Of all my frivolous pursuits, fashion used to be my favourite. In my late teens, I spent my negligible pocket money on the UK Vogue and if there was any left over, on the US one. When the miracle of Internet happened, I clicked through every single look of every single show of every single fashion week on style.com. Throughout the university years, I was proud of my ability to put together a good look spending hardly anything. With a like-minded friend, we used to believe money was wasted on the rich who had no style or taste. Arrongant, maybe, but it was fun to think that way – and a strategy for not feeling inferior.

But I’ve been falling out of love with fashion for a while. First perfume and then skincare have redirected some of my passion, but the way fashion focuses so much on status dressing and the prices keep rising has also made me somewhat frustrated with it. I still like clothes, of course I do, but the thing I’ve always loved most about fashion was the story-telling, identity-creating element. It came to a point where I almost stopped doing style posts for the blog, as I just didn’t feel inspired by anything.

As is often the case, however, as soon as I think something is resolved, things change. This summer, I got really excited about the return of the Nineties fashion. That was my formative decade and maybe that’s why it spoke to me again, although one could argue that reinventing decades past is the most lazy thing fashion can do. I suspect it’s also the DIY-quality of these years that appeals to me now: it’s part of the general aesthetic, but was also my own lived (worn) experience back then. I don’t think I need to tell you that I believe the famous dictum ‘if you wore it first time around, you shouldn’t wear it again’ is just ageism dressed up as snappy style wisdom.

So off I went in search of a slip dress, the quintessential Nineties clothing item. I could not find anything in stores, though – the autumn collections were not in, I was about three weeks early (you can find them by the dozen now). In the end, I located one in an unexpected place: in the Embassy of Fashion. Riina Põldroos had a beautiful pale pink dress with a satin slip underneath. So I broke it apart and found that with some layering (also very Nineties), it worked separately even better than as a whole. I bought some velvet ribbon to tie around my neck and brought out my khaki Converse sneakers and voila – it felt like real fashion again.

This is a sister shoot of this one – different clothes, similar spirit. I apologise for posting gazillion pictures, but I love the mood here. Dress by Riina Poldroos, bodysuit by Crystal Rabbit, sneakers by Converse, MUAH by Ellen Walge, photo by Krõõt Tarkmeel.