Indian Summer

…and the answer is: No – I can’t live without my golden jeans anymore, I tried! I swear I tried to create an outfit without using them… but when I got this deep red and gold caftan in my hands I just had no choice!

The good news is that, for the first time ever since I started this blog, I’m NOT wearing a hat. That’s already something, isn’t it? LOL

As you can see, this outfit is embarrassingly (just kidding :P) simple. Once I put on the golden jeans, I felt like the look was almost finished, which is something very, very rare for me and my usual “more is much, much more” premise.

However, this is just the way it happened this time, and I feel fine about it. This caftan is so jewelled I felt it didn’t need anything more, so I just completed the look with a bunch of bronzed bracelets.

The big problem, however, came when it was time to pick the shoes.

What kind of shoes can you wear with an India inspired outfit?

The answer might be quite obvious, right, but it wasn’t that simple for me…

As I already told you in my last post, there are certain parts of my body I prefer not to show, and this is always a problem when summer hits the town, because I suddenly run out of presentable shoes.

I struggled with my (stupid?) moral (=aesthetic) dilemma for a while, until I convinced myself that sandals were the only possible solution. Right in that moment, I had some sort of mystical flashback: I suddenly remembered a pair of Pakistani sisters that went to school with me for a little while (for some reason, they didn’t stay there for long). I pictured them wearing their beautifully embroidered deep red (at least, those are the ones that I remember – I bet they also had them in other colours LOL) shalwar kameezes, with long scarves around their shoulders and their shiny black hair tied up in a long thick braid that fell graciously down their backs. I probably have somewhat of a creative memory, but remembering them like that just made me smile.

So I said to myself: “If people in India and Pakistan can do it, maybe I can do it too!”

  

In the end, I chose a pair of beautiful red lacquered Japanese style sandals we had at home from back in the late 90s (ah, the golden days of oriental minimalism…). A dose of metallic red nail polish did the rest.

[You can catsch a glimpse of the red sandals in this old pic from 2000. Obviously, I’m not the one wearing them – I was still a kid –, but you can see some of my genes in there LOL

BTW, were those the matching trousers to my caftan? Because they look pretty compatible…]

[This 1997 photoshoot perfectly reflects the spirit of the time]

With that and my black hippie sack on my shoulder I was ready to go.

[Yeah - I forgot to take pics with my bag, so I had to improvise LOL]

However, the gods of fashion (LOL) didn’t want to make things that easy for me.

I was just about to catch a train when I started to feel like the ground was too soft under me. I had already been through a similar situation before, so I immediately checked out the soles of my sandals, and saw that, just as I had suspected, the (expensive) rubber they were made of was slowly disintegrating with every step I made.

HOLY SH***********T!!!!!

Of course, I had no choice but running to the nearest mall in search of something to replace them, even though I was already late for my appointment.

It took me more than an hour to find a pair of sandals I could consider acceptable. I had never, ever thought it could be THAT hard, but it definitively was. I checked out around four different stores, and all they offered were either gladiator sandals (God, I hate them SO much LOL), orthopedic-looking granny style sandals or just flip-flops that were no way suitable for street wear. I was SO desperate! It all felt like a nightmare x__x

I found these when I had already started my (hopeless) second round. I had doubts about them at first (they were a bit too open for my taste, and the ankle strap didn’t convince me much), but they certainly matched my outfit better than any others (even better than the ones I was wearing, I have to admit) and there was undoubtedly NOTHING more to choose from, so I grabbed them straight away.

Now that I see it in perspective, I think I was very lucky to find them. They are cool, and they look just perfect with this outfit! And the ironic thing is that, if it hadn’t been for my incident with my other pair, I would have never, ever got my hands upon them. That kind of things returns you to the thought that everything happens for a reason.

Or maybe not?

[As you  can see, I was having a hard time dealing with the afternoon sun during this photoshoot LOL]

PS. Haven’t you noticed anything strange in this post? That’s right – I didn’t get ANY inspiration from Bill or Tom Kaulitz for this outfit! (LOL). Should I get scared already?

Caftan: unknown

Jeans: MNG

Sandals: You Too

Bracelets: unknown

Bag: Indigo

Gold Fever

Style magazines always say that if you’re going to try the cowboy/Navajo trend you should only use a couple of pieces, so you don’t end up looking like you’re wearing a Halloween costume. If you share this belief, I strongly encourage you to stop reading right here… unless you want to have a stroke (LOL).

But, come on – you already know me! First of all, I never use the word trends – I prefer to call them themes, and the cowboy theme is one of my all-time favourites (this is kind of turning into a cowboy-themed blog already LOL). And second: I must have said this like a thousand times already, but for me fashion is about commitment. If I’m wearing a cowboy-themed outfit, I don’t mind looking like I’ve just run away from a Cyrus family reunion (LOL), as long as the look’s integrity is preserved ^^

So, no more excuses!

I started this outfit with my beige fringed T-shirt from Bershka (there’s a chance you might remember it from one of my shopping posts). I didn’t have that much time to plan this outfit, so my initial idea was to create an adaptation of my winter cowboy outfit. I wanted to combine the T-shirt with a pair of white jeans, my classic cowboy hat (in case you’re wondering: yes – I sleep with it on LOL) and a couple of cool necklaces, very much like I did in winter.

