CANDY STRIPE SAILORETTE

Sailor Tie Top - Tara Starlet (I love love love), Culottes - old H&M,
Lace kneesocks - Norlyn, Shoes - Fabbri

My dear friend K just turned 28 and held a tea party today with lots and lots of cakes, macaroons and mini cupcakes. All home made, all delicious.

K loves pink and candy so I gave her a gift with pink and candy on my mind. And I dressed up thinking pink and candy. And 1930's, sailors and sailorettes.

ANSWERS vol.1

I don't like to read long texts on a screen. I kind of of think that applies to everyone else (even though I know that it really doesn't) so I mostly try to keep my writings short. In order to avoid too much scrolling I'll answer the questions received so far now alrady.

Here's some Soft Sunday music to go along with the reading (or scrolling in case you don't give a F):




-I have always wondered what it is you really work with?
I work as a freelancing graphic designer, I do random commissions, but I also frequently work with a textile and apparel company together with my friend K. We do product planning, sketches and package design. I also work in the harbor as a cargo supervisor; we load and unload ships and I see that everything goes as planned. It's kind of blue collar.

Have you lived in Budapest? What did you do there.
-I studied graphic design in BP in 2003 at MIE; Magyar Iparmûvészeti Egyetem, which I believe is nowadays called MOME. My mentor told me "Budapest has a great nightlife, so don't take too many courses". I took his advide.

Any photoshop secrets or other editing tips and tricks you'd like to share ;)?
-Remember to save versions in between! And well, play around with adjustement layers etc. You learn a lot by doing and trying. And google up and read threads and forums.

How do you take such gorgeous pictures?!
-Heh, by taking many. Out of ten there should be one usable :)

Do you use hair extensions or is it ur real hair?
-Nips, it's all my own!

What's my favourite
Food: I like a lot, but tapas and meze dishes with good wine always works for me! And sushi.
Band : I used to say Interpol but nowadays I've distanced from it. I like rautalanka (and surf) the most, so bands that play that well! Most people find it rather geeky :D
Book : perhaps Orwell's 1984
Movie : Depends, it used to be A Clockwork Orange.
I don't really have a "number one" of anything, I like so many different things in different ways.

Do you work out?
-Too little these days - I used to work out six times a week at the gym, with yoga and savate (you get a little manic by doin it too often so that's not good either). Nowadays I go swimming about once a week and then try to squeeze in some hot yoga once or twice a month... I'm trying to make time for savate again, but haven't done it even once this year.

What languages do you speak?

-Swedish (mother toungue), Finnish, English, French, German. Some elementary Hungarian that I keep on forgetting more and more about. Since I speak Swedish I can get by on Norwegian and Dansih, it kind of comes as a bonus. I'd like to say Estonian too but I'm so bad at it I'm not sure it counts.

What do you usually eat during the day?

-Sandwiches

What is your favourite bar&club in Helsinki?

-For easy dining and wine Bar No9, otherwise perhaps Bar Loose. Right now all places seem a but dull. Autumn depression perhaps.

Are you one a diet or think what you are eating?
-
I eat whatever I want but in general rather healthy. I always have to have some uncooked vegetables with every meal. It feels great not to avoid anything anylonger, I don't care about carbs or calories.

Are you vegetarian?

-Yes, I've been quite a strict one but I have fish and eggs nowadays.

When did you became so stylish, have you always dressed that way? (oh thanks :)
-I've had different styles, some more some less stylish I guess but I've always paid attention to both details and the whole.

What kind of style you had when you were a teenager?
-
Black black black and slightly bohemian, after which I became something of an arty psychedelic hippie girl.

Height & weight?

-165 cm, I don't weight myself that often but something around 63 kilos I think.

How did you get the idea to start performing burlesque / How did you get involved in Burlesque performance?
-I've always loved the look of burlesque but it wasn't until I saw it live for the first time a couple of years ago (and Paula who was there with me told me "you have such a burlesque body!") I started thinking "I could do this!". Friends and friends of friends were also interested and we put together our group. Burlesque is new in Finland and the scene small, so it was easy to join in, we were definitaly in the right place at the right time!

What educations do you have?

-I'm a Bachelor of Arts, my major was graphic design. I studied painting before that for a year.

Do you have a boyfriend?
-Yes.

What's yout name?
-Ulrika

I would love to know the story behind your "förlåt mig" tattoo
-I took it after my previous relationship, when we broke off our engagement. It's says forgive me for his sake as well as my own.

