Boring Trondheim

Hello FABULOUS

2010-11-12T12:50:00.003+01:00

Randomly searching for a knitting pattern for a scarf I'm making as a christmas present, I came across THIS, this being Irina Shabayeva's fall 2010 collection. She was the winner of Project Runway season six (they've stopped showing Project Runway on Norwegian television, so I wouldn't know...), supposedly, and OH my WORD are her designs fabulous! The jackets, the prints, the proportions - it's all so splendid! I'm a total sucker for tall collars and heavy layering on the upper body. I'm getting a bit carried away here, but that is due to the total lack of interesting collections lately, from my point of view. I can't exactly place why, but none of the recent output from the fashion world has inspired me especially. However, THIS does!

My favourite is the light blue jacket with the enormous scarf. I don't love scarves, I luuuuuve them... Supposedly, the pattern can be found in the fall 2010 of Vogue knitting - I'd adore to make it, only the amount of yarn required would be positively ruin me.

sources: projectrungay.blogspot.com, Vogue knitting

KITTEN :D

2010-10-26T15:18:00.003+02:00

So, I haven't posted in a gazillion weeks - who cares?
Now I actually have something to post about, though;

About a year ago, when I found out that the boy and I were soon to move to a much larger apartment, I set my heart on getting a kitten. I have wanted a cat my whole life, but due to my mother's less than friendly disposition towards them, I have never been allowed one. But I managed to convince the boy, and started scanning the "kittens" section of finn.no on a daily basis. On several occasions we almost got one, only to be told on the day we were to pick it up that it had been given away to someone else (apparently, there is an insatiable demand for kittens in Trondheim...). But a couple of weeks ago, it finally happened. I called a man who had just posted that he had 5 kittens to give away, and after a short conversation, he put a kitten "on hold" for us.

On friday, we were to come and get it, but, as the owner lived 2 hours north of Trondheim, we needed a car. To make matters worse, it had been snowing for two days, and the car we had arranged to borrow did not have winter tires yet... In the end, we actually rented a car (we had been waiting for almost a year, such trivial problems were not allowed to get in the way!). Our kitten (male) has 3 sisters and 1 brother, who were all adorable, climbing curtains and chasing each other around :D I had expected two constant hours of meowing on the car-ride back, but even though he had to be locked in a cage, our kitten behaved perfectly.

He also adapted extremely well once we got home, only occasionaly hiding under the sofa when scared by sudden movements or noises. After one weekend he now eats, sleeps and does his business (in the right place) all by himself, and has been alone for a couple of hours without any trouble. Not bad for 7,5 weeks!

He is teensy tiny, all black and soft as velvet with tiny little paws :D We haven't given him an "official" name yet, as we mainly call him pus, but I expect we will find a name once we really get to know his personality :)

Heavy cargo

2010-08-19T19:49:00.003+02:00

This pic is from Style by Kling - love the Acne cargo pants! Possibly a DIY, if I wake up one day feeling extremely motivated to spend several hours with my sewing machine...

SHIN - can't get enough layering

2010-08-04T12:33:00.002+02:00

It's official: I've become a layering addict. Queen Michelle of Kingdom of Style posted about this superbly splendid label - Shin - today, and I actually jumped up and down in my chair while browsing their web shop. So forgive me if this post seems rather similar to yesterday's - I just couldn't help myself, the clothes are so achingly perfect. Pictures like these make me think I'll never wear colour again - it just seems unnecessary when black and white can look this beautiful.

s/s collection:

a/w collection:

A/W 2010

2010-08-03T14:20:00.003+02:00

MTWTFSS Weekday, Gareth Pugh, Complex Geometries

Love. Need. Must have.

2010-08-02T13:56:00.004+02:00

SO I'm back from Cuba in one piece, albeit with a slightly addled digestion system... However, the boy and I had a lovely time exploring, diving, trying to communicate in spanish (which neither of us speak to any useful degree), and sunbathing. We visited about ten different places in the course of three weeks, so I'll let the photos we took (with our excellent new Nikon D90!) do the talking when I get them sorted (we snapped about 2000 of them...).

I went to see Streetdance 3D with two friends of mine on saturday, and was pleasantly surprised. I had expected a British Step Up, and with the devastatingly original story line of ballet meets hip hop, the outlook was not particularly bright, but Streetdance 3D had included much more dancing and less bad acting, which helped infinitely. And the dancing was VERY VERY awesome, indeed. In a solo dance scene, the lead character, Carly, wears a pair of sneaker boots (yes, sneaker boots, indeed - love me or hate me) that I have fallen madly in love with. They just look so GOOOOOOOOD when she moves. View the clip on youtube here (seriously - I can't look at anything other than the shoes!) Problem is, as it always is with sneakers, to find a seller, preferably in Europe, as shipping from the US usually costs more than the items themselves...

Vacation

2010-07-02T08:34:00.003+02:00

I have to get up at 3.15 tomorrow, as I am leaving for CUBA! As the boy and I have been together for 10 years this year (yes, I know....), we decided to throw caution to the wind and go somewhere exotic for our summer vacation. We're staying three weeks, starting i Havana, and then travelling around the last two weeks. I'm hoping to see both the white-white beaches of the caribbean, old colonial houses and 50s cars, lush valleys and do some scuba diving with tropical fish - weee! I am, rather uncharacteristically, trying to be a smart traveller and pack everything I need in a backpack, which means no hairdryer, nail polish, clothes that need ironing or other luxury items. I'll post pictures when I get back (hopefully good ones, as we have just bought a Nikon D90), but there will scarcely be any outfit posts... Therefore I post one now, instead - this is what I wore yesterday:

Monki blazer, Monki pants, American Eagle tank, Pachamama pendant, shoes from Rome, Target sunnies

Danish style

2010-06-30T12:56:00.002+02:00

Ever since I started blogging a little over a year ago, I've noticed the slightly brainwashing effect that keeping constantly updated on other fashion blogs has. I don't know exactly how it came about this time, but I have gradually become obsessed with the style of the three danish girls of the blog Anywho. They really master the art of making excessive layering and oversized garments look elegant rather than, well, excessive and oversized. And yes, I would also very much like the two-tone platform pumps (from Nina Dolcetti).

Budget vs luxe (and unobtainable)

2010-06-22T09:22:00.002+02:00

Remember these?

Supposedly they sold out the moment they hit the Scorett stores in Sweden, and are thus impossible to get anywhere. However, as I was scanning nelly.com (one of the many virtues of the web is that one can browse such tacky stores without shame), I found this cheaper copycat version at only 349kr

I quite realize that they are nowhere near as faboulous as the originals, lacking the seamless transition from shoe to heel and being rather more inelegant overall, but still... The genious concept of the shoe remains intact, and they are of a less daunting heel height. Or are they just a cheap and ugly looking copy? At a third of the original price they are bound to be less comfortable, and one of my vices is buying just that: shoes that are cheap and thus terrible to wear. I am therefore currently looking for a new pair of sandals to replace my gladiators that cost close to nothing in Paris, but are half a size too large and impossible to wear for more than a few hours... By the way, I thoroughly regret not just buying these a year ago. Argh.

What time is it?

2010-06-14T16:45:00.004+02:00

SUMMERTIME :D! Sorry for the High School Musical 2 quote, but couldn't help myself - I'm finally done with my exams and back in Oslo! I spent yesterday getting up late, lazing in front of the computer and taking my new poncho for a walk in the park I live next to and have missed tremendously.

Yes, the much posted about blanket DIY poncho is now done, and I actually think it turned out even better than the Chloé original, as I decided to add black trim to the hem of mine. Making it is quite straightforward, but I'll include a tutorial nonetheless, as I actually bothered to take the pictures.

DIY poncho, Gina Tricot chinos, sandals from Paris, vintage bag

the original Chloé poncho

Blanket Poncho Tutorial

You will need:

a (preferably woolen) blanket long enough to reach approximately to your knees and also wide enough to fall pleasantly down slightly below your elbows

ribbon in the same colour as the blanket to stop neckline fraying

ribbon for the side hems (optional)

fabric paint in a contrasting colour and a sponge

self-adhesive film for making paint stencils (in Norway this is called contact paper, I have no idea what the English term is)

Start by cutting off fringe if your blanket has it (unless you want a fringed poncho, obviously). I also trimmed away about 10 cm on each side of my blanket, as it was a bit too wide for my taste. Then proceed to marking the center of your blanket, which is where the hole for your head will be. Make sure you know which way you want to fold your blanket to make the poncho, i.e. fold it in half so that that it is longer than it is wide (hoping that made sense). When shaping the hole, start making it smaller than you think you need, as it is a lot easier to widen it than the other way around... Once you are happy with it, get your neckline trimming ribbon and attach it with pins before you sew it on. I sewed mine on by putting the two front sides (blanket and ribbon) together and sewing first, so that i could fold the ribbon over the hem and thus make the seam "invisible", but then you have to hand-stitch the back.

Now make a small fold along the bottom two hems, attach with pins and sew along the edge - this is to stop it fraying if you have cut off fringe here or trimmed it (if you haven't - ignore this step).

Then it's time to attach ribbon to the side hems. For this one my ribbon was too narrow to use the same technique as with the neckline (and, frankly, my patience too small to hand-stitch 2 metres of ribbon), so I just folded it over the hem (making sure it was equally wide on both back and front - remember that both will be showing) and sewed it on.

The last step is the painted stripes. Cut out strips of the self-adhesive film a bit longer than the poncho itself and of equal width. If you have enough film, make the strips the same width as the distance you want the painted stripe to be from the hem, as you will then have less of a hassle placing the stencils. Be accurate when placing, and make sure you hold the strips and fabric tightly. Place the strip closest to the edge first, and then use a ruler to ensure that the second strip is the same distance from the first all the way down. Repeat on other side.

Have an extra look to make sure there are no gaps or wobbles in the stencils (try and smoothe them out if there are), and then you are ready to paint. Please make sure you have enough paint before you start (and that the paint is fresh - you will save yourself the annoyance of having to stop after a few minutes and go and buy new paint, as I did...). I used a full 250 ml bottle of black fabric paint (Palett from Panduro Hobby). Lay the blanket on a cover of newspapers to protect your floor/table, and keep away from rampaging toddlers/ clumsy boyfriends and such. Apply the paint with the sponge, carefully as the stencil sometimes tends to slip, regardless og how many times you have smoothed it out.

Leave to dry for at least 24 hours and iron on wrong side to seal the paint (if instructions on paint bottle call for it, as mine did). The paint ended up making an interesting pattern on the wrong side that in opinion only makes it quirkier and more unique, so I'll leave it the way it is. You could always paint both sides, but it will make it a bit stiffer. All in all, I'm really pleased :D

It could almost speak for itself...

2010-06-04T23:31:00.003+02:00

THE dress arrived by express mail form Oslo yesterday evening, but as I had an exam today, I didn't have the chance to post until now. It is simply STUNNING. It couldn't possibly be more perfect or more me! The boy actually agrees, and that is really saying something with a dress quite as unique as this.

I did a test wear today to see Sex and the City 2 with the girls, and I can tell you that it made quite a few heads turn (of course I was internally jumping up and down going YAY! at this). I wore it with my sneaker heels and Pernille-inspired DIY tassel earrings, and it was a most welcome break from the no-makeup sweat suit uniform that is exam revision attire.
All hail to Pernille for doing such a wonderful job on the dress - it is beautifully made - on such a short time. I can't wait till she's the next famous danish designer alá Marlene Birger (as I have no doubt she will - she is super talented), and I can boast about owning one of her early designs ;) So Pernille: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for making it for me - I will love and cherish the dress for many many years to come!

Äer by Pernille Rosenkilde dress, DIY shoes, DIY earrings

Dress? Check!

2010-05-30T09:31:00.002+02:00

I wrote in my last post that I'd just love to express order a dress for the ball by Pernille Rosenkilde. Well, I did! I wrote her a slightly desperate email, and after another 20 emails, the deal was done. I'm so excited! She'll make the dress for me, and send it to Copenhagen, where a former colleague of my mother's will pick it up and take it with her to Oslo, where my mum will send it to Trondheim. If all goes well. Oh lord, now I've probably jinxed it. I'm dreadfully nervous about the affair, as I have no backup plan if I don't get it on time *eeek*.

I must really say that Pernille is such a good sport agreeing to do it on such ridiculously short notice! And I can't waaaaait to wear the dress; just look at it, it's divine! I've been positively ogling her designs for months, I can't believe I'll be wearing one of them :D

I've agreed about the length issue with Pernille; I'll wear it like in the first picture to the ball, then it should come down to well under my knees. Then I can wear it like in the other two pictures when I don't need to adhere to dress codes. That's my favourite part about the dress - I'll be able to wear it on other occasions, which would hardly be the case if I'd bought some floor length evening gown. Wheee! I plan to team it with my black suede fringe heels:

Wardrobe crisis

2010-05-26T06:23:00.005+02:00

Woke up at 4.45am today and was unable to go back to sleep - obviously the sun rises ridiculously early this far north. So I figured I might as well just get up and start revising for my next exam (on monday). My programming exam yesterday didn't go all that well, so I better step it up anyway.

I have a problem that really shouldn't be a problem. The boy told me a few days ago that there is to be a ball at his school (military schools, you know), and that he is required to attend. Unfortunately this coincides with my end of exams-party, but nevermind that, as the real trouble is I have nothing to wear. Yes, it sounds silly to say that with a closet bursting with clothes, but the dress code says "gala", which means long gowns, and I own nothing of the sort. Again, having to buy a new dress hardly seems something to complain about, but I have neither got the time nor the money at the moment to do so. Also I really don't like the idea of spending a lot on a dress I'll only wear once or twice, and ballgowns generally tend to come with a hefty pric tag. I've tried to find somewhere that rents dresses out, but so far no luck. So now what?

