Suburban Queen

Summertime, and thrifting is easy

2009-07-06T22:06:00.002+03:00

In the summer I'd much rather be a full time thrifter! It really is more fun then... Walking around in the sunny city, going to outdoor fleas... And there's an added bonus: you don't need so much clothes - which makes trying on so much easier :D

As it is, it's hard to make a living as a thrifter, so I'm doing that part time only. That doesn't stop me from scoring! Here's something I've been craving for, and now it's mine!

A pillbox hat!

Thrifting for hats is a tad frustrating, most hats I find are too small, and many are also in crap condition. Double yay for this one - it fits a treat, and is as good as new.

After reading the title of this post you may have a song stuck in your head. So let's hear it from Janis:

How to recycle old wellies

2009-06-30T02:23:00.002+03:00

Kimppabulju ("Group bath") by Riitta Schildt. Made of old wellies and galoshes. Seen at the Exhibition of Environmental Arts at Kivinokka, Helsinki, Finland

She screams for ice cream

2009-06-26T14:47:00.003+03:00

I have work to do, but luckily also some time to sit in the grass and eat ice cream. Or, as in this case, crave for ice cream. These days I'm living on ice cream.

Above is what I wore yesterday. Thrifted dress, beads and shoes, sunnies from Lindex, cuff with retro photo from Zoovillage. Below are some deets: cuff, shoes, shiny disco socks.

I was even carrying a bag my parents brought from Berlin.

Die Ampelfrau! Or, perhaps Ampelmädchen.

What I'm up to is a summer in the city.

Contrary to what Regina sings, summer for me doesn't involve much cleavage. But I guess I now got the attention of those eager googlers :)

Taking the floppy hat out

2009-05-31T23:32:00.002+03:00

Heat wave is on, but at 60°15'N, not for long. You'll have to carpe diem, grab your floppy hat and go out. Said hat goes well with both micro and maxi.

Today's look:
Romper/playsuit and sandals: thrifted
Hat: H&M
Sunnies: Lindex

Earrings: Nu Nordik, Tallinn, Estonia

This is from Friday:
Skirt and white beads: thrifted
Hat: H&M
Orange beads: Sokos
Top: Nanso
Flip flops: Marwin

Bracelet: etsy seller Analiese

May have worn

2009-05-26T12:48:00.003+03:00

Hello world! I'm late, as always. I have actually worn some cute outfits this May. Such as:

Vintage dress and zipper jacket, both via huuto.net. DinSko wedges, thigh high socks handed down from mum, and bobby pin from etsy seller RedaretheRoses.

Coat, Marimekko dress, and suede shoes, all of which are vintage, and they all came to me via huuto.net (the Finnish auction site).

Butterfly belt I got off huuto.net years ago. Bead necklace is me made and the rest is all thrifted, even the socksies!

Ain't that the cutest belt?

I make weird choices in life

2009-04-28T22:28:00.002+03:00

I put my heels on and go exploring the woods. Then I also become all wrinkly.

What I wore:

Dress with many a pocket by Marimekko; grey tee Lindex. Thrifted skinnies (originally H&M) and shoes (blogged here). Bag I made from a thrifted tea cosy (blogged here).

What I found in the woods:

A load of trash >:(

Goodbye winter

2009-04-12T23:03:00.003+03:00

It's time to pack away your winter clothes.

And to get rid of unnecessary stuff, like too much hair!

Hope you had a relaxing Easter!

It snowed today

2009-03-24T23:10:00.003+02:00

It sure did. But in the end, spring usually wins. I say usually, because I'm old enough to remember that year when it snowed in June in Helsinki - 1986.

On a brighter note, I've noticed I have started getting stuff directly from people. Once in a while someone will contact me and say, 'gosh I have this dress/skirt/whatever that screams your name'. This is how I got today's sweater dress.

Also wearing: longsleeve from Seppälä, tights from welovecolors.com, thrifted boots.

My father brought the beads from Africa (I forget where exactly) in the 1980s. I added Björn the Bear, which I got from a store here, but the maker (Karuski) also sells at etsy.

