embroidery

Just dropping in quickly...I'm currently about to be in transit, exhausted from pounding the pavement all day, and can't think of much to say. I wore this outfit on an evening walk on a rare nice evening, which turned into an impromptu dinner of weißwurste, potato salad, and of course some German beer. What am I going to do without those things, and yoghurt ice cream?





Photos by Albert

tunic (as top): Desigual (gift), skirt: Spank (Vancouver boutique), headscarf: vintage, sandals: Urban Outfitters

bloody weather

Something about the combination of slim jeans and ballet flats makes me go a bit ballet... but I never took ballet; hence my somewhat Highland dancer hands...



I've actually been in Germany a few weeks now, holed up in the attic writing my thesis, which is doing my head in and moaning about the weather, which is really depressing. Despite the frequent cold, wind and rain, I've been going out daily for my yoghurt ice-cream. And yeah, life has really been so exciting that that's all I have to say. And welcome to the debut of my "Fall 2011" wardrobe, bah.

Oh, one more thing. The statue I'm larking around on in half these pictures is in Bonn downtown, and we're basically sure it's a Chillida. Chillida was a Basque sculptor whose work I just love. There are lots of them in Barcelona, and of course in the Basque Country (which I visited in 2008). Anyway, just in case anyone was curious.







P.S. Loving the Summer Stories submissions so far; keep them coming! See my last post for details on how to enter.

Photos by Albert

cardigan: car boot sale, jeans: Warehouse, breton top: Topshop, scarf: charity shop, shoes: Liz Claiborne

país tropical

This is my favourite dress that I hardly ever wear. It's honestly, a bit bright even for me, but I love pink and orange as a combination, and I find the shape really flattering. Given my tropical inspiration recently, I knew I wanted a setting with palm trees, so we went to Plaça Reial, a beautiful square in the middle of Barcelona that is unfortunately a complete tourist trap. The light was beautiful though. ; ) And this is also one of my favourite photo shoots ever!





Since my Summer Stories series has been quite popular and since there are so many more summer stories than I could properly feature, I thought it would be nice to throw it open a little bit (she says, shivering in freezing Germany--I just want to live vicariously!)

So, for anyone who'd like to participate:
1.Send me a photo you feel really captures your summer or represents something interesting this summer (doesn't have to be of you, or fashion related, though it can be) At least 600 pixels wide please.
2. Write one or two lines max explaining why it's important (optional)
3. Email the above to rubyslipperjourneys(at)gmail(dot)com, with a link to your blog if applicable.

I'll collect the submissions together and post them a few at a time, with a link back to you blog (if you have a blog; you don't need one to submit). Anybody up for that? I hope so!

I DON'T WANT: Overly shameless self-promotion, blurry pics of you and your boyfriend (we don't care) or anything, ANYTHING Lolita-themed. I am so disgusted by something I just saw used as "inspiration" this afternoon that I can only splutter at the moment.

Love, the Grinch. ; )





Photos by Albert

dress: Pure by Alfred Sung, Liz Claiborne shoes, vintage purse via Mom, old anklet.

P.S. This outfit is "so 2009" for me. That's when I bought the dress and shoes and wore them to every job interview imaginable, most of which were pretty random... I got taken to one by an retired Mexican wrestler who knew all the bigwigs in town, and in another the head of the Department of Employment tried to kiss me and said I should give him private English classes. Ew. Talk about summer stories!

tropical wonders

here


here and here

You may have noticed there's a bit of a palm tree motif to my last few outfit shoots (and one more to come, I might add) This is very deliberate. I'd say there's been two main themes this summer to my tumblr inspiration board: bucolic lakeside images that bring to mind my childhood summers in Ontario, and pictures of tropical locales with palm trees. We'll get back to the lakes in a few weeks, but for now, since it's apparently already winter in Northern Europe, I'm going to reminisce on the tropics. This is definitely not a part of my childhood, the first time I was in the tropics was a family trip to Cuba at the age of twenty (hooray to being a scrounging adult child)!

I recently read this post wondering about the new found popularity of flamingos, and in a fit of two-in-the-morning academic fervour, commented that I felt flamingos to be popular because they merged pink 1950s kitsch with a stylized Art Nouveau silhouette (I know, I know). But I think it's undeniable that there's a tacky and a classy way to see both flamingos and palm trees... they're ridiculous, they belong on Hawaiian shirts, but they also bring to mind the back-in-vogue joy of Carmen Miranda wearing a fruit basket on her head.

Okay, I'll get back to my thesis now (ugh). But here are some of my favourite recent tropical or tropical-esque photos.


here and here


here


here and here


here


here and here


here

P.S. My last tropical outfit post for a while should be coming either tonight or in the morning. : )

beach!

Complete lack of originality in that title, but I just got back from another weekend (definitely not at the beach, though extremely wet) and am pretty much asleep on my feet!

So, here I am at the Barcelona beach, which tends to be somewhat maligned by locals. They prefer taking trains up or down the coast to visit the beaches in small towns where there are far fewer tourists. I'm all for that as well (see this post) but I also think there's a lot to be said for being able to ride your bike to the beach in twenty minutes! I've included a few pictures from an earlier day, when there were all sorts of creative kite displays happening. Three men in identical black outfits were controlling those black kites, making them do flips and fly in formation, while the octopus was just chilling in the deep blue sky. I chilled in my fruit print (!!) dress, my only purchase from the sales (I'm incapable of resisting a good novelty print).

