i live by the river

Yesterday the sunshine made a reappearance and mid afternoon I decided to dash out and take some pictures before daylight savings time plunged us into darkness prematurely. I chose to return to the tiny beach in Wapping that I discovered with a friend a few weeks ago, (seen in this post). The sunset was just as beautiful as the last time!

I've been living in some variation of this outfit all week. I'm not normally one for jeans, or pants at all, but since the life-saving, frostbite-preventing arrival of this alpaca sweater (all the way from Ashley in Southern California!) I've been embracing my inner grandpa. Even my lacey crocheted collar is looking distinctly tie-like here!



















Outfit:
alpaca cardigan: Three Feathers Vintage
cambric shirt: Pure by Alfred Sung
crocheted tie: random piece of fabric
jeans: Winners
shoes: Steve Madden via ebay
unkempt hair: courtesy of the ridiculous wind tunnels in the underground

Title from The Clash song, naturally.

Flashback! Oaxaca 2009

This Halloween, I went as the Grinch. That is to say, I cancelled my party-appearance in the name of getting some work done, and unrepentantly watched Mad Men instead (I'm just starting Season 4 and if anyone tells me anything that happens I'll....); ) At the end of the day, I just don't like Halloween that much.

But as I made pretty clear all of last week, I do like the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, very much indeed. The two-day event of music, colour, food, and celebrating the memories of loved ones really strikes a chord with me. So I thought I'd share a few of the pictures I took of the festivities last year. My boyfriend and I drove to Oaxaca in our hilarious red beetle, which adds an hour onto every journey, and stayed for a few days soaking of the sights and the sounds (including the sounds of lots of American tourists... Oaxaca has been DISCOVERED). But anyway, it's a beautiful city and the celebrations were truly enthralling. Enjoy!






A sand sculpture of the cathedral mirrors the actual cathedral in the main square.


dancing and music in the streets


and costumes!


lots of souvenirs


I am run down by a ghostly horseman. ; )


we journey to the cemetery with the rest of the town




even in death there is competition for the best grave!




a musical procession through town


even skeletons like tacos!

Oh, and for an authentic Mexican take on Day of the Dead, everyone should check out Ana's blog Coffee Break. She's been doing lots of posts on the subject, and her blog is also good for beautiful pictures of Guadalajara!

cozy evening in

I've been in half a mind about whether to post these photos or not. On the one hand, they were taken in low light, and are accordingly slightly fuzzy. On the other, I love the mood, which perfectly captures some early evenings in my little room. I actually took two sets of pictures, one set with flash and one without. But by the time I'd finished grubby-ing up the flash pictures enough to recreate the low-light atmosphere, they were almost as fuzzy as the originals...

I'm interested to know what you all think: are they too fuzzy to post, or does it not bother you? And does anyone have any tips on low-light photography (keeping in mind that I don't have a DSLR or anything like that). I suppose an intermediary solution would be to buy more little lamps. Or just organize my time better and shoot during daylight hours!





Moving on, I'll just spare some love for the tartan lumberjack shirt. I nearly got rid of this years ago, and my mother wisely saved it from the chopping block. It's a proper man's lumberjack shirt, given to my mother many years ago by a friend of my grandfather's. It's pure wool and about the coziest thing ever. I've been living in it, though I've given it a bit of a break since one of my flatmates commented that it and my plaid pyjamas were a headache-causing combination!








Outfit:
shirt: old, hand-me-down
belt: Spitalfields market
skirt: Urban Outfitter's (stolen from my sister)

imaginary costume party

Art print, available here.

So it seems I am invited to a Halloween party, which, damn it, means finding a costume. I'm thinking of wearing this gingham dress and going as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Although I still don't have any ruby slippers!

Meanwhile, I'm entertaining myself by planning an imaginary Day of the Dead themed party, and the outfit for it...


Silk satin and silk organza sugar skull dress, available here.


Calavera mary janes or a Til Death do us Part ring, anyone?


I think this elegantly ghoulish carry-bag should keep my vanity in check for the evening. Available here.

And you better believe I would decorate with these guys!

alas poor yorick

For what reason do we audit classes, but to skip them at our leisure? This is my way of saying that Interdisciplinary Approaches to Global Migration isn't happening tomorrow morning at 9 am. Especially not after homemade cannelloni and a few bottles of wine as a housewarming/thank you for having me dinner with the girls I spend two weeks with at the beginning of my time in London. Good times, but my head is too fuzzy for ethnological approaches to anything now...

