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Style – Art Trip to Hamburg

April 28, 2020
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What a strange time to be alive! I’ve been meaning to do this post for weeks now, but for some reason, it just didn’t feel right. Maybe it was the shock of being in lockdown and isolation, who knows. But what has to be done must be done eventually and I actually felt like revisiting the photos taken on our trip to Hamburg.

I was invited by Bona Berlin to participate in the “Femmes Vandales” art show at the UrbanShit Gallery in Hamburg, alongside many other super talented female artists, as a celebration of Women’s Day. It seemed like a great excuse to go back to Hamburg and have a nice weekend away. This was an action-packed weekend and I was exhausted by the time I got back to London but it was well worth it. It very lucky that we managed to do it as things started getting a bit worrying regarding coronavirus by the time we were flying back. The next day I went into self-isolation and later an actual lockdown was announced by the British Government. Sadly the exhibition had to close early due to the lockdown in Germany but keeping everyone safe is the most important thing.

As for the clothes packed for the trip, I timed it so I could wear the new pieces I eas gifted from Femme Luxe, and put together versatile outfits, reusing some of the pieces (like the hoodie and the boots, for example) every day as we travelled with cabin luggage only.

It was a great vernissage and opening night on Friday, seeing old friends and meeting other people I only knew by name on Instagram.

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The show was full, with new people coming in all the time, I would class it as a great success!

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Some of my pieces, all pizza-themed, under Caro Pepe’s portraits. I also showed the skateboard I made for the show in Cologne back in November, as it was still in Germany.

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Some of the art on show, featuring artists from all over the world.

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What I wore to the vernissage:

Brown Hoodie -Primark (bought on sale)

Gold Glitter Sparkly Shift Mini Dress – Femme Luxe (gifted)

Pink Boots  – Dr Martens

Bunny Bag – Local shop

The weather was very cold and the rest of the weekend was extremely busy, meeting people, making art and generally having an awesome time. Saturday was time to head to the area around Mathildenstrasse, to meet with other artists and put up some art. We did a pit stop at Marambola’s workshop, to do a collab with China Girl Tile and plan our outing. If you visit the Karolinenviertel area you will be able to find some of my art, as well as a few pieces I brought from some of my artist friends in London. Huge thanks to Marambolage for letting me borrow her pens and put up some paste-ups on her workshop’s facade!

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Some of Marambolage’s pieces and two tiles by China Girl Tile, one of which I customised and gave it the skull and rainbow treatment.

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As I knew it was cold and we would be running around with friends, we took the outfit photo at the room we rented for the weekend:

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Pink Lace Puff Sleeves High Neck Top – Femme Luxe (gifted)

Bunny Bag – local shop

Nude SLip – Primark

Red Scalloped Skirt – Roman Road Market in East London

Pink Boots – Dr Martens

Sunday was no less busy, I headed out to do a lot of pasting with a few more artists from the art show, and we ended up having the opportunity to collaboratively decorate a trailer at Anderswelt, an all-day sort of club. This was organised by Bona Berlin and it was a great time!

 

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Happy dorky smile, haha.

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The completed bit – I wasn’t too happy with the skull, as I am not used to drawing at that scale, but it was fun to do a few drips, as I hadn’t done any dripping for quite some time.

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I planned on wearing something practical for that day and it worked out quite well.

Black Oversized Sweater Mini Dress – Femme Luxe (gifted)

Black Knee High Socks – Can’t remember! They’re pretty generic.

Pink Boots – (You guessed it) Dr Martens

It was super fun to spend more time with the other artists and do something a little bit different.

The next day we still saw my friend Michel before he got his train to Berlin and we had a few hours to go around and see a bit of the city (even though we had to take many breaks, as I was pretty exhausted by this point). Later on, we headed to the airport and that’s when we started hearing news about the virus spreading in Europe.

This is what I wore on that day:

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Black Polka Dot Organza Mesh Top – Femme Luxe (gifted)

Nude Slip – Primark

Black Pleather Trousers – H&M (on sale)

Pink Boots – Dr Martens

It was a wonderful weekend, had a great time with my boyfriend, my friends and making new friends. I can’t wait for things to regain some normality, so events like this can happen again. Until then, stay safe and wash your hands!

art, Style

STYLE, ART – A Weekend in Cambridge

February 27, 2020
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A couple of weekends ago I made my way to Cambridge, the iconic university city. I had been there a couple of times before and the motive for the stay this time was not only to have some more opportunity to explore it but also to do a workshop at the Fitzwilliam Museum. I have worked with the Museum before and it was a pleasure to be able to come back, this time to do a workshop for students who are doing their A-levels, GCSEs and applying to university.

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We arrived on Friday the 14th of February, the weather was awful as that particular weekend saw a great storm all over the country. We didn’t get to do much but we did get to go out for dinner. This is what I wore:

Yellow Beanie – Unbranded (Ali Express)

Flectarn Shirt – German Army surplus, purchased at Mauerpark flea market years ago

Black Double Cup Strappy Bodysuit – Femme Luxe

PU Trousers – H&M (on sale)

Black Shoes – Dr Martens

Tote Bag – from the Gilbert and George exhibition at the Astrup Fearnsley Museum in Oslo

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We had a lovely dinner and got home fairly early, as Saturday was going to be a long day and I wanted to be fresh and rested.

