Howling at the moon

My retreat in Lapland did not completely consist of residing in the country, and one sunny afternoon I decided to check out the city life of Rovaniemi. My trip to the town resulted a quick purchase of a very fashionable item from - belive it or not - a tourist shop. It was something that has been circling around the fashion world ever since Martin Margiela decided to bring them back from the 90's last summer. So yup, as you might have guessed it, my purchase was an epic animal print t-shirt with wolves. After spending a few moments giggling and then seriously considering the shirt, I just couldn't resist it anymore; especially after I had read this amazing story awhile back (thank's Lulu for the link).

To test my latest find, I wore this outfit to A Place to Bury Strangers gig the other day and to be completely honest, I think some of the old time geeks might have glanced at my shirt with an approval. Does this mean I'm getting popular already? Damn, that review was right.

T-shirt: Some tourist shop in Rovaniemi
Skirt: Monki
Leather jacket: JSFN
Studded bag: Zara
Wedge shoes: Vagabond
Bracelet: Funky Marie Design

In the country

I feel like I've fallen out of the whole blogosphere by dissapearing to the Finnish Lapland for the past five days. Spending some time at my family's summer cottage in Lapland was truly a relaxing experience: I went fishing, picking blueberries and cloudberries, running into the lake from the sauna, met up with my relatives and just laid in the hammock watching the clouds go by. I guess my inner country girl needs to be released once in a year but as for the rest of the 360 days, I'm a city girl dyed-in-the-wool.

Dress shirt: MTWTFSS
Rubber boots: Kontio

DIY ripped jeans

As promised, here comes last Friday's party outfit which was quite obviously inspired by Ann Demeulemeester's collections. I love how she plays with black and white every season, and still makes it look so fresh each time. This is something I have actually noted before but it's also a fact that agrees with the contents of my wardrobe, year after year.

The reason why I wanted to save this outfit for a separate post was because as you can see, I did a little extra slashing on my ripped jeans and wanted to share a tutorial on how to DIY. Ripping jeans is fairly easy but in order to get a nice frayed finish like on mine, it takes a little extra effort. Below the pictures is the tutorial on how I did it. Hope you like the results!

Top: MTWTFSS
Vest: Zara
Jeans: Cheap Monday
Sandals: Bronx
Bag: Vintage
Necklace: Ann Demeulemeester
Ring: Kalevala Koru

Ripped jeans - How to DIY with six easy steps

1. You will need: a pair of jeans, a marker or chalk, sandpaper and preferably a wooden plank.

2. Put your jeans on and mark the spots where you want the slashes to be made. You should at least mark the knee area because that will be hard to determine when the jeans are off your body. It's also good to keep in mind not to make the marks too high on the thigh area, unless you want your pockets to show through the slashes.

3. Take off the jeans and place them on the floor. If you have the wooden plank, place it inside the leg to provide support.

4. Fold the sandpaper in two and start sanding the jeans horizontally where you want the rips. When the jeans start to rip and a hole occurs, stop and rip the rest of the way with your hands. Be careful not to rip them all the way from seam to seam because the holes will enlarge in the wash. I made my cuts about 6-7 cm (= 2.5 inches) wide. (You can also sand the holes all the way through but that is rather time consuming. The reason why sandpaper is the best way to start the holes is for the frayed finish, scissors would result a much more cleaner cut which doesn't look as "authentic".)

5. After you are finished shake the lint off and wash your jeans. In order to get even more frayed look on the holes, you will need to wash the jeans in a washing machine. Using a dryer helps to bring out the frayness but it's not necessary.

6. Enjoy your ripped jeans!

Weekend madness

You know those weekends that are so full of action that it feels like you don't even have time to take a breath? Well, last weekend felt like that for me but in a good sense, of course. On Friday I hosted a little get-together for my friends and the beautiful Nadja from Are You Feeling Fashionable? came to join the party. We also paid a visit to the local indie club and met up with the ever-so-stylish Sugar Kane on the dance floor. (Friday's outfit pics to come on the next post!)

On Saturday, all tired from the previous night's festivities, Nadja and I headed to a park picnic organized by some Finnish bloggers. The sun was shining, the birds were singing (or rather these caged roosters were cock-a-doodle-dooing) and about 15 stylish bloggers came together for a little meet and greet. I forgot to bring my camera but luckily the talented Maria was working as the official paparazzi, and took a few close ups of me with her pro camera.

