desperately seeking...

What a pity that there are no press agencies in Belgium with any of the Opening Ceremony stuff! This is THE pair of shoes I’ve been looking for to make the fashion story for the magazine, now the question is : where to get them? Anyone has answers, please!?

veronica b vallenes

I suddenly stumbled upon the perfect images of that easy luxury that I’ll be preaching about in the upcoming season. These are the lookbook images from a Copenhagen-based Norwegian designer Veronica B Vallenes. The perfect oversized silk t-shirt, the immaculately cut pink trousers, a dress with shoulderpads and fringes at the back, a bustier top and a bodycon panelled skirt! What more would I ever need? May be just a loft in east London…

all images Anywho

easy lux

Recently I’ve been so bored of fashion outfits that I’ve been resorting to the safy-safe black&white garments, living in jumpsuits and refusing to wear anything more complicated than oversized t-shirt plus slouchy trousers. So out the skinny jeans, out the second-hand weirdness, out the jewellery. All I’m longing for these days is a luxury silk t-shirt, suede harem trouser, drapy silk blazer and I’m afraid I’ll start wearing fur this winter! I have no idea where this lust for luxury textiles comes from and why do I feel so exhilarated from the sensation of silk or viscose jersey on my skin or why am I so addicted to the crispy crunching sound of my poplin Acne dress. Don’t get me wrong – this is not the luxury of diamonds and pearls, but the understated elegance of noble materials in minimal shapes, and probably the only no-so-minimal object of my desire is the golden Casio calculator watch!
So if I could live here:


and wear these at this very moment, I would feel cosy, delicate and fragile. And I’m sure this will be my upcoming autumn/winter mood in fashion and design.

all items at freudiankicks.com

interiors at design-milk.com

flashes

I’m too tired of walking. So what to play with? Hotel. Preen for Topshop white denim. Flashes. Flashes.

the closet:

stretch leather pensil skirt COS

pleated bamboo trouser COS

wool jumpsuit Mango

grey knit ACNE

burnout white t-shirt ACNE

drapy black top COS

shoulderpadded dress Ann-Sofie Back for Fred Perry

blazer COS

lace-up wedges Jeffrey Campbell
creepe sole black suede desert boot Topshop

the outfit:

see-through nude tank COS

blazer COS

white denim tapered leg trouser Preen for Topshop

creepe sole desert boot Topshop.

The first shot reminds me of my new favourite blog Anywho and makes me want to be tall (eh, substitute for ‘skinny’), beautiful, blond and Danish. I love the combination of 90’s, high-street finds and those crazy massive shoes. And since recently I’m incredibly bored with fashion and all I want to wear is a huge basic white t-shirt, those girls keep my faint interest going. Their outfits are never too basic, there’s always some statement jewellery, bleached or ripped denim, vintage blazer with shoulderpads (yes, I’m still on the shoulderpad train) or platform shoes. Plus now they translate their posts in English. Brilliant!

square vs.round

Now we all know about the existence of the square pond in Cologne… The round counterpart of such is found in London. Not sure if there’s any metaphysical connection between the two (if ponds could talk I would surely proceed with a question, but questions without clear answers remind me of…um…the city of the square pond, so I’ll let that one linger). So back to the round… I love to escape the hustle and bustle of the city to the tranquillity (if only the wind wouldn’t be flipping the pages of my notebook every 5seconds – you’re getting on my nerves, Nature!) of the park.
Same as in Berlin, minus the Frisbee mud gliders, plus the fabulous synchronic-swim ballet performance from the white swans of the Hyde Park’s Round Pond.

This time around London did not astonish me. I can’t say I’ve seen it all, but may be the previous times I’ve travelled out there were 1. Company-paid hotel at High Street Ken, 2. Day job at COS, 3. Boyfriend, 4. The Chap gig. The London trip as of today feels more like a holiday without any purpose, so I’m getting myself entertained with some open questions.
Would I get bored of Topshop and such if I were to live in London, because even a silly place like this is pretty unique for ‘treasure hunting’. As we don’t have any of this stuff in BE, it is naturally an easy and cheap way to finding some one-ofs (in Belgian terms speaking) for my wardrobe. And the answer is that I probably would. I never had and I never will have any intention of looking identical to anyone, so cross Topshop and COS out of the list (the latter I learned in Berlin already).
*ALRIGHT, some freako-wacko, who tells me he saw me last night in his dreams – odd and ridiculous! Mental note: do not come here after dark.*
The Brick Lane issue is of the similar nature. The identi-kit hipsters, endless young-designer/vintage market stalls at Spitafields and beyond gave me a slightly uncanny feeling yesterday. If Rough Trade wouldn’t be there, my trips to Shoreditch would have been pretty sparse. Just how much unique stuff can you find in 100 vintage shops loaded with unique pieces? Well, in my mathematics the two cancel out, becoming just another market stratum where hipsters are the target buyers.
Finally, the amount of ash-blonds with bleached hair also seems to put me off, so I’ll stick my plans to bleach my hair grey in the long drawer too.
Just don’t get me wrong, I’m not being negative. I’m picky though, and my decisions are based on my very own taste, because I’m happy to be where I am and who I am, getting shoes at Topshop and Ann-Sofie Back for Fred Perry dress (dramatically reduced from 120£ to 40£ at Urban Outfitters), bringing this stuff to Brussels and looking like a crazy art-bitch from another planet, when I’m just the Lena-beast who likes to fetch strawberries for those sweet and dear.

