Hi I'm Selina. I am a student from Birmingham studying at the University of Manchester. Currently I am doing a study abroad programme for a year at the University of Borås in Sweden. Want to find out more? Have a question?
Check out my about me page or email me at jelibaby@hotmail.com
I think I've typed far too much about this trip already so I'll wrap this up quickly! It's not surprising to note that going on the boat was not fueled by the desire to hit the destination, and I woke up confused when the boat docked, then went straight back to sleep! My friend (who finally returned) and I woke up about 12 and were like 'omg we're in Estonia!', and quickly got ready and onto land.
Considering it was Monday in a capital city, it was so quiet! Visiting Europe really makes you get a grip on your own country and town, I guess I'm spoiled coming from Birmingham. There were still people on the boat and milling around looking hungover, so we admired the pretty town, got something to eat, tested some makeup, and then it was time to go! I'm not too sure what you're meant to do in a few hours but we possibly didn't utilise them. I'll have to return one day!
This is the only picture of me in snowy Tallinn looking um, happy!
There was another love boat to Helsinki a few months ago and on the return journey, apparently it was so rocky that everyone was sea sick. Maybe the captain puts his/her feet up on the way home because you could definitely feel the boat moving this time! You'd be walking round and suddenly feel a huge lurch.
As we made our way back to the boat at about 4pm after meeting with the others, I realised they were checking tickets/key cards and I still had that French guy's! I was imagining him being stuck in Tallinn forever and they weren't in their cabin so we panicked a bit and then double checked before rushing back to the port but luckily they had got on the boat ok! I apologised many times for being a dopey idiot and locking myself out, and thanked them again for helping me, and also realised they were seriously hot! The boys in general weren't as pervy on the second night but everyone was still up to party. We had the best naps ever for a few hours and then got ready again! I wore a BikBok dress... hmmm well it's alllmost a dress! I wore leggings, it's ok! Not quite a Don't Show-cha Your Chocha moment!
We headed down to officially watch the cabaret at midnight but we weren't allowed in with our drinks! The first night meant you could drink anywhere and everywhere, but we weren't allowed into the main stage area, so my friend Emma and I went onto the deck with some other exchange girls. Because it was so dark, you could only really sea the water right alongside the boat. I'm sure if I would have only been able to see water for miles, I would have been way more scared! As we went back inside though the security guards ran to us and snatched our drinks out of our hands, really angrily! Apparently you could only drink in your cabin! So we watched the end of the cabaret and headed back before the club opened at 1am. A few funny things happened in that cabin. First we were flicking through the channels to find the one that filmed the club and stumbled across some Pied Piper porn where 'the problem wasn't the many rats, but many whores', and then some random Italian boy stripped for us! Well we were innocently having out own little party but the door was open and in comes a seriously drunk guy who shut the door, asked who wanted him, said we could all have him, and then got topless! We were laughing a LOT, but then he whipped his jeans off and started gyrating in his white pants!
Should I run a disclaimer against drinking? Drink sensibly guys!! The last night was pretty explanatory from then on, we danced for hours and some more boys asked us to take advantage of them and my friends passed out so I spoke to some Swiss guys who wanted to meet my famous friend. I think everybody in the corridor knew her name from my knocking the previous night! We were again some of the last to leave the boat, but as we were packing we saw all the cleaners knocking on doors to wake up sleepy people. We had a four hour wait and then a six hour coach back to Borås which wasn't fun. I apologise for these photos too, I was actually pointing to something and not just being a loon. Phew!
Finally here is the video! It's a shocking demonstration of camera filming but it shows things in real life and isn't very long!
It's been a week since the love boat and I'm still thinking 'was that a dream?!' Seriously! But the boat didn't leave from Stockholm until 4.45pm on the Sunday. We left the hostel by 10am and put our cases in the huge lockers at the central station, which is a good tip for travelers! The hostel had a cafe with this cool pig head light.
