oxblood

Red Wine At Dawn…

You know I am more of a ‘white wine’ kinda gal, but, to be honest, I am craving a glass good red wine like crazy – might that be an actual pregnancy craving? I have no idea, but since I can’t drink any alcohol for the time being I will have to suffice with wearing wine coloured clothes. Yes, I am aware that wearing bordeaux during the autumn is a cliché, but hey, I’m doing what I can.

As for the ‘dawn’ photos, I confess that we arrived at our location at dawn but the days the actual sunset lasts for 30 seconds and by the time we got the camera out it was night already so we had to take our first night photoshoot hence the questionable lightning. The street lights did not help us much either as most of Bucharest has this terrific yellow lightning and not much can be done about it no matter what editing programme you use. Overall I am quite happy with the way these pics turned out and that is why we decided that they are blog worthy. Fear not, as these amazing boots will have their photoshoot in the sun and you will be able to fully see the marvellous colour and texture they have.

On me:

Dress – Tom Tailor; Boots – ZARA; Poncho – H&M; Bag – Michael Kors; Bling – Swarovski (ring and bracelet); Watch – Apple

Talking about the boots…they fully comply to my current velvet-over-the-knee obsession and they come in this amazing oxblood shade. Mind you, I think these are the most gorgeous boots I have bought this season and because they are not as tall as the others (9cm heel) I will wear them to death this autumn. They are from ZARA which is really no surprise as they keep releasing new and amazing pieces each week. I am telling you, I have fallen in love with every singe item they have this season, but unfortunately I can’t go on a shopping spree, but I did get a few things in my pre-pregnancy size that fit just wonderfully the only difference being the cut – I currently need A-line or loose fitted dresses which (THANK GOD!) are both very fashionable cuts right now.

On D:

Sweater – Funky Buddha; Jeans – ZARA; Shoes – Converse x John Varvatos; Bling – Fossil and Tous; Watch – Longines

Because I love wine shades, a deep purple dress was absolutely needed because we all know where great red wines come from! This dress is yet another oldie from my closet that fits nicely over my bump and feels amazing. It is from Tom Tailor and I got it a few years ago and I must’ve worn it a hundred times at the office. While it does seem short right now, that is only due to the growing bump as it is knee length on a non-pregnant body. I finally got to wear the poncho I got early this autumn from H&M as the temps decided to be very forgiving the other day when we shot these photos (15 degrees C). Obviously, my outfit would not have been complete without my bordeaux Michael Kors tote. This is one great tote that is worth the investment as it is kind of a neutral colour and the shape and size of it allows you to carry all you need on a workday – I have been known to carry my laptop, iPad, phone, keys and all the other miscellaneous and completely useless stuff a woman carries in her bag.

Another topic I really wanted to talk about in this post is the new mens brand that recently opened a shop in Romania : Funky Buddha! They have these amazing pieces for men both fashionable and amazing quality and they are a bit under the ZARA price point, but have more punk to them. D‘s sweater is from Funky Buddha and, as you can see, the colour and the texture are great as well as the way it fits him. If you want to explore something different from ZARA and H&M give this place a try as it is really worth it! His jeans are form ZARA and they are D‘s current obsession – to be honest I do not blame him as he does look amazing in them. His shoes are Converse x John Varvatos and by the looks of it I will have to sit down and have a talk with him as he has a hundred more autumn shoes but because he is lazy he only wears the ones that are already at the door.

Bling wise I rediscovered this lovely ring form Swarovski that D got for me a few years ago and that I absolutely love. I also wore the Crystaldust bracelet and my Apple watch and called it a day. D wore both his Fossil and Tous bracelets and he decided to wear his Longines watch. So there was not much bling-ing going on this time around.

I am really hoping that these days we will have the time take a couple more pics of these gorgeous boots in the sun, but it would appear that we do have to get a move on that as the temps will probably drop really fast and I have a feeling that the sun will be a very rare gem on the Bucharest sky. If you are bored by the whole velvet/ over-the-knee obsession that I have, you will have to start checking our posts out in about a few weeks as that’s probably when the Ugg obsession will start, until then, it’s all bout the over-the knee boots!

November 20, 2016

evenlymatched1 Comment

Autumn is here!