omfg reprise

Naturally I’m off to the bi-annual kick-off in London, shuffling my schedule around and getting three consequential days of pleasure and two of work, all in my favourite city. And though I’ll be off to Rough Trade shop on Brick lane in a matter of minutes, I still have a moment to make a confession. Those shoes I posted about earlier…well, yes…you know what I mean.

omfg!

Topshop, have some mercy!

amuseevous

Pieter is one of the confirmed contributors. Expect the unexpected, fabulous and sublime.

tunnel vision

All my favourite pages of various magazines laid out in front of and all around my laptop – is the landscape I’ve been admiring for the whole morning. This is the selection of the all-time favourites: Androgyny, Pin-Up, Under the Influence visuals. All these pages have something crude and cold about their presentation, the kind of lay-out without any decorative lay-out works. Plus the soundtrack by YΔcht (click click click here.

Yes, I’m a fan! And it’s so sad to miss their gig in London next week.)– I know that I’m making a very clear and bias selection of styles, working with different contributors and forcing them to stuff their picture within my frame is maybe not too cool, but to start with I have capacity for one magazine only, combined with a precise vision of how I want it to look and sound like. So yes – tunnel vision! With a light in the end of it.

once again about...

….CircleSquare and SSWTR. Continuing the accessory epic of this fabulous label, these frames are titled Circle Square Lens. Not sure how much parallel is drawn between these glasses and the band, probably none at all, but it doesn’t make the glasses less amazing. I love the clear frame pair.
Finding the stockist for ‘Slow and Steady…’ is quite tricky though. Stand Up Comedy sells those online, and in UK they are sold at the Victoria and Albert Museum Gift Shop, which sounds pretty dodgy to me – would I find a faux fox stole among impressionists’ postcards too? Very curious to find out.

amazing shoulderpads

What am I looking for on topshop.com just a few days before going to London? Trouble? Probably yes, because finding this blazer with massive shoulderpads makes me feel uneasy. Shopping at competitors’ is only half bad, but potentially spending my last money on that stuff when I should be stocking myself with CD’s at Rough Trade, all sorts of indie magazines and Muji candles is beyond any boundaries of sane. Need to see the blazer in person, but for now the decision is 99% made…God bless Visa!

slow and steady

Slow and Steady Wins the Race is a new clothing label, presented as a bimonthly clothing diary, cataloguing ideas that are focused on a specific and fundamental characteristic of clothing design.
One of such projects is taking jewellery in focus, rewriting the context of the functional and decorative parts of our habitual objects of adornment. Those parts that never seem apparent, like links and closures of necklaces and earrings play the central role in the new design. I find it fascinating how those spare parts suddenly form complete pieces of jewellery, looking as precious as any handcrafted silver piece. I also love the fact that they constructed multifunctional object like a necklace linked onto earrings, for instance, re-inventing the use of a traditional pearl necklace. Pure beauty and wit!

are you sad and lonley?

A lovely rainy Sunday spent brainstorming and typing random stuff would never be the same without my Mr. Fox. I was so happy to take him home this morning, vacuum clean his fur and find a bright sunny spot in my room for him – so gracefully poised on top of the tree log with plastic ivy. The god of kitsch! The assault for all vegetarians!
I like to take sad lonely things home, watch out – you could be next.

PS for ikea ps

Found it, it’s on the Dutch IKEA site.

PS

Today I officially declare myself an IKEA fan! I never wanted an interior total look before, but after today’s visit I want everything from pepper mill to commode. The real deal is that IKEA has launched the new range under the already known title IKEA PS (it’s not even published online yet, so sorry, no pictures), but this time around there’s got to be some young blood in the design office. I’m impatient to find out who.
There’s suddenly every object I ever wanted – an uneven wooden table with graphic metal legs, a commode with rope knobs and drawers of different sizes, a pepper mill that looks like a tower from Lord of the Rings (dad’s description), a modern version of Thonet chair, and armchair with flip cushions for your colour choice, a crooked lamp that looks like it’s made of ping-pong balls, a huge hanging light in a shape of a dandelion, a wooden shelf with uneven structure….oh, should I even continue??? Yes, there’s also that little wooden stool! And everything is in white and wood!
Only recently I’ve been browsing for some interior inspiration, because it’s time to continue decorating the next room in my flat – the kitchen is done, living room’s turn. So I stumble upon few images from the Martin Margiela home line, they are truly enchanting. Those white interiors with a chair swing and trompe-l’oeil baroque doors are all I want to have, including the oxygen-green light and naturally the loft to place it all in.
I always loved the tongue-in-cheek humour in design, because I refuse to take some things seriously, like interior decoration, for example. There always must be something wrong for it to be right, and the new IKEA stuff has all those qualities. I am surprised with myself how much I’ve given in to the mass produced items this time around, yet everything that we surround ourselves with is simply a matter of making choices.

