daily dose of duft.

one of the moderately annoying addictions i formed whilst living in the big apple is kiehl's products. there's nothing even remotely irritating in the products themselves, but because they aren't available in stores here in finland nor online in europe, acquiring them is quite a nuisance.

established in 1851 in nyc's east village, kiehl's is known for amazing personal service, generous samples (which were significantly downsized in early 2000's, but you still get plenty...) and herbal fusions combined with a scientific attitude. their most famous product is probably their lip balm: a classic in a tube. i have several lingering around the house...

my fondness for kiehl's is based almost solely on their beautiful and subtle fragrances: natural scents of grapefruit, coconut and coriander refresh and sooth, and the tea tree oil shampoo feels invigorating without having a strong chemical astringent effect -- something i find too common an effect in many tea tree oil products. more than anything, i love the soft facial cleanser which doesn't irritate my sensitive and blemish prone skin. the packaging is simple and stylish.

i wholeheartedly recommend trying, but must warn you: you may never go back to yer olden ways...

a gala of pyramids.

i apologize for being awol, for giving you the silent treatment, and being late with posting everything. the reason is that i started at a new, full-time job, and have been really busy writing copy -- and rather uninspired after a long day to write anything else.

nevertheless, i intend to keep you posted regularly, but just need to find the spare time to do it after a pretty long while of being free(lance).

***
last thursday i attended the gala dinner organized by the finnish association of professional graphic designers, grafia, where the best of last year's advertising received awards.

a campaign i worked on briefly received one of the golden, small award pyramids (although for something i had nothing to do with), and that was reason enough to party. the entire list of winners and honors can be seen here (in finnish).

the night itself was less rowdy than i expected although by the end of the awards ceremony some tables (i.e. advertising agencies) already made quite a fuss for their own success by screaming and loud applause. the event is centered around back-patting and subtle (or not so subtle) recruiting, but i tried steering clear of job-talk -- almost succeeding, too. i enjoyed the company of friends, and importantly, the food was close to excellent (especially the desert was fab) and champagne was plentiful.


as per usual, i almost forgot about the event and ended up just grabbing the first safe thing in my closet to wear. it was a little black dress from zara and on my feet i sled a pair of patent leather pumps from marc by marc jacobs. again, struggling with accessories, i added a simple cuff from gaspard yurkievich.

simple, and hopefully elegant enough.



because it was still cold, i also wore my vivienne westwood coat, one of my most treasured and beautiful items of clothing. although i am thrilled to put it on, i cannot but wait for a reason to carry it into the storage because of spring.

(which brings to mind: where the heck did the sun go, huh?!)



the entertainment was centered around the awards presentations, but two burlesque performances and a very random opera singer appeared on stage at strange intervals resulting in people largely ignoring their carefully prepared additions to the program. although i think burlesque is a fun celebration of femininity, i am quite honestly finding the trend tiring: there doesn't seem to be a party without tassels 'n' titties in this town anymore...

the party continued at motellet from where i took a quick leave home.

and what would a gala of graphic designers be without appropriately pimped paper for the royal tushies...

brightening up #1.

it's spring and time for brightening up. where else to start than your feet, right? i am a true converse girl at heart (and feet) and usually get my chucks in high top, but this spring it's all bright and solid low white for me.

i got these at the converse sample sale my friend, who imports converse, holds biannually. i'm ready to get miss golightly on you, spring!

europop gone graceful.

kleerup used to be the producer of robyn and is responsible for her "every heartbeat". his sound is more monotonic and recognizable than mirwaïs's -- and we all know how predictable his sound was -- but the beautiful song makes up for the rather boring eurodance background. with a proper remix, the song is close to amazing.

this is the second video for titiyo singing "longing for lullabies", intended for the american market. such a beautifully shot film it definitely deserves a look and a listen.

five days of work, one whole day to play...

saturday, saturday, saturday, it was a saturday...

i spent last week organizing my mom's 70th bday which meant browsing cookbooks, searching for fresh ingredients, prepping and baking. on friday night a car packed with people, dogs and food changed location towards the west coast. on saturday everything was in order, the cake (among other delishes) was ready and we had a pleasant event amongst closest family and friends.

