No Pasaran!

I know I'm not posting texts and pictures too often here - to be honest, I guess I lost my heart to this blog somehow. I really like arranging my outfits around a painting and adding a place to it but I don't really enjoy having my pictures taken and it takes so long to create a new post... I'm thinking about closing this blog or it will be as it is: rare updates. I don't want to follow an easy path and just show nicely arranged contents of my wardrobe - that wouldn't be fun for me. Well, I'll think about it.

The outfit I have here is a mixture of all old things. The jacket was bought in Zara (one of very few Zara clothes that I possess) when big, golden buttons were the newest craze (about 3 years ago). The trousers are one of my summer staples - I have the same pair in black and dark blue. Linen is great for hot weather but unfortunately it creases too easily. Shoes are from India - great for that country but not so great in London, where pavements are made for the blind and through thin soles my aching feet can feel the pavement every time I approach a street crossing.

The picture on the left shows a part of a huge painting entitled "Fusilamiento de Torrijos y sus compañeros en las playas de Málaga" by Antonio Gisbert that I saw in the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid and the picture on the right shows one of the beautiful balconies in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin.

Jacket - Zara

Top - Zara

Trousers - GAP

Shoes - bought in India

Handbag - Kookai

Bangles - Miss Selfridge

A rose is a rose is a rose

I've been thinking about an outfit to match this Mehoffer's painting for quite a long time and having seen Polish flowery folk shawls on a number of Polish fashion blogs finally gave me an idea. I remembered that my mum used to have a similar shawl to the ones I've seen on the blogs, probably from Zakopane, bought in 'Cepelia' or some similar place (she doesn't even remember where she got it from) and I nagged her to find it for me. So she did and that's how I became a proud owner of this beautiful piece. This weekend was the first time I wore it with this dark violet dress and patent red leather peep-toes. Later that day I went for a dinner to an Indian restaurant and the shawl looked beautiful with dark navy jeans and a simple tight black jumper. I love the variety of colour on it - it looks good with a dark green dress, with black trousers and an orange or red cardigan, with a completely black outfit or with this dark violet dress. I used two leather brooches in the shape of flowers that I bought from an independent jewellery designer on Spitalfields Market to keep the shawl nicely in place. Finally - spring in full bloom and my garden full of roses made it possible to take a picture exactly how I wanted it to be.

The painting on the left is "Dziwny ogród" ("A Strange Garden") by Józef Mehoffer and the picture on the right shows one of the beautiful roses from my garden.

Dress - French Connection

Shawl - a gift from my mum

Peep-toes - Carvela

Brooches - Spitalfields Market