Never in my life did I think that I will actually be excited about autumn… I was so sick and tired of the nasty heat we got this summer and to be honest it has gotten worst during the last few weeks – it might be due to my advancing pregnancy, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. And hey, tis the season for lovely rich shades of burgundy, navy and brows, plus if you also add the lovely fabrics we get to wear during autumn, you’ll start actually enjoying this season.

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I, for one, couldn’t wait to actually get to wear some of the things that I got from H&M‘s autumn collection, and the weather on Saturday was perfect just for that. Not too chilly – notice D is in a t-shirt – it didn’t rain, I am telling you, sheer autumnal perfection. Yes, it would’ve been a bit better had we posed on a leaf carpet, but we have three whole months to do just that! True, the calendar keeps telling me that it is not yet the time for opaque tights but pants are completely out of the question for now and it’s way too chilly to go out without them. A cold during pregnancy is not exactly something blissful or romantic…

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Shopping info at the end of the post

So, about the outfit… Ever since I actually developed a real pregnancy belly I have been proudly wearing tight dresses and felt great doing that. I do feel a lot better when I am wearing the said dresses with a nice pair of heels and lucky for me I still keep shoes that are more than six years old, like these booties from Manas Lea Foscati in the photos. I think I have them from before D and I met so, they are more than seven years old but they still look great. Naturally, there is no way I could find them online so I’ve linked an alternative. What can I say about these booties besides the fact that even though I did not think about that at the time, they turned out to be a great investment for autumn thanks to the multitude of autumnal colours that have on them. They are also surprisingly comfortable considering the 11 cm heel. That actually helped me make up my mind about buying another pair of chunky heeled ones – I am more of a stiletto heel type.

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Shopping info at the end of the post

On to the H&M dress… Besides this one still being size xs, it is extremely comfortable over my growing bump and this quite possibly might take me to the last months of pregnancy. I love the colours as well, actually any oxblood item is just prefect for me during autumn. Yes, I am one for the greys and burgundies during autumn as opposed to browns and beiges, though I have been known to enjoy a chocolaty outfit from time to time. Because the dress has a bit of navy in it, I decided to go for navy tights and my navy Michael Kors bag, while going for a completely different palette for the shoes, but it all goes well together thanks to the burgundy in both the shoes and the dress. This dress can also be worn – and I will probably wear it – with shades of grey and black, completely ignoring the colourful side of it.

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As usual, lately, I topped the entire outfit with a very nice long knitted vest from H&M that carefully hides my growing butt and also keeps me warm. The fact that it is black means that I will probably wear it all autumn long and you will probably see it tons of times. I kept my accessorises to a minimum and only wore the new Swarovski bracelet that D bought me last week. These Crystaldust bracelets are just dreamy! They look amazing and are very comfortable to wear every day – I wear mine in the house as well, because hey, who knows who might come and visit me and I can’t not be put together now can I?

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D also went for darker hues, choosing his dark denim pants from Replay. I miss my own similar jeans as they were by far the most comfortable jeans ever. Yes I am talking about their Hyperfelex collection, we both love it and I can’t wait to be able to fit into mine again! He also wore his black Tomorrowland t-shirt that matches the darker richer hues I chose thanks to the copper feather print. D finished his outfit with his denim and orange slip-on shoes from Replay. He almost did a full Replay outfit as his navy leather belt is also from Replay. He wore his usual Fossil and Constantin Nautics bracelets and we both decided on our Longines watches. Even though it was sunny outside, he did not need to wear his Ray-Ban glasses so he just pretended they were accessories as he forgot his case at home.

All in all, I am glad that autumn is here, even though I know that by December I will be so fed up with the cold and I will be anxious for spring again. Actually I think that spring is the best season ever: the temps are perfect, nature starts waking up to life, the trees are in bloom…Yup, I love spring! But I will have to be contempt with autumn for now.

On me:

Dress – H&M; Vest – H&M; Shoes – Manas Lea Foscati; Bag – Michael Kors; Bling – Swarovski; Watch – Longines

On D:

Pants – Replay; T-shirt – Tomorrowland; Shoes – Replay; Belt – Replay; Bling – Fossil and Constantin Nautics; Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; Watch – Longines

September 27, 2016

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Pregnancy Autumn Essentials

After a ZARA packed spring and a summer full of Mango clothes it is time for yet another affordable retailer to make a statement in my closet: H&M. Yes, this year I have skipped the special editions (H&MStudio in this instance) mainly because I have no idea how and what will still fit me a month from now, so I found myself forced to stick to the basics. Since until now I did not like long jackets and vests much, now, in the position I am in – pregnant belly plus an expanding ass – I feel that those are the only things that make me feel totally confident about my new curves.Again, I didn’t want to go into the maternity department yet, as I want to buy clothes that I will wear over and over again for as long as I can.

