the intersection of fashion and culture

I look like a Barcelona housewife in this outfit, but that's neither here nor there. I'm not sure what's up with this dress; when I put it on and look in the mirror I see something swingy and casual and sort of chic, but when I look at photos I see, well, a housewife in a shapeless blue sack.. Whatever, some summer days it's so hot in Barcelona that you can't even think, let alone worry about what you're wearing.



Anyway, that aside, what I want to talk about are the shoes. I've recently acquired a couple (well three, but the more special ones have to wait for tomorrow's posts) pairs of shoes that aren't exactly fashionable, or even stylish, but appeal to the nostalgic and cultural explorer in me. Specifically, the two pairs above, are what a few years ago I would have dismissed as old lady shoes without a second thought... but now they represent life in Barcelona for me and I love them. Both types are worn by your average Catalan, young or old, male or female, interested in style or no, as a culturally specific form of summer survival gear. The red shoes, espardenyes, are probably typical not only to here but to much of Southern Europe, but for me they'll always be synonymous with Barcelona. As you can see, they're a fairly close but stripped down relative of the espadrille (über popular this year). The brown shoes are "menorquines," from the island of Menorca, and also seen basically everywhere.

I find it kind of delightful to reference a culture I grow increasingly fond of in my footwear, even if the reference is lost upon a number of my readers around the world. It feels like in an increasingly globalized world we can be inspired by fashions and traditions from all over, but the decade to decade definition of what the "good" silhouettes or styles are is ever narrowing as people around the world emulate the same designers or shop in the same stores. And sometimes it's just great to step back, to take a moment to connect with where you are, rather than what you are or who you are or what image you're trying to project, and dress like everyone else for a while... even if that leaves you looking paradoxically out of place in the virtual community.

Do you have anything in your wardrobe that is culturally dear to you? Is it from your own culture or another that you identify with?



P.S. The lizard design is a cute addition to my menorquines. In general they're just plain, and often a paler beige, although you can get them in most colours,
dress: second hand from Beacon's Closet, shoes: menoquines, earrings: Spank (Vancouver boutique)

la mexicana

Sorry for posting overload this week. I have so many things lined up... it's either feast or famine in my archives!

Anyway, at this time last year I was living in Mexico (and at this time the year before, though a different city). I really enjoyed my time there overall, and recently discovering Dusana's blog (she just got back) has made me a bit nostalgic. Also, I realized I'd bought this dress at a street market the day before I left and had never gotten a chance to wear it/completely forgotten about it.

I never bought as many beautiful embroidered blouses as I meant to in Mexico. By and large, the stuff for sale in the city wasn't great. One time, Albert and I went to this little mountain village that was very picturesque and famous for it's embroidered blouses. I had big plans to stock up. But then our beetle fell into an enormous pothole on the mountain road which destroyed two tires. We managed to roll downhill to the nearest village (after discovering our spare tire was flat, haha) and get them replaced. But they only took cash, which pretty much wiped out most of the cash we'd brought. And they definitely weren't taking Visa in that village! So I had to content myself with some clearly sub-par $6 blouses instead of splashing out the big bucks ($20) on something really special. C'est la vie. ; ( I guess I'll just have to go back some day!





dress, necklace and skull from Mexico, charity shop belt, Calvin Klein from Winners shoes (old, gift)

P.S. Gratuitous beetle shot. I loved it, and it's the only time I've ever been or am likely to be a car owner (sort of). This was not on the occasion of the tires, however. Oh, also, our beetle was from 2001 (they only stopped making the old kind in Mexico in 2002)!



P.P.S. For a post actually wearing one of the aforementioned cheapo blouses, go to Tequila Sunshine

firework night in cologne

A couple of weeks ago we headed over to Cologne (about 40 minutes from Bonn on the train) to see their Fireworks night.

First though, we stopped for dinner in Bonn at this excellent Thai restaurant I'm so glad to have discovered. I had a "Drunken Apricot" cocktail.



