The 15 minute rainbow post

Right.  I have just about 15 minutes to write this post before I head off to get ready for the Patti Smith concert we're so lucky to have in Malta tonight.

Heading back home I came across a woman dressed - immaculately - from head to toe in blue.  I know, that this is not necessarily the most daring of colours, but the way the shades of blue were put together, with a patterned scarf to create an accent, inspired me to write a quick post about head to toe block colour.  It's more of a question / challenge to you, my dear readers:  have you ever sported / would you dare sporting a head to toe solid colour?  Please don't speak to me about all black / grey / blue outfits! I've had my own love affair with all over grey in autumn (read here).  I'm talking rainbow colours here: the whole ROYGBIV range! Let me know - and if you have any outfit posts of the sort, link them in the comments section below :)

Check out these pins and the rest of the board here for some inspiration!

Trend post: Clutch Bags

There are way too many times when my bag doubles up as Mary Poppins' holdall. Whatever you ask me for, the likelihood is that you find it in my bag. But both for reasons of health (I can't possibly keep carrying such weight on my shoulder / elbow on a daily basis) and to satisfy my voracious appetite to be on trend, I want to convert to clutch bags.

I don't think I'll go as far as opting for the micro clutches where I wouldn't even be able to fit my keys and mobiles (I hate the fact I have 2 but that's life at the moment!). Luckily there are some gorgeous oversized clutch bags which I believe can satisfy my fashion obsession and carry all my daily 'necessities' around, whether I'm heading to the office, market or to my favourite watering hole.

Clutch bags seem to have, for a time until recently, existed only in the realm of occasion-wear, to be taken out only for a wedding or a smart occasion when, really and truly, one wouldn't need to carry much stuff around with them in any case.  But nowadays, wearing a clutch with a pair of converse trainers for the morning errands is very much the thing to do, and I for one, am pretty keen on giving such look a go. Actually, and as is probably evident from these pins and my Pinterest board here, I quite love how such formerly more formal bags are paired with more laid back outfits.

Shop the trend with Shopcade: 

I feel I'm already on the right track on this: the last two purchases in this department, both courtesy of gift vouchers from people close to my heart, were in fact clutch bags.  It's a matter of actually using them now.  Maybe I'll give the smaller one from Parfois (similar to this, but plain) a test run this beautiful Sunday morning ... and try the other, larger one from Asos (which is this) for the office one of these days.  Have you ever worn a clutch bag to work? Let me know how practical or otherwise that was in the comments section below xx

the caped crusader

You may remember my writing about my aversion for royal / cobalt blue and how I decided to take the plunge nonetheless and get myself an ASOS cape coat in that colour right? I wrote about it here come on!

Anyway, as I said in my recent post, this cape coat came to meet me on my vacation in Krakow a few days ago and I swear I wore it almost every single day! The weather, especially during Christmas week, was that perfect combination of sun and chill which made it just ideal for this cape coat.  A few layers underneath were definitely required, but since the coat has such a distinctive look, I had no problem giving it centre stage.

My first go-to colour combination for this coat was just as I featured in my previous post where I matched it on Polyvore with monochromes and a touch of mustard.  My plum coloured gloves from H&M gave the look that little extra warmth in all senses.  If you like the look, please click on the 'Hype' button at the bottom of the post!

What I wore (links where available for ease of purchase.  You're welcome.): 

Cape coat: Asos

Knit Jacket, Scarf, Studded Biker Boots: Zara

Leather & Ponte leggings, Gloves: H&M (both winter 2012/3)

Embroidered Bag: Parfois (summer 2013)

'Bad Hair Day' Beanie: Local Heroes

street style round up: #LFW & #MFW

As you may recall, a few days ago I blogged about the New York Fashion Week street style which you can read about here.

With all that's been going on in the last days, London Fashion Week as well as Milan Fashion Week caught up with me and I've only now had some time to actually go through all that's been happening. Shame on me!

By far my personal highlight of the three Fashion Weeks so far have been the Mary Katrantzou and Orla Kiely presentations ... but then again, I'm kind of biased as these are two of my favourite designers nonetheless!  I would kill for one of the bejewelled, somewhat 60s inspired Katrantzou dresses for a night with my Mister.  And oh, what I would give to work in an environment open to the beret and knee-high sock combination presented at the Kiely show! Oh well ...

But as I mentioned last time, I tend to look more at what's happening on the streets just outside the runways for real inspiration.  And the streets didn't fail to impress this time round either.  Here's what I pinned for both #LFW and #MFW ... were there any other inspirational styles that took your fancy?!

without music, life would be a mistake (nietzsche)

this week sees one of my dreams come true, at least partially.  i'm finally going to experience what it's like to be at a proper music festival.  well, the coke live festival here in krakow might not be as big as coachella, glastonbury or rock werchter, but it sure is going to satisfy my craving for seeing some of my favourite bands playing live.

with festivals becoming such huge events, even fashion wise, it is pretty obvious that little miss paranoia here has been planning her festival wardrobe months in advance.

tonight i get a sort of 'test-run' in dressing appropriately for a music event.  do not ask me how i am hours away from attending a gig by french metal band gojira tonight: the things you do for love are inexplicable to say the least.  but at least, tonight's gig will give me some practice.  black will have to be the main colour here, and comfort an absolute priority - handling a moshpit in heels is not advisable.  so i'm planning on wearing a t-shirt dress and my studded converse or wedge trainers.  i shouldn't go wrong with that, should i? metal heads may not be as fond of inverted triangles as hipsters, but i'm afraid that's as far as i can go in metalling myself up!

gojira by tikkamars featuring a motorcycle jacket

on to the weekend, and my personal musical highlight of the year: the coke live festival with biffy clyro, franz ferdinand and florence and the machine headlining the main stage over two days.  after meticulously studying every single instagram or feature from the festivals already done and dusted this summer, i'm planning a relatively easy wardrobe which can take a fair amount of elbowing to the front row and the apparently obligatory rainfall. oh, and of course, i will finally have the chance to flaunt my flower garland without getting any odd looks.

biffy + franz by tikkamars featuring river island

florence by tikkamars featuring head wrap headbands

what do you think of the two outfits above? any tips or experiences you care to share on festival wear? i'd love to hear 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 #000056

today i just want to pay tribute to the women who inspire me in terms of personal style and fashion.  most of them are what would qualify as petite, i.e. below the 1.67m mark.  and as a petite woman myself (standing at a mere 1.48m - yes, not even 1.5m!), it is quite logical that i should look at how these beauties are gracing the latest trends, and working them to make the most of their more diminutive shape.

so, without any further ado, here goes my list of personal style muses:

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confession #000051

... or,  idle hands are the devil's workshop

ok, maybe not quite. but this morning i actually caught up with something that had been on my to-do list for over a year: customising my trusty converse hi-top chucks with some studs. and i'm so chuffed i did it, i had to blog about it!

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