Modern Day Nymph: Jemima Kirke

By Neslihan

You know those girls who have this natural bohemian vibe going on? The ones that don't stuff their hair with fake plastic floral crowns in order to show you that they don't give two shits about fashion. They're the girls I'm jealous of. Seriously, how do they pull that off? How do they look effortlessly cool and yet comfortable in their fashionable -they'd shoot you for using that word- granny dresses? I already paid an ode to Florence -absolute babe- Welch on this blog and praised her fiery hair and floor length gowns but I think I'm girl-crushing AGAIN. The object of my crush is 'Girls' star Jemima Kirke. Not only do I love her character, Jessa, in 'Girls' but also her personal off screen style. I love how she wears what she wants and how she doesn't care about 'body-flattering' fashion. As if being curvy is a crime and you should be punished for it by restricting your clothing choices. That's the only thing I hate about make-over shows like 'Trinny and Susannah'. Let everyone wear what she/he damn likes, you know?! That's why I love people like Lena Dunham and Jemima Kirke. They're absolutely stunning girls and don't give a fuck about Holywood's body standards and they're so creative and smart with fashion. They don't wish to be a fashion designer's pet and lend their bodies as fashion advertisments. They stay true to their own personal style and taste and I think that's what makes you credible in life: TO BE AS YOU ARE. One philosophy I will never abandon. Jemima's personal style can be best described as dusty attic glamour pimped with vinatge witchy gems. Jemima loves comfort and clothing with a story. So she'll visit the local flea market to look for 2nd hand kaftans and used brown leather bags instead of rushing to dig in the sales of huge boutiques. She often reminds me of this fairy who got lost and found herself in 21st century NYC. It seems as if every day is a dress up show for Jemima, yet she manages not to overdo it and look enviably naturel. Jemima often wears long dresses, kaftans made from rich fabrics and jewelery with authenticity. It sounds as if the whole can be quite dramatic but she tones it down with the hair and make-up. Looking pure and healthy is always the most important. She's never excessive with make-up, the most excessive thing she does is probably pop up some vampy red lipstick. When it comes to hair, she chooses a messy bun or loose nymph hair over a glamour look.

P R E A C H I N G
The reason I posted this is, I want Jemima to inspire us. I want us to feel as if all options are open and there are endless possibilities. I want us not only to copy Jemima's style but also her body positivity. Let's feel incredibly beautiful and embrace our curves and stretchmarks. Let's celibrate it with cropped tops and hotpants because a body like yours should be seen anytime.

Ps. I'm so sorry for the different sizes of the pictures. It looks so incredibly unprofessional but I never claimed to be a whizzkid either. I wished I had some graphic skillz, then I'd probably be able to create more than just silly, colourful paint frames.

Innocense Lost

By Neslihan

source

I feel like Lana Del Rey always captures this suburban melancholia, a place between hopelessness and forgotten ambition. A place between dreaming and surviving. A place where the future doesn't excist, it's about the now and here and tomorrow's another story. It's the moment, it's an instance of youthful recklessness. It's about falling and messing up inexcusably because we're young. Because we know we can go wrong at 18 knowing we'll be conformist adults at 33. And that somehow is a sad yet comforting (?) thought.
It's like the 60's generation. They all did drugs and alcohol. They were rebellious and were almost against everything but at 40 they had a job, a house, kids, two dogs and a car. They turned into conformists and forgot about capitalism, feminism, the Vietnam war. And I think that's what Lana Del Rey tried to show us because no one's gonna take her soul away, she's living like Jim Morrison.

And I have created a couple of outfits to accompany that vibe. I tried to incorporate black in every outfit because that's just the chiquest colour to wear and because I hardly wear anything else. I also wanted gold, roses and underwear with screamy logos. I felt like staying close to the 90's vibe, hence Calvin Klein and that ying yang necklace. And deep burgundies were also absolutely necessary to create that extra dimension of drama.

Neon Oasis

By Neslihan

Once upon a lifetime you see a picture that makes life worth living. That inspires you and challenges you to look at things differently. But sometimes you see a whole photoshoot that controls every angle of your brain. It's the colours, the setting, the model and how graceful she poses. When all of those things are in balance you get one hell of a photoshoot. A tableau vivant, with an amazing amount of energy that could become alive any instant. You just have to believe in it. Believe in the bright blue sky, believe it when she stares in the unlimited distance. 