As I mentioned in my last post, I also bought some clothes from The Waves, who seems to know my taste pretty well. Here's one of the garments, a super fantabulous dress, which I wore for a birthday party on Saturday.

I also wore thrifted boots and a vintage Marimekko purse from huuto.net.

Long time, no see!

2009-03-20T22:10:00.003+02:00

Ahem, well, I'm alive, and still wearing clothes. However, there has been some turmoil: I gained some weight (none of my pants fit right now), started a new job, my computer crashed, and I fell on a slippery street and injured Ye Olde Head. Luckily it wasn't as bad as it could've been - icy streets can be seriously dangerous! I've got a new 'puter now too, and things have settled down a bit at work, so I started a new project: wardrobe inventory. It's still going on and at this point it's also making getting dressed a challenging task. Everything is very disorganized, if not a total chaos. I've managed to get rid of lots of stuff, and I hope to eventually add some to my etsy store. Stay tuned!

Despite all the getting rid of stuff, I have also got something new. For example, these thrifted Pertti Palmroth boots, which I also wore today.

There's also a thrifted leather skirt and an ebayed strawberry blouse.

Also, today I met The Waves, who is also doing inventory, and two dresses now have a happy new owner: me! The other one is the first dress in this post, and the other is the polkadot one here. And there's a jacket too! That one I'll show you a bit later.

February thrifting report

2009-02-25T15:53:00.003+02:00

Hey there, long time no see!

I have a new jobby. It has turned out that I rarely wear anything interesting there. Maybe I should try harder, it's not like we have a dress code or anything. I just can't be bothered.

I have done some thrifting, though. Three new pairs of shoes are waiting for warmer temperatures.

Yay! Woo hoo!

I did get some clothes too, a few basic cardis and such. Also, a friend got some stuff from a deadstock and gave me a fab sweater dress. Bad news is that when I took the dress out of the bag, a moth flew out. Yikes. I took the dress out and it's still there... I'm a bit paranoid that the single moth I saw will lay eggs.

:p

Icky. Any idea what I should do?

Seen on Hel-Looks, part #3

2009-02-09T23:51:00.003+02:00

As some observant readers already noticed, I was featured on hel-looks! Yay! Admittedly, I had secretly been dreaming of this!

I'm very happy with this picture too. It was taken at the Helsinki Vintage happening last Sunday. No lack of stylish people there! Which makes me extra proud that they picked me :)

I wore: thrifted cardigan and dress (home made of Marimekko fabric). H&M leggings and Hanna Saren for Seppälä boots. Necklace is a brooch I got off huuto.net and attached to a chain. Purse was a gift from my friend (was his mother's).

Photo: Liisa Jokinen

The leggings that glow in the dark

2009-01-27T00:34:00.003+02:00

Well, not really. But they sure look like that in the pics.

These are the bestest leggings ever, because they're 1) fun and 2) made of organic cotton! The duo Rinne&Niinikoski designed them for Nanso.

Also the newly thrifted dress is a fave, because it's so perfect for some serious pattern mixin'. It's a vintage dress of a label called Santtu. I didn't know anything about this brand until one day when I was visiting a thrift store (so, a pretty usual day) and overheard a lady talking in her cell phone: "Hey, I'm in this thrift store and just found a Santtu shirt you might like... Santtu? That was Annika Rimala's own label... Yes, that Marimekko designer's..."

Annika Rimala's best known creation are the stripy Marimekko tees called Tasaraita. Here modeled by my older niece when she was still a baby.

Dress: thrifted
Leggings: Nanso
Boots: Bronx

Knitting inspiration

2009-01-25T23:46:00.004+02:00

While browsing this site (which is really nice) I ran into this.

Not a cardigan - but actually a rectangular piece that can be buttoned to look like one!

It's apparently sold out, but this would definitely be easy to knit. In fact, I'm very tempted to try!

More pictures here.

You know what I did last night

2009-01-14T22:14:00.002+02:00

Yes, now you do.

Yeah. Trimmed my bangs. For some reason I started thinking about Louise Brooks bangs and few minutes later I had them!

