kicia vintage

change

2009-12-30T19:57:00.003-05:00

i'm officially ending this blog, and beginning this one. it's been fun to have this wardrobe remix blog but i've lost interest in focusing on clothing and would rather write about travel, literature, languages, and so on.. i'm ending my university degree now and beginning the new year in a different country, on a different continent. so i hope you'll check out the new blog :)

thanks to everyone who read and commented!

back again

2009-09-16T00:12:00.004-04:00

my warsaw home

milk bar rusalka

so, i just got back to canada last weekend...and wahh, i wanna go back to poland! now it's back to school, but at least it's my last semester. i'll return to warsaw in january. until then, i'll just have to content myself with listening to music and reading the huge stack of books i bought.
i'm going to switch to a new blog soon, and write more about travel and language, which are two of my passions, though there will still be some fashion/art/music posts because i can't help but write about that :) and the main thing about my new blog is that it will be updated, unlike my poor neglected blog all summer.. but i had to spend my summer living life, not on the internet, haha.
ah, and i have a huge amount of clothes to get rid of.. vintage shoes, dresses, that sort of thing. so i will put those on etsy soon :)
hope everyone had a good summer :)

and in regards to my last post, i've started to translate pani mruk's blog, it's very cute so check it out.

tlumaczenie

2009-09-05T10:51:00.003-04:00

i'm practicing translating these days to eventually get work as a polish to english translator, so i thought i'd offer to translate a polish blog into english. i've noticed that on many blogs a lot of posts are quite long in polish but translated to only a few lines in english, because of course it's always easier to write in your native tongue than a second language. and english is my native tongue, so allow me to do it for you :)

my offer:

i'll translate your polish blog posts for a month into english, which will let me practice and which will better open up your blog to a wider, international readership. rather than only admire pictures, they will be able to understand what you're writing as well :)

just comment on this post and in a couple of days if there is more than one comment i'll randomly choose one person and contact you.

here are some popular blogs with translation as an example:

thecherryblossomgirl.com

misspandorapandora.blogspot.com

elinkan.blogg.se

styledigger.blogspot.com

pantyhose

2009-09-05T08:02:00.004-04:00

i have to say, this is pretty cool: vintageshop.pl rajtuzza '09

wsiąść do pociągu...

2009-07-28T16:10:00.003-04:00

i've translated these lyrics as closely as i can into english, but of course a translation can only ever be an interpretation :)

To Get on a Train:

Autumn has begun to conquer the light
Drowning it in yellow and red
And I'm longing, without explanation
To escape on a train from this season

To flee by train from friends
Enemies, bills, telephones
You don't need to think it through,
It's enough to just run out the door

Get on a train, any one will do
Don't worry about luggage, dont worry about a ticket
Squeezing a lucky stone in your palm
Watch how everything is left behind

I want to set off on that kind of journey
When there's a heavy atmosphere and foul weather
Leave behind my bed, you, my closet
I won't miss anything

Watches will become useless
I'll misplace all the calenders
I want to set off on that kind of journey
I dont know if I'll ever work up the courage

summer life

2009-07-26T06:34:00.002-04:00

i'm still around, living life by the minute, and most minutes away from internet access. this summer is turning out to be my most interesting ever, with terrible experiences and amazing experiences.

i'm visiting some family now in silesia, poland, and am planning to go to an alina orlova concert in klaipeda, lithuania on august 8th. anyone around lithuania? ;)

i'll update some more soon! czymajczy sie!

looking to the future

2009-06-21T08:33:00.004-04:00

things have calmed down a bit.. i have to just accept some things and move on...

i had a fun night last night. it's the summer solstice this weekend so there were only a few hours of darkness. it was the weirdest thing to be leaving a club while it was as bright as afternoon! the cardigan i'm wearing right now smells like the melon sheesha we smoked, bringing back the nice memories :) i got a little dancefloor started in the sheesha lounge and everyone in the basement was dancing to turkish music, including the owners!

i'm planning to go to the open'er festival in gdynia two weekends from now. i just found out that someone will be able to stay with my grandmother so i'm very excited for the mini-vacation. the line-up is quite amazing (placebo and prodigy playing one after the other?!) and i will be checking out such bands as these:

warsaw village band

crystal castles

i haven't bought the ticket or booked any accomodation yet so i'd better go do that now! is anyone else going? i wanted to stay in a hostel to meet people to go with, but i'm not sure if there'll be any space in the hostels. i hope so though!

happy summer everyone

i nagle coś...

2009-06-13T08:17:00.008-04:00

rob ryan 'water ladder'

monday, tuesday, wednesday: each of these days this past week something very bad happened in my life...

currently i am depressed, sad, fucked up...

but this is life...

so i will be back sometime in the future when i can regain some strength.

8 things

2009-06-07T12:53:00.005-04:00

here, in digital-paper format (aka horrible quality photos of my notebook) i've made some lists of 8 things:

hope that was readable! excuse my crappy sketches haha. i like to draw in black pen, but on a larger scale to make minute details possible.

i'm going to tag the bloggers who are following me :)

there are only 5 who have blogs though!

speaking of which, i'm going to have to start following blogs because i keep coming across really interesting people and then losing their link in the vast abyss that is my bookmarks folder. should i use blogger or google or what? hmm..

edit: i joined bloglovin, hopefully it'll be good :) follow my blog with bloglovin´

around

2009-06-06T16:05:00.003-04:00

wahh it's crazy how busy i am these days.. it's nice to be away from my life in canada for awhile, away from university and everything that was stressing me out, but going to school here + taking care of my grandma + being a landlord for 2 apartments is proving to be quite a lot. i don't really feel stressed, but at the end of each day i still have things left on my to-do list. it's okay though, it's good to be busy :) plus i got an account at a movie rental place so i'm going to watch a million movies in the evenings.. you know that period of time where you're too tired to do anything important, but it's still early enough that you don't want to go to bed? so far i've got a woody allen movie 'jak sie masz koteczku?' (how are you kitten?) which is called something else entirely in english i think, plus nick and norah's infinite playlist. maybe i'll watch one tonight :)

i bought this great pair of shoes the other day.. yet another pair of black shoes! i needed something nice anyway because i'm going to apply to take celta (a language teaching certification) in august, and need to be presentable. so far i've been wearing these everyday though...

more professional?

cardigan: costa blanca

tank top: clothing swap

jeans: bershka

shoes: leonardo

dress and scarf: h&m

cardigan: same as above

leggings: aldo

in reality i will probably dress however for that course (if i hopefully get in!) but at least my shoes are shiny :)

identity

2009-06-04T16:57:00.002-04:00

so i study polish 3 hours a day now at a language school, and i really lucked out. i enrolled in a group class that was supposed to be at a higher level than my speaking skills, and was a bit worried that it would be too difficult. turns out the rest of the class cancelled, and i now have private classes with not one, but TWO teachers! (they alternate days) it's pretty amazing that there are two knowledgeable women who are planning daily lessons exactly for my needs, and i can ask to be taught anything at all at any time. my grammar is bound to improve drastically!

(image from here)

anyway, it's interesting to talk with them about the differences between poland and canada. today we got on the topic of polish identity, here and in canada. she asked me if i found it strange to be surrounded only by polish people.. yeah, it's kind of weird! toronto is the most multicultural city in the world, so i don't even notice/care about the ethnic differences of the people around me, but now suddenly everyone is my ethnicity... but what's interesting is that in canada if i meet another polish person, we have something in common: our upbringing was more polish than canadian (the same weird quirks), our parents have similar values and habits, we have a particular perspective on both canada and poland. here though, everyone is polish.. but an entire population can't be the same, so suddenly two ethnically polish people have a whole lot less in common with one another. here, if i met someone at a party who was any kind of canadian we would have a lot in common, much more so than back in canada. basically, identity can be defined by context.

further, the society we grow up in puts a mark on us, quite visible apparently, regardless of ethnicity. in canada people will often ask about my background, very often guessing correctly (though sometimes when i'm wearing black people will guess french.. stereotype?) so within canada i physically look very polish. and yet, my teacher today told me that to her i don't look polish at all! my body language, speech mannerisms, facial expressions, clothing aesthetic all come across as very canadian to her. interesting! i know what she's talking about in that i can be on the bus in canada and take one look at a middle-aged woman and just KNOW that she's an immigrant from poland. just by the way she holds her mouth and by the look in her eyes. it's quite fascinating that learned body language and mannerisms can change one's appearance and therefore identity so much!

polish-canadian? the definition of canadian identity is a whole other topic entirely...

illustration

2009-06-04T05:40:00.003-04:00

i'd really like to study illustration at a college sometime in the future, but not a full 4-year BA (i don't need another one of those!) has anyone heard of a good program that is one or two years? anywhere in the world...?

image by stuart kolakovic, whose work i really admire

rainbows

2009-06-01T13:52:00.003-04:00

toronto and warsaw have been having the same stormy weather lately, but toronto had a DOUBLE rainbow on saturday apparently!

"DSC00142" by mikepop2ca

"double rainbow" by _L7

so beautiful :) i just felt a little twinge of missing toronto, haha.

