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Best of 2024: Style
My style has, unfortunately, become more boring. This is partly because I am more reasonable and practical these days: I want to be able to wear my clothes for years, which means safer bets and better quality, often resulting in more classic looks. I have also simply been drawn to quieter colour combination, whether due to the influence of Instagram’s love for neutrals or my own changing tastes, who knows. But my list on favourites can perhaps still be useful, even if shorter on – although not entirely devoid of – glamour than in some other years.
In Honour of the Hero Piece
A couple of days ago, I was wearing this Sister Jane skirt that I have had for almost ten years and I received a compliment from a stranger. In fact, I receive a compliment almost every single time I wear this item of clothing. I am not saying this to brag about the number of compliments I get, but to make a point about a certain kind of piece. Let’s call it The (unlikely) Hero Piece.
New Year, New Shapes
I have written before how the start of a new year doesn’t necessarily create a strong sense of a new beginning in me, I tend to feel that way in September, when returning to work after summer. It is certainly the case this year, as I am recovering from a meniscus operation, so the holidays have been quiet and two days after 2024 started, it doesn’t really feel like I’ve entered a new epoch.
The Colours of This Autumn
I rarely write about trends these days, not because I have a problem with trends per se, but because I find them harder and harder to reconcile with my attempt to buy fewer items and be less influenced by big business. I am still interested in trends, though, and in particular the bigger shifts in mood, silhouette and palette that go beyond one season.
End of Summer Memo
I was planning to do an Early Autumn Memo for my re-entry into blogosphere, but it’s so warm in Brussels (up to 31 degrees expected in the coming week) that I cannot bring myself to talk about autumny stuff at the moment. Which is, in a way, good news, as I have quite a few things to share from this summer, and as they aren’t necessarily summer-specific, they may still be of use to you. So I am going to get them off my chest in this post, leaving all the talk of chocolate-coloured suede and plush perfumes for the next memo.
Into the New Year: Darkness and Unicorns
It’s been a weird start of the year for me. I had a good break: celebrating with family, visiting the snowy Estonian countryside, reading, eating gingerbread and sauerkraut, buying a new dress. Then I learned that our (rented) house in Brussels had been broken into.
Best of 2021: Beauty, Style, Perfume
In the two years of the pandemic, my makeup, perfume and clothes purchases have slowed down – although not stopped by any means. Perhaps most irrationally, my habit of buying a few evening dresses per year is as strong as ever. But if you are expecting a proper ‘best of’ of fragrance or beauty releases, this I’m not able to provide. Still, perhaps this overview is useful as you are planning your own wardrobes or makeup buys.
What I Wore for Christmas
For years, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Christmas – I guess I found it too bourgeois or something. I was never a hater either, though, and the older I get, the more I seem to appreciate this holiday of gingerbread, tinsel and Die Hard. Perhaps I’m just becoming more bourgeois myself, who knows. Or perhaps living abroad most of the time, spending time with one’s family just feels more special, Christmas or not.
On the Importance of Trying Things On
If there is one thing that being obsessed with clothes gives you, it’s a good understanding of what works for your body and your style and what doesn’t. I can walk into Zara and leave in ten minutes with a full, entirely functional outfit. Faster, if there’s no queue. (Of course, this is only possible because I have a very standard body in a size that Zara caters to.) (And of course one is trying NOT to walk into Zara for high-speed shopping sprees, but it’s just a more believable example than Gabriela Hearst.)
The Classics: A Cream Tweed Skirt
When I was shooting this series (there are two more posts to come), I explained it to the photographer as ‘inspired by Melania Trump’. I was joking, but only a little. The slightly embarrassing truth is that I have a soft spot for some rather conservative clothing categories. I’m not conservative in any part of my life, style usually included, but I do like to have some pieces that project a relatively timeless and polished image.