I went with my friends that day who wanted to find the 'old town' but we didn't really know where we were going. We tried to edge towards older looking buildings on the South island and were pointed in the direction of this church but who knows! I knew there were a few vintage shops around here but they were mostly shut on a Sunday and the day before I hadn't felt like finding any. I've been in so many vintage shops for years and years and at the moment I'm not looking to buy anything in that style. I would have gone to them but my shocking map did not aid my travels and I only stumbled upon those that were clothed. Next time!
We went for fika AGAIN in a cool cafe and admired the view, wondering what this boat would be like. I thought it would be more like a small ferry but I heard there were 2500 rumoured passengers. All day I kept thinking it would be insane and wasn't worried exactly, but was a bit apprehensive about getting ready as I needed to blow dry my hair and wondered whether everything would go smoothly. It's stressful and a little crazy to go somewhere that you have no idea what it will be like or even where it is! Plus we'd been in the hostel already for a major tiring weekend and only had the luggage we'd brought!
We gave up on the old town and I wasn't too excited about seeing some old houses anyway, and I took my friends to the south shops like Monki! First we popped into the cool looking Tshirt Store, where I very nearly got a calculator watch and now I kinda wish I had because the pink one is calling my name!!
Here's some better photos of Monki, the shop that you all must come and visit. If you need a guide I'd be happy to give some tips!
These little balls have small gifts like hair bobbles or knickers inside! Great stocking fillers.
I nearly got these tights but feared I'd never actually end up wearing them. I also love the merchandising here, the dots and stripes are so perfect together! I totally own this tshirt.
Wedge ankle boots are my obsession right now, I see COS have a great pair. It's ever since the Weekday pair sold out just as I was going to buy them. You can buy these teddies too! I really want one before I leave Sweden but I don't know how I'll transport all my stuff home!
They have some great trousers! I love trousers right now. The checked pair underneath really grabbed my eye and my friend thought I was mental! The second picture is simply of the back of this girl. This is literally what the back of every Swede looks like, a huge scarf around the neck with the hair tucked in.
All the things are laid out like a boutique but it's really easy to touch and pick up stuff, so it's the best of all worlds!
I thought these were a funny take on the Weekday jumper and I like them much better! Still essentially a dead fox around your neck though.
Again here are the changing rooms, with blatant holes in the curtains! You can just peep inside!
Cool girl, cool scarf!
My Mom rang me randomly at this point and I was like 'hi, by the way I'm about to go to Estonia! Skype makes it hard to get hold of home that often! I found this GREAT magazine shop. Sweden have great newsagents but this had absolutely everything, even magazines I can't find in England like Let Them Eat Cake.
I so very nearly bought this!!! The £10+ price tag put me off though and I got a copy of Acne Paper instead. Ohhhh Ed!!!!
We popped into an average sized H&M because my friends were dying to go to the huge ones in the town centre but we didn't end up have time.
I've wanted this suede skirt with the suspenders since it was in the look book but here it's about £45. If I would have had time to try it on I might have bought it but I'm not tired of my wardrobe at the moment so don't need to be adding more expensive purchases! Wish I'd tried on these boots though, they are incredible.
This SA was dressed so cool, I think they are American Apparel socks?
Is it just me or is this skirt more of a belt?
My friend impulsed on a last minute outfit as the boat boarding time grew closer. We had no idea what the dress code was but my motto is always that it is best to be over dressed so I wasn't worried about the body-con dresses that I'd bought. I would literally wear a black body-con dress gladly for the rest of my life. I style spotted while we waited.
This man below actually spoke to me! I think he was French. He only asked me for directions, but he was swoooooon-worthy. I miss my Docs! Totally bringing them over here in January to wear like this girl with velvet leggings. I'm going home in about two weeks! How weird!
Now for the boat. There's not too many pictures as I don't take my camera to clubs because I loose it, and most are too Facebook-y. But boy do I have enough gossip to make up for that! We made our way back to the central station to get our suitcases from the locker with plenty of time as we didn't really know how to get to the boat and how we would know which one to get on? As we went to the tube, we saw a LOT of young people with suitcases on the platform. Exciting! The tube was packed and we just followed everyone else outside and towards the Stockholm ports. We saw some gigantic boats and realised that yes, we were going on something not dissimilar to the Titanic. Wow!