(seen on blogto.com)

discovery

2009-05-31T15:50:00.003-04:00

dress: clothing swap

cardigan: sirens

leggings: cubus

little vintage purse: grandma's cupboard :)

so i went to down to the festival and as i was walking there i wondered why many people were walking towards me from that direction.. well i got there, it was 4pm, and there was just a deserted field of muddy grass, lots of security guards, and some unfortunate band playing to almost no one :( it must've been because of the thunderstorm earlier. i was really disappointed! i'm assuming that the crowd must have gotten bigger later in the night, i hope so at least, for the sake of all the bands.

i did make an interesting discovery today though- i opened a cupboard in my babcia's apartment and it was filled with vintage purses of all different shapes and sizes! further searching found me a soviet slr camera from the 70s complete with leather case, and a drawer full of vintage silk scarves. i think i'll have some fun getting dressed afterall, plus now i have that good camera i was just wishing for :) i'll have to spend some time learning to use an slr again though..

mud and music

2009-05-31T07:12:00.003-04:00

this music festival ursynalia is going on this afternoon, and today's line-up are all 'ethno-folk' which i really like, so i'm planning on going... but it's pooouuring rain!! i can only expect that i'll be coming home drenched in mud.. i think i'll still go, though i wish i had a friend to go with me :(

errands in the rain

2009-05-30T17:31:00.005-04:00

i didn't end up taking too many photos yesterday because it was raining...and today was raining and the next week will be raining! but oh well, i don't mind too much :)

but here is one random photo in praga, it was in a walkway through an apartment block. there were actually like 6 doors and each was a different type and colour.

actually, i wish i had a better camera because i seriously want to photograph something every 2 minutes when walking around there! but i will go on a photo-spree when the weather is nicer.

i did get a million errands done yesterday though, and am now officially a permanent resident of poland :) and i got my photos done for my dowod osobisty (national identification):

i showed them to my family over skype and these were the reactions:

dad - "how old were you when you got those taken?" me - "uh, dad, that was yesterday!"

mom - "well, you look like you're 15"

sister - "you look like a boy from the 70s"

haha, great. but i do think i look a bit younger than usual..

in between errands, i stopped into this awesome store on aleja solidarnosci called 'india' which is filled with clothes, scarves, jewellery, and knick-knacks all from india (of course). i was just going to peek in, but ended up buying three tunic-dresses and this wooden cat box. i LOVE these types of weird folksy wooden figurines!

he is going to hold my rings, starting with these two which were the ones i bought on the street yesterday.

i was actually thinking of making a post saying that this blog won't be much of an outfit blog anymore, because for awhile now i haven't cared too much about being super-creative in how i dress, i just put on clothing that i like and not worry how original i look. so probably i've been looking more boring, i don't know, but i've always had quite a simple way of putting things together. but then i read some other blogs this evening like darling darling, which are somewhat about clothing but mostly about the individual and their taste in music, art, culture, and i figure i'll just leave my blog as it is :) there is bound to be a lot about exploring warsaw in the coming months, and surely something about music, but somewhere in there will also be some outfit posts, it just won't be the focus. i really prefer blogs when they give a rounded portrait of the author, not just stay on the outermost layer of their public image. so i hope you will keep reading :)

ah, and by the way, i wanted to say that polish girls are soo cute! women in poland are generally much more dressed-up than in north america, but really i'm seeing so many very fashionable, original girls with really interesting hair! short hair seems super-common here, and so does more 'avant-garde' hair. it's never boring on the streetcar, always someone to check out, haha.

wandering

2009-05-28T15:56:00.003-04:00

today was nice, the first day i've actually felt relaxed since...well at least since coming to poland, but probably since like january, haha.

yeah i'm dressed quite boring.. but i like these new jeans from bershka :)

i had to hang around one of the apartments my family owns, which is in north praga. warsaw is divided in two by a river, and praga is the side that got a bit left behind. all the new investment is generally on the left side, so the right side has a different look and feel, more old fashioned. the apartment is close to the zoo and a park, and the neighbourhood feels very peaceful. when i come back to work here in january i'm planning to live in this apartment :)

i read on the sunny windowsill then fell asleep for awhile, which felt so great.. i haven't been able to nap without guilt for a very long time!

this is the view from the window. i love how apartment blocks in warszawa generally have a park-like center.

later i ate at a bar mleczny and just because i was surprised to see it on the menu, i ordered leniwe pierogi z maslem i cukrem (basically dough dumplings with butter and sugar melted over top). that dish just feels like the type of simple comfort food you would only eat at home as a child, and in canada such a thing would never be available at a restaurant! but milk bars are places where you can get homestyle food for cheap, so i guess it makes sense. here's a funny (exaggerated) clip of a milk bar during communism if you want an idea, haha:

then i walked around and bought some very old rings from an antique dealer on the street. my favourite rings are always the ones i pick up at bazaars in poland... i think i'll take some pictures of the neighbourhood tomorrow when i'll be back there, it's definitely an interesting place.

polska life

2009-05-26T05:23:00.004-04:00

ahh so things have finally settled down a bit. i haven't even really been on the internet for the last 2 weeks, which were just a stressful whirlwind of errands all over warsaw with my mom and grandmother. now my mom's back in canada and i'm here living with my grandmother until the end of august. it's stressful because she needs a lot of care, but also it's nice to have a lot of free time to myself to read, draw, explore the city, listen to music, hang out with people (anyone who reads this live in warsaw? ;)

i'm going to start going for some advanced polish lessons next week, so hopefully i will meet some nice people there :)

i haven't taken many pictures yet, but here are some outfits:

i have internet at home now so i think i'll be posting more often, and finally maybe leaving some comments on other blogs! oh, and ps, there's a TOPSHOP in warsaw!!! ahh amazing! those pants just above are from there, haha :)

shoes

2009-05-08T10:36:00.004-04:00

a close up of my new shoes, which i loove:

dolce vita

jeffrey campbell, bought on revolveclothing.com which i really recommend

the rest

2009-05-08T10:17:00.003-04:00

here's the rest of my life from the last few weeks:

gapcio found a cozy spot on top of the boxes

sorting through piles of clothes for the swap a few weeks ago - it went pretty well, though not as many people could make it as i'd hoped

the day before the move my sister came over to help me pack (because of course i didn't start packing until the last minute). we ate strawberries in the nice afternoon :)

and she fed a squirrel a lot of popcorn

packing up the kitchen...

my ex-apartment from the outside.. this makes me so so sad :( this place was such a good home to me and my boyfriend. now we're living apart and an era has ended...

ordered a vintage owl brooch from xowired on etsy, and it came with all this cute stuff :)

this was just such a funny pose!

change

2009-05-08T01:27:00.003-04:00

i haven't posted for awhile but i've been busy with a lot of transitions.. the semester ended (and man was it rough for me), i moved out of the apartment i've lived in for the last two years and temporarily back into my parents' house (i'm living out of boxes), and tomorrow evening i'm catching a plane to warszawa where i'll spend the next two months taking care of my grandmother (and living out of a suitcase).

looking through my camera, i've taken a surprising number of outfit photos during this time, and i'll just post them all, even if they're crappy (note the changing background haha). these are in the order of oldest to newest.. and cropped haphazardly..

an old favourite shirt.. and these awesome vintage moccasins with leather fringe

thrifted shoes, uo skirt

new dolce vita shoes.. after my friend bought them i fell in love (thanks vanessa, haha)

new jeffrey campbell cutout shoes

the last cold day of spring... thrifted boots, new uo skirt (you will be seeing more of it!)

my parents' kitchen is still under renovation.. the skirt is from h&m a little while ago. i've finally realized that the only skirt shape that really fits my body is tulip, OR a high-waisted form-fitting type (which would fit anyone)

multi-tasking.. same tights and skirt as the day before.. the bolero i thrifted that day for a few dollars - it's from hilary duff's line! haha i've got tween style

the cardigan is a new purchase- it's a rip-off of the popular aritzia piece, from sirens of all place. the necklace is from aldo. i didn't realize when i bought it that it formed a bow-design in the beads, but i guess that's alright..

last but not least, today.. complete with an awkward pose and a non-feline friend. the jeans are from f21 and i'm planning on hemming/tapering them today. i think they'll be pretty great afterwards.

speaking of animals.. i feel like 50% of my outfit photos include a pet in them.. but this is totally unintentional, they just follow me around! like charlie above, i definitely didn't ask him to pose the same as me for the photo.. haha, he was hanging around waiting for me to play with him (that ended when we found a dead mouse in the grass).

i'm not sure how much i'll be photographing myself in poland.. there are the suitcase constraints, but also the fact that i'm there for my grandmother, and might not be in the mood for blogging. on the other hand, i will probably be very bored and likely going on the internet every day. speaking of which, does anyone know any good wi-fi spots in warsaw?

when homework is something you enjoy

2009-04-19T23:38:00.002-04:00

i do everything to avoid schoolwork - this is because i'm going to school for the wrong thing (i wish that none of you repeat this mistake). but right now i'm working on my final portfolio for creative writing, a class that has absolutely no weight in my degree, and i keep finding myself smiling.

ahh, to turn back time and go to concordia for creative writing as i'd dreamed. or to fast-forward to the future and work all night on illustration projects...

night

2009-04-19T20:24:00.003-04:00

tonight is another essay night.. but i hope to finish everything by tomorrow!

just for fun, here are two toronto bands that are going to be BIG. well, i already saw thunderheist in teen vogue, so maybe that counts as making it. they're both fun to see live and really get the crowd going, plus stop die resuscitate are nice people :)

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

swap

2009-04-14T20:53:00.007-04:00

i'm holding a clothing swap at my apartment next friday afternoon (the 24th), and will also be selling vintage. if anyone from toronto wants to come by and swap some stuff, just message me and i'll give you details. (you can email me from my blogger profile)

it should be pretty fun :) and hopefully there will be a good turnout! though, i'll have to try to just give rather than take because the whole point of it is to reduce my wardrobe before i move at the end of the month. it'll be hard to find storage in my parent's place for all my furniture plus all my clothes, shoes, bags AND giant box of vintage clothes (i seriously wear only 10% of what i own). still, a swap is the best way to get old-new clothes for free!

