The Grey Anatomy

I guess you probably noticed that the common denominator on this triptych is the floor. Living in the UK I began paying attention to doors in various colours and often beautifully tiled floor. I especially like black and white tiles like you see here - they remind me of grand, cool, sophisticated palaces. As I'm not a great fan of clean black and white clothes' combinations I chose grey and black for my outfit and a green piece of jewellery. The necklace is from my grandmother. I don't remember her ever wearing it but after her death I rummaged through her jewellery box and discovered it - it is now one of my favourite pieces. The jacket is from Spitalfields Market, from one of many independent designers selling their clothes there. I love the round collar and huge craven-black buttons. I've been looking for proper Mary Janes for quite a while and I discovered these ones on Ebay just by an accident. They're from the 80s but unworn. The brand is Salamander, a good old German brand, also quite well known in Poland.

The painting on the left is "The Concert" by Jan Vermeer and the photograph on the right is "Galerie de Pierre, Chateau de Versailles" by Robert Polidori.

Jacket - Spitalfields Market

Skirt - GAP

Blouse - GAP

Shoes - Ebay (Salamander)

Tights - H&M

Belt - from my childhood

Necklace - inherited from my grandma

Absolute Vintage

This time I will not post any triptychs or a picture of myself but I'll write about my favourite vintage shoes shops in London. Their names are Absolute Vintage and Blondie and they belong to the same owner. When I moved to London over a year ago and went first to the coolest ever Spitalfields Market (in terms of fashion I so much prefer it to the Portobello Market) I was really shocked with the amount of stalls selling clothes, shoes, food, art, accessories etc. This picture shows just a section of the market, there are also several alleys, in which more stalls are located. I wandered around with my boyfriend feeling really overwhelmed. We went to see the neighbouring market on Brick Lane, which is the most craziest thing you can ever imagine, with people of all ethnic groups and nationalities, buying and selling stuff, eating food from stalls with every possible cuisine of the world. There are so many vintage stores in the area that you can't count them all. We found Absolute Vintage by accident, having not read about it beforhand. Apparently they have the largest selection of vintage shoes in the UK, literally hundreds of shoes grouped by colour on most racks and on some by size (sizes 7-8 have a few separate racks). Moreover, they have a few hundreds of bags, numerous shelves of sunglasses and gloves, long rows of racks with clothes and hundreds of belts. They have also an admirable selection of clothes, shoes and accessories for men. I try not to go there too often as I always end up being upset by my indecision - it's just impossible for me to find one bag that I'd love so I don't buy anything. Today I wanted to find a nice navy blue small handbag and I've seen at least a dozen of those. Obviously I left empty-handed. Oh sorry, not so empty-handed, I bought a beautiful pair of shoes.

It's not allowed to take pictures in the shop but I managed to take three (one of them from outside the shop, which is allowed).
Another shop, Blondie, is smaller and really beautiful, with a smaller selection of clothes, footwear and accessories but it's still an admiringly great selection. I had my eye on wonderful brown and cream shoes from the 40s, they were however too large. If you dream of a particular colour, type of a heel or shoes from a specific time in the 20th century (be it the 40s or the 80s) you can be sure to find them in one of these shops. A visit to them is a must for every woman interested in fashion with a soul :)

Here is also another picture of the shop from my favourite weekly Time Out

Absolute Vintage website

To get a real sense of what these shops are about I recommend these virtual tour around the shops:

Absolute Vintage

Blondie

Addresses:

Absolute Vintage

15 Hanbury Street

Spitalfields

London E1 6QR

Blondie

Unit 2

114-118 Commercial Street

London E1 6NF

PS. No one has paid me to write this vignette, I did it purely to share my enthusiasm with you.

Welcome to the Wolery! / Witam w Sowjufce! *

An owl is an interesting motif, quite often used in heraldry, old sagas and countless ex librises. It has always been preceived as a symbol of wisdom as well as of healing forces. The North American Indians used to believe that an owl helps in moving of a soul between worlds. Putting a picture with a symbol of an owl was also believed to ward fires and lightnings off. In ancient Greece an owl accompanied Athene, a godess of wisdom. Then it became a symbol of scholars, often shown with glasses, a university diploma and a university cap.

