Smells like teen spirit

Yesterday I had a rather grungey day second hand shopping in this floral dress spiced up with layers and combat boots. I got this dress back in 2006 from a Goodwill store in California, knowing that 90's would definitely be the next step after the whole blown out 80's boom. For some reason I've only worn this dress a few times which is truly a pity because every time I do, I get a lot of compliments from people (particularly from men -> no granny association = weird!). Wearing it now I felt a bit bad that I haven't shown this piece the light of day all summer, especially when in my mind floral patterns above all, are so tied up to the season. Well, there are a few summer days left, so I will make sure you will see more of this dress very soon. Especially, when my next purchase will be the white Dr. Martens.

So, last night this grungey outfit turned also into my party ensemble at Club Vintage's 90's night. It was once again rather nostalgic to dance to the old hits in a gear that makes you feel like you stepped right out of an episode of My So Called Life, and would be heading to Jordan Catalano's band practice. If you are not familiar with the TV-show, I recommend getting to know Angela, Rayanne, Rickie, Brian and Jordan, merely for the inspirational reasons. I promise you won't regret it!

Dress: Second hand
Leather jacket: JSFN
Hooded vest: Two percent 2%
Cycling shorts: MTWTFSS
Combat boots: Kenkärepo
Studded bag: Zara
Ring: Kalevala Koru

Primavera

Sometimes the inspiration for the daily outfits can be found from the most bizzarre places. Friday night's party ensemble got its idea from the renaissance style, having my favorite painter Botticelli's beautiful masterpiece "Primavera" in my mind. The painting pictures women wearing empire line dresses, big necklaces, and wavy hair and Mercury with his gladiator sandals; exactly the same elements which you can find from my outfit. I should use paintings as an inspiration source more often.

Dress: H&M Trend
Pleather pants: H&M
Sandals: Bronx
Clutch: Vintage
Jewellery: Kalevala Koru

It so happens that Primavera means spring in Italian, and due today's sunshine burst, it finally seems like spring is REALLY here. Fingers crossed that it will continue like this from now on.

DIY: Balmain inspired bleached jeans

For the past week I've been living in a chlorine infested apartment making experiements with jeans and bleach. I had to get myself a pair of bleach jeans due to Balmains spring/summer 2009 collection constantly burning in my mind. Originally I started with a pair of blue jeans but they got too white in the process so I had to change my plans and use a pair of black jeans instead (Balmain also did it). It took a few mess ups, swearing and sweating to get it right but now I'm extremely pleased with the outcome. May I introduce: my very own Balmain inspired bleached jeans with ripped knees (warning: a picture overload coming up!).

Wool vest: Pour
Long sleeve: Marlene Schön by Ellos
Jeans: Cheap Monday, bleach effect DIY
Shoes: Bullboxer
Ring: Kalevala Koru

The jeans are easy to transform from day to evening, as I wore the first outfit yesterday to meet up with the über stylish blogger Sugar Kane. We grabbed a cup of coffee and it seemed like the hours just flew by while talking about blogging, fashion and music. We seem to have very similar taste and views of life. In the evening I changed the outfit to be more suitable for going out, and combined the jeans with a wrinkled black tee (new from Stockholm!), studded belt and cuffs.

Tee: MTWTFSS
Jeans: Cheap Monday, bleach effect DIY
Blazer: H&M via my bf's closet
Shoes: Urban Originals
Cuffs and belt: Leather Heaven
Ring: Kalevala Koru

The original Balmain jeans are going for about 1400 Euros but bleached jeans are very easy to do at home, so I say save your pennies and DIY! For those who are interested, here is how I did it:

1. Get the materials: You will need a pair of jeans (mine were black), household bleach (chlorine), a spray bottle and rubber gloves.

2. Put on the rubber gloves and pour the cholrine into the spray bottle. If you want a more lighter effect, mix some water into the bleach. If you're looking for more stronger effect, you should get some stronger bleach than the household one (check the local hardware or pool supplies store).

3. Wet your jeans with water and place them on the floor. If you are not doing this on a tiled bathroom floor like I did, I recommend putting something underneath the jeans, ie. plastic wrapper or cardboard to avoid any bleach staining your floor.

4. Spray the chlorine on the desired spots. The stronger the bleach, the faster you can see the bleach results. The results on my jeans were visible in seconds. If you have mixed water in your bleach, be patient as the results might show about 20 minutes later. Spray more bleach to get a more stronger effect on the desired areas.

5. Wash your jeans. I washed mine first by hand and then put them in the washing machine.

You have to be very careful when handling the bleach because it will easily stain the clothes you are wearing. Even a drop of bleach can do damage, so I recommend not to wear your most expensive clothes while playing with bleach.