speaking of new clothes, i am dying to buy all the new spring shoes! everywhere i look there are so many amazing pairs! and conveniently the stores are all copying each other so it shouldn't be hard to find what i like.

the #1 pair of shoes i want though are this sam edelman pair:

they're awesome! i like both colours but i think i'll get black..IF i can find them somewhere in toronto. can you believe shipping from urban outfitters to canada is a minimum of $50 US dollars??! outrageous! are the clothes coming in a gold-laced cardboard box?

oh, and these shoes by him are also pretty great:

anyway, i'll keep dreaming and hopefully will find them somewhere!

update: though they don't have the exact pair i want, revolveclothing.com has tons and tons of awesome clothing and shoes AND shipping to canada is free! yay!

easter eggs

2009-04-13T12:15:00.002-04:00

this is the 70s tiered plate i mentioned in my other post. thankfully this didn't break!

as expected, easter was really nice :)

i did make the paper-cutout eggs that i mentioned earlier, but i was in a hurry so i did use martha stewart's templates instead of coming up with my own. so, minus -1 for creativity, haha.

my parents came over to my place this year and so i had to prepare the table - not too difficult because i live in a polish neighbourhood so i just bought most of the traditional food at the store. i did make a few things myself though, and i'll share with you two really easy, tasty spring ideas:

strawberry salad-

melt a few spoons of sugar in a pan with sliced almonds and stir until the almonds are toasty and coated in sugar. let cool. slice strawberries and put in a bowl of mixed greens, then top with the almonds and a dressing like raspberry vinaigrette. (salad is visible in the above photo)

fresh punch-

put sliced strawberries, sliced ginger and some mint leaves in individual glasses. pour in half pineapple juice, half gingerale. mm!

i wonder, does anyone have any interesting easter traditions? my family, and my boyfriend's, always have a polish brunch, with bread and toppings, salads, and polish cakes for dessert. my best friend, though, has a big easter dinner, which sounds alot like a typical canadian christmas dinner, with roast, vegetables, potatoes, etc. what other traditions are there?

bad luck

2009-04-11T19:50:00.003-04:00

joseph cornell americana:natural philosophy (what makes the weather?)

i bought the cutest things in an antique store in my boyfriend's home town today. a 70s double-tiered cupcake stand, a reaaally old toffee tin with a silhouette design, and the cutest deer and squirrel ceramic planters. then we were walking into the house and piper was being squirmy and made my boyfriend drop the bag he was holding.. and there was a smash! waahh my deer and squirrel are now broken :(

also i am so stressed/depressed with school right now. but tomorrow my family will come over for easter so i think i'll feel a little more cheerful :)

i hate this place

2009-04-06T21:20:00.003-04:00

it is snowing, winding, raining, hailing right now. this is what the forecast looks like for tonight and all of tomorrow:

i like you

2009-04-03T02:43:00.004-04:00

ok, i put this off long enough - here are the bloggers i nominate for this award:

elsita

none of these are in my links, and i haven't been reading them for long. but they're blogs that inspire me in one way or another and i would really like to read them more.

the rules:

Put the logo on your post.
Nominate 5-10 blogs you like.
Be sure to link to your nominees in your post.
Let them know they have received the award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link to this post and the person who gave you the award.

thank you to darling darling who nominated me :)

um and i also love soko

2009-04-03T01:22:00.005-04:00

if i mention one very cute short-haired european singer-girl in her early-20s who i love, why not mention another? meet SoKo (stephanie sokolinski) from france. when i saw her on the cover of yen magazine, i really expected entirely different music. more polished.. more instruments! then when i heard her stripped down folksy style, i was thinking 'umm why is she on the cover of a magazine?' but then i listened to more of her songs and i get it now. although, she's since 'quit' music, because she is of course multi-talented and primarily an actress.
she's also weird and funny:

image by paul wilcock

so here are two of her songs. the first one, 'i'll kill her' is her most famous and is pretty funny. the second is alright too, but i included it because the lyrics at the beginning are exactly how i feel about somebody right now. but you can stop paying attention once the chorus starts haha. (if you pay any attention at all!)

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

actually one other thing i notice is her rhyming in that song. i teach an english pronunciation class to foreign students and rhyming exercises totally throw them - it's pretty interesting to me why that would be, and so i like when soko rhymes 'you stole my money and ran away with your pony' by actually pronouncing pony with the vowel for money. it's cute :)

i love alina

2009-04-03T00:47:00.005-04:00

my favourite song these days is 'lijo' by alina orlova. i can listen to it over and over, it's just so beautiful!
alina herself is beautiful too, and of course it turns out she's also a talented visual artist. why wouldn't she be? 20 years old, awesome style, top lithuanian singer, and great artist. oh yeah, and she has cute short hair! basically: perfect

images from her myspace

here is some music of hers to listen to.. unfortunately the song i love is nowhere to be found!

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

oh, and i first heard about her from amelia's magazine, which proved as awesome as i guessed it would be.

the ultimate accessory GROUP!

2009-03-31T01:04:00.005-04:00

remember this post? i randomly decided to make a flickr group for outfit photos with cats in them, hehe :) obviously i've been procrastinating. but now i'm going to bed and starting tomorrow am only essay-writing forever. until the end of the semester.

anyway, join my group!! it even has a misleading name. add any photos where a cat appears! let's celebrate this genre of the outfit photo ;)

bra fitting

2009-03-30T23:17:00.003-04:00

beautiful illustration by caitlin shearer

have you ever been for a bra fitting? i just went for the first time a few days ago and i can't believe i never went earlier! i got a gift certificate to change so i went in there. they carry only their own line, so the sizing is completely consistent across styles, and i really recommend it.

you don't even have to take your shirt off, so the fitting is quick and non-embarrassing.

i've been always buying 32 or 34 A and figured that the way the bras fit was just normal, even when the cup would be too big or the back would rise up. well, i now know that my actual size is 28C. big difference!

basically the size of the cup is relative to the circumference of your chest underneath your boobs. it isn't that all A-cups boobs are the same small size, B-cups medium, C's big and so on, but is instead in proportion to the band circumference. so, a 28A means that the person is quite thin with quite small boobs, and a 36A means that they have a wider body but with quite small boobs in the same proportion to their body as the 28A girl, but likely bigger than hers since they have a wider chest.

the girl helping me had fairly small boobs, i would normally guess A or B, but her actual size was 28DD because her boobs were proportionally large to her chest width. does this make sense? i can say i'm a C-cup now, but that definitely doesn't mean i have big boobs!

i bought one bra there so far and it fits perfectly in every way. i seriously didn't know a bra could even fit me so well, i just figured i had small boobs so i was screwed forever. not anymore! :)

yesterday and today

2009-03-30T21:52:00.004-04:00

yesterday i was a model at the aba hair convention for the salon i go to. the head stylist at my location is the cousin of my hairdresser and he cut my hair on stage. it was a bit scary because i had to walk down a little runway at the end and pose. i definitely didn't pose properly haha. other girls there were totally working it! but i definitely had the best gig because the other girls had to stand for the whole time wearing super high heels (they were dying after!), while i got to sit in a chair while a super hot guy cut my hair ;)

coat: gestuz from berlin

dress: fred perry

tights: mccarthy's

boots: vintage, from craigslist (apparently a good place to find vintage!)

trying on the spring coat i just got at fraiche

notice these boots in every picture? i want to wear them 24/7!

caftan: from fraiche

belt: thrifted

pants: h&m

i've realized that i censor myself a lot with clothes.. as in, i personally like an item of clothing but want to project a slightly more sophisticated image so i wear something else instead - it doesn't work anyway haha. i like photos of what i wore last summer better than this fall because i was wearing more vintage, slightly weirder things. so i'm happy that i bought this caftan top with crochet trim even though while at the store i had that same hesitation of not wanting to give into my style. i'm very sensitive to different social situations and what they call for in terms of appearance, and i guess i try to be more neutral in what i'm wearing. but i'm going to try to shake this off and go back to wearing random cutesy vintagey shit like acorn or grizzly bear earrings and weirdly patterned dresses, because that's just what i like!

i'm going to try to stay away from the internet for the next two weeks while i finish up the semester, so i won't post much.

so many essays to do! then i'm moving out of my apartment on may 1st, then going to poland the week after - it's going to be a chaotic next couple of months.. actually the whole summer will probably be chaotic. i'm going to live in warsaw taking care of my grandmother and getting lots of legal things done, like getting residency status in poland, which is kind of cool. i'll also visit friends and family in other cities. all through june i'll be taking an intensive advanced polish course, because i really want to perfect my grammer - i make too many mistakes. then july i'll be back in toronto taking an intensive tesol course to become a certified teacher of english. then august... it's so far away.. but maybe a road trip with friends to halifax!

