What I was wearing this week.

After a couple of great spring summery days the weather has failed us once again (no surprises so far). Wardrobe wise this meant I had to face some challenges, and as you know I am always up for challenges. So here's the result.
Zara vest, WE basic white tanktop, boyfriend jeans from Bershka and my Sasha heels.
I always get asked how I put my hair up like this, and it is so easy. Just make a very high pony tail, and take little strings of hair from the tail and pin them down. And you're done. Great for those bad hair days. Warehouse high waisted jeans, basic tee from Only and my black leather jacket from Juno.
Same leather jacket, Zara legging, Only dress and shoes from the New Yorker.Getting ready for a bike ride with my daughter.

Carrie and Big's apartment: design heaven

Not able to wait any longer, I went to see "Sex and the City 2" yesterday afternoon. And it was fabulicious! It exceeded all of my expectations, and went beyond that. Every single scene was an explosion of inspiration: from the clothes to the shoes, the colours and the luxurious over the top settings.

I was not so much impressed with the storyline (in the end there were some scenes that I even found a bit offensive - eventhough I am not a Muslim), but more so I was blown away by the interior design of Carrie and Big's appartment: design heaven! I tell you. I bet you agree with me: have a sneak peek.

Check out the blue tiles in the kitchen.
The incredible combination of different paterns and textiles. (The disc chandellier: Must have!)
Classic floral curtains (love the colour!) and club chairs
The all gold painting is amazing, and I love how the books are set standing on the coffee table. The Candy Flower rug and the Birdie Blossom cushion are actually available at The Rugcompany. See the wallpaper in the hall, every single room has it's own unique wallpaper. The real reason we all came to see the movie: Carrie's walk in closet!Just another evening at home with Mr. Big
(All pictures by Craig Blankenhorn)

Glamour NL rocks! and serves great tea

Me at work for GlamourKiller heels on Lisette's feetElisah, online editor at Glamour, check out her blog and ofcourse her work for Glamour.nl

Yesterday evening I was invited over by Glamour Magazine NL. Together with some other very fashionable ladies we met the Glamour team at the NL-Studios in Amsterdam.

The setting was great, the drinks were fabulous, the food was even better (candy and sweets, and delicious sandwiches) and I met some great people. Glamour knows how to entertain properly. (thanks you guys for a wonderfull evening)

P.s. I noticed that the entire Glamour team looked fabulous, everyone was very friendly and beautiful. Is it the Glamour gene? Are you born with it or do you get it when you start working for Glamour?

You can read all about what we did last night in the October issue of Glamour NL.

More Sex, Less City

The beautiful SJP in Valentino Couture

This is how Style.com describes SATC the movie part deux. Like many many women I am also awaiting the worldwide release of the new SATC movie (and yes I do own the serie's dvd-box, and the first movie). Yesterday a lucky few attended the premiere of the sequel. The world-premiere of the second SATC took place in NYC (where else?), though the movie starts off with the four friends reuniting at Bergdorf’s in NYC the movie takes place in Abu Dhabi for the most part. Camel rides (Samantha: “I think I am having hot flashes.” Carrie: “We are in the desert, if you weren’t having hot flashes you’d be dead.”), luxury hotel settings, harem-inspired fashion, Carrie bumping into Aiden (Will she be cheating on Mr. BIG, who himself has a brief encounter with Penelope Cruz?), Samantha’s new love interest (yummie), just a tip of the sand dune. Just two more days and then we can all join in on the fun. The movie hits theaters worldwide on May 27th.

Can you believe the weather: friend or foe?

Spring is finally really here. The temperature has been rising to a mind-blowing 22 degrees celcius (just allowing myself to be a bit cynical here, after the cold fall weather we've been having, 22 degrees actually does feel like a warm unexpected blanket of love). I was actually a bit confused, wardrobe-wise that is, trying to switch from jeans and trousers to leg-baring skirts and summer dresses. Better be safe than sorry seemed to be this week's motto, not trusting that perfect weather, and wondering when the sun would be dissappearing again. Leaving us in the cold with no coats, umbrella's or hunter boots in sight. So out came my cardigans for those chilly moments after dark, carefully stored in my tote bag.Sunday: 25 degrees and wearing a Mango army inspired dress.
Saturday: 20 degrees, BBQ at my sister's house, vintage Zara shirt and Pieces leggings.
Friday: 22 degrees, vintage Zara skirt, WE basic V-neck shirt, vintage Zara cardigan and open-toe high heels from Sasha.
Thursday: 15 degrees, chilly, Black leather jacket from New York Look (NYC)(which cost me way toooo much, but worth every dollar spent), black and white tee form Zara, skinny black jeans and boots form Manfield.
Wednesday: 16 degrees, wearing my Balmain inspired H&M tee (customised), my Pieces legging and open-toe heels from Sasha.

