Stockholm calling

This weekend has so far been one of those weekends that has lacked any sort of activity. Nothing is going on, no good clubs to go to, no parties to attend and no spontaneous shopping spasms. I have been lazy with my outfit photos as well, even though I have the Gorillapod to assist me. To be honest, I've only went out once today and that was to get some groceries. The rest of my day has been occupied with lounging and watching movies.

I guess some needed rest is in place considering next week I and seven other Finnish fashion bloggers are conquering Stockholm. The trip is organized by VisitSweden (kind of ironic that Sweden supports us Finnish bloggers this way and not Finland) and Minttu who is a Finnish blogger living in Sweden. I have to say I am really psyched about this trip! My brain is scanning though outfit options and what to wear during the trip and yes, I am a bit nervous too. Most of these gals I already know but there are two who I have not met yet. It shall be very interesting and I will report about it when the time comes. Hopefully, I'll have some time for blogging while in Sweden; however, our schedule is rather busy with designer visits, shopping and fine dining. My boyfriend will also be going to Sweden during the same time due to his jealousy of my gain. Ha!

Since there are no outfit photos from this weekend, I will leave you with this one that was taken last week. Once again I am wearing my trusted colors, black and grey - no surprises there. The days are getting really dark, so more self-taken indoor shots are probably coming up in the next months. Bare with me...

Knit vest: Josefssons
Black turtle neck: Lindex
Shoes: Global Essentials
Necklace: H&M

Virtual shopping: CDG for H&M

In about a month Rei Kawakubo's designs hit the H&Ms of the world. I have to say that the collection is quite different from the past designer collaborations and we can only wait and see what the crowds reactions will be. Somehow I think that there won't be as huge mass hysteria as last year, due to the fact that Rei's collection is so different and dark. Well, different and dark suit me very well.

For the fans of polkadots the collection seems to be a very pleasant suprise. I am not so keen on the dots, in fact, I would like to get my hands on these following pieces (full looks at hm.com).

Which ones are your favourites?

Ebay fever

After a long break from online shopping I decided it was time to give in a little. Somewhat thanks to the fact that our Etsy vintage store started out so well and I felt that I deserve something for myself. I have been looking for a bowler hat for a long time now but most of the ones I have seen have been very pricey or bad quality, so I decided to turn to eBay. I found an amazing hat store called Uniformal Wearhouse which sells quality hats with a reasonable price. I am finally getting my very own bowler hat!

Image source: eBay

I have also been looking for a pair of platform sandals and when these ones appeared to me on eBay, I just could not resist anymore. They are man-made yes, and Dior knockoffs (Carrie wears the authentic pair in the SATC movie) yes, but since I have not won the lottery, these will do. The price, 22 dollars and 90 cents doesn't hurt either.

Image source: eBay

I will report again when my goods have arrived. Hopefully by early next week since I am attending a trip to Stockholm along with some other Finnish bloggers. It shall be a very interesting trip and I will tell you all about it in time...

Say hello to my new three legged friend, Mr. Gorillapod

Only a blogger could ask for such a selfish b-day present. Introducing my new friend, Mr. Gorillapod. This little three legged alien looking thing is every blogger's dream toy and a great help for taking those totally self-centered photos of oneself. You can twist the legs as you like and attach it to anything, I even tried it on a door handle and it stayed there and was ready for a picture. Truly fantastic! I got the mid-size one but these come in different sizes/lengths. My pod weighs only 165 grams so it's fairly light to take anywhere you go (no need for those heavyweight tripods anymore). Read more info here if you're interested.

My new friend Mr. Gorillapod and my camera

I got this little fella from my parents (after requesting it of course) when I had a b-day dinner at their place on Sunday. The days are getting so gray that it's hard to snap an outfit photo even during daytime. That's one thing Mr. Gorillapod can't help with, unfortunately; however, this is what I wore on Sunday.

Dress: H&M Trend
Sweater: Roberto Cavalli for H&M
Shoes: Wedins

Constructivism

Since my b-day happened to be in the middle of the week, I decided to host the actual party yesterday night. We had some food and drinks at my place and later on headed to a local indie club to dance and a see a band called Juvelen. I had heard that they are Sweden's own Prince (the artist not the royalty) and as a huge Prince fan it was definately worth checking out. Since I was such a busy host, I had no time to take an outfit picture when there was still daylight. Therefore Ranna and I had a photoshoot at the club and to my surprise the pictures came out pretty nice! Thanks Ranna for these photos below, my photographer work and her lovely and very similar shape (we did not plan this!) outfit can be seen here.

Dress: Saints & Mortals
Net top: Martin Margiela
Oddly cut top: Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair
Bag: Bianco Accessories
Shoes: Skopunkten

I constructed the outfit of a pleather dress I bought recently as an impulse buy and added the see through oddly-cut top, a Margiela net top, laceup shoes and all the gold jewellery I could find. The inspiration for my outfit came from Givenchy's fall/winter 08/09 colleciton, it's my absolute favourite collection of this fall from all the designers. I just can't say no to leather, bunch of jewellery and platform shoes.

Source: Style.com

From my perspective the latter had to stay at home and wasn't included in my outfit because I wanted to ensure a pleasant dancing experience all night long. Also, tomorrow we are having a photoshoot for our Etsy store and there is going to be a lot of standing outside so my feet have to be in good shape. So keep your eyes open for our new fall/winter stuff, it's coming up soon!

My sweet 16 (+10)

An anonymous commenter was surprised how I have been 25 for so long, well finally the day has come when I turn 26. Yes, I AM getting older today...To celebrate my aging process my boyfriend and I went out to eat at the American diner. Originally we had planned to go see Tropic Thunder at the movie theaters but felt too tired after the huge chicken burger and fries and decided to rent a movie and come home. For my b-day I wanted to wear something comfortable but at the same time this is sort of an autumn update on the long t-shirt look. Who said that it can only be done in the summer time? Not me.