2nd day of spring

2009-03-21T22:14:00.004-04:00

warning: long post

so, it's spring! apparently... it was ZERO yesterday! :(

i work part-time at a specialty foods store and the owner always makes the prettiest displays for each upcoming holiday. yesterday i saw all of the easter decorations and starting thinking that really, easter is probably the best holiday. ignoring the christian side of it (though the death/rebirth theme is the same), easter is really a pagan holiday celebrating the end of the long winter and the beginning of budding flowers, baby birds and bunnies, green grass and sunshine. and aren't those the best things to be celebrating?

also, i'm totally taking martha stewart's great idea and making paper-cut and decoupage easter eggs this year!

i did end up borrowing from my sister's closet each day but only photographed 2 days, friday and saturday:

my sister's tee

another of my sister's t-shirts, along with new walmart 'aubergine' tights and my new-thrifted club monaco skirt

i did this quick 20-minute thrift on thursday night (the store was closing and they wouldn't even let me use the change rooms), and ended up a few good things. i found a turquoise h&m dress, a sexy purple 80s bandage dress which will definitely look great on someone else, so is going online, a kitschy but appealing brownish floral top, and a brand new retro-style club monaco skirt with the $89 tag still attached.

i also found a vintage wooden kid's toy, a pretty old perfume bottle, floral 70s mug, a set of wooden cats, and 2 pairs of shoes that are going on etsy. here are some of the things:

i forgot to post this before, but for christmas i ordered my family a custom-set of dolls from goosegrease on etsy. they turned out so cute!

from left: our dog charlie, me, dad, mom, my sister, black cat and kicia

this is me :)

last but not least, i wanted to mention this book series i saw tonight at chapter's. all of the covers are done in the same colour scheme but different styles, and i couldn't stop admiring them all laid out on the table! such great design! this specific group is part of the 'great ideas series three' from penguin uk.

temporary wardrobe

2009-03-16T20:41:00.002-04:00

starting today i'm living at my parents' house for a week while my sister and mom are on vacation...so, of course that means that i'm going to be raiding my sister's closet each morning. she dresses pretty differently, with more prints and patterns, is a different size, and is 6 years younger, but that's no deterrent. she also told me that she packed all the 'good stuff.' maybe that means i can claim anything i like that she left behind?

i forgot my camera at home, but eventually realized that i can use photobooth on my laptop. (advice to all: do not look for a digital camera in your parents' bedroom drawers, and most definitely not in your teenage sister's bedroom drawers...)

(this is in the kitchen, which is currently under renovation, but i like the pattern!)

dress, navy tights, belt: my sister's

cardigan: costa blanca

shoes: thrifted

this belt is supposed to go around the hips but i hooked it a bit differently. i like these types of draping belts.

thanks always for your comments! i noticed that some new people commented, so i'll definitely check out your blogs :)

warmer

2009-03-15T23:39:00.004-04:00

i bought some spring flowers on friday - tulips, hyacinth, and pussywillow (which i love!) now my kitchen looks nice and cheery :) i also made oponki (donuts) from a mix, because my desktop background is this collage that includes a pic of old-fashioned donuts, and it subconsciously made me crave them. they were pretty yummy!

piper digging!

i don't really like these photos, but oh well:

wore this last night to a party...

yay, one of the first days i can actually wear shoes as opposed to boots! i thrifted them a couple of months ago.

i was tagged for a blog award, so i think i'll use it as a push to go through my crazy-long favourites folder and add a whole bunch of new links. i'll award some great bloggers in a couple of days :)

lassi!

2009-03-12T20:03:00.004-04:00

to postpone embarking on my hardcore all-night essay writing by 5 minutes, i wanted to tell you that the best thing EVER is lassi! i always buy mango lassi every time i go to any indian restaurant, but now i have figured out that i can make it taste exactly the same at home. and make it like 3 times in one night! perfect :)

now, lassi is basically a combination of plain, thick yogurt and anything else, but if you would like to make very authentic-tasting mango lassi you need kesar mango pulp (these are the yellow smaller mangoes) and kefir (i used huslanka and it was perfect, but any plain kefir will taste right). all you do is blend them together, about half-and-half, with ice (to create frothiness), and you're done!

-you can buy mangoes and peel/slice/puree them if you'd like, but if there is any ethnic store nearby then the best is to just buy the canned pulp, which is already sweetened. the convenience store at my subway stop conveniently carries it (thank you multicultural toronto), but you might need to find an indian store or look in the international aisle of the supermarket.

-if you aren't really into the slightly-off taste of kefir, then you can use plain yogurt with a bunch of sugar and some milk added, so it'll be more like a smoothie.

want to try another flavour? how about rose lassi? mmm, also good, but in a sweeter, more delicate way.

get kefir or plain yogurt, perhaps add a little milk to thin it, then add some rosewater, sugar, and a little bit of ground cardamom, all to taste. you can decorate the top by sprinkling some cardamom if you'd like :)

and to round off this post, here is a funny commercial improbably connecting poland, india, washing machines and mango lassi:

(i don't know about this lanky, mousy portrayal of a polish man though!)

guess what, this is actually true! voila, a real converted washing machine/lassi maker:

photo from hnieminen1

march 5th

2009-03-05T22:55:00.003-05:00

today it really feels like spring is coming! it was only like 3 degrees, but tomorrow will be 12 :)

what i wore:

cardigan, boots: thrifted

jeans: moto

tee, bracelet: f21

fox necklace: gift from a friend

locket necklace: h&m

and here is a colour palette inspired by burgundy/plum, which i am always strangely attracted to, and was wearing in three ways today: my hat, my boots, and my gloves

romance past

2009-03-03T23:17:00.003-05:00

my mom has this old photo of her when she was 20, with a student from iraq who she met on vacation in the mountains of poland. i'm not sure how much she was into him (she was already dating my dad at the time), but i know that he got a crush on her. he wrote a message in arabic on the back of the photo, but my mom never found out what it said. now, courtesy of cardigan_lane, the mystery has been solved!

my mom looks so cute!

it reads: "Distances grow, and time grows with it, and the memory does not die. With my hopes for you to be happy."

aww, very sweet. i'm happy to finally find out :) and, this being the linguist in me, isn't arabic script so beautiful? my mom's polish handwriting is cute enough too, hehe.

not sexy

2009-03-03T22:50:00.002-05:00

today i was waiting for the bus in a sketchy part of my neighbourhood when these two homeless/crazy/drunk men walk up to me. one says 'ooh, a sexy girl!' and then the other chides him saying, 'no, no, she's not sexy!' hmm...

well, this is what i wore today (with a warm coat of course):

sorry if my face looks a little creepy..

cardigan, boots: thrited

top: edc (i've had it forever and will love it forever)

skirt: uo

and what i wore last week, feb 26th (inspired a little by fall 2008 3.1 philip lim):

brooch, belt, boots: thrifted

scarf, top, skirt: h&m

subway dance party

2009-03-03T11:49:00.003-05:00

this is such a great idea! last weekend there was a subway dance party planned on the toronto subway. everyone had to listen to their own music on headphones and gradually start dancing, without saying anything. here's the official video:

i love when one of the subway drivers announces "attention passengers, please do not dance on the train" (at 1:18) and everyone laughs.

but the funniest part is that they are basically dancing in silence, as can be heard in this other video:

Subway Dance Party 2K9 from NOW Magazine on Vimeo.

it's so great that they're bringing some fun into the subway, it's such an awkward place, where everyone is trying to avoid eye contact (save maybe for the few who do smile at each other, then post missed connections on craigslist!)

unfortunately i didn't hear about the event until afterwards, and the only person i know who went was my sister's boyfriend. next year maybe!

amelia's magazine

2009-02-27T22:44:00.003-05:00

all images from ameliasmagazine.com

i just found the cutest magazine at the bookstore tonight! it's called amelia's magazine and features all these great illustrators, bands, designers, artists, etc etc. every page is covered to the edge with photos and illustrations and even the (very few) advertisements are designed so well that they are basically indistinguishable from the content. this is the kind of magazine i can treasure, it's just inherently collectible, an artwork in itself. (unfortunately i went to the website and it turns out that this is the last issue being printed, number 10, and then it will continue online. sucks because i never heard of it before, but i guess that means there are 9 other issues out there that i can try to find!)

colour

2009-02-25T23:04:00.003-05:00

i just accidently became addicted to the colourlovers website...(after being reminded of it by a post by darling darling where she used a colour palette to plan her outfit)
it's so satisfying to create a beautiful palette made to appeal to you. the ones i've made so far are based on photos i like, but the nice thing is you can tweak the colours in any way. i'm definitely going to be finding ways to incorporate these palettes into my life...outfits, making cards, sewing?? if only the website let you create wallpaper!
here are some palletes and patterns i've created so far, with inspiration:

these last two are based on an outfit by fretka, which you can see here. perhaps the colours reflect her mood, but i love this combination.

go and join! then add me as a friend (lover?) so i can see what you create :)

feb 25

2009-02-25T18:28:00.004-05:00

what i wore today (right after gapcio attacked me):

(too lazy to crop)

scarf, top: thrifted

skirt, tights: urban outfitters

boots: vintage

i made this card for my friend last night - it's a reminder for everyone! when i was on the phone with her yesterday she all of a sudden said 'woah!' and it was from checking the weather and seeing +2 degree celsius as the high for today, haha.

cuba

2009-02-25T18:09:00.004-05:00

some random pics from my recent vacation, a birthday present from my bf's parents for us both:

the trip was pretty fun, but there were of course some off things.. it made me very uncomfortable to be in this beautiful resort, with unlimited food and drinks, with someone cleaning up after me, when cubans are living in poverty all around. i didn't know anything about cuba before and didn't choose the location, but i've since read up on it. it's pretty shitty that a waitress working at a resort for foreigners is making way more (in tips) than a doctor. on the other hand, tourism does offer many people a job where they can more than the meager average wage, and choosing to vacation there does help the local people.