And shared some noodle-y thing and some mouth-watering fish (I think it was red snapper). Sheesh, as a Vancouverite I should know the names of all these things, but I've never gone for much Thai food, for no good reason!



Then off to Cologne on the train. We were supposed to meet up with some people, but couldn't find them in the crowd along the riverside:



People were waving sparklers in time to the fireworks, which I found pretty endearing. Later they were all singing very patriotic-sounding Cologne-centred songs (some to stolen melodies, I might add--ahem-"Loch Lomond" ahem--I found that part just a bit strange. ; )





Very nice, though not a patch on the Vancouver yearly firework festival (sorry).
Afterwards there were so many crowds that they closed the main station for an hour or so due to overcrowding, so we went and got a night time view of the stunningly beautiful Kölner Dom instead.





P.S. Thanks for all the great debate-sparking comments yesterday! I love it when the conversation gets going!

sunny yellows and a rant

I was supposed to wear this to a party while in Bonn a week or so ago, but after going out to take these pictures and have a drink, we got lazy and it turned into a drinking-white-wine-while-chatting-at-home evening instead. I remember Albert telling me to "cheer up" while we took them... not sure what I was so grimacey about at the time, but probably I had an audience or something!

Right, I feel the need to unload on my latest bloggy rant. I know we're supposed to be all sweetness and light in our online personas, but what can I say, I'm actually the grinch. So, in no particular order, things that are driving me crazy:

1. The overuse of the word "babe." As in "my friends/fellow bloggers/ are total babes." Now, maybe it's just me, but "babe" to me has kind of a raunchy sixties, Brigitte Bardot kind of connotation. I know everyone loves Brigitte Bardot at the moment, but really, have we not advanced? Must we still call people "babes" to indicate their value? I don't know about you, but I don't think of my friends as babes. Some are good looking and some aren't, but I'd actually think there was a problem if all my friends were of the sex-kitten variety. Some are welcome of course.

2. Naked chicks being reblogged ad nauseum on tumblr. Yeah yeah, the female form is beautiful. So why are most of these reblogs waifish females who look like they skipped six meals before slipping on a pair of white cotton undies and lying topless in a field fingering flowers? Or there are the ironic, tongue-in-cheek reblogs of snippets of naughty vintage films...As with babes, really...is this really what we consider "inspirational?"

3. "It's so unbelievably horrible what happened in Norway." It is, of course, completely horrible. Especially given the troubling connection to the rise of extreme right-wing sentiments in Europe in recent years. But hey, there's also a famine going on in Somalia, huh? Affecting something like 30% of the population? I haven't heard a peep about that on the blogosphere yet. Why do we only feel compelled to comment upon things that happen to people who remind us of ourselves?





Jiving my nasty, gloomy, un-babe self down the street... ; )



Photos by Albert

vintage deadstock dress from ebay and vintage hand-me-down clutch, Fly London shoes

a little bit rockabilly

I've always had a bit of a thing for the rockabilly revival look. I'm not actually sure that's the right description: I mean the look where girls do their hair a bit fifties style, have swallow tattoos on their backs, and where fifties shape dresses with tattoo or cherry or Mexican skull prints. Probably this love of mine is not terribly obvious: I don't have any tattoos, and I'm not usually seen in any of the above styles; but nonetheless, I'm the type to gaze a little longingly at the dresses in the Camden market stalls.

So I indulged in my fancies a little by snagging this Laura Lees for Topshop dress on ebay. I remember this collection back from 2007--in fact, I bought one of the dresses back then. I love the bright, poppy, slightly rockabilly embroidery that gives it extra character!




After Eight, and my absolute favourite, yoghurt flavoured ice cream.



Photos by Albert

dress: Laura Lees for Topshop (via ebay), bag: Flash paradise, socks: Primark, shoes: Urban Outfitters (gift), hair ribbon: presumably from a gift?

i have heard the mermaids singing each to each

I'm guesting over at First Impressions, where you can read my murmurings on landscape and style blogging. Check it out!







