// I will hear you long after you’re gone

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | No Comments

Yeah, it has probably been there. But I just found out. I’m not phrasing that phrase.

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | No Comments

// Stitched and padded

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 4 Comments

I desperately need some padded and stitched leather to my wardrobe. I might go raiding the charity shops in hope of some motorcycling wear that could be reworked.

Gareth Pugh went sort of to the extremes with those details — I would love to see how this effect is actually achieved… …and I would definitely love to combine that rigid texture like this — to rough, austere garments with organic or maybe just heavily recycled feel. The leather textures in Haider Ackermann had rather similar look, but effect was quite different, the shapes of beautifully stitched leather reminded me of dead petals.

Space hobo… …mmm

Image from Tobacco & Leather.

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 4 Comments

// Few small updates

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | No Comments

I cleaned up a bit my links section… …that Javascript based widget gets darn slow with more content. I separated the inspiration heavy blogs to their own category — and now you can find them from this page. And street style is here. Planning to expand those both categories considerably. I also removed few blogs that are not updated that often… …they are still on my personal reader, though!

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | No Comments

// Spring wash

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 1 Comment

This pair of Cheap Monday jeans I would love to add to my wardrobe. I really like the wash, plus the longer rise tends to fit me better…

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 1 Comment

// The space shoe

Posted on | March 7, 2010 | 1 Comment

Wow, the upcoming fashion seasons are truly treating my inner astronaut! Today morning I found a post in my e-mail from Christine Su. She and Elizabeth Yoon are behind a footwear brand called SuYoon. Image from Karolina Zmarlak RTW Fall 2010 collection, SuYoon footwear is used through the looks, via WWD.

This is what Christine tells about them: SuYoon is a holistic collection where fashion fuses with sportswear athleticism and classic styles become slightly provocative. Launching in Fall 2010, the collection features a mixture of traditional materials, unique hardware and a custom women’s specific last, applied with sport influences such as EVA rubber inserts, knee pads, and color-blocking executions. These details help support re-engineered silhouettes such as the “not so basic” pump, a sculpted wooden wedge, the “everyday” flat boot, and an over-the-knee boot. The main philosophy of SuYoon will be to harmonize the worlds of “laid-back” comfort and leading fashion, without succumbing to trendy fads. Both my partner and I have worked and designed for leading sportswear brands such as Nike, Puma and adidas – executing some of the best selling styles that have been on the marketplace.

SuYoon is based in New York City and entirely hand-made overseas with Italian leathers.

I’m slightly short of images (I got mostly too lo-res ones to the mail), but their hi-res promotion video for fall 2010 is online:

SUYOON FW10 PHOTOSHOOT Hi-Res from SuYoon on Vimeo.

Ok, I totally get those sport references, but those paddings, colors, rubber insets and small injections of fluorescent *LOVE* colors could be from space gear too! I especially love the open toe wedge in black and beige — it even looks like the wooden wedges were divided with rubber section to give the sole a bit of bend and thus better walkability (I love wooden wedges but they truly are the most difficult shoes to walk) — the OTK boot with knee padding is pretty rad, too — and I really like the pump with the golden gear as well. Oh dear, I would love to see these IRL!

Posted on | March 7, 2010 | 1 Comment

// Give me the half moon manicure

Posted on | March 6, 2010 | 4 Comments

green half moon manicure half moon manicure tools, NFU Oh

I truly am a low-maintenance girl — but I do love make-up and thus I’m occasionally exceeding the normal daily maintenance level just because I like to work with color. To be honest I’m not that much into nail art (too little impact with too much fuss — although I somehow like those tiny and often tacky nail decorations), but I do experiment sometimes with the classic manicure variations: french and half moon mani.

With half moons I prefer the traditional look where the bottom of the nail bed is left bare although my nails are not ideal for that. My own half moon is tiny and thus I get a funky double moon effect. But the double polish effect is very difficult to achieve in a way that the result looks tidy — but I have found a decent method for the bare moon.

Personally I dislike all sticker guide methods for half moons and french manicures, the guides always leak and make the edge untidy and undefined. I have been practising the freehand method and it works… …for my left hand when I can use my right hand for the job (yes, I’m right handed). The overall best routine in my opinion is the removal method, you can use a brush and nail polish remover to create the half moon shape — or perfect tip shape for french manis. Of course this method has some limitations: the color you want to shape is always the first one against the nail bed. In french manis I actually prefer that order — but to get the best half moon effect for my nails I would like to have a coat of white or nude polish underneath a dark contrast color.

For this kind of look pick a good pigmented polish, you need to achieve the desired opaqueness level with maximum of two coats — preferably with just one, a curved tip bush (width should be 1 cm or just a bit under, it helps if the brush is dense and soft), effective nail polish remover or acetone, and vaseline or some natural plant based butter. And naturally you can layer a clear topcoat or some neat effect polish (glitter, opal, sheer color/shimmer) on top of everything.