Here's today's outfit in full glory:

Hat: made by Mum
Dress: Nanso
Beads: DIY
Boots: thrifted

I'm tumblring

2009-01-13T15:55:00.003+02:00

Just so that you know: I have joined the tumblrverse. My tumblelog is at http://vasiliisa.tumblr.com/. There I will be posting (and have already posted) links and pictures that I see when surfing the web - things that interest me or please my eye. Tumbling is much quicker than blogging, so I'm trying to update often (not a problem right now!).

The pic? It's my tumblr avatar. Go to faceinhole.com to make yours!

What goes around...

2009-01-09T21:31:00.004+02:00

Today I decided to do style my hair a bit differently,

but it's nothing new for me, as this pic from 4 years ago shows.

Actually when I first went for this style my hairdresser said it would take a few cuts to make the hair "remember" it; then the feather-like strands at the neck would be very easy to style with some wax. It was true, but I'd never guessed that my hair would still remember it.

Of course it looked nicer when the haircut was actually meant to include said feathers. I've been trying to keep my hair sleek now, but it's a struggle, because I have some natural wave, with some actual curls at the back of my neck.

PS. Also thanks to Dad for the tee, which says "Ota riski - rakastu suomenruotsalaiseen" (Take a risk - fall in love with a Swedish speaking Finn)

Shoes that jazz me

2009-01-08T21:59:00.003+02:00

Now we have snow, which is nice and stuff, but shoes-wise I'm dreaming of spring already. I love simple flat lace up shoes, also known as jazz shoes. Unlike most other shoes, they're pretty easy for me to thrift; I look for them in the men's section. That's how I ended up with my grey ones...

Then the brown ones...

And finally the blue ones.

But I'm always looking for more, especially red ones. I mean, who can resist red shoes?

Photo: Face Hunter

If thrifting is not successful, there's always Labour of Love.

Whew! They're making choices hard to make, aren't they?

A heirloom reborn

2009-01-07T22:04:00.002+02:00

Let's first have a look at this kilt pin which I've been wearing as a brooch...

...photographing details goes OK, but whole outfits are still a bit of a challenge...

Ah well.

Remember when I posted about the clothes my mother brought from the basement in November? This dress is one of them. Mum used to wear it in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but she never wore it a lot, this used to be her better dress. I did hem it a bit shorter, which always is bit questionable - should the heirloom be kept as it is? But isn't this how things were done back in the day too? Clothes were refashioned and repaired.

And calf length is just so... calf length.

Dress: Mum's old
Beret: Halonen
Brooch: huuto.net
Tights: Tabio
Purse and boots: thrifted

Retrospectacular

2009-01-02T19:07:00.003+02:00

Good news first...

This morning I was happy to see that some exquisite snowflakes had landed on my bedroom window.

Then the bad news. For New Year's Eve I wore my leather dress, looked like a 1970s doll and got many a compliment. But I had no time to document the outfit, which makes me huge Fashion Blogging Failure. But, here's a repost from September. The dress hasn't changed a bit.

Time is about right to get retrospective, so I'll post some of my other favourite outfits from 2008.

This one is from April. I wore a thrifted blouse plus random satin ribbon at neck, pink belt from swap with Jaana-Mari, my mother's old wide leg / high waist trousers, some tights and suede shoes I got off huuto.net.

This one from May is a huge favourite of mine. I got the IvanaHelsinki top off huuto.net and the rest is all thrifted!

This is from June. The occassion is obvious. I wore: a choker made of buttons, by etsy seller kraplap. Plan B recyclewear jacket. Denim corset top I sewed. Thrifted skirt (+petticoat). Beaded purse I got from a friend of mine. Random socks and Bianco heels.

One from August. Everything but the welovecolors tights is thrifted.

Here too I wear thrifted everythings (but tights). It wasn't a good autumn outfits-wise. We'll see what happens when I start working in an office!

I wish you all a very happy new year!

