Loving the navy look

Now that the weather is hot and because of my previous blog, I feel obliged to say that cotton and natural fibers are the best answer to not feel suffocated. Every other material, however floaty, feel clingy on the skin and don't breathe. So I ended up wearing to work a body con, navy-stripe dress, with black knee-length basic leggings (yes, it wouldn't be too customer-friendly to give a peak of my knickers while climbing up the ladders), both of course cotton, and lots of golden accessories. I especially loved my shoes (surprise, surprise) i bought when I got to work, golden sandals with crystals encrusted over the toe strap. I ended up selling at least seven pairs of those after customers fell in love with them when they saw them on my feet.

To the point. Most people fuss about the sales, some people are flipping through Vogue to get an idea of what's up for fall and I browse style.com for the resort collections for S/S-10. (Meaning spring/summer 2010, though I think that was obvious?). I haven't quite gone through them all and I think there are a couple shows still coming ahead, but the navy style is looking strong, once again for summer. Of course the resort collections are just a taste of the actual runway collections, but they give a good hint of the upcoming. Anyway, I loooove the navy look! It is at the same time posh but casual, urban and beachy, lady-like with a bit androgyny to it and it's just simply classic as it is basically guaranteed for every S/S. 

One can dress the navy look true to one's own style and that's what makes it so versatile. I specifically love the "Riviera" way of wearing it (check out Louis Vuitton's resort collection 2010). The blue, red and black with white and lots of stripes accentuated with golden accessories an a bit of bling. Clean cuts or floaty styles. Bottom line being tasteful. The outfit I described earlier is an example of Riviera navy.

I also love wearing navy a bit more playfully and androgynous. Not using as sophisticated accessories, maybe choosing silver over gold and colors over metals (if you want to wear accessories), having prints on stripes, and not wearing everything so matchy matchy. The basic colors though need to be the blue, red and/or black with white if you want to make it navy-noticeable. An example could be a thin knit cardigan I just bought from asos.com. It has got blue stripes and looks quite basic when viewed from front but on the back it's got a big anchor print. If I'll pair it with clean cut white shorts it will be a bit Riviera, but if I team it with ripped denim shorts, with my knee-high gladiator sandals and a bit of cheeky accessories like big silver hoop earrings I'll have a more edgier look.

So if you're looking for a classic fun spring/summer/holiday style, opt for the navy. Just make sure the stripes sit straight on you, especially in the clean look, so that it doesn't become confusing. The vertical lines are a bit trickier (and less navy) than the horizontal ones. And even though everyone has heard that horizontal lines make you seem wider, it's not a problem. Just go for the thinner stripes and suitable fit and you'll be just fine. So have fun with the look! -you'll love it as much as I do.

Dedicated to my now former boyfriend whom I do love and who loves his navy look shoes that I bought for him. I think I taught him good. He'll be fine with his style.

Too hot to trot

Aaaarrgghhh!!! One of these days. Closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. And yes, I do those closet raids for others so that they wouldn't have this dilemma. And I don't think it is because of that. It's just that it is so darn hot outside and the shoe store I work in, Bianco, is going to be as hot and I will be running around fetching shoes for sales-infected customers. All my clothes feel suffocating... Especially the synthetic ones, no matter how airy they are. And golf after work. Gotta be wearing something appropriate. And boyfriend said that shorts are too sexy for work (whaaat???). I wonder how this day will turn out... Sunny at least.

Online shopping

In Sex and the City Carrie Bradshaw once said, "shopping is my cardio".  As it is mine. But I've cheated. I've cheated already quite a few times and shopped online. But I've had to. If I could, I would definitely ALWAYS shop "live" if I lived in London or Paris or New York (though I've never been to NY). But now that I live in Jyväskylä where the amount of the potential shops limits to 10 and often the nice garment you'd like to buy has already walked right at you on the main walk of the city (a bit of exaggeration there maybe...) That's why I feel obliged to take a sneak peak at the online stores every now and then. Every day.

The risk of shopping online is obvious: the garment might not fit, suit or doesn't feel right on you. Unfortunately the clothes often look too promisingly good on the models. Real life is different. All the online stores allow their customers to "try it on at home and if it doesn't fit, return it for free", but after all the anxiety of waiting for your delivery (waiting is very exhausting, trust me), one is definitely not in the mood for returning the garment. So if it doesn't fit, keep it and make it fit. This is one reason why I don't look for clothes for my clients on the internet unless it is something specific that cannot be found in the local stores. I don't want any of them to ever feel the disappointment of buying the wrong size or feeling uncomfortable.

The next issue. The waiting. After waiting for eight days, with no money on my bank account because of the order I had made to asos.com, the post boy delivered a note to my post box about how the package could be picked up from the post office (he didn't even bother to ring the doorbell!). I ushered to the post office but when I got there, they said it could be picked up only after four. Well it did say it on the note but I was anyway about to cry. This shows that it would be so much more fun to spend your money as you get new things. Not spend your money, wait (for days) and then get new things. It doesn't give the same thrill. I hate waiting anyway.

But the opportunity online stores provide makes me place orders every now and then. It gives the opportunity to have something special that one will not bump into on the streets here (or you've got really bad luck). It also gives the chance to have something specific that you cannot get here in this city nor even in whole Finland. It gives a feeling of being safe. No one will probably look alike. So in the end, I kinda like online stores.