but there were other parties needing our attendance and attention.

guess opened a new store at kamppi shopping centre, and we paid a brief visit. my last guess experience was rather uninspiring: a suffocatingly packed lux club with warm flutes of cheap sweet sparkling did not impress. fortunately, this time around the sparkling was cold, dry and there was plenty going around.

while rare individual garments from guess could find their place in my closet, most of the stuff is way too trashy for my taste. i have always liked their sultry advertisements, but quite honestly, the tanorexic, cheap hair extension ornamented crowd of hoochie mama chicks was worse than i expected: it seems trailer trash look is something quite a few local guess aficionados aspire to...

off to tavastia we went to the vip party of adidas 60 years of soles and stripes. the decor was well put together from the blue lit entrance to the jackets hanging from the rails. again an environment i don't feel entirely at home in: sportswear ain't my thang and it's been a while since i skateboarded and listened to hip hop. i did try my best to look the part and i wore my originals' shell from 2004. more importantly i enjoyed the bar and the skateboarding, but was rather unimpressed by the hip hop acts on stage after the doors opened for public. not my scene... anymore, that is.

i did meet a bona fide style goddess of the night, though. this girl had a huge "cc" chanel logo made out of legos hanging from her neck: ultimate cool! you go girl!


we continued to a surprise bday party of a friend and sacrificed my white tank top to dionysian pleasures of the red kind. this song kept playing in my head, like it used to in my days of de la soul...

tweety tweet.

there are some disadvantages to being a nerd and novelty freak. new innovations, especially social communication tools, excite me, but because they are rather slow in grabbing the attention of other members of the society, i have continuously experienced being left alone posting my info. needless to say, social networks are hardly worthwhile if you're not in contact with others.

i experienced the sudden flow of people to facebook after already considering leaving it because it seemed as futile a tool as orkut and friendster. i was pleasantly surprised by the popularity it gained, and still consider it a valuable tool for keeping in touch and organizing events.

i stopped tweeting two years ago, because no-one seemed to know about twitter: i had four followers/followees of which two were geeks not unlike myself and two were friends i half lured, half forced to join in order to try it out. again, it wasn't all that interesting after a while.

new tools for social networking are difficult to activate because they require others around you using them together with you. it doesn't matter if you've got the coolest new gps application in your iphone if no-one around has it, too. unsurprisingly, you need people to socialize with people.

while there are many others like myself who embrace new tools and applications, most people are still rather hesitant with bringing their social life online. for example, it baffles and amuses me to read supposedly tech-forward finns publish and discuss analyses of facebook complicating people's friendships and distorting some individuals' conceptions of true friendship; exclamations like "well, you can't have that many genuine friends irl!" receive a simple "duh, 'real life' is not as it used to be..." from me, but i realize that it is because i maneuver online quite naturally, believe to understand the ways it alters social reality, and consider it an inseparable extension of my being.

the radical manner these applications change the way we communicate appears incomprehensible to many people: novelty often arouses fear and anxiety but, more importantly, confusion about how to relate with innovative tools of social interaction. it may take a while until social networks truly become understood as equals in communication although they probably never will surpass face-to-face socializing as the most meaningful on human encounters. the way we've cyborged already, it would not surprise me if calling on the phone was soon considered as inefficient and outdated as sending letters in a bottle only surviving as a romantic gesture or leisurely luxury: a filtered feed of your whereabouts and doings will soon replace active contacts.

social geo-mapping is what i'd like to experiment with, but unfortunately i lack a 3g phone essential for the applications which really does not matter for what i understand from this article, even the bay area isn't quite into it, yet. as frustrating as it is, my enthusiasm is curbed by the reality of technology catching on slowly.

but i'm willing to give twitter a second go since it seems people are finally using it. in case you wanna follow my tweets, they're here.

laser ray.

fever ray started with pounding bass lines and lasers slitting the smoky air. i felt my sternum tremble and my ears became wrapped in the oscillating sound. the stage was decorated and lit with retro lampshades which breathed with the music lighting up and slowly extinguishing as the beats moved on. it was a very powerful beginning.

from such a start one would expect nothing less than fireworks, but the music did not carry all the way to the edges of the room. i tiptoed to see anything and the buildup let me down constantly. had i been standing in the middle of the room surrounded by hovering people i might have had a different experience altogether judging from the feedback i got from friends. such critical sensitivity to location may work against an artist, but also proves that some music requires intimacy which is not exactly a horrible thing. only too bad for us situated peripherally.