Given and received

2008-12-30T21:55:00.003+02:00

I hope you have had wonderful, relaxing holidays. I did, which is especially nice, since if all goes as planned I should start a new jobby thingy soon! Exciting!

I got some great Christmas presents. My mother knitted and crocheted this bolero shrug thingy that I find rather fetching.

I didn't just receive, I also gave some handmade gifts. Here's a pic of my niece who turned two today! For the occassion, she wore a faerie costume I gave her for Christmas. I made it (and a similar one for her sister) of mostly thrifted materials. The wings are from H&M though. Pink rose is, in fact, taken from the dress my sister wore for Vanhojen tanssit, which is approximately the equivalent of a prom.

Now preparing for NYE. What, o what should I wear? Do you already know?

Happy Solstice!

2008-12-21T20:24:00.002+02:00

Today is the shortest of them all - from now on we'll be getting our light back. I love light, snow, and white Christmases, but then again, I've become convinced that black ones are quite glorious too!

I wish you all happy holidays!

Announcing: my dream bag

2008-12-20T01:37:00.005+02:00

Earlier I blogged about the Finnish experimental design project, COM-PA-NY. Now I have great news for Helsinki inhabitants and visitors - COM-PA-NY has opened a shop next to the Main Post Office. It's a little glass cube that used to be a flower kiosk. Now it's a whole different story: penguin suits or gloves that have a pocket for your travel card can be found there.

Or the baggy jeans that designer Aamu Song wears herself in this hel-looks photo.

I, personally, am very fond of the BanchanBag / Side dish Bag, which was made in Aamu Song's country of origin, Korea.

Now there's a bag! Who wants a Vuitton when there's BanchanBag?

A fox and a sheep

2008-12-16T22:21:00.003+02:00

Let's post an outfit for a change! What we have here is a sleepyhead Vasiliisa in a jacket that looks like the upper half of a sheep costume. And a foxy brooch I got at the Christmas fair yesterday. It has reflector eyes!

Shrug, mittens: my mother knitted them
Velour top, jacket, petticoat and skirt: thrifted
Hat&scarf combo: Citymarket
Leggings: Lindex
Boots: Barrage

Still seeking the light

2008-12-16T08:23:00.001+02:00

I am here, somewhere, surrounded by the darkness. I haven't really worn anything remarkable lately. So, I haven't posted, but I also haven't replied to your lovely comments, or read your blogs. I apologize for that!

I'm sure I'll get my mojo back soon enough. It tends to come and go.

Here's some pics of the darkness and lights in Helsinki: Mannerheimintie street, and the construction site of the new Music Hall, where a Christmas tree has been placed on a crane.

Also I have been tagged by the lovely Freelancer! The task is to tell 7 things about oneself, both normal and a bit more strange (and then you should tag seven people - but I'm not doing this - instead I am tagging everyone in general and no one in particular!)

Anyway, here goes.

1) I'm a classical music geek. I don't listen to pop or rock much, and I don't know many pop tunes. Which is why I don't really enjoy sing-alongs :/.

2) As a teenager and in my early 20s I liked to read Estonian poetry, and I wanted to start translating it myself. So I learned Estonian, but soon I also learned that few people can make a living translating poetry, especially to Finnish!

3) It's my father's birthday today!

4) I have never rowed a boat, or gone downhill skiing. Note that this is really weird in Finland.

5) I had psychic skills when I was younger. I used to get premonitions, but they've stopped. Now I'm just a regular boring person ;).

6) I love eating karjalanpiirakka. I think a karjalanpiirakka and a bottle of coke is a perfectly acceptable snack!

7) I want a new computer, a new camera, and a serger, but Santa will not bring me those >:(

Tie a tie anew

2008-12-02T08:50:00.000+02:00

In the spirit of my last post, here's some other ideas for reusing old ties.

These clothes were made by Marianne Valola. Pregnancy not required :)

OutsaPop's fabulous necktie feathers can be used in different ways. Here's a tutorial.

If you have just one or two ties, you could still make a purse or a wallet. If you have none, buy one from etsy seller loscann.

More ideas can be found via Junkcreations, for example! How about a cute tie skirt?