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The next day we arrived at the Museum and I couldn’t resist taking a photo with the wonderful Bompas & Parr pineapple. Isn’t it gorgeous? I loved the green glitter on its leaves.

The activity that was programmed for the day would be to guide students through the creation of a paste-up piece of art, by defacing and altering existing posters from the museum, which would then be pasted on a hoarding-like surface, thus mimicking (legally) the experience of putting out street art. It was a great experience and I met some really nice and creative young people, who I believe will get a lot of interesting things done in the art world.

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I decided to wear something a bit comfortable and practical for the activity so this is what I wore:

Pink Beanie – Unbranded (Ali Express)

Gold Glitter Sparkly Short Sleeve Crop Top – Femme Luxe

Black Jersey Dress – Simply Be (I think, can’t recall anymore)

Black Shoes – Dr Martens

After the day at the museum, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner and once again went to bed early, the weather as still inclement and we decided to save our strength for some daytime explorations the next day.

We had a nice pub lunch – a Sunday roast at The Eagle, a historical pub right in the centre of the city, visited the Sunday Market and did a bit of wandering while the rain was kept away. I wore something practical, as we were planning on doing a lot of walking and would be travelling back to London on that same day.

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Yellow Beanie – Unbranded (Ali Express)

Black Long Hoodie – Unbranded (Ali Express)

Black T-shirt – Zara

Black High Shine Vinyl PU Trousers – Femme Luxe

Black Shoes – Dr Martens

My friend Stefani said it looked like I was walking away from an explosion, so I did a bit of quick Photoshop magic for a bit of a laugh and here it is:

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You have to play this song as you look at this photo, haha. I love a bit of comedy!

We spent the rest of the day at the Fitzwilliam Museum, their permanent collection is top-notch, plus they currently have on an exhibition called “Feast and Fast” mainly about food culture and history in Europe. I took hundreds of photos this weekend and it’s hard to narrow it down, so here are a few somewhat random ones from the museum.

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I hope to go back again at some point, the city is beautiful and there are amazing museums to see.

Style

STYLE – 10 DAYS (or so) in Norway

January 28, 2020
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The last couple of weeks have been spent in Norway, working, resting and generally going about life. I have been spending most of the days at home, as I work remotely but managed to go out a couple of times and had some fun.

I took some photos of the things I did plus the items I received from the nice folks over at Femme Luxe.  I have worked with them in the past (you may remember this somewhat recent post about a weekend in Cologne).

So here we go, get ready for a set of random photos from the last few days!

Continue Reading…

art, Style

Style – Weekend in Cologne

December 17, 2019
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It’s been a while since the last time that I have done a style post on here, so here it goes. I received an email from Femme Luxe recently, requesting collaboration and offering me four outfits of my choice. I thought to myself, “I do miss a bit of blogging and four outfits would really come in handy for the trip to Cologne”, so I said yes. The thing is, I hate packing and I hate planning outfits in advance so I thought this would actually be a perfect idea to resolve that problem.

I went on their website and managed to find a few things that did fit my current style. They have a great variety of things, such as the Bodycon Dress that I got. I was also trying to find a Jumpsuit or a Body Suit but unfortunately, I couldn’t find something in my current size. I’ll have to keep looking, as some of them were pretty cool!

So back to the trip and the outfits: I planned to strip to come and visit my friends in Cologne, plus participate in a group show featuring a few select urban artists. Basically a two for one situation! I needed a nice dress (not too nice, it’s an urban art exhibition, not a hoity-toity gallery, after all) and I found the perfect one:

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I’ll have to admit that it wasn’t easy to squeeze into it but with the help of Spanx, I managed, haha. Forgive my dorky face but I was quite happy that evening, met lots of people and put faces to a lot of Instagram names! Plus my friend Swenja (who I was staying with) did my hair. Doesn’t happen every day and it was super fun! You also get to see the skateboard I created for this show – I know I am biased but I am not the only one to say that it looks even better in person as you can see the glitter that I added to some of the areas.

The second outfit I picked was a lounging set. I figured that considering that some of the plans for the visit would be to go pasting, I needed something that was practical. So here’s what I picked:


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Outfit Description:

Black Short sleeve loungewear set– Femme Luxe

Pink Boots – Dr Martens

Mustard Yellow Rollneck Top – eBay

Checkered Over thing – Some pop-up store up in Brick Lane, near Rough Trade Records a few years ago

Black Beanie Hat – H&M

That day I went pasting in the Ehrenfeld area, with Planet Selfie and 8armstohug and we had a lot of fun until someone decided to threaten to call the police on us and ruined the mood. Ha well, it’s what you get for being a paste-up artist, I suppose. As I have moved all of my photos to my laptop which has since died on me, I am unable to post some more photos of the area. Hopefully, I will be able to get them back at some point, but just not in time for this post, unfortunately.