"when i grow up i want to be a forester, run through the moss on high heels."

survival kit.

since lists of all sorts are fun and frivolous but trivially interesting, i'm going to post a list of items i never leave the house without.

1. calendar. moleskine holds everything i have trouble remembering. for someone as scatterbrained as myself, it really means everything. i have a long and affectionate relationship with moleskine and the back pockets of my old notebooks and calendars store many of my most important memories.

2. notebook. i write all info on jobs in my notebook and follow-up with it as well. i also doodle random ideas, such as blog posts, in the back.

3. muji pens. i am really particular about my scribbling tool and i've gotten used to these pens. my sister sends me loads from london unless i make it there myself.

4. earrings. after years of going bare-eared i started wearing small studs last fall. i got these efva attling ones as a present and love their simplicity. actually, i'm a huge fan of her streamlined and stylish jewelry.

5. perfume. i don't leave the house without perfume. i may leave barefaced and barefoot, but never without my scent. for years now it's been dior homme which is warm and spicy but does not have the secret ingredient that transforms all other male perfumes into the familiar harsh, manly aroma.

6. watch. not unlike many others i took a break from wearing wristwatches for a few years and relied on my phone for telling the time. about three years ago i bought this digital chronograph from tag heuer, and have grown so attached to it i feel naked without it hanging heavy on my wrist. it's big and bulky and works perfectly with my androgynous style.

7. powder. forever shiny i cannot leave the house without my compact. i have been a mac aficionado for ten years and kept harassing friends and relatives who travel for my basic makeup until last year when mac arrived at stockmann's, and my powder of choice makes no exception. currently it's from their mineralize line.

8. phone. slim, cheap and basic nokia. it needs to fit into my pocket, not break easily when thrown ('cause i'm clumsy!) and work well for talking and texting, that's all.

what are your daily essentials?

green, am i?

these past two weeks have been titled "i am green" at miltton showroom. since "green is the new black" it was past due that some pr-agency or another utilized the theme this widely.

in this day and age events around sustainable living must offer more than info on recycling -- we all recycle already, right -- and add to the self-evident solutions of cutting material consumption in favor of services, buying second-hand and favoring locally produced products. miltton's answer was to gather companies that promote ethical and ecological values under the same roof, and to invite consumers and press to experience different paths towards sustainable consumption. there were workshops, panel discussions and competitions in addition to an art exhibition.

combining ecological concerns with the needs of corporate and small company desires for growth and profit is, needless to say, not an easy task, and as others have already pointed out, miltton didn't exactly succeed. one of the problems, as anu pointed out, was the obfuscation of eco and ethical: quite separate and demanding different considerations, having it both ways seems to succeed rarely.

i was invited to come listen to a panel discussion earlier in the week, but somehow a group of corporate spokespersons did not strike me as a credible panel but more of a "let's pat each other on the backs for being so green" kinda discussion. i wholeheartedly welcome all moves towards more eco-friendly practices in all business, but if i want to know how neste and finnair deal officially with eco-pressure, i can visit their websites. moreover, if i want to know how their official position is criticized i can ask greenpeace or some other ngo. from a panel i expect questioning and critical discourse which are the results of variation in opinion -- i wonder why ngo representatives and someone professionally trained in ethics or ecology were not invited to take part?

therefore, i postponed my visit to saturday and checked out the eco-stylist competition. from my perspective, finnish eco-clothing needs a serious makeover before becoming fashion and the event did little to alter my view.

i am not sure whether the founding concept behind the theme was to be informative or transformative -- presumably both. the packed showroom suggested a large number of companies present, but the information provided on each was minimal, and thus, i left with very little added awareness about what was on offer. many of the companies i already knew of, some were rather surprising (like aurinkomatkat with their catalogue of global vacations also noted by nei... talk about some serious carbon print, huh?) and quite a few were so small the only info available was a self-printed calling card.