Photos by: Maria

My boyfriend also perpetuated my outfit and Nadja's before we walked her to the train station in the evening. Hope you guys had a great weekend; I know I did!

Top: Selected Femme
Pants: Vila
Belt: Second hand
Shoes: Vagabond
Bag: Saddler
Ring: Kalevala Koru

Sometimes the simple things in life are the best

When I came back from Barcelona and Stockholm with a whole new wardrobe in my suitcase, I promised to myself to stay away from the discount shopping back in Finland. A couple of days ago temptation won me over when I walked into the Selected store, and found this basic v-neck cotton tee for just 5 Euros. I'm still quite proud of myself managing to avoid all the alluring window displays with the huge discount signs beckoning you in "just to check the selection", yet you end up buying something you'd never get with the full price. Therefore I was happy to find something so simple and useful, instead of something you can just wear once or twice. So last night, this great new find transferred into a very comfortable party ensemble, when I paired it with ripped jeans and my dear old platform booties. Even though I danced like a madman, the shirt kept me comfortable and cool in a very hot and sweaty environment. It just might be the simple element I was missing in my wardrobe all along.

Blazer: Zara
T-shirt: Selected Femme
Jeans: Cheap Monday / DIY slashing
Shoes: Bullboxer
Bag: Zara

Darlin don't you go and cut your hair

After a long hesitation and weighing the pros and the cons, I finally cut my hair! Not trying to jump on the "Hollywood bob" bandwagon or anything but shorter hair just feels so fresh right now. It has a touch of Debbie, a bit of Pat, a hint of Karen and a slice of Siouxie; all pretty powerful ladies of their decade. I can't decide if shorter hair makes me look younger or more mature but it's definitely edgy in a classy way; just like my style.

Speaking of style, I feel like I'm already in my fall uniform by wearing pants and these muted colors. I blame it on the weather; one moment it's raining and sunny the next, so you never know how to dress accordingly. I usually end up wearing either too much or too little. Can't they just decide if it's summer or not, for Pete's sake?

T-shirt: Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair
Cardigan: H&M
Pants: Monki
Shoes: Vagabond
Bag: Saddler
Necklace: Ann Demeulemeester

Agent orange

This weekend the town has been pretty much dead so I've been cleaning, rollerblading, watching movies, cutting my hair, and eating tons of candy and other not so healthy foods. What is it that when you don't go out, you have to compensate it with some other kind of treats? Perhaps I just need some action around me, even though I like these long quiet weekends once in awhile. I could be just addicted to partying, either way.

A sudden drop of temperature required to cover up some more, so I've been lounging all weekend in this outfit consisting of skinny mom jeans and a loose sweater (both from Stockholm). The sweater reminded me so much of my elementary school years back in the 90's that solely for the nostalgia reasons, I had to get it. Okay, I have to admit that the fact that it looked really great on a cute Swedish boy behind the sales register, did encourage me to get it just a wee bit more. But that's just between you and me, OK?

Sweater: Monki
Tank top: Selected Femme
Jeans: Cheap Monday
Sandals: Zara
Ring: Kalevala Koru

I got a heat wave burning in my heart

This morning I was so sad to say goodbye to the heat wave that had been delighting us for the past two weeks. I have to admit though, that during the hot season it's really difficult to pull off a decent outfit because everything comfortable looks rather boring. Fashion wise I'm more of a fall/winter person anyway, so my closet is filled with color black, sweaters, cardigans, wool and other thick materials. Nothing truly suitable for crazy hot summer days like these.

Luckily, I was able to find something really light weight and decent summer wear while I was in Stockholm. So, it's no wonder my outfit for the past three days has been this loose, sleeveless button-up dress from MTWTFSS paired with relaxed as ever cycling shorts from the same line. I fell so much in love with the shorts that I had to get a another pair in black too. Finally I have something in closet that can be worn during those extremely hot days. So, heat wave, bring it on!

Shirt dress: MTWTFSS
Cycling shorts: MTWTFSS
Shoes: Vagabond
Bag: Zara
Necklace: Ann Demeulemeester