blue brows

 

 

skirt pjk via winners (gift); silk tee via winners; sandals last year's zara; bag, danier; blue mascara, sephora

as far as beauty statements go, coloured brows are still considered pretty out there in the real world (i am in denial about this), but i find the look more striking and lower maintenance than many 'statement' makeup looks i just don't have the time or patience to attempt. this was the second day in a row wearing my electric blue sephora mascara on my brows and it had already faded a bit, but i still wanted to bring it out by pairing it with an equally violent shade of blue in my outfit. thus the unveiling of my favourite new tshirt, an example of a staple i am trying to collect more of - the silk crepe tee. i love that the colourblocking, hem and fabric make this more than just an ordinary tshirt, but the cut is so easy i don't need to worry about looking or feeling too fussy. same goes for this skirt, which is so much easier to wear than the average white skirt due to the butterfly print which hides all manner of stains and evils.

note on the hair ribbons: they're becoming a bit of a signature for me now because, taken by nostalgia, my mom suddenly remembered i used to wear ribbons in my hair during my childhood and started sending me tons of them. now i can coordinate them with all my outfits and make my ponytails look a little less sloppy.

winter wonderland III

 

shibori and floral

shorts and kimono, zara; top, gap; backpack, danier; shoes, aldo.

birthday (space)suit

sweatshirt, necklace and sandals, zara; shorts, club monaco.

 i got a few things at the various season-end sales around my birthday and so i decided to make my entire birthday outfit out of these gifts (either from others or to myself hehe) with pretty weird results. i've been really drawn to light colours recently so here i put the silhouette and detailing first, with a combination of hard+soft, armoured pieces and sleepwear. one part of comfort is the physical feeling and fit of clothing but another part of comfort for me is in choosing outfits that desexualize people's perception of my body especially when a lot of it is on display. the easiest way to do this is to choose silhouettes and fabrics that look 'unnatural.' i thought it was cute that my roommate had a lot of similar elements in his outfit.

for buying rice

 

skirt, zara; tee diy'd by a friend; shoes, joe fresh.

just a simple outfit for running errands in with a breezy silhouette for these super hot days. although i always prefer pairing printed bottoms with printed tops, this oversized metallic tee has an interesting texture to balance the loud floral print. i never really know how to style this skirt although i loved it so much on the hanger, especially since it doesn't fit me perfectly, but i think crop tops hide all manner of evils in an outfit.

cheers!

lines

dress, hurley via winners; top via winners; shoes custom fitted in greece; necklace, topman. on my roommate: tee and hat, zara man.

it's been sweltering hot in montreal lately so i wore this breezy silk dress under a chiffon top to protect my skin from the sun. the shoes were custom fitted by a sandalmaker in athens whose shop was hidden in one of the sketchiest neighbourhoods ever, but his shop was so crowded that it was impossible to get in and try things on. he's a real artist. i posted about it on my tumblr last summer, and i finally get a chance to wear them!

cheers!

silk on silk

silk blouse, mexx outlet; silk pants, joe fresh; bag, danier outlet.

this isn't the first all-silk outfit i've posted (see here) but i've noticed that the more i wear silk on silk, the more i like it, and all-silk outfits are becoming my favourites for summer. i think it's because of the easy luxury of wearing an outfit all made of the same breezy fabric, and in a loose cut, which feels a bit like wearing pyjamas.


the book in the photograph is from an initiative which has now reached my favourite cafe - you take a book as long as you vow to give it or another good book away after you are done reading it. many of the books were in french but i'm not that brave yet.

quebec city 1

 

 dress, thrifted diesel; sweater, zara; boots, aldo.

some photos of the outfit i wore for my first day of tourism in quebec city, where i got into a heated argument with this stoic musketeer. luckily we resolved it and went our separate ways without it coming to blows.

red and black

dress, joe fresh; jacket, pearl river mart; shoes via winners; hat, zara (men's section); rosaries, vintage.

another outfit i had pictures of from earlier this spring. i'm finally getting caught up after my holiday with my parents and my flute exam in ottawa yesterday, which was causing me immense stress. now i really feel like i've graduated! this outfit is a weird mishmash of styles that don't appear to go together but because of the strong colour theme pulled together by the red lipstick, i think it works.

eyelet

shorts, Zara; shoes, Tahari via Winners; blouse via Winners; rosary, vintage.

here are some photos of an outfit i've been saving since may - worn on one of the first warm days of the season. unfortunately the shoes were not quite broken in yet, and i had to take them off. some nice mormon boys on a mission stopped to ask me why, as a non-catholic, i am wearing a rosary, so we had a nice conversation. i like the combination of tough leather shorts and quaint, girly basketweave shoes and eyelet blouse which also made it possible to climb some trees.

maybe this is a time to note that i have recently been reading an etiquette manual from the 19th century* and it doled out this little bit of wisdom on fashion, which i have lived by more and more over the last few years and i believe is crucial for any stylish person even today, in the 2000's:

"The essential requirement of dress is to cover and make comfortable the body, and of two forms of dress which fulfill this function equally well, that is the better which is most accordant with the laws of beauty. But fitness must in nowise be interfered with; and the garb which infringes on this law gives us pain rather than pleasure. We believe that it will be found that fitness and beauty, so far from requiring any sacrifice for combination, are found each in the highest degree where both are most fully obtained—that the fittest, most comfortable dress is that which is most graceful or becoming. Fitness is the primary demand; and the dress that appears uncomfortable is untasteful."

it's taken me a while to realize that i will neither look nor feel beautiful in something that isn't comfortable, or isn't practical for the activities i am doing that day. this is a fact which makes dressing stylishly seem excessively difficult for those of us, like me, who don't have jobs and lifestyles that involve sitting in an office and getting in and out of cars, but i've found that the more i focus on comfort, the more creative i get and the more my own personal style comes out of the woodwork. it's very liberating to dress for my life, and not to follow trends. i wish i'd known that in highschool.

cheers!

* How to Behave, by Samuel Wells