Style-icon pur sang: Giovanna Battaglia!

www.garancedore.fr/en

At a certain age you cannot wear certain things anymore. Instead of going against it, I think we just have to accept this as a given fact. I mean nobody wants to see a 30+ woman in a mini-skirt, unless that woman is Giovanna Battaglia ofcourse. Giovanna is the fashion editor of L'Uomo Vogue, and used to model for D&G. And that is exactly the reason why she can wear anything and we cannot.

Anyway, so when choosing an outfit in the morning I keep that in mind, and luckily it comes naturally to me, since I am really not interested in wearing any kind of shorts unless I am on vacation in a very warm place, where the sun shines all day long and where hiding your legs would be considered a crime. (and yes though it is hard to imagine for those of us living in the cold western European part of the world, these places actually do exists)

For the past couple of days the weather has, to put it mildly, not been sooo nice. But today it actually seems the sun has found its way back to Holland for a change, and we all know what this means. WE CAN DRESS UP AGAIN!!!

I just wanted to share some of my outfits of the past couple of days with you. (keep in mind that the weather was not as nice then, hence the covering up of the legs) But I promise you some more fashionable attempts for the coming days.

Wanna be in St. Tropez right now?

I love this picture of Diane Kruger, isn't she just lovely? (www.garancedore.fr/en)

Experience the real Saint Tropez. Sunny and warm, with the most amazing, stylish, and the so very fashionable all in one spot. Playing "pétanque" with Diane Kruger and Vanessa Paradis. Experience the laughter, and dancing first hand. Go vintage shopping, and try to outshop Emanuelle Alt. Don't think it is possible to experience all of this, I am telling you that you can!!!! Garance Doré takes you to Saint Tropez with front row access to the Chanel Resort Show like you have never seen it before.


She is one of my favourite bloggers and she just happens to be dating Scott Schumann (The Sartorialist). Garance is an illustrator turned blogger in 2006. She travels the world reporting on everything happening outside the international fashion weeks. I mean you can see the shows on www.style.com, but she gives us an insider look at everything else that is happening that is usually reserved for the fashion incrowd on site.

Her photographs are amazing and her comments always put a smile on my face. She possesses that French “Je ne sais quoi”. www.garancedore.fr/en

Oh la la! Hitting the arrow in the right spot.

Thanks to www.wwd.com

I was watching the red carpet lineup at the premier of Robin Hood at the Cannes Film Festival 2010, this morning. Since then I can not get the image of Salma Hayek in Gucci out of my head. The elegance, the (amazing) grace, the femininity, she's simply drop dead gorgious in this sheer dress. The colour of the dress so perfectly suits her. Her hair down, and keeping the accessories simple, makes her elegant and lovely. An example of perfect redcarpet dressing.

Nudes and brights

Latte 2 Go (H&M)

It’s all about the nails. Perfectly polished nails can make me smile even on a bad day. The trends for this summer are nudes and rainbow bright colours. My recent purchases ‘Boho Chicomania’ and ‘Latte 2 Go’ are oh so pretty examples of nudes from H&M (2.95 Euros). Rimmel also has a great range of nudes and brights like their overwhelming ‘Green with Envy’. I haven’t tried the green yet, but I am very close. I think it was Chanel that started the trend when Karl Lagerfeld wanted a nailpolish to match the green tones in the Chanel fall 2009 collection.

Black, another favourite of mine, is the new all day every day polish that matches any outfit.

Fashion hit or miss?

Yesterday I was opting for a rockerchic kinda look. So I put on my ripped jeans legging from Pieces and my black suede booties from The New Yorker. But by combining it with a striped Zara jacket I think I made it a little less rocky and more chic. Did I succeed?

Black beauty!

The result of my search: Black beauty

How strange is it for a Dutch woman not to own a bike? Well...very strange is the right answer. Everybody owns a bike in Holland. You know: land of the wooden shoes, Gouda cheese and ......well bikes. So after 33 years I thought the time has come for me to finally get one. A bike that is. It'll be a good thing I said to myself. It's springtime, I'll start biking to work, enjoying the nice spring weather and getting some exercise at the same time. Little did I know that purchasing a bike would be such a challenging task.

