New Moon...

I am willing to admit that I jumped onto the Twilight bandwagon- because who doesn't love a band wagon?

And as soon as I read the first book (because you have to read the book before you see the film) I was 100% in love with Edward Cullen. Yes just like every other girl in the world it seems.

The fact that they cast Robert Pattinson as the vampire just re-inforced the love.

The 15 second teaser for New Moon:

Unsticky

I have just finished reading 'Unsticky' by Sarra Manning.

I bought it in a Waterstones on the way to Mull and since I got my hands on it I could not put it down.

It was the perfect fashion filled, funny and fabulous page turner to read with a cuppa tea while rain was pounding on the window.

I have read most of the teenage books she has written such as 'Guitar Girl' and 'Pretty Things' which I really enjoyed but I think this one, her debut adult novel, is her best yet.

Evo Festival

Wowee this years Evolution festival was the best yet.
In the end we saw White Lies, Human League, The Wombats, Nouvelle Vague, Little Boots, The Maccabees, The View and Dizzee Rascal.
Unfortunately Ladyhawke, Mystery Jets and more importantly Friendly Fires clashed with the headliners who were on the other stage so we had to miss them but it was all good because the bands we did see were brilliant.
Even the weather was amazing for most of the weekend (it did rain for a bit on Monday but I bought a fetching yellow waterproof cape which more than made up for it!)
Amazing weekend...

Me (left) and Emma :)

Little Boots- sorry about the rubbish quality...

Holiday Holiday Holiday

Sorry for my short absence I have been on a short family holiday to the Isle of Mull.
"Where the hell is Mull?" I hear you ask.
Well it is a remote Scottish Island where you can "drive for hours and not see a single soul."

Which I am sure lots of people might like the sound of, you know going on long walks and generally "getting away from it all" but it's not really my thing.

I still had a really good time though even if it is nice to be back home, catching up on Facebook and Britain's Got Talent...

JUST ONE LINK

hey i think you have to have a look at this...
and also read it. always!!!

I WANTED TO COME UP WITH SOME SMART HEADLINE BUT I DIDN'T

Some time ago I wrote about the advantages of revamping a piece of clothing so it becomes more wearable. But as great an idea it may be to reach for the scissors, do think twice - I did a small closet clean out and cursed my 17 old hippie ass for destroying a lot of fine clothing; making high waists low, changing the shape of skirts, and worst of all, drawing with this awful decoration paste on some pieces making them totally unwearable for someone who does no longer spend the days burning incense listening to, ehrm, goa trance.

After crying blood for a little while it was however time to get on with some cutting, as I am wiser now than ten years ago (amen! to that). My gradmother recently gave me her hand made foot-long dress that hasn't been worn for a couple of decades. It's ultra thin and beautifully flowing, so for a while it felt like a shame to cut it. But hey, if no one wears it the way it is, why hesitate? After scrweing up and cutting it off too much and then managing to save it again, it turned into something that might become my favorite new summer dress - so unbelievably light to wear, with such a lovely collar and what best, the ugly-pretty pattern makes it go along with my yellow, purple, blue green and pink shoes and sandals! (Or red ones for contrast, like now, together with the belt. No need to mention black shoes since they go with everything anyway but yeah those too). Now that's what I call a versatile dress!


As for the hair, I did a mixture of these two hairdo's (my number 3 and 4). The vintage bow comb is from Hoochie Mama Jane.

Psst. I'm featured as a vintage style muse this week on Debutante Clothing (where also the most fabulous and funny vintage dress ever was featured too)!
www.debutanteclothing.com

POLKA DOT DREAM

The other day I was browsing around a thrift store I came upon the most adorable girdle ever, a white and red polka dot dream. But with the amount of derrière I have I could only dream of squeezing into these...

