Havana Affair

This is the last summer outfit of 2012. I know it’s funny to post a summer outfit in November, but I’m a busy person – finding time to write these loooong posts is not that easy for me, OK? LOL

I wore this outfit back in September. I was going to watch The Expendables 2, so I wanted to wear something that could somehow relate to the theme of the movie while still being suitable for the hot Spanish summer.

At that point, I knew my choices were rather limited. I had already worn the most of my hippie skirts and blouses and, of course, I didn’t want to repeat myself, so I started thinking: how can I put up a light summer outfit without using the themes I’ve already used?

I wanted to create a hippie look starting from something I had never used in that context before, and my brand new (at that time it was brand new LOL) khaki shirt was right there, in front of me, so I decided I could try combining it with this patchwork hippie skirt from Natura. Of course, the shirt had to be adapted a bit so it would fit in with the skirt, so I rolled the sleeves up and tied the bottom in a knot, instantly turning my proto-outfit into a tropical look.

I loved the fact that the colours and patterns of both pieces weren’t an obvious match – it made the whole thing feel more D-I-Y, like an outfit that’s been put up in the middle of the jungle with very limited resources… which was exactly what I wanted to get :P

Once the basics were in place, the time came to give the look some new dimension: it was going to be tropical, yes, but it needed a twist to make it more interesting.

I kept thinking about my Commando outfit. I wanted to add a guerrilla touch to this one too, as a reference to the fact that I was going to see a true badass movie (LOL), just like I did when I went to see The Expendables 1 (I wore a Sarah Connor kind of look back then :P), so I grabbed my camo scarf – which I didn’t have back in the time of my Commando look, BTW –. The problem was I didn’t really know how to wear it…

I tried to just tie it around my forehead like a bandana – Rambo style LOL –, but it was way too long and it really looked awful, so I had to come up with something else. After trying to put it on in every possible way, I finally had a strike of inspiration: why not turning it into a turban? I though it was a great idea. The only problem was I had no clue how to do it.

I searched for help in the internet and, after a while, I found a nice tutorial that explained it all quite well (link here). However, the tutorial clearly stated you have to use a SQUARE scarf… and mine couldn’t be further from that LOL I really messed up my hair trying to fit it in, but, after like fifteen minutes I managed to get a decent turban done. I was impressed.

I though about adding some plastic flowers to my turban, in order to give it some extra tropical appeal – I had in mind that headpiece Rihanna wore in the S&M video –… however I dropped the idea rather quickly. I didn’t really have the means to do that, and it would have strayed too much from the original theme of the outfit anyway, so I thought I’d just leave that idea for some other time…

The turban also adds a fancy 1920s touch to the outfit. I didn’t expect that, but it certainly looks great on pictures :P

 

Stepping out in the street wearing a turban was certainly a curious experience. I had never done that before. Technically, it’s not so different from wearing a hat or a cap, but you can’t help that feeling of having your head bandaged (LOL). I was afraid it would start to come undone at any moment, but it actually didn’t, so, eventually, I decided I was just not going to think about it until I got back home. It worked.

And it certainly turned a few heads ;)

Oh, and the movie was totally awesome, BTW. The first one was good as an introduction, but if you’re an action film dinosaur like me, The Expendables 2 is the real thing. Imagine: Chuck Norris telling a Chuck Norris joke; Arnold Schwarzenegger ACTING again (<3); Jean Claude Van Damme playing the bad guy (!); Jason Statham – do I really have to say anything else? LOL –, and there’s Stallone, and Dolph Lundgren, and Bruce Willis, and some other guys I can’t even remember… there’s SO many of them! LOL The audience spontaneously burst into applause at the end, so you can imagine just HOW amazing and hilarious it was.

