HAIR

I miss my long hair! I should most probably tuck my hair into a turban with oil and keep it there all summer long hidden from evil curlers and heat rollers, sun and dirt. And bleach. I wonder if my locks will ever grow longer again.

WAITING ON MAY

soon the SS10 collection by andreja bistricic will be available at ostblock.

andreja bistricic is a fashion designer. she grew up in croatia , studying fashion design at the faculty for textile and technology zagreb,before she moved to london to study at central saint martins college of art and design. her graduation collection (deconstruct my heart) was based on deconstruction ,she wanted to understand and to explore the philopsophy of fabric and the link between simple and complicated ,so she concentrated on cutting tehniques as her gratest playground …

POLKA DOT PENCIL SKIRT

Skirt - Olivia Rouge
Tights - Norlyn's PinPoint
Top - Freddies of Pinewood

I had the idea of a polka dot pencil skirt but there was no such to be found anywhere - so I had to have one made for me! Olivia Rouge did a great job (and I wiggle like hell in it)!

WE'LL MEET AGAIN

It's great with a week off after two weeks of working and doing shows. And as usual, as summer is getting closer, more fun things happen and my social life is back in business - Eddi and I are going to see Cash-We'll meet again at Viirus tonight. Later meet up Ina & Mr.T at Sture Jazz.

The play isn't really about Johnny Cash, I'm not sure what it is about actually but it will be a lot of Cahs songs there. And the guy looks an awful lot like Cash!

SZIDONIA SZEP SS10 AT OSTBLOCK

SCHLICHT, SCHWARZ & KANTIG

OSTBLOCK & KOSTUME No2 AT KINKI


photo: pascal grob

here is the link to the text about the kostume no2 fashion show.

TUESDAY IS LITTLE WEDNESDAY

I'm tonight's guest on Lilla Onsdag on FST5. It's hosted by André and Thomas.

You can watch it online afterwards but only in Finland (or from a Finnish proxy, even though I've never succeeded watching other countries' shows that way...).

THE VINTAGE FAIR IN TALLINN

So the main reason of our day trip yesterday was to visit the second annual vintage/retro fair in Tallinn. I was a bit curious on what was to be found there; soviet memorabilia, pre-WWII items or the same kind of stuff we are used to over here? I knew there'd be furniture, which I was looking forward to that the most, so we came by car.

Held in a good location, the fair was rather small but sympathetic. It had a little bit of everything; clothes, accessories, record, the usual this-and-that, but maybe not the most selected range of vintage items. I was positively surprised about the furniture however - there were really nice pieces. And everybody was really nice.


Here we are posing with wonderful Margit, the organizer, and with the nice lady that sold the furniture. ( I have no idea what's up with my posture there though. I look like a bag o potato. A bag of potato in a nice dress though...)


This handsome young man served us free Martinis.


And you don't say No to that. I wouldn't have said no to that fifties' shelf in the background either, but I had to leave it behind.


This little black chair however followed Ina home. (It's a good thing we actually got something bigger too, since the fair was just around the corner to the harbour and the car would've been totally useless otherwise :)


And we got that cream coloured stool. I didn't know it then, but it will go perfectly along with an old make up table I bid on and won for a bargain today!

Star blogger Q&A- Stylestalker

I caught up with Rachel, half of the design duo 'Stylestalker' which she works on with her friend Sue-Ann to ask her 10 quick fashion and design related questions.

If you want to find out more about her check out her fantastic blog here and her shopping website here.
And if you want to take part in a Star Blogger Q&A just send me an email on amore-fashion@hotmail.co.uk and I will get back to you.

1. How did you both meet?

We met at uni, Susie was the best dressed girl in the course, so
naturally I sat next to her. We spent a lot more time skipping off to
the library to read Vogue Italia, than we did doing our assignments.

2. What inspired you on your latest collection "Midnight?"

Midnight was inspired by bringing the past and the future together. We
borrowed inspiration from the ‘supers’ era of the 90’s with it’s
strong shoulder silhouette, as well as the modern gothic revival and
combined it with the futuristic movement characterized by strong
angular shapes and delicate metallics.