 I had never heard of Kinee Diouf's name before I saw this photoshoot but how beautiful does she look? She looks like a pilar of strength. And her grace just turns this picture in a majestic painting. Also note how strongly she looks like Grace Jones on this picture. And she's rocking the abundance of colours, materials, lengths and light.

She looks like an elegant giant on the picture above but here you see how tiny she is when sitting on the camel. Also loving the floaty pink and orange fabrics. How delightful do they look with the sky?

 

Love how she poses, she really uses her body to bring the message across.

What a royal dress. The queen wears purple. Please do note her gorgeous lipstisck!

(© Issey Miyake)

I've created two little outfits in order to accompany this neon mood:

Outfit 1: Brunch with Charles

 Outfit 2: Cocktail with Barry

Collages: made it myself on polyvore

Pictures: 'Neon Oase' Vogue NL July 2013 -styling: Marije Goekoop

                                               -photograhy: Ishi

Let there be a game without rules

By Neslihan
I feel like I'm becoming more consistent on this blog. As if I've reached my temporary destination. Notice how I consciously said 'temporary' as I don't believe a person can have ONE eternal style, unless your name is Anna Piaggi, Karl Lagerfeld or Rei Kawakubo. Unless you've become a cult figure. But I do believe one has a thing in his/her outfit that keeps on appearing. My thing for example is this sort of uncoordinated childishness, that laid-backness and tamed quirkiness. Lately I've been obsessing over a pair of sporty trainers (see previous post) and I discovered they really are versatile. You just have to think out of the box and experiment because the new casualness demands a dash of sportiness. And you choose how to fill that up; whether it's a pair of trainers or a T-shirt, anything goes. It creates this amazing clash between the chic and the sportiness. As if you're saying: "Hey, lighten up, it's only fashion." Just the way I like it.

And that easy laid-backness is exactly what I found in Ashish Gupta's S/S '13 collection. He translated lazy quirkiness into grey sweaters, sweat pants, white trainers, oversized withe shirts and lots of denim. But he also added some tule and glitters to make the totality look a little feminine. Maybe 'feminine' isn't the right word though, maybe I should've said 'girly' because the models remined me of rebellious school girls, you know the kind that leads a whole army of girls and smokes in front of the school gate . Her hair looks messy but she works it anyway. She's effortless, as the unbuttoned shirts are telling us, she's playful but above all she's a ruler.

Moschino Cheap and Chic's collection on the other hand had this childish naiveté with a sparkle of classiness. There were pineapple prints, bright pinks, shiny embellishment and sky high platforms but there was this kind of sporty balance, hence the trainers, the see-through tracksuit and the fishnet shirts. I love how the trainers break the elegance in the last outfit but also how they contribute to this classy, nerdy style. Can we also take a minute to admire that pineapple-shaped bag? This collection is very 'Lolita meets tomboy' but the emphasis lies on 'Lolita' of course. 

The concrete jungle wakes up its own soul

By Neslihan
Summer hour has been set, which ends our winter blues partly. More sun equals a better mood. Don't you just love that feeling of having a lot of time to do the stuff you really like? It feels like an unlimitied sea of possibilities. Even though spring has arrived a short time ago, we weren't getting anything but snow and harsh temperatures. I don't know what the weather forecast is giving us for the next days but I'm hoping for the best because I'm just that optimistic. Winter definitely isn't my season, nor clothing wise, nor complexion wise. I just love the impression of having a sparkling skin when the sun appears. I might be in a springy mood mentally, I can't go all the way though because this is Belgium. And you know how Belgian weather is. Or you don't, well, let me explain. I'm talking about an amazing day filled with sun, that ends abruptly because of the angry rain gods. You have to be prepared for everything, so sandals are out of the question, you don't want them to be soaking wet. That's why I've created three looks that are based on three amazing pairs of trainers, showing you they really are varsatile.