I've been playing with the idea of making one, but again - there is hardly any time, as I have three more exams to go, tha last on the day of the ball. Also, my sewing skills are not sophisticated enough to pull such a project off without it looking homemade. I wish I could express order something from the lovely Pernille of Stylespelledbackwards - she is the master seamstress of anything draped, just look at this:

My only option left is looking through the stores to see if I might get lucky and find a cheap plain dress that I could make some alterations to. As maxi dresses are very trendy at the moment, this may be possible. If not, I'll be in a right fix...

The problem is finding a gown that's dressy enough without looking too "prom dress", if you know what I mean - I REALLY don't want to look like some marshmallow debutante ball attendee... If I could find a simple enough well cut dress, I might even be able to wear it again on a less formal occasion. Whike browsing for ispiration, I came across this marvellously divine gown from Vera Wang:

She is of course the queen of elegant gowns. I said I dislike marshmallow dresses, but if you do have to have puffy and flouncy with loads of tulle when it comes to dresses, I think her versions would be the only way to go. More of her 2010 bridal collection:

I did find this dress on finn.no priced at only 500kr, but I fear the purple would be too bright for my complexion

Any suggestions or tips on how to DIY a ballgown are most welcome!

Back from the sun

2010-05-12T08:50:00.005+02:00

I returned from my trip to Florida two weeks ago (I'd have blogged sooner, but it's exam revision time now, and blogging time is limited), and I can honestly say that it's been one of the best I have ever had. Perhaps thinking that you have lost something makes you all the more appreciative of it, because there was plenty of drama before we finally left the runway at Oslo airport.

When I last blogged, I was leaving for Kongsberg for our last practice weekend by train because of the ash cloud that paralyzed close to all European air traffic. We (the team and I) spent most of saturday devising desperate plans to get us across the pond to Florida, almost booking seats on a bus headed to Barcelona (as Spain was the only open airspace at the time), a 72 hour drive from Oslo. By the afternoon it began to dawn on us that unless the ash cloud miraculously disappeared in two days, we would not be able to get to Florida. I spent the days that followed glued to the television and facebook to keep updated on the ash cloud's movements. One moment we were going, the next we were not - it was absolutely nerve-wracking. The final answer (or so we thought, mohahaha!) came when we saw online that our flight on monday had been cancelled. There was much crying and eating of comfort food.

Then came the miracle: on monday afternoon, my mother called me - there would be a plane departing from Oslo for New York on tuesday, and we had 25 seats on it! Continental Airlines would be flying in an extra large aircraft to take onboard passengers that had travelling by bus from Copenhagen, and since we were such a large group, they called us to see if we were by any chance interested in joining them to the US. Originally, there was supposed to be 85 of team Norway going to Florida, and not 25. However, the two cheerleading teams had been booked with Lufthansa, and had a connecting flight in Frankfurt, which made their departure impossible, as there was no possibility of the ash cloud leaving the entire west Europe in such a short time. This meant that only the two dance teams (freestyle and my team, hip hop) would be able to go, but at least we were going. I could not believe it, in fact I refused to do so until we actually broke contact with Norwegian soil (or tarmac, if you will), as the airport was said to be closing again at 2pm on tuesday (it had been opened on monday due to a gap in the ash cloud). When we arrived at the airport, a rumour spread that they were closing at 12 - our departure time was 11.30 (nerve-wracking, I tell you!). In the end, the airport actually didn't close at all on monday, and we were headed for New York. There was much rejoicing. We were actually delayed 2.5 hours due to mechanical and cargo problems, and there was hardly any proper food onboard, as catering crew at the airport had been sent home due to no planes departing over the previous days, but no one cared - we were finally going to Florida :D

The trip itself was, as stated above, a splendid affair. We stayed in a superluxurious hotel,

and alternated shopping, practising and lounging around the pool the first three days before competition started.

We participated in two different competitions - the ICU World Championships (for national teams), and the USASF Worlds (for all star teams). There were about three times as many teams in our division in the USASF Worlds, which was in general on a vastly larger scale than the ICU WC (which is a new competition - it was it's second year ever).

making our hair look troll-like

ready for competition!

ICU WC was held on friday, and we placed 4th of 12 (or maybe it was 11, don't quite remember). In Worlds, we first had to compete on saturday in the preliminaries, and we placed an amazing 5th of 32! We had first thought that Worlds woulf be all fun, because we didn't dare believe we stood an actual chance of placing anywhere near the top 5, but the pressure was suddenly on. We ended up with 6th because the team that placed 6th on saturday managed to dance their way to 3rd (absolutely deservedly so, by the way), but we were thrilled to bits anyway - to have placed that high in a competition with so many excellent teams was unbelievable. You can watch our routine here.

happy trolls with the big troll at the Norwegian Pavillion at Epcot

The day after competition most of Team Norway were scheduled to return to Oslo, but my mum and I were to stay another week, which we kicked off by shopping unprecedented amounts (which is saying something!) of clothes in Orlando - seriously, the prices there are ridiculous, especially if you visit the best outlets. I recommend Lake Buena Vista Factory Outlet before the flashier Orlando Premium, because Lake Buena Vista has the best offers. We also spent quite a bit of time at the Florida Mall...
After having filled our suitcases (two each) to the brim, quite literally, we headed for the Gulf Coast and the charming Madeira Beach. We stayed at a hotel ON the beach named apropriately Barefoot Bach Hotel, in a room with a beach view balcony where we could watch the sunset - bliss.

We never quite rid oureselves of the jetlag, meaning we woke up very early, and began every day with a morning beach walk before breakfast. We didn't do much else than beaching by daytime, but who needs to when you have a pristine white beach and turquoise water right outside? By evening we ate lovely fresh fish (I discovered fish tacos - yum!) and ice cream. Yes, coming home to Norway to a snow storm was less than wonderful, but at least we were rested, recharged and ludicruosly tanned :D

I can't believe it!

2010-04-16T00:18:00.003+02:00

So, I presume you've gathered that I've looking forward to going to Florida, eh, quite a bit lately. However, Icelandic volcanos seem to lack the decency to respect this, as the recent eruption from Eyjafjallajökull has now emitted enough volcanic ash to leave all air planes in Norway and most of northern Europe ground bound. The Norwegian prime minister is currently stuck at JFK airport unable to return home. We have no definite number as to how long the air traffic will remain paralyzed, but the outlook so far is rather grim - all flights to, from and within Norway have been cancelled both today and tomorrow. Luckily, my father was able to snag a train ticket to Oslo for me tomorrow, as the national team is practicing this weekend before departure to the US (hopefully!) on monday. It's unfathomable that after 9 months of hard practice and anticipation, we might be defeated by this. I can't even think about it. Please keep 'em crossed for a miraculous change in the weather conditions!

Now to something completely different, just to shake myself out of my self pity. Once upon a lovely day of shopping in Oslo, I entered the Diesel store on a mission to aquire the perfect fit jeans. I found a lovely dark bootcut pair (this was before skinny jeans became all the rage again), but made the grave mistake of letting the shop assistant convince me to buy them a size down from what I would usually wear, as "they would stretch", as he claimed. They didn't. I tried frantically to widen them by doing all sorts of strange acrobatics while wearing them, but it was no good. So they ended up in the back of my closet, practically unworn (it brings tears to my eyes just writing about it). Then one summer day I lacked other employment, I decided to alter them into skinnies and bleach them to make them a bit trendier, and perhaps force myself to endure the agony of wearing a size too small non-stretch jeans. They turned out beautifully lying flat, and worked quite all right when worn standing up, but the slimmed legs had the nasty effect of cutting off the blood flow to my feet when sitting down, which meant that the amount of use increased only meagerly.

Then came the current trend of jeans with odd seams and panels of different fabric, which left a splendid opening for me to alter the jeans yet again and attempt to make them wearable. I cut up an old pair of sweatpants and added panels in the critical regions. Of course the goal was to not make the jeans look like I've become too fat for them, and I thus added quite large pieces at the calves in opposite angles to try and create a style statement. Upon arrival back in Trondheim I happily showed the boy my new altered jeans. "Yes, it looks like you've become too fat for them" he said (or words to that effect). Brilliant.

Gina Tricot tunic tee, DIY Diesel jeans, Nike sneakers, DIY earrings

How to do it:

You need

a pair of jeans (use ones that fit you too tightly or quite well, as taking in too large ones will be a tiresome affair)

a pair of sweatpants you are not too attached to

Start by splitting the side seams of the jeans at the hips/calves as far down/up as you need or wish. Fold the edges in to form a basis for the panels. Cut out larger pieces than you need from the sweatpants for the panels and adjust with pins until you know how wide you want your panels to be (tip: make them slightly narrower than you need if the sweats are stretchy). Shape the panels, cut away excess jean fabric and attach the panels from the inside out with pins.

It's a good idea to hand stitch the panels on first, both to assert yourself that the fit is correct, as well as to ease the bulk of fabric when machine sewing (jeans can be a pain).

I tried to imitate the waistband of the jeans on my panels to make it look less homemade, and this also makes the jeans less prone to tearing at the seams of the panels. For the panels at the calves, I assembled them of horizontal strips sewn together.

Make sure that you attach at least the panels at the calves from the inside out by putting the wrong sides of the fabrics together (or you won't be able to sew by machine, as it won't fit up your pant leg...).

Sew the whole shebang together and be a good girl and fasten your threads properly (you really don't want your jeans coming apart as you run to catch the bus).

By the way, here is a pic of my favourite new pice of jewellery: a Snö bracelet the boy's mum got me for my birthday (the pink one)

lovely, isn't it? Fits so well with the rest, but brings a bit of spring :) She is the nicest, and I mean the NICEST mother-in-law (ok, the boy and I are not tchnically married, but we're as good as...), and she makes scrumptious food - what more could anyone wish for?

Oh yes, a plane to Florida... I do hope none of you are affected by this - once again - keep 'em crossed!

100th blog post!

2010-04-14T12:36:00.004+02:00

Boringtrondheim is one year old on friday, which roughly means 100 posts in one year = about one post every three days. This seems a surprisingly high number to me, as I feel constantly guilty about not posting frequently enough, but I suppose the countless hours of boredom at work this summer has something to do with the high number...

As I amuse myself believing that there is someone out there actually giving a hoot about what the outcome of my poncho-dilemma was, I'm happy to tell you that I did the unsensible thing and bought BOTH :D I brought my firend Jenny along, and she agreed with me. And I actually had the money for a change - obviously there were no good reasons left not to buy both.

I couldn't be happier with it :D The snood/scarf is my latest creation - I wanted a lighter scarf for spring. I used this pattern, but as my yarn (Canto) is quite different from the one in the pattern, it looks nothing like it at all, but I'm happy all the same.

I've also completed my take on the Holly Fulton Empire State Building earrings. They are made with Hama beads (you know, the ones we had in kindergarden that you iron), and the clear beads are actually glow-in-the-dark, as I discovered yesterday while in the bathroom scaring myself half to death spotting glowing flourescent somethings hovering in the mirror...

look - the lights are on in one window of each ;)

In progress - I had a hard time deciding on clear beads vs yellow. And, yes, that is my homework underneath, which clearly explains the less than stellar level of my grades... I had an obsession with Hama bead earrings a couple of years ago, and the empire state ones join my current collection:

Both my mum and the boy gave me the *oh dear, what have you made THIS time*-sort of look rolling their eyes upon first seeing them, but I think they are fabulous :D

The blanket cape is in progress, although it turned out a slightly more arduous project than I had anticipated, as I feel the need to hem it with ribbon, as I want it to be durable. I intend to be as unoriginal as possible for a change, and copy the striped Chloé one as far as it goes. I'll solve the pattern issue with fabric paint for the wide middle stripe, and embroider the narrow stripes with black wool yarn - can't wait to see how it turns out, but I'm unlikely to finish it by the time I go to FLORIDA on monday :D:D:D

That's right, I'm leaving on a jet plane bound for warmer weather (it's set for 80F/ 27C tomorrow)! I can hardly wait, so in the mean time I do what I always do when I wait for something: make lists. I've made a "what to pack"-list, a "where to eat in Orlando"-list, and of course several "where to shop in Orlando"-list. If anyone has been there and can make recommendations, please do bring them on! Because of the new restrictions on luggage on travels to the US (only one piece of luggage weighing no more than 23kg is permitted per economy class traveler :(...), I'm leaving my computer at home, and am thus unlikely to be updating the blog during my two-week stay. Anyone interested in competition results can keep watch on facebook. If you're not jealous yet, this is where Team Norway (yup, that includes moi!) will be staying in Orlando, and this is where I will be staying with my mum for a week after competition is over - Madeira Beach on the Gulf Coast of Florida:

Ok, I'll stop being mean now (mohahahaha).

Shoe Porn

2010-04-10T13:13:00.002+02:00

Good lord - shoes from Scorette, a swedish shoe store that, to my utter vexation, lacks an online store *sniff*

source: Stocholm Street Style

Hardly making any progress

2010-04-08T11:02:00.004+02:00

I'm currently at school trying to fill my gaps in the fluid mechanics curriculum (obviously without success, since I'm writing this...), but I am also making less than desired progress on my quest for the spring cape/poncho. I've given up on locating one online, as the only sites that sell the kind I want are Bolivian, and it seems too much of a hassle. I have, however, located some woolen blankets that could easily be made into a poncho at Kid Interiør. Some hemming and removal of fringe, and perhaps a bit of black embriodery would turn it into a perfectly passable Chloe copy. But, I have also found a cape at H&M that put my entire plan aschew... gahr. It is, as said, a cape, and not a poncho, but it is terribly cool nonetheless:

It costs 400 kr, whereas the blankets are 500 - BUT they have a "bring a friend and get 40% off"-offer. I, being friendless (or so to speak) at the time I visited the shop, could not take advantage of this, but I could of course bring someone along. This means that the blanket is effectively 300 - decisions, decisions.... It really comes down to a matter of when I want to wear it. The cape is more of a spring outerwear piece, whereas the blanket poncho would hardly suffice against the windy climate, and would be more convenient on chilly summer days. And the cape has a hood. I like hoods. I COULD of course eat porridge for a week and buy both, but as I already own a black cape, this seems a tiny bit silly - who knows how long the poncho trend will last? I need help here - your opinion would be greatly appreciated!