when it comes to transformative goals the main pragmatic challenge eco-consumption faces is facility: it needs to be easy because people tend to be lazy. with fashion, however, the problem is the apparent dilemma between aesthetics and moral responsibility, superficiality and depth. i quoted rogan gregory in my post about edun to point out that with fashion, surface is primary: if it isn't beautiful, we just don't care how eco it may be. unfortunately the track record of eco-fashion is ugly: weird hemp rags, recycled garments more infatuated with being creative than beautiful, etc.

therefore, i am quite sure i'm not alone in saying that i would buy eco without hesitation if only the garment fulfilled my requirements for beauty and quality, i.e. i am not willing to compromise my style over substance. i don't get a kick out of wearing something that is obviously self-made. i also continue to steer clear of garments that scream recycled: dresses made out of men's ties, brooches made of circuit boards and other such "clever" conversation pieces. don't get me wrong because i, for one, admire ingenuity and inventiveness, but if the results are as ugly and disgusting to the touch as these bags made of old tires, i am more than happy to bid farewell to eco-chic.

fortunately there were interesting and beautiful individual pieces of clothing, as well, but not many competed with mass-production stylewise. it was telling that the final admissions to the eco-stylist competition looked, well, eco-homemade-second-hand-hoohah rather than fashion editorial ensembles -- all explained by the selection of clothing available.


during the competition the aspiring eco-stylists were asked who they'd like to re-style eco-chic. one of the competitors answered "anna wintour", and i think she truly captured the challenge ecological fashion is facing. the companies direct their design and marketing towards a consumer niche that is already aware of eco and less aware of fashion when they should approach the whole process differently: changing the fashion world starts with fashionistas who are driven by the exterior. it is about providing alternatives that are pleasing to the eye rather than relying on eco as the strongest selling point because green may work as a fad, but prolonged change requires appeal on the fundamental level of aesthetic.

while the event was all about high morals and ethical thinking, truthfully i was appalled to hear the head designer of nanso rely on xenophobia and borderline racism in her attempt to promote their lempivaate line of clothing. such statements as "it's so cool to have a finnish middle-aged marjatta or irmeli work on our clothing rather than some tiny chinese person" do not arouse a wow-effect on my part -- although her blurt was received with "yeah, how cool" by many. as a reminder, the "tiny chinese person" is also someone's aunt and mother probably working under conditions no-one in their right mind would accept here and, moreover, even if i find local production truly worthy of preservation and promotion for various reasons, nationalism and xenophobia are not among them. thus, there's some serious need for pr-training at nanso: advancing local clothing industry does not require ignorant and offensive comparisons.

being green is probably the new cool which by definition requires some in depth thought. miltton's market of products relied too heavily on people's need to relieve their conscience to inspire a transformation in consumer habits. they succeeded in making it all look very easy, but my light mood slowly evaporated as i slurped my innocent smoothie and remembered the junk posing as fashion i left behind at the showroom.

bare bricks.

our capability to concentrate on text is overpowered by our visual message reception. art in addition to photo journalism work as powerful political media within the imagery we're bombarded with constantly in revealing the injustices of the world. i wrote earlier on a photo exhibition of the victims of wartime rape in rwanda, but new records of the daily lives of those worst off force me to return to the subject of global suffering.

the latest collection of pete pattisson tells the story of indian slavery, a state of being that differs very little from our intuition of a slave's life. pattisson photographed brick kiln workers who are unable to leave their place of work, punished severely for disobedience and whose subordination continues generations onwards.


in a liberalist mindset the kiln workers' form of slavery resists recognition because officially they are indebted to the kiln owner. the indian caste system, still very much alive, is dependent on abject labor of the dalit who are forced to borrow from others for survival and, hence, preordained into a life of slavery they often leave their children as the only inheritance. cultural customs prevent many actions on social justice where poverty and violence rule over equality. needless to say, pattisson's shots reveal an india of daunting injustice from underneath the current glazing of news on technological excellence.

his work on modern day slavery is on show at downham leisure centre, lewisham.

lashes against the wind.

