Hello world! I hope you are keeping well, keeping your distance and keeping your spirits up. My body has reacted to this situation in the most peculiar way: I am constantly eating. Honest to god I’ve finished every quarantine treat before I’ve emptied the shopping bags at home. Anyone else have similar experiences?
Continue reading “Me, My Laptop And I”
After about a year of solid grey skies and rain the weather shows no intention of changing. It’s not yet warm enough to ditch the woollen winter coat, which means everything smells like a damp sheep. To further dampen the spirit, Elizabeth Warren stepped down and after years of predictable everything, it seems the whole world is in a weird turmoil which no longer can be blamed on mercury on retrograde.
Continue reading “Sunday Grey Edition”
Technically it should still be winter, not yet spring, but things have warmed up to the extent that even at Nordic altitudes experts have declared that winter is no more – it is from nominal autumn to nominal spring and nothing in between these days. So sad.
Continue reading “Spring Things That Caught My Eye”
Year 2019 is closing in and it is the time of reflection. Toss away phoney self-help by the Malcolm Gladwells of this world and join me in admiration of the true underdog of the lifestyle gurus: Victoria Beckham. Here’s everything I learned from her.
Continue reading “What I Learned from Victoria Beckham”
One can tell there’s a fashion world sea change going on when Vogue (UK January 2020) runs a shoot with – gasp – clothing items mixed from past and upcoming seasons. While this is how 99.9% of us humans go about our lives, mixing the old and new rags, it is still Vogue, the bible of the unattainable, and thus something worth looking into.
Continue reading “Business of Fashion”
The annual, global diplomacy-fest that is the United Nations General Assembly is in full swing in New York. On my first morning, as I was waiting in the main entry hall, I couldn’t help but notice with fascination the outfits people were sporting as they made their way to the assembly.
I realised there and then that I must present evidence that first of all, women are numerous at these meetings, and second, the stuffy old diplomat dress code (similar dark suits for both men and women) has largely been replaced by fantastic, bold and feminine choices.
As I am principally supposed to be working during my work trips instead of checking out people’s outfits (shocking, I know), the quality of some of the pictures is not as good as the subjects would merit, as I was snapping away in a hurry. Also I did not capture nearly all of the super intriguing choices, as photographing was not appropriate everywhere. However, herewith a small selection of what diplomats wore, the 2019 edition.
A dress was the choice du jour, a favourite all the way up to the highest political level. Among the Head of State -level dress-wearers I spotted at least the Presidents of Estonia and Slovakia.
This is an important signal to women in all stages of their career: a dress is a serious and appropriate workwear alternative. There’s hardly ever a compelling reason to wear a black trouser-suit to work, unless you work as a pallbearer.
First exhibit: The Austrian Federal Chancellor (the Head of Government).
Second: The Foreign Minister of Norway (colour-matching with her adviser)
Please also note the matching of tones for dress, shoes and handbag:
A classic with polka-dots:
The perennial workwear-classic: the wrap-dress!
2. Shoes you can actually walk in
Forget about any Sex and the City –related Manolo-fantasies of running around Manhattan in vertiginous heels. We are adults here.
My personal conference-day walking record is 14km. That is a very long way to walk in any shoes. Heels can be fabulous, but I would still advise to carry flats in your handbag. This is annoying, because it adds to the amount of stuff that needs to be schlepped around. But your feet will swell, making afternoons pure agony. Slipping into ballerinas or trainers will be a blessing by the time it’s 5pm.
Also, trainers have officially become appropriate footwear to high-level gatherings.
3. Pattern
Mix, match and be bold.
4. Uniforms
A woman’s workwear can also be a uniform. Herewith two different examples:
An official uniform:
A fashion uniform, in this case head to toe Gucci:
Here you are. Quite a family-photo they would make together, the women above.