Lastly I just had to post this gorgeous pic I found on stilinberlin - perfect layering personified:

And, by the way, does anyone know the difference between assume and presume? I lost my beloved dictionary when moving, and this question has puzzled me for days...

How to get it?

2010-04-03T12:31:00.008+02:00

It started timidly with the vintage oversized tees and slouchy scarves sported by the Olsens some years back and evolved into the massive layering trend that has been dominant on the fashion scene for some years now. I've been wondering when we would be tottering around looking like victims of a fabric store explosion, and it seems to me, although I sincerely hope I am mistaken, that the "just thrown it on"-look (championed by brands like Complex Geometries and Pleasure Principle) is now nearing the end of its reign, culminating in the latest obsession: the poncho. Not the most popular garment traditionally, the revival of the poncho is sure to raise heated debate among bloggers. Nevertheless, Chloe and Celine (among others) have many of us going gaga for ponchos and capes, myself being no exeption. Indeed, as I discovered today, the larger part of my latest posts have included capes or ponchos. I need, I NEEED a poncho, and I need it NOW, never mind that it may be the most unsuitable piece of outerwear for use in Trondheim, as it allows free passage for any gust of wind. The Poncho Shop, a UK site selling latin american style wool ponchos, is practically sold out - so how will I get one?! I'm going, as previously mentioned, to the world championships in Florida in just two weeks, which means that any US web shop would do the trick, but the hunt for such a one is proving agitatingly difficult. Obviously, if I could get my hands on a beige wool blanket with a subtle pattern, turning it into a poncho would be an easy feat, but such rarely come cheap in my experience. My ideal one would be as similar as possible to this one (by Chloe, not Celine as posted previously - sorry about that!), perhaps with a hood

I do actually already own a cape - the black one from Old Spital Fields market that I wear over my black coat, but I feel the need for a lighter colored one for spring and summer (Norwegian summers can be quite cold and rainy). My black cape is also more of a drapey affair, whereas I want a sort of blanket poncho - one solid piece of fabric rather than a shawl-like one.

Other capes and ponchos for inspiration:

all 3 above from The Poncho Shop

Chloe (yet AGAIN - know)

Chloe a/w 2009

3.1 Philip Lim a/w 2010

source: Google

Printed! Love! source: The Urban Vogue

Complex Geometries

Perhaps this, also from Complex Geometries? It's called the Ultra Jacket, and can also be worn as a dress or a tank (oooh - versatile!):

a truly striking Marc Jacobs creation

Spring came and went

2010-03-24T12:26:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was the loveliest spring day yet - clear blue sky, and enough warming sunshine to make me abandon my trusty puffer jacket for the day. I suppose the weather must have been in honour of the boy's birthday yesterday, because today I woke up to snow. Again.

I was able to return the leather jacket on monday and spent the money instead on this outfit, all from Gina Tricot:

I was a good girl and listened to myself and bought chinos! The top was not strictly on the list, but it went so awfully well with my necklace that I could not bear to leave it, and the cardigan was on sale at 50kr :D

Once or twice a year, I get a strong inclination to wear red lipstick. Normally I don't wear any lip makeup at all, not even gloss, but I think it must be something about the light and how pale one's skin looks in spring that compliments strong lips. Teamed with my fake clubmasters and a red scarf, my outfit yesterday tapped slightly into rockabilly, but on the whole I quite loved it.

Gina Tricot chinos, Abercrombie & Fitch cardigan, Target sunglasses, Dr Marten's boots

vintage biker jacket and fake fur vest

Finally, here are some pics of the dessert I made for the boy, and his father and grandmother who came to celebrate his birthday - mini pavlovas: a pistacchio meringue with whipped cream and raspberries, chopped mint and pistacchios on top. Sadly, everyone was so full from the two-course thai/indian dinner we made for them that no one managed to finish their dessert (ok, I did...), let alone make any real attempt at the cheese cake that came after... Oh, well - cheesecake and indian food for the rest of the week for us, then ;)

The bare meringues - they really ought to have been quite a lot fluffier... my error was that I meddled to much with them trying to shape them into tiny circles. The recipe (I added about 75g of ground pistacchios to the batter) is from Nigella Lawson's "How To Be a Domestic Godess", and usually works like a charm.

Luxury problems

2010-03-21T08:26:00.004+01:00

It's SUNNY outside today :D! Unfortunately, the temperatures are so far a bit on the chilly side, but there is a big shiny yellow thing in the sky nevertheless (now, if I could only get the boy to wake up so we could take a walk...).

Since a long time ago, I have had plans to meet my aunt (remember the one who bought me my perfect coat?) this weekend, as she is in town to compete with her band in the Norwegian championships. However, I had also planned to see my friend Tina, who is here for the same reason. Imagine my surprise when I get a text saying they have discovered that they play in the same band (incidentally, they also play the same instrument). Consequently, we all arranged to have lunch, and a splendid lunch it was! We went to Bella Bulldog, a café next door to where I used to live in Trondheim, where they have the best cinnamon swirl buns in town. You can tell that they're good by the fact that a spoon is required to eat them, as they are filled to the brim with buttery sugary cinnamony goodness and topped with icing - yum! I also had a sandwich of whole grain bread with brie and blueberry jam that I highkly recommend. I had the loveliest time with the two of them - thank you both!

Prior to the lunch, my aunt and I went on a teeny shopping trip, and she bought me the cutest thing:

eee! An elephant pours my tea!

Yes, it is an elephant teapot :D It is from Indiska, and I knew it must come home with me. I do not have a teapot, and I often have guests who drink tea, so you can hardly say that it wont come in useful. Even the boy agreed that it was a good buy, as he loves elephants :)
When we were to go to lunch, my aunt gave me (quite a lot of) money to go shopping myself - I tried to refuse, but she would not hear of it, the silly woman. She is too wonderful, that aunt of mine! Having received the money to spend it, I decided in contradiction to the voice in my head telling me to put it in savings, to go shopping after lunch. A wad of cash of such uprecedented size (I usually only carry small change) in my wallet immediately went to my head, and I at one point considered spending the whole amount on a Wang sweater I found in Trondheims poshest shop, chiefly because it was Wang - luckily, I talked myself out of it. Then I was hit by shopper's ambivalence. This is what usually happens to me when I shop alone - I try on a million different things in every store, but never buy anything. It's not that I couldn't find anything I liked, just that I'm unable to convince myself that it is worth spending the money on.

In the end, I bought something I know I shouldn't have - a vintage leather biker jacket. Ok, I own no less than three leather jackets already (one is borrowed, but still), and I hardly wear any of them, as they are rather uncomfortable and look very odd teamed with my lilac school backpack (if you had my heavy books to carry to school, you would wear a backpack, too). The jacket hung silently at Fretex (which, by the way, is way overpriced in Trondheim), and If had never gone there, I would never have felt a need for it. As it was, I came, I saw and I needed. I spent about half an hour in the shop trying it on in different ways, and imagining what it would look like wthout shoulder pads in it (it is an 80s model - cropped with batwing arms and shoulder pads). Then I hid it behind another jacket and left to contemplate. This is what I always do when I get shopper's ambivalence - I hide the items I like the most, of fear that someone else will buy it before I return, I'm sure it drives the shop assistants mad... Here is the jacket:

So I went through other shops and tried on other things (and hid other garments), weighing pro's and con's.
Pro's:

it's brown, which is the new black when it comes to leather
the quality of the leather is perfect - worn, light and soft, as opposed to my other jackets, which are stiff and heavy.

Con's:

I rarely wear my other jackets - why would I wear this one?
it's cropped, which detracts from it's wearability in Trondheim weather; aren't biker jackets on their way out, fashion-wise? (had it been a shearling jacket, I would have had no hesitations, as they are all the rage)
the shape is slightly odd on me, but perhaps removing the shoulder pads will make it more flattering
I've always loathed brown leather - they possibility of my loathing the jacket when brown leather goes out of fashion is therefore very much present
(last and final point) I'm really quite over leather biker jackets...

As overwhelmingly on the con side as this list is, I paved the streets up and down, unable to decide.

I had told myself straight away that I would spend the money on clothes that I really needed, as in classic garments that my wardrobe lacks. Somehow, perhaps after the fifth shop, this suddenly included a brown leather jacket, as it is sort of classic americana (I failed, of course to remember that my personal style is a lot of things, but hardly classic americana...). This is another classic problem when it comes to me and shopping - when out in the actual shops, all the carefully assembled ideas of what I vision my style of the season to be vanish completely. I get so infatuated with the garments I see that I fail to place them in a larger style context. I think I need to carry some sort of style collage whenever shopping, to steer me away from the impulse purchases that don't fit in my wardrobe.

At a quarter to closing time, I rushed back to Fretex to buy the jacket, only to have another fit of undecidedness, which resulted in, as it always does, calling my mother. She said, as was the only sensible thing to be said, and that I should have listened to: "What do you need another leather jacket for?". But I managed in my flustered state to persuade her that it was a sensible buy, and she In the end encouraged me to buy it. So I did. And 5 minutes later, I knew I had done the wrong thing. All is not lost, however, as I made sure that I would be able to return the jacket, and I think now that I will. I have carefully removed the shoulder pads and sewn the lining back together as neatly as I could, and the jacket now fits a lot better, but I still don't think I' ll wear it enough to justify it.

I did actually make one sensible buy - I finally found the perfect white shirt. For the last month or so I have been searching for it, and I have tried on every variation in Zara (and they have a lot of them on offer this season...) Of course, I found at completely at random in Vero Moda. Nevertheless, it is perfect - wheee!

I don't have school on monday, so I think I'll go back to Fretex and refund the jacket and either but something else, or save the money until I figure out what I really want. Until then, (Mie, are you listening? ok, good) here is a compilation of things that I need (not in a I'm-achild-in-Africa-and-I-need-food kind of need, but In a should the shopping opportunity arise, this is what needs to be top priority):

beige chinos
cape of some sort
light blue jeans
long jersey skirt
comfy, slightly sporty futuristic looking things
sporty utility
layers, layers, layers
colours: cream, nude, beige

and the general style direction in which I want to be heading (I've posted some of these before):

both Phi s/s 2010

all four above from Biz C's profile on lookbook (check her out!)

Topshop

Complex Geometries

both Celine s/s 2010

the stylish Pandora via Stockholm Street Style

To me, these equate to a sort of supergirl goes on country holiday for spring. Forgive me if that makes no sense to you, but I obviously need such definitions in order to stop buying leather jackets...

Take me away

2010-03-16T08:29:00.003+01:00

I wish I were in Paris... Being bombarded with photos from leggy models floating about that most picturesque of cities wearing their jackets casually unbuttoned without any apparent signs of being the least bit cold does make one want to jump on the next available flight. It's set for 12C sunny in Paris today - infinitely more attractive than -2C and BLIZZARD in Trondheim. It was snowing when I left for Oslo on friday, it was snowing when I came back on sunday, and it's still bloody snowing! March is obviously not considered a spring month this far north. Needless to say, blizzards hardly inspire the most extravagant outfits, so I instead post a picture I found of Latvian model Ieva Laguna wearing the most fabulous Derek Lam cape/coat, and patiently await departing for Oslo again in two weeks for the easter holidays.

Source: Altamira

Haider Ackermann fall 2010

2010-03-10T09:28:00.002+01:00

Herr Ackermann, you genious you!

Back to reality

2010-03-08T15:19:00.004+01:00

Spent the last three days at the national cheerleading championships and now feel severely brainwashed, but it was a great weekend - lots of great routines, you can watch some here.
My performance with the hip hop team went well on saturday and even better on sunday, and it was wonderful to hear other people giving our routine good reviews :D Our theme is Norwegian trolls, and this is what we looked like:

pretty strange with the black contact lenses, huh?

happy trolls!

There was a banquet on saturday, for which we consequently had to dress up a bit. However, I did not know that we were to attend this when I was packing to go to Oslo, and so I had a bit of an outfit crisis. Luckily, I found an old pair of espadrilles that I had forgotten I had, and borrowed a slouchy top from my mother that I customized with some safety pins (crafty, crafty!). Of course I topped it off with my new blazer - crisis averted!

Zara blazer, Gina Tricot tank (customized), Topshop jeans, Tommy Hilfiger espadrilles

New obsession

2010-03-04T09:46:00.004+01:00

Holly Fulton and her ingenious art deco prints! Remember i posted a picture of a black and white printed jacket a while ago? Well, I was reading UK Vogue and came across an article about the designer, and not only fell back in love with the jacket, but also her printed shifts, futuristic jewellery and kick-ass sunglasses - in other words, her entire s/s 2010 collection... Sadly, I don't think I could EVER pull off a DIY of that jacket *sniff*, but I will have a go at the Empire State building earrings :D

Prints and earrings and MACAROONS - oh my!

sources: Google, Browns Fashion

I love Oslo

2010-03-02T17:49:00.003+01:00

Due to a happy chain of events (namely that next weekend is the cheerleading national championships where I will be performing with the cheer hip hop national team, and that last weekend was practice weekend, both events taking place near Oslo), I am spending the week at home. This would give me plenty of time to catch up on my school work, thought I, being more than usually naive about my own school work ethics. However, the splendid Oslo weather lured my away from my desk, and thus I have spent the entire day walking around the city. Here, the sky is still bright at six in the afternoon (in Trondheim it is pitch dark at four...), the birds are singing, the icicles are dripping away, and today I didn't even have to wear mittens - the subtle signs of spring could hardly be more exhilarating. I felt so inspired that I even bought a new pair of sunglasses - a pair of fake clubmasters that I paid 100kr for at Target in Bogstadveien (it seemed like a steal to me, until I passed by Lindex and saw the same bloody glasses at 60kr... bother).

