Current Must-Haves in my life:

Chanel jackets

I keep looking at others in the stores, but in the end, I end up with the staple of my grand-méres closet. Boxy or fitted, pockets or piping or color, they’re all good, and I love them. They go with everything, for everything. I just cannot find a better one. My current favourites: the ones with 3/4 sleeve.

Patricia Kaas

I can’t stop listening to her album Kabaret.

BF

He’s off to States soon. So spending every moment I can with him.

Paint samples

I’m decorating the new apartment.

Iris by Kalevala Koru.

How can a piece of jewellery, one that is for the mass market and therefor not custom made, be so perfectly fitting? Down to the name of the piece?

Ski Guy’s friend Elf-K.

That guy’s seriously hilariously funny! Might share some stories later…

Okay, so I’ve been away. On the Boat Week. Which was amazingly fun, thank you for asking. I managed to avoid burning, mostly by layering SPF50-billion and long sleeved clothes. I did get some sun, so now I’m all freckled again. Which is all good and well, I like them. BF is all tanned and gorgeous, which really isn’t fair. He was having a blast, and got along great with everyone, btw. I have to admit I was a bit worried. Not because I didn’t trust him getting along with my friends, he’s one of those annoying people who get along with everyone! But because we have a very tight group, we’re mostly known each other since we were 6, so it’s really hard for someone new to come into the mix. Especially someone who doesn’t speak French. But he’s learning!

I took a beating in our Scrabble game, by the way. My French vocabulary is diminishing, it seems. Need to pick up some books in French from now on, as well as fashion magazines.

Speaking of fashion, my Boat Week was cut by a very welcome interruption. I’m currently writing this at my own desk, back in Paris, after taking in some of the Couture shows for fall. Once again, I walked out of Jean Paul Gaultier show with a long list of “I want that!” We’ll have to see. There were a few changes I’d like, and stuff, but… I love his stuff, everyone knows that! You can always trust JP to make something that’s at the same time “wow” and somehow so very “me”.

I’ve been streamlining my closet this past spring and early summer. Seriously. I’ve noticed that what with all the house-hopping, being in Finland, France, couple of places in States, I’ve reverted to the American style of wardrobe. And that’s no good. Most importantly, that’s not me. So, streamlining. Which is something I must remember when checking out the fall shows, and deciding what, if any, I’m getting this fall. (I didn’t make it to the Chanel show, but luckily I’m able to catch up with what they had later today.)

It’s time for me to return to my roots, and to the cornerstones of my wardrobe. Having, using, and buying only things I can honestly say I love with a passion. Things I can say I’ll wear 5 years from now. Because that’s always been my thing. I just got lost, together with everyone else, to this buying frenzy of funny little things and chic little pick-me-ups. (Okay, the lace-and-tulle over-the-knee lace-up stiletto heel boots by Sergio Rossi were a justified buy. If for no other reason, than how much BF loves those!)

But that’s all about fashion. Maybe I’ll make a more detailed post later on about it, should anyone care. There was something else I though about… Wonder what it was…

Oh, yes! In my current “I’m loving the Armed Forces” thing, that was started by the HBO mini series Generation Kill, and carried further by the actual book Generation Kill by Evan Wright, I have been immersing myself to the culture of military. It’s really quite fascinating! The bonds that are formed and the comrade that’s evident is quite special. Also, the philosophical yet practical approach these guys have towards things like life and death, war and love and family, is truly intriguing. I’ll write more about my feelings regarding Generation Kill in my review-of-sorts, once I get there, but for now, let’s just say you should all read it. Seriously. Another thing that’s been interesting to see is the way these more recent wars, like Iraq, Afghanistan and to an extent Vietnam, are treated so differently as stories from WWII and other earlier wars. It’s hard to believe that war’s any different, regardless of the time, and yet the image that gets portrayed makes it seem like the actual battle has changed considerably. But then again, what do I know, I’ve never been in any war, I’ve never served in military. Which in turns makes it an even more interesting read.

I was recommended a book called Of Arms and Men by Robert L O’Connell, about how the development of guns and technology has changed not only the wars we fight in but the society. It seems really interesting, so I might have to check that out.

The Boat Week managed to get me back to books again. I was, once again, in a bit of a reading funk, but all that lounging on the deck made me pick up a book and get lost in a story. After all, it’s not like I was going to swim! So… I’m back! Interestingly, I’ve been feeling my old interest to philosophy return, which is great. I’ve missed that. Also, after an embarrassingly long spout of “I can’t really be bothered”, I’m into contemporary issues again. Politics, culture, society. I want to know. And with that, always comes my thirst for history. Which in turn might have been flared up also by the military things I’ve read, as there’s always references to history when you’re talking about war. So all in all, I’m feeling like actually activating my brain again, after a long period of “handbag shopping counts as a sociopolitical and cultural statement, right?”. In the words of J, “the Brain is back”. This should be fun.