Do you promise to answer me if I send you an email and ask about where to go and what to see in Helsinki if I ever end up there?
-Yes. But it might take some time before I answer it and you can remind me if it takes too long :)

How do you manage such a hectic lifestyle with freelancing, sewing, your job at the harbor, and burlesque and still manage to -look absolutely fabulous? (thanks again:)
Basically I never have any free time. Even if I take days off there is always something I should be working with... The good thing with my harbor job, and one of the main reasons why I'm still there, is that I have every third week free but still get paid for the whole month and have full vacations! That helps and also makes it pretty hard to quit.

Have you ever seen the comic Fritzi Ritz?
-
No, but now I have :D

Any tips on how to get the lipstick stay on your lips and how to avoid chapping at the same time?
-Hmm, I have sensitive skin and my lips get dry or irritated from time to time. I wear a fat cream from the pharmacy (like Bepanthen) during the night and put chapstick (like the blistex tube that doesn't really "stay on" the lips but) on in good time before the lipstick. Sometimes I just paint my lips with liner and put vaseline on for a more "lipstick look". (you need to bite it off a bit and add some more colour afterwards for an even result.) Have you tried changing to a more moisturizing lipstick? The Gosh soft n' Shine lipbalm has so much colour that it works more as a lipstick but is still pretty moist.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

I'm not really an arrogant A hole. But I am rather unorganized. And very busy.
I tend to forget to answer questions I get in my comments. Sometimes it can take me a long time to answer blog related mails written to me too.

So I thought I'd do this thing were you can ask me anything and I will answer almost everything!

This is my sneaky-suspicious look when I say, ok, go ahead and ask then.

I'll answer a couple of questions/requests I remember now straight away
1. Make up
I get lots of questions about makeup. But the thing is, I will never do a makeup tutorial - there are tons of youtube tutorials out there that go for the same look and they're all pretty much similar to each other. I do the same make up almost every day, just make it heavier and add some glitter for shows. And in the end you still have to see what suits your own face the best.

But I will do a post about makeup; which products I use and some tricks I rely on, that I promise!

2. Photos
"I'm always curious about whether you take all your own photos and how you always manage to get the lighting so spot on? "
Well, first of all I have a pretty good camera. Not a great one, but an OK that can take great pics if you do it right. If there's not time nor good light for getting it right, I fix the photos in Photoshop afterwards, Levels, Curves etc. Basically there's nothing I can't do in Photoshop, although I prefer to get away as easily as possible. (Well as you can see the photo above has some more playing around than just levels and curves - sometimes that's real fun too - especially if you should be working with something different than making yourself look all 1939 for example :) I indulge quite a lot what I like to call "forced photography" -heheh- as I have my sister or a friend take some pics for my blog ("You have to take some pictures for my blog now!"), but I do take many of them on my own too.

That's it. If you post a question here during the weekend and perhaps the beginning of next week too I promise I'll answer them all by next weekend in a post!

Oh, and if you come here a lot and react a lot and I have forgotten to link you let me know!

RESULTS OF HAVING THE FLU pt.1

I've been ill the whole week and have spent my time here at home reading, drinking lots of tea and (yes! yes! finally!) organizing my desk and drawers ...and also, doing lots of online shopping. That's why I will never have space in my wardrobe - as son as I sell something away new items come in. Oh, materialism, oh vanity! (And that's why I'll never be rich either. But at least I'll die well dressed.)

A pair of boots I ordered late on wednesday night arrived today already, brought straight home to my door! What more can a little piggie-flu girl ask for?

So, here we go with a familiar pattern:

(the cat will, of course, be in the box the same second I take the shoes out of it...)

Oh yeah.


Oh yeah! The Melissa Ashanti flocked boot. Water resistant. Me likes.

Yeees. Rainy days, here we come!

The fact that I now own a pair of water resistant shoes for autumn make me very very happy. It's like I never really believed I could actually have a pair of pretty shoes that can master the nasty weathers to come. Plus that they're vegan too. I ordered mine from Luis Via Roma, and the FedEx home delivery was included in the price! (Well, with the range -and price- of the other items in their store, I'm not surprised.. :)

Both cats are in the box now.

EXPOSURE

Sometimes I may wear something which makes me feel real preppy and active and almost makes it easier running here and there and everywhere to take care of tasks and errands one has around town. For me it may be voluminous skirts that go puff-puff when I walk and shirts in fresh colours that does the trick one day (but perhaps something totally different the next). This time it was exactly that, and I got tons of things and jobs done.