Walking along I suddenly spotted Monki, a swedish brand that I was completely unaware of having established themselves in Norway. I rushed in excitedly, remembering many fierce outfits on swedish fashion blogs crediting Monki for their garments. However, I was greatly disappointed to find only a bleak and tacky copy of Topshop without even one piece I would consider buying. I spent a good deal of time in Zara, where they seem to be merging the utility chic trend with their usual preppy style (quite successfully, I must admit). I have always been of the conviction that blazers do no favours to my body shape, and have thus avoided them. Today, however, I was proven wrong. Zara had the most splendidly cut fitted navy stripe blazer that I tried on, expecting it to look as bad as usual, and was amazed to find suited me very well indeed. The catch was that it came with a slightly steep price tag, but my loveliest of mothers agreed to buy it for me :D (by the way - yes I have cut my hair, and no, I'm not particularly pleased with it... but it will grow out eventually ;)

Zara blazer, Topshop jeans, Urban Outfitters tee, Target sunglasses, Arts & Crafts tooth pendant

I apaologize for the blurry photos - I attempted to use my mums Nikon D90, but I couldn't get it to focus properly when using the timer... :S

Eeeee! I love being home :D soon mum will be home from work, and then we are going to make taquitos!

FINISHED!

2010-02-27T19:23:00.004+01:00

It has taken two months and approximatley 50 litres of paint, but the boy and I are finally done redecorating our new flat! The flat is almost exactly three times the size of our previous one, so it has taken a good many trips to Ikea to furnish it. It is built on two stoerys, with an open kitchen and living space in addition to a bedroom that we use as an office on the first floor, and two bedrooms, bathroom and toilet on the ground floor. We could of course have left it as it was (all 73 holes in the living room walls and all...), but I daresay you will agree with me that it has become a vastly more pleasant with the effort we have put into it - I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

The living room as it was when we moved in:

Our living room now:

Picture, sofa, lamp, cushions, poufs and storage boxes from Ikea, table from Jysk, throw from Kid interiør

Dining table and chairs from Jysk, lamp and small table from Ikea

All from Kremmehuset Ting og Sånt

This lovely plant was a housewarming gift from my girls at school - thanks!

The kitchen has undergone perhaps the greatest change - before:

After:

Seeing those brown patterned tiles disappear underneath a layer of plain grey was like therapy...

Perhaps my favourite decorative statement of the entire flat: the tea shelf with my Fortnum and Mason boxes

I made the grave mistake of covering the yellowish beige office walls with a paint I considered to be cream with a hint of pink. The next morning however, the office had gone from bad cafe latte to old lady salmon. Two layers of white were needed to restore the walls to dignity, but they still have the faintest pinkish tinge to them...

Before:

After:

It is hardly necessary to say that I love love love this desk! As most of our furniture, it and the lamp is from Ikea

This bookcase (Ikea again) stores all my crafting bits and bobs, and keeps the sewing machine my mum gave me for Christmas nicely on display. The fairy painting is by my friend Ragnhild. Basket box from Coop Obs

The wardrobes came with the flat, and provide ample storage space for coats, shoes and bags

It has occured to me that posting pictures of our toilet is perhaps a bit odd, but the improvement is such that I feel I can't omit it, before:

After:

Our bathroom isn't particularly beautiful, but it has a bathtub, which is a luxury very few students have (and yes, we paintd the bathroom, too...)

The hall and both of the bedrooms have these built-in closets. We (of course) painted them, and fitted them with new metal handles, which made an enormous difference (sadly, I don't have any pictures of what they looked like before).

As mentioned, we don't have enough furniture to fill the flat. The second bedroom will function as a guest room once we get hold of spare beds, but at the moment it is the home of our newly aquired freezer.

I won't show you too much of what our bedroom looks like, as I have yet to make new curtains for it (you can glimpse the garish striped ones that are there now underneath). However, I have finally got something I have wanting a very long time: a full length mirror :D

There was precious little we could do about to the stairs, but I include a picture to give you an idea of how the flat is put together:

We celebrated finishing the flat with inviting the boy's grandparents, aunt and cousin to dinner. We served thai Tom Ka soup with pan fried scallops for starters, and oven baked chicken tikka masala with coconut rice as main course. For dessert we made apple crumble (I've never made this before, but it turned out delicious - the recipe can be found in the book How To Eat by my heroine, the divine Nigella Lawson). Seeing our new dining table like this made all the late hours painting worth the while :D

I hope you can all forgive me for not blogging these past months - I shall redeem myself in the near future!

The New Season

2010-01-24T11:24:00.003+01:00

WARNING: This is a long one. I am aware that the s/s shows are no longer news to the blogosphere, but discussing what to wear several sesons ahead just doesn't sit comfortably with me, so my contemplation of spring fashion starts now - if you are already sick of it, please do not continue. I begin with admitting that I by no means have browsed through ALL the shows on style.com, bacuse I frankly don't have the time (do any of you do, by the way?), so my view is narrow. But it's my blog and who cares anyway?

As usual, I've found more trends to evade than to embrace: Flouncy underwear as outerwear - I thought we dealt with this when Moulin Rouge came out and overdid it severely enough to at least let i rest 15 years? Beige, nude, tan, and every other shade imaginable between white and actual colour is everywhere. Groan. It's not that it necessarily always looks bad, just that I find myself looking very bad indeed in it. However, I'm willing to give it a try, just as long as no one tries to bring the nude bikini back, because we all know what that looks like. The below-the-knee skirt has made a comeback, it seems, and while this may look stunning on long-limbed beauties, it is one of the most Mie-unfriendly looks out there... Lastly, of course, there was the presence of the clogs at Chanel. They reappear on intervals in some show or another, but they never catch on - learn from it please (Karl, I expected more from you). The worst still? Missoni - 90s tribal rave is so not ready yet.

I also find it hilarious to observe the means designers employ to persuade us to buy new clothes every season. There is a lot of leather around for spring, and just by that information you would think "Splendid! Then I can still wear all the expensive leather jackets/pants/skirts/whatev that I spent my rent money on for fall!". Wrong. Because THIS season, the leather is almost all tan, as opposed to black, which means that last year's much invested in leather garments are out of date. The same goes for the all-black look that even I succumbed to in the end, which now has been replaced with all-white and all-beige. Consumerism at its best (/worst), this is.

Lovely tan jacket at Wang

What did I like about the spring shows? I was reading a piece in Britsh ELLE about the new season's fashion, and the header read "Are you a romantic or a realist?". I was shocked to find myself immediately (though mutely - we do not speak loudly to ourselves, now do we?) responding "realist". I actually feel more inclined to don minimalist one-colour otfits in the modern utility style than to run around in the pastel fairy dresses that have emerged as the reaction to last season's bondage look. This is absolutely shocking to me, previously the princess of candy floss dressing. What has happened? I now long for classic elegant pieces in muted colours, mixed with a little superhero chic alá Phi s/s (below),

the most dramatic of my sartorial desires being a tribal print black and white sweater, like these:

Perhaps it is called growing up, I don't know. My faves so far of the shows are Chloe and Celine, in addition to the aforementioned Phi

Chloe:

Celine:

My two immediate spring fashion needs are an oversize white shirt to wear underneath everything, in particular a skirt so that it peaks out underneath (like the one two pictures up), and slim white cargo pants - now where will i get that? Perhaps I'll find some slim white jeans that I can add pockets to (with my new SEWING MACHINE :D - so happy!). On the topic of DIY, the spring shows provide two easy peasy projects; the Wang underknee cut-out stockings, and the Chloe carpet-as-poncho:

Happy new season, everyone!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T19:08:00.004+01:00

So, a recap of what I've been doing/ why I haven't been blogging for the past two months (golly!):

Last half of November/ first half of December:

Took a week-long diving course with the boy - yes, in november, however, we were wearing dry suits, so it would have been quite allright had it not been for the fact that my suit had temporary schizophrenia and decided to be a wetsuit for a day. I got my PADI certificate, but also swine flu (and, incidentally, food poisoning at the same time - here is a tip for you: DON'T eat turkey ham that has exceeded it's expiration date...).
I wore pyjama pants and no makeup more or less every day for a month during the exam period - hardly bloggable material. It is indeed a strange thing, how at school we see the same people and walk the same corridors as any other time of year, but a sort of mutual agreement makes it acceptable looking a down right mess when studying for our exams...

In return for a strenuous and gruelling exam period (I have yet not received all my grades, but am confident that I have at least passed, thank god), my mother and I hade the most wonderful trip to London! The first thing we saw upon our arrival at the station was, to my very great excitement, a group of carolers, and from that point on, it was Christmas all the way.

We went completely crazy in Fortnum and Mason, buying several boxes of tea, cookies and chocolates and going gaga over the lavish decorations. Below is the mouth-watering candy display and yours truly posing with the fake fire place for our Christmas card photo.

The lovely decorations of the Picadilly arcade:

Breakfast at Whole Foods:

The studded cardi is bought at Old Spital Fields market, our favourite London haunt (located close by Liverpool Street station and best visited on fridays, when there are the largest number of stalls selling clothes and accessories). I also found a splendid wool cape/vest, pictured over my coat below, that I have become rather fond of, as it complements the coat quite perfectly. It looks lying flat like an oval doughnut-ish shape, and you wear it by sticking your arms through the hole so that it is hidden on your back, and the remaining fabric is left to drape and swish as it wishes :D

Zara coat, cape/vest, Zara harem pants, Urban Outfitters tee, DIY studded boots (turned down), Friis & Co bag, H&M hat

The - lavish seems to be an understatement here - window display at Queens, a toy shop wonderland in Old Spital Fields market. It is so packed with hanging dolls, fairies and other glitter dusted fairytale specimen that it can hardly accomodate more than two customers at a time, and every purchase is sprinkled with sequins before being wrapped in bright fuchsia.

We booked a table at Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen in October, and it was a splendid experience! This is me outside in my highly impractical on London cobblestone 11 cm heel boots (you can hardly see it, but it was, in fact snowing (!) ):

At yet another restaurant; Ed's Easy Diner in Soho (located just behind the Palace Theatre), one we never fail to visit, as it has the most scrumptious cheese fries and milkshakes - yum!

We joke that we ate our way through London - our last stop was at Brown's Hotel for Sunday Afternoon Tea in the wonderfully traditional fashion only the British can manage. There were sandwiches, mince pies (our new favourite, I just can't believe I haven't tried them before!), and the scones were beyond divine - we could even have them replaced by fresh ones if they got too cold for our liking. Bliss!

And the best thing? When we returned home there was still the entire Christmas vacation to be enjoyed :D

Our christmas tree on Christmas Eve morning - the best time of the whole year...

It had begun to snow the day before I came home from Trondheim, and it kept on snowing through to December 26th or so, when it looked like this outside:

It's coming...

2009-11-07T17:48:00.004+01:00

I have much too much to do at the moment, as is only to be expected at this time of year, I suppose. 23 days left till the first of my four exams this semester, but more worrying to me right now is the 15 christmas presents I have not yet started making. I make all the presents I give away myself, which keeps my friends and family amply supplied with knitted and crocheted hats, mittens and scarves. Every year I set a ludicrously ambitious date by which I vow to complete all my presents, and of course I fail miserably to reach my deadline every year. This year, however, seems to be an all time low, as I have only managed to finish 2 presents. But I bought more yarn today, and intend to spend the entire evening knitting. Obviously I can't post my projects, as the receiver might be reading the blog, but I will try to remember to take pictures so I can post after christmas eve :) What I wore for my brief trip to the yarn store:

Zara coat, Gina tricot tunic tank, Indiska overknee stockings, H&M leopard pattern tights, Din Sko boots, vintage sunglasses

Speaking of christmas, I can hardly contain my excitement that it is almost here :D There is no denying I am a major christmas person. If you are not, I strongly suggest that you avoid my blog in December (that is, if I will have any free time at from the mayhem of exam revision....). My stressfully short exam period leaves a convenient gap before christmas vacation that my mum and I intend to fill in LONDON :D! Between December 17th and 20th, we will be soaking up all things christmas that London has to offer, which means mince pies, carol singers, christmas displays at Fortnum & Mason, the (note: Norwegian) tree in Trafalgar square, and vhristmas afternoon tea (eee! Bliss!). The thought of it makes the upcoming exams all the more bearable :)

A few days ago I finally got the chain cuff earring I raved about a while ago. The pictures really do it no justice, but as I love it so much I'll be wearing it just about every day from now on, you will see it again. It was made by the talented Camille Peace, her etsy shop is here.

The PERFECT coat that broke the bank

2009-11-01T20:02:00.004+01:00

Last monday my darling mother had a meeting in Trondheim, so we spent the day together and had dinner with the boy - needless to say, it was lovely. That we also stopped by several shops and bought me various clothes for the new season didn't really make matters worse, either ;) I got a severley cute knit cardigan with a turquoise reindeer pattern from Urban that I've been drooling over for the past month, another knit cardi from Gina Tricot and thick knit tights and knee highs to keep me warm as the temperatures here continue falling. She made sure to stay at the hotel in Trondheim that has the BEST breakfast, so that I could eat with her the following morning; waffles, every kind of cheese, bread and jam imaginable, cold and warm foods and omelettes cooked to your own specification - yes, YUM!

On thursday I received a message from my aunt (whom I get to see much too seldom for my liking) saying that she, too, was doing a quick trip to Trondheim, so I arranged to meet her at her hotel on friday. On my way there, for absolutely no good reason at all, my feet carried me into Zara, where I spotted THE most perfect coat I have ever laid eyes upon. It was even a sensible buy if you consider that I lack just such a slightly dressier jacket, and that it has a collar that turns into a hood, a must in this unreliable climate. The problem? It cost 959 kr - suddenly not so sensible... Frantically texting the boy and my mother to arrange for one of them to get it for me for Christmas, I strolled down to meet my aunt. We had a lovely time catching up over coffee, and before she leaves, the demented woman gives me 500 kr to go and buy the coat! Immensely thankful, I of course ran to Zara and bought the wondrous garment on the spot. And so now I am broke (yes, I am on a ridiculously tight budget), ransacking the kitchen cupboards for dinner ingredients - but I am the lucky owner of the loveliest coat ever made - all thanks to the world's very BEST aunt :D

Zara coat, Gina tricot tank dress, Gina tricot panel tights, Din sko boots

The hood: INGENIOUS!