bat for lashes debut album fur and gold was released back in 2006, and was nominated for the mercury price in 2007 losing it to the klaxons' myths of the near future (which is one of the best albums i've heard so far and not a lamentable loss for ms khan, i think...)

a favorite of thom yorke, natasha khan is back with the track "daniel", a dark and haunting, but definitely dancey, pop tune. for those of you who like pj harvey, björk, röyksopp's collaboration with karin from the knife (or knife for that matter) bat for lashes is definitely worth familiarizing yourselves with.



if you want to hear this in addition to my other recommendations, i'm dj'ing tonight at beatroot. come and have a drink!

space shroom.

i'm feeling the sun and the spring, and quite honestly cannot wait to get out of my winter gear. in my case, nothing radical is to be expected: i'll go on wearing black, grey and white with the optional small splash of color.

while my energy levels cumulate, sportswear i normally steer clear of gets back into the picture. a touch of sci-fi nerd keeps the look less street and more me, and i combined a spacey ktz top with rope inlay with american apparel leggings and nike dunks in patent leather. imho, the look is very much "space cadet ready for takeoff".

the street ninja would be too complete a comic book character without a touch of distraction -- be it color or material -- and although my foremost springtime yearning is for ankle exposure and sandals, in the meantime must settle for a flowing jacket. i found the linen parka earlier this spring at h&m and loved the floppy shape of it, the slit-like folds on the pockets and the double zips.

i look like a mushroom wearing it, but with a streamlined ensemble underneath the exaggerated slouchiness remains apparent. it is a play on proportion i really like when it comes to outerwear that i can just slip off; as we discussed with anna, narrow or slight shoulders can be an asset one may want to emphasize and oversized garments actually tend to do just that despite adding volume to your upper torso. unfortunately, the result may also take a rather hilarious this-kid-shopped-at-mummy's-closet -form.

i'm ready to shroom my way to spring.

fresh and clean.

today's event of choice was the pre-presentation of vero moda collaboration line for fressis.fi, an educational site for teens who want to quit smoking. a small group of fashion people were invited to the tiia vanhatapio store to hear about the misconceived connection between tobacco and style.

the very limited line is designed by tiia vanhatapio, known for her sultry dark couture. the combination of designer and high street store occurred to me as an unlikely coupling for two reasons: first, vanhatapio's claim to fame is having dita von teese, the pin-up diva, as her client and the sensuality of her other designs strike me unfitting for teen girls. yeah, i'm kinda old-fashioned and uptight. second, i have come to expect constructed garments from vanhatapio and imagining cheapo versions of her beautiful dresses felt almost blasphemous.

the clothes on offer were, against my fears, absolutely wearable, fun, fresh and young. the skunk girl line is inspired, according to vanhatapio herself, by tim burton and holiday era madonna.

monochrome stripes, whimsical details (see anne kukkohovi's jersey tail) and a carefully constructed logo, the skunk girl, should appeal to their target audience, although the average vero moda shopper may think the clothes are too goth-like. i saw a glimpse of the trophy of the collection, the graduation dress (ylioppilasmekko), and it was bonafide vanhatapio i.e. a beautiful satin corset dress. only 50 will be made, so you've got to be fast...

the information goodie bag came with a tee with the punchline "tupakka haisee!" (tobacco smells!) i.e. the argument selling the line -- and quitting smoking -- is based on the unattractiveness of smoking. the information leaflet lists bad skin, smelly breath, early wrinkling and midriff weight gain as powerful reasons not to smoke. for all i know, if an increased chance of lung cancer and death does not work as an effective warning, then appeal to the vanity of teens must be the proper way to go.

the line will be available at selected vero moda stores 28 april 2009. go get yours!

very impressed people at diesel.

last night i attended a vip shopping night at the diesel helsinki flagship.

unaware until the very last minute that the event was organized for bloggers only, i got stage fright walking in: i blog anonymously (or i like to think so although my belief came into question today when anne kukkohovi recognized me...) and felt moderately exposed in the midst of other bloggers whose faces i could recognize.

with the abundant servings of nibbles, scantier samples of drinks and a significant discount on the products the night offered a perfect lure combo for any fashionista. with music dj'd by daniel palillo, and henna koskinen the ambience was friendly and fresh.

