns, both reminding me of my snakeskin purse. Getting dressed in it I liked the way it looked, and how comfortable I felt. And it worked perfectly in the SUMMER heat in Copenhagen. For the season we are experiencing the best weather in years, and I love it!

 

The close up is actually me having trouble setting the timer on the camera! As for the patterns, well, the purse is snake skin, the trousers look like a bleached cheetah print, and the top, maybe a shrunken bleached cheetah? Something wildlife...

Last weekend the whole family went to the christening of my cousins daughter. Here's how I looked.

My daughter took the first two photos, my husband the last. I think the skirt is too long, although it did look fine with my boots the week before last. Maybe I shall keep the length for this coming winter.


Tomorrow I'm going back to the village I grew up in, for a school reunion. I'm very excited, and a bit nervous too. What to wear? We did a reunion a couple of years ago. Some of us were slightly over dressed, but I prefer that to being under dressed (I hope it's the right expression - I'm NOT talking about half nude people, you know!). However, I think I looked older then than I do today. Since I started this blog most of my wardrobe has changed. Like my hair colour and the style. I have planned to wear my navy pencil skirt with one of the new cobalt ruched tops (an outfit that actually is so much more 50's than 40's Vix!) paired with turquoise tights and red suede low heeled shoes. And of course there'll be photos! Anyway, have a great weekend all of you!