Gina tricot cardigan, Gina Tricot vest (that I later returned in favour of the above mentioned tank dress, as the vest was too large...), Gina tricot panel tights, Din sko boots

EEek! Where has my arm gone?!

a close-up of the panel tights, the panels are some sort of fake suede - I like them a lot!

90s party

2009-10-24T10:25:00.002+02:00

So, this is my first party photo post, which I am only posting because attire was a main factor of the party, as it was 90s night. There were fake tattoos, midriff tops, bobble hair elastics, crimped ponytails, chokers, neon eyeshadow and pigtails galore! The Aqua concert was dangerously crowded, especially for someone as short as me, as the people aroud me tended not to notice I was standing there, and so proceded to try and fill the seemingly emtpy space that in fact was me... but when I managed to push my way a little longer to the back, I was able to enjoy the concert without being trampled upon. The lead vocalist, Lene Nystrøm, was actually moved to tears by the crowd's level of enthusiasm, which was really quite wonderful - it was just like Hugh Grant's character in Music and Lyrics says: "the crowd was a little older, as was I, but we were both profoundly happy to see each other again".

Lene Nystrøm had many different outfits during the concert, all equally sparkly. Due to my insufficient height, I mostly only saw her head, but, as she sported both silver glitter headphones with a matching microphone, and for the encore a severely fabulous feather headdress, this was satisfactory. Sadly, I was unable to find any photos of said headwear...

2009-10-19T20:53:00.003+02:00

I will refrain from making one of the gazillion excuses for why I haven't blogged as much as a punctuation mark in about a month, because blogging is (to me, anyway) supposed to be something that amuses me, and not another deadline that needs to be met. However, I find myself today in a blogging mood.

There is lots going on at the moment, the main thing being UKA (translation "the week") - the semi-annual student festival in Trondheim. We have had performances from the likes of Jay-Z and Franz Ferdinand (regrettably none of which were attended by yours truly...), German style Oktoberfest (the only time I have ever felt truly underdressed - most girls were wearing cropped dirndl dresses, stockings and pigtails), cabaret and lots more - and this thursday is the event which gets my anticipations soaring the most: a concert with the 90s Norwegian/danish pop band Aqua.

You may well be slightly curious as to why I am jumping up and down about listening to what is considered by some less than quality music (or even music at all), on playback for an entire evening, but you must really get the full grasp of this: one vast and ginormous tent filled with scores of mildly (understatement there, perhaps...) intoxicated students clad in remnants from the wardrobes of their 90s teenage (or in my case - childhood) selves raving about to the music that reminds them of a time where there were no exams, no doing your own housework and no worries in general, except perhaps how to lure your parents into buying you a pair of horribly expensive platform sneakers. Sounds like success, no? I am throwing a pre-concert 90s party during which I intend to cram 15 people and a disco ball into my 34 square metre flat and plaster as many of them as I can with fake tattoos I salvaged from a forgotten box on my last trip home. I had hoped to find my old and beloved Buffalo platforms, but, alas, they seem to have been discarded *sob* at some point over tha past 10 years. I promise *swearz* that I will post pictures of all the ridiculous outfits!

Hanyway, while sitting at home pretending to be doing my thermodynamics assignment, I decided that this was not a day to do what one is supposed to, and instead went out to buy ketchup and postcards for my sweet friends who have been sending me cards from Oslo and Berlin to let me know they miss me :). I came home two hours later sans ketchup, but with a delightful new tee which I got for the unbelievable price of 35 kr at Vero Moda! However, I now face the problem of having two unfinished assignments that really ought to be handed in tomorrow, and thus I really shouldn't be writing this right now. Well, I'll just get in the pics of the said fabulous tee and my outfit of the day. Also, the boy is trying most vigorously to draw my attention upon the new sniper scope for his rifle, happily exclaiming that he has now passed NASA in technological merits.

H&M hat, vintage gilet, Abercrombie wool jacket, DIY ripped jeans, Friis & Co bag, Docs

All wrapped up

2009-09-28T23:08:00.003+02:00

I woke up today to a rainstorm, and I do mean STORM - if someone had been aiming at my window with their garden hose the difference would have been unnoticable. Needless to say, there was no curcuit analysis lecture at 08.00 for me today ;) I waited a while until the downpour had diminished somewhat, but as the wind showed no sign of yielding, heavy duty protection was required.

vintage biker jacket, self-knitted scarf, Bik Bok DIY distressed jeans, Docs, Gina Tricot hoodie

It's my dear mother's birthday today, and she is in Paris for work this weekend, which means that I have been recieving constants reminders of what wonderful things one can do and eat if one is not stuck in dreary thermodynamics lectures... But as it is her birthday, I really do hope she has enjoyed herself as thoroughly as possible (she has also bought me a lovely box of macaroon heavenliness from Laduree :D )

I keep my promises

2009-09-19T13:34:00.003+02:00

I present to you my latest two DIYs: the humungus oversized knitted scarf and the studded boots! The scarf was really quite becoming a necessity (as far as these things go...), as it is getting steadily chillier up here... For the knitwits among you it is made with Drops Polaris wool yarn and 15mm pins. It took 7 balls of yarn to reach this length, but as the yarn is so voluminous, it was i fairly quick project. I know this fall is all about wraps and snoods, but I wanted a proper scarf this time, as I prefer the way it drapes - especially with my newly cropped hair.

The studded boots have been an ambition of mine ever since I started making the studded bag (i. e. I did NOT copy Caroline of feber.se - so there!). My mum bought me the boots last autumn, but I never really wore them much, as they had a slightly preppy quality about them that didn't suit my style much. However, they are very comfortable and useful in the battle of Mie vs. the Trondheim weather, and anyway I always feel so guilty when I have items I don't wear - so I DIY. I attempted to make the studs look haphazardly placed - it has always puzzled me how difficult it is to make things look random, as opposed to simply arranging them in a symmetrical fashion. I think I did rather well, though - I mixed larger and smaller cone studs together to achieve the look, and added some studs lower down at the heel as well. The method is the same as with the studded bag - just make sure you don't have any sharp pincers sticking out on the inside, as this will snag and tear your tights.

afrikah

2009-09-17T21:34:00.002+02:00

I promise I promise I promise to post about my latest DIYs once the weekend finally settles, as I have a few goodies to boast about ;) in the mean time, I've been etsy-surfing. I was initially looking for cross earrings, but of course I stumbled upon loads of pretty things life now seems strangely dreary without (could this possibly be some sort of curable disorder? and if someone was able to cure me, would they perhaps also be able to teach my mind and body that being hungry in the evening when I have already eaten excessive amounts of things I should not is unreasonable?).

This lovely lady makes african inspired pieces that appeal strongly to my long-term love for tribal jewellery. In particular, I adore the african woman mask earrings and the chain ones with ear cuffs. Seeing as they are quite modestly priced (USD 25 and 19, respectively), I might just throw all caution to the wind and buy them.

In the search for all things cross-embellished, I found some perfectly subtle earrings (here),

a decidedly less subtle but temptingly fierce necklace (here),

and this beautiful bracelet (here)

I made it!

2009-09-11T23:12:00.005+02:00

Last weekend I went to dear old Oslo to attend an audition for the cheerdance hip hop national team (ok, so you know I used to cheer - well there is something called cheer dance as well, and then there is cheer dance gone cooler - which is cheer dance hip hop). AND I MADE THE TEAM :D I was hugely distressed when I saw how good the other girls were, but - by divine intervention I can only suppose - I was picked along with 10 others. That means that in April, I get to go to Orlando, Florida to compete in the WORLD CHEERLEADING CHAMPIONSHIPS :D WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! It doesn't really make matters worse that my fellow team members are the coolest most awesomest girls ever, either ;)

Ok, so you get the idea, and I can stop writing like an overexcited teen now...
I cut my hair again today, and it is short, as in SHORT-short! The boy is convinced everyone will now think I am a lesbian... I find it a bit on the short side myself, to be completely truthful, but I expect it just takes some getting used to - anyway my objective was to go shorter rather than longer, as it grows out so quickly, and I can hardly afford monthly visits to my hairdresser. The best thing about it is of course that it actually stays put when I tousle it, and that blowdrying takes about 30 seconds. It is in any case a massive improvement from the mullet-like mess that was my head earlier today. And I really really like how it looks with oversized scarves - it will be splendid with the ridiculously ginormous black one I am knitting at the moment - I'll post it when it's finished :) What do you reckon?

and I thought we had it bad

2009-09-02T21:16:00.007+02:00

When you are accepted as an engineering student at NTNU (my uni), there are certain things that you simply must do. One is to rid yourself of the ridiculous notion that weekends are for relaxation. This is a scandalous falsehood, as all engineering stdents know that weekends are for doing all the work the previous week simply did not provide enough time to get through.

Another is to go through the ancient (or so we are made to believe) initiation rituals of the respective engineering study program student associations. I went through this last year - it involved stripping down to my underwear in the middle of Trondheim's most crowded shopping street, drinking a foul mixture of fish paste, cat food and god knows what else (tasty!), involuntary cold baths and other fun things anyone would love to spend their saturday doing. However, this was absolutely nothing to what the poor sods that study marine tecnology had to endure today.

My study program is Engineering and Environment, and our general philosophy is to be kind to all humans, animals and plants on earth. In this spirit of generosity, one of our traditions is to make the initiation of the marine tecnology students more enjoyable (or rather slightly less of a dreadful experience), by handing out coffee, tea and cookies. How on earth is that supposed to help, you ask? Well, let me tell you that after having assorted types of unpleasant substances forced down your throat and having to swim in the sea in the middle of autumn (this is northern, Norway - the water isn't particularly temperate), a hot cup of coffee and a biscuit goes a long way.

I had heard rumours of what the marine technology lot has to endure on their initiations, but what I saw still far exceeded my expectations.

The started out being forced to drink large amounts of fish oil and walking through the city to the ominous steady beat of drums while being thrown rotten fish at by older students wearing costumes like the masked murder in the Scream films. When they had become sufficiently filthy and smelly (you could smell them two blocks away - no kidding!), they had to queue up to be fed some mixture of nasty drink, then forced to put their head in a bucket of fish food mixed with more fish oil, on to crawl through a vast amount of - you guessed it - fish, before being dipped in what seemed to be icy water, and pushed into the Trondheim fjord for a nice swim before they finally had to crawl through a tiny metal ring while being fired at with a high pressure water hose. The whole thing took about three hours.

We wore white lab coats bearing signs saying "EMIL without borders" (EMIL is the name of our the Energy and Environment student association - Doctors without borders - geddit?), and tried to bring as many as possible refreshments and biscuits, and most were immensely grateful! Except for the nauseating smell of rotting fish that permeated the air of the entire area, it was a quite lovely experience - at least I got to do something to make other people happy today :)

Of course, all of these things are voluntary - please don't think we are subjected to torture here in Trondheim - but it is a tradition as old as the university itself, and traditions are not to be messed about with, I'm told (although I was feeling quite mutinous when going through ut last year)(actually, that is quite an understatement - I was fuming). I'm just profoundly happy that I'm not even remotely interested in boats of any kind (or medicine for that matter - their initiation is said to be the worst of the lot, and reportedly involves passing a cracked egg down a line of people by the mouth-to-mouth method...).

Anyway, having received my fringe trim from the US (finally!), I was able to make a version of the embellished shoulder pads. In addition to ribbons and fringe, I put some studs on them (of course...). They are just ordinary shoulder pads that have been embellished and fastened with safety pins - really quite simple. What do you think?

yeah, please excuse grumpy look in the last pic - it was the only one I had where you see the full effect...

Shirt pants!

2009-08-28T22:35:00.005+02:00

Ok, so this was not my idea originally - I saw Jowy do it first. But there was something about it that reminded me so forcefully of being a child and seeing nothing wrong with wearing a skirt as a top or a aweater as pants, that I absolutely had to try it. It worked surprisingly well, and held up better than I had anticipated. The best thing is that no one seemed to notice that I was wearing a shirt instead of pants at all - but it might well just be that people think I dress so strangely that they don't bother asking anymore (this is after all Boring Trondheim, you know)

Here is how you fasten the shirt to make pants:

1) Put your legs through the sleeves, the back of the shirt facing forward
2) Wrap the part of the shirt with button holes around your bottom and fasten the button in one of the last buttonholes

3) Wrap the other side around the other way and fasten. Now you will have a large flap hanging down in the back

5) Take the flap and fasten it with a safety pin on one side. This will potentially look slightly like a diaper, but never mind that - just make sure it is loose enough to walk comfortably in. Now strut your stuff in your groovy (and free!) slouchy pants :D

and lookie what came in the post for me the other day - can you guess what it's for ;)?

PS: I'm ever so sorry for the lack of cropped and adjusted photos at the moment - my Office trial version has expired, and so I lack photo editing software of any kind and photobucket is being less than helpful. If anyone knows of any decent free downloadable alternative, I would be much obliged if you let me know :)

New boots!

2009-08-24T20:21:00.002+02:00

The final addition to my newly established collection of heels is the Din Sko Balenciagaesque (oooh, what a sumptuous word!) booties that have been all over the scandinavian blogosphere. I didn't expect them until in a couple of weeks, as that was the date I managed to harass out of the sales girl in Oslo, but to my great excitement, they suddenly appeared on the shelf on thursday. They are positively towering, adding a much needed 11cm to my meager 167...