Now I have to go, I have an appointment before lunch.

Beth: I’m practicing first on my second ball.

Me: Dirty.

She was talking about her first attempts at knitting. Or so she says…

* * * * *

Ski Guys calls, and as soon as I pick up.

Ski Guy: Are you making fun of my blog?

Me: No! Of course not! I adore your blog. *pause* I’m making fun of you.

*pause*

Ski Guy: Okay.

* * * * *

BF and I are meeting H and J for lunch. H arrives wearing a flowery dress. Like, really flowery. BF stands up to greet her. (Note! BF and H get along really well.)

BF: [H], you look… *he takes a closer, longer look* … like a flower shop threw up on you.

H *turns to me, faking indignation and sarcasm*: He’s a keeper.

Me *laughing hysterically*: And correct!

It wasn’t a good dress.

Do you know the feeling, when you’ve struggled with a problem for hours after hours, days on end, and then you finally figure it out and the answer is so obvious that you feel incredibly stupid for not realising something so self-evident a long time ago? That’s exactly how I feel now.

For days now I’ve been trying to come up with a name for my latest wrap design. To no avail. Nothing seemed appropriate, nothing fitted. It was all wrong, all seemed forced and artificial. Nothing captured neither me nor the wrap.

Finally I realised that I was completely ignoring the enormous potential of my name. I don’t mean derivatives of my name. Nor do I mean anything to do with my last name, which does come with a load of baggage. I mean the history behind my two first names.

I was named after two goddesses. The goddess of the rainbow and the goddess of fashion. I have more inspiration right there, in my driver’s licence, than in a whole of library. The Greek mythology and the entire modern fashion creation.

So it came to me. The name for the wrap. Of course. It makes sense now. It’s self-evident, it’s obvious, it’s so simple it makes me feel downright stupid.

The name? 12.

Okay, so I disappeared from my blog again. You’d think that what with the new computer and all, I’d be spending all my time on it, and that this blog would get its share of my computer-focused attention. Sorry. You were wrong. I was busy attending the shows, having lunches, catching up with people I know, shopping…

They say we’re in a recession, that we’re in a dire economics situation. Well, according to everything they’ve taught me at school about how the economy works, the private consumption is one of the biggest influential factors to the general well-being of the economy. And that the national economy lives and dies very much along the rises and falls in private spending. In fact, I heard that there’s an add campaign in Finland telling people not to get overly cautious in their spending, or they’ll just “feed the recession”. So that’s what I did. I did my own share in saving the economy.

And I got some really pretty shoes for that.

I think I also deserved the shoes, given that I managed not to break my leg on the slopes in Val d’Isere. And for being a good GF and going to see BF for Valentine’s Day. In case you didn’t notice, I’m not too fond of the Day. I love presents, but I’m not too keen on the glittery glued-on forced romance that goes with it. I like balloons, just not the heart-shaped ones, if you get my meaning. But it was, as it always is, really nice to see BF again.

Of course, the shows. What can I say? There’s something deliciously twisted in shopping for spring and checking out the fall at the same time, while wearing your winter coat. But it looked like a fall I’m going to like. I’m not going to details, check style.com or elle.com if you want to see pictures, but I might post a little something later, in a separate post. It did look good. In case the economy is still in bad shape come September, I’ll be happy to do my share again.

Spending time, if only shortly, with DD is always nice. What with his busy schedule and my own life, it’s not easy to stay in touch and have that father-daughter bonding I’d like. But we did get to spend time together, outside the official atmosphere of a fancy restaurant. Just hanging out, you know? All those who know my dad would be shocked to hear that he knows how to just hang out. *laughs* I do love it when he discusses his work plans with me, even though I have no desire to take his place, ever. I want to do my own thing. But it’s still nice to be let in on the plans.

As for my own plans, I’ll get to them in another post. They’ll take a while… And I have to do it without pictures, as Ski Guy apparently stole Henry.

While I was away, I realised I’ve really missed spilling my thoughts out here on the blog. So, there’ll probably be more posts like this one in the future. How’s that for stories?

*kisses*

ii

I’m torn between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ on this one. I don’t know if it’s funny or silly. Hmmm… It does cheer me up. But would I use it? Troubled, I am.

