// That shoulder… …thing…

Posted on | September 29, 2011 | 3 Comments

Oh, girly beyond the measure!

This weird mass of a knit on my shoulders is truly an accessory — Warmi shoulder straps in gorgeous baby alpaca, from The Moon & Mars as well. My second favorite shopping strategy (after shopping second hand in musty charity shops) is to browse the remains of sales in small web boutiques — unique items, low prices!

Actually when I picked this I had two of my old mohair sweaters in mind — too bad that I found that I had already got rid of them… Nevertheless this thing can be worn over any top with fitting arm insets. It is extremely impractical below coats — that slightly limits its use in the wintertime. It’s easy to slip on, though, so that monkey brain looking thing I’m digging from my purse is probably just a knit shoulder accessory…

It sits pretty well over my ancient AllSaints cardigan — and I figured again another way to wear the cardi, the long straps tied together and just hung behind the neck. The dress is from Cheap Monday — a sale find from last year, tights by Falke and again those Docs. If you suspect that there is some thing going on between me and Dr Marten you are absolutely right. I’ve had severe and persistent IT-band issues the whole summer continuing to the autumn — thus the low heel is still strongly preferred on daily basis. I really need a pair of basic brogues this autumn, most of my low heels are too summery — or too informal for certain situations.

Posted on | September 29, 2011 | 3 Comments

// Casual stripes

Posted on | May 11, 2011 | 2 Comments

Sorry about the downtime and other technical problems. I’ve had some bad luck lately — first the problems with the name service, and now the server just broke down… …good timing, though, I’ve had not too much time for this blog in past couple of weeks.

Duh, I wish that this Zara cotton silk shirt is not a straight-off-replica of something Jil Sander — cuz I did buy it. I have had really hard time keeping myself off from shopping all the jewel tones… …so rare in actual production and shop shelves, at least here in North (I have a theory that the adventurousness of buyers has inverse correlation to latitude).

But I did not do that color blocking thingy — just wanted to wear this first with my usual casual stuff, laid back, all loose, unflattering, comfy, lovely. Stripping the “nowness” off from these cheap high street stripes… …which goes well with my old All Saints grandpa-meets-harem (I’m not thinking what you are thinking…) pants, pair of Chucks and Margiela MM6 coated fabric bag. The vintage neck cuff probably does not make any sense to anyone except me… …but there it is.

Posted on | May 11, 2011 | 2 Comments

// Shoe lust

Posted on | November 11, 2010 | 1 Comment

I have to say that I’m slightly lusting over these All Saints Theta sandals. Actually I would be all over them if I were’n afraid that they might be just a substitute to black Acne Agate heels for me — which I did not get when they still were available. The design is definitely not a knock off — would not even say inspired by — but they still have lot of similar feel going on…

Anyway — the combination of shiny steel heel and pebbled leather looks quite fetching…

Posted on | November 11, 2010 | 1 Comment

// Black belt, white belt

Posted on | November 10, 2010 | 2 Comments

I haven’t been using belts much in the past fifteen years or so. But I guess that I could warm up my relationship to them a bit. I’m still not huge fan of cinching my waist (especially wide ones make me feel too boobalicious), but I guess that I might eventually start experimenting, cautiously under oversized layers or with belts that almost camouflage themselves to the outfit.

My oldest belt (well, not probably in age — but in my posession) is probably this old super skinny InWear one, with wide plain buckle. Extremely useful little piece. The newest addition is NorwegianWood elastic harness belt. I’m very fond of it’s utilitarian, medical / sporty feel and really like to layer it with similar tones — and under loose layers. I also love how the shape adds up to regular racerbacks.

Posted on | November 10, 2010 | 2 Comments

// Speaking of grey

Posted on | August 27, 2010 | 2 Comments

Longer lengths, greys… …that it is for me now. Cropped boxy sweater with awesome texture makes the simple jersey dress just interesting enough — and I love the length of the dress. My trustworthy museum bag has dethroned all my other bags this summer and the handles start to be perfectly frayed. I’m all about sloppiness and comfort these days. And flats work so well with delayed onset muscle soreness, haha!

Textured sweatshirt All Saints, Monki dress, old and dear taupe ballerinas from French Sole. The bag I actually got from my Parisian friend — and it constantly reminds me how much I want to travel to there again…

Posted on | August 27, 2010 | 2 Comments

// Non-colors

Posted on | July 2, 2010 | 8 Comments

If I had to stick just to one style I would probably vaguely vary the Mad Max futuristic-utilitarian-comfortable-dirty-faded-dusty looks for the rest of my life. Probably not because it is my absolutely favorite way to dress up (it is not) — but because it is somehow in harmony with my looks — heavy build, scars, pale wolf eyes, road dust colored hair.

This looks actually quite costume like although the separate pieces are simple enough — I wore it still. A familiar All Saints jersey dress over Weekday mesh tunic, Pedro Garcia sandals (initially I was pulling the Westwood boots on, they would go so well, too) and Topshop wristlets. For some reason I have stored these sandals as special occassion shoes — and have worn them maybe once or twice before. Don’t know why, they are very nice to walk in and blend in to many outfits. The thin straps limits the use a bit — but they can definitely be worn for short visits downtown. I love the contrast between almost unnoticeable straps and chunky sole. Something new in this outfit… …when I saw these weird jersey wristlets in Topshop online boutique I just had to have them. And yes, one might think that I have hurt my wrists — but still they please my eye so very much that I don’t really care. I would like to add some legwear, but it is too warm for that.