However, as most who have purchased them have noticed and complained about, they are agony to walk in. But, beeing an engineering student, I refuse to be hindered by such petty details. My theory is that the heels are made at too steep an angle, making me slide too far down and thus forcing all weight onto the balls of my feet, and making my ankles move in a way they are not to pleased with. But I figure that with the right amount of padding, I will be able to build up the toe area enough to make the boots absolutely walkable :) And they look just w o n d e r f u l... sigh

blogging blues

2009-08-18T17:52:00.004+02:00

WHY is it that allthough my life is peachy keen, spotting a picture like this one on Knightcat

immediately makes my mind go "I don't have this slightly awkward, but obviously fierce sweater everyone else is drooling over - my life sucks. All effort must now be devoted to making a similar kind, or I else I can just lay down and die."

Similarly, even though I had clearly made up my mind not to go to Oslo fashion week, as I find it horribly pretentious, one post from a prominent Norwegian fashion blogger containing a picture of her and a handful of other bloguettes posing gleefully makes me want to rip my hair out, thinking that my blogging efforts are now worthless as I failed to attend this obviously life-changing event. What is WRONG with me?! I've always been a bit silly when it comes to fashion, but I fail to remember having any such fits of dementia over it prior to blogging - it must be an occupational hazard. I refuse to feel inadequate because I haven't got all the clothes or shoes man has ever made - I've got tickets to see N.E.R.D. on thursday for pete's sake! (yes, I needed an excuse to boast about that ;)

- The fire alarm just went off, forcing everyone in the building to file downstairs and stare sheepishly at one another for a while until someone had the decency to inform us that it was just someone burning their dinner (it always is, these things are ridiculously sensitive). -

I will be posting less frequently from now on, unlike everyone else, it seems, as my list of unread posts on Bloglovin is growing infinite (don't these bloggers DO anything? have they perhaps stopped sleeping?). This has nothing to do with what I want, but sadly my pile of homework will mount to it's usual towering levels again soon, inhibiting me from keeping you updated as much as I would like. However, I still have more DIYs to do, so there is no reason to shun me completely, just because I won't keep up the two posts-a-day standard ;)

- Booming sirens just announced the arrival of the fire department, even though the less than able chef called and explained that our house is in fact not burning down. I don't envy the poor fellow who has to tell them that it was just someone burning their pizza, yet again. -

Endeavouring to enter into a more appreciative spirit, here are some lovely pictures to stop sulking about summer ending, and looking forward to the pleasures of autumn.

My top 5 autumn faves

Multicolor trees
Sitting inside with a cup of tea watching the rain
Autumn fashion - it is once again time to wrap yourself in lush scarves and don boots - yay!
Norwegian apples and potatoes (they are available in stores for a short period every autumn, and they are the best)
Christmas is approaching

First day of school

2009-08-17T19:30:00.004+02:00

It amazes me how every summer vacation I manage to lure myself into thinking that classes really are quite interesting, after all. This must be due to recurring spells of temporary insanity, as I of course return to find lessons as frightfully dull as ever. We only had one lesson today, but it more than succeeded in crushing my high spirits. My university obviously thinks that it's quite in order to provide us with a completely inadequate teacher for our most difficult math subject. I am sure that he is a splendid mathematician, but he has the teaching skills of an average Norwegian elementary school teacher - that is to say, none at all. Consequently, I spent my very first lesson of the year gazing stupidly at the blackboard not comprehending so much as a dot of what was going on there. Fortunately, the vast majority of my fellow students seemed to be coping in a similar manner. If any of you posess knowledge about Fourier transformations, please enlighten me as to what I have missed.

Thankfully, the hot chocolate at Choco Boco (a Trondheim café) provides excellent comfort in the face of such devastation :)

My first-day-of-school outfit

Gina Tricot hoodie, H&M tights, Docs

summer is ending

2009-08-13T14:41:00.003+02:00

You know that feeling when something you dread in the near future makes it impossible to enjoy anything fully? I leave for Trondheim to start school again on monday, and for some reason I find myself dreading it immensely. Therefore I should be making the most out of my last days at home in Oslo, but whatever I do it fails to take my mind off leaving. I know it's silly, as I have much to look forward to in Trondheim - living with my boyfriend again for one, but I hate leaving my mum - even though I am in fact 20 years old and should be doing just fine on my own by now, having already spent a year in Trondheim. I expect it will be alright when the everyday worries of homework, tests and what to eat for dinner that won't empty my wallet occupy my mind once again, though. Still, growing up really sucks sometimes.

Anyway, I spend my last days of freedom trying to finish all the planned sewing projects that I have postponed all summer. I managed to do my elastic band corset yesterday, which turned out to be a lot more work than I expected - nothing particularly difficult, mind, just the constant refitting of the elastic straps that seemed to continually slide off to places I had no recollection of putting them initially. I have made a very short sort-of-a-tutorial for you:

You will need:

wide elastic band - I used approximately 4 meters of 25mm black band
15 cm zipper
sewing machine (or needle and thread if you are suicidal)
needle, contrasting thread, pins and scissors

I worked from the zipper and out, starting with the straps that go around the back. Make sure you don't make the straps either to loose (they will sag and bunch) or too tight (you'll look like you were forced into some garment of torture). Do one strap at a time, both sides, and fasten by hand with contrasting thread that you can just pull out later (if you make a mistake, as I did with almost every strap at least twice, you will thank me for not telling you to use your sewing machine right away). When you are satisfied with the look of the top, sew all seams by machine and fasten the threads if you are anal about loose ends (I just cut mine straight off, as there were about 4 gazillion threads - my patience only goes so far...).

I'm in for a bad year

2009-08-10T15:22:00.002+02:00

So I attempted to be a good student and logged on to my school website to research what my timetable for the coming semseter will look like - and what am I rewarded with? Classes from 08.15 to 19.00 on mondays (MONDAYS!) thanks to 4 bloody hours of curcuit analysis lab. Good grief! This is what I wore to work on wednesday:

Vintage cardigan, H&M lace bodysuit, DIY shorts from sweatpants, Friis & Co bag

I don't need no Wang bag

2009-08-08T21:34:00.005+02:00

So who needs a Wang "Mary Kate" Coco duffel when you have 248 cone studs and patience ;)? Got my studs here, and you'll also need a pair of jewellery tongs and a knife to make slits for the stud pincers. I started with a row of studs at the center of the bottom of the bag and worked my way out in rows (it gives you more room to fasten the studs as opposed to starting on the outer edges working your way in).

DIY cut-out tee, H&M zipper dress, DIY studded Lindex bag, ridiculously cheap shoes I got somewhere I don't remember, studsandspikes.com spike bracelet, really cool hair, no ;)?

Heroine chic

2009-08-07T12:47:00.002+02:00

When I was about 8 or 9, I had a phase of extreme obsession with Biker Mice from Mars (succeeding the first of my two all-pink phases to date, incidentally - I think it might have been some sort of reaction). Any of you remember those manlike giant mice who came from space to save the earth? Anyway, the obsession stretched, of course, to my wardrobe, and all I wanted to do was stomp around in combat boots, army pants and crop tops and imagine kicking the asses of the brats who bullied me (sadly I never actually so much as poked any of their behinds, to my utter vexation even today). This fondness for superhero attire never fully left me, however, and part of me still wants to don white-bleached hair, short shorts, army patterns and midriff tops accompanied by a large number of seemingly useful straps tied everywhere and take on the villains. For the superheroines, and not the wallflowers in towering designer heels, are the ones who are truly fierce.

Stripperella - Pamela Andersons cartoon alter ego

Leeloo (mIlla Jovovich) from The Fifth Element - her outfit is by Gaultier, you know!

and of course: Angelina as Lara Croft

Tea time

2009-08-04T10:29:00.003+02:00

My best friend returned from holiday two days ago, and we went to Tea Time, a café (yes, they serve coffee, too) that serves afternoon tea on sundays. It was scrumptious, but you don't need me telling you that, just look at the pictures... This was also the first time I wore my sneaker heels, and they are dead comfortable - I even managed a slight run to the bus!

H&M DIY cardigan, H&M tank top/dress, DIY cut-off tights, Friis & Co bag, and of course the sneaker heels ;)

THE DIY shoes

2009-08-03T10:19:00.008+02:00

Ok, the sneaker heels are FINALLY done

I'm very glad I asked my father for assistance, as it was a bit trickier than I'd thought to make them. Anyhow, I've compiled a tutorial for you.

You will need:

a pair of pumps
a pair of sneakers, preferably made of a soft material (mine had rubber heels, which very very nasty to work with indeed) these need not be the right fit for you, the only thing that matters is that they fit well with the pumps (mine were a size 41, and I am a 36...)
cone studs with long pincers (you can use ones with short pincers, but then only for decorative purposes, as they won't pierce through both layers of shoes)
heavy duty glue (I/my father used a mixture of two types of Araldit glue)
tools to keep the shoes in place while glue is drying (don't know what this is called in english, but they look like adjustable plastic tongs)
an electric drill (optional - you could use any small sharp object and a hammer instead, but a drill is a lot easier)
sharp knife (I used a leatherman pocket knife)
scissors (heavy duty ones, mind)
superglue (for the studs)

Ok, here we go. I started out with two pairs of shoes, obviously (got them both second hand on finn.no - the solution to all my problems, I have come to find). First, you have to cut the soles off the sneakers (bye bye, sneakers!). This is best done with a knife, and remove the topmost sole (the loose one) before cutting to make things easier.

Decide what design you want, i.e. what parts of the sneaker you want to cut away (it's best to follow the seams here, so get a pair of sneakers that you like the look of). Use the scissors to trim away rough edges from the soles and remove the tongue (the thing behind the laces), then cut around in front of the part where the lace holes are to remove the toe. Remove panels in order with your design. I used the knife to "open" the smaller cut-out panels, as my scissors were too big. Remove the hard part of the heel that sits between the lining and the outer material (this is optional, but necessary if you wish to use studs that pierce through the heel to fasten, and it makes it easier to fit the sneaker properly onto the pumps). If you wish, you may remove the lining of the sneakers entirely (exept for the part that is visible on the top, but that isn't attached to the lining below). If you do this, the sneakers will loose some stiffness and sit tighter on the pumps, which might be a good thing (I sort of wish that I had). It also makes studding a whole lot easier. Now you are ready to glue.

If you have a pair of particularly thin-fabric sneakers and long pincer-studs, you might get away with only using the studs to fasten. However, to be one the safe side (also, my studs had super short pincers), I deemed it best to secure with glue, as I want my sneaker heels to last - only using studs could potentially create some nasty holes if worn vigorously. Make sure the sneakers fit on the pumps in the desired way (and in the same way on both shoes...) - it might be a good idea to mark subtly where the corners should stay, etc. (note: be sure you have tried them on first, as they could be very painful for your ankles if the heel comes too far forward). Then glue away! Mind you, normal household glue just won't do at all when it comes to shoes, so use the tough kind that you leave to dry for 24 hours. This is where the holding-in-place-tools come in handy if you'd rather not stay up all night gripping your shoes (even I am not that fond of them).

Waking up to a new pair of shoes the next morning is highly recommended, indeed! When the glue is dry, the meticulous process of studding is next. Mark the desired positions of the studs with a sharp object, then drill holes (small ones, obviously) for the pincers. Be careful not to drill too close to any edge of the sneaker, as this will create a tear. Apply superglue to the pincers and edges of the studs, push them into place and put pressure on for a few seconds to allow the glue to set. If you managed to get long-pincer studs (lucky you!) - bend the pincers flat against the inside of the shoe to fasten (you might also want to cover them with fabric or fabric tape to avoid scratching). Retie the laces and marvel at your beautiful new (and unique) sneaker heels!

new season - new hair

2009-07-31T14:28:00.003+02:00

The need to cut my hair is becoming rather urgent, and I (very very much later than everyone else) stumbled upon a photo of Elly Jackson of La Roux, who has the most awesome hair! I wonder if I have the patience to style it like that every day, though.

source: Google

consumerism evokes unprecedented levels of idiocy

2009-07-29T14:58:00.003+02:00

Net-a-porter.com has released a concept that one can only suspect is an attempt to lure credit crunch-conscious fashionistas into making purchases from their webshop. This is the description from the site:

Wool and the Gang
This Parisian-based design collective launched in 2007 with a manifesto to revisit traditional knitting values and deliver them in a modern way. Perfect slouchy insouciance with a vibrant hand-knitted oversized scarf or have some fun with your very own DIY knit-kit!

How lovely, I thought at first glance, being myself somewhat of a craftmaniac. For at least the last five years, I have never purchased a christmas present for one of my friends, but instead knitted/crocheted/sewn them presents. This is a tradition I am very eager to see adopted by others, make no mistake, but when I saw the price tag on these knitting kits, I was flabbergasted. Who on earth would ever pay 199 GBP (yes, quite serious, check it here if you don't believe me) for a bag of yarn, knitting pins and a pattern??? Especially when you could probably get away with only ten percent of the sum if you visited you local yarn shop and found instructions online. That better be damn good quality yarn.

when you have nothing to do

2009-07-29T12:56:00.006+02:00

bodysuit from Urban Outfitters

Goodness gracious me this is a smashing bodysuit! My mind is working furiously on how to DIY this, but, alas, no solutions have been reached yet.

Spending the rainy summer days inside my office with much too little to do has made me very aware of the sound of footsteps. I am situated next to the coffee maker and the door and directly across from the copy machine, so that anyone leaving their office for any reason at all has a clear view of my screen. This forces me to, immediately upon hearing approaching footsteps, dash across my keyboard and frantically shut windows that might reveal that the bulk of my day is spent blog surfing (in my defence, I have repeatedly asked for more tasks, but my boss couldn't think of any). I have never before noticed how very different people's footsteps sound. For instance, the only woman working on my floor always strides purposefully forward to whatever destination she has in mind, making the impresion that she is in fact having a very important and urgent meeting in the bathroom.