On the way back home the leaves and lanterns at this nearby park looked so nice that we just had to snap some photos. These autumn evenings are so nice, especially when it's a full moon like tonight.

Blazer: Vintage
Long t-shirt: 22 Vintage
Knee high socks: H&M
Shoes: Vintage
Bag: Second hand
Scarf: Second hand
Gloves: Seppälä

Grey black, black grey

It seems that all I have been wearing lately is grey and black. Bright colors don't inspire me as much as they did in the summer time; however, I'm liking it because I feel like I'm going back to my roots. My inner rock princess is dying to get out, and why not let her? So black and grey is what you get, yet again.

I decided to build my weekend's outfits based on the black & grey crop top that I introduced a few entries ago. I attended an electronic festival called ManseDance which was organized here in Tampere and since Thursday's gig was all ambient, a relaxed outfit was in order. I went with the crop top and my acid washed jeans.

Crop top: MTWTFSS
Black top: H&M
Jeans: Cheap Monday
Boots: Fendi

On Saturday the crop top and black and grey theme continued. I decided to wear something a bit more partyish since DMX Crew was playing some good dance tunes. Can you imagine that this very Scandinavian looking dress had been hiding in the closet of my old room for a whole year? I guess I had worn it on some weekend when I was visiting my parents and just forgot it like that. Finding it again was a very pleasant surprise; it's like I gained a whole new dress! This little thing is really comfortable and I feel like I could wear it with black jeans to make it less partyish if I wanted to. On Saturday I wore it as it is and when Ed DMX asked the audience to come and dance on the stage, the crop top came off (I got so hot). I literally partied my top off!

Dress: H&M Trend
Crop top: MTWTFSS
Shoes: Global Essentials

Selected

Last Wednesday my friend Laura invinted me to Selected store opening here in Tampere. The store is a Danish chain which carries both women's and men's clothing, and as I was impressed with these images, I thought it was worth a peek. The store is maybe one of the nicest looking stores in my city and the grand opening party was accompanied with models, good food and sparkling wine.

Whenever I get a chance to dress up I usually take the bait. I thought a little black dress with a twist would be a perfect choice and decided to go with this Rodebjer dress that I got in Stockholm. The purple tights and platform laceups added more "me" into this otherwise rather girly look. Notice how I, my friend Noora and Laura totally match and it wasn't even planned!

Dress: Rodebjer
Tights: Twilfit
Shoes: Wedins
Bag: Saddler

Can you guess who is the blogger hiding behind this very long dress?

Fall in love with fall

The past days have been great, even though it's cold the sun has been shining and the leaves are all red, orange and yellow. The parks in this city look so beautiful, so my boyfriend and I just had to make a little photo shoot in a park that is right around the corner.

Although I'm not a student anymore, this outfit is sort of my own interpretation of a back to school look. Similar white button shirt underneath a grey sweater look was spotted at the Marc Jacobs F/W08 show. I instantly fell in love with this style; it's a bit preppy yet relaxed. My sweater is by Peter Jensen, a great London based designer and recogniseable from the cute bunny logo. I got this sweater from Stockholm in the summer but since it is a wool blend, I have been waiting for colder fall days to come. Well, what I awaited, I certainly got.

Sweater: Peter Jensen
Buttonup shirt (the collar): Nina Gold for Ellos
Leather jacket: JSFN
Skirt: H&M Trend
Bag: Saddler
Tights: Stockmann
Shoes: Skopunkten

Tell Me a Story Vintage is now on Etsy

We decided to move our business from eBay to Etsy due to the difficulties that eBay brings to a seller (slow listing, fees, competition etc.). The best part is that you don't have to bid anymore, you just have to be fast! We are listing new items every week, so make sure to visit our store very often.

You can still find the latest news from our store's blog and Myspace (though the latter is under construction at the moment).

Happy shopping at Etsy!

Get the denim skirt from here.

I <3 Paris Fashion Week

I had recently posted about my dissatisfaction about the N.Y. fashion week. Boy, am I glad that my favourite fashion week has started and we can finally see what's in store for spring/summer '09 in Paris. Here are some of my favorite picks.

Since Miu Miu's winter collection was just absolutely terrible, I am excited to see that the spring/summer collection it totally the opposite. I'm really feeling the dark color palette for spring, the pleating and the distressing on the dresses. The 90's inspired makeup is really my thing too. I want it all!

Ann Demeulemeester is one of those designers who's collections can always be trusted. Her spring/summer 09 collection is not a let down either. I feel like the layered and knotted shirts would be something that I could totally execute myself. I am also loving the gothic inspired laceup sandal shoes.

Balenciaga is definately the odd one out of them all. The looks are very futuristic, similar to something they did in the 60's. I think the shoes which are actually tights with a shoe bottom, will be definately spring's most talked about phenomena.

Burberry Prorsum shows us that the ombre trend will continue in soft tones, the jewellery is chunky and socks are still in sandals. I really need to get my hands on more cardigans...

I absolutely adored Givenchy's fall/winter collection and it looks like the gothic theme continues in to the spring. Well, that suits me just right. I'm suddenly in a desperate need of leather, a long blazer and over the knee boots.

All Images from Style.com

As a summary spring's top trends seem to be:

- short dresses
- over the knee boots
- crop tops
- black & white, beige
- leather
- ombre
- open toe sandals and shoes
- distressed and wrinkled fabrics
- long blazers
- futuristic looks, 60's

What's your favourite look for spring? My vote goes for Givenchy, once again.