Posted on | July 2, 2010 | 8 Comments

// Pattern thoughts

Posted on | May 1, 2010 | 4 Comments

This spring I have become aware how pattern poor my wardrobe really is. That is not because I don’t like patterns, on the contrary. I love them. I would love to have more elaborate style, mixing together all sorts of patterns: prints, lace, embellishments, woven patterns. I have been thinking why don’t I express fully this side of me in my outfits and came to the following explanation.

Patterns are expensive to make — excluding simple prints. So embroideries, embellishments, woven patterned fabrics and elaborate prints are relatively rare in cheap and middle priced wear that actually form the majority of my wardrobe.

Good print is hard to come by — often the prints look like a sorry excuse to bring together the season colors to one garment. I don’t know how tightly the fabric illustrators work with designers on mass produced clothes, but judging from the results the co-operation could be improved.

So I’m developing here a strategy on adding that pattern to my wardrobe. I like the idea of mixing different kind of patterns, two or even more prints with some embellished details, perhaps toned down a bit with more calm, repetitive woven pattern. I like the idea of combining patterns of different scale to one outfit. I like both restricted palettes with wild patterns — and just wild palettes with wild pattern. A good trick is to mix black and white (or any other two tone) pattern to more elaborate design.

The images are from few of my all time favorite pattern themed shows Dries Van Noten spring 2008 Wunderkind spring 2008 & autumn 2009 (all from Style.com).

So, currently I’m looking for:

1) An embellished or printed full skirt with bright colors (the linked one is fab, but not my colors…)
2) A black and white floral print skirt, preferably with large scale print
3) (Ethnic style) embellished vest, maybe even jacket
4) Sheer and lightweight dresses and blouses with prints, preferably with buttons on front and easy, loose shapes
5) A fitted tapestry coat with fancy floral motifs. I would prefer a white or cream base for the pattern.

I will keep my eyes open in charity shops for these and definitely stalking Yoox sales for some bargain finds. I might pop in to those ethnic bazaar shops when encountering them on my travels (a trip to Stockholm and Warsaw on sight). With the tapestry coat the best option would be sewing it by myself. There is one interior fabric shop in Helsinki that at least used to have an awesome collection of jacquards and brocades.

Oh, and I still don’t have any neat digital prints for my sci-fi moods…

Posted on | May 1, 2010 | 4 Comments

// Those ripped nylons…

Posted on | April 1, 2010 | 10 Comments

I’m shamelessly recycling the styling trick I stole from Barbara i Gongini lookbook, ripped knee highs over ripped nylons. Yesterday they added some interest to this simple everyday jersey outfit built around rather familiar elements: H&M cardigan, All Saints dress, couple of different skinny double belts and Rützou wedges. Added the Chewbacca lamb vest / coat combo over this for going out… …and no, I don’t have anything special to say about this…

Posted on | April 1, 2010 | 10 Comments

// Way sub zero

Posted on | January 27, 2010 | 7 Comments

Sorry about the sloppy posting lately, but I’m having some extra work going on — and that means automatically less time for blogging. My photoshoots are always quite light, I’m taking usually only 10 – 20 shoots per post, but then there is always the picking and editing process. Although I try to keep the editing quite minimum, there is always at least some resizing, cropping and color effects going on.

Ok, now i have material for two posts… …winterwear, pretty familiar items, layers, loose shapes, black & white, sloppiness, sensible shoes and mismatching nails. This time I included outerwear images as well, they are so integral to all outfits right now that I feel pretty stupid posting just what’s underneath them. It’s freezing here…

I’m wearing All Saints unfit pants (don’t know if I can exactly call these harem pants, they are like men’s trousers that have gone all wrong from the crotch area), Maison Martin Margiela knit, AA circle Scarf, Necklush, my old rubber band boots. And then I added my old Filippa-K coat, old long suede gloves from H&M, chunky knit beanie. The mint green polish is Essie Mint Candy Apple. Although I feel good in shapes and colors like these there is such an amount of seriousness going on that I need to disturb the whole thing even just a bit — this time by wearing tacky nail color.

Posted on | January 27, 2010 | 7 Comments

// The ugly truth

Posted on | January 9, 2010 | 4 Comments

The ugly truth about my outfits right now is that I don’t care about much else than warmth. And snow eligibility. So lots of wool, layers, scarves, sensible shoes. And I’m completely in black & grey rut. Don’t care about pretty. That is so counterintuitive — a person should fight with color against all this darkness?

Comme des Garçons H&M jacket (I love the unexpected skin exposure of this, deeply), two AA tanks, DIY mitts, leather cuffs from some small accessory boutique, All Saints pants (love ‘em, too, they are unapologetically ugly shaped), Doc Martens, minimal makeup, undone hair. I like this kind of ill-fitting — fitting, twisted variations of a suit and very subtle tonal plays: all other garments are cool toned — but the sheer burnout tank leans to warm gray. I really dig that AA sheer material. Ok, it is bit static, but it is so soft and super stretchy, great fot tying and twisting. And although it pills, it does it somehow pretty.

Posted on | January 9, 2010 | 4 Comments

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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 DIY posts, How-to posts, DIY ideas - or my adventures in Etsy =).

More about me and this blog.