I've never been on a boat before so I was wondering if it would be super scary to be surrounded by water or if I would get sea sick. The port check-in was extremely crowded and we started surveying the people. The trip is for exchange students studying in Scandinavian countries, so there seemed to be many nationalities. We spotted the group of people we shared the hostel room with as one of the girls was in a room with my friend Emma and I, and she'd already got our tickets. Emma is one of the girls I met here from Warwick uni and they are leaving for good in a week, how sad!!! We got our room keys/tickets off her which were credit card sized cards and wiggled our way through the crowds to the walkway.
The boat inside was incredible. It was luxury! There were eight floors and everything was in stunning gold. I was so shocked they allowed it out for students to wreak! These photos were actually from the last day as we were shockingly some of the last people to leave the boat, but during the days these corridors were full of students. The rooms were a bit of a maze to find but finally we got to the eight floor with ours, which was small but super cute. It was so clean and fresh, what a relief from a claustrophbic weekend! There were the two beds and two pull down beds above and a small but big-enough bathroom. I was ecstatic I'd be able to dry my hair, and jumped in the shower super fast as I knew we'd be going to party later.
As I was in the shower my friend flicked through the TV and found there was a channel that was a camera at the back of the boat. At night it was pitch black but that's still pretty cool! There was also a map of Sweden to Estonia and a little moving picture of the boat so we knew where we were in the Baltic sea. Then she discovered the best channel of all, one that showed the club!!!! The club was actually a stage in a huge room, more like a concert hall. This boat was more of a cruise liner as you could definitely holiday on it. The third roommate Adele joined us and we watched the MTV awards (where Katie Perry wore that amazing Viktor and Rolf cut-out tulle dress-wow!) as we got ready. The captain came on the speaker and had a little chat and then revealed something amazing- there was a taco buffet with a FREE BAR!! "...As much beer and wine as you can drink!," the captain said. Yes!!! The other girlies visited our room and we made a plan to go to the buffet about 9, so we got ready with loads of time and it was really chilled. I HATE getting ready in a rush and not feeling 100% when you set off!! I wore a new Motel dress, which I took a chance and didn't even try on before-hand, but it fit fine and I was glad I had something new! I got it on ASOS, who have decent shipping to here. I wore it with polka dot tights and my platform TS heels with the bows. Fake lashes too of course! And a new MAC foundation applied with a MAC brush. I swear it makes ALL the difference!
As we were getting ready the corridors started getting busy. If you've ever lived in student halls you might know what it was like, just 100% studentville. Oh, apart from a random old couple opposite who kept walking into the corridor in their pants, ew!! Our room didn't have a window but a huge mirror instead (which is totally the better option!!) and it was getting quite hot from our hair drying, so we kept opening the heavy door to waft air in. Each time, the corridor was louder and busier. As girls walked past we saw some weren't really dressed up, which made my friends question if we were dressing up too much. I was happiest in my outfit whether other were dressed up or not, as I think Brits dress up way more than some other Europeans. We were finally ready and headed to our friends' room on the fifth floor, and wow were we surprised. We didn't quite see the extent then, but the corridor had many groups dotted along drinking outside their rooms, sitting on the floor or standing, and loads of people going up and down the stairs or taking the lifts. You could compare the two days to a festival, where there's a massive atmosphere of excitement and anticipation of what's to come, and there are loads of people around, all strangers but all with the same sense of fun and spirit. As we walked through groups of people in the slim corridors we noted the girls really weren't dressed up. A lot of the French and Spanish girls here don't really dress up like the English do either, and the boat was mainly French, with a lot of Spanish and Italian and a smattering of Irish, Swiss, German, and more- even some other English!! I only met European I think. The girls were definitely eyeing each other up, especially as we were dressed to the nines as they say! But I felt ready to party, and maybe I notice clothes too much! We also couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be a LOT of boys. I remembered thinking 'ah, all the girls must be still getting ready!' but I was WRONG. The boat was 80% male. Literally, that's not an exaggeration. I'd say it was more, but my friends agreed on 80. Wow! It was like being an endangered species. As we walked through the groups of guys that lined the corridors, they were whistling and saying hi and we were like ohlala! No wonder it was called the love boat! I still don't know why it was mostly boys? I hope it's the same next time haha!
