Through My Eyes – a bright red hat

Could this be the most stylish mum walking around Malaga on a blisteringly hot Sunday afternoon? Few people can pull off a bright red floppy hat with such effortless grace.

She was also extremely pretty.

Just a random thought/image. I have a new camera and I’m on the hunt for inspiring images. I’m no “coolhunter”, even though I secretly wish I were like Jill from Street Style London. Right now I’m just a girl struggling with words such as ISO, shutter speed and “noise”.

My new toy et moi perfecting the “let’s see how good I look in front of a mirror” technique

Pictures: Fashion Limbo

On Shoes and Emotions – a Sunday outfit

It’s funny how a pair of shoes can stir emotions other than the usual satisfaction of a new buy. Today I want to share something with you – more than an outfit post.

I apologise for the quality of the pictures, we’re still learning to use the new camera.

I may have mentioned it before, but there was once a girl in my life that made me smile on a regular basis. I did the same for her for the 8 years I knew her. We weren’t related but we felt like sisters to each other. I bought my first pair of Adidas with her, the boxing boot type. It was a rainy day, and instead of spending the day in London as planned, we deviated towards the Bluewater shopping centre.

We also shared ugly times, rough patches, stood next to each other when our hearts got broken. We went on holiday together, shared silly inside jokes. She was my best friend.

She disappeared from my life two years ago.

I still don’t know what went wrong. Somebody hurt her so much she suddenly felt she could trust no more. She banned everyone from her life, including me. With no warning, she evaporated into thin air.

I’ve cried for her, missed her until it physically hurt.

I don’t know where she is in the world, I don’t know what happened to her. In a way, she is still inside of me. I think of her almost every day and hope she has found whatever she needed to make her smile. I have a billion reasons to curve my mouth in such a way, I just need to remind myself more often.

Dress: New Look, Belt: Massimo Dutti, Shoes: Adidas courtesy of Spartoo

Pictures: Fashion Limbo

How To Save Money On The Sales – a personal strategy

No money, tough times, lots of bills and house-hold expenses makes Jess a moody bunny. However, the sales are here and, in the name of doing things right, I have set myself some rules. The aim? attempting to not blow my budget, avoid overspending and regretful purchases just because everything carries a “reduced” price tag.

1 – Weeks before the sales, or the day before hitting the shops, I will have a list of the things I plan to grab. There are three categories: What I Need, The Investment, The Treat. The list has been shaped out over time on my iPhone note app, but you can use a paper diary or your memo-tool of choice.

2 – I will have a clear idea of what I will be looking for: I decided to use a site like Polyvore and create a visual idea of what I will go for. Sales are a lot about scanning the busy – and sometimes crazy – store floor and locating the items you want, fast. Having this image in my head, hopefully I will walk in, maybe find what I covet, and walk out, with the planned items or with nothing else.

3 – What I Need: is that item that I don’t have, or that is required to substitute a worn out or missing item. In my case, I could do with a military style parka, something for the cool Autumn nights in Malaga, my new home. My heavy winter coats have become kind of useless. I also require some new trousers, again for the different climate.

4 – The Investment: this item may or not be purchased. It refers to a normally very expensive object when fully-priced, even if it’s something for the next season. This may be some knitwear by a brand I would normally shy away from, or a coat from the winter-stock that normally makes an appearance during the sales. Personally I would love a bag in the Cambridge Satchel style, but this may also be considered a treat, which is the next category.

5 – The Treat: this is either something I don’t really need, like jewellery, or a pink maxi-skirt by Zara: a heavily on-trend piece, meaning I may not wear it season after season.

This is my system, it may work, it may completely fall through and I will end up going for some completely unnecessary Wonder Woman underwear – I really need to stop doing that – or I may be completely uninspired by the craziness of the sales, which normally I hate, and return home empty-handed.

Do you have a strategy for the sales? Or you rather not plan and enjoy the rush?

Picture: Polyvore

Something From My Closet – Why I Love Vintage

There’s one thing the brands and superbrands populating our streets have trouble with: offering pieces of clothing that have a story behind them. For that, you have to dive into the realms of second-hand shopping and vintage treasure hunting. Or… you can inherit something. I was recently given a  purse that had belonged to somebody I hardly knew. A token into that person’s life. Suddenly, me and the object’s former owner have become forever linked.

The sequined purse/handbag featured in this post was given to me by my boyfriend’s mother, a Dutch woman called Cecilia. She lives in the south of France, or what I also like to call “paradise”, and during my last visit there she gave me this bag. It belonged to her mother, who had passed away.

I only met Cecilia’s mother once, at her 90th birthday. What I remember of her was a happy lady, delighted to have her family around her: her children, her grandchildren, her great grandchildren. We sat at opposite ends of the table, but from her side all you could hear was loud laughter, from her, her daughters and the rest of the guests seated close to her.

Her name was also Cecilia.  I’ve been told she used to really appreciate her little glass of “Omatje” with “hapjes” – how I adore how the Dutch language sounds – which is a type of alcoholic beverage and little bits to eat like liver sausage and cheese. This is something I’ve seen her daughter and grandson, my boyfriend, do. They love having a little bite to eat with a drink, whether beer, a G&T, or a cold iced tea. Now I see were this lovely habit comes from.

I also heard how at Christmas, she would slip a few chocolate rings dipped in sugar sprinkles to her grandchildren, after their parents had decided the kids had had enough. She would pop a few in their hands when nobody was looking.

