Visible Monday :Take 3

Well , today I lost my inspiration ...photo . I put the look together with what I have and added this scarf as a belt to be visible fot Patti's Visible Monday series . Later , as I was writing this post I realized I don't remember where I've found the photo from.
But I think it's just as well cause today I have to be the visible one to celebrate my life , my age and my style. Thanks for the reminder , Patti!

The story of a jacket

After yesterday's throw it all on the paper post  , I 'll keep it short today. The above jacket comes with a story and it's one of the oldest and better crafted clothes in my closet as well as one of the most expensive. However , I've only worn it once in a period of 12 years.
The one and only time I've worn it was in my marriage ceremony. You see I'm one of these girls that don't feel strong about wedding gowns. I just put a nice lace dress on and for modesty reasons I put on this jacket that I bought for this purpose.
And then I had absolutely no idea what to do with it . The lapels are of weird shape but I didn't even notice it, then. The color is also difficult to use in the winter . It's also a piece of clothing that one needs what I call stylistic confidence to pull it.
Since I feel that I'm getting somewhere with my style , it's the first time I feel I've got a look for this jacket I can wear . Thank you inspiration photo . And since I was feeling very inspired I took my husband's shirt that was on the chair and pulled a second look.
Now that's an autumn look and I have to wait until then but I had to follow my inspiration for this jacket for it's special to me and has been hiding in my closet as an orphan for so long!!!
Do you have orphans like this in your closet and how do you go about?

inspiration photo :  j crew fall 2011
jeans  : Levi's
denim : shirt berska
shoes : boxer

If they do it better then I'll follow

There comes a time when a woman has to admit that others do it better and by this simple act to benefit a great deal . I will save you from my mysterious musings by saying I talk about styling clothes .
I've tried it myself with dubious results post after post because I thought I can do it . I've had some good moments but in general I felt like I don't do justice to my clothes and I don't work them as hard as I knew I should .
For reasons unknown to me ,  I love to remix my clothes and I get absolutely no thrill by wearing something once and then hop to the next new thing. I like my clothes to get used and brew slowly in my closet until they become mature enough to produce the next set of combinations that doesn't  even cross my mind right now.
Don't get me wrong I like occassionaly or more often than I care to admit to bring home little somethings but I always try to anchor them to the ones I have and use both old and new stuff.
Somehow, the longer I have  an item of clothing and the more uses I find for it the more proud I become for my skills and the more I love the item.
I'm saying all this , to point how much more use of my clothes do I make now that I finally let the professionals do the job and me just follow and learn . There is so much inspiration out there that I shouldn't be stubborn and try to invent the wheel from scratch by myself .
I found that using this format of showing the original outfit and next to it my own outfit illustrates how blant immitation actually produces good results. After all that's how we learn the first few years of our lives .
To be utterly honest I'm actually imitating J who does her imitating thing much better than I do . But I somehow feel like I discovered a whole new playground to play and there seems to be no end to my imitating whole outfits by using my own clothes.
That's where my creativity and personal act comes in because I still need to pick the right clothes to give the vibe of the outfit and change things up to stay true to  what fits me and my life style.
It's like a self taught way to learn how to better use what I have as well as learn about colors , shapes , use of accessories , shoes etc.
It's also the kick to create similar to the very expensive outfits by using my own rather  inexpensive  , often thrifted or made /altered by me clothes. My truth is that I don't really need more clothes only more ways to wear them.
inspiration net a porter
shirt &pants : my husbands
orange cardigan and oxfords zara

Husband's trousers

Despite all feminine styles out there ,  this year we raided our boyfriend's closets . Boyfriend jacket's , shirts , cardigans and trousers has been all the rage.
I though that since I don't have... a boyfriend I wouldn't be able to try the look  but then I thought I have a husband and his closet is next to mine !!!
The first vivtim were these pants . High waisted , right length and the perfect neutral color .
Today's copy cat look involves the above pants , a white shirt that was given to me by a friend she didn't know what to do with it (I was there once) and a simple t shirt (a great find considering I paid just 1 euro) .
inspiration:  jcrew

If there is no dress , I have to invent it!