The need to print documents all the time is one that puzzles me exceedingly, and the worst offender on this point is an elderly man working in some mysterious place unknown to me in another corridor. Everytime he comes to collect whatever he has printed, he drags his creaking shoes wearily all the way here, sounding so tired that I almost feel the urge to ask someone if it is possible for him to get his own printer, and so to spare him the walk. One man stationed two offices down from where I sit, seems to quite detest leaving his office, because when he does, he does so very hastily, rushing about making coffee or slamming the door to the bathroom. He, unlike the other poeple who work here, who have politely introduced theselves and frequently asked if I would like to join them for lunch, has only spoken to me once, which was today. He strode out of his office, mumbled something that sounded like "ladida", probably translating to good bye, and left.

All of these manners of walking are highly convenient to me, as the all make a fair bit of noise, allowing me ample time to hide any evidence of less than model employee behaviour. My boss however, has a walk so silent and fast that I would surely have been caught red-handed everytime he went to get a fresh cup of coffee. Luckily for me, he has a habit of whistling or humming happily wherever he walks, providing me with some warning of his approach. Also, he is currently on holiday in Greece, along with almost everyone else, it seems, as the only one I currently have for company is the antisocial mumbling man. But at least I am free to surf the net to my heart's content.

We must surely have a record-breaking (at least for Oslo) density of celebrities in the city today, as both Madonna, Lady Gaga and Metallica are giving concerts on the same day. I therefore leave you with som photos of Madonna from the 80s, when she was at her coolest, in my opinion.

DIYowza!

2009-07-29T10:31:00.014+02:00

One good thing about it being vacation and raining almost every blasted day, is that the larger part of my seemingly endless DIY to-do list is now checked off. My pack of studs from studsandspikes.com arrived yesterday, and so I immediately embarked on my most curagoeus project of the summer, namely making my own version of the Wang Coco Duffel (aka Mary Kate stud bag). I immediately upon ripping open the packaging felt studmania coming on - you know, the desire to stud everything in your vincinity: clothes, shoes, tablecloths... A very faux-pas inducing notion, indeed (I can only imagine myself stepping outside in head to toe studs :S ) - luckily I have been uncharacteristically sensible, and only ordered a bit more than I needed, sparing my wardrobe excessive embellishment.

In addition to the studs, I had ordered a spike bracelet, which I upon ripping the packaging open fell in love with - it is the perfect addition to my now slightly overly accessorized hands/arms, and the quality is really good. I calculated when ordering that I needed at least 300 studs (!), but it turns out 250 will do the trick - still, it's a LOT of studs. had to stop halfway through last night, due to the fact that it was really late, but also because my fingers were hurting too much to continue (typing today is agony). Bag from Lindex, if anyone cares to know.

I spotted this on urban outfitters, looked at the price and thought "bah, I can do that!"

It so happens that I had a black cardi from H&M that I've never used, and it gives me great satisfaction to alter old clothes rather than buying new ones (with the added bonus that you get a one of a kind item). If anyone is interested, it was really easy - you just split up the upper shoulder seam as far down as you like, cut away the excess fabric, and hand-stitch the seams.

About two months ago I saw a picture of girl sporting the most sublimely gorgeous tassel earrings, but I haven't had time or materials to make my own until now. They are made from a couple of old buttons from an (=s suit of my mother's (not the kind with holes in them) and some curtain tassels. I cut off the cord, leaving a small tail (warning: leave longer than you think you'll need - I didn't...). I then pulled the tail through the button fastening (eh, I don't really know what the thing on the back of a button is called), split it in two and superglued it on both sides. Then I superglued the buttons to some earring bases (bought at craft store), and - faster than you can say deoxy ribonucleic acid - you have tassel earrings :D

My most successful bleaching project to date is bleached boyfriend shorts that turned out excactly the shade I wanted (a tricky feat for me when it comes to DIY bleaching). This is yet another item that has plagued my conscience due to lack of wear, but I daresay they are now my favourite shorts *bliss* I'm always slightly hesitant when it comes to distressing clothes, as I can still hear my grandmother making pointed remarks that I have destroyed my jeans/t-shirt/whatever, but seeing as these shorts already have some holes in them, I think I just might distress them a bit more.

and lastly, MASSIVE thanks to denoto, who told me how to get larger pictures :D (haven't really got the hang of placing them yet, but at least you can see me now ;)

my favourite jeans

2009-07-28T09:07:00.004+02:00

Today I woke up with the most dreadful headache (thankfully, a handful of painkillers saved the situation). The feeling of a headache that is fading away must be one of the most glorious, don't you think? It just fills you with calm contentment. Why is it that we need experience something worse to appreciate what we already have?

Since this is a fashion blog, I thought it was about time you were introduced to must most trusty pair of denim. I bought these jeans at River Island about five years ago, and I must admit, however sadly, that they are showing signs of frequent wear. You may notice the hole in the crotch, that, after many failed attempts to mend it (it just falls apart), either forces me to wear very covering underwear, or be very carful with how I arrange my legs when sitting... But they are the softest jeans I have ever encountered - I love them.

Zara kaftan jacket, Noa Noa vest, Abercrombie top, River Island jeans, Din Sko shoes, vintage necklace

the purple embellished firendship bracelet is made by yours truly ;) (the gold one belonged to my grandmother)

I love my watch

2009-07-27T11:07:00.003+02:00

All this time I have been searching for the perfect monochrome blazer that wouldn't make me look too masculine - and I didn't bother to look in my own wardrobe *slaps forehead*

vintage blazer/cardigan, Hurwundeki jeans, H&M corset top, TIMEX watch, vintage and H&M rings

Oh yes, I am the bargain hunter extraordinaire

2009-07-25T17:03:00.006+02:00

I was poking around finn.no (Norwegian equivalent to eBay) looking for shoes when I discovered a real leather biker jacket at the astonishing price of 200 kr. After fainting in my chair, I immediately contacted the seller and made arrangements, frantically grinning and hardly believing my luck. I picked it up at the post office yesterday and I love it to pieces! It weighs a ton, but the extra bulk will provide useful protection against the ghastly Trondheim weather. The only thing I am a little uncertain about is the shoulders. I know that big shoulders are all the rage and all, but something about them makes me look stout and masculine, I feel. Or is it just that I'm not used to having shoulders? However, if I cut the strap thingies off, it will be quite impossible to restore them. I think I need your help on this matter - cut or keep?

vintage jacket, H&M zipper dress, Primadonna heels (from Rome), vintage sunglasses

goth cravings

2009-07-24T09:38:00.004+02:00

While the River Island sandals are still tormenting me (I now keep a tab constantly open on the RI webshop just so I can look at them every 5 minutes), I have great difficulty finding a reasonable argument to justify spending 45 GBP on a pair of sandals when I most of the year inhabit a city extremely prone to bad and bitterly cold weather. So, naturally, I tried to get them off my mind by scanning the web for other less than useful purchases I might make. By way of A Fashion Tale, I discovered the UK webshop Black Rose, which sells goth jewellery and clothing. I feel myself strangely attracted to many of their pieces, the snake earrings in particular. The best part (or worst) is that most of the items (with the exeption of their full finger rings - darn!) are really cheap, mostly around 10 GBP or under, which means that I must resort to sitting on my wallet in order to stop myself purchasing more bling that I neither need nor am very likely to wear a lot

source: Amlul

It was their bootstraps (*Bootstrap's bootstraps*) that Marie of A Fashion tale had purchased, and I must say they look seriously cool with her boots (I wonder if they would work with my Doc's...)

PS: I truly am sorry that there have been so few outfit posts lately, this is due to my spending my days alone in my office at work, which is rather dreary but very profitable. Dressing up for my computer is just no fun...

Dear River Island

2009-07-22T14:37:00.004+02:00

Please please please send me these marvellously stunning sandals in a size 3. I will wear them every day, even if it rains, and I shall commit myself to being a living advertisement campaign for your brand and brainwash all my friends into buying only your clothes. If I don't have them I will surely die.

PS: I wouldn't be entirely aversed to you throwing in these items as well

Never EVER was I going to wear skinny jeans or shoulder pads

2009-07-22T09:06:00.006+02:00

I recall a moment from my teens when, being faced with a flashback from an 80s TV programme (complete with women in skinny trousers, gargantuan blazers and hair that made them look as if electrocuted), I proclaimed the 80s to be the most shameful fashion era to date, and that if skinny jeans ever came back into style (an event I thought most unlikely to occur) - I would NEVER EVER under any circumstance be caught dead in a pair. And all my life - that is, until now - I have regarded shoulder pads with aversion. How very wrong one can be. It is really quite laughable that all I want now are so-tight-they-must-have-been-sewn-on jeans and large, demanding sculptural shoulders. I have so far not been able to find a shoulderpadded blazer that looks good on my vertically challenged body (I'm 157 cm, which is considered tiny in Norway), as it appears very boxy and mannish when forced into such a large square-shaped garment. However, this fabulous DIY by danish blog Anywho has given me new hope of finding a way of wearing shoulder pads that will suit my body shape.

And I almost forgot! I have now succeeded in acquiring a pair of sneakers and a pair of heels to turn into my much gabbed about sneaker heels :D however, making them a reality requires more powerful tools than my fabric scissors, so I have asked my father to assist me, and I am going there in a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted!

Rome shopping guide

2009-07-20T08:10:00.026+02:00

I have hardly ever shopped quite so little during a summer holiday as on my trip to Rome. My mother and I are known to send several cardboard boxes home by post bacuse our quite spacious suitcases have failed to hold all our purchases.

What surprised me (feel free to produce evidence of the contrary), is how very UNfashionable Rome is. I spotted only a handful of truly stylish passers-by. The vast majority were either boring tourists, bland italians, gaudy italians, or deeply unstylish individuals that had failed som miserably at getting dressed that it bordered on comical. The subtly elegant look I had expected most italians to master was almost completely absent. Gaudiness and overdone glitz and glamour was predominant, and many women actually wore getups that would have been passable in Oslo only for ladies of negotiable chastity (as one eloquent London tour guide put it). On more than one occasion, the most fashionable person in my vincinity was an old lady or some misfit that clearly had no clue they were trendy (that can obviously say quite a lot about fashion today as well as the general style savvy of Romans...). Things improved slightly on friday night in the popular restaurant and bar district Trastevere, but still nowhere near meeting my expectations.

...
Most shops we visited in Rome were either horribly expensive (and I thought Oslo was bad!), hopelessly clueless and devoid of quality garments, or both. Again, garish adornments and tackiness prevailed, particularly where shoes are concerned (which were almost without exception ridiculously overpriced). However, the streets and shops I found worth visiting are listed below:
...

Via Urbana and Via Leonina small street near the Colosseum with a handful of hip boutiques of a slightly scary but not alltogether horrifying price range. Super Space, Via Leonina 42, stock all the hip brands (and very friendly staff!)

Via del Giubbonari charming street lined with shops, most of them unappealing, but a few offering reasonably priced goodies. Primadonna has a selection of lovely and comparatively cheap shoes.

Via del Corso the very looooong high street, housing all the mainstream brands (including the smallest and most curiously planned 5 story H&M), such as department store La Rinascente (blah - I just hate department stores), 3 different Energie shops (all stupidly offering the same selection), and the inevitable Zara (home to the most unfriendly shop assistants on this earth, I am sure!). In short quantity over quality.

...
As for vintage, there were a handful of shops, most of them in Via dei Banchi Nuovi and Via Governo Vecchio. But, where there in New York is quality at high prices, and in Milan quantity at low prices, in Rome, I am sad to say, there is neither. The few shops I hunted down had a poor selection at unreasonably steep prices. While there were the occasional pair of Fendi heels or Prada sunglasses, these were always accompanied by a completely baffling price tag, and mostly there was just a vast array of unappealing men's shirts and jackets.

...
An infinitely better option is to visit one of the two larger flea markets, Via Sannio and Porta Portese. The latter is easily the most famous, and takes place every sunday, but as my stay in Rome did not coincide with this, I visited Via Sannio (mon-sat). It appears at first glance as just an endless row of stalls selling, well, crap to be frank, but walk past all of these and enter a more open space filled with table upon table of second hand clothes, reminiscient of the clothes flea market section of Portobello Road market in London. I have always preferred rummaging through piles of old clothes to browsing through carefully selected items in posh vintage shops, as I feel the discovery of a good item is more gratifying when I have dug it out myself. Prices in Via Sannio are generally very agreeable, although I did encounter an old lady who attempted to sell tattered old leather jackets at 80 euro a pop. Both my mum and I left the with a stuffed plastic bag and the lovely feeling making a good bargain provides.

My purchases from Rome:

I feel head over heels in love with this ring with tree motif handmade by a girl selling jewellery in Trastevere

Fringy finds - divine pair of suede heels to force me to learn to walk in heels

Skirt from the weird H&M, found it later at H&M Trend in Oslo

Zebra shorts (DIYed) and superbly Twiggyesque transparent raincoat :D

Awesome 8os remake Timex watch that I have longed for for ages

Dress originally bought by my mother, but turned out to fit me better :) and the 100-way top (it comes with a label displaying a multitude of ways to wear it)

finally - a pair of Levi's 501 (DIY cut-off) - must have tried on 50 pairs before I found one that fit

AWESOME 90s surf shorts and pencil skirt screaming to be cropped and studded

Rome long overdue

2009-07-19T16:46:00.011+02:00

Please excuse my procrastination, but the load of pictures from my trip to Rome was rather substantial, so I therefore haven't until now finished selecting the ones that don't contain either a)bewildered tourists, or b)my face mid-speaking, or c) agressive Italian motorists, or d)all of the above. This post will contain my touristy snaps of various buildings and scenery that caught my eye in the eternal city, and as I feel myself becoming cheesier by the letter, I will just leave you with them. Rome shopping guide will follow tomorrow.

St. Peter's Basilica (duh...)