The title, like last time I wore this dress by the sea, is from T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

summer stories: guest post from a fine day for sailing

Everyone knows I love travelling, so it made sense that in my guest series of treasured summer experiences I should have a travelling story. The lovely Islabell from A Fine Day for Sailing obliged with an account of a trip that includes some of my dream locations... and she did it all in style with the coolest backpack ever.


Hello hello! I'm Islabell, from A fine day for sailing. I am excited to be here for Emily's summer stories series.  I'll be doing a wee post on summer travels.


I just came back from an amazing month long summer adventure. I flew to Istanbul to met my friend Donald. It was a city unlike any I have ever experienced,  a whirlwind of colors, sounds and smells. I felt safe and the people were so friendly. After a few days exploring (which was definitely not long enough) we traveled around Turkey, visiting Ephesus and Pamukkale.

From Turkey we joined friends in Greece and had the most amazingly relaxing time. I often find my self all wound up traveling, anxious to see everything and not miss a moment so this time in Greece was just wonderful. We spent the days swimming in the sea and the nights eating good food at a local Taverna.


Next my good friend Jenny and I left for Berlin where we met my bother. We went to a german school for a while when we were growing up so it was great fun practicing our german. After a few beers I seemed to get by pretty well. 

The final week of my trip I spent back in Scotland hanging out with my dad and catching up with old friends. It was Bliss. This summer trip was perfect. Looking at the photos are making me antsy to go travel again. 

I hope everyones having a great summer.
Thanks for having me Emily! 


Islabell


x

Thanks again Isla! And don't forget to visit her too, everyone!

currywurst

I spent last week in Germany (even I can't keep track of my movements at the moment, but anyway, these photos were taken in Bonn). I packed quite badly, and on top of that the weather got fairly cold and rainy after a day or so, so I think I must have worn this blouse at least five days out of ten. Luckily though, it's extra soft and comfy, so at least I packed one thing sensibly!

I ate so much ice-cream while in Germany--they have an amazing yogurt flavoured one that I could eat until I drop, and also, predictably, I ate a lot of currywurst. This was a currywurst day. I think I need a good long break from it now...







Photos by Albert

dress: Monsoon via charity shop; blouse: vintage (gift), scarf: vintage via charity shop; shoes: Urban Outfitters

a year of ruby slipper journey-ing

Hard to believe that, as of Friday, I've had Ruby Slipper Journeys for a year. It's been, by all accounts, a crazy year. When I began, I was living in Mexico; within a couple of months I had moved to London to do a masters degree. Throughout that year I was frequently visiting my boyfriend in Barcelona (his hometown) and studying in England. Currently, I'm doing research in Barcelona and visiting my boyfriend in Germany quite a lot (a friend of mine jokes that we have "reverse magnetism"). But one definite constant in a year of changing climates, backdrops and responsibilities has been my blog, and the friends I've made through it all over the world. Life in the coming year is even more uncertain, if that's possible, but the blog will be coming along for the ride. Here are a few favourites from the past year.











From a year of personal style blogging I've learned about my own wardrobe strengths and weaknesses, I've experimented a bit with different personas (see the ballerina and Victorian orphan inspired looks below) and tried to hone and refine my tastes a bit... that's still a work very much in progress. I've learned a fair bit about photography, can judge all the different phases of "the golden hour" at a glance, and have become a bit more photogenic (apparently it only takes having your picture taken a few thousand times). I haven't learned as much about html as I'd like, though my photoshop skills, which were non-existent before, aren't too shabby. On the negative side, I have spent who know how many hours sifting through other blogs, not all of which were worth the effort, replied to more comments than were good for me and have struggled more than ever with consumerism, procrastination and prioritizing. Style blogging is a paradox, but it's one I'm determined to keep exploring!













Thank you so much to everyone who's read my blog in the past year; and especially to all those who've been in touch through comments or emails (or in person)! It's been fantastic knowing you all so far!

Photos variously by myself, Albert, my sister and the first one by my dad!