One of the tricks a  woman with a limited budget can do to recreate looks is to simply combine tops and bottoms in the same color to create the illusion of a dress.
I put this outfit together just to prove this to myself  first of all but to also illustrate it is possible.
The line that is around the waist of the model in this particular outfit made it possible not to use a belt To  create a little black or white dress in no time , by using this approach is the most obvious alternative. If I add a belt and a cardigan on top I eliminate the risk of someone  to notice ( if anyone ever bothers) that this is not a dress.
inspiration:Tory Burch
shirt: Emilio Corali (my husband's)
skirt :made by me
shoes: old
bag:uterque

Streching my wardobe

I have not much to say about this outfit except that it felt like a cheat not to try and recreate it. I wore a similar outfit a few days ago and today I just added the shirt and the oxfords because I got inspired by this photo. The thing is that I feel like I scored one million points in streching the contents of my wardrobe.

inspiration: net-a-porter
pants: stigma (thrifted)
stripped t shirt zara
shirt bershka (5euros on sales)
black oxfords (10 euros , local outlet shop)

Yellow +beige = stylish combination

There is no need to re-invent the wheel every time I get dressed in the morning. Others ,namely stylists ,have put together outfits in the pages of magazines for us to try . All I need is to go through these pages I'm in the habit to collect and wait for the inspiration to arrive , God knows in which form . Other times I'm looking for specific elements to try so my search is more focused . This was the case today because I wanted something in yellow to present to the monthly styling event of  everybody everywear . After my color blocking extravaganza I wanted to pair yellow with something pale  and the beige in this outfit started the sparkle...I frantically searched my closet and  there it was ...another outfit that was lurking in the depths of my closet came to life and was documented and hopefully seen by many bloggers all around the world . Mission accomplished . (inspiration via lucky magazine)

Color block a skirt in 5 different ways

I knew that if I could pair down the contents of my closet and put some effort to come up with outfit ideas I would be able to create many new outfits.
But the result of today's challenge to experiment with color blocking just blew my mind.
We talk about 5 wearable outfits that I put together using 4 zara tops , a hand knitted sweater ( last on the right ) and a thrifted skirt.
I had no idea all these outfits were sleeping in my closet.
Which one do you like the best?

Visible Monday

This is my outfit for Visible Monday an idea that occured to fellow blogger Patti a few weeks ago .The basic idea is that women over a certain age are somehow ignored as they don't exactly fit to the current standards of youth and beauty which are promoted by the media and society.
We are here every Monday to show that we do exist and that we are beautiful.
My outfit today is inspired by the simple but stylish outfit above.  In my opinion what makes my outfit visible is the strong color of my skirt and the wooden wedges that convey a 70s vibe.
Now , be visible and  go check Patti's blog not dead yet style and post your photos.

Inspiration: www.ralphlauren.com
Top  : zara ( 3 years old)
Shoes : .zara ( winter sales 10 euros)
Skirt : thrifted at local market ( 1 euro ).

Green pants styled in 10 different ways

The truth is I had so much fun yesterday styling my pink skirt that I had to style my green pants ,too. I bought them at the local market for 5 euros and I almost give them away when I went through my minimalist phase this spring. I'm glad I didn't because I can see now that high waisted pants are so forgiving to my belly area. My favorite look is bottom line  , the middle one . I had no idea how versatile green can be.
I'm so satisfied with the end result and once again amazed at how many outfits were waiting to be discovered right in my closet . I can also use this post as a reference point when I want to wear my green pants again.
I hope you all get inspired and have fun looking at my outfits !

Pink skirt styled in 10 different ways

I'm very proud of my project today . My goal was to style this pink Mango skirt in 10 different ways . It took me 2 hours to complete the project including the collage making.
I used what I already have in my closet and by looking at the result I can see that I have a lot of clothes to play with .
I kept rough notes of what to pair the skirt with last night but I came up with a few looks during the project.
My favorite look is the middle one from the top row.

Patterned skirt styled in 5 different ways

Today I felt very inspired and determined to style this floral skirt in 5 different ways . I'm a strong believer that our closets are full of treasures that wait to be discovered and used.
I 've been thinking along these lines for a long time now but it was the blog jseverydayfashion that brought it all together.
So I decided to be the living proof of what she preaches and try out a few styles for my patterned skirt.
It was thrifted as a halterneck dress but soon was refashioned to a skirt . It's made in Italy and voila...
I'm proud I put what I already have in a good use and I'm really looking forward for your comments!

Great find , I find

I found this skirt for the price of 1 euro while thrifting last week. It is of great material and very well sewn. It even has pockets. I think I will shorten it which would be a piece of cake since the straight lines are there on the pattern already. To take the old lady out of the midi skirt I teamed with a simple cotton t shirt (my husband's). I see now on the photo that I didn't put much effort on the belt.
I wore this outfit running errands in the city together with kids. I hope I looked like a stylish mama because that's how I felt.

I like scarves

This is one of those outfits that seem weird on the imagination , you try them anyway and surprisingly they do work!
I suppose it's the neutral colored vest that hides the tightness of the skirt and provides the right background for the scarf as belt look.