I've liked owls for some time now as they are such nice animals and not really admired by the fashion industry - apart from the fascination by 'owl' pendants that we could observe about a year ago on the necks of Mischa Barton and other celebrities alike. The most famous owl is probably the Owl from A.A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" - in fact I cannot recall any other owl character from a book or a cartoon. I've always liked what the Rabbit said once to the Owl: 'You and I have brains. The others have fluff' , though the Owl wasn't the wisest animal in the Hundred Acre Wood at all.

I found this T-shirt in Topshop and really like the colours and the fact that the owl takes the whole front :) There can be many ways of wearing it, with trousers and skirts and I prefer mixing it with clothes in monochromatic colours. It's not warm enough in London now to wear shoes like that but they look well with this top and I'll wear them a lot in summer.

The picture is by Jan Bauman, a Dutch illustrator. The owl on the right is part of one of the buildings in Barcelona - imagine how happy I was to find a treasure like that to add to my triptych!



T-shirt - Topshop
Cardigan - Zara
Trousers - H&M
Shoes - New Look
Belt - a long string of leather that I got from my mum
Bag - belonged to my grandma
Bracelet - made from amber, bought in Poland

* The name of the Owl's house in Milne's "The House at Pooh Corner"

Everyone expects the Spanish Inquisition!

I presume most of the people reading my blog expect now pictures influenced by my recent trip to Spain. I came back full of inspirations, indeed. I like to think that the overall atmosphere of Barcelona and Madrid had an influence on me but I guess the reality is a tad different. A general atmosphere is created by places, people, light, sun, colours, works of art, food, smells, sounds etc. and I can say what had a particularly strong impact on me. And a sound can influence me as much as a visual stimulant. Barcelona has Gaudi, as everyone knows, who together with other architects like Domenech i Montenera was able to create a bit of a fairy tale from an ordinary city. Just looking at their outbursts of creativity had an energising effect on me. Madrid, on the other hand, with its opulent belle epoque buildings that looked like a tart with sugary icing made me want to add a bit of glamour to my life. Museums gave me inspirations as for pictures that I present here and numerous plazas, little shops, bars and monuments are a nice supplement to outfits. I was enchanted by painstakingly beautiful brick houses with little iron balconies, even the most ordinary houses look charming. I often wish I had wings and was able to fly high to see what interiors of such houses look like (even in my neighbourhood in London I can't refrain myself from giving a quick glance through the windows of houses I'm passing by, especially when I see nice mantelpieces, books, colourful walls and nice, cosy light).

From the point of view of pure fashion I was disappointed with Spain. There are quite a few little boutiques selling unique one-off pieces but prices were unfortunately quite high and the choice was limited. I didn't have time to fully explore the fashion side of the cities (it's really bad that all shops close for three hours during the day for siesta - as if air conditiong didn't exist! And what's the point of closing shops in winter when it isn't even hot?) but I didn't see this creativity that I see in London every day, wherever I go. I was shocked that everyone looks more or less the same - jeans and trainers are staples for young women while here you can see skirts and high heels much more often. People also dress much more colourfully in London and play with fashion much more while I had the impression that they dress more safely (safe colours, safe designs, safe flattering clothes). I desperately wanted to buy a nice pair of shoes since I heard that Spain is a shoe heaven. Not so much in comparison to London. I didn't find anything in Spain that I would like and that I couldn't buy in the UK for a fraction of the price. And here I have at least five times more shops to choose from, not mentioning all these fabulous vintage shops scattered around whole London. Now I really appreciate the city I live in :)

The dress I'm having here is a gift from my boyfriend who fell in love first with this art nouveau inspired pattern. It's a kind of a wrap dress but not so obvious as Diane von Furtstenberg's pieces. I like the small flounce on the side, it makes the whole dress a bit girly and not so seriously womanly. The dress can reveal the decoltage or be buttoned at the collar as on the small photograph giving, however, a glimpse of skin in between the buttons. The designer sells her dresses in London's Spitalfields Market as well as in India, in Goa. We first met her friend selling dresses on the Anjuna Market in Goa and I was thinking about buying one of her polka dotted dress. But being spoilt by Indian prices I didn't want to pay almost £15 for it. In London we discovered the same dresses in Spitalfields plus this one gorgeous work of art and my boyfriend immediately wanted me to have it. Lucky me :)

The painting on the left is by a Spanish realist, Amalia Avia, and is entitled "Benito Garcia Fontanero". The picture on the right shows one of countless sweet shops in Madrid.

Dress: Spitalfields Market

Shoes: Ebay

Tights: Marks & Spencer