40/40 forty feeling forty

skirts max mara , zara     safari vest & shirt both sprider stores    stripped tshirt zara     trousers & jacket  marks&spencer    shoes  zara        belt rococo         strawberries &apples  local market      oranges   backyard trees 

Having a lot of free time because of the easter school break led to  reading more blogs than usual.
I came upon an interesting discovery. There are a lot of blogs that are kept by young and sometimes really young bloggers (like 12 or 13) and there are blogs about women over 50 who  they actually form a very strong community. There are also blogs about fashionable mammas most of whom are in their thirties.
I'd love to prove me wrong but where are the women in their forties? I'm not saying there are no women at ages 40 to 50 that don't have blogs .What I'm trying to say is that women aged 40 don't make a point out of it.
My first explanation is that when we can pass for 30 why to admit we are in our forties hence the low profile.
Now don't get me wrong at this point. Some of my favorite blogs are written by 20 something year old girls that have an amazing insight in life and I feel so proud and inspired by women in their 50s.
But I also want to be in touch with women my age and get to know what they are doing, their anxieties,their hopes,their style ...you get the point.
Like I said in the begining I'd love to be  proved wrong.

Style can go a long way

After browsing for quite a long time on the internet I finally stambled upon a collection that sets the exact stylistic tone/vibe I want for my clothes.
I'm talking about Margaret Howell 's collection. I was so impressed that I made a small recearch .I found out that she started making clothes in the bedroom of her house back in the 70s.
She is known since then for her concistency in making high quality basic clothes for both men and women.
I so much love the simplicity of her lines , the fabrics she uses but unfortunately I can't afford any of her clothes at this moment . Hopefully. I will be able to save but for the moment I 'm inspired by her clothes and by new and older collections.
In this spirit I chose to wear my humble marks and spencer twin set ( which by the way is of great quality), my Levi's trousers and my favorite shirt at the moment (sleeves rolled up and buttoned all the way up) plus my broques.

via telegraph

Check out her amazing personal style and mind you she is 63 years old. She has 2 children and loves post modern architecture. Many of her campaigns are shot in black and white by famous photographers such as  Bruce Weber, Koto Bo
lofo, and Venetia Scott.







 On a different note, I celebrated Easter together with my family trying to keep some traditions but also inserting new ones.

And finally that's what I wore on Sunday while relaxing in the sun with my family

Questions, questions, questions

I' m not quite sure how or when this tomboyish direction of my style appeared. What I'm totally sure of is that when it appeared I absolutely felt at home with it.
If I could bring more labels on the table I would say that my style borders minimalism and preppy, classic style hoping to incorporate a bit of parisian chic in the future.
I admit that using labels makes me  feel uneasy. However, I consider these labels as the signs that show me direction until I reach my final destination which is building my perfect wardrobe.
I will not lie and say that I absolutely love the clothes I own. What happens is that I made peace with the clothes I have that point to the direction I'm heading stylistically.
Take for example the clothes I have on in this picture. The basic black black v neck sweater (Marks&Spencer) was bought 3years ago .The zara light denim trousers will see their third summer in my closet and the shirt was send last year as a present for my elder son who absolutely hates shirts (for now I hope).
Still these are the tools I have at the moment to represent the style I feel dear to and as such I begun to love them and consider them special to me. From mere unwanted clothes on my throw away pile last summer they have become so close to me .

The same holds true for my husbands shirt and his pair of trousers you see in this photo. Both pieces got limited wear by him but they both fit my style so well at the moment.While I'm on the lookout for the perfect black  sweater , the light blue shirt and the perfect slimming cropped pants in cream these would serve me great.
 The same goes for the shoes. Actually , the shoes were the first that pointed to the tomboy style because since last spring everytime I laid my eyes on a pair of broques my heart would skip a beat.
This pair is far from perfect but I'm quite happy to wear because it gives that special vibe to my outfits. I'm into loafers and ballet flats and booties but I quess they have to wait for some time. At the very least I know what I'm looking for and this is a huge relief for once you know where you want to go it's easier to sail through the tremendous amount of trends there are out there.