in any case, if i go to cuba again i'd rather do the backpacking sort of trip rather than the resort thing.

vacation

2009-02-13T12:04:00.002-05:00

well, i'm off! hope everyone has a great week :)

feb 10th

2009-02-11T00:58:00.004-05:00

top: forever21

cardigan: costa blanca

jeans: moto

oxfords: spring

new things: i got a haircut, and some $20 oxford shoes from spring (a super cheap shoe store that i usually avoid). they have so many shoes on sale right now, for like $15-20 and they ship for free in canada so i recommend you check them out if you're cheap like me!

i really can't believe the 'recession sale' deals all over the place. now is really a great time to shop, though of course people are trying to cut back on spending. i am as well, but spring is coming soon...and, i'm going to cuba for reading week :) we leave on friday morning, yay!

though the weather in toronto hasn't been the worst lately, tomorrow is going to be 8 degrees, which is very warm compared to the -20 from a week or two ago.

actual feb 2nd outfit

2009-02-02T23:10:00.006-05:00

so it turns out yesterday wasn't february 2nd, nor was saturday february 1st...oops! i guess i was too excited for the month to start.

this is the real outfit for the real feb 2nd:

boots and velvet dress: thrifted

cardigan: old navy long ago

hat: olena zylak

some news: it's official, i'm going to be living in warszawa for the month of may and june. it's to help out my grandmother, but i'm excited to explore the art and music in the city! and fashion :)

feb 2nd + something new

2009-02-01T23:38:00.003-05:00

this was today's simple outfit:

batwing top: h&m

vintage belt: gift from a friend

skirt: thirfted

tights: UO

heels: ellen tracy, from winners

i didn't actually wear the shoes, because i was inside all day. but i got them on boxing day at winners, and love them! they're black oxford heels.

and some news... today i spent the day with a model, photographer, and my vintage-selling partner photographing a ton of dresses, skirts, tops, and bags for our new ebay store. the photos look soo great! (i'll have them by the end of the week.) here is the brand new blog for the store: velvet-revolution.blogspot.com. we're aiming to have some items up on ebay in two weeks, first we've got to design the graphics. the store is going to look so good :)

yay, it's february!

2009-02-01T12:09:00.003-05:00

february is the most significant month for me!

birthdays: mine, my boyfriend's, my mom's, and 3 of my closest friends (yay for aquarius and pisces!)

and: valentine's day + my name day + my yearly anniversary with sebastian

also: i have a week break from school, and this year sebastian's parents are taking us to cuba :)

hat: olena zylak
dress: h&m
cardigan, boots, socks: thrifted
shirt, tights: random stores

so, i was at the dentist yesterday and he asked 'this is your last year of school, right?' and i replied 'yup, i'm just going to take a couple more courses in the fall, then i'm done!' and then he asked 'so, what then? university? college?' and i, confused, replied 'umm, it's my last year of university...my 5th year!' and he said, 'ohh, i thought you were still in highschool. you look like you're 16!'

so apparently i've looked 16 for about 7 years now... or maybe less, since when i was actually 16 i probably looked 12. this doesn't bother me now, except when i walk into a bar and i just KNOW from the suspicious looks directed at me that i'm going to be the only one in the group who is ID'd. and they usually examine my license for awhile, very carefully.. it makes me feel like i'm lying.

oh well...

here is what i made in my second sewing class, a makeup pouch. it even has a zipper :)

i'm going to make a bigger one this week for practice and because i carry around more than can fit in this one.

first post for 2009

2009-01-27T01:44:00.002-05:00

my posting has been very sporadic lately... but anyway, hope everyone has had a nice new year so far! though it is still the middle of winter, spring will come eventually!

here is yesterday and today's outfit. the red-plaid trend is (or should be) dying by now, but i bought this dress quite a long time ago, and so i still like it. i actually have it in a lighter bluish colour as well. these tights are really warm, but as may be visible, the print only goes up to mid-thigh. why? it's like they're trying to prevent sluttiness or something. my dress was a little on the slutty side according to mcgregor then, but not today's skirt, haha.

dress: winner

tights: mcgregor

boots: thrifted last week for $7

skirt: thrifted

cardigan: korean store

tee: h&m

(i really love the print, it's random animals and plants.

otherwise, don't buy h&m tees, they shrink like crazy!)

i also have a new addition to my family: a little cat named piper, from my friend who was moving and couldn't have a cat in her new place. she works at a vet clinic and a box of abandoned kittens was brought in one day, and were going to be put to sleep. many people who work there took one home instead of letting them die, and my friend actually asked me if i wanted piper back then, but my landlords were against it.

anyway, she is very well named: she 'pipes' constantly. no meowing, just high-pitched little noises. she's very gentle and a great friend to gapcio-they groom each other, sleep together, wrestle and chase each other around the house non-stop. it sounds like a little stampede going through!

piper

hope school is going well for anyone in school! this is my last real semester of university (i will do one more semester part-time next fall), and so far it's pretty good. what makes it even better is that i'm taking two non-uni classes for fun: sewing and japanese. i love learning both!

some of my sewing practice from class - i was good at the maze :)

learning how to write in japanese

here's to a great winter 2009!

polska style

2008-12-30T02:37:00.003-05:00

here's an article in the new york times about thrifting in poland: in poland, style comes used and by the pound

(seen on the bits and bobbins blog)

an excerpt that i can agree with:

"...after socialism consumers placed a great emphasis on labels and logos, to prove that their clothes were new and expensive. A willingness to embrace used clothes signals a new maturity in a city finding its way in fashion..."

i can remember when i was younger and would have nike pants or shoes (when i actually cared about the difference between nike and adidas) my cousins would be so into them. even the name for running shoes 'adidasy' seems to come out of this. though my cousins still wouldn't proudly shop second-hand, it's very cool to see all the thrifted style coming out of poland now!

androgyny

2008-12-29T21:55:00.004-05:00

i am always attracted to androgynous people and clothing, so i love doshaburi's style of photographing many pieces on both a guy and girl. it puts a new focus on the clothing itself and doesn't constrain styles to a specific gender. they sell some very cool labels, check it out!

marjan pejoski

bernard willhelm

eley kishimoto

all images from doshaburi

gluttony

2008-12-22T11:04:00.003-05:00

another photo from the seven sins set:

styling by me, photo by pawel tosiek

wrath and greed

2008-12-15T14:31:00.004-05:00

some images from that seven sins shoot...

wrath

greed

styled by me (vintage fur cape, coat and hat), photographed by pawel tosiek

pawel recently opened a modepass account, if you'd like to check it out

the end?

2008-12-15T14:14:00.007-05:00

as a follow-up to my post a little while ago, toronto has declared the end of hipsterdom:

spot-the-hipster (the four types)

read 'a hipster retrospective'

and find out if you are one

see, i told you toronto was obsessed.

booties and shipping

2008-12-07T00:39:00.005-05:00

i just added an amazing pair of booties to my etsy shop. they're exactly the type of shoes i'd love to be wearing..but they're way too big for me :( if anyone is size 9 or 9.5 then i recommend these to you! they are burgandy suede with a cuff that can be rolled up or down. (update: yay, they have sold)

click here to go to listing

also, due to some problems with economy shipping to the US (ie. packages disappearing into the abyss), i'm only going to ship via expedited shipping, which has online tracking and takes only about a week. i think that paying a little more is definitely worth your (and my) peace of mind and you getting your purchase super-quick rather than waiting and waiting. shipping to other parts of canada already includes tracking and quick service with economy. international shipping is unfortunately more expensive as would be expected, and the basic rate of $14 USD only covers an untracked voyage that can take up to a month. to get quicker and more reliable shipping, it's about $30 USD, which isn't too bad if you have a strong currency like the euro or pound.

while i'm talking about shipping, let me complain about something: for christmas my boyfriend was going to buy me people of the labyrinth's luctor et emergo perfume, which is the most beautiful perfume i have ever smelled. i've coveted it for years and thought i would finally get it.. so we went online to buy it, and it is already very expensive, but then to ship to canada (a little bottle!) it costs $20, plus another $40 in customs tax and brokerage fees. so this little 100ml bottle of perfume ends up costing over $300 CAD! i told my boyfriend to just forget about it.. i don't know what's up with this whole border customs thing, but it really sucks!

spring

2008-12-06T20:12:00.012-05:00

it's really strange to look at spring 2009 runway photos when it's snowing and dark outside in the first month of winter...

the general look for spring seems to be pure white with some colour thrown in, also hard to look at since i'm really loving everything dark right now. probably by the time the snow is thawing i'll be able to wear light colours again, but for now the cold is keeping me dressed a la pigeon combine, a brand i just heard about and really like:

(image from for-tomorrow)

anyway, i took a look at three shows and found some outfits i really liked:

william rast - interesting jackets over casual shorts and tee

3.1 phillip lim - simple black/white/grey with interesting details

marc by marc jacobs - jackets, lace-up shoes, eclectic

(all images from style.com)

the seven sins

2008-12-04T02:10:00.004-05:00

(click to enlarge a bit)

photographed by pawel tosiek

i did another photoshoot with my friend, with the theme 'the seven deadly sins'. hmm i'm kind of liking this styling thing. the modeling part, well... it's interesting to see yourself captured through someone else's lens, the final photos selected by someone else...
let me know what you think (you can maybe ignore the lust one..i ran out of ideas)

a photo and some frustration

2008-11-27T23:49:00.003-05:00

after that photoshoot on monday my friend took some photos of me in the clothes i had worn that day. if all my photos were such good quality i would post everyday!