Shirt: MNG

Skirt: Natura

Sandals: You Too
Scarf: Armand Basi

Necklaces: unknown

Bracelets: Natura

Bag: MNG

Shopping #7: “There’s a hole in my T-shirt”

I got this ripped T-shirt from Mango a few weeks ago. I immediately fell in love with it because… well, because I can’t see a T-shirt with holes anymore without thinking about Tom Kaulitz’s iconic “there’s a hole in my T-shirt” moment. You’ll probably have no idea what I’m talking about, so I’ll try to explain it a bit:

It all happened during the VMAJ red carpet interview in 2011 (you can watch the video here). Bill was wearing an amazing Gareth Pugh outfit, and the other boys in the band started joking, saying that they were wearing second-hand clothes. In that moment, Tom pointed at a tiny hole in his T-shirt and said: “there’s a hole in my T-shirt”… and it seems like they’ve been trying to turn that into a fashion trend ever since (LOL).

 

 

In fact, Bill had already worn a super cool T-shirt with holes before (the same colour as mine, BTW), but it was actually his brother who brought this concept to a brand new level during the last year.

 

Obviously, I had all that in my head when I decided to put on this T-shirt for the first time. The problem was I couldn’t find an outfit for it, so, after spending a few hours trying to figure out what to do, I had to leave it unused x__x

However, I hope that these new purchases will change that for good!

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Mango acid washed jeans. These two pairs of jeans heavily remind me of Bill’s favourite pants (LOL). He’s been wearing them a lot during the last two years, and, of course, I absolutely love them!

  

Acid wash denim has also been a big trend in Harajuku this year! (See this Tokyo Fashion report for more information on the subject) :P

  

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Mango stone washed jeans. Another cool pair of worn-down-looking jeans.

Mango golden jeans. As you can see, I got myself another pair of golden jeans, one size smaller than the one I already have. They were cheap as hell, and you never know! It won’t hurt me to have golden jeans to spare :D

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Mango khaki shirt. This shirt matches my ripped T-shirt perfectly! I’ve already used it for an outfit, but that will stay a secret until my next outfit post… ;)

Something tells me I'm going to embrace my grunge side this autumn...

Mediterranean Madness

As soon as the thermometer hits 30 degrees, I switch straight to hippie mode. Suddenly, all my trousers, T-shirts and shoes become too heavy, and the only things I can wear are sandals, hippie skirts and Indian silk blouses from Natura. When summer comes around, I stop caring about looking like an edgy rock star (which, of course, is what I am LOL) and just get teleported back to the 60s – a time when it was OK for edgy rock stars to look like this :P

My biggest problem in summer is that, when the weather gets this hot, I feel like I don’t want to wear any clothes at all. I just want to stay at home in my pyjama shorts and my Jonas Brothers tank top (I truly wear that when I’m at home and no one sees me LOL), pretending the outside world doesn’t exist until autumn comes back to rescue me.

This is exactly what happened this time.

I was feeling terribly uninspired and frustrated. I tried on every piece of summer clothing I had, but nothing seemed to click. You already know how I am with outfits: I can’t just put on a couple of things that look good together and go out – I need to feel that special something that reflects the way I see myself right now… and that can turn the process of dressing up into a really exasperating task sometimes. It was already getting late and all my attempts at finding some new, groundbreaking combination seemed to fail, so I chose to reinvent one of my old outfits instead.

I had only worn this particular outfit once before, and I felt that I could give it another chance. I kept the Indian skirt and the silk blouse, but decided to change the shoes and the accessories. Originally, I wore this outfit with espardille wedges and a straw hat, but I wanted to switch this country approach for something more hippie; so the first thing I did was replacing the espardilles for my beautiful jewelled sandals (you might remember them from my last outfit). I think I love them more and more every day! (LOL)

It’s funny how this emergency purchase turned out to be one of my greatest acquisitions for this season. Sometimes the best things in life come to us in totally unexpected ways! :P

Once I had the basics, it was time to go for the accessories. I still didn’t know what the theme of the outfit was going to be, so I started to randomly browse through my drawers to see what I could find. I came across my giant wooden cross necklace (maybe you remember it from this post), and decided that the time might have come to take it out for a walk.

Of course, it worked perfectly.