Which brings me to the last point of this long post. Actually I want your honest opinion about this and I don't want to offend anyone who chooses differently.I might be like that in a year or two again.
But for the moment I'm so tired of dressing a different personality everyday. I want to be able to define a certain style for me.
I quess my question is if you dress so differently every day what is your style? What is one's style if one day is dressed like a 50's lady and the next day like a 70's hippie? I once again say that I don't want to be judgemental  but rather to clarify the situation. Is it the same to have good taste in the clothes you pick and have a distinct style of your own?
I know I sound a bit confused but that's the way I feel about clothes. I had these clothes above for many years but when I wore them  in various style combinations they didn't feel like they have something to say as they do now that I wear them in the context of a certain style . Has that happened to you as well? I will now stop trying to make sense and I'll go back to declutter my home a bit more. Thanks for reading that far.

Temptation

(via annaguillermin )

I've never rode a single wave in my life but when I saw this tatoo I seriously concidered to have it on me for the rest of my life. Mind you  I'm 43 and have never been tempted so much before so this could be my first tatoo. I fell in love with the simplicity of it . Have you seen a similar one? What do you think of it?

 

(via  tenuously)

This is pure perfection to me!I don't even see the way she is dressed and I already know she 's got style. Nothing in the way she wears the sunglasses or the way she holds her cigarette gives away the time (only the fact that I know who she is gives me that info).It could be this year for all I know.

Also, I can picture her doing this movement when she is much older and still look great which consolidates the fact that style is not related with a certain age.

And I love love love this pout.

The road to style less travelled

What will follow is all about my journey to style and a few tips that I hope you find useful or at least inspiring.Here is how it goes.
1.Get rid of unwanted pieces of clothing
2.Get rid of everything that doesn't fit
3.Keep what you trully love in your closet
(P.S You don't have to litterally throw away everything. Just pack and store away somewhere but not in your closet)

This will leave you with a minimum amount of clothing which should point to the direction your style goes. See if there is a style pattern you haven't noticed before or a color pattern or if you gravitate towards dresses, trousers ,skirts or certain fabrics....You get the picture!

Allow yourself to emerge in the emptiness and simplicity of your  new closet. Just take your time and don't rush things.You try to consolidate your style so it's important to put sometime  and take distance from the ...before part.

(P.S You can only play this game if you are not satisfied or feel uneasy with what you have or feel your style is all over the place)

You can do the same with your jewellery,bags,scarves, outwear or even underwear.

I bet you will be left with a style to recognise.You can built from there because now you can put a name to your style. A long name if you want.

Then get a lot of feedback from street style,magazines ,blogs whatever you fancy. Now that you know what you are looking for it's easier to study your style further and make it more coherent and/or consistent and know what you trully need to refine or add to it.

Now make a list and start saving money. I will say it once more and then leave you in peace ...take your time and don't rush things.

I'd love to know what you think and if you have had similar experiences or even different. Has this approach worked for you and if not why? Your feedback has been valuable for me for more than a year now and I love a good comment-versation.

My essentials

When Miss Sophie did a post about the 10 classics in her wardrobe I was totally motivated to do the same. With no further a do this is my list.
1.The one and only slim pair of trousers

2.My knit sweater. It's organic cotton and I have it for years but it bacame an essential a few weeks ago.

3.My linen dress in a color that makes my heart jump with pleasure

4.My jewellery ,my watches and the nail polish I love

5. My cosmetics, Avon and Nivea ,basic affordable brands that give me happy moments every day

6. My leather bag that I can't go without. It's the most expencive item I own and I was given so many compliments about this bag. I absolutely love it!

7. The whole of winter I wore my riding boots but now the weather is better and I can go without socks so I choose between my ballet flats (leather and hand made by a local craftman but so much in need of replacement) and my zara loafers .