The photo is a bit over exposed and you can watch an even more overexposed video of our most girlie burlesque number here. Me on the other hand have been exposed to some germs or cold, I have the flu and will be spending most of my time in bed this week doing nothing. Atchoo.

(The skirt is Miss60, the bag vintage and the rest plain ol' H&M)

AN END FOR ONE MAY BE A BEGINNING FOR ANOTHER

You know how the story goes. You meet. It's either love at first sight, or then an interest slowly developing into something more. But either way, if everything goes well you get one another one fine day. You go on adventures together, as well as go through everyday life.

But, at some point you notice that things are not like before. You don't see each other that much anymore. You don't long for each other like you used to. You may have grown apart (literally). You realize you never go out together. You find new points of interest. You might even find it hard to believe you actually spent so much time together back in the days. You may seem so different from each other now. And even if feelings might still be warm, there just comes a point where you, even if it may hurt, have to take the guts to take action and say it out loud: I just don't see a future for us anymore.

I have done it.
In other words, I'm selling some more things away in my other blog!

My saffron colored skirt that should rather belong on a parade girl spinning a stick along with red jackets, white boots, trumpets and elephants (or on you :) than just hanging in my closet. My most wonderful bowed dress and my sandals that say True love!
I will go through some more breakups during the weeks to come so stay tuned.

The Radar- Latest Obsessions

I am off on the train to Bristol tomorrow specially to see the new Banksy exhibition at Bristol City Museam and Art Gallery!
So excited! I am just there for 3 days though so will reply to your lovely comments when I get back.
For now though here is a list of my current obsessions:

1. Christopher Kane for Topshop.

Christopher Kane + Topshop= A match made in style heaven.

His last collection designed specially for Topshop sold out and this one is even better with a whopping 39 pieces including bags and shoes!
The only problem is that even though this special Topshop collection is a fraction of the price of the real thing it is still pretty expensive (or too much for me anyway!) with the price range being from £40 to £160.
Photos were leaked on the internet but then taken off from the Topshop crew before I could save them and add them onto here... So I can confirm there will be a crocodile t-shirt dress similar to his awesome primate inspired ones in his S/S 09 collection but unfortunately I can't get ahold of the photos.
Cannot wait till I can get myself down to Topshop though so I can try something on by my favourite ever designer!

2. Arctic Monkeys new song "Crying Lightning."

3. Paper chain style necklaces a la Louis Vuitton.

4. Whip It Trailer:

5. The Perm.

See ya when I get back...
Beth xx

PRINT OF THE DAY

Peacocks by Klaus Haapaniemi.

A lot of illustrations today tend to have this folky, decoratvie vibe to it. I'd dare to say Klaus was among the first, if not the very first one, to start the trend.

Topshop Autumn Winter Lookbook

I am so glad I am following Topshop on Facebook (yes I agree it is a bit sad though) otherwise I would not have found these amazing photos from Topshop's A/W lookbook. The bright colours and all that sparkle will be perfect for Christmas parties!
Every year I search for the perfect winter coat, something that is not too bulky (and makes me look huge!) but that still keeps me warm and I think I have found it! Just check out the photo below, the trench style and the military gold buttons of this coat are gorgeous...

Beth xx

BURLESQUE, BURLESQUE, ALL WEEKEND LONG

There will be a lot of pinupping, posing and burlesqueing about this weekend, as a matter of fact, nothing but it!


Pupuppiduu, the dress is from Vivien of Holloway.

Tonight we'll participate in the Books & Burlesque Happening, as part of the Night of Arts. You can draw us and a bunch of other burlesque boys and girls during the Dr. Sketchy's sessions in the window of Suomalainen Kirjakauppa from 18.00 to 22.00. Afterwards there will be shows in the bookstore!

Tomorrow it's time for Burlesque Goes Kapakka at Vanha, from 21.00 onwards. There is no entry fee since the happening is part of Art Goes Kapakka! We'll do a pinup vintage and retro lingerie fashionshow at 21:30, after which we do two half hour burlesque sets at 21:50 and 23:30. Gunmolls & Gansters play in between and Sweet Jeena and Her Sweethearts treat you with some swingin' tunes after our last show (and you might catch a glimpse of us doing some slight rockabilly-a gogo on stage too :)

So, if you're around Helsinki you'll know what not to miss!

