I had to post this

This is from yesterday's massive attack of the police against the protesters in Greece. There was heavy use of tear gas (forbidden in other countries and expired) to send people at home.
 The photo speaks of itself!!!

On thrifting

In my country Greece, we don't have a culture on second hand shops mainly because we did not consume   until the begining of the 90s  .  Before that ,  people would only buy what they absolutely needed and there was a savings account for every family .Big multinational chains were yet to be seen.  So there was a natural process of recycling and multi using everything  ,  nothing was to be wasted but all this strictly inside the family. To accept second hand things from another family was a sign of weakness  , of being poor and people were very proud to accept second hand/used things.

The last 20 years all this has changed and consuming was the main thing because people were encouraged  to borrow large amounts of money from the banks to shop. So now there is an abundant of stuff acumulated in Greek households but still there are no shops you can leave the stuff so someone else can profit. (maybe in some big cities there are a few second hand shops but still not popular).
But there are still a few alternatives for second hand finds.  Like I said, you can get huge amounts of clothes from family members , like aunts ,  cousins , sisters and mothers. Outside the family in the local markets where you buy fruits and vegetables,  there are always a few stalls that sell clothes in discount prices that some can be second hand. And there has been a few clothes swaps lately in my town quite to my surprise!!!
So every week , after I do my grocery and have some money left I can stroll down some of these stalls and dig into the piles of clothes to occasionally  find something really beautiful like today's skirt which cost me just one euro! Is this called thrifting or not?

Pick me up skirt

I made this skirt last summer and it's just a piece of cloth sewn on a wide elastic band which can be hidden or half hidden under a belt. You can't have more simple !  Since last summer I've worn it ...

with tanks

with shirts

with cardigans

and with simple t shirts

I quess that the following weeks that I will desperately need some pick me up pieces but I absolutely have no money to spend I will make some more of these skirts. I've made some for my daughter already!
Do you have any pick me up pieces in your wardrobe?

Just colors

There is a story behind todays outfit. I bought the pants on a great price at the local market in early spring as I wanted to experiment with color blocking this summer.
A  few days later I went through a strict minimalistic period and the pants went on the throw away pile together with the red jacket I'm wearing on the photo.
I was determined to never wear cheap colorful clothes again. But for reasons unknown to me I decided to keep  a lot of my clothes in bags up in the attic. Thank God I did.
Looking at this photo today, I can't believe how nice the jacket and the pants look together!
Has something similar happened to you? Do you keep clothes away for the mere happiness to discover them again and look at them from a fresh angle? Please do.

I have to admit because I trust you will never tell anyone that the red jacket is on the tight side but it looks good unbuttoned like that over the shirt.

Easy like Sunday morning

One of the good things of being a fashion blogger is that I am aware of major fashion trends before they become mainstream (not that I care ) but it helps a lot when you shop. If I come across a real bargain and I know it's gonna be a trend who am I to pass it over?

To make a long story short I thrifted the tshirt for pennies (strong colors trend) and I made the skirt ,I stayed on budget and ...I look good! Is there more to ask?

The watch doesn't work but I was in need of more bracelets so it stayed !

I surprised myself ,today

Remixing the same old clothes without buying anything new for months  can be a drag for absolutely any woman (just don't believe them when they say otherwise). But there is a bright side! How else would I be able to come up with this brilliant idea for an outfit? Does the top remind you of something? (attempt to check if you follow my blog)
Yes,it's my favorite denim skirt seen here as a ...skirt. Why not wear it as a...top this time?

Now I can think of more than 10 outfits based on skirts worn as tops to renew my options. I even changed the skirt worn as a ...skirt twice to give my outfit a more relaxed feel.
What do you think?

P.S I noticed that wearing bracelets...like there is no tomorrow is a big thing this summer!

Le... pantalon

The fact that i cannot shop at the moment will not bring me down. The solution is only a few... hangers away in my huband's part of the wardrobe.
His white pantalon is brought to my size by adding a belt and having the down part part rolled up.

Add a button up and an interesting scarf and there you have it... a colorful,simple summer outfit.

Yesterday ,I made a visit to my attic and I picked up the children's summer clothes and my clothes that I put away at one point in spring when I went through a minimal phase.
I washed ,dried and ironed the lot and carefully filled the drawers. It gives me such a sense of accomplishment when the clothes front is in order in our house. I also had a chance to rediscover some of...my old clothes.

La historia... of a dress

Simple cotton dress bought on sale zara February 2009 . It fits nicely but not sewn in a nice quality way. Shorter than I prefer my dresses to be.

Worn as a skirt under a black sweater and with black riding boots, no tights. I remember feeling very light and comfortable.













Summer 2010. Worn over a simple white t shirt and adorned with a simple thin brown belt. This time I went barefoot. I think it makes nice contrast on white!!!









 Worn as a dress under a cardi( customized by me. I made it shorter )in similar shade.The focal point this time is a green necklace that gives a surprise element to the outfit.

 Autumn 2010. Nicely tucked under a white turtleneck and olive green cardigan. Again worn with boots but not tights. I remember it was the wrong choice, though, cause the day was far too windy for a dress!

 Winter 2010. This time the dress is worn with a  black cardigan and a matching scarf. I think the colored tights make it look special.