 

8.My stripped tshirt . Functional but in need of replacement,soon.When the right one comes along.

9.2 basic skirts.The black one I only wear with black tights and my riding boots. The denim one I have for 3 years and the color fades in a way that the skirt becomes even nicer.

10. My collection of shirts that I wear almost every day.I'm new to the shirt world but I have become a true fan. I have a denim one , a white one , a light blue one which belongs to my husband but it's mine now.

Well , that was about it. I plan to replace,refine or add to this collection whenever it's needed. I love my collection and I would be glad to see your essentials.

A wardrobe I can depend on

via (worn in perfection)

When I first started my blog I was so crazy for versatility.The equivalent of style to me was to be able to dress with a different outfit everyday.
And so I did.For one and a half year I would wear so many different combinations of my clothes that I lost myself in the process.
To fuel my passion I had to buy stuff often.That is cheap stuff that I would wear once or twice and then stuff it in the back of my closet.
When I had my first serious purge and was left with a few basic and loved pieces versatility was not what I was looking for.Quite the opposite.This time I went for consistency.
For more than a month now I wear my perls every day and I rely on my wrist watch ( resembles a lot the Tank watch by Cartier). And I pay my nails red.
I wear my favorite pale blue shirt (was bought for my husband but he never had the chance to wear it) twice a week with either my black skirt or my skinny dark blue trousers. On heavy rotation are a couple of sweaters  , my chambray shirt and my red stripes tshirt.
I hold my tan leather bag and wear either my ballerinas or broques.
Therewill be things to add but for the moment I feel complete and satisfied. That's how I know I found my true style.

Bonjour tristesse Part 1

After I had my oh ! so strict , ruthless edit of all my clothes , I burst out crying. The major question in my head was "what was I thinking ? "
After a while an unexplicable sense of sadness came around and I had to sit still for quite sometime. I wanted to stay with my feelings of sadness and not fight them away.
Instead , I would use them to steer me clear of mistakes in the future.
And for the first time , sitting there in my quiet room , among the piles of clothes I begun to see the picture clearly.
The clothes I had were cheap. Cheap in fabric , cheap in design ,   cheap in fit. Those were clothes for someone younger , insecure and ignorant. Those were clothes for someone very much influenced by fast fashion and big retail chains .Those were clothes of a mismached style that wasn´t me anymore.
And then , this huge sadness was lifted because these clothes beside me had served their purpose which was to quide me through to the next level of my style journey . And I felt so happy and blessed that I had the luxury and the free time to indulge in these thoughts , in the first place!
I now have 13 pieces left in my closet,one trench coat,two scarves,a watch and a pair of pearl earrings and 3 pairs of shoes and 4 bags to keep me company as I embark to the next part of my journey.
By the way , all 25 items are the best quality items I had . I picked them because they made me feel good and only later did I realise they were of good quality , too.

What is true style anyway

I've calm down a lot this last week and I think I found the right balance for my posts. I can't keep them frequent because of a tres busy life and because a bit of silence between posts helps me focus to what I really want to post about.
The truth is that what is happening in Japan right now has taken the desire to blog away and the neuclear terror has made the future seem so much gloomier.
I had however the opportunity to fully understand the famous statement that true style  lies beyond fashion and it is the expression of one's personality.
That's how I understand it .First of all it has to do with a sense of continuity ...something I  wear or use again and again so that it becomes a characteristic of mine. Like for instance the perfume or the nail paint  ,a piece of jewelery or the type of shoes I wear.
I realised that for one and a half year now I was experimenting hoping to find my true style, to rule out the things I don't like and refine the things I like and ultimately change my consuming habits.
What I can't stess enough is how quality is always more important than quantity and a sure fire way to true style.
Quantity always leaves you hungry for more but quality satisfies you and you have no reason to look for yet something else when you really love what you have!
Of course there are gaps to be filled  and money to be saved but there is no rush ...we talk about a life lasting wardrobe that will take years to be filled with the right pieces.
In my opinion that's the road to true style but I trully want to know what you think and what your approach is.

