B-day Wishlist

My trashcan is still overflowing with Christmas wrapping paper, yet still I'm talking presents again. I have very good reason to, because Sunday it's my birthday! Yay! To celebrate, I'm going shopping in Antwerp on Saturday with some of my friends. And unlike all of the other times I go shopping, this time I want to go prepared. Forewarned is forearmed.

First of all I want a new dress. In contrast with Karolien, I WILL dress up for New Year's Eve. Although I do also believe the whole thing is overrated. But well, any excuse to dress up is a good one.

1: River Island
2: New Look
3-5: Mango

On the list for a while now: glitter shoes!

1: Zara
2-3: Asos (bummer I can't shop Asos in Antwerp)
4: New Look


I like some good (g)old accessories, I found all of these at Urban Outfitters. The Diana camera is on my wishlist for quite some time now, I love it in that minty color! And because I'm a crazy cat lady, that iPhone case and I are meant to be.

And last but not least :an outfit I quickly put together. Actually I'd love to wear this even more than the dresses I found above! Paired with some sheer tights and glitter boots, of course.

1-2: Mango
3: Urban Outfitters
All the accessories on the right are from H&M.

Do tell me what you think!

My boyfriend's little sister got robbed today in Antwerp, so I'll better be careful. Her purse, that she got as a Christmas present, got stolen while she was sitting on the stairs at the station. Some stranger asked for directions and moments later everything was gone. Including her Christmas money that she - unfortunately - hadn't spent yet. Shame on you, thief!

What We Wear Wednesday: Christmas bells

As I'm writing this, Christmas is sadly almost over. I always feel a bit bummed, because the holidays pass so quickly. And in my book, New Year's Eve is pretty much always a big letdown, so that doesn't count. Being forced to have 'the best time' is something that always backfires in the opposite direction. This year I'm not even gonna dress up, I REJECT TO DO IT! Booh conformity, go anarchy! God, I feel like I'm 14 years old again while saying that. This year I'm going to grow up (who am I kidding, really...).

Anyway, Christmas I do love a lot, so I pulled out all the goodies. Meaning: I redyed my hair (colour tulip, but I have to admit it isn't much different from my previous colour...), put some glitters on my nails, curls in my hair, lots of gold and glitter everywhere, make-up, high heels... The whole package! I went for a little bit of a pin-up, retro, vintage, whatever kind of look. Well, I actually decided on going that direction when trying on my new skirt that arrived in the post. It's a bit longer than I normally wear, so it gave me an instant fifties vibe.

I do resent these dark days a little bit, not in the very least because it's too dark too early. This is especially extremely annoying when trying to grab some outfit pictures. No other choice than to use the flash. Inside the house. Double fail. Big sigh. Thank God for the Christmas tree to spice things up a bit. Although I'm more fond of my grand mom's tree: it has all sorts of ornaments, sparkling lights in all different colours... I'm so inheriting that! 

A merry Christmas to you all! How were your holidays? And what do you think of New Year's Eve?

Skirt: Forever 21 - Blouse: Primark - Shoes: Van Dalen - Necklace, bracelet, bow: H&M - Nailpolish: Ici Paris XL - glitter nailpolish: Claire's

What We Wear Wednesday: Pink (again), white

Before I even say anything, let me apologize for my bad hair day and my tired face. Well, my bad 'head' day in general, so it seems. These pictures were taken on Sunday, after a long weekend of taking photographs of pudding (seriously), going out and building up a lack of sleep. And the weather was so awfully grey and drizzly, which just happens to bring out my puffy eyes. Thanks, stupid Sunday.

Friday night has been really fun au contraire: I went to have dinner with my parents and boyfriend as an early birthday dinner (I'll be turning 25 in exactly eleven days, and I like to remind people of that blissful event that is my birthday during the ENTIRE month of December). And seems my strategy works because my mom already surprised me with a gift! She bought me perfume, Chanel n°5 to be precise! My first 'grown-up' perfume! I've been using some coconut eau de toilette from Yves Rocher since I was fourteen. True story. Still love it, though, but the time was right for a scent that doesn't constantly remind me of Bounty candy bars or a camp organised by the CM, located in Espalion back in 2002.

To defy the ugly weather, I wore my pink Zara pants. Unfortunately the pink is already fading. I bought them only last spring! Any tips on fixating the color? They have already gotten their vinegar bath before I washed them for the first time. They fit so damn fine and the color is was perfect!

It may seem that I wear my hair in a bun a lot, but actually that's not true. I usually have a high ponytail, but for some reason I end up making a bun when taking outfit pictures. Random fact! 

Jacket, pants: Zara - Scarf, blouse, booties: H&M - Earrings: New Look

What We Wear Wednesday: Winter coat

Somewhere around mid August I started pinning pictures from winter coats. Mostly because I always start too late with searching for that perfect match and end up freezing my ass off for half of the winter season. So this year I took a head start! Because I've been wearing my spring/summer parka nonstop (and actually only stopped wearing it only two weeks ago, still keeping that summer spirit alive yeah), I had my mind set on a more freezing temperatures adapted winter version. With of course the necessary amount of fur!

The decision wasn't all that hard, I fell in love (literally) with this jacket when I first laid my eyes on it on the River Island website. A very well-timed trip to Antwerp for the Bloggers Closet Sale and Antwerp Fashion Night was the perfect opportunity for trying it on and taking it home with me. It has been hanging in my closet since the end of September and now finally, a week ago the temperatures really dropped and it was time to wear it. I always procrastinate on wearing my winter coat, because I fear that I might grow sick of it before winter has even appropriately started. Is it just my general weirdness or something other people recognize? 