I was actually very surprised to see that in my fifth month of pregnancy I haven’t gone up a dress size (no idea about pants and not really interested to find out yet – the doctor recommended that I stay as calm as possible during this period, so I am not even going to bother with pants) and therefore I can still fit nicely and comfortably in my old knitted dresses, so I decided to order a couple more just to play up my new, rounder by the day, belly. Since pregnancy doesn’t come solely with a round belly – or at least not for me – I need some pieces that I can layer over the skin tight dresses that will cover most of my growing ass. I opted for a few draped cardigans as well as a vest all in matching colours so I can rotate and mix as much as possible. Did I mention that throughout this pregnancy I have become more and more frugal when it comes to clothes? Unfortunately this is also our first year of blogging so you will probably be very surprised this time next year when there will not be an extend period of time without me buying new stuff. But not this year, this year I feel compelled to be as rational as ever when it comes to both clothes (I have no idea what size I will end up being in the near future) as well as shoes (I have heard rumours about swelling feet) and really, bags have never been my thing, so less shopping than usual for now.

Long Wool Jacket

Poncho

Lyocell Jacket

Knitted Vest

Cardigan

Belted Cardigan

Striped Dress

Off-the-shoulder Dress

Back to the 4kg online order from H&M‘s autumn collection… Yup, 4kgs containing my first ever long jackets. First of all, I would like to point out the fact that I personally did not really like H&M‘s summer collection much, but I am really liking this autumn one. Also, this is the first time I have ever ordered stuff from them online, because I have come to a point where trying on things in a changing room is just too tiering, so I have succumbed to online ordering from H&M. The service is wonderful, the packet reached me in 4 working days, so I can honestly say that they are not bullshitting you with unreal deadlines. There were no mix-ups and everything fitted me just perfectly. So a big plus for the service! The clothes are H&M quality and basically you get what you paid for. Everything I ordered is still online thus making this, the easiest post when it comes to linking. I chose mostly stuff in burgundy and oxblood, besides the neutral black and grey because I have a feeling that this year I will love these two colours as much as I did last year. Aside from that, there is not much more I can say, except for the fact that I can not wait to mix and match everything with what I already have in my closet and take photos throughout this autumn with my belly. To complete my autumn shopping now, all I have to find are a lovely pair of oxblood boots, but I have my eyes set on a pair form Smiling Shoes. I will keep you updated on that!

September 15, 2016

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Sunny London…

Yes, we were lucky enough to catch one of the five sunny days London gets per year. It wasn’t an entire day, as the weather was this good the day we arrived, but I’ll settle for half a day and consider ourselves lucky. When we left Bucharest, on Friday, it was literally winter, but when we landed in London it felt like it was a May day.

What does one do when it’s sunny and warmer than usual in London? Wears a crop top! Mind you, I did have a cardigan and a knit jacket over it, but still, I was wearing a crop top in London, in March! Yup, as you’ve sensed by now, this is yet another post featuring yours truly, trying to do fashion again. Obviously I’ve posted the Hat before this one as I like those pics more and I wanted to make an oxblood statement.

Since D and I (mostly D) decided that we only need one piece of large luggage for both of us, I couldn’t take too many pairs of shoes with me, so I wore the pictured ones two days out of the four we spent there. Who would’ve thought that I needed more then 1/2 of a large bag for four days? And yes, the luggage issue was the reason I lacked in the shopping department during our stay in London. Worry not, I didn’t leave London empty handed.

Back to the fashion post… For some reason, writing about clothes, shoes and bags feels very unnatural to me, unlike the totally natural feeling I get whenever I shop for them, that’s like second nature. You’ll probably notice that I tend to drift off during these posts. And…here I go drifting again.