3. Out of all your designs which one is your favourite?

The conspiracy dress is my all time favourite. (pictured above)

4. How do you usually come up with ideas together for designs?

First we search high and low for inspiration. We scour runway,
magazines, blogs, vintage stores, movies, museums… stalk down old
grannies on the street if they have an amazing hat…anything really.
We mash up all the information and spew out ideas, which we bounce off
each other. We both have to love every piece that makes it into the
collection.

5. What was the last thing you bought?

Topshop suede wedges (I'm in London right now so I can go straight to
the source woohoo!)

6. What is your favourite item in your wardrobe?

Aside from stylestalker- a vintage Jean Paul Gaultier laser cut trench
coat that I picked up on a recent trip to Hong Kong for only $50!

7. Who are your style icons?

Carey Mulligan, Georgia Jagger, Jen Brill, Lady Gaga

8. What are your latest favourite trends?

I love all trends. Sue-Ann and I will try anything

9. Who are your favourite designers?

Alaia, Pucci, Julian McDonald.

10. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Too many to count!

TO TALLINN AND BACK

This morning I put on my blue bow shoes and bicycle dress and headed south with Eddi and Ina (who this time left her Mr.T at home).


We took the ferry across the Finnish Bay to Tallinn. ( It's not as serious as it looks :)


Eddi taking picures with his iPhone.


The result (hipstamatic for ze iphone. Works quite well, even though it gave me zombie arms here). The whole scenario to be seen here.


...And some more results. As you can see from me and Ina, the sub-theme of the day was taking photos.


The actual theme of the day was the Tallinn vintage and retro culture fair! Evergreens in Estionian, free Martinis and a lot of desireable furniture. I'll get in on that some more a bit later. You can also read more about the fair on Ina's blog.


Afterwards we went to Kompressor for stuffed pancakes and cherry juice (Cherry juice! That's something they don't sell at home!). And btw as you can see I cut the sleeves of the dress into cap sleeves as planned.


Mushrooms, blue cheese and garlic sour cream -they sure now how tho make pancakes in the Baltics! (and in Hungary too btw, even though different there).
I go to Tallinn about once or twice a year and have the pancakes at Kompressori on almost every visit. But I still always forget how to find the place, almost give up and then bump in to it by accident. Every time.




Coffee.



And then it was time to take the boat home. View from the window.


It was a fun day! (And we were almost colour-coordinated. Bring in the tuulipuvut! ;)

(my dress is vintage, the shoes from ModCloth and the small beret form Molla Mills, Eddis shirt is from VintageEija's and Ina's vintage dress is from Sivletto, if you're interested in those facts.)

VARFÖR? DÄRFÖR!

My life is full of things right now - my calendar is booked until December (! or Februay 2011 to be precise); we have arenovation coming up and otherwise there are a lot of big things going on in my mind. Sometimes it helps to erase all of those and concentrate on something totally different and less important. Like a pair of shoes (well at least it's a great excuse isn't it). So here's a wellfare country problem for you:

I spotted a pair of mint green Vagabond pumps online and directly dismissed the thought of buying them as I already have plenty more than enough of shoes, but then it struck me - is this it with the shoes? Does this mean I just won't get any new shoes, like, eh, ever? Then I happily reminded myself that my old rule still apply; no new shoes unless in a new colour. (It's not an absolute rule since one is entitled to have more than one pair of black and red shoes, at least). Plus surely every woman needs a pair of heels matching her refrigerator? Well, at least if it is mint green!


Now the only problem is stupid Vagabond Finland didn't have the guts to ever take in the shoes in this colour to the stores. And it seems they are sold out everywhere in my size online. So now a lot of happy size 37 bitches all over Europe are running around with my shoes on them (how dare they!).