I started my quest by visiting my local bike shop (yep we have local bike shops in Holland). I was greeted by a friendly young man, who asked me if he could be of assistance. Having done my research at home (long live Google!), I told him I was looking for a bike. It had to be black, with brown steering handles and a brown leather saddle, retro (classical) looking, a transporter (meaning that you can carry stuff around in a basket in front of you), and had to fit my height (I am only 1m56). He had no bike fitting that description. No luck so far.

I went back online to do some more research, maybe I should get one from the Internet. But what if it didn't match my height or didn't feel good. Yes a bike has to suit you and feel good. Everybody knows that.

I took a look at the pages of The Sartorialist (the book that is) for some much needed inspiration. In the book there are two pictures of fashionable women with their bikes. Both ladies had black classic retro bikes, one even had a cute little basket in front. To me that is so ladylike and elegant. That is what I wanted too.

With renewed energy and inspiration I went to Megabike the next day. Megabike is a larger bike store in the city, that has a great range of bikes. From sporty to classic, and three very charming salesmen. Nic, as the one who helped me was named, proposed marriage in the first two minutes of our conversation. After 5 minutes he offered to move in with me, and finally he asked me out on a date. All I wanted was a bike, I told him. A black, retro, transporter bike, with brown handles and a brown leather saddle. Looking at the big questionmark on his face, I guessed he had never met a customer who had so many specific requests (huh go figure). I quickly told him that I would settle for the next best thing, anything that came even close to my description of the perfect bike. His face cleared up, and he smiled. He showed me a beautiful black transporter bike, totally retro, with black steering handles and a black leather saddle and no basket. Close enough for me. I tried it, enjoyed the ride, and bought it immediately. The basket I got online. Since then I have been enjoying many bikerides and LOVING IT!!!!

From the stores to my closet

See the dress on www.mango.com

No I do not pretend to be as fabulous looking as those pretty twenty something year old girls that spend their days blogging about their fabulous personal style. And no I am not being cynical right now, they really are gorgeous and I love them for having some sense of style, and sharing it with the rest of us wannabee stylish people. The only thing I am wondering about is where are all the stylish women of my age, my age being 30+? Or is it just not done to showcase your personal style on the web after you have reached the big 30? And am I entering the danger zone, by doing it anyway? Well it is a risk I am willing to take. Because though I love to see 15 year old models strutting up and down the catwalks (no really I don't), and I get inspired by those 18 to 25 year old girls showing their (street)style online, we thirty something women don't want to copy that. Won't and can't.

I think women look their best after 30. Because at that age they know who they are and what they want out of live. They have come to terms with themselves, they know their strenghts and weaknesses. They have fully accepted themselves and are confident. Well at least most of us are.

I'd like to see these 30+ women showcasing their wonderfull style. Style they have developed throughout the years. Women who are mothers, wifes, emloyees, and still manage to look their best. As you already know I am a big fan of the Sartorialist, not just because he takes great photographs, but because he captures stylish people of all ages in front of his lense. People that are not all fashion editors or have jobs in the fashion industry. His best pictures are those of men and women of a certain adult age. And unfortunately I have not made it to the Sartoria-list. I have no illusions on ever making the list, don't get me wrong.

But still I would like to show you my style, why? Not because I think I am so fabulous, on the contrary. But because I'd like to show you how I, a 30 something working single mum with little time on her hands, tries to look stylish. Let me remind you that I am not comparing myself to those stylish youngsters on the web. I could never compete. It'll be me giving you a look at what I do with all those fabulous clothes available in stores, and how I combine different affordable pieces form stores like Zara, H&M and Mango (my favourites) to try to dress stylish at my age (which is 33 to be exact). Do I succeed? Well you be the judge of that.

Maybe someone somewhere will feel a little bit inspired too.

Everyday inspiration

I recently purchased "The Sartorialist", by Scott Schuman. Having been a fan of Mr. Schumann's photographs for years now, I am delighted that now I can carry his pictures with me in my handbag. The book has become a part of my morning ritual when standing in front of my closet and deciding on what to wear, providing me with much needed inspiration at times (times when I am trying to decide what to put on, waking up my daughter, making breakfast, packing up lunch and watching the morning news on TV all at the same time).

Love love looove this Balmain jacket!

I just love this Balmain cavalry jacket featured in Vogue's March 2010 issue. The detailing is just amaaaazing, it just shows that Mr. Decarnin is a true artiste, taking military to a next level. The word empowerment comes to mind. I salute you!!

On the left my attempt to capture the wonderfulness of this photograph by Mr. Mario Testino.

Since I am pretty sure that I will never own the real thing, I puchased a Balmain inspired tee by Mango and H&M instead. (to be featured in blogs to follow)