(Bonus pic for a glimpse of the hair-do. All rolls rolled upwards, towards the head):

WEDNESDAY. BERET. SKELETONS.

Hi, this is the weather blog reporting.
This week it seems I will only be able to discuss the subject of the fact that I can't decide weather it's still summer or early autumn. (yey!)

Well anyway, it was rather chilly in the morning so I did a two-in-one by hiding my messy hair in my beret and saving my little ears from the nasty wind in the same time. You know I love my beret so I was a smoewhat happy to wear it again after its summer break. In the afternoon I fixed my locks and went to watch some dinosaur skeletons to the zoological museum and gladly put the beret on again. But by then it was hot as hell and my head started sweating and I felt stupid but the beret had already made my hair flat underneath so I couldn't take it off anymore. (=Vain welfare country problem.)

But after the skeletons (I just love the word skeleton. S k e l e t o n !) and dinner it was all chilly and fine again. End of story.

(Dress - Sans noblesse, Belt - random ribbon tied into a bow, Bag & beret - vintage, Shoes - ois, Cardigan - old)
-I have a strange pose and the pic is blurry but you can't always have it all you know -

TUESDAY

Still in the limbo of the summer and autumn in-between. Hot one minute, cold the niex. But almost unnoticeably I've already strated dressing darker. (And I'm continuing the 'making-skirts-and-tops-look-like-a-dress'-thing. Not that there's any point with that really since skirts are skirts and tops are tops, dresses are dresses. But, whatever, it's fun anyway)

The ribbon around my waist was originally part of a rather psychedelic polyester jacket, found on a flea market and sold away long ago already. The jacket may be gone but the ribbon stayed and nowadays wear it in my hair or around my waist. (Versatility points added.) It always gives me this kind of folk-y slavish vibe.

Lets go down to the fashion show, with all the pretty people that you dont know...

What with all the magazines and blogs going crazy about the autumn winter collections I thought I would look at my top 10 favourite looks from Spring Summer 2009.
I mean still is summer y'know...

1. First up is Christopher Kane, who definitely stole the show for me this Spring Summer. The whimsical shapes and structures of his clothes and his wonderful use of materials are divine. He managed to effortlessly mix fierce black primate inspired clothing with bright bold colours.

2. For me Luella was never going to disappoint. From the moment I laid eyes on her first ever collection I knew that she was a designer to be reckoned with. The florals, the bright colours (and of course the fascinators!) screamed summer.
3. As opposed to Luella's feminine fest of girly dresses Balmain went for a more edgy tomboy look with distressed jeans, military style jackets and a whole loada studs. I still cannot get enough of the clothes from this collection.

4. Lanvin S/S 09 was all about bold colours, asymmetrical sleeves, luxurious silks and a bit of sparkle. And how could I forget those fantastic advertisements- so far its my favourite ad campaign of the year!

5. Alexander McQueen is in at number 5 for his fantastic jewelled creations. These head to toe embellished designs are gorgeous.

6. Breezy flowing fabrics, soft tailored jackets, scalloped edged shorts and lots of bows, the S/S Chloe catwalk was pure prettiness.

7. Marc Jacobs was a winner with clinched in waists, stacks of bracelets and very cool boater hats. 8. The House of Holland collection was like a bomb of polka dots and florals had exploded on the catwalk. Henry Holland did what he is best at; quirky and cool clothing.

9. I was in love with the nautical theme at Dolce and Gabbana earlier on this year.

10. And last but not least Gareth Pugh. You can't really wear his architectural monochrome creations to the super market (though I would take my hat off to someone who did) but their impracticality does not stop me from marvelling at these designs.
Whats your number one S/S 2009 collection?

B xx

AT THE CHANGE OF SEASON

The end of summer is somewhat always sad, even warm and perfectly fine sunny days feel like one is sort of fooling one self, since autumn is just around the corner. Not that it's all that bad, as I have stated that autumn kind of is my favorite time of season.

As the weather now has varied from cold, windy and rainy one minute and pretty nice and hot the next, and with rather chilly mornings I'm slowly starting to get into that autumn mood - over romanticizing the image of walks under colorful trees and clear skies, wrapped in big scarves, legs covered with warm stockings (you know, all those thing you are happy to get rid of as spring turns into summer...), wet leaves on the ground. My colours of choice change from pastels into classical september-y ones like plum, petrol, okra and brownish shades. These autumn vibes got even stronger when I went to pick up a parcel with some H&M things I''d pre orderd one hangover morning in June - tweed shoes, headbands and knits.