Some of the best online stores I use are:

- asos.com, when I want something quirky and fashionable, but not too expensive (you can find the less expensive designer pieces there)

- net-a-porter.com, when I feel I've got too much money and feel the urge to buy a new pair of Louboutins or Jimmy Choos. I love Marc Jacobs bags and I've bought a couple from there. But this site is strictly only for the ones who are either really rich or feel uncomfortable having suddenly a lot of money lying useless on their bank account. (high shipping costs!)

- nelly.com, a new acquaintance, but the products are shipped from closer and all together seems like an ok place. Though some of these products could be found here in Jyväskylä. 

- americanapparel.com, LOVE it !! Fun clothes. Don't buy your entire wardrobe from here though..

- feelunique.com, if you want some beauty products for half the price of the Finnish prices with no shipping costs. So seriously, anyone who washes their hair or uses make-up or does anything beauty related, check this out!

As last words, shopping will always be my cardio, style just needs aid from the internet.

THE sales

I used to hate sales. I thought that the items in sales were last season and going out of fashion, I would rather spend my money on the up coming season. Now that the sales seem to be in full throttle in every shop I can't help but think of what Polly, the stylist-teacher I most respect from London College of Fashion, said: "Never take your client to buy from sales. The sales are full of pieces that no one wanted." But today, I have to disagree with her. To some extent. At least in my home city, Jyväskylä in Finland. Many of the pieces that end up in sales seem often to be too fashion forward for the Finnish.  The Finns seem to be quite slow with getting acquainted with the new trends. That's why the stores trying to familiarize the shoppers with the new trends, end up in putting almost the whole stock of the mentioned items in sales. For example the harem pants that are so in at the moment. A few stores offered them a year ago. Most of them ended up in sales. So for a fashion forward shopper, the sales are a brilliant opportunity to find pieces that no one else has gotten the hang of yet. Just remember that not everything is fashion forward, quite a lot is just last reminders of the previous season. 

I've also used the sales to find quality clothes for the low budget clients. As I have noticed, clients often hope to get everything they need within a fairly low budget and I can NEVER ever exceed it. So the sales can be a good chance to find classic pieces that don't fall apart after the first wash and not exceed the budget. And everyone will be happy.

All this said, I wouldn't go to find items from the already low price stores. During the sales they are full of exhausted and grumpy people and the amount of money one saves is miniscule. Rather spend your energy finding good quality pieces for less. A few shops I'd recommend for sales shopping here in Jyväskylä: Minzi, Spirit Store, Bianco, Duetto, JC and Vila. Happy shopping!

Cottage wardrobe = festival outfit

The mid-summer fest is over and I'm glad. It's always a bit tough to stay stranded from the civilization, not the least because you don't need much of an effort to create your outfit. It's just too easy, Juicy Couture pink velour suit or leggings with a big sweater. Or bikini. But this summer the bikini was mainly used for swimming, no sun and no skinny dipping with big sisters guy friends around.

Luckily, this year I got a bit of brain activity to the fashion section of my brain. On friday, me and my boyfriend were invited to a festival with lots of friends around and which draws around 10 000 visitors. As much as I love my Juicy velour suit, it's strictly for home, cottage and dog walking use only. I'm so happy that I had not changed my new Vila Soho Boot Sandals (check out nelly.com, couldn't attach the picture) into golden Bianco-sneakers (because of being behind schedule on thursday when leaving, I just had to throw the sneakers in a bag). You can always build an interesting outfit if you've got one cute piece to build it on. I love shoes for that purpose. Then shiny leggings, a tube top down from waist as a body skimming skirt and a one size too big, orange Diesel-sweater to bring some color and balance the outfit. And my never wrong, black Zara leather jacket from three years ago to top it off. The bag was just a tan colored, medium-sized, slouchy tote with lots of pockets (the only one I had with me, but it did bring a bit of lightness to the outfit). No accessories, it was rock enough this way. Not like I had any with me, though... But in the end, the shoes saved me.

And about the boyfriend, he has been trained by now to pick his own outfit. Now he just asks if it's ok. It was.  As if he had known we had to take "proper" clothes with us to cottage...

A new blogger, an old stylist

I've been planning to write a blog for months. Originally it was the idea of Late (the guy who helped me to create my own pink-monochrome business cards), but only now that I finally embarrassed myself, talking to myself, out loud, publicly, about fashion I knew it was the time to create a blog.

So here we are. I don't think I would be capable of having enough thoughts to write this blog if I hadn't been to London College of Fashion and been taught by the woman I appreciate the most when it comes to style: Polly. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be a personal fashion stylist, but I also would be still wondering why the beautiful LBD from Hugo Boss looked fabulous on my sister, but just plain wrong on my mom, even in right sizes. Now I know: fabric is king (more about the dress and HB later). Choosing the right color, style and focus points are just guidelines. They are there to play with. But pre-Polly, I had already been styling for years. I thought I knew something about fashion, about building interesting outfits and playing with pieces. I still know (or at least am supposed to know) loads about fashion but now there is just one aspect more to the game: right fabric. You'll be hearing about this A LOT.

But now that it's almost mid-summer fest here in Finland, I need to go pack to go to my parent's summer cottage. I'll need something reasonably slouchy, but still balanced and cheery. I.e. something suitable for a party where one wears no make-up and hops in and out of the lake. I'll be taking my Princess Tam Tam bikinis..