This beautiful beaded vintage cross necklace was next, and it turned out to be a real game changer. It instantly reminded me of Dolce & Gabbana’s A/W 12-13 collection, and, all of a sudden, the whole look made sense in my head: it was going to be a D&G-inspired Mediterranean outfit, which, in my twisted mind could only mean one thing: “get more rosaries on”.

[Oh, God… don’t look at my hangover face! How can I get that without even drinking? LOL]

I immediately added my beautiful John XXIII rosary to the mix. It didn’t take me much time to know that this was the one: it’s one of my personal favourites because its beads have the colours of the Vatican flag, and I knew it would blend with the print of my silk blouse straight away! (LOL)

Once again, I completed the outfit with the black hippie backpack you saw in my previous outfit post. And this time I haven’t forgotten to take pics with it!

During the photoshoot, the sun was horrible, as usual, and the fact that I hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night didn’t help either. Luckily, a kind summer breeze was blowing, so I got hair all over my face the most of the time, preventing you from seeing the huge bags under my eyes (LOL).

[Doing stupid stuff is always required at some point in my photoshoots :P]

The good thing is that these circumstances made the torment expression in this pic much more believable. Don’t I look like I’ve just come out of a Romanesque fresco? LOL

PS. No Kaulitz inspiration this time either. And the rosaries don’t count – I was already collecting them when the twins were still singing Mein kleiner grüner Kaktus in kindergarten ;)

Blouse: Natura

Skirt: unknown

Sandals: You Too

Necklaces: vintage

Wooden cross necklace: LSD

Bracelet: Natura

Bag: Indigo

Liebster Blog Award

Okay – this is not the usual thing around here, but today I’m going to talk about me (LOL).

Around a month ago, I got tagged for the Liebster Blog Award by the lovely CrazyMai. It’s been only a little while since I started following her blog, so I was really happy and surprised when I saw she had chosen me for this, and, even though I don’t usually do this kind of things, I felt I had the moral obligation to post this, no matter how long it took^^

“But WTF are you talking about?” you must be saying to yourself. Let me explain it properly:

• The Liebster Blog Award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

• The Meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

The Rules:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.

2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer

3. Choose eleven people and link them in your post.

4. Go to their page and tell them.

5. Remember no tag backs!

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So, now you know what the whole thing is about, let’s go straight to the first step: saying 11 random things about me.

1. I was born in Novosibirsk, Russia, on February 1989 – which makes me a former citizen of the USSR :-)

[...this is not USSR but 2007 Berlin, though :P]

2. I got my name from the Metallica song Don’t Tread On Me, and I like it so much I rarely use my real name anymore :P

3. I listen to music ALL THE TIME. From the moment I wake up till the moment I go to bed, there’s always music playing around me, and I never get tired of it.

4. I sing along to songs a lot. If I know the melody and the lyrics of a song, I’m always going to sing it (unless I’m feeling particularly tired or I’m in a bad mood LOL). That drives some people crazy, but I can’t help it! Plus, singing is my job, so STFU ^^

5. I like listening to all sorts of music (even the music I hate – how do you know you hate it if you’ve never heard it?), but I’m basically an old-school rocker. Many of my favourite albums were recorded in the 70s and I still believe that there has never been a more creative period in rock history. However, most of the other old-school rockers stop talking to me as soon as they find out that I’m a Tokio Hotel fan, so I guess I’m too modern for the old-school, and too old-school for the modern :P

6. I LOVE Metallica’s St. Anger. Not only do I love it, but I also consider it one of the best recordings that have ever been made by anyone. That’s probably another reason why I don’t usually get along with my old-school rocker pals…

7. I did ballet for 13 years, and I developed a strong love/hate relationship with it. However, I’m still satisfied with the results I achieved during that time, and, even though I’ll never be anything close to professional, I can proudly say that I’m not terrible ;)

8. I quit school when I was 16 and the only thing I regret is not having done it earlier – it was illegal! LOL. Teachers and I never got along too well…

9. I have cats – SEVEN CATS –, so you can figure out I’m a huge cat lover… Freddie Mercury level (LOL).

10. I ‘m in love with Germany and all things German (I bet there must be a reason for that… LOL). I’ve been learning German for a couple of years now, all by myself, of course ;)

11. I’m an extremely nocturnal person. I go to bed VERY late (around 5 am, these days LOL) and wake up around what most of the people would consider “lunch time”. I just feel better when it’s dark outside. That’s why I love winter, with its short days and its loooong nights ^^

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Now it’s time for Mai’s questions!