She was a very elegant woman, with great taste, and now I have some pretty pieces that belonged to her. They are my gateway to know a little more about Cecilia Rosendaal Hilkman.

Objects that are more than material possessions, that meant something to someone, not so long ago. You don’t get that when you walk into New Look, Mango or Zara do you?

Do you own anything with a story? If you do, please let me know below, or if you write a blog, why not share it with everyone through a post?

Pictures: Fashion Limbo

Style and the City – Antwerp

If there’s a city you are missing out on, that’s Antwerp. And I have the perfect girl to tell you all about this town : The Styling Dutchman. I talked to this fun fashion icon about shopping, food and more. If you are looking for the ultimate cool weekend get-away, search no more, keep reading.

De Wapper fountain in the middle of The Meir, Antwerp’s main shopping street

How do you define your personal style?

I have always had a knack for quirky style, being a bit of a punk in my teens and slowly moving towards more of a feminine silhouette as I get older. Right now I’m into prints, colors, midi skirts, vintage and Mad Men!

Style is…

I am drawn to people who have a very cohesive look. A look where the hair, the face, the personality, the clothes, the colors and the accessories all match to exude a clear personality. When you see a person that has found that look that matches them to perfection, they almost come across as a perfectly styled character from a movie.

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The Hof van Liere, just outside Annebeth’s University Library

Tell me about Antwerp

I actually live in a tiny little village outside Antwerp, but study there. Antwerp is a beautiful city with a very metropolitan feel compared to certain other Belgian cities, like Ghent or Bruges. It’s very open, very international, very ahead of the pack and very clean but still with lots of personality. In Belgium, Antwerp is known for its arrogance but me as a “Dutchie”, I fit in nicely. Dutch people are considered arrogant by Belgians too, you know. There is this joke where they say that people from Antwerp see Belgium as only having one real city, and consider the rest of Belgium just parking space, haha!

What are your favourite places to shop in Antwerp?

Do I really have to say it?? T2 VINTAGE!! Just of the main high street (the Meir) and jam packed with treasures waiting to be discovered for ridiculously low prices. They have monthly sales and prices go down to 1 euro a piece!

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Annebeth styling it up over at The Styling Dutchman

Best things to do in Antwerp over a weekend?

The Antwerp Zoo! My favorite animals there are the otters,  they never fail to cheer me up! Also, the zoo is an awesome place to stroll around in your Sunday’s best. You have to think of photo ops as a styleblogger 😉

If you could only eat in one restaurant in Antwerp, which one would it be?

Sushi, sushi, sushi!!! The amazing all you can eat sushi restaurant in the Keyser Center, Kaiseki, just outside the central train station and it makes me hungry just thinking about the place now. The entire district just outside the train station is filled with lovely places to eat. We went to a pitta place slash Mediterranean restaurant a while ago that looked really iffy from the outside but quite lovely on the inside. Also, my favorite pizza place Leonardo Da Vinci! I failed miserably at recommending one place, didn’t I? Oh well that’s how I am when it comes to food: insatiable.

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Annebeth Bels is a student of Communication Science at Antwerp and the style icon also known as The Styling Dutchman. A pro at outfit posts, her site is a must-see in fashion blogging.

Pictures: The Styling Dutchman

Independent Retailers and their Visual Edge

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Times are tough but that’s nothing new. We all had to adjust our spending, search for spare change in our pockets. Personally I’ve had to set myself a very limited budget, search for cheaper options of everything I buy and wait for the sales or special promotions to add anything to my wardrobe.

However, either at weekend or any late afternoon during the week, I take a stroll around the high street and stores are full. H&M; has long queues at the till – seriously, now they’re just doing it on purpose 😉 – Zara is selling out on the “it” items featured on celebrities or the blogosphere. Go to Topshop and you will find the same buzz, the same shopping frenzy. While financial experts will claim that there is a decrease in the money spent and lower values of UPTs (units per transaction), the truth is that said brands are in no danger of going into administration. They will not be disappearing from our high streets.

What is under true threat is the independent retailer, those shops that strive to offer something different: unique and inspiring products and a lot of the time, excellent customer service. Some have already disappeared, others are limiting themselves to an online existence. Others are powering through with their ideals, coping with the competition and many are producing stunning Visual Merchandising, this is, the way a shop shows off its merchandise, how the products are shown in windows, store displays and so on.

Look at it this way: you go in one Mango in Glasgow and it looks like the one in Malaga, or the one in Antwerp. Stores that are not part of a big chain are upping their game and while a shop like River Island may look more or less the same everywhere, independent business are expressing themselves freely, in an attempt to separate themselves from popular super brands and offer us something extremely unique and worth purchasing.

Below are just a couple of examples of Visual Merchandising that I have loved in the past year.

OME in Soho, Lower Manhattan, NYC

La Habitacion de Kate in Malaga, Spain

With regards to the popular brands, if you go to London, their windows are visually stunning, but then stores at Oxford Street are playing at a crazy level. I do remember walking into Mango’s shop in Liege (Belgium) and been blown away by how much effort had been placed on the visual side of the business.

I love walking into independent stores and being surprised by their fantastic product display. It invites me to shop, that is true. What do you think, does the visual side affect your shopping? Or do you just buy the brand you like even if the store looks like a messy warehouse?

Pictures: Fashion Limbo