The view from the top of the basilica

(below) my favourites from the Vatican Museum

Castel Sant'Angelo

Couldn't help myself...

The Forum

Irresistible baked goodies :)

If only all storefronts could look like this...

Vintage shopping

The best gelato in Rome (seriously - it has won several prizes)

My favourite place in Rome: the Pantheon

Campo dei Fiori

DIY shorts

2009-07-19T16:22:00.005+02:00

Ever since I saw this picture on the Sartorialist, I've wanted a similar pair of cut off sweat pants. I had a pair of black sweats in my closet that I haven't worn in ages due to large turquoise letters spelling "cheerleader" running down one leg (yes, I used to be a cheerlader - my team even won the european championships!) However, my mother suggested that I could just make a patch out of something, say leather, to cover it up - I couldn't beleive I had not tought about that myself. So I got out some scraps from my fabric box, and here are the results:

I also just finished my zebra shorts :D They used to be just your ordinary lime green lounge shorts (bought dead cheap in Rome), but after a little stencilling hell (WARNING - stencilling zebra print with adhesive plastic foil is not for the impatient...), they emerged looking seriously FRESSH, if I may say so myself. And I found my mesh top - a remnant from the 90s that I knew was lurking in my closet somewhere, and which I was overjoyed to rediscover!

If I was a rich girl

2009-07-16T10:31:00.007+02:00

I would rush out and hunt down one of these deconstructed biker jackets from Haider Ackermann's fall 09 rtw collection! Perhaps not surprisingly, the hooded one is my favourite...

and I wouldn't have minded the tasseled skirts/belts/whatevertheyare or the boots, either...

source: style.com

this girl is the shit

2009-07-15T12:30:00.005+02:00

Her name is Kärt Hammer and she is from Estonia, as far as I have found out. She's got some serious style, beyond that of just being a slave to trends (as I indeed feel myself become more and more by the minute). And she has the most fantastic hair. Her blog

check out awesomeness studded boots!

Givenchy a/w 09 couture

2009-07-14T14:39:00.014+02:00

So, I have finally passed that pivotal point in the summer vacation where I stop being annoyed that magazines have been full of autumn fashion since april, and start getting exited about putting on more clothes again (this notion of course only lasts until the second part of september or so, when I long to run around in summer dresses instead of my puffer jacket). The Givenchy autumn couture collection is already EVERYWHERE, making bloggers across the globe swoon. Clearly, it is set to become one of the most influential collections of the coming season, just as Balmain was for s/s.

However, I'm still undecided. I know I have a nasty penchant for picking up the more eccentric trends late, but this is really asking a lot - I echo Sister Wolf of goddamit.com here: Oh no, will I be wanting this? Will I really be craving veils, gold studded headdresses and jewellery covering my entire decolletage, neck and most of my face? If I do, I will by that time most certainly be back in Trondheim with a severe deficit of both money and time, inhibiting me from spending hours on ebay searching for middle eastern style jewellery. However, it is no denying the collection is exquisitely executed, and the flowing black jumpsuit with attached hood scarf is to die for. Still, I really must admit that I'd rather have Riccardo Tisci's ready-to-wear collection - so shoot me.

Givenchy a/w 09 couture

Givenchy a/w 09 ready-to-wear

this would fit perfectly in my wardrobe

2009-07-13T15:24:00.006+02:00

Knightcat led me to discover new label Staple - the clothes look so comfy and lush! I love clothes that can be worn while snuggling up in your couch watching movies as well as to work/school/anywhere one needs to look remotely respectable (or at least ought to). I even imagine my boyfriend would approve of these - it is a true shame that they are only available at select boutiques in the US... My favourite is the grey crop top in the last picture, I expect it would be DIYable provided that I find a sufficiently oversized men's jersey of good quality fabric and manage to take in the sleeves without bunching it.

Staple blog

new aquisitions

2009-07-11T23:44:00.007+02:00

I've had a wonderful day out shopping with my dear mother, and, as is only to be expected in summer sale season, we came home with quite a lot more than we had ventured out for (the initial idea was to buy THE bag I mentioned in my last post). My seemingly neverending search for a pair of pumps for my sneaker heels (by the way, I have now obtained the perfect pair of sneakers for said heels) brought us to Fretex (Salvation Army thrift shop), where I failed to find pumps, but instead found this stunningly gorgeous feathered hat - needless to say, the pumps were instantly forgotten

These shoes cost 50kr (yes, quite serious) at an outlet sale (I can supply anyone who is interested a sto exactly where such bargains can be made with the address upon request)

Posing with new shoes and my baby (aka new bag) - my mother also fell for it, so we now sport matching bags (or not... we try not to wear them at the same time...)

Also bought the ingenious multiway bag, and wowed the sales girls with demonstrating creative ways of wearing it. It was on sale at 50% discount, a minor detail I had failed to notice on my last visit - yay!

forgive me darling, I bought another pair of shoes

2009-07-09T20:29:00.013+02:00

Zara biker jacket hoodie, H&M zipper dress, fringe heels from Rome

I should have a 4 pm curfew during summer sale season - every day I end up buying something... these fringe flats were only 99kr at Din Sko - there was no possible way of resisting (please nod approvingly)

At Warehouse I found this most ingenious of bags. It is essentially a long leopard print canvas duffel with straps on either side, but this makes for many possibilites for wear. It wasn't terribly expensive (300 kr), and as it IS very practical (in a slightly wishful sense), I think I just might come back and buy it on saturday.

Speaking of bags, I proudly announce that I have finally found my Perfect Bag. It lay waiting for me ever so patiently at Bagorama in Arkaden, and it is beautiful. Well, actually, there are two of them, as I have yet to decide which size I want. It is by Friis & Co (I was quite surprised when I saw the label, as their previous designs have been rather too flashy for my liking). And the best part is that the price tag is only mildly horrifying - the larger at 900kr and 700 for the smaller. Score!

any comments regarding which bag you prefer will be vastly appreciated!

A tale of fashion delusion, be warned

2009-07-09T14:32:00.015+02:00

Went to the presale at posh new department store Eger two days ago (for "friends and family", a total bust as they only offered 30% discount), where I bought nothing, but a friend of mine purchased a 5400 kr (ca $830) Wang LBD

............. pause for horrified screams .........

If you do not think this an absurd amount to spend on a cocktail dress for a 20 year old girl (might I add not an heiress/singer/other circustances securing abundant fundings an occasions for wear) living in one of the chilliest capitals on earth, please leave my blog at once.

I stood completely dumbfounded as she casually told the sales girl that she would take the dress, and whipped out the amount in CASH (upon doing so, the sales girl apologetically said that she would have to accept some coins as change, which she deposited randomly in her handbag - I, disposed to shout extatically when finding small change in the street, felt quite mortified). For me, anything with a price tag exceeding $200 is seriously pushing it. If she had been obsessing about this dress for months, and it was only now on sale, I MIGHT have been inclined to deem it less of a brainless purchase, but she first laid eyes on it that very evening - and it was one of the few items NOT ON SALE.

Needless to say, I felt completely out of place or insufficient (only the day before had I been struggling with myself over buying a 300kr sweater on sale at Zara). I therefore hereby vow never to step into Eger ever again (unless, of course there is an emergency where they urgently need someone to take their entire Wang stock off their hands for fre, of course...)

The best part? I found the dress online on sale at $350 - oh, malicious pleasure

This it what I wore yesterday, and the pictures are taken at an underground pedestrian crossing I pass by on my way to work. I received while rummaging through my bag for my camera from fuming glares from fellow commuters who presumed I was looking for my spray paint can

Zara biker jacket sweater (on sale - whee!), vintage DIY Levi's shorts

Rediscovering items in ones wardrobe must be one of the most satisfying feelings! I adored these earrings in the 90s, and when I spotted them buried deep in one of my jewellery boxes, I was profoundly happy to put them to use again.

apologies for less than satisfactory photo quality, they turned grainy when I uploaded them... if anyone can tell me why, it would be greatly appreciated!

2009-07-07T14:00:00.001+02:00

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Warning - fashion causes delusion

2009-07-07T09:47:00.023+02:00

Sometimes, I feel the urgent need to take a step a step back from chasing the edge of fashion, as it at times leaves me feeling confused and inadequate. I just spent an hour reading a blog by a friend of mine who is backpacking through Southeast Asia, which naturally only further highlighted my want of boast-worthy life experience, as I, at the age of 20 and free to roam the world at my own convenience, should of course be doing so, and not spending my summer shut in an office relocating numbers in Microsoft Excel that I do not even possess a proper understanding of...

You see, my general perspective on the world is of such width that it enables me to realize that statements like this one:

"Live life like it's an endless Sonia Rykiel show and an Alexander Wang after-party. Be charming, be authentic, smile more, laugh more, less Diva, less ego, be a Voguette, become fashion. I just love it when everyone loves fashion and when fashion loves them too."

from Ceecee wears Chanel, is essentially a load of waffle. (I mean no offense whatsoever to the creator - it is a lovely little statement, and I am confident - at least sincerely hopeful - that she is also aware that it makes no sense in any real way...)

However, I allow myself to revel in the delightful ridiculousness of the fashion world, just for the pleasure of it. But at times like the summer vacation, when I lack other useful employment (note to self: you do have a JOB, you know... ahem), it is dangerously easy to get sucked in too far. It is on such occasions I must slap myself until I remember that I in fact live in a world of war and climate change, not just fringe bags and bejewelled blazers, and that other human beings (and, indeed me myself) possess qualities beyond that of being walking clothes hangers. It is on such occasions I must remind myself to stop consuming and start appreciating.

But these small breaks from fashion fixation often provide me with unexpected fresh inspiration, this time a Michael Jackson video (mind, this is decidedly not an MJ tribute post, I just came across it at random watching tv). In The Way You Make Me Feel, the girl that plays MJ's love interest so perfectly epitomizes the late eighties/early nineties vibe that has been evident over the previous few seasons, that I was awestruck, and immediately began contemplating how I could covet the look. And thus I must work to amass sufficient fundings to buy clothes that look uncannily like those I wore as a child... such is life.

oh, all the wonderful things one can do with fringe (and mesh)

2009-07-01T10:19:00.009+02:00

more fringe fabulousness I am dying to DIY! (and note to self: must stop wearing necklaces on the chest!)

source: http://caroline.feber.se

I discovered the mesh dress at American Apparel, and fell instantly in love with the fabric. I know we are bordering on indecency with quite a dangerously meager margin here, but I can't help but to revel in the obvious sexiness combined with edge and elegance that is the trend marriage of see-through and bodycon. The visible seams and showing skin without actually going bare - gorgeous.

source: american apparel

it's HOT

2009-06-30T22:52:00.004+02:00

It is seriously hot in Oslo (indeed in the whole of Norway) at the moment! But the inescapable heat provides me with an excuse for wearing practically nothing at all - so I did :D

American Eagle shorts, DIY crop tank, vintage belt, Gina Tricot sunglasses

I went to H&M in the hopes of obtaining a black mesh dress, failed to do so, and bought a load of other clothes instead... I also discovered H&M Trend for the first time (such things are scarcely imaginable in Trondheim - "actually trendy clothes? At reasonable prices!? - well I never!"), and I liked it immensely, such a shame that most the smaller sizes were long gone. However, there was a sale, and I scored a lace bodysuit, a grey acid-washed zipper dress, a black lace garter belt (finally, been looking everywhere!), a white oversized henley and a white raincoat, all conveniently cheap.

please excuse stupid purple underwear...

MUST MAKE THIS DRESS

2009-06-30T14:18:00.002+02:00

From 4th and Bleeker She's a genious, that girl! I think I will make mine in black, seeing as it is a tad more wearable, but the real issue will be getting hold of a mesh base dress... perhaps there is a stripper's outfitters somewhere in Oslo ;)?

Italy part 1

2009-06-28T20:52:00.013+02:00

My sincere apologies for not having blogged more directly upon return from my vacation in Italy. The weather has been most extraordinarily fine, and the prospect of forcing myself to sit inside on such an occasion was simply too depressing.

Because there are a great deal fewer pictures from the second destination of our trip - the seaside town Gaeta just south of Rome - I will post these first, as it is rather late, and I have to be up early for work tomorrow (being a poor student, I can only afford two weeks summer vacation...). Gaeta was lovely and charmingly picturesque, apart from the odd construction cranes that seemed to obstruct the panorama for no reason at all... We stayed there 12 days in an apartment, so that we could cook our own meals if we felt like it (and what luck that was, since all restaurants in town seemed to boicot tourism on mondays by being collectively shut). My mother enjoyed very much going shopping every morning, as they in Italy still maintain speciality shops, so that you have to go to at least three different stores to be able to prepare any meal (there were a few supermarkets, but the quality of the products was vastly better in the speciality shops). Doing this every morning, she discovered elderly Italian women's complete disregard for queueing in an orderly fashion, as they have discovered that cutting in front of everyone else is a great time-saver. The had in fact perfected this technique to such an extent that it took my mother the best part of an hour every morning to get what she needed to make us a decent breakfast (I also discovered that Italian boys must be avidly studying their grandmothers, because I never seemed to get near the counter when trying to buy ice cream...). When the restaurants were open however, there were a couple of exquisite seafood restaurants that even I, normally not being particularly fond of seafood, can warmly recommend to anyone.

a dress that my mother bought for herself, but that conveniently (for me, anyway) turned out to fit me much better :)

The last day of our visit, the weather decided to be very disagreeable, and it rained most of the day. But, as we were determined to be sick of the beach when we got home, so that we wouldn't miss it as much, we darted out as soon as we saw a clear patch of sky. And how fortunate it was, because the sight that greeted us was this:

oh, the beauty of a beach devoid of people!

posing in my new crocheted bikini

finally vacation!

2009-06-08T00:51:00.002+02:00

I'm leaving for Rome in 4 hours (geez, better get some sleep...), so there will be no blogging for two weeks, but I promise to post lots of pics from Rome when I get back, swearz!