I finally got it

 Every time I'm ready for a big shift of  perception in my life there is a period of great unrest and a great sense of dissatisfaction before the change happens.This  has occured quite a few times in my life and I'm more able now to recognise the signs.
This time it was in the form of my consuming habits and my relationship with the things (in this cace clothes,shoes,accessories) that I have.
I had become obssessed with buying things not in a big scale way but in a way that bothered me. I calculated the amount of money I spent on items I didn't really like in 2010 and it was a mere 300 euros. I don't consider this a huge amount. What bothered me was why I wanted to buy something new all the time. I like fashion and express myself through the way I dress but that constant craving was something I didn't have before in my life.
Blogging was surely a reason that accelerated the process but I like blogging so much and I didn't want to stop it. So big unrest and disatisfaction prevailed in my life for the last few months.

A big change was about to come in the way I shop and relate to my clothes and I was more than ready for it.
And then a few weeks ago I found the blog of dead fleurette by chance followed by other blogs of the same philosophy about aquiring clothes.
She put in words the exact feelings I had and the dissatisfaction I felt. It was a huge relief to know that others have dealt with these feelings and also to be presented with a new direction to go.
I was so ready for this that I edited my wardrobe in a weekend and kept a small amount of what I had accumulated previously.
When I examined what had stayed in my closet I discovered
a) that all pieces were on the pricey side
b)made of good materials
c) have been with me for many wears but were lost in the sea of cheap , fast fashion clothes.
d) were at least decently tailored
e)I enjoyed wearing them

The two jackets pictured above tick all the boxes . They are actually so well made that never fit with my cheaply made clothes of  before.
They don't really show their true value because I lack well made basics but they are the best I have for now .
As I know what I really want to build me a long lasting wardrobe I don't feel impatient anymore nor do I want to aquire every little thing that comes along.I'm not saying that I actually bought every little thing before but I had the craving. And I figured the craving was because my clothes were not special  or loved or desired over a long period of time   and nicely tailored so I kept asking  for more to satisfy my thirst of quality.
 Which brings me to the next point that big retailers and corporations do deliberately encourage this constant craving by providing numerous items for us to buy and changing their collections a few times a year. We consumers are bombarded with so many options to buy, it begins to be absurd.
It's the first time in the history of humanity that we consume so much  and with so much ignorance of the concequences (environmental,economical,ethical).
This has to change and I'm more than glad to see a counter reaction in the form of minimalism or slow fashion movement or call it as you want cause I don't really like putting labels.
And call me crazy but tomorrow is the first day for over two years that I'm going to wear the same outfit for 2 days in a row! I don't believe I'm actually doing this!!!

Hungry for shopping

I'm writing this post to celebrate my new found peace of mind concerning my shopping habits. The last few weeks I live in a state of nirvana , loving the clothes I have and not feeling a single craving to buy anything!
Instead I refine further my already edited wardrobe and from what I have I only use the clothes that are made from fine materials like silk (a fine silk top that got lost in the see of clothes before) leather (a great leopard print leather jacket) linen ,wool and fine cotton.

Instead of shopping I do alterations to fit the clothes I love to wear to my exact measurements. The sweater above is made of fine quality wool and the color combinations are so dear to me but it was abandoned before because I had never thought of fitting it to my body. But yesterday I took my measurements and by trial and error I styled it to my body shape and lenght.It's so soft that I can even squeeze it in my pants.