We finally found our friend's cabin and us six girls had a quick drink before heading to the dining room. As we got to the entrance to pay around 20euros for the buffet and bar, we saw the room was grand, humongous, and busy. We felt very dressed up again as we stood in the wide entrance all in heels and dresses! We saw a table of exchange students from our uni and waved; we were wondering how many times we'd bump into people we knew as lots of the people we live with here went to the boat too.
We all paid and made our way to the line for the buffet when the first random thing happened. A boy with a mohawk who I think was maybe Spanish came right up to me and said 'excuse me, I just have to say I love redheads and you are so beautiful, I just have to tell you, what is your name?' I was like HUH?! because we'd just walked in and already boys were saying things like this?! I looked over to the table he was from as was like 'is this a joke?' and he was like no, I'm serious! I had a little chat with him but he was staring really intently and I told him I'd see him later and went back to my friends. When he went back to his table all his friends clapped!
I find it a bit funny to eat at parties or occasions like this but we hadn't had a proper meal all weekend due to being at the hostel, so I tried to load my plate as much as possible. The food was fabulous and delicious, a taco buffet is a great idea. We got a large table over the other side of the room round a corner and stocked up on cups of beer and glasses of wine from the tables all around the room. I'm not endorsing this, but our aim was to drink as much of the free booze as possible! After all, our bedroom was just downstairs so we could party as hard as we wanted! Ahh that sounds so bad but we were on technically holiday!
We ate and drank and ate some more and drank a lot more and it suddenly dawned on me that we was at sea! If you thought about it you could tell you were moving, but it wasn't swaying at all so you just had to distract yourself before you questioned if you were feeling ill. If you did, you inevitably felt a little queasy just because you were paranoid! As the time passed, there were many chants and songs among the dinners, mainly Spanish I think. Suddenly a song would come from a corner of the room and the whole dining room were joining in. Later people were standing on tables chanting! What is it with Spanish songs, seriously if you're at an international party the Spanish suddenly burst into song on many occasions!!
I was mixing beer and wine together and we grabbed the last of the booze to stock up before it ran out. We started playing 21s and I noticed a table of girls in front of us were Irish. A table of Italian boys next to us took a photo of our table for some reason, so we took a photo of their table! Then we saw Rik! You remember Rik, the guy from Holland who we met at the Ice Bar who launched himself onto my friend's face without any warning, numerous times?! Well we did wonder if we would see him on the boat, and yes we certainly couldn't miss him. He was wearing this HUGE furry hat and strutting around, and my friend went over and stole the hat and he was so drunk he didn't even notice! When he finally did his friends came all the way over and told us he'd been talking about my friend and the Ice Bar all day!
We were chucked out of the dining room at about 11.30 and I'm not so sure of the sequence of events but I'll try! I think we went to find our other friends and then went to our rooms to get some more drinks. We went to the floor with the entertainment, walked into the concert hall and saw there was a cabaret on?! There were hundreds of chairs and tables and a huge balcony with the same, and it was so surreal to be quite drunk and suddenly have a rendition of Cats on stage, complete with the costumes and makeup. Then there was a load of nuns for a song from The Sound of Music?! It was a proper, professional cabaret, possibly wasted on the drunk audience! We watched for a little bit but didn't have seats so I think we went back to our rooms again, and the room was noisy and crowded despite the show continuing! As we were going through the corridors boys were stopping us and chatting and we realised there were a LOT of hot guys on this boat. We were in the middle of the sea with a load of boys... !!
We met up with the friends we stayed in the hostel with I think and the new Italian guys. Remember them, they are friends with one of the Italian guys in our group of friends from here? I think they'd planned on visiting him and it happened to be the boat weekend. Or maybe they studied in Copenhagen? I'm not sure, but we all went towards the cabaret concert hall again, which had now turned into a massive club room. We could see from the TV channel in our room that is was a massive, dancing crowd. This is where we all seemed to loose each other and I was left with my one friend. We went to the balcony to look over the crowd but couldn't see our friends, so went back to our cabin and found two there, having a bit of a drunken upset. We had a chat and sorted our girl out, got another drink, and headed over to the other cabin where we found the rest of us six girls. Not sure what it would have been like if we couldn't have all found each other again! Again guys were swarming around us, complimenting us, generally on the pull big time. There were just no other girls!! Seriously!
