Outfits from the archive - 2015

I have been away from the blogosphere for quite a while, but I have still taken quite a lot of outfit pictures. So here are some from the archive from last year. I was experimenting quite a lot with color, texture, more romantic items, with contrasts.... Hope you enjoy!

An early summer outfit. Pretty basic, but I really like that blouse (H&M)! Such a great pop of color, and can be either festive or casual... Here I went for casual. 

Another basic one where I really like the blouse/top/thingie. This one is so whispy and romantic! The necklace is a raw smoky quartz point.

Unusually colorful for me this dress... Doesn't show very well in the picture because of a lack of natural light, but it is a rather bright yellow with a floral pattern in red, white and green. Kind of a bit too happy for my tastes, but with a leather skirt underneath, a leather belt and a bird skull necklace it feels more me.

Here is one of my favorite blouses! A silky mustard colored one with a paisley pattern. Big sleeves, accentuated shoulders, crimped waist and mandarin collar, what's not to like! Here with leather belt and  skinny fit pants with a geometrical pattern. I really liked the contrast between the paisley and the geometrical patterns, and because the patterns are so subtle it didn't feel like too much pattern going on.

A classic outfit that I usually end up wearing sometime around the holidays. There is just something about the skirt and the flower brooch that feels very festive! :)

And lastly, here is what I wore for Halloween! It's not often I get to go all out these days, especially not at work, but the library where I work hosted a Halloween At the Library-type event so we in the staff got to dress up. The library was lit only by candle light and I got to walk around with a lantern and scare little kids! So much fun!!

Most of this outfit has been seen before on the blog, it is rather a classic, but I still wanted to share!

I seldom wear these striped socks anymore, but they felt quite witchy and I think I was going for steampunkish-witchy-ghost librarian or something...

Yum, those sleeves!!! And the waistcoat too!

Note the neat collar on the shirt, love that detail! The bronze bird skull necklace is a classic that I can never grow tired of.  I also wore my bird claw ring, but I don't have a picture of that. And I finally have a proper chain for my pocket watch!

And here is the outfit with more Halloween details added. You obviously can't see a lot because we got makeup and final prep done at work and it was night by the time I got home. Anyway, messy bun, pale powdered face, foundation on lips to make them pale too... and then some spider web on the hat. :)

Looks rather spooky doesn't it?

How was your style year? What styles did you dig? What didn't you wear? What inspired you? What did you wear for Halloween (yeah, I know I'm late...)?

Outfit - All black texture play

Lots of textures in this outfit! Wool, leather, suede, the raw silk-like texture of the shirt and even some forged iron jewelry. Shirt and coat are thrifted, pants and gloves are from H&M.

Do you ever wear all black? Do you like playing with textures in your outfits?

Btw, I just wrote a bit about my personal style, kind of a profile. You can have a look at that in the tab at the top of the blog marked My Style Profile. It has a nifty diagram and everything! :)

Autumn Outfit + Rambling

I have noticed that my default style for autumn seems to be quite steampunk inspired... I just delight in digging out my vests and my pocket watches when summer is at an end! This is an outfit I wore the other day. Kind of steampunk, kind of contemporary, very practical. I feel very stylish and elegant wearing this! I love the different textures and the different shades of dark grey/black! It's quite androgynous too, which is always a plus! Scent of the day was Jeke by Slumberhouse. I stand by my words, Jeke is a steampunk kind of perfume!

The hat, shirt, vest and pants are all wardrobe staples that have been seen on this blog before. The jacket/blazer is one of my best finds ever! I bought it at a flea market for 30 swedish crowns, which is about 3.5-4 €... virtually nothing! And it fits as if it was tailor-made for me!

My new brooch suits this outfit very well imho!

My favorite gunmetal pocket watch, mechanical with the movement visible both in the front and in the back! It keeps time reliably (some of these cheap pocket watches really don't) and only needs winding about once every 36 hours.

Quirky view of my outfit! ;)

My best pair of shoes! I love how elegant they are while still being practical! I like the pointier than normal toe (for this type of shoe) and my feet look smaller than they actually are in these! They seem to be quite good quality too, I've had them several years and worn them a lot and still they look no different from the day I bought them! The shoelaces are a bit too long though...

In other news the history society in my home village is organizing a class about tule weaving/plaiting that I am taking part in. Tule is a type of sedge that has traditionally been used here to make mats, shoe insoles and various other practial or decorative items. So far I have only made a couple of bracelets and a new handle for one of my teapots. Next time I am making insoles, wish me luck!

I found this teapot in the garbage room of my appartment complex in Uppsala. It was pretty but lacked a handle. Now it has a handle again! I am rather proud of it! I also really like the matching but mismatched cup and saucer combo! Am I strange when I feel like my tea cup has to match my teapot?

My tiny village has a very active community life. We have a youth society, a history society, a historical motor society and a kind of community center where the latter two of these societíes are based (the youth society has its own house). My father is active in some way in all of these societies and I am getting more and more into it too, mostly in the history society. The word history society is a bit misleading actually but I couldn't find a english word for hembygdsförening. The swedish word more literally means home region society or even roots society. I feel strongly about my village and my roots here (my family has ben here as long as this village has existed, literally since the land rose from the sea) so being part of the history society and learning/conservating the traditions of my village feels important!