So instead, I'm just going to mention that later this week is one of my favourite holidays--and no, I don't mean Halloween! Actually, I kind of dislike Halloween, since I find cobbling together a costume quite difficult from a traveller's point of view. One of my favourite holidays is instead, the day after, the Mexican festival of Day of the Dead.



I love Day of the Dead because it is many things. It's colourful and musical and energetic, involving dressing in costumes and dancing around town and drinking hot chocolate, and it's also reflective and commemorative in a happy way. People in Mexico make shrines in memory of the dead, often including photographs, sugar skulls, the ubiquitous purple and orange flowers, and any items that could be considered to represent the loved one. When I asked one of my students last year about the day itself she replied, "Well, my mother likes to go visit her parents in the cemetary," and I generally found the whole attitude, the acceptance of death and the celebration of memory, to be a refreshing change from our Western culture of pretending unpleasantness doesn't exist, and sanitizing everything. Plus, just to be shallow again for a moment, the decorations can be exceptional!

Here's a makeshift shrine with many typical elements I managed to get together last year, when we were living in Puebla:


We went to a very typical place to celebrate the day itself, but more on that later! I've got to go read about global migration, or not...

changing room lurkings

I don't know if anyone else has been sighing over the dresses from smallish label tba to the same extent that I have. Until recently, it was internet lusting only, but I remembered that the UK Urban Outfitters stocked a selection, and made a point to pass by one last week. Since I had my camera, and since it's likely the closest I'll ever be to those dresses, I thought I'd give you a "publicity vs. reality" tour. Oh, and I know the photos are not up to my usual standard, etc. etc, but I was in a changing room after all!

The three guinea pigs:


First up, the white silk dress:

I have to say, I was actually not impressed at all by this dress in person, definitely not to the tune of £180... It says it's 100% silk but certainly didn't feel like it, and overall was strangely stiff and had a shape of it's own, which didn't have much to do with my shape. And it was just so peculiarly large and poofy. I like things that are "doll-like" in theory, but there's a difference between doll-like and looking like a doll. I could imagine being sent away from the Christmas dinner table to stand in the corner in this dress. Most odd.

The pom-pom dress:




This dress was a whole other story. I wasn't expecting to particularly like it, but I just loved it. The skirt is heavy black velvet that rises and falls in an inky wave when you spin, and the top (though clearly a bit sheer) was a nice colour that didn't wash me out, as neutrals often will.

The blue velvet dress:




Sighhhhhh. I'm really in a velvety mood this year (I think I've always loved velvet, but there hasn't been any nice velvet to be had since about the 90s...) This dress was a dream, heavy yet bouncy, gorgeously collared. It even comes in burnt orange on Asos... And there was masses of fabric:


Both the pom pom and the blue velvet dress had me doing mental arithmetic to the tune of, "if I don't eat for say, a month..."

However, I've been saved from such drastic measures. Just this afternoon arrived a lovely vintage 1960s black velvet dress, which I ordered on Etsy before I left Mexico and have been waiting for an address to send for it. And the best part? It was only $33... : ) Good things come to those who search!

how green was my valley

It would be pretty difficult to exaggerate how few autumn and winter clothes I have at the moment. Coming straight from Mexico, I have a lovely collection of summer dresses and blouses, and every morning is an exercise in how to winterize them... and exercise that is not helped by also having only three cardigans and two pairs of tights. Charity shops, here I come! The charity shops can be really good in the UK, I already scored this cozy green Angora sweater for £5...





Right, so I'm not exactly "on location" in these shots as you've come to expect seeing me. Not that London is in any way short of locations, but time is short and tripods are annoying to carry around, and I'm fairly sure most of my friends here wouldn't understand. So here you have my back garden!

Not to despair though! No outfit exists in a vacuum, and here are some shots from the day I wore this particular get-up:

A friend and I walked to the Thames, on one of these beautiful afternoons that London has been having


We found a tiny beach, with access from an ancient set of stone steps


skipped some stones with pretty dismal success


and enjoyed the sunshine. And then got a bit lost going home and ended up wandering up and down the canal in the pitch black! (Not pictured)


On another note, it may be sunny these days but it's absolutely freeeeezing. Here's hoping I find the perfect winter coat this weekend! And that you all have a good one!

Outfit:
blouse: Desigual
sweater: charity shop
jacket: my sister's donated/borrowed
skirt: Urban Outfitters (I think that was my sister's too actually); )
shoes: Victoria