1. If you could be someone else for one day (no matter who, in which time, etc.), who would you want to be and what would you do?

I think I would be Tom Kaulitz. I’d spend the whole day looking at myself in the mirror and taking pictures of my little brother, which I believe is very much what a normal day in his life is like (LOL). Oh, and of course I'd use the chance to find out some super secret stuff I’ve been dying to know for years…

2. Which country/city do you HAVE to visit one time in life?

JAPAN.

3. Do you think you're lucky with your life (family, friends, etc..)? And why?

I suppose I’m lucky in some aspects and not so lucky in others, but I don’t spend much time thinking about that, really. I think life is just what it is, and you have to try and get the best out of it :)

4. What is your favourite movie?

Terminator II: Judgement Day. Yeah, right, I bet you didn’t expect that LOL. Of course, there’s a big pile (well, maybe not SO big) of movies I really love, but this is the one that describes the way I’m feeling in this particular moment of my life better than any other. And, of course, it’s a BIG classic ^^

5. Why did you start blogging?

Because I saw other people blogging and I said to myself: “if they can do it, maybe I can do it too!” :P I liked the idea of having some kind of archive for my outfits (I used to do it on paper before LOL) and sharing my fashion concepts and the things that inspire me with whoever could be interested :)

6. What is your childhood hero?

Edward Scissorhands and Wednesday Addams (I guess that says a couple of things about my childhood LOL).

 

7. How would you describe your fashion style?

“Androgynous and juvenile with a really hard edge” ;)

8. What type of job would you like to have someday?

Musician, but I’m already doing that. I just don’t get paid for it LOL)^^

9. A song that makes you nostalgic?

Only one? Hmmm… The Future Is Now by The Offspring (from their brand new album Days Go By. Buy it now!*PROMO* *PROMO* LOL). And, of course, any song by Tokio Hotel :)

10. If you could dye your hair any colour(s), without having to worry about employability, hair damage, or what people would think of you, what would it be?

I don’t know… I’m so happy with my natural hair colour I’ve never really thought about any other. If I got bored one day, I think I’d just buy a bunch of wigs and wear them on special occasions … or I could go crazy and get dreads (LOL), but I wouldn’t change the colour :P

11. What do you think is your best feature?

My sense of humour and my larger than life personal charisma (LMFAO) B-)

You have to promote yourself ‘cause nobody else is gonna do it for you ;)

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And so I guess we’ve come to the last part. I don’t think I can find 11 people to tag, so I’m afraid I’m going to do a little bit of cheating here. If you read this and you have less than 200 followers, you have officially been tagged by me! (I don’t think more than 11 people will read this anyway…) LOL

And my questions for you are:

1. Is there anything you want for Christmas (or your next birthday – whatever is nearer), but you know you are not going to receive?

2. If you had to describe your life with a music video, what would it be like?

3. What makes you go CRAZY?

4. If you had a huge, indecent amount of money and had to choose one single thing to spend it on, what would it be?

5. Which was the first record you ever bought? …And the last?

6. Do you usually look for a meaning in your dreams, or do you just think they’re random?

7. What’s the best Halloween/Carnival/whatever costume you’ve had?

8. What were you doing before I interrupted you with my impertinent questions? :P

9. Would you like to change your life in any way? If the answer is yes, tell us how!

10. What’s your biggest talent?

11. Who’s your biggest style icon?

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Well, that’s all for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little distraction, and I promise I’ll be back soon with some new outfits… and golden jeans – lots of golden jeans –, that’s for sure! ^^