Summer of 2011.Worn under a simple tshirt tied in a knot. It's a nice but not common combination.

Yet another start

It's been almost a month since I last posted. The reason lies in the social,economical and political crisis my country Greece is going through. All the unrest , injustice and luck of freedom for the people to decide and plan their future just got me badly.
This  week I was bordering depression when I decided to direct my mind consciously to something that gives me pleasure.

Fashion blogging, yeah!!! And because it's nice and sunny and I desperately need to fix my mood this summer Iwill go for color and a lot of mix and match.
I sported a very strict minimalist style lately but now I feel like I need color and variation to lift my mood.
Today i wore a very simple t shirt over a floral dress I've worn many times before.I did tie a knot on the t shirt to  make it look summery.and to control the fit.

The shoes are bought in February sales from zara very cheaply and it was a well thought buy as I had predicted this style of shoe to be a hit come summer time.Other than that the shoes are made of natural materials like wood and leather and they are quite confortable.

No matter how corrupt a government may be or how bankrupt a country may become the nature is still the same .Beautiful ,soothing and always there!

Capsule wardrobe week 20#

This week I'll be mixing 2dresses, 2 shirts and a skirt for 5 outfits. Here we go...

Blue linen dress with lace detail altered by me - brogues

Little black dress - denim shirt - brogues

White shirt - blue linen dress - brogues

Denim shirt - skirt tailored by me - tan leather belt - broques

White shirt - red scarf- skirt tailored by me- brown leather belt - broques

I found out that dresses are not so easy to use in a capsule wardrobe .Other than that I feel that I want to alter this dress a bit more ...to a skirt!!!

Capsule wardrobe week 19#

knit sweater - levis trousers - scarf - broques

blue shirt - black cardigan - denim skirt - broques

knit sweater - blue shirt - levi's trousers - broques

red stripped t shirt - black cardigan - levi's trousers - brogues

drnim skirt - stripped tshirt - broques

Due to hectic weeks ahead I thought I might at least cronicle my outfits. It will be a different capsule wardrobe each week so that I keep it simple.

Blogging my way to bliss

Loved essentials  Denim shirt - light blue shirt -beige pants-Levi's jeans-beige sweater-LBD-black cardigan-camel broques-black belt-pearls-leather wrist watch-red nail polish

As it is always the case with blogging every so often something new  comes along. Lately, many thoughts about what direction my blog is going started to form in my head but nothing I could put my fingers on.
Then I read this post and everything fell into place.
I started my blog as a journal of everyday outfits with a small text that described the outfits or explained my choices.The smaller the text the bigger were my photos.
However , for over a month now this is changing.My posts are not daily anymore,the number of my outfits is reduced and the photos are becoming smaller and smaller. As for the text , it becomes more diverse and more subtle.
What gives me a greater pleasure at this point is to express my thoughts and feelings as they happen to be triggered by the world of style and not so much the fashion industry/trends.
As I struggle to understand and sometimes justify my love of style blogging I realised that  it's not the preoccupation with clothes per se that gives me the greatest satisfaction . For me it's the fact that blogging keeps me focused on something (style,fashion etc),gives the chance to over analize it and in this way to go deeper and deeper into it to wherever this might lead me.
Contrary to what happened to many bloggers, I have been able to control my spending through blogging because it gave me such a strong idea of my style at the moment that I have managed to pair it down to a few items and I only look to replace those when it is needed.
And it is needed only a couple of times a year.
I have to admit though that I often wonder how healthy this hobby of mine is .Granted we are far too many style bloggers around but it's not your average past time!What if I 'm bit by bit creating an avatar for myself, a certain way to present myself to the blogger's community  that has little to do with the real me?
I beleive that's not my case but how can I be sure?
Happy mother's day to everyone!

On Remixing

I was looking through my blog the other day and suddenly for the first time have I felt the need to make a collage to document how I have worn some of my favorite clothes in the last year and a half. I've done that in the hopes to see how my style has evolved ,as well.

The favorite piece I'm talking about is this MaxMara denim skirt which has exactly  the right knee lenghth (and we all know how difficult that is).
I've worn it with 4 different pairs(boots, broques ,heels)of shoes and in 4 different seasons, with or without tights and with belts,cardis ,shirts and tshirts.The more me look is the 3rd and the 6th.
The strange thing is that the more looks I can create with my skirt the more of sentimental value it aquires and this piece of fabric starts to have history and a certain bonding with me.
I'm sure that no other woman in the whole world has worn this skirt the way I have  and I'm sure i will come up with many more ways to wear it the years to come.
Which brings me to my last point that this skirt has won a place in my wardrobe and I will not be in the look out for a denim skirt for a long long time.

The thing is I so enjoyed the collage on my denim skirt that I decided to mix another one for my stripped tshirt
It's a zara basic and in need of replacement. So I will be forced to depart with it sometime soon. But I've learnt my lesson well. This time I will find a great quality one that will stay with me for years and be part of many outfits.

I 

I seem to fit this stripped tshirt with with skirts more that trousers and I definitely plan to change that. I like the simplicity of the first outfit but also the way it's styled under the black dress. The most unexpected combination was that together with the pink skirt and patterned scarf.

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