Friday the 13th Outfits

I actually ventured out the the door twice on Friday AND I managed to take some photos of both my outfits. Sadly I am still lacking a full length mirror so you get cut off legs...

The first outfit is one I love! The black velvet dress is a wardrobe staple that you have seen before in a couple of outfits. The golden/amber skirt was too small for a friend so she gave it to me. It is a balloon type piece, but not very fluffy. It is longer in the back than in the front and is rather ridiculously tiny in the waist. I must have gotten slightly thinner though, I remember it being a bit too tight on me. I haven't worn it much as I have found it difficult to match it with other things in my wardrobe (and a bit too tight). But now that I have found this combination I love it! It matches my amber colored key rosary necklace perfectly! :D

I wore this outfit for a trip to the library. I met the librarian (or rather library assistant) whose place I am going to take when she goes on maternity leave in about a month and we talked a bit about that. I'm going to actually have a real job in a month, a job that will be almost full time and that will last for more than a few months. This has never happened to me before. It seems the local library has decided that they like me and hopefully they will continue to supply me with part time and short term jobs until they can finally give me a permanent position. 

I also borrowed some books about preserves and some other recipe books, two with cookie and cake recipes and one with soups! Then I bought beer and, finally, beer glasses! Now I have two pretty tulip shaped glasses to drink my awesome beers from! I had to try out a glass of course and the glass was good but the beer I tried was kind of "meh". It was Achel 8 Blond. Really pretty color and pretty lacy foam though! I checked ratings and reviews of it online and it is apparently a well liked and reputable beer. And I can't really find anything to complain strongly about. I just found it a bit watery, not as full-bodied as I would have liked, and I like my beers a bit sweeter and spicier than this... Aaand that concludes the beer review part of this blog post. ;)

My second outfit of the day was this one. All itmes here, except for the shirt, are wardrobe staples that I think you have seen before. The shirt is my most recent clothing find. Sometimes I find goodies where I would least expect it. This time at Gina Tricot. But I do really like the color and shape of this shirt. I always have my eyes open for clothing with a color somewhere between brown/red/pink. This one is a brownish pink that can't really be called pink...  A truely indefinable color! It makes me think of blush... I was afraid that the shirt would be too ordinary, but a top hat, some forged iron jewelry and pleather pants works wonders!

Oh, and the perfume of the day was Slumberhouse Sova. I LOVE Sova!! It is my new favorite! Hay, hops, immortelle, all good and sweet without being foody! Smells a bit like a non foody curry in a decidedly good way! Talk about a full bodied and sweet scent! I think my taste in beer echoes my taste in perfume... My favorite beer (De Molen Bommen & Granaten) kind of reminds me of Sova! ;)

In conclusion, I lived through another Friday the 13th without any bad luck at all! 

Outfit - Basic black semi-steampunk!

The last Tuesday of every month I meet up with a gang of geeks at a student pub. These guys (yes, mostly guys) are originally members of a fantasy community, but that community is mostly dead, and these meet-ups have nothing to do with fantasy nowadays. These guys also share a passion for beer, and they have infected me with it. I´m not a geek yet, but I have definitely aquired a taste for strong Belgian beers, especially Trappist beers! (Though a new favorite, that I tried this Tuesday, is a Dutch beer, Bommen & Granaten by Brouwerij De Molen! It instantly replaced the La Trappe Quadruple that has been my favorite for a while.) I used to hate beer. I still hate most beer but I now know that beer can be so many things, some awesome, some awful... Beer is rather like perfume actually!

Anyway, geekery aside, I wore this outfit! Mostly previously featured staples from my wardrobe. I don´t think I have raved about these fake leather pants though! They fit like they were painted on, but are still comfortable! I feel kind of sexy when I wear them! The black shirt is the only clothing item I found during the weekend's Beyond Retro raid. It is a rather simple black shirt but beautifully pleated. And the sleeves are    huge, just like I want them. The knee high boots are also a new addition to my wardrobe. I bought them this autumn, when I realised that last winter's boots are falling to pieces... I loved those boots so it was rather sad. These boots were the best I could find for less than 50€, which was my budget at the time.  I would have a better picture of them, but my camera battery died... Suffice to say thay have a two inch heel, a decorative sipper down the outside and a couple of decorative buttons. I wanted them as simple as possible and they just don´t make any nice plain boots anymore, they all have all kinds of frills and buckles and whatnot... The necklace is one I have made myself from a key that I bought cheaply at a flea market.

This look is very me as some of you might note. I have made the vest and the large sleeves my trademark... and the hat of course. I feel very comfortable in this kind of semi-steampunk everyday outfit! What kind of outfits do you feel most comfortable in? What are your trademarks? (Any beer geeks out there?)

Price tag: about 80€, excluding the hat.

Wish list: same old, same old!

P.S. Maybe I should move my Egon Schiele prints around a bit so I don´t have that (admittedly nice-looking) butt in every outfit picture... Just a thought.