Welcome to all the new eyeballs around here, and please feel free to introduce yourselves. I'll try to get back to you all after a good night's sleep!





Photos by Albert

dress: Mango sales, Catalan espardenya shoes, Yorkshire Tea bag

P.S. I've been hearing those seasonable grumbles from bloggers to the effect of "I can't wait for fall so I can wear tights again." To which I say... you must be kidding... tights? Fall? I love Fall, but Summer is short enough as it is without wishing it away!

summer stories: guest post from Milk Teeths!

How to introduce Ashley? I'm sure most of you know her already...she's kind of our rising blogger star, isn't she? Suffice to say, I found this girls blog last July (right after I started and right after she started being a style blog) and I haven't missed a post since. Apart from her vintage-glam-one-day-and-über-casual-the-next style, which I enjoy, I also really love that she always looks to be having the best time doing the simplest things, and that so many of her posts are unapologetic "mega posts." A bit like this one. Basically, I like how she keeps it real. If you really haven't already, check out Milk Teeths, but first check out these awesome photos. Thanks again Ashley!













Outfit Details:
1970s sundress: thrifted
1980s white leather sandals: thrifted

Hey everyone! I'm Ashley and I blog over at MILK TEETHS. When Emily e-mailed me asking to be apart of her summer series I was beyond pumped. I've been reading Emily's blog since she started last year and the lady definitely delivers, not only does she have the sweetest style but she actually writes posts filled with thoughtful content. A revolutionary concept when it comes to personal style blogs, I'd say ;-)
Anyway, this post is about travelin' around in your own backyard and exploring local haunts. Over the weekend my boyfriend and I went to visit his mom who lives in Temecula, which is about an hour away from where I live in Orange County, California. Temecula is a part of Riverside County and to those unaware, Riverside has a sort of unsavory connotation. Before I'd ever been, I thought that Temecula was just a dusty wasteland crawling with bros (obnoxious white males who drive obnoxious lifted trucks and accessorize with trucker hats, wife beaters, and nautical star tattoos. They are almost always into lame action sports like motocross, etc.) and who knows what.
Well, my whole perception of Temecula (my feelings about Riverside remain intact for the most part) changed once I met my boyfriend. In fact, Temecula is actually pretty charming! The best part is Old Town Temecula which is where these photos were taken. Way back when Temecula was pretty much a part of the Wild West. Think cattle, cowboys, Native Americans, stagecoaches, greedy Spanish settlers—the works. While, true, the history of the area is one steeped in lots of bloodshed, it doesn't change the fact that the area has lots of historical significance. It's the process of learning about a place's history and what went down hundreds of years ago that I love.
As we strolled I got to see all the cool, original wooden buildings from the 1800s and we even found our way to the old stone jail which was a trip. Old Town Temecula doesn't even look real to me, it looks like a movie set.I love it even more because it's the real deal.















--

Ashley Baluyut
Blog: http://www.milkteeths.blogspot.com
Store: http://www.threefeathersvintage.etsy.com

smug

I think I look a little smug in these photos... but if there was ever a morning to feel smug, this might have been it. The weather was perfect, the dress was perfect, I'd finally made a bunting necklace (in the pipeline for a couple of months). True, the necklace fell apart soon afterwards--felt is just not strong enough, does anyone have any ideas what else I could use?

Other reasons to be smug: We rode our bikes up to cup+cake, a little cupcake place on a beautiful street (I was skeptical, I think cupcakes are overrated, but these are delicious), and then went to an exhibition of street photography from the 1950s in La Pedrera, one of the famous Gaudí houses. Plus, I'd just gotten 94% on my Catalan exam, though to be fair it was really easy. Still, all in all, a justifiably smug morning!


(Note the cupcake behind me!)





Photos by Albert

dress: See by Chloe via ebay, necklace: made by me, sandals: Urban Outfitters, bag: vintage via Mom, sunglasses: Lucky Brand via TKMaxx

stripes and cycles

I don't tend to go on about bikes so much on the blog, but I actually love bikes. I think cycling is, depending on the city, the best way of getting around. In Barcelona it's perfect; allowing you to skip out on the hot and crowded metro and whizz down the cycle lanes with the wind in your hair. In fact, my reason for being in Barcelona the last couple of months is to study their four year old bike-share program, Bicing. Accordingly, I've been riding the public bicycles for several weeks, but finally drew a line under my research and got back to my old love... this little mountain bike on the craptacular side of vintage that I bought second hand in 2007. It just keeps going, and nobody tries to steal it.

These are my third pair of very Catalan shoes. Known as "espardenyes catalanes," they are worn by dancers of the traditional Sardana (most boring dance on the planet) and were also made famous by Dalí, who wore them all around.

And behind me is Barcelona's Arc de Triomf, made of brick and built for the Expo in 1888. I definitely prefer it to its more famous Parisian cousin, but then I'm biased. ; )





Photos by Albert

Topshop breton top, Billabong shorts (gift), Catalan Espardenyes, Sunglasses from Sanborns, Mexico

P.S. While this was an outfit I wore for a bike ride, I should say that I cycle in basically all my outfits. Since my main form of transportation is by bicycle, all my dresses and the majority of my shoes get ridden in. Another reason for a chic yet sensible wardrobe!

P.P.S. Just for fun, a few other bicycle posts:
Last Day in Guadalajara
Old Faithful
I'm Walking on Sunshine
Bicycles and Picnics and Beer, oh my!