sweater and shoes: vintage, pants: h&m, hat: local designer

also, i got really frustrated/angry/annoyed with toronto today. i was going to rant on and on but i've calmed down since coming home from school (edit: this is still probably considered ranting on and on). basically, young torontonians are on the whole extremely, obsessively, painfully self-conscious of themselves. as in, analyzing every little aspect of their social being and labeling it, hipster, pretentious, pseudo-this, neo-that. there is this obsession with defining 'hipster' and calling everyone around you by this label while denying that you are of this type yourself. i was reading a school newspaper and it seemed like half of it was 'ironic' hipster defining/bashing content. things along the lines of "for christmas, get your tea-drinking friend a book called 'ways to spot pretentiousness.'" because, as you all know, drinking tea is a newly invented 'hipster' activity, not at all a deeply rooted part of everyday life in virtually every culture the world over. nothing can be genuinely liked anymore, nothing can be done without the consideration of 'is this cool? is this so uncool it's cool?' this obsession with 'hipsterdom' is i guess a general north american one. but i'm waiting with fingers crossed for the day when everyone will accept the fact that any young person liking ANYTHING at all is by today's definition a 'hipster' and we can all go back to living our lives, caring about the things that actually matter. i drink a cup of tea everyday, my dad drinks a cup of tea everyday, all of my ancestors probably drank a cup of tea everyday, so yes, we are all by definition pretentious hipsters, now let's stop caring about this and go back to enjoying our tea.

delicious-pretentious tea at a cafe in gdansk, poland

the ultimate accessory

2008-11-26T18:54:00.003-05:00

le bon bon multicolore

straight up jankey

rock and roll loves you

missemma.peel

le bon bon multicolore

dididoune

dot dash

photoshoot

2008-11-26T12:11:00.004-05:00

i modeled for my friend's school project the other day. he's a really great photographer and i'm looking forward to doing some styling for him in the future. i like the softness of this photo, but it was supposed to have a 'glamour' look to it, which i don't really think i can pull off, haha. but at least i got the seriousness down.

i am in fact wearing vintage: a 70s plum disco dress, and 50s black oxfords

i'll post some outfit photos from the same shoot soon, which are a lot more my style.

cozy capes

2008-11-17T17:19:00.005-05:00

it's been snowing a bit for the past few days and what would be perfect right now is a big, cozy cape. here are some cool ones that i've spotted:

etsy:

gold grass vintage

eva mania design

ebay: (such a goldmine for capes!)

the robot parade

sick thrift

best outfit blog

2008-11-10T01:47:00.004-05:00

a girl i know did an 'ultimate fashion challenge' where she had to wear every single thing she owned only once until she got through everything. not only is she damn cute, with some pretty good outfits (and of course, some embarassing ones), her writing is hilarious. it's the funniest an outfit blog can get, for sure.

so, i recommend you go and read it right now: laura jane's ultimate fashion challenge

click on the link for each week to see that week's blog post. enjoy!

cold weather

2008-11-09T22:42:00.004-05:00

what i look like everyday when i'm outside during fall and winter, and more specifically today:

hat: local toronto shop

scarf: from a friend

dress and boots: vintage shop

coat: gestuz, bought in berlin this summer

(most people don't buy winter coats in the middle of summer, but i guess i do haha)

couple of new listings

2008-11-09T22:23:00.003-05:00

check them out:

new romantic 80s blouse

aztec empire-waist mini dress

halloween

2008-10-31T18:38:00.004-04:00

i somehow don't feel like going out anywhere for halloween and conveniently my friends feel the same way, so we'll get together and watch some scary movies :)

here's today's outfit:

cropped blazer: second-hand shop

vintage plaid skirt: estate sale

shoes: print vintage

these shoes are suede and leather oxfords from the 40s or 50s. i love them!

happy halloween! hope you eat lots of candy!

lookalikes

2008-10-31T03:55:00.002-04:00

exactitudes is an interesting project of photographing people around the world and then categorizing them by style. the groupings define looks that i never thought of as a specific style, but in fact kind of are. take a look!

(saw this on the uo blog btw)

the everyday

2008-10-30T23:24:00.002-04:00

i'm under a mountain of homework right now, i was sick for over a month so i'm super behind! this leads to me just throwing on my jeans, a tee and boots everyday.

so, here's one of these everyday outfits:

jeans: my standard pair, some random brand

the rest: from local vintage shops

i just bought the bolero/cropped blazer thing the other day at this cute vintage secondhand shop, even though i'm really broke. winter is coming though, or maybe already here in toronto (it was snowing yesterday! it's still october!) so it's not too frivolous right? :)

can't wait till i'm done all this homework!

to put it off for a few more minutes, here are some blogs i have recently bookmarked:

histyley.com

los angeles street style (ps, i want to look exactly like this, so cute!)

the blade

a roundup of street style photos from different websites

hipster musings

a fellow canadian with cute oufits

la meow

probably the most fearless dresser, everything looks good on her. her flickr is even better

now in the shop

2008-10-18T21:34:00.004-04:00

i just put these items in the shop, check them out! more to come soon!

music and art

2008-10-12T23:15:00.003-04:00

a song i love by bowerbirds, and the 'concert à emporter' they did in nyc:

#90.4 - BOWERBIRDS - In our talons
Uploaded by lablogotheque

speaking of which, the artist beth tacular who designed their website is very cool. this is the bottom website graphic:

and here are a couple of her other works, with interesting native and environmental themes:

"tree, with ancestors"

because i'm a perfect example?

2008-10-12T22:40:00.002-04:00

i don't know if i ever mentioned this, but it's kind of funny. probably a day or two after i posted my very first outfit photo on flickr, this guy used it on his blog. how did he even find me? (how did i find him? through some sort of flickr tracker) luckily it didn't spawn any heated discussions haha.

gocco

2008-10-12T21:48:00.009-04:00

i want to get a gocco again. badly. i almost bought one a year ago but then i wasn't sure how worth it was for what the results would be. today i was looking on etsy and i saw some very detailed and inspiring prints, which increased my confidence in the medium. i really can't afford one right now, but i would loove to make my own gocco christmas cards this year.

very cool medium :) if you have been reading this blog for awhile (maybe somebody has?) then you might have noticed that i've mentioned other types of crafting/art that i want to do. all i EVER want to do is everything creative. write, draw, make jewellery, make clothing, write music, and so on. unfortunately (non-creative) school and work sucks away all my time, so the only one of those i do is write. and that's only because i purposely took a creative writing class at school to make writing a compulsory part of my homework. i'm going to work on making the other things a bigger part of my everyday, but for now at least i can admire lots of other people's work!

fall photoshoot

2008-10-08T20:02:00.005-04:00

so, i've been saying it for awhile and today i finally took some photos of clothing for the etsy shop. my vintage-loving friend modelled :) (the good thing about partnering with someone is it actually forces you to set dates and get things done, which neither of us would be likely to do on our own)

the weather was very rainy and getting darker by the minute, so we had to use flash in a lot of photos. but not all, and those with natural light are my favourite :) here is a sneak peek:

this last one is my favourite!

so, what do you think? i think they turned out much better than when i was taking photos of myself. i'm pretty excited about the future of the shop, because now we will be meeting once or twice a week to take photos and go thrifting :)

all of these items, plus more, will be in the store by the end of this weekend. if you see anything specific you would like, you can always reserve it!

at long last, an outfit post

2008-10-08T18:43:00.003-04:00

this is what i wore on monday :)

boots, belt, wool socks: vintage

tights and dress: pull&bear

top: tee

i'm not sure if i'm going to be posting too many more outfits, but i will be posting pictures from my etsy store, and random fashion inspirations.

shoes shoes shoes

2008-10-04T10:46:00.005-04:00

i've finally photographed all the great shoes i'm going to sell in the shop. some of the listings are already up. check out these pictures:

most of them are quite small, like 5.5 or 6, but a couple are 7.5 or 8. a lot of them are from the estate sale i went to, and are in such perfect condition!

a friend of mine is going to partner up with me for etsy, and we're doing a little photoshoot (with her as the model luckily) this wednesday. i really can't wait to put up all the cute things i have stored :)

what i wore today

2008-09-25T13:28:00.005-04:00

1- i forgot my camera cable at my parents'... so, still no new photos

2- i am somehow in that new book, 'what i wore today' from graffito books.

i didn't think i would be since i didn't submit the permission form, but.. there i am, sans my official permission, haha. anyway, i guess that means i am now part of a piece of history, along with many others from the wardrobe_remix group.

the picture chosen was actually the very first outfit picture i ever put online, and pretty bad quality, but the outfit isn't too bad. i wonder what the text says? (especially since i didn't answer any questions or anything...) has anyone seen this book in bookstores? i'd like to see it, it'll be like having a wardrobe_remix edition of 'fruits' :)

better get started

2008-09-22T10:10:00.003-04:00

ahhh, i went to an estate sale yesterday that was basically a huuge warehouse room filled (FILLED) with clothing. over 100 pairs of awesome shoes! (all size 6 though, too small for me) soo many perfect clothes from the 60s to the 90s! i ended up choosing so many things that i have to go pick it all up by car (or many bicycle trips). i chose some things for the vintage store i work at but mainly tons of stuff to sell on etsy.

now that i have the 3 existing bags of clothing in my bedroom + this new huge amount of stuff, i'd better get started on putting it all online. i've already planned two photo sessions with two cute friends to model for me later this week, so it should happen soon.

i also got my camera back from my parents' yesterday (secondary reason i haven't taken any pictures) and i plan to photograph my giant pile of finds later today :)

just wait till you see the boots and booties i found. wow.

curly-haired girls

2008-09-18T22:43:00.005-04:00

have you seen the fall 2008 3.1 philip lim photos? the cutest girl ever (named heidi rock) is in them, along with two other girls who i can't help but ignore. she has the cutest short curly hair, which is my favourite hair on anybody, boy or girl, and a very pretty, mischievous look. i love so many of the looks in the gallery, with all of the dresses layered with cardigans and scarves held with brooches. but really, that model adds so much more appeal to every outfit. i'm zachwycona ;)

unfortunately i can't post any pictures from the website, since it's in flash, but go take a look!