I think we went back upstairs and by now it was 1am and the other club randomly called Aluminum had just opened. Time was no issue on this boat, by now the party was only just getting started!! We danced and danced and guys kept coming onto us and eventually my one friend went off with one of the new Italian guys we knew and my other friend found a German guy and my other friend found one of the other Italians (keeping up here?) and after a while my other two friends went to sit by the side. One has a boyfriend and one doesn't drink. I couldn't imagine what it was like to be totally sober around two thousand people who were totally, totally drunk. As I went to the side, my one friend walked off with an Italian and my other friends were having a rest so I went back and danced with another of the exchange girls I'd spotted for ages and then a guy came onto her too! So I pushed them together (let the love blossom I say!) and went over to my friends at the side. The guys were HOT but I was looking for the one person with that extra special something. The level of hotness was insane to start with but it was early days! I look to the future too much I think you know!
My two friends said they were going to look for our other two friends who had gone off with Italians and I was going to go with them but they said to stay and watch out for my friend getting it on with a German. Funnily enough on the very first exchange student party here in Sweden, we met an English guy who was leaving that day, and he was on the boat! I chatted to him for ages until he went off, and I decided my friends weren't coming back any time soon. My friend pushed the German away for a second and I said I was going to look for the others. I had no problem cruising round a boat full of extra friendly people; if I didn't find my friends I could find some more haha! But she didn't want me to go off so we went to the huge balcony room to have a look at the main dance floor to see if we could recognise anyone. It was like a Where's Wally? as I looked out over the huge crowd of maybe a thousand people dancing, and then I turned and spotted two of the Italian guys we knew. I said I'd hang with them and made my friend go back to her German fling, and the Italians said why don't we go back to their cabin to refill our drinks. Great! It was so fun to walk around the boat and soak up the crazy vibe. One of the Italians had been with my friend on the dance floor earlier so who knew what had happened to her, and the other was model hot. We sat on the beds in the small cabin and they poured me half a cup of vodka. I was like umm do you have a mixer?, and they were like no, just drink it as it is. Then I was like umm aren't you guys drinking?, and they were like no, we're drunk enough. So basically it was just me sitting there drinking straight vodka. I thought that was a little weird, until after a few minutes they basically proposed a Dan-Olivia-Vanessa type scenario, if you see what I mean!! I was like what?! are you serious...?!?! And I think they were!! I kind of laughed and was like haha, yeah right, and luckily the third Italian came into the room (the other one who had just left dance floor with my other friend! Lucky guys!). I must say now that the boat had a vibe very much like 'what happens on the boat, stays on the boat.' Everyone was out to meet the person of their dreams and have chance encounter with a beautiful stranger. I hope you're not reading this thinking everyday my friends and I set out to find the first men we can! The boat was just literally another world and we're not that erm promiscuous constantly!
So he came in and suddenly got topless to change his shirt and I was like woah, this situation is a bit strange. I'm in a tiny cabin with three Italian men, one half naked! The other two left though, presumably to find some other girls after I laughed off their weird offer! I chatted with the third Italian guy who chatted about girls and threw in that he had a girl himself and held up his hand with a ring on. I was like omg are you engaged?! And he said umm no, it's just a relationship ring and hastily took it off. It was funny the next day when my friends and I all gathered to tell of our totally different nights, as this guy had just gone off with my friend just before this! And my other friend left the same cabin possibly minutes before I came in! After a bit we went back out and even though I was linked with this guys arm, STILL other guys were calling out and trying to chat to me. They were very nice guys on this boat, it wasn't like leering men, they were just students! You kind of felt really gorgeous and fab but also quite amused and shocked at the same time that you were in a place like this!