Leaving them behind was of course not an option, and for a slight minute I thought of keeping them for myself as a decoration for the boudoir (as if I have one, well, boudoir corner perhaps). But then I decided to give them to Ina for her birthday hoping she'd fit in to them. And if not, she'd get something pretty for her boudoir instead. But they did fit and that makes me very happy (and her too! :)

KRENARE RUGOVA AT OSTBLOCK

new collection of dresses and garments from the label krenare rugova is now available at ostblock.
krenare rugova is an us-educated kosovar fashion designer.
it is her first commercial presentation outside of kosovo and she belives that her label " will be received well by international customers."
me too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OSTBLOCK

today ostblock has a 4th birthday... and i am happy.

i would like to thank to all people who helped me much during this time, my friends, family, ostblock's customers and of course great designers from eastern europe.

THE MIGHTY FUTURE HOUSEWIVES ;)

Pictures © Hanna Anttila

Last Sunday Ina and I were photographed at my place for a picture series of 50's enthusiasts and shared values. And as you know we usually go all domestic and cosy on Sundays.

(and in my case it sadly stays Sundays only... I've received some requests to show pictures from my home. I will do that one day, but like you might tell from the pics above, it seldom is tidy enough in all places for me to take any pics. Hrmm... but you know, both of us can't look good at the same time. It's either me or the house.)

The search for the ultimate pair of jeans...

So I went into TopShop on Thursday after school in the hope that I would find a nice new pair of jeans to where to Evolution (which is today- excited!)
How wrong I was.

All the jeans they had were 80's throwback, ripped and torn bleached denim. Or lots of pairs of jeggings (the jeans/leggings hybrid)
It's not even that I have a problem with these style jeans it's just that I don't like them on me.
So I picked out 6 pairs of what seemed like decent jeans but they all were either too big/too small/too baggy in the wrong places/too tight in the wrong places/wrong colour etc.

On one particular pair of "What was I thinking even picking these off he rack" jeans, which had everything going on (buttons, zips up the leg, bleached, ripped, the whole shebang) I refused to come out of the changing room in them. When my friend demanded to see them and I denied she tore open the curtain in front of the whole TopShop changing room and laughed out loud at the sight of me.
Not exactly the look I was going for (even though I can't blame her; I looked ridiculous)

But seriously is it that hard to find a pair of dark blue skinny (but not drainpipe cut-off-all-the-circulation-to-your-calves-tight) jeans?

Beth's search for the perfect pair of jeans continues...

Evolution Festival 09

Sooo excited about the Evolution Festival this weekend!

It is from Sunday to Bank Holiday Monday and Dizzee Rascal, Little Boots, White Lies, Mystery Jets, Friendly Fires, Ladyhawke and VV Brown are among the people performing even though there will be an indoor stage with loads of unsigned bands playing on top of that.

Festivals like this hardly ever happen in Newcastle so I am really looking forward to it.

Friends + Music (+ hopefully some sunshine) = Perfect Bank Holiday Weekend!
Now I just need to figure out what I am going to wear...

Ladyhawke

VV Brown

Little Boots

PRINT OF THE DAY

Rob Ryan : Tears That I Cried Over You

Fairy Tales and Fantasy...

Photograph by the great Cecil Beaton

Nina Ricci S/S 09

Cavalli S/S 09

Dolce and Gabbana S/S 09

And sorry I cannot remember whose work is the following but they are pretty pictures so I will post them anyway...

Sweet Dreams...

B xx

Fashion Illustration- Sandra Suy

This woman is the most amazing fashion illustrator. The way she sketches clothes and portrays the girls wearing them is just breath taking.

Here is some of my favourites of hers:

FFB NEWS - THE BURLESQUE EDITION

(wohoo, I got to write that stupid headline again :)

Cherry & Lola : Catfight (as seen at Wanted II)
Photo by Marko P

It's a busy burlesque summer coming up:

* This Saturday, the 23rd, it's time for Club Wanted V, the last one for the season! The evening starts with the rock n' roll and swing dance workshop as usual, then it's time for some brand new summery burlesque numbers. The band for the night is The Slippers! Don't miss it!

