Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

I've spent this week in Lappland snowboarding and enjoying the winter sun (and some foggy snowy days too). It's a tradition my parents have to go to Lappland for a week  every winter: to rent a chalet, ski and slalom ski. This time we had some family friends with us, which was a blast. And a real merry-go-round with five adults, two plus one children and three dogs!

What would be more lovely than to pack the car with some friends and head north! Snowboard a board and off we go!

 

After a day filled with sports it's to enjoy some after ski. My favourite is the PyhäWurst special that's got sausage and bratwurst with potato salad and sauerkraut. Not to forget perry cider and hot chocolate with mint liqueur.

 

Not much has changed with the lovely winter sport of slalom. Equipment improves every year and new slopes are opened - this year provided us with a brand new PyhäExpress bubble chair lift. But after all people still love the same things they did fifty years ago: speed, powder snow and beautiful landscapes.

 

 

In a mountain area I feel perfectly far away from the rush and stress of everyday city-life. There’s time to think and air to breath. After a week I feel quite reborn and ready to go back to Helsinki. Can’t wait to get my hands on to the sewing and wardrobe projects I’ve been planning.

Hope when I get back to Helsinki it'll be spring already and the snow be almost gone! Not at all likely, I know...

Yours truly 

Nelly

Pictures from here, here, here and here.

Inspiration Towards My New Style

Hours and hours of google. I guess that's the way these days to find out how to put together a new style. A stack of magazines would do the same, but it's a lot more difficult to find 50's/60's magazines (at least here in Finland) than to browse all-free pages in the neverending web. Here are some of the things I've found, or not just some things, but those that I find most inspiring to me. These feel like I really coul imagine myself in them, feeling absolutely elegant.

My favourite of all is this absolutely beautiful dress that was sold at etsy.com. I would have bought it if it hadn't been just a bit too small. Now I regret I didn't buy it anyway.

 

To start off with a brand new (although at least 50 years old) style is by no means easy, at least not for me. But with this piece it would feel very natural. No need for anything special, just this one piece combined with things I already have in my wardrobe. It's a retro dress by Bettie Page Clothing. With this I wouldn't draw too much attention to myself but would still feel like living in the fifties. With a crinoline it would be perfectly posh and without one just perfect for everyday life. Full circle and in a autumnal rust shade. I just love the shades of orange, peach, rust and alike!

 

For some years now in me there's been living a petite ballerina. As a child I was more of a tree climbing tomboy, but in my twenties I found the tutu-girl in me. I started ballet lessons and completely fell in love with the art. This photo from myvintagevogue captures both the ballet and the fifties. Ah! Young, innocent, and fresh like a flower.

 

Sophisticated city girls. Eye-cathing waist lines. Celebration of body shapes. Could that be me? Without the help of a corset? No way. It'll take me a year to save enough money for a corset made by Kisuline, but right now it seems very much worth it.

 

I can't describe how excited I am! There's something absolutely intriguing thinking about the journey I'm about to have with the bygone days. I've never felt quite comfortable with the constantly changing high street fashion - when I've got the hang of a style it's already out. But a vintage style provides something without the feeling of constant rush, a possibility for endless improvement of details and going deeper into the spirit of the style. Que belle la vie!


Yours truly,

Nelly

The Beginning of Something New

I don’t know what happened last Christmas. Why on earth did I google ”50’s dress” some time before midnight? Little did I know what would follow. At first I founded a dress I wanted to wear for my university graduation next fall. And then my wedding dress (no husband at sight, but anyway!). And then I kind of forgot the whole thing.

I’ve never been a ”vintage person”. I’ve always admired corsets and loved the empire style of Jane Austen movies. But to intentionally wear the style of a different era in modern everyday life – that’s something I’ve never understood. Let alone thought I could do it!

However, the pictures of the 50’s dresses I’d googled kept coming back to my mind. After some weeks and endless hours with google, I found myself dreaming of saying goodbye to my wardrobe filled with jeans and other casual clothes of today and the last ten years. I want to start wearing dresses with a real waistline and beautiful petticoats. I want my clothes to have the style and elegance of the old days – not sure yet what exactly those ”old days” might be. I’ve never really had a style – casual miscellaneous doesn’t count – and now I would like to find one. This blog is my journey towards a new style in clothes and maybe in life overall. A style that appreciates the old days and hopefully relects something of the person I am or want to be.

Yours truly

Nelly

How it all began… My graduation dress-to-be

And an idea for my wedding dress

Both dresses by Vivien of Holloway