(this is not from philip lim, hehe)

grr

2008-09-18T22:43:00.002-04:00

so, i haven't posted for awhile, and it's because since i've returned home i've been feeling really unimpressed with clothing in general. i don't know why exactly, and i was looking forward to fall layering. in fact, i've been layering everyday, but i'm just feeling apathetic about it all.

maybe it's the change of seasons? or maybe the fact that i can't even afford thrift store clothing right now?

the good news about that, for the rest of the vintage-lovers out there, is that i've decided to sell many great vintage dresses, the ones that i love but just don't feel like myself in.

the bad news related to that is that i can't log-in to stupid paypal and i've even spent a long time on the phone with customer service and they can't resolve it. it's a mystery or something. i can't even cancel my account! so i'm very annoyed and angry, and can't sell anything on etsy right now.

i'll keep you updated...

back home

2008-09-07T09:13:00.003-04:00

hey, thanks for the comments while i was gone :)

it was a fun trip with a lot of train travelling, which i actually love. canadians don't really ride trains a whole lot. i've only ever been on one once in canada, from toronto to ottawa. but poland is connected intricately with railways and although some of the trains are quite terrible, it's still a lot of fun.

i didn't take too many 'outfit shots' but you will be instead be treated to a (large) selection of random shots from the trip:

graffiti fox on the berlin wall

shipyards in gdansk

my uncle jacek, cousin arkadiusz, and me on a boat in wroclaw

jellyfish and amber-mixed sand on the baltic shore

view of wroclaw

in an underground factory hall built by hitler

my sister

reconstructed silesian village

some scraggly animals

prodigy concert in krakow

at the krakow location of my favourite czech chain called 'the good tea room'

old kazimierz jewish district in krakow

nicole

rainy warszawa

near the contemporary art gallery

belorussian orthodox church

hundreds-of-years-old tree in bialowierza forest

nicole being lazy and cranky in bialowierza (obligatory part of any trip)

goodbye poland!

poland is a beautiful country with so many contrasts between the traditional, the communist-era, and the super-advanced, and i will miss it. but now after just a little break, i have a fresh appreciation of toronto, the city where the whole world lives together. there are so many little nuances that define every society, and when in poland, i can'talways understand them, since i didn't grow up there. it's hard to explain, but in toronto i feel so comfortable walking down the street, understanding easily my identity within the community and the identity of all those around me. but in a different country (maybe even city) the little rules and markers change, and need to be learned all over. so i feel a bit relieved to be home.

and excited for my last year of school! starting in two days...

berlin

2008-08-20T14:58:00.003-04:00

last week i was in berlin, right now i am in opole...i'll post a better update next week :)

(leaning on a certain famous wall)

dark day

2008-08-08T22:26:00.004-04:00

i haven't been updating much, and i'm leaving on sunday for my trip so here is today's outfit :) and darker hair

(i'm looking pretty tired/mad though, sorry!)

top: urban outfitters

jeans: h&m

boots: vintage

bag: i've been wanting it for a long time, and i finally bought it because it will make a great travel bag - it's from the japanese brand hanpu koubou

i'm all packed and ready to go! well not all that ready, i still haven't done basic things like writing down the addresses of the hostels we're staying at and other such things. i'm pretty happy with my packing job: i managed to fit the ingredients for a wide variety of outfits in a very small luggage, the kind most people would take on the plane with them. i actually think this blog helped with that since i can easily see what i wear and how one skirt can go with many different tees and belts.

i'd like to update this blog at least a few times while i'm in poland, so stay tuned!

and happy rest of summer!

a lot of nothing

2008-08-05T23:49:00.005-04:00

i've been going back and forth between the city and the suburbs recently, which drains my energy. i get depressed when i'm back at my parents' house. it's something to do with lost memories and nostalgia, but also the lifelessness of the neighbourhood. it makes me feel empty. it's weird that i grew up there...

(as a side-note, i really hate going to malls.)

i got a haircut...

when i'm at my parents' house, i mainly stay out in the yard or read books that are lying around. at least there are cats there :)

this is my very first cat, kicia (given name: ebany salomondriel, from a half-elf character in a fantasy series i liked when i was younger). my first boyfriend saved him when he was a tiny kitten running across a busy street and then invited me over to get a 'surprise present' :) the weird thing is that hanging out with my cat, who is very much alive, gives me nostalgia as well.

my ocelot soul

2008-08-01T13:17:00.008-04:00

i wore this last week:

dress, belt, shoes: all print vintage

my boss gave me the dress for free after i had modeled in a few ebay pictures :) right away i loved the flowing, light fabric and the print, especially all the turquoise in it.

i just finished reading the his dark materials trilogy by philip pullman and it was just amazing. i couldn't put it down! it's filed under the genre of 'children's fantasy' and sure children can enjoy it, but they definitely won't get all the references to history, our present society, the whole church establishment, and so on. this is the kind of book i'm sad to finish, because i enjoy being immersed in that other world so much. there is a crappy movie somewhat based on the first book, called 'the golden compass'. on the website for the movie, you can take a quiz to find out what your daemon would be (an animal extension of your soul). this is mine (an ocelot):

hehe, it's a fun thing to imagine, having a daemon like that. it would have been cool if i had got the black cat daemon though, considering i already have one around.

if anyone is looking for fun summer reading, read that trilogy!

remixer

2008-07-24T22:23:00.007-04:00

this is what i wore yesterday:

top (with rows of giraffes and zebras and i think lions too): jean machine

shorts: vintage from ebay

shoes, belt: print vintage

flourescent yellow bra: one of my first bras ever! little did i know back in grade 7 that i would never have to buy a bigger size, hehe.

and with this photo i was chosen as a wardrobe_remix(er) o' the week! i was just complaining that i don't like posting these low-light photos, but maybe they're not as bad as i think? anyways it's nice that i was chosen. especially since this outfit was 100% influenced by the urban outfitters email i got yesterday morning, hehe.

i'm crossing my fingers that it will be sunny tomorrow! all i want to do right now is take those etsy pictures.

edit: i should probably pay more attention because i just discovered i was already chosen once before, on july 10th. i love that plaid dress and those boots so i'm happy she chose that one :)

trip update

2008-07-23T11:09:00.006-04:00

man, it's raining today, which means that my house is really dark and i can't take any etsy pictures :(

i can, however, think about my upcoming trip to poland! this is my revised route, which now includes krakow, yay!

some ideas i have for each place:

berlin - i booked a hostel in a supposedly artsy/fashiony neighbourhood called friedrichshain, so i'm sure it will be interesting to explore. we're only there for 2 days so i want to take two different city tours, one biking, one walking, just to get a sense of the whole city. most likely we'll take the 'new berlin tours' free bike tour, and maybe also the red berlin tour, because i have a particular interest in the soviet past, since my parents lived through those years in poland.

gdansk - we're here for three days and i'm hoping to just explore because the city has a very rich history. the cities nearby have different things to offer, so i'll try to visit them all. leba is supposed to have the best beaches, hel is a little fishing village that is the best place to windsurf in the world? (maybe i'll try!), sopot is 'the hip brother' of gdansk, and gdynia sounds quite charming. also, there is a sand-dunes provincial park outside of leba, so i want to rent bikes and go there. sounds like this part of the trip will be the most vacation-like :)

wroclaw - my uncle lives here so we'll stay with him and probably just walk around the city and see the things we always see, like the old churches, botanical garden and japanese garden. i really love this city and would love to live here!

swidnica - my close family lives here, though my cousins are away working in germany and england. apparently my mom's highschool friends are planning a party to meet me and my sister. ahhh! well, i hope they bring pictures of my mom wearing all those 70s fashions!

opole - my aunt lives here, and i really like her, but i've never gotten a good feeling from this city. is there anything anyone could recommend to see here? the one thing i like is the little zoo and those weird little monkeys they have there, haha.

krakow - i'm very happy that i can go here afterall. i want to take the 'crazy guides' communist tour, which sounds really funny. the rest of the time will be spent exploring the beautiful city. any recommendations for cafes, restaurants, galleries?

warszawa - my babcia lives here and we are actually staying here the longest. i like walking around the city and finding interesting things. last time i was there i randomly found 'stash canadian cafe' which has another location in montreal! of course i was excited to see a canadian restaurant in poland, so i went in and ordered myself pancakes with maple syrup!

i still haven't discovered any of the sorts of artsy neighbourhoods like those i visit/live in here in toronto. my friend who studies fine arts there tells me that the coolest places are 'underground', that a tourist would never stumble on them. well, i'd like to know where they are!

i'm really excited! only 2.5 more weeks before we leave.

july 19th outfit

2008-07-22T22:57:00.003-04:00

i've hardly been posting, because although i have worn some more interesting outfits, i never have time to photograph them while it's light outside. i don't like posting photos with grain from low light. but, i'm posting one once more, from saturday night. i'm soaking wet in the picture, though it isn't too obvious. i had got caught in a storm while biking home from work.