The outfit… Since the weather was lovely in a British way, and since you already know about the shoes and the crop top, let’s move on… We were in London after all so, on top of the crop top (ZARA from a few years ago), I had an oxblood cardigan also from ZARA – this cardigan is a basic item for me and I think I have it in at least four colours. A cardigan wouldn’t have been able too keep me warm enough in London, so I topped everything with an oversized knit jacket which has a reddish tint and matched the pattern on my crop top nicely.

I’ll briefly mention my jeans as I intend on doing a full post on the subject just to prove to D that I do need all my pairs of jeans for different occasions (same will go for my stilettos). Drifting off… Back to the jeans, they’re the Skin-zee from Diesel and I think I have had them for about two years. I love the way the high-rise goes with the crop top. In my humble opinion, there are two types of skinny jeans out there:

The ones that look amazing on, feel like you’re in a cast and you need assistance getting both in and out of them
And the ones that look great, feel comfortable and no one needs to help you in and out of them

The Mad Hatter!

All things British…weather included! Packing for London, I had no idea what to expect, it is March after all… But March in London tends to be just as bipolar as March in Bucharest, it would appear. Of course, after spending a year in London, I already knew that. After about a week of intense thinking at what I should pack (I did need something trendy and fun as I was planning on doing a few fashion posts over there), an hour before I actually started packing, it hit me: A HAT!! I mean, no, I don’t usually, if ever until now, wear a hat, but hey, a hat is British, right? To prove a point, I’ve actually had (H&M) the hat you can spot in the pics for two years now and it still had the tags on on Thursday when I started packing. That alone should be an indicator of how often I venture into the hat-world, but for some reason, I thought it was time to wear it and London seemed the right place. Seemed…

As you can see, it is an oxblood felt hat, so it’s totally appropriate for the London weather. Starting from the hat, I packed almost everything I had that matched the oxblood colour theme and was clean (lingerie included-I like to match everything). Since I had only come to the oxblood theme a few hours before departing, I only had a few things clean as oxblood is one of my fave colours for autumn/winter and I tend to wear it a lot.

I had to improvise since my favorite oxblood items were unavailable, and I think that this colour works nicely with navy blue, black and red, which in my opinion, are all British looking colours.

I wore this outfit on the second day in London, because when we got there, on Friday, it was hot and sunny and a felt hat just didn’t seem appropriate. Worry not, as London weather came to its senses on Saturday- drizzle, cold, windy and all the nice things British weather has to offer. So, on that morning, I decided I was finally going to wear my hat for the first time and for an entire day (when we’re on vacation, we leave our room in the morning and come back at night). Little did I know what wearing a hat implied…on a windy day! Basically what happened was that in the first few minutes I got out of the hotel I decided that:

My head does not have the appropriate shape to wear a hat- I have no idea how those cool girls that always wear hats do that without actually losing their hat and without bumping into things (I had tunnel vision)
It was windy! I really need some tips! Does wearing a hat on a windy day implies using sticky tape to prevent the loss of the hat?

That being said, I tried wearing my hat casually and relaxed for the photos, non-casually when it was raining (one hand on top of my head) and not at all all the other times. Basically, I’d say that I spent most of my Saturday carrying it in my hand.

Overall, I’d say that wearing a hat is, like all the other cool things, a complicated matter. D kept making fun of me, telling me that being fashionable requires sacrifice, and in retrospect, I think he was right. I definitely looked like a mad person between shots, hence today’s post name.

Getting back to the fashion part of this post, I’ve paired the now infamous hat with oxfords (because…London) that have a little oxblood detail on them. These shoes are incredibly comfortable and I got them from Bagatt, for next to nothing, last autumn. I have no idea where I got the navy dress from as I’ve had it for three or four years and I think it goes nicely with my latest FURLA addition (travel exclusive from British Airways-I got it on my way to London). Because we had autumnish weather that day, my Burberry scarf, a black leather jacket and an oxblood cardigan kept me warm, alongside my black Calvin Klein tights. I always feel comfortable wearing a dress and I love the feeling of wearing a dress and a leather jacket, and right now, looking at the pics D took of me, I’m starting to like the whole hat idea (maybe I’ll do that more often if someone decides to tell me the secret of actually keeping it on my head).

Overall, the day I first wore a hat was interesting. I am not going to emphasise on London in this post as there will be a full post on that later this week. Well, this concludes my hat experience and the first of a few posts to come on London (the city closest to my heart).