This look was inspired by Paul Smith's spring/summer campaign. I just loved the red and the soft pink together. Since you can't wear skirts or dresses without stockings I just thought why not wear splashy red suit pants to cheer ourself up? I wanted to break the polished and classy vibe by adding up New Balance trainers and cool shades.
WEARING:
Shirt: Paul Smith
Pants: Zara
Sunglasses:  sarahaghili.com
Trainers: New Balance
Watch: Michael Kors

This look is for the casual sporty girls who don't care whether their hair's looking all neat. This dress is ideal for a walk in the concrete jungle. It's an extremely simple cut but the print adds up to this dress' amazingness. I've been dying to own a pair of Air Maxes and I've found the perfect pair yesterday, might buy that one! Since you can't leave your house without a coat these days, I've chosen for a jean jacket. The leather sleeves make the totality look edgier.
WEARING
Dress: Topshop
Jacket: Rag & Bone
Trainers: Air Max Nike
Nail polish: Nars

I'm in awe with this one because isn't it amazing how well those classic and urban pieces go together? We're talking about a 50's Dior dress and Adidas trainers, you guys! Gold and burgundy are a great duo and I like how chunky it looks with the elegant dress. Oh Polyvore, I love you.
WEARING
Dress: Dior
Necklace: Ben Amun
Gloves: Haider Ackerman
Trainers: Adidas

Outfit post³

By Neslihan
Hello, it has been a while again but I'm just too lazy to write something relevant these days. And also I've been working in this grocery store, so I didn't quite feel like writing about an extensive topic. Now that I'm done working, I can fully enjoy my Summer break again. Let it please be warm so I can wear my dresses and sweat my ass off. I'm back but it might take a while before I get started again. You can all take a look at the photos I took last week. And always wear your sunglasses.

Here I'm wearing a vintage white dress one of my nieces gave me. Also wearing WHITE shoes when I was always the one who claimed white shoes were awefully trashy. That was until I saw these. I know the whole thing looks a bit too white but it actually doesn't really bother me. It's a Nurse X Bride look. Note how depressing my neighbourbood actually looks.

I got this necklace from my 5-year old niece. She made the psychedelic beads from pasticine and I think it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. I also adore my Louis Vuitton but actually New Look top.

This outfit was from the day I met my friend and we had a whole bunch of fun. We took like 200 pictures and ate a bag of M&M's. I got this dress from the sales and I could marry John Galliano in it but I could also sleep, do sports and jump in it.

SCARY SCARY SCARY

Doing some crazy dance moves in front of my friend until I come home and...

...see this. It's Helena Bonham Carter for Marc Jacobs, you guys! Can you actually see the similarity between our moves. Lol lol lol

The blogger has a face

By Neslihan

This blog post is actually a milestone in this blog's history. An outfit post, who thought that would ever happen? You've got all sorts of bloggers, like I've ever said. Some are great with tutorials, others are amazing style icons, some others try to talk about the things that keep 'em busy in this industry and I guess I belong to the last group since I suck at make-up and hair and since I don't like to take a lot of pictures of myself. This is not the "I'm so insecure about the way I look" teenager blog post, it's just that I'm not so photogenic and that's fine. I've accepted that fact years ago. 

My style is quite simple because comfort is key. I like bright colours and floral prints, like mentioned in every blog post. And I do not wear heels that often. I'm more of a flats person. The shoes I'm wearing in this blog post are creepers from Doctor Martens (seen here). I fell in love with them just like that. Loving the burgundy colour but they are quite heavy. The first time I wore them, I had to find my balance. I am not kidding you. Anyway this outfit turned out to be more hipster than I wanted it to look like but I couldn't help it. I just put together the things I liked the most and this is the result. I'm more impulsive when it comes to putting my outfits together. It totally depends on the mood I'm having. I'd used to put my outfit together the night before but I've stopped doing so since I became too lazy.

It's such a funny outfit post because that day was rather hot (24°C) and muggy and I wore pants and a jeans shirt. I obviously didn't know what I was thinking. For those of you asking, yes, I've sweat my ass off that day. Nothing actually says summer in this outfit besides Vogue Nederland's July/August edition. I adored the cover when I saw it. So feminine, sexy and summery but I was disappointed with the content. Only the 'Riches of the Reef' photoshoot was satisfactory. I pretty much liked the roughness of that shoot. I could've adored the 'Jouer à la plage' shoot but I simply did not get the 'let's wear a bra and undies underneath our bikinis' concept. I also thought that the 'Is nature my only way' shoot was nice but we get the hazy effect thing in three pictures, you don't need to make a whole photoshoot based on cloudy, yellow'ish effects. 