I have to say I'm a bit bummed to see similar jackets appearing everywhere, but I still like mine best, so neh neh (imagine me sticking out my tongue). I think it gives me a true Scandinavian or Russian feel, but I guess that must be my general, very superficial stereotypes kicking in. 

PS: Have to redo/redye my hair, but I'm absolutely lost on which colour and if I even want a colour again... FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS! 

Coat: River Island - Denim shirt, shorts, boots, socks: Primark - Beanie, scarf (old, I'm on the lookout for a new one): H&M

INSPIRATION: Creepers

A few months ago, I decided I desperately needed a very specific pair of new shoes, namely creepers. I had already spotted them last year at the Groezrock festival, but I figured the time was finally right to get my own pair. A little quest on Ebay, and badabing, two days later a marvelous pair of burgundy creepers arrived at my (grandmother's - they are always home, you know) doorstep. What a joyous event! However, I found these shoes to be especially difficult to combine in an outfit. I'm not sure why, but I haven't worn them that much since I got them...

In the spirit of 'let's do a little inspirational blog post' and being all practical (I have to wear the shoes, they are so pretty), I browsed the interwebs and more specifically Pinterest to get some fresh outfit ideas with creepers. It took me probably around 5 minutes to come up with THOUSANDS of great outfits with creeper shoes! Going from very punk rock to more preppy, creepers go well with all! Hell, even Chanel is featuring creepers in their Chanel Resort 2013 Collection. These are some of the outfits I'm VERY fond of. 

 

 

 

 

 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Funny anecdote about creepers 1. They are often called 'brothel creepers'. This dates back to their first appearance: soldiers in World War II wore suede shoes with a thick rubber sole (hence, creepers) and after they left the army, those soldiers wearing creepers were often spotted in the London nightlife (and more concrete, the brothels).

Funny anecdote about creepers 2. In Norway, they are called Traktorsko, which means something along the lines of Tractor shoes. This for all obvious reasons, namely the similarities between the tires of a tractor and the soles of the shoes. LAUGH!

Anyway, after doing my 'research', I couldn't wait and already went ahead to figuring out some outfits for myself. Here's my take (or at least, one take) on how to wear creeper shoes. A denim shirt, a choker, a beanie, the creepers and add with that some knee stockings, et voilà! Now all I have to do is wait for the rain to stop pouring from the sky and I can finally wear this outfit.

 

What We Wear Wednesday: Blue Jeans

You fit me better than my favorite sweater. 
Lana del Rey - Blue Jeans

I'm wearing my first skinny I've ever bought. And that wonderful event happened five years ago in the spring of 2007. I must say that skinnies these days are a lot more skinny and stretchy, and this fella here now almost feels like a boyfriend jeans (not that I have ever worn a boyfriend jeans before, I'm just assuming). Nonetheless, this has been my favorite pair of pants for many years and I have worn it many many times until...it didn't fit me anymore. I never wanted to throw it away though because of sentimental reasons (I'm such a cry baby) and now I'm glad I didn't because THEY FIT AGAIN!

And look at me all parading on my heeled shoes. I've worn them to work twice now. First time I suddenly had to go build up a shop instead of sitting in front of my desk, so at the end of the day I thought my feet were going to fall off. But I survived, and so did my feet. (Ok, I wasn't parading at all, I was trying not to break my neck on that SUPER slippery wood.)

I don't have much to add today. We had to put one of our cats to sleep on Monday and I'm kind of bummed out. Although it was the best thing we could have done for her, you just want them to live forever. She'll be missed.

Coat: New Yorker - Top: Mango - Necklace, jeans, booties: H&M

Curved

A couple of months ago, one of my best friends, Eline, showed me this post about curvy girls proudly showing off their curves in bikini, fully self-aware and self-confident. That got me thinking: however times are changing in the fashion industry, and size zero models are slowly being replaced with well-fed girls, the old fashion ideal of skinny still lingers. We're still being flooded with an image stream of skinny bitches girls with everlasting long legs and, in my opinion, the curvy ladies get less attention (except for Beth Ditto). And it's the same case in the blogging world or 'blogosphere'. But are these skinny girls more confident than the curvy girls from the article? I think not, to be quite honest.

I thought that blogging intentionally started out as something to be a reaction against these perfect magazine girls of whom we've all been envious about, and to show the world that 'regular' girls or 'the girl next door' can also show of fashion. I'm REALLY worried when I stumble upon fashion blogs where I can easily see that they 'airbrushed' their skin (I'm not against photo-editing in general like altering contrasts etc.). I am perfectly aware of the fact that there DO exist girls with 'good genes' who just seem flawless without going to the gym three times a week but instead visit McDo equally as much. (The fact we call that 'good genes' maybe says enough already?) To me it seems it's only these 'perfect girls' that seem to get the big blogger attention and the curvy girls are out of the loop. Or is it just me or a distorted image of reality? I'm just saying how it feels for me, I'm not proclaiming to own the truth.

I'd love to hear what you guys think about this! Maybe I'm just being too short-sighted.

Anyhow, because Peaches & Peaches is so innovative and world-changing, we're going to feature our curvy friend Eline. She's one of my best friends and easily one of my best-dressed friends, never afraid to wear some color or to try out some statement jewelry. And above all: she's comfortable in what she's wearing and that's what fashion should be about: love it and love to wear it. Only exception is painful shoes, we all got 'em! And let's not kid ourselves: it's a lot easier to get dressed in the morning when you're not worrying about covering up all of your 'flaws', but instead embrace your looks!

Meet Eline!