So, if I'd go all fashionista I'd say these were some of my autumn favorites for the soming season. (I don't really talk like that no but I guess I just said it anyway.)

Headband -New, scarf - Grandma's old.

Shoes - New, Stockings-old

Awesome, Oh Wow!

Thanks so much to Marie from the fabulous Lulu Letty blog for tagging me for the 'Awesome Girl' blogger award!

(The rules for this award:
- List 10 random things about yourself
-Tag 10 other bloggers with the award (write them a comment so they know they've got it!)
-Link the person that gave you the award)

So to start with here are my 10 random facts:

1. My dream walk in wardrobe would be filled with Balmain, Christopher Kane, Luella and Chanel.

2. Orange smarties are the best! I wish they sold them in just that flavour.

3. I am a major bookworm. Penguin Classics are my favourites even though I am also a huge Harry Potter fan.

4. I made my friend promise to buy me one of those old fashioned telephones. You know the ones where have have to spin the numbers around to ring someone.
But I would not say no to a ham burger phone a la Juno either.

5. I love rock climbing and I go with my Dad every week.

6. Even though I like the peace and tranquility of the countryside I am much more of a city girl and I would love to live in London when I am older.

7. One of my dreams is to be photographed by The Sartorialist; the man, the legend that is Scott Schuman.

8. I wish I could draw.

9. It freaks me out that I have no idea what I want to do as a career when I am older.

10. I passed my Grade 5 piano. Sorry I forgot to blog about it earlier. Haha 5 down, 3 to go! (Another ambition is to pass my Grade 8 piano.)

And finally the 10 lovely bloggers I am tagging are:

1. Kaelas Room

2. Shoes From Around The Globe

3. Fashion Roadkill

4. Hello List

5. Isatou

6. My Polaroid Blog

7. Coco's Tea Party

8. Code1066

9. Black Book

10. Crooked Horizon

And make sure you check their blogs out, each one is so fantastic and inspirational to me!

Beth xx

BURLESQUE FOR THE MASSES!

Yey! We made it into the AGK Festival Top 10 and my face made it into the mag ;)

The yearly Helsinki Festival as well as Art goes Kapakka festival (which could be translated into something like “art hits the pub”), with lot and lots of happenings, kicks off about now. And we are part of it : ON the Night of Arts, Friday 21st, we’ll model for a Dr. Sketchy’s session togheter with some other local burlesque boys and girls in the window of a bookstore downtown (Suomalainen Kirjakauppa by Kolmen Sepän Patsas)! Afterwards we’ll do a show inside the store.

The day after, Saturday 22nd, it’s time for the Burlesque Goes Kapakka where we'll do two long sets in between the bands. You'll hear garage rock by Gunmolls & Gangster and rockabilly by Sweet Jeena and her Sweethearts. The evening starts with a burlesque-y pinup fashion show featuring Miranda Lingerie and accessories from Hoochie Mama Jane. (And us :)

Here's a sneak peak of the things you'll see...

There'll be some crazy Wild West action (Photo: Taina Kerttula)

And a trip to the Finnish country side some 50 years ago, with daisies, strawberreis and rautalanka! And much much more.

3 DAYS

Liebe Freunde schöner Bekleidung

Vom Mittwoch 12. August bis Freitag 14. August findet im Ostblock ein Totalausverkauf aller Lagerbestände sowohl an Sommer- als auch Winterkollektionen statt: T-Shirts gibt's ab 15 Fr., Wintermäntel bis 200 Fr. Nicht verpassen!

Auf Euren Besuch freue ich mich sehr
herzliche Grüsse
Vanja

Latest Style Obsession- Fascinators

At the moment I am totally in love with fascinators- any kind of head piece involving netting and I am in!
They were all over the couture shows in Paris due to their timeless elegance but they were also seen with an edgy twist at many of the spring summer runways as well.

I am going to have to devote a whole section of this post to Luella's gorgeous fascinators from S/S 09:

Even the big couture collections were doing fascinators this year, such as here at Valentino A/W 09:

Alexander McQueen and his very original take on the netting trend:

And last but not least of all the different kinds of netted head gear is PPQ's fabulous stuff:

But my affordable fascinator fix will have to be from Accessorize, where they have loads of different colours and styles, a couple of my favourites pictured below: