Settling in ...

As you may recall from my last #ootd post (which you can read here), I have very recently started a new job; and, if you're following my erratic #fs6daily on Flickr and Instagram, you'll also know that I've even more recently moved to a new apartment.

Such changes all at one go, do not come easy.

Getting used to new colleagues, new workloads and new work ethics, new dress code ... getting used to (once again) fending for myself when it comes to cooking and carrying out the house chores ... well, it is not easy.

But that is the beauty of life, and it's a life I recommend to all: Don't be afraid of trying new experiences.  Don't get comfortable in your routine.  Challenge your own abilities and people's perceptions of yourself.  It is only through overcoming such challenges that you'll know - and let others know - your worth.

Oh, and smile all the way through it!

The #fs6daily project

I'm back! Did you miss me?

Jeeeeeezus, I needed this two-week break from it all ... and I could very well do with some more time to myself before I get back to the same-old, same-old routine tomorrow morning.  Oh well ... you need a bit of both fun and humdrum to be sane, I suppose!

Anyway, a very quick post today:  This year I've decided to embark on a 'photo a day' project.  This is more daunting to me than to you, dear reader, I promise you.  One of the resolutions I made for myself this year is to be more creative; I'm hoping that through this project, I get to trigger my creativity and exercise it on a daily basis.  Trust me, it is more difficult than it sounds! I'm adding another challenge to myself on this project, since I'm planning to have all photos in monochrome, since this is one style of image editing which I really like but don't venture into much.  Below you'll find the first 5 images ... 360 to go!

 

To cut a long story short, if you want to follow my progress on this project, you can follow the hashtag #fs6daily on the following channels:

Instagram

Flickr

Twitter

Tumblr

Have you ever tried a daily photo project? Or are you trying one this year? Let me know in the comments section below!  xx

confession #000057

... or, "i have nothing to wear"

so i finally got myself one of the celine logo t-shirts that have been making the blogger rounds all through spring.  i know, i know summer is just round the corner - at least according to the calendar - but who could blame me thinking it is still early spring when i keep finding rain, strong wind, and why not, the occasional thunderstorm wherever i go?

i bought my celine t-shirt from here and it arrived in the post while i was away.  i was obviously super-thrilled to find it in the post and add it to the london-budapest-malta haul brought back in my overweight luggage! and today, i finally get to wear it.  if i figure out what i'm going to wear it with, that is.  i have this tendency of waking up with an obsession to wear a particular item and then spend hours in front of my wardrobe trying to figure out how i'm going to style that item.  today is one of those days.

to help me in the process, i'm scouring lookbook.nu to see how other fashionistas are styling their own celine tee and playing around on polyvore.  which one of the sets in the slideshow would you go for? le me know in the comments section below!

5 ways of wearing a celine t-shirt by tikkamars on polyvore.com

confession #000054

... or, david bowie is in my head

if you've been following closely enough, you'll know that last week i went for a quick break to london. initially, the aim was to go catch up with some close friends and visit the roy lichtenstein retrospective at the tate modern.  as an afterthought, i figured i should try my luck with visiting the david bowie is exhibition at the victoria and albert museum as well.  tickets online have long been sold out for this so i didn't know whether i would actually manage to go in.  i'm delighted to report that the stars aligned in my favour.

Read more »

confession #000041

...or, size matters

or, to avoid any misunderstandings, let's call it 'matters of size'.  

you may remember my post from a few weeks ago about making the most of fashion when you're 5' tall or thereabouts.   i've often also complained about my rather rotund figure, which, being short, makes me feel even more corpulent.  somehow the willpower and stamina to stick to my diet or an exercise regime are nowhere to be found.  my commitment levels are somewhat taken up by what i feel are more important things such as my relationship with my loved ones, my work and having as good a life as possible.  

so it came as a very nice surprise when this morning, forgetting that it is actually a public holiday both back home in malta and here in poland, i came across this article on the dailymail (there's only so-much intense reading you can do before your first coffee) about h&m's latest swimwear campaign.  i'm not referring to h&m's campaign featuring a smouldering beyonce knowles, who herself is beautifully curvaceous.  

the ad campaign i'm referring to is actually for h&m+'s range, which caters for, well, the more endowed.  i love how beautifully healthy model jennie runk looks, as well as h&m's tact by actually playing down the fact the range is for 'the bigger girls'.

my favourite quote of the whole article is where jennie runk states:

'So much of advertising and fashion portrays only one kind of body, and that's super tall and super skinny. I think not only should there be more plus-sized models in fashion, there should also be more petite, pregnant, ethnic, etc. 'I think ever woman should be represented equally -- we're all beautiful in our own ways!'

and heck, yes, so it should be! when you're stuck in a 4'11'' body, with a pot belly that won't shift and way too much junk in the trunk for your height, you yearn for a stylish inspirational figure.  i'll admit to finding solace in images of kourtney kardashian, who's a few months older than me and actually just a couple of centimetres taller than me ... and who, after two pregnancies, is looking better than ever.  but then again, her gym routine is probably part of her public life unlike mine! 

there, i had my morning rant.  now off i go to make the most of this public holiday! toodles xx

confession #000037

... or, the retro star i'll never be

and it's thursday again, and a trip down memory lane won't go amiss.  during my lunchbreak, i quickly concocted a set on polyvore to enter a chiara fashion contest (go ahead log in, and vote!) and when i finished i realised that my set was pretty rockabilly ... i could almost see rizzo from grease wearing it!

i don't usually go for a rockabilly style or anything which exposes my *cough* curvaceous figure.  despite loving the look, i have never ventured further than a lush red lip and flicked black eyeliner.  high-waisted midi pencil skirts are the stuff my nightmares are made of. 

it's not that i don't like retro fashion.  far from it actually.  i yearn for the elegance of the 40s, 50s and 60s, when women were not fully dressed unless they wore a hat and men wore sharp suits and slicked, quiffed hair.  possibly the fact that season 6 of mad men has just started has something to do with this ... even though the season is now set in the late 60s / early 70s (i'm always so blown away by just how accurate every style - fashion or home design - is reproduced!) john hamm as don draper gets my blood boiling in so many different ways!  i've been so devoted to the series in the past year that i had even created some polyvore sets inspired by the characters of joan harris, peggy olson and betty francis.  megan draper had not featured as yet back then!

john hamm ... you make my blood boil

flash back to the roaring 20s and my recent reading of the great gatsby (which when i was young, i was told was an adult read ... hardly!) and the countdown to the film's release in a few weeks brings about a different type of yearning - a yearning for glamour and glitz and all that jazz.  those exquisitely beaded and fringed, dropped waist flapper dresses and bob haircuts, best worn on boyish, narrow-hipped, small-busted figures! oh, if only! as free as those dresses appeared in comparison to their edwardian predecessors, the under garments at the time restricted the body from showing the natural curves in preference of a rectangular shape.

1920s underwear ad

all this being said, and being, as is well known to this blog's followers and friends, rather shapely; and being somewhat averse to suiting as my colleagues will vouch for, i find myself terribly drawn to the 70s fashion where long, flowing kaftans were de rigeur and worn for any occasion whatsoever.  a very recent purchase (i know, i broke my promise but how could i possibly resist?!) was a paisley maxi dress from zara which i'm styling in the polyvore set below.  logically, some 5 or 6 inches had to be cut from the hem to fit my petite figure, but luckily none of the pattern was lost. i can't wait to wear it at the weekend while i'm strolling around wadowice either before or after the wedding we're going to.  flat shoes will definitely be needed before / after a long night in heels ... or why not go barefoot for the full hippy look? well, that all depends on the weather.  here's to hoping it'll still be nice and sunny as it was today!

hippy does it by tikkamars featuring ballet flats

confession #000034

...or, my other passion

i've often written about my two main passions in life: fashion and dieting.  this blog was actually triggered by the latter and evolved to incorporate the former as well.  but i don't write much about one other passion that i have inherited: art.  

with my dad being a truly talented artist, venturing in various art media and forms, continually developing his style, i couldn't help but grow up in an environment where art is as vital as the air that one breathes.  as a little child, i recall visiting museums with my dad and learning - willingly or otherwise - about the great renaissance artists, their unique styles, and the various movements that have patterned the history of art to date.  i don't think i have inherited his talent, even though i do try and i have taken a few lessons here and there.  if the talent is there, i have neglected nurturing it.  but i have certainly not neglected my interest in the subject.  

so much so, that just a few weeks ago, i bought myself a flight to london with the primary intention of visiting the roy liechtenstein retrospective currently exhibited at the tate modern.  i had never done this before - and it was an exhilarating feeling clicking 'buy now' on the airline website, knowing that in a few weeks i'll be looking at one of my favourites.  i am edging to experience again the thrill, to feel my eyes welling up in the same way they did when i visited leonardo's lady with the ermine at wawel castle last october, or when i saw warhol's marilyn monroe in january.

just about to tear up before the lady ...

oh, marilyn

i guess, this is where my dad and i differ.  he appreciates my excitement at seeing a warhol, liechtenstein, rothko, kahlo and so on, because he experiences it every time he sees a da vinci, raphael, titian or preti.  but he can't quite classify them in the same category of artists with a capital, bold 'a' as he does the more classic or traditional ones.  it's a matter of taste really, and the more varied the taste, the more heated and enjoyable our discussions about classic vs modern art are.  

lastly, i must mention that this post is inspired both by the realisation that i don't mention my dad enough in this blog, as well as by messy nessy's post on an exhibition revealing frida kahlo's wardrobe.  oh what i wouldn't give to visit this exhibition! had it been anywhere in europe i'd probably already be on skyscanner checking out the cheapest flights ... but mexico? i think i have to restrain myself on that.

(for those who understand italian) this is what my dad and i sound like discussing modern art ...