On the third day, we stayed home most of the day, except for a quick local paste-up mission in Opladen and meeting with friends in the evening for drinks in Cologne. I am afraid I didn’t get to see much of Cologne, as most of the time was spent hanging out with friends, making food and eating it plus rummaging through the local charity shop (where I found a wonderful 70’s dress). So this is what I wore on that day:

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Outfit Description:

Oversized Khaki T-shirt Dress– Femme Luxe

Pink Boots – Dr Martens

Black Rollneck Top – Primark

Black Beanie Hat – H&M

Onwards to the forth and final outfit, on the last day. I have to note that it was raining so much and so badly that we decided to stay in and take the photos in the living room instead, plus try on a pair of my friend’s shoes for a slightly different look, haha.

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Outfit Description:

Black loungewear set– Femme Luxe (yes, a different one, this one has a ribbed texture to it)

Patterned Rollneck Top – Orla Kiely for Uniqlo

Black Beanie Hat – H&M

High Heel Boots – from my friend, I can’t remember the name of the brand.

I have to say that it was also really cold and we froze our asses off, so not very inviting to go out and be a tourist (not to mention that my chronic fatigue requires me to have to take things nice and slowly). At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter, as we had a great time and the main goal of the visit was to spend time with friends.

As for the Femme Luxe outfits, they served their purpose well, I like some of their designs but I would caution that even though I ordered the 12-14 size (my current size), some of them felt a bit on the small side.

PS: the Femme Luxe outfits were gifted and my opinions are my own.

Style

Style – 90’s and personal style revival

January 11, 2019
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I haven’t been blogging for a while as you might have noticed. I rarely post things on my blog these days but one of the things that I used to blog about and you may remember was personal style late.

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In the last couple of years ago, my personal style has changed a lot, for a variety of reasons. One of them was that I became ill- I had cancer and that changed my ability to sometimes have the energy to spend on figuring out what to wear, so clothes became an afterthought a lot more than they used to be.

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Also because of my illness, I stopped being employed full-time so I stopped having enough money to spend on updating my wardrobe as I used to. On top of this, there’s the fact that in the last year or so I have put on a lot of weight due to you now getting old, the medication that I’m on etc… That meant that a lot of my clothes stopped fitting and it took me a little while to get used to my new size and shape. What was something that used to be easy (shopping for clothes online or even in the shops) became a harder task. I didn’t need to try more sizes on and figure out what was now fitting for my shape and size and it took a while to get there.

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I have recently discovered that I am now able to pick clothes that are fun and fit me and don’t make me look like I’m trying to break out of them like the Hulk. Liking wearing clothes was something that I missed.. one of the turning points that made me realise that I needed to find joy in the way I get dressed again was after visiting the exhibition about Frida Kahlo’s clothes and style. This has been on for a few months and it’s been very successful at the V&A and Museum.

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One of the things that I remember it from the exhibition was a quote on how important it was for her to have a mirror and for her to see herself. That made me realise that not having a mirror currently because my current room due to lack of space is also hindering me from expressing myself with the way I dress. At this point, I still don’t have a mirror but I’ve decided that I needed to get colourful again have fun with my clothes.

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There aren’t that many reasons to be happy these days, with my health and constant tiredness always getting in the way of things… But I decided that I did not want to be boring or feel boring and that I would like to carry on feeling like myself when I get dressed rather than just having whatever is easy.

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I’ve always liked a style challenge and to pick up and mix some unlikely pieces and somehow make them fit together. I picked this dress from a selection of evening dresses from ever-pretty.com as I thought it would be something that could be worn also to events such as weddings but it can also be dressed down. I liked the colour, which I knew would go well with my hair colour and for a bit of fun and seeing that it’s a strappy velvet dress, it would fit a 90’s theme. Should be noted that I didn’t have a full-length mirror so it was a bit of a surprise to see the photos haha. I think it worked out OK. I might have to restyle it again at some point but I liked what I did for now. I also thought it was a fun opportunity to style one of my t-shirts into a look here on the blog! The reason was that although they had evening dresses with sleeves and it’s a bit too cold to go out in straps, this was definitely the dress that best suited my style and that I see myself wearing again.

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I also looked at 90’s makeup – which I really dislike, let’s be honest – but I made something I do like inspired by it – the dark chocolate lip being the main reference. I also checked out hairstyles and decided to try this one – I’ve never been big on spending too much time on my hair – but I really liked it and I’ve worn it again since!

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So without further ado, here are the outfit details: Earrings – Ali Express / Dress – Ever Pretty / Knitted jacket – Vintage, bought from a shop in Hamburg 3 years ago / T-shirt – Hello the Mushroom (my own design) / Boots – Dr Martens.

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did putting it together. Thanks to Zabou for nipping out with me in the cold to take these photos!

How has your style evolved in the last few years?