Another thing that kept me creatively busy last week was to trim my favorite pair of pants. It's the pair that fits me the best  but it was too long and not flattering. I did patiently  a lot of tials in front of the mirror because I will wear those pants all the time and I wanted the result to be perfect!
Take notice that i'm not talking about my body shape but how to make the body I have now look its best and harmonious to the eye! I think that's where true personal style journey begins to show.
Then I only kept my leather shoes because trully that's the kind of shoes I 've enjoyed wearing and lasted enough to be chosen for my minimal wardrobe!My trusted ballerinas were taken out and polished with love and the little bows straightened with care.
Another thing that keeps me busy these days is the quest for the perfect (for my body )cigarette pants draft. I do my recearch on line and because I had some pattern making classes in the past I will try and make a pair of pants from scratch for me. And when I get the perfect fit I will then buy fine quality fabric to tailor my own pants.
Do you see any reason why I should be hungry for shopping and fast track fashion ,anymore?

Whould I bring that home?

Linen summer dress, woolen chocolate brown sweater and classic leather strap watch,pearls

That's the question I was asking myself again and again a few days ago while visiting some stores in the center of my city.
The question I'm asking myself now while typing is what the hell was I doing visiting stores in the first place...but I'll bother with this question in a following post!
Whould I bring this home and put it in my closet to wear and cherish and love for as long as I shall live?

That's the question that freed me of the constant craving .I will not be bringing just stuff at home anymore but only aquire what will speak in my heart and I'm sure I'll keep and love for a long long time. Things that I will be happy to wear again and again and still feel good about them and in them.

I've done a major clean out in my closet lately and I only kept clothes that are of excellent quality and of fine materials like linen,organic cotton  silk and leather.
 I've done a mega edit and kept very few items that were lost in the sea of cheap quality clothes and mismatched stuff I accumulated over the last 2 years.
Don't get me wrong I don't have hard feelings over the stuff I threw away because they paved the way for my mega editing and the peace of mind I have now.They were the stepping stone for the creation of my life long wardrobe in which I plan to collect each new piece as if it were a piece of art.
I'm saving money cause I don't buy constantly small unworthy stuff but hopefully a great one per season or even twice a year.

Finally my style is evolving

A week ago after I experienced a dead end for quite sometime with both my style and my blogging I came across an article about how women in Paris dress where I read about how they go for quality over quantity. I had read about this stuff before but now it hit home.
Upon making a recearch in the internt I found out there are many bloggers out there who don't go for consumerism or wearing different clothes for ever and I came across a sort of philisophy about how to build a perfect wardrobe with high quality items that I'll love and enjoy to wear for years to come. How to wait and search for the perfect fit and the perfect fabric and fit and how to save my money for that special item that's really perfect for me.
I read about waiting   and slow down about aquiring stuff and concider building a wardrobe as collecting art even!
I did a mega editing of my wardrobe and estimated all my wrong impulse buys to some hundreds of euros!
No hard feelings... my style is finally evolving and that's what makes me happy and calm.

 What I'm wearimg today are loved and well worn for many years items such as my 100% woolen sweater that stays with me since 2000 and has kept me warm through many winters. It feels soft and has a rich brown color.

As for the skirt it's made by me a few months ago out of vintage fabric my aunt gave me. It feels unique and I plan to make a few basic pieces myself. At the moment I try to figure out the perfect patterns for my body and then I will search for the right fabric. It will take sometime but the clothes will stay with me for a long time.
I'd love to hear what you think about all these.It's quite a change but I was ready for it so everything went smoothly.

Change of course

I've been feeling quite uneasy for more than a month now about some strong issues like consumerism and the destruction of the environment as well as the course my shopping habits had taken.
I was turning into the woman I was warned about so many times. I found again and again this year myself shopping poor quality clothes on discount price .Then,the moment I would bring those home  I would lose interest .Or wear them a couple of times but still everything looked like...wrong!

I would follow certain blogs most by girls in their 20s and that felt disconnecting.(I have great respect for some of them but just didn't feel the right inspiration for my age,turning 43 any time soon).
My closet was filling up quickly. A great majority of the stuff was given to me by my parents or relatives and althought I felt emotionally attached to them...they didn't look right on me.
I tried to mend things by doing 30 for 30 remix to narrow my choices but my closet gave me a big amount of dissappointment when I opened it.
To be continued...