P.S. thank you mum for taking those pictures

Grown-ups play too

By Neslihan

Of course they do, dear. Every year famous cosmopolitans play dress-up during the most-promising fashion game in the intire world: MET Costume Institute Gala. It's about actresses, singers, fashion designers,  editors, socialites hiring the best stylist, getting the most breathtaking dress and wearing the craziest accessories. This year though there was a variety of prints, lengths and colours. Elmo's feathers were in sale, some singers splintered disco balls to apply the shiny pieces to their dresses, actresses got promotion on their fabric ( buy 1 metre, get 5 metre free) and some others truly were trying too hard to show us some leg. Luckily though there were also A-listers who showed that they were worth their invitation. Let's take a look.

Mellow Yellow

January- Mad Men- Jones looked perfect in her Versace dress. The hair, the accessories everthing was in balance. She looked like a mermaid with super powers.

Coco Rocha went for a vintage Givenchy suit. It's not a normal suit though because this trouser suit belonged to Elizabeth Taylor. Pairing the yellow up with pinks was definitely the right decision. Look at that fabulous hair! And her dusty pink shoes are just to kill for.

All that glitter is not gold

I don't remember one signle day on which I thought: Ieks, Camilla Belle looks ridiculous. She always pulls off the most amazing combinations and doesn't even have a sylist. Here she's wearing a royal Ralph Lauren dress that really is made for her body. Going for a dress like this requires the right accessories and Camilla knew where to stop. Thumbs up!

When I saw Carey Mulligan I immediately thought Paco Rabanne! But I've mistaken because this crazy dress is nothing less than Prada. Wearing glitters or shiny dresses is not easy but how she's managed to keep it classy!

Hated by some, praised by others, Lana Del Rey knows how to be noticed. Her music fills you with sweet melancholy and her style just turns you green of jealousy. During this gala Del Rey looked like the dark version of Little Red Riding Hood. Bet she and Camilla have shared their lipstick. Lana's wearing Altuzarra.

Chloe Sevigny's mirror dress looked amazing! This Miu Miu dress though can't be worn by everyone. You've got to have the attitude, the guts and the body to wear it.

RED Carpet

While some were showing some skin, others hid every square of leg or arm. Kirsten Dunst's choice for a skirt suit was interesting. She looked as if she had escaped a German 40's movie. Kirsten looked great in her Rodarte suit.

I don't really know Mia Wasikowska's personal style but she looks like a shy girl. So, spotting her in this Prada dress wasn't a surprise but that doesn't mean that I don't like it.

Emma Stone's known for her bubbly personality and this dress was a great way to frame her quirkiness. She wore Lanvin.

Shaded pastels

 Dakota is a fantastic actress but what's up with the dress? Sure, Marc Jacobs is brilliant and sure, Louis Vuitton is off the hook but what the hell is up with this dress? Dakota Fanning could've worn something more outstanding or spicy because she's doomed to be forgotten between the other stunning ladies. 

Sarah Jessica Parker has played Carrie bradshaw for 6 whole seasons and you'd think she has learned something about fashion but she has truly let me down this time. I love florals and Valentino but a floor length ode to spring was maybe a lill' too much, don't you think?

Anja Rubik litterally looked shaded. I know this blog post starts to look like some style page from a gossip magazine but I cannot help it. That hip bone is scary and -surprise surprise- she looks anorexic. This dress is by the Belgian Anthony Vaccarello.

Back to black

The Olsen twins are known for their impeccable style. They try everything and aren't afraid of failing but this time I had the impression that Mary kate Olsen wanted to look like some kind of nun. And picking Einstein as inspiration for your hairdo is not ok.

Giovanna Battaglia from L'Uomo Vogue Italia and Carine Roitfeld's son (former editor-in-chief Vogue Paris), Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld attended this gala too. They looked so chic together. She wore D&G and looked like Russian royalty and he like a Parisian gentleman,.

Rosie Huntington Whiteley would look great as the next Bond girl. She shone like an Oscar award in her Burberry dress.

Praise the Lord, Marc Jacobs was the edgy note to this party. How awesome can one be?

Images: vogue.com.tr