Cover your cuticles carefully with vaseline (this time I was not too careful with this — thus parts of my cuticles have a greenish tint). You can now apply a basecoat if you want to, I did not because I feel that this method works the better the less there is stuff on my nail when I start removing. Apply the main color, note that you don’t need to aim to a perfect cuticle line for this — actually it is better if you do leave the bottom middle of the nail bed unpainted — the color is definitely easier to remove when there is not too much of it. Let the polish dry.

Now pour some acetone or effective nail polish remover to a small cup and place a cotton pad or some tissue paper next to it. Dip the brush to the acetone, brush it gently to the cup edge so that it is not dripping and place it flat to the nail bed bottom and let the brush tip to create the shape. Let it be there just few seconds so that the polish dissolves. Now use gentle curved motions sideways to remove the polish from the half moon area. Tap the brush against the cotton pad or tissue paper when it needs cleaning. Repeat the routine for all nails. If the color is really pigmented you might need to clean the brush thoroughly after creating the basic shape and make another round just to clean the residues. Add a top coat, if you want to, let it dry. Wash your hands and use some lotion — the remover dries the cuticles.

The polish I used for this is NFU Oh 570 — a gorgeous teal jellylike color. Although I prefer almost all my polishes opaque, this one makes an exception, I really love the color after the first coat when it is still quite sheer and the green tint in it is accentuated (in the bottle this color looks just plain navy blue). Somehow this reminds me of some beautiful Chinese laquered items. The brush I used is GOSH synthetic eyeshadow brush — an excellent tool for this purpose. Note that in the image you can see only side of it — but actually the tip shape is perfect for making the curvy shapes of nail tips and half moons.

Posted on | March 6, 2010 | 4 Comments

// More from the garden

Posted on | March 5, 2010 | 3 Comments

Haha, the randomness of my findings is mind blowing… …from Balenciaga (the fantasy world) to H&M (my so called real life). I would not mind having this bright little thing lighting up my spring wardrobe. If it is made out of decent fabric, I says.

Image from H&M.

Posted on | March 5, 2010 | 3 Comments

// The space suit

Posted on | March 4, 2010 | 5 Comments

To be totally honest the Balenciaga strong shoulder statement jackets did not move me too much. But give me a space suit and I’m going bananas! Actually I would be happy with the space jacket, only. I would wear it with my most severe pulled back hair and stare to the moon all night.

I try to avoid these pure Style.com –posts, I mean nothing new in these pics… …but this just looked so fresh and struck right to my geeky nerve…

Image from Style.com (…yeah no kidding).

Posted on | March 4, 2010 | 5 Comments

// Clearing the head

Posted on | March 4, 2010 | 18 Comments

I started this blog as a lighter option for my two previous knitting blogs. They really got too heavy to work with in side of my work and studies. The blogging also gave me enormous pressure to actually accomplish something in the area of crafts — and that kind of ruined the dimension of using knitting as a form of relaxation. But on the other hand I also learned to love blogging, saw the good things coming of using English regularly in my writings and felt the benefits of exposing myself as an object of photography. My self image issues have never been too serious, but I have been avoiding cameras, now I feel so much more relaxed towards those (although I still don’t like the cameras in informal situations). With this “style blog” I thought that I can still explore themes very close to the original ones with less effort — and still keep crafting and doing stuff, sometimes less, sometimes more. I was doing some style diary stuff in two websites before, and I really felt that it could push me to use my wardrobe more creatively. I also like to discuss about style issues — and don’t have too many opportunities for that IRL.

I think that in many ways this blog serves it’s original purpose. But I also feel some new kind of pressures, which are not too easy to define.

First of all — I feel that I’m only marginally interested in fashion. I mean I do like browse through some collections from few of my trusted designers for some ideas — and I always enjoy discovering a new talent for some fresh looking ones. Often I do the browsing not for single garments but more for styling ideas. But I’m not a least bit interested spotting the IT items of the season. I do not care the conceptual backgrounds of the collections that much I like to take the items and the styling as they are — and if there is anything for me or not. Of course I could think the whole fashion thing as a form of art… …but come on, I will never experience the shows as a whole — and the clothes will thus not be for me the manifestation of designer vision that easily (more like material for my own vision of myself if I can be that cocky). I could expand my knowledge and use of time for these issues — and I would probably like to do that if it were my job. But it is not. So therefore I want to keep the fashion reporting in this blog totally random, infrequent and self-indulgent. Disclaimer for the designer reader: that does not mean that I do not want to write about fashion at all, and I’m really open to writing about the stuff that I like. I just want some decent resolution press images to do that, and I’m often too lazy to dig them from your publicity partner!

I also feel that I’m only marginally interested in trends — and on a very practical level. From my perspective I see trends as a waves that bring fresh looking stuff to the shops — and I’m going for them especially if I like them but feel that they are soon gone. For example I have always loved the harem pant silhouette — so I definitely have used this opportunity to collect some dropped crotch stuff to my wardrobe, and I will definitely be wearing it long after it is considered to be in or hip or whatever. I have also stocked the sequins… …that commodity has not been widely available in this country before past few fashion seasons, we Finns are modest folk with no interest to excessive bling… …ok, so much for the rambling, this is not a trend blog!