We went to the balcony of the dance floor and I managed to spot some of the exchange students, along with one of my girlie friends, who told me she had pulled one of the guys who had proposed a wild night in the Italian room, and all the people we were in the hostel with were dancing there too. I was so happy to find people again and when we went down there I don't remember where the Italian guy went, I think he just went off! By now I think it was about 3/4am. I danced and danced with my exchange friends and pretended I was a lesbian on many occasions to aid friends who weren't interested in some of the guys coming onto them!! Time flew and it was an awesome, incredible party, and near the end I don't remember but I must have bumped into the French guys that we had met in the club we went to on the first night in Stockholm called Magenta. I was chatting to one who was a Thierry Henry twin and I got some water, which I had to pay for even though being on a boat! I think it was 6am then because the club was ending and my friend came over saying she was going back to the room. God knows where our third roommate had got to!! I stayed with the French guy for a bit and kept telling him to say things in French haha it was hot.
The party seemed to be never ending and still going strong, and I went back to my room where I saw my friend was fast asleep. I was outside the cabin for ages and eventually made the French guy leave and went into the room, then went outside again I think to say another goodbye and the door shut. Oooooops!
I was like ahhhh crap and knocked on the thick, metal door to wake up my friend. Then I carried on knocking. And literally I was knocking for half an hour. Maybe because it was 7am and we'd had little sleep in the hostel and some jam packed days, and because the doors were so thick, but I just couldn't wake her up! I was knocking, shouting, banging, and nothing! I started to get kind of bemused because time was ticking and the boat was docking in Estonia at 10! Loads of boys kept passing and were like heeey and helped me knock. Some were throwing themselves at the door! My friend's name was known all over the corridor because we were shouting it so much but she couldn't hear. Of course all these guys were like 'well you can stay in our room! We have a spare bed!' And I was like thanks but no thanks guys! My other friend is coming back soon! Even that French guy came back for some reason but I was so embarrassed and preoccupied for being such an idiot and leaving my key card in my room that I sent him off. A guy in another room came out and was a bit peeved that I was making so much noise, so I decided to just wait it out in the corridor for my friend to wake up or my other friend to return. I didn't really mind seems as loooads of people were still awake and I wasn't tired!!
Some other French boys kept trying to persuade me to stay in their room and I was like I'm fiiine and this Irish guy appeared with a toy machine gun and started 'shooting me'. I was so not impressed as just sat on the floor like ok seriously, who brings a toy gun on a boat?! Then the French guys suddenly appeared with a mattress from their room and bedding! They laid it in front of my cabin door and said 'here, sleep there!' I was like what?! because it was super embarrassing and there was no way I would sleep in the corridor with continuous people in it ever anyway!! I thanked them very much but said I'd be fine and I didn't need their mattress!! They were quite amused but their kindness was real and they took the bed back but one gave me his room key card and said if I still couldn't get in then I should go to theirs. I refused to take it but they insisted, and I sat for a second and waited. Then the mohawk guy from dinner suddenly appeared and it must have been his dream scenario, me all alone with nowhere to go! He was chatting to me but it was funny because I kind of wanted to hit myself for being so stupid but congratulate myself for continuing the good time! I just couldn't believe the night could have any more drama. The mohawk guy was a bit strange though and after about an hour outside my room I started to really consider finding some kind of boat reception and seeing if there were spare keys. Then some security suddenly came, possibly called because of my noise! The guy asked if it was my cabin and I was like 'yess!!!!!!! ummm i can prove it!! ummm there's a pink makeup bag on the bed!!!' He looked at me a little strangely and simply put a key card in the lock and the door was open!! Yesss!!! I was going to go back to the French boys' cabin to give them their key card but once I was in my room, I didn't want to chance it again and leave, so I took my makeup off, settled into my fresh sheets and went to sleep at last!
Gosh this post is SO LONG! Tell me if you really don't care about the boat because this is a fashion blog I suppose and maybe you don't actually want to hear! But if so, tomorrow I can tell about Estonia and the second party, which included a stripping Italian and some outfit photos. God I wish I could live on that boat!
