Zen

Yet another peculiar way to wear a mini-dress.  

Snail Mail

Overalls? Check. Palazzo pants? Check. Breathtaking meadow and fence? Check. 

Take me back. 

Dressing Up

'Bout time for a new post eh?

As explored in a previous post, I tried defining my stylistic decisions. But how did I get there? Well, a little personal history is needed for this. 

As a child, I wouldn't say that I was consciously fashionable at all. As a matter of fact, I was quite the opposite - my wardrobe was not much part my preoccupations at all and therefore limited. My mom would dress me in little dresses over turtlenecks (that is believe it or not coming back) and. for a long time, I'd be the only girl in a dress running down the school hallways playing tag with the boys. Until I started minding. I wanted to start wearing pants like most kids around me, but it wasn't until 6th grade that I excitingly slipped on my first pair of skinny jeans. 

There was this gap time where my style was nebula like, dispersed and undefined. Then I realize that it was my music camp that helped me start refining my style. It put me off to more of a hipster phase, but the timing was just right, as cut offs and band t-shirts were a thing again, transcending all the low waisted pants of the 00's. I started finding an interest in fashion to help define my style. I started researching it online. I started to express myself in a new form. Quick anecdote: this was around back in 2008, and I had no idea where to start exploring the vast world of fashion online. So I just googled words such 'fashion', which made me stumble upon the humble blog Fashiontoast. Immediately admiring the unique photographic angles, the effortless style, and relating to her as she is also half-Asian, she quickly became my main my go-to blogger for style inspo. Who knew she'd be where she's at today, woah. Also googling my at first limited fashion vocabulary, I typed in the word 'lookbook'. Yes, kind of lame, but brought me to the now indispensable blogging tool and community Lookbook.nu. Anyway, I ransacked all of my mom's surprisingly valuable vintage closet (to prove my point the culottes in this post were her's), and when that wasn't enough, I went thrifting. My knowledge of brands and of their influence also grew.

Then came my job at American Apparel. It was my last year of high school, and it was time for me to find a job and get some serious clothes for cegep, as wearing a uniform spared me from stressful mornings full of fashion crises. The retail job definitely helped me easily build my wardrobe with stylish basics. All the money I earned also finally allowed me to save up and buy some statement pieces that I lacked. And never did I know I would be ever so exposed to the fashion world, and now, fashion blogging. 

Where do I look for inspiration now? Instagram and its panoply of posts of course, fellow bloggers, sites such as style.com, a bit of Whowhatwear, retail sites themselves, and also recently, Hazine. The options are all out there, now it's just about limiting myself.

Enjoy!
Katia

Stylistic Decisions

Sometimes I derive from one style to another. I change moods, therefore I change outfits. It bothers me, because I want to stick to a type of look. A single way of dressing, reflected through a tasteful and consistent uniform. Most fashionably influential celebrities can be spotted wearing their iconic piece; take Alexa Chung with her pussy-bow blouse, or simply Anna Wintour with her shades and bangs combo. A lot of people's style changes with their mood, or in the fashion blogger world, especially according to trends. I remember when I started being interested in fashion back around 2008, where the galaxy print was super in. It seemed completely normal and cool to adopt those, but honestly, looking back, I must admit it was pretty mindless and must I admit, hideous to my taste. On the other side of the coin, people experiment with trends because they like it, and ultimately through them search for their own style. Their own style, that is, is very often influenced by what's in. And that's what I disagree with. It should be so much more than just copying looks straight off the runway, or in most cases nowadays, social media, but an integrity of one's personality, culture, environment (professional, social,..), lifestyle, and simply preferences. Sounds like a lot of variables, but there's not that much thinking about that done when in front of the closet getting dressed, since it is as implicit as thoughts, I think. 

That being said, I still am not able to completely decipher my own style. I've had quite some experience in the fashion world, but I still sometimes find myself relying on my mom to filter out my pile of clothes when shopping. Somehow, people are easily able to identify the singular way I dress. However, I've very recently come to realize that my style has two faces, and I'd like to share this. Day and Night. Sounds easy, even cliché, but for me, I've never realized that there was this much of a gap in between the way I'd dress accodringly. But Day and Night have a symbolic. Day represents the everyday life, the usual routine, but also the events and the nightlife. A paradox - but still, the way I usually dress. Stylish, je-ne-sais-quoi, somewhat appealing, artsy qualify as some keywords. Night, being the side that no one knows, the one that I do not display. The face that even I seldom experience because I still am not able to develop and understand it. It is above all a personality, but fashion allows to express it. Still incredibly vague. This duality never came in conflict, but I yet long to see if it ever will. 

This present outfit is extremely experimental. I would actually wear all the items, but not together once again. Could qualify as Acne inspired minimalism. 

Trousers: Zara

Enjoy!
Katia

Dainty

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost, 1874-1963

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay. 

Neo B&W

This is the first of many from a nine-look series I just shot. What it has in particular is that all of the looks to come consist of short dresses and tunics that just might be a little too short to wear on their own (you know you're guilty). To play with proportions and give them a new life with a modern and fashionable edge, I styled them with longer layers, mostly consisting of palazzo pants, midi skirts, and the ever man-repelling culottes. Each look has its own flair - some are urban, some are zen, some are beachy and some are  professional. 

If you look carefully, the 'dress' I'm wearing below is actually my mother's edgy-rocker authentic moto dress from the 80s. You can just tell by the broad shoulders and the zip that goes all the way down. To be honest, I would probably wear that dress alone on, let's say, a night in the town, but I still find it more amusing to dress this down to a to a completely different level - almost unrecognizable from its era. Here layered are a kimono and culottes, which keep the outfit amusingly monochrome. 

What I've been doing so far this week is amazing. I am basically in the middle of nowhere doing nothing. In other words, I am at the countryside by the lake sleeping in, cooking, reading, blogging (just a bit), and, well, incorporating more of nature into my life. I now have time to make myself infamous green smoothies every morning, but other than that, some of my activities included spending 30 minutes trying to photograph a snail under the microscope with my phone and trying to communicate with a frog through the sound of a rippled drinking glass. Today was even more awesome. Having some friends from work over, Canada Day was celebrated through various peculiar activities. We canoed on the lake despite the heavy rain and, like somewhat newbie explorers, landed on a desert island, docked our ships and attempted to bring back a valuable treasure for our spa-demanding faces: clay. Unfortunately, the resource was inconveniently buried in the coastal sands, and not wanting to expose our frail bikini bodies into the water, the mission was aborted. We scurried back, on our way reenacting and filming the dramatic raining boat scene of The Notebook. We also spent about an hour in the jacuzzi, and went stick hunting for the smores to be roasted over the campfire. As I presently write I still have the earthy smells of rain and smoke haunting my nostrils. 

Lol to that metaphor. 

Sherpa bag: Ecote
Clothing: my mom's

Enjoy!
Katia