The last thing is my relation to shopping. Somehow I feel that this blog adds some pressure to buy new things… …on the other hand it gives me also pressure to keep the shopping in control, because I don’t want to be (or look like) a reckless consumer, it is totally against my values and I really don’t like collecting heaps of stuff to my life. But I’m not all sure if this high street shopping restriction is working for me. Let me explain… …initially I thought that I could save my money for some fancy designer piece if I just minimize my high street purchases. But then again, based on my previous experiences owning the actual full priced designer stuff does not increase my happiness… …because I always feel quilt about purchases that are very expensive. I also hesitate using too expensive stuff — I’m clumsy and constantly afraid of ruining the pieces I love. This fear is even worse if there is huge financial investment behind. I’m not after too recognizable pieces, either. And in the end, when I examine the amount of joy I’m experiencing from a clothes purchase I’m not all sure if there is a difference between good high street buy, good designer piece acquisition or good vintage find. And the situation is even more difficult when I’m considering the reality, from big names I can probably never afford the actually interesting pieces but more like those basics — and for me it does not mean a shit if my regular T sports the designer logo or not.

So maybe the better approach for me would be to just rationalize my shopping just a bit by involving some planning and combining it to more spontaneous purchases (yes, I like to be quite spontaneous, I feel that too heavy planning restricts especially those areas of life where intuition is involved). Clothes are in a sense my only hobby, everything else in my life has something to do with my work or my studies, so I probably should not suffocate the pleasure I’m getting from it — nor cultivate unrealistic visions of what kind of purchases I can actually make.

Right now I’m thinking two larger purchases for this year, I’m planning to get a pair of some middle priced footwear as the reward for my exercise project this spring. I’m not going for any big names… …actually I have the idea of what it will be. And for the autumn I’m investing some outerwear, this country is all about outerwear and I have one serious shortage in my collection. I even have savings plan for this. For the rest… …I think that a monthly budget might be the best option. I do want to keep the high street shopping in control and favor indie designers (mostly sales considering my income) and second hand instead. So this will not be a shopping blog, either, although I’m loosening my self-made shopping policy a bit.

But I’m not sure if I can call this even a style blog. I mean, I don’t consider myself as a stylish person, hate the idea of showing up here like some authority to say what to wear and what not; there definitely is not any coherent style going on through my outfits… …I don’t care too much if I’m age appropriate or if the clothes actually flatter my bodily proportions. I do mind some dressing codes because I find that they make certain situations easier to handle for people — but I would like to avoid a life where dressing codes are ruling more than 20% of my choices. I do love clothes, though, and there definitely is some self expression going on through my choices, actually I sometimes feel that my clothes are more me than my actual skin. But that puts me in a bit awkward position, this whole thing starts to look like a personal blog — but just limited to one facet of my personality — and I don’t actually like that thought.

So maybe I’m just asking here — why are you writing yours? Why do you read this one? (And congrats if you got this far ).

Posted on | March 4, 2010 | 18 Comments

// Excuses, excuses

Posted on | March 3, 2010 | 6 Comments

I spilled some tomato soup to one of my favorite tunics a while ago — and it did not come off despite of my efforts on stain removal. That was maybe the lousiest excuse for going some t-shirt shopping… …especially when I abused even that and end up walking out from the shops with this dress, SR knit and even another piece… …dammit I’m weak.

The dress is Vero Moda new “high end” label Very, quite modestly priced for 50 euros. It is silk but the quality is not much to speak about, I had to go through all the seams and cut away the spilling fabric remnants. But the cut is really clever — you can’t actually see all the nice little folds on the side seams in these pics (what was I thinking when photographing this?) — and I do like this particular shade of yellow.

But I think that I was deceiving myself thinking this as an everyday wear to be used right away. Of course this kind of tunic is easy to layer with all sorts of everyday stuff — but the smoothly shining silk is so delicate, even a splash of water can leave a stain to it. Plus… …an additional discomfort factor with silk is the static which is really bad here at wintertime when the air is very dry inside the buildings. At summertime silk absorbs moisture from air, that improves the conductivity of the material and reduces static.

So I’m just dreaming of actually wearing it. With my leather pants from Selected, old sequin jacket (probably from Asos, although it does not have any labels) and wedge ankle boots from Rützou. Or with my DIY tulle leggings, Ash wedges and Pilgrim necklace. It looks a bit risky — but it is just the angle, trust me ;-D. And excuse my extremely tired face, I’m actually starving because of this pine mouth experience…

Posted on | March 3, 2010 | 6 Comments

keep looking »

About

Location: Helsinki, Finland

Contact: kamicha (a) gmail dot com

I'm especially interested in young designers creations, non-established labels and indie fashion. So if you have something interesting to show, feel free to contact!

You can find Finnish design from both specific and some outfit posts - but both are tagged.

You might be also interested in my DIY posts, How-to posts, DIY ideas - or my adventures in Etsy =).

More about me and this blog.