* If you missed our The Good, the Bad and & the Pretty show together with Sally Vanilla last month you'll have a chance to see it again at the From Helsinki to Honolulu via Hysteria burlesque cruise June 14th! Also performing a bunch of other great gals from overseas such as Kitten on The Keys, Baroness Eva von Slut, The Diamond Daggers and Lucky Penny from the Atomic Bombshells, as well as Burlesque Polaire from over here!

* I will perform at the Hellbilly Fest on June 19th at bar Loose in between The Guitar Slingers and The Surf Rats!

* Sally Vanilla and I will do a burlesque show at Tavastia July 10th at the PSYCHORAMA - Psychobilly & Burlesque Festival 2009.
More info on that later.

You can also catch our whole IttyBitty troupe at the Helsinki Pride Festival women's party on June 26th and at Free Rauma (in Rauma, of course) July 18th.

Pssst. there might be even more dates coming up soon...

Latest Style Obsession- "Florals for spring? Groundbreaking..."

Yes every spring when I inevitably think of buying something floral I always seem to hear Meryl Streep's aka Miranda Priestly's voice in my head from 'The Devil Wears Prada.'

So yes I agree it is not original but how can you resist?
Especially after seeing Luella's S/S 09 collection of flowery beauties and of course all the other fabulous stuff to be found on the highstreet...

SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE

yes, roman & me were very happy at hope hope magazine presentation on last thursday.
it was really nice party and djs were great.



what about the magazine? we like it a lot.
you should also have a look at it. you can download it here.

FASHION & VIDEO

maybe you will be in lausanne... if yes, then don't miss this enent.

MORE OF THOSE ROSES

I have a dress that has spring written all over it. Or, it more of shouts SPRING and therefore had to wait in my closet for months until it finally made it's premier. (Now I'm going to start listening for small cries of summer from the closet to see what to dig out next.)

40's shirtdress from Tara Starlet

Model Moment- Jourdan Dunn

Spotted buying sun glasses in Primark and now one of the Topshop models, I know we would get along just fine.

B xx

Designer Envy- Marc Jacobs Heart Dress

Oh my its ridiculous how much I love this dress. Whimsical and wearable, its just gorgeous.

B xx

Model Moment- Lily Donaldson

I don't know whether she looks particularly amazing in black and white or whether I just love black and white photos- probably both- but these pictures are beautiful of her...
B xx

Happy Birthday To Me!

I had such a good day yesterday!
My friends made me the two best cakes ever- one of them was a Banksy cake and the other an Obama one. Doesn't get better than that!

In the end though I decided I just wanted to keep it small so I went out for pizza with my closest friends and then they came back to mine for a sleepover. We had such a laugh.

My friends Laura and Izzie (both genius at drawing) drew me a Banksy picture similar to the real thing pictured below. Can't wait to get it framed and hung up on my bedroom wall!
I feel so lucky to have such great friends. So thanks you guys.

Love B xx

NEW THINGS OLD LOOK

Every now and then I like to dress up according to some theme or inspired by a certain decade, without taking it too seriously. Fun and easy you know. That's the whole point actually. To take what you like an make it yours.

So here I went somewhat around 1930. None of what I'm wearing is vintage, but mixed and matched semi old items from my wardrobe to create a vintage look.


Dress - Selfmade, Wrap-around knit - old
Bag - Global Acessories/Stockmann's, Headband - Ekawear
Shoes - customized ModCloth, Belt - made from a leftover piece of cloth
(The lace stockings are Norlyn's I think)

Here's my modernized verision of a late twenties look, from last year btw.)

HOOCHIE MAMA JANE

Kallio is the best part of town.

In other words, here's where I'll be tomorrow:





Hoochie Mama Jane will probably be one of the smallest vintage stores you'll ever visit, but it still fits an amazing lot of wonderful things. Apart from hand picked vintage items from here and there and everywhere it also has some hand made accessories and stationery, as well as Tyra Therman's burlesque-ish creations!

The owner is a friend of mine, who you could earlier spot at Ansa Vintage.
I hepled out with the graphic design for this one.
Anyway, the opening party is tomorrow, starting at 12! Vaasankatu 10 in Kallio.
Let's see how many can fit in at once shall we? Wohoo and oh yeah!