Edit: If you want to rip the knee area like I did, just get some really rough sandpaper and sand (rub) it on those areas you want the holes to appear. It's hard work but it pays off. :)

Wristful of cuffs

It seems that I'm not the only one who has been obsessing about getting a pile of rough wrist candy after seeing images of the ever-so-stylish Elle Style Editor Kate Lanphear rocking tons of iron around her wrists. Her simple, androgyne aestethics with a touch of roughness and rock attitude really make my heart skip a beat, and I could easily name her as one of the most influential style icons of today. I guess the similtude of our styles is what makes me attracted to her, as I find the same aesthethics being the corner stones of my personal style.

Picture from Jak&Jill

With Kate's chunky jewellery in my mind, I went to a store called Leather Heaven which I knew would carry all things made of leather and metal, and came back with a pyramid stud cuff and spiked "rat" cuff in my shopping bag (ps. now I'm planning on ordering this baby). Last night they served as my faithful wrists of fury when I needed some space on the dance floor of the fully packed local indie club. Perhaps I did look a bit rough and tough and dangerous with my new jewellery, pleather pants and heavy makeup. In a good way, of course.

Blazer: MTWTFSS
Wrinkled tee: MTWTFSS (new from Stockholm!!)
Pleather pants: H&M
Shoes: Wedins
Bag: Second hand
Cuffs: Leather Heaven
Rings: Kalevala Koru & Silver Rabbits via eBay

Fashion blast from the past

One of my favorite threads on The Fashionspot forums is the Vintage Ads Archive which features advertising campaigns from the past (circa 60's- 80')s. Looking at these images just proves the fact that fashion really moves in cycles. It seems that the designers of today are just recycling the old designs; I can spot Stella McCartney, Balmain, Givenchy, Alexander Wang and Ann Demeulemeester snapping ideas from the images below. The funny thing is, without the crazy hair and makeup I could probably rock all these beautiful outfits this fall, especially that crazy leather dress.

All images from TFS

Purple love

I was browsing though my favorite street style website, the Stockholm Streetstyle. They are organizing a competition to win the cutest little Acne bag. I feel that this purple baby definitely needs to find its way into my closet because I have a serious thing for purple accessories this fall, and it would complement my collection of purple tights, hat, necklace, and bracelet. If you are a blogger, you can take part in the competition on their website.

Since I am suffering from a flu and have to stay at home, no daily outfits for you today, sorry. I do have some pics from the weekend's festivities but I don't wanna post them until I get more pictures from the fashion event I attended (they should be up soon). I hope these inspirational pictures from Stockholm Streetstyle will warm your day up like they are warming up mine.

PS. All of a sudden I have the urge to get an oversized sweater, a Kim Wilde inspired long black blazer with rolled up sleeves, and a long dress for winter...

Edit! Saturday's pics are available so I'm able to post outfit pics!!!

All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey

I have officially kissed the summer goodbye here in Finland. The leaves are changing colors from green to yellow and falling off the trees. Since when did autumn come in August?

Although I would have wanted summer to last just a wee bit longer, autumn does have its upside: The fashion. Fall/winter collections are always much more inspiring than its predecessor spring/summer season. One of my fall favorites is Burberry Prorsum's pre-fall collection. I love how they mixed knee length dresses with heavy layering, making the outfits look warm yet chic.

Source: style.com

Due to the sudden drop of temperature, yesterday's outfit was inspired by the Burberry look. When it gets colder, all it needs is a jacket on top, some mittens and thicker tights or stockings.

I went to look for a fedora style hat from H&M but ended up buying this horse riding inspired wool hat. When I came home, I realized I unconsciously had Burberry Prorsum in mind while shopping.

Skirt: Second hand
Shirt: H&M
Knit vest: Ellos
Belt: Second hand
Wool cap: H&M
Shoes: Global Essentials

Back to black

Some of you might be aware that I write shopping tips as a freelancer "style agent" for a Finnish website called Tyylitaivas. We were asked to pick the top products of the fall from their partner Ellos which is a Swedish based online store. For my entry, I decided to make a collage of all the things I have personally on my wish list from Ellos. Since the collage ended up looking pretty cool, and it took my time and effort to create it, I thought I'd post it here as well. It's my first collage on this blog, let me know what you think. In the future I will tag collages with "wishlist".

The collage actually inspired me so much, that I wanted to create an outfit from my own closet with the same "theme". Fall is here, at it's back to black, folks.

Skirt: H&M
Mc-jacket: My boyfriend's
Shirt: Lindex
Shoes: Wedins
Bag: Saddler
Rose ring: Stockmann

Later on in the day my boyfriend and I went out to eat some Indian food and I changed the shoes to my cherry bon bons to give the outfit a splash of color. Can't be that dark all the time, right?

Shoes: Global Essentials

Tampere Street Style

Finally it's available! A few days ago my boyfriend and I were pictured for a new website called Tampere Streetstyle which features street style from my home city Tampere. Even though I am a huge fan of Hel-looks, it's really refreshing to finally see some new faces. Although, most of these faces seem odly familiar...

I don't know how I managed to make that smirk on my face...

...and of course Ranna is here ;)

I hope this website will be as good in the future, too...