Rabbit fur bag by Alexis Mabille

Their shoes are a must, though. Don’t you think?

A silk and suede slide

(photo: Elle.com)

Dressing for Christmas parties and Christmas itself is always tricky. You want to dress up of course, and express your festive mood. But you don’t want to look like a cross between a Christmas tree and a slutty elf, though. Unless of course you do like My Friend With Huge Boobs and I did when we attended the annual pre-Christmas party by the students’ group and went all out on the slutty elfs (elves??) mode… We got a lot of compliments for our outfits, though. But that’s besides the point. My point was, I have the perfect Christmas dress!

Trust Jean Paul Gaultier to come up with something that walks the fine balance between special and not-costume-y. This one is just the thing. Well, drop the boots, and change the gold into midnight blue. Add stockings and some sexy heels and it’s a very merry Christmas at ii’s!

What do you wear for the Holidays?

xoxo,

ii

I did something very very rare for me today. As I’m going home in few hours, I was putting together an outfit that would be chic yet comfortable in the plane. Especially as I’m feeling a bit of a cold coming on. I also thought of the fact that I need to drive in the other end, so I turned to flats (plane + driving = flats, simple math, really!). Then, in some weird brain malfunction, I checked the weather.

I never check the weather! Not ever! I’m known for being most weather-inappropriately dressed in all occasions! I’m talking about suede boots in rain, about miniskirts in ski race events, about sleeveless dresses in January. I don’t do weather. Period.

I must still be under influence of the cold medication.

xoxo,

ii

I figured I’d start a new category. Must-haves. I guess it was inspired by my post about sponging and the influences we get. And partly about someone saying recently that I have an awesome wardrobe. (I do.) But, I thought I’d start to keep this irregularly regular journal of what’s currently a must-have in my life. Of course there’s going to be clothes, but there’s also some other things, like books or hobbies or whatnot. For this first post, though, I’ll make one about my all-time permanent fashion must-haves.

1) Chanel suit. Seriously, you can wear it casual or fancy, just the skirt, just the jacket, in all sorts of combinations. It’s my go-to outfit. It never looks bad or out of place. (Trust me, I wore the jacket to a hockey game, and it worked.)

2) Heels. In particular Christian Louboutin black pumps with stiletto heel. Again, there’s no place, outside of tennis court, where these would be wrong.

3) Scarves. I love them. From vintage silk scarves from Hermès to the hand-knit huge ones I’ve made myself to the lacy barely-there evening wraps, I love them. In fact, I can rarely be seen without one. If ever. Well, I don’t wear one to bed. Usually.

4) 50’s. I love the 50’s silhouettes, from the sleek and narrow pencil skirt to the über-feminine full skirt and tiny waist. The coordinated hats and gloves and shoes. I love being a woman, and I love dressing like one.

5) My vintage lace LBD. It’s a timeless dress, with black lace on black satin. It has an open neckline, comes down to my knees, it fits like a glove. It’s timeless in shape and material. It’s one of those magnificent pieces of clothing that speaks volumes, in most delicate of whispers. Those are rare in these days.

xoxo,

ii

It is a known fact that we’re influenced by our surroundings. We may not know it but we are. We start to imitate the accent or slowly gravitate towards the unofficial dress-code at the work place. It rubs on us.

I’ve always cherished this ability to take inspirations and influences from what’s around me. I know who I am, what I like, but I use what I see and hear to define and fine-tune that what I know to be me.

Currently, I’m very much in love with the movie Penelope. As a reaction, I bought several pairs of over-the-knee socks in different colors, and some cute girly shoes. And I’m seriously thinking of ripping off that coat she had! You know, the one with the buttons?

Seriously, is that a cute coat or what?

I also notice, that whenever I read a classic, especially Jane Austen, I start using more complicated language in my own life as well. It’s like the elaborate language rubs on me, like an accent would. Back in high school, my math ad physics teacher was originally from Poland, and while she spoke fluent English, she still had that Eastern European ’s’, kind of hissing, you know? My friends could always tell when I’d had math or physics.

But, we’re influenced. I’m influenced by what we see and hear. If I’m spendinga  longer amount of time with BF, I notice I start to dress more ‘rock’. Not because he’s all black clothes and hard-core jewellery, no no. But because he likes to listen to the music. Or if I’m staying at grand-mère’s, it’s more fluttery dresses and ribbons and elegant heels. If I’m home, by myself? Right now it’s mary janes and over-the-knee-socks. with a 50’s skirt and a sweater. No pearls, though.

What are you influenced by?

xoxo,

ii