My friend asked me, "Omg, have you seen the gossip girl with the vanessa-dan threesome?!" I was like whaaa! So that was kind of spoiled. But still, what a crazy episode!
They Shoot Humphreys, Don’t They?
First I'm loving that Blair's whole head bands, block colours and great tights have evolved to Jenny's leather jackets and black bandage skirts. Fab! Totally funny how they were checking guys out on facebook. How long are Jenny's legs?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so preoccupied about her falling out her dress though.
Noooo why is Serena going to get with that politician guy!? Surely there are a million guys in New York!! Did you see Serena's casual dress for work? She could have worn something more fabulous!
Ahh so funny that beer pong is on the list of things to do at college! And Chuck mentioned Laduree macaroons! Do these writers read fashion blogs? Hahahaha did you see Dan's dancing just after they did tequila?! LOL. The whole threesome thing is a good way to highlight how Vanessa and Dan totally have something between them, but might be a little naughty for GG?
I've realised why Blair is not so fabulous this series, her hair isn't as luscious, and as Jenny said 'Your reign is over, just like that headband'. Chuck threw it down the stairs for a reason! What was with that Cotillion girl's makeover? Gram Collins was hot though!
The Last Days of Disco Stick
How hot are Olivia and Vanessa at the start of the episode! But really all teen dramas go through a gay story line so hopefully it won't be too predictable. And why is Nate some kind of sex agony aunt? Please Nate! Good for Vanessa for shunning Dan finally, he's getting toooo cocky.
Olivia is so curvy and fab! Love that character and her wardrobe. But seriously, what is this Lady Gaga fake play thing about?!?!?!?!?!?! And does she has to make a rubbish appearance? Kind of lowering herself to the levels of Tyra?
Funny how Jenny is just ready to step out for the day with that ambassador after lounging on the couch reading Nylon. I feel shabby one hour after stepping out the house when I try, and never even leave my pjs if I've got nothing to do. The girl must go through a lot of eye liner!
Love Serena's shoulders in the first scene. HATE Tripp! Urgh Serena find someone your own age!!!!!! He's not even cool or hot! You can't find a better guy in NY? 'Oh Nate, I think I'm about to get involved with a married man'... well don't!!!!! Find another job! Get a grip woman!! Her and Nate deserve each other urgh!
First communal shower... hmmmm! So bright an early I arose from my mattress on the floor last Saturday in Stockholm. Ooooh the possibilities. My friends were going to a museum of a boat that sank hundreds of years ago that they recovered (or something) but of course I went shopping! It is a cultural and rewarding experience too ya know!
I'd stayed up all night making a google map and coding it with different symbols and signs all over the place but couldn't print it anywhere! So I had a map from the central station and I doodled all over it from the hostel's free computers. For some strange reason the map was a little different to the google map so my map was ridiculously wrong and confusing. I set off though, black lipstick applied, camera in hand. The main town is incredibly easy to hit for high street shops as it's a long, wide road. I would NEVER shop in England on a Saturday for fear of major crowds and messy, empty rails but Stockholm is totally bearable and a pleasure. Sure it's busy but not too busy, and it's not noisy or chaotic. Apologies that most photos have some innocent public in them, it was hard to get clean shots!
I first went to BikBok, which is a really great store. It's very similar to Topshop but everything is glamourously wearable, whereas Topshop like to throw in a few crazy items that are a bit more questionable and off the wall.
There was sequins, studs and fur, but I loved all the nude colours. They had lots of little tshirts and jumpers with shoulder embellishments, but they weren't too brash. I think they have a BikBok on Oxford Street but I'm not sure if it's the same! I had a few things in mind but really I wasn't shopping to buy. I tried on a few things but walked away with one top.
I nearly screamed when I saw this fantastic Weekday. Shamefully the first time I saw the shop in Gothenburg it took me way too long to figure out why MTWTFSS was also in the same. Shocking!
The shop is too cool. Too cool! It's laid out a bit like Urban Outfitters, with everything eye level and very separated and spacious. There's only a few sizes out in each item but it's not the place to try on loads of things at once and raid the shelves. Each item is careful! Here's a snap of the changing rooms, where you can just look over the door! Also some cool Swedish sandals. There was lots of great style around, I didn't see anything unbelievable but I have high standards for Stockholm style anyway so everything was as amazing as expected!