diesel offered us a peek at their spring/summer collections with outrageously coiffed models walking amongst the guests. as could be expected i was most fond of their black label line.

still, i found a perfect pair of jeans that i decided to sleep on. they're slightly ripped and torn and i love the short length that's perfect for shoe exposure -- summer is, after all, all about flaunting footwear!

in the end, silver and i got matching jewelry; he a bracelet and i a pair of earrings. they came packed in the cutest little boxes and entitled us to a freebie tigi product. well done, i say.



the song that stuck from the night is the kooks cover of mgmt's "kids". lovely. (downloadable here via music ramen.)

warp speed.

it seems i'm keeping my bleached jeans, then; thank you very much to everyone who voted!

i want to extend a bonus appreciation to those who took the time to write why they liked them. it sucks that nobody who thought the jeans weren't "all that" provided any reasons -- it would have been interesting to hear why the jeans were not right (feel free to tell me now, by all means!). nevertheless, the few individuals who fell for my blue cow suggestion can't really resort to original creativity in forming opinions anyway, so lack of elaboration from them is kinda self-explanatory.

importantly, i learned something from my poll experiment: i actually care very little about what people think of my clothes.

i hope you understand this does not mean that i'm demeaning the votes i got -- quite the opposite, actually! it's always great to receive differing opinions, compliments, and i am in no way above appreciating reassurance. i'm also not suggesting that i don't like discussions around clothes and personal style. only that i realized that ultimately my own style is not dependent on the admiration of anonymous viewers although i am a social being who thrives on acceptance just like anyone else.

***

so i'm continuing on my notes on personal style.

the thing is, i realized quite a while ago that my look is perceived as strange by many. oddly, i also know people who think i'm a style goddess. furthermore, there are people who think i'm a wanna-be. unsurprisingly, there are people who think my style is boring. i agree with all of them periodically.

forming an opinion always depends on how one approaches fashion, trends and clothing and, primarily, how one approaches people, and it seems that however i'm perceived, there is always a dissonance of opinion apparent. in the end, the one i really trust is myself.

what characterizes me is that i am often off the beaten path stylewise (even though my style decisions are motivated by a desire to belong) and i take most parts of my fashion journey at warp speed. for example, i got my first pair of stretchy skinny jeans in 2003 and went high-waist no later than 2005. i experimented with wide jeans in 2007. i bought three one-piece overall-type garments two summers ago, wore them then, and last summer they felt a little old. the same summer i bought a miami vice type blazer with shoulder pads and rolled up the sleeves. early last fall i got an oversize black coat with slouchy shoulders and, again, wore the sleeves rolled. this summer and next fall both the overalls and blazers are supposedly all the rage.

well, woopty-doo, then. if i was conceited, i might think i was the sh*t.

but i am neither telling you this to claim that i create trends -- nope, i don't see myself ahead of fashion, no way! -- nor to illustrate a supposedly clairvoyant skill-set when it comes to fashion since my experimental "predictions" fail as often as they succeed. at times i find looks much later that many others because they've surfaced in places i don't frequent.

actually, therefore, my examples seem to suggest that i am instantly inspired by new shapes when they emerge yet again from fashion's constantly spinning wheels and, moreover, care very little about how a new look suits me: for me a new silhouette brings joy rather than annoyance or worry about whether i look stupid or gawky. when i see something that breaks the pattern, i need to try it. right there. right then.

dressing up is play and all in all i don't take myself very seriously. but as with every game that runs on novelty, it becomes boring quite fast and another challenge is needed.

therefore, i am constantly surprised how conservative many people are with fashion trends. from my perspective it is nothing but ridiculous to hear that some people are still considering whether skinny jeans suited them (or others for that matter), and i ain't saying that everyone should wear skinny jeans just because they're fashionable (or passé or whatever), but that it surprises me how it would take someone years to ponder their way around a silhouette.

right now i'm a little bored because i'm not seeing interesting shapes anywhere. it seems everything (except bleach on jeans, ha!) around me feels dated. i may need a break from fashion to feel inspired again...