It surprises me when I realize how I’ve grown to love off-the-shoulder T-shirts in the last couple of years. I didn’t really have anything against them before, but you know my dress code is quite UAE-friendly, when it comes down to my skin-showing policy (LOL), so I just didn’t like the idea very much. It’s not that I hate my body or anything like that, but I just believe that clothes were invented for a reason.

However, when Bill Kaulitz (who else could it be?) started wearing off-the-shoulder T-shirts and sweaters in late 2010 (that brief period before he fully embraced the homeless/trucker aesthetic in 2011 LOL) he made me change my mind in some aspects (he has the ability to do that every once in a while). One more time, I said to myself: “If he can do it, maybe I can do it too!”

…and the truth is I can! :D

The mix looked quite cool. However, I wasn’t that convinced about the white jeans. I felt like they clashed with the T-shirt too much. I decided to replace them for something in the brown/beige/earth colour range… and, of course, my brand new golden jeans were the first thing that came to my mind.

[I think you can consider you are obsessed with a piece of clothing from the moment you’ve used it twice in a row].

Once I was satisfied with the clothes, I went on with the task of picking the accessories, which basically consisted in putting on every necklace I found around the house (LOL). I’m especially happy about having found a use for my vintage wooden cross from Montserrat. It looks so cool in the context of this outfit (well – it always looks cool LOL)! I was positively surprised.

I also added a wooden bracelet to the mix, and I finished the look with my olive trainers (they were exactly the same colour as my nail polish!).

I was extremely happy with my cowboy overload! As I usually do, I grabbed a denim jacket in case it got cold at some point of the day, but I didn’t really get to use it.

The funny thing is there actually is something in this look that makes me think of Miley Cirus (LOL). I’m not a fan of Miley (or her choices in fashion), but I couldn’t help thinking about her and her dreamcatcher tattoo while I was putting this look together. There’s something very L.A. in the way the tribal jewellery interacts with the cowboy elements. I’m not a fan of L.A. either, but when summer comes to Spain, everything starts to feel a lot like California (LOL), so I’m not surprised all these images keep coming to my mind.

 

[Some of these pictures were actually taken in Barcelona, but I’m not telling you which LOL]

Oh, and guess what album I bought that day…

The music doesn’t have a lot to do with California (aside from the fact that some of it was recorded there), but the cover (an iconic photo by Anton Corbjin – who else? LOL) matches my agave plants perfectly :D

Now, the only question is: will I be able to put up an outfit without using my golden jeans and/or some of my cowboy hats any time in the near future? We’ll see…

T-shirt: Bershka

Jeans: MNG

Trainers: Alma en Pena

Cowboy hat: unknown

Necklaces: unknwon/CCC

Wooden cross: souvenir from Montserrat

Bracelet: unknown

Denim jacket: Bershka

Kawaii Roadie

This outfit was very simple and instinctive.

I started off with my Stonecutters T-shirt. If you’re a Simpsons geek, you will surely know what I’m talking about ;)

This super cool T-shirt was a Christmas gift from a friend. Getting to use it as part of an outfit was a real challenge for me, but in the end, it turned to be surprisingly easy.

As usually, I started looking for elements that could fit in with the T-shirt’s colour combination. The colour mix on this T-shirt is really potent: red and gold… just like the Soviet Union flag! LOL Of course, it took less than a second for my mind to come across the first matching element: my brand new golden jeans!

From all the positive comments you left on my last post, I guess these jeans are somewhat of a real big hit in here! :P

…and I’m not surprised. I have to admit they look awesome ^^

The red trainers came along just as easily.

However, not all was perfect in the happy land of red and gold. Even though I could have built the whole outfit just around those two colours, there was a tiny obstacle that made all the difference in the world for me: I had just painted my nails with a Born Villain metallic green nail polish… the natural opposite of red.

 

This unexpected contrast made me want to go for something slightly riskier… like some kind of wild colour blocking. I don’t have a lot of Born Villain (yup – I’m calling this colour like that from now on LOL) green – if any at all – in my wardrobe, so I had to improvise something… and, once again, the answer was right in front of me.

I had already noticed that the golden jeans and the checked vest made a really good match while I was taking the pics for my last post, so I just had to put it on and it was done!

I completed the look with my red leopard print cap (not an authentic Bill Kaulitz truck driver cap, but still…) and a black leather bracelet (it was a gift from my blogger friend Claudia, BTW)… and it was done!

I was really amazed at how quickly it all got right into place. It usually takes hours to get that perfect match that makes me feel something special… and here it all happened in a question of minutes! I still don’t know how I did it, but I really hope I can repeat it in the future! LOL

The result is quite funny. It’s not an exaggeratedly crazy outfit, but you can’t deny there’s a certain Harajuku kawaiiness to it! LOL

 

And, at the same time, I look like a tough guy from the road… with metallic green nail polish. I might be too flashy for the city of roadies… but I’m not too roadie for the city of kawaii! LOL

PS. I added this denim jacket later in the day for functional reasons, but it turned out to be a cool part of the outfit as well.

PS2. Excuse my facial expressions in these pics – the afternoon sun kept projecting weird shadows all over my face (LOL).

PS3. BUY Marilyn Manson’s Born Villain!! It’s worth it! :P

T-shirt: gift

Jeans: MNG

Trainers: Alley

Vest: MNG

Cap: MNG

Bracelet: gift