This bugs me out like hell. I like the shoes, tried them on in black; they're comfy and has the same shape as a pair of 40's pumps I got from my grandmother but were too small, but they are not the most fantastic shoes in the world. Although right now it still feels like a mission for me to get them. Why? Well - just because. Because I can't have them, which made me reflect over the fact how easy it is to get things these days; I think we are quite accustomed to getting what we want as consumers (unless you loose a bidding on ebay of course :) Of course I do not always get what I want, not even when it comes to those things that money can buy as I am not made of it and do set some boundaries on how I use the money I have (yes I know it's hard to believe when reading this blog...). But a lot of things are so easy to get nowadays, nothing but that magical little click away and off to the post office we go to pick it up or pop by the store. And now I can't have these! Damn.

I will most likely get over this great loss rather soon, but until then, if anyone spots a pair of these green ash palma pumps in size 37 let me now ok? (Or I might just buy them for that German shop that carry them in size 38 and use them with socks or have the clobber somehow shrink them a bit. I can be quite persistent :)

and

the winner

is...

The Sock Theory giveaway has ended and the winner has been drawn. This time luck landed on commenter no.8; Rubyredruca - who I'm sure will look lovely strutting around in her tuxedo stirr-ups! Congrats!

And for all you others, remember you can still get the discount from Sock Theory (see the banner in my right column) - and don't worry, there will be more chances of winning something small and lovely soon again!
♥

Oh Agyness what have you done?

I know that your fantastic peroxide blonde cropped 'do led to millions of wannabes copying you but that didnt mean that you had go and to shave it all off.

Henry why didnt you stop her from taking such drastic action?

Minimalism? Or just plain old boring?

A whole bunch of bloggers, fashion editors and street style photographers are going crazy for 'minimalism' at the moment.

And every time the word 'minimalism' is used I will bet you that it is followed by some remark about how amazing Celine is. That Phoebe Philo, who used to work at Chloe, and is now responsible for the french label is bringing basics back (with a ginormous price tag) and in particular is credited with that brown leather mini skirt from the Spring Summer 2010 collection.
White shirts, simple tees in neutral shades, nude work trousers and chunky shoes-blah blah blah I could go on- these are the Celine aesthetics in a nutshell.

But to me it all looks so darn boring.
Where is the colour? The prints and the florals? Its summer after all which means that it's time to experiment a bit more because you are not confined to knits and massive jumpers of winter.
I understand that she works in designing wardrobe staples, in particular for working women but do basics have to be so boring?
The brown leather skirt, made famous for being in the equally pared down and simple advertising campaign is nice and all, but nothing more than that.
For the amount of money that these plain clothes have you could buy something truly fabulous which could make you stand out from the crowd.
Why could you settle with the same old boring when you could have the brilliant and unique instead?

As ever let me know what you think,

Beth Ruby xoxo

BUTTERFLIES AND BILLY ROCK

Every little chance I have to get myself all dolled up is welcome during a period of almost constant harbour work - I spend most of the day there in boots and workwear. So even though knowing it would get all painful the day after, as I have early mornings going on, I put on one of my new dresses and joined Ina (who now has a blog btw): & her Mr.T to Storyville's Billy Rock Station Club to see the Go Getters. A great night indeed, but one does get punished for dancing to that sinful rock n'roll music all night long if one has to get up at five the next morning. (And furthermore in not-yet-worn-shoes. Well, at least I've worn them in now:)

Here I am showing off my new dress. The pattern is very strong, I'm not sure about what I think of it but I like it all-in-all anyway. (Well of course since I bought it.)


And showing it off a bit more; yes, it has a big hem.

The shoes are these ones and the bag is vintage from my gran.

KOSTUME READER

Mad Men

I love Mad Men.
Set in 1960s New York, the television drama series follows Don Draper, the "biggest ad man in the business" and the ultimate anti-hero as he works in a competitive advertising agency on Madison Avenue.
It is superbly directed and every single frame is in itself a stunning photograph.
A snapshot from another era which I wish I could visit.
The brilliant series 3 is over, so I am pining after the next...

(Screenshots taken by me from the BBC i-player)

Joan Holloway (above- played by Christina Hendricks) is my absolute favourite character. She has killer lines and costumes. But it's also the fact that she hit her husband over the head with a vase of flowers when he was being rude. You don't get cooler than that.

Beth Ruby xoxo