bag and shoes: print vintage

top: h&m with replaced buttons

skirt: ny flea market

note my bf's newest addition to our decor: a coffee sack, bought for $3.50 haha

i only posted 6 things up on etsy and they've all sold except one! i'm pretty happy about that, and it's spurring me on to photograph the other million things i have waiting to go in the store. hopefully tomorrow will be sunny so i can take some photos by the window.

the shoes still in the store are actually quite cool, and i'd wear them myself if they fit better. they have interesting cutout shapes and mesh on them:

these are some things i started to photograph last week:

cute little dress with cherries and pears on it

navy wool blazer whose buttons i replaced with some cool vintage gold-coloured ones i found lying around in the vintage store i work at (see below):

how do you photograph belts? i think i will incorporate them into outfits with other things for sale... this belt is wide and stretchy and kind of cowboy-ish.

cocorosie - noah's ark

2008-07-18T23:21:00.011-04:00

i've deleted the video from this post because although it looked fine the first day, it started showing up as three different player windows and made the page load slowly. sorry!
but regardless, everyone go listen to cocorosie. they're beautiful.

at the beach

2008-07-15T22:44:00.003-04:00

i basically said 'fuck it' to all the work i have to do, and went to the beach with my friend today.

it was a beach on an island in toronto, so of course, not the most prime swimming destination. but it was really fun, we had wine and a picnic, and we eventually did go swimming. my first time swimming in lake ontario actually. it was sooo cold!

geese were flying all over the lake in different formations

rocks and sand...

i fell asleep with wet hair after swimming and this was the sexy result, haha.

this is a random bikini i got at winners in a rush a few days ago, but i really like it. turns out it's by some designer robin piccone and would have cost about $150, but i got it for $40. nice

tagged

2008-07-15T00:11:00.003-04:00

i was tagged by hannah of vintage vinyl :) it's a pretty fun tag actually!

the resulting mosaic:

descriptions:

kasia strauss, something to do with racism, a photo of an wall in my actual highschool, a beautiful weathered turquoise door, eugene hutz!!, a teapot that i presume has earl grey inside, a lazy dog in an eastern european village, a delicious looking paczek, a cool pic from a chinese magazine, a doodle in chinese i think, the cutest non-farouche kitten, and me :)

rules:

a: type your answer to each of the questions into flickr search

b: using only the first page, pick an image

c: copy and paste each of the urls for the images into mosaic maker

my answers:

one - what is your first name? kasia

two - what is your favourite food? everything sugary

three - what high school did you go to? cawthra park art school

four - what is your favourite colour? turquoise

five - who is your celebrity crush? (i really don't pay attention to celebrities..so i'll pick someone who is super cool) eugene hutz

six - favourite drink? earl grey tea

seven - dream vacation? villages in eastern europe

eight - favourite dessert? (this is so difficult, i love ALL dessert!!) paczki

nine - what do you want to be when you grow up? a writer, artist, store owner...

ten - what do you love most in life? every day alive

eleven - one word to describe you? farouche

twelve - your flickr name? kicia vintage (my fake one is kasia+vintage)

i'm tagging:

kennedy holmes

style digger

no signposts in the sea

jakubowa

(can i tag so many my first time? haha)

today

2008-07-14T22:36:00.004-04:00

i liked what i wore the past 2 days, but didn't take any photos, oh well.. it just means i can re-wear them soon and no one will be the wiser ;)

here is today's outfit:

grey patent belt and black cardigan: h&m

tee: f21

everything else: vintage

my apartment really sucks for photos, because it doesn't get much light during the day, and there are no blank walls anywhere. i think i might try using this window in my bedroom more though, because i like the colours and natural light.

yesterday

2008-07-12T12:10:00.003-04:00

this is what i wore:

shoes, belt, dress: vintage

bag: gift from a friend's trip to london (it's from harrod's)

i went with the conversation class i teach to the distillery district, a really interesting neighbourhood of preserved victorian industrial buildings that was turned into an artistic community. and i bought some delicious chocolate :)

actually, i saw some interesting art there as well:

ryoko suzuki - she superimposed her face onto japanese anime figurines

marc seguin - he incorporated real roadkill into his paintings. this is a coyote carcass.

t-straps

2008-07-10T23:55:00.004-04:00

so i think i love these shoes now... :) i pretty much just want to wear them with everything. but i guess that's what i do with all 'new' vintage shoes.

today was nice, i met up with my russian friend and we went to a polish cafe in my neighbourhood for lunch where she ate ruskie (russian) flavour pierogies. funny name for the flavour since she grew up in russia and had never ate anything similar before!

then i worked during the evening and my mom and sister came to visit for the first time (it's an organic/specialty foods store i just started at). they bought so many different things, especially different specialty chocolates. my favourite is this 'xocolatl' aztec flavour with hot chilies in it.

here is what i wore:

tee: from a friend, but originally urban outfitters
cardigan: korean store
belt: h&m probably
bag, skirt, shoes: vintage
wooden necklace: czech republic

my little sister is going to design me a banner for my blog and store this week, so i'm excited about that :) maybe some day this blog will look really nice, hehe.

august teen vogue

2008-07-10T11:29:00.004-04:00

i'm really impressed with the august edition of teen vogue. it confirms my years-long appreciation for the style shown in the magazine: a mix-up of pieces that i would actually wear. i remember in highschool when i would buy the magazine and my friends would be like 'why are you buying the teen edition? real vogue is so much better.' i always said that the way the shoots are styled is so much more realistic than 'real' vogue.

anyway, so many outfits in this edition seem straight out of a wardrobe remix blog!

blazer: check

vintage-looking dress shoes: check

oversized glasses: check

uhh, where can i find this turquoise scooter?

cuffed dress pants: check

boots i want to go buy: check

and wow, i really really want that fox sweater!

they aren't all online, but here are some more i found:

this is so cute, especially the jumper and leather bag!

another blazer, and cute bag

80s-looking outfit

another blazer and some rumi-style shoes

i love this belt and really cute/weirdly fuzzy bag

running late late late

2008-07-10T11:08:00.005-04:00

yesterday i was supposed to wake up at 7:30 and leisurely get ready, then choose my fall/winter courses online at 9am, then make sure to leave the house by 9:30 to get to a doctor's appointment in the suburbs by 11:00. following this i was going to leisurely travel back downtown for work at 14:00.

instead i slept in till 9:20, stumbled over to the computer and groggily chose those courses (luckily my start time was so early that none were full yet), then put some clothes on and left the house. and was late for my appointment. but, not late for work :)

here is what i wore, but i took the photos at midnight after biking home tipsy. while my cat ran around insanely to punish me for leaving him alone all day.

tee: club monaco

jeans: h&m

vintage shoes and scarf: from work

belt: value village

Throwing around some more times, let me mention my boyfriend's insane work schedule yesterday. Tuesday night we fell asleep around 2am and he had to wake up at 4:30am! He worked from 6am to midnight on 2.5 hours of sleep! Then he got home at 1am last night, we fell asleep around 2am again, and he woke up at 5am this morning. So, he is working a second long day on only 3 hours! BUT, he is making triple-overtime pay today, since they didn't give him enough time to rest. The three-day shoot may earn him a ton of money. That is the craziness of the film industry!

simple nautical

2008-07-07T23:48:00.006-04:00

today was soo hot! but that's awesome since it's been too cool recently for shorts and bare legs. hope it continues!

i'm really proud because i altered this dress today. i've had it for months now in my 'to-alter' pile and finally tackled it. it was ankle length so i shortened it, plus i shortened the straps to make it more empire-waist.

dress: value village

bag: vintage coach from my work

shoes: vagabond from czech republic a few years ago

charm bracelet: ny flea market

i got this bracelet at a new york flea market and i really like it. it has all these court-room charms like a witness chair, mallet, scales and a bible!

making a late-night dinner of tuna onigiri, yum yum. seb playing around with camera effects.

saturday night outfit

2008-07-07T11:04:00.004-04:00

i've still been sick and haven't felt like taking any pictures but on saturday night i decided to go out for a couple of hours to meet some friends. i was wearing something different during the day but then i felt like wearing darker colours at night. with the boots this ended up looking a little bit 'cute-grunge' i think.

bag: vintage shop

boots: from the 90s, free from work

girl's dress: thrifted last week for a few dollars

thrifting makes everything better...

2008-07-03T21:36:00.009-04:00

so when i thought i was coming down with a cold on monday, i was right, a really bad cold! but now i'm finally feeling better and even thrifted some great things today :)

everything here i've worn recently, but these are the leather flats i thrifted today

i've begun to photograph things for etsy and i've put up some listings for shoes. my favourite are the ones i found today! whoever the future size 7-wearing owner is, i'm jealous!

i also really love the brown stacked-heel maryjanes, and they fit me perfectly, but i just don't wear them enough. someone more girly will give them the love they deserve.

here are all of the listings, check them out!

polska polska

2008-06-30T22:34:00.004-04:00

i found out recently that i'll be going to poland for three weeks in august with my sister. this is our tentative trip plan, planned around family and the fact that we've never been to the baltic sea before:

but i'd like your advice, if possible: which cities are the best to visit in the north? i was thinking about szczecin and kolobrzeg, and maybe torun while on the way to warszawa. but i can't go to all of those, i need to choose one. what would you recommend?

i'm excited! i always enjoy being in poland :)