I've checked my blog archives to see the few times before I did the scarf as belt look and  I have ot say it's an easy but effective way to renew one's looks , to add pattern and color.

Today is a very hot day that requires the minimum of action so I will leave you to check these two highly inspirational blogs I found the last few days. So get inspired here  as well as here.

Old lady's skirt

Oh! God how I love this skirt  ! It's thrifted for just one euro , it's 100% polyester and made in west Germany . It comes with a tag that reads Rhodia Swing . It sounds good to me but i don't have the slightest idea of what it means .
I can imagine ,  though a 60 year old German lady with white hair and glasses wearing this skirt with a floral blouse ,   holding a black bag and  having black pumps in her feet on her way to visit the grand children !!!  (I wish I had so much imagination on what to cook for dinner tonight ).
I teamed the skirt with an electric blue tank top and my favorite oxfords . I know that long skirts and oxfords and strong colors are all the rage this summer.
I hope I took the old lady out of the skirt!!! If I did , I will be thrilled to know that I saw the potential in this skirt which laid around unwanted in the stall.

Visible me

Is this visible enough? Can my outfit stand as a statement that I have my own personal style , you can't boss me around and you can't ignore me because of my age !!! I'm not dead yet and I have one word or two to say.

Today's post is dedicated to the Visible Monday series over at the very inspiring blog of Patti's Not dead yet style . Every Monday , we celebrate our life style and our age that is not shown or respected enough by the media but it's still here and goes around strong . And if I'm allowed a personal quote' Real life is what happens when you don't watch TV '. Suddenly life aquires a different (read better ) quality.
For today's outfit I picked a navy blue cotton t shirt and my favorite denim skirt . But not statement is made unless I wear red . That's what I do when I want to be noticed. To spice things up I accessorised with flower patterned scarf and bracellets.
Have a happy week ladies!!!
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Rolling , rolling , rolling ...

When I bought these trousers little did I know they would become my favorite for this summer . I also discovered that high waisted jeans transforn my body . Probably they work well for my proportions.
I also noticed that rolling the bottom of the trousers also works for my body shape. Now imagine how  beyond happy I felt when I found this tip .
So no more low waisted trousers for me and hopefully no hemming .
Are there things you discovered by observation and/or trial and error about your figure and clothes that flatter you?

Picked by her

Today's outfit is styled by my daughter ! She  picked  the shoes and the belt . She is 8 and has been quietly watching her mom all along. Today she made her move and I'm pleased with the result .
I have to admit that I try to be very careful not to give her the wrong message. I pose with modesty that is a trait of my character but also to stress I'm not modelling.
I fashion blog not out of vanity (well maybe a little) but because it's creative  , enjoyable , sociable and a good way to wind up after a hard busy day !  I hope my message is clear!!!
But I wonder how do you go about this issue ? Do your daughters watch  , get involved  or ask questions ? Are they influenced and if yes in what ways?

On today's outfit I wore the same black skirt of yesterday and an earth toned shirt I thrifted and brought to my measurements . The idea was to make it look like a safari inspired vest . ( I need your feedback on this one) . Have a nice long weekend !!!

On thrifting part 2

If you've read this post already you know that thrifting in Greece is not a common practice. My personal flirt  with thrifting  ,however,  started in the beggining of the 90's  when I was in my early 20's and lived in Holland.  During my 5 years stay there ,  I was introduced to the wonderful world of thrifting!

 

The first week I was there I visited for the first time a flee market in Amsterdam and boy ! did I find my true call. I could walk around the stalls for hours , especially the stalls with second hand clothes. It was like paradise on earth that I could put my hands on clothes I liked on such low prices.
Later , when I settled down in a smaller dutch town I discovered with another Greek friend of mine a small salvation army place where every Thursday we could go there and fill big garbage bags with clothes and pay just a small amount of money.
I can still remember the small room with a few tables full of all kinds of clothes and a lot of boxes around also ful l. We could pick and choose and then leave the place with little treasures , only to go back to our place put loud music on and while drinking coffee try the clothes and make endless combinations.

 

During that time , I had the chance to experiment with my style and although I changed my style a lot since then and I don't own a single thing of that period anymore , I still have this wonderful  feeling of thrifting!
For  today's outfit I chose my basic red  tank top with this basic black skirt I made yesterday out of some left over fabric. To add some interest I tied a scarf as a belt around my waist.
 I got some questions on how to make a skirt like this and my answer is... go to u tube and write  <> and choose the video that speaks to you  . It's as simple as it sounds!
My only tip would be that the wider the elastic band the better it sits on my waist , so experiment a bit with the width of the elastic band.