What do people...

...do not to get bored in their free time?
I’ve got several safe time-wasting routines, but recently I got bored of those… not sure if it means that I’m bored of my free time – the endless discussions at work about my character and attitude that are to my opinion are just useless chatter and mere finger-pointing are getting very successfully on my nerves, so the free time is very much welcome, and as much as possible, please.
I’ve recently visited Berlin and next weekend I’m off to my favourite city in the world – London, hopefully Cologne in the first week of August, then Copenhagen and back to Berlin in the beginning of September. Don’t call me an escapist if I don’t come back from one of those cities – call me an escapist already now!
So what’s the news, you say? The fact that I’m somewhat bored of blogging too is quite new and surprising, since I am pretty new in the blogosphere, but after I visited Berlin and recognised quite a few people that I see on blogs I was scared of myself. When Dario of Stil in Berlin was standing just a meter away from me or when Zana of GarbageDress walked past I didn’t dare to say anything, but when I was accidently introduced to a guy whose face I often see on Zana’s blog (the one with round spectacles), I mentally flipped – how can it be? Me? The one with a total face recognition disorder who wouldn’t even tell her own cousin from a stranger! This world is too small, and it gets even smaller with every minute that I spend reading someone else’s blog.
So, the news. I’ve been contemplating on this one for a long time, but only now it seems to make sense: the magazine freak that I am is going to publish her first magazine! (a round of applause) I also love all things DIY and low-key, so I spent a day experimenting with recycled newsprint, double-sided tape and some of the visual material I published on this blog, discovering that the landscape layout is much more attractive than the portrait – one, it needs less double-sided tape to bind it, and two, it lets you publish text in two columns on the same page and looks like you are reading an old-fashioned novel, plus the printer margin falls out into the binding.
The debut issue is due in September, so obviously I’m urgently looking for contributors. I want a mish-mash of stories, thoughts and musings, written text or an image. Debut must be like a collective memory of each and every – only this way the spark life can be lit within a creature. A magazine is a stack of papers but is a creature too. That’s why I decide to write about memories, and ghosts, things that haunt you and things that are haunted. I call things of this sort midnight creatures – they are the haunting ghosts from the past that drive you, inspire you, fill you with a certain desire. They are often gloomy and sad, but even in this sadness there’s beauty. And if I ever called you my midnight friend, beware! For my heart is yours, sickly inspired not to ever relinquish from my choice. But every time you’re near I’ll lean towards the abyss.
There are others too, they are not creatures by definition. But have you ever heard the trees talk? The lamp post wink at you? Or a piano stare at you with its hollow mouth of teeth wide open?
So fetishes, ghost stories, weird thoughts that keep you busy and deepest secrets from the bottom of the heart are welcome!

As an example of what I mean by the beautiful catalogue of thoughts and musings here are some spreads from the Laser magazine, which is probably the best I’ve seen in ages.

Also RUIS – our Belgian magazine published by Kraak is a great example of the minimal maximalism.
Pin-up – is for architectural entertainment and is read on one breath.

one of the most enchanting tracks of all times goes like this:

The man on the plastic bag looks like terror. He's staring at me. I can't say why. His face seems spoiled. When I think of calling a friend, I notice that most of them have mutilated into acquaintances. Maybe that's my fault, maybe it's a form of getting old. I'm used to small talk at the moment.

shoe madness

It was about time that I post some more shoe madness. My insatiable lust for ankle-boot peep-toe lace-up wedges with cage detailing has reached its absolute peak. So how one must keep cool when there’s so much wonderful choice. Quite a few of these darlings are courtesy of Jeffrey Campbell, and that is overly exciting, as the JC shoes are probably the most comfortable shoes after Dries Van Noten. By the way, on the Berlin picture JC’s Asti sandal-wedge-boot is what’s on my feet. Taking the price difference in account, I’ll be owning a few more JC’s than Dries’ in the nearest future…now it’s just a matter of choice…

the mango-crime

There are just too many style snappers. The tourist like taking photos too, does it mean I look perfectly berlinoise?

Here’s a perfect street-style mug shot of myself caught devouring mango fruit at the Wedding Dress festival, and Farid who’s got the coolest sunglasses in this world. Can anyone believe those are actually H&M?

...and yes, that's right next to the sausages booth. Forgive me fashion!

Berlin day 2.


Brunching by the canal, Wedding Dress #4 designer showrooms and ending up in the Mauer park. I’m too sad to leave.