They also have a vintage section where I saw this sweet jumper. I'm definitely not as interested in vintage anymore though. Well I'm interested, but not keen. It's the smells! I find you don't want to wear anything that's imperfect and it will just languish in a dry cleaning pile. I did love these colours though.
They have quite a few designer collaborations or mini collections too, like these umbrellas although I didn't note the designer. The in-store merchandising is quirky but very subtle, it's quite a casual experience to shop there and not intimidating.
Check out the Cheap Monday!! If you can believe it, there was even more piles of jeans on tables and more shelves!! Sweden has DEFINITELY changed my style, and you find yourself not even thinking of certain styles anymore. Like I don't even consider looking at bright accessories or dressing cheerfully. It's like you have tunnel vision to your new surroundings in your bubble and I'm buying things I would never do in England! Don't worry I will show you!
Good God the H&Ms are incredible. I don't understand why people don't like H&M, I think it's because they haven't seen the best sections. In local H&Ms sure they have the office wear and too many basics but when you see the uncomprimised Divided and Trend collections there are so many amazing things. The photo is a little dark but I love these velvet shoes with the multiple straps, right up to the ankle. In fact if I see them again I might just get them and paint the wedge black!
I love fur!!! How amazingly comfortable and luscious would this fuzzy dress be during Winter. It should be prescribed as a flu remedy. Here's a better look at those shoes in the red version. Why don't they have a gold wedges?! The zip at the back tops them off; they are hotness!!!
See this photo was taken from the second ginormous H&M, looking across the street at the first gigantic H&M! They are that close together! And there's ANOTHER one just a few shops down!!
If I had blonde or black hair I would totally buy the furry pink jacket. I LOVE it! If I was a millionaire I would buy it just to look at it.
Nearly bought one of these, wow!
I've seen this fur coat so many times and I love it too much. It's just under £100 though and I can't justify that on another coat, especially when it's white. Plus I have a vintage faux fur at home, even if it is very big. Now for the shoes. Omg these shoes!! They had a Din Sko in the H&M and they have some SERIOUS platforms. These were beasts! I tried them all on and they felt amazing. Total ankle breakers though, it was very hard to walk with just one shoe on!
More platforms. I would never trust myself in a club in these babies and I don't go to enough bars or restaurants for glamourous but more sober times, so I would definitely be down A&E if I danced in these! They are glorious though. Again, I would just love to own them. Check the video for them in action.
There's a lot of punk styles in Sweden too. There's a huge teen emo culture and a lot of chav guys who wear expensive sportswear and huge over-sized coats, but I secretly think they're quite stylish!
H&M sell homewear! And when I said H&M sell cosmetics and toiletries, I meant they actually have L'Oreal and Maybeline lines and all shampoo and shower gel, etc. It has had to be my new Superdrug!
Relying on my map was a bit tricky as I'd marked loads of shops in totally different areas. I headed East towards a load of my scribbled markings and couldn't find anything I'd planned! I did however find possibly better things! I stumbled across this marvelous Urban Outfitters, all decked out like a retro theatre. No wonder it's only a few years old, it's a photographer's dream! Each designer's rail has a book as a sign and the changing rooms are in a stage set house on the 'stage'! I just researched that it did used to be a cinema! So cool.
Another accident was finding Oasis! An SA had these hot embellished leggings.
Then as I went past the Marimekko shop I realised I was in the designer district.
I found a boutique Mrs H, which I'd remembered reading about but didn't plan to visit. It was well worth the mooch though as I saw that Alexander wang Breton top worth £1000+(?). Wow! It was even in a cover in the shop! I took the sneakiest photo ever and scarpered sharpish!
I walked into Acne and was a liiitle confused. The clothes are so plain and simple and just there. It's hard to shop! I walked round looking for the Atacoma wedges to try on but I'm guessing they sold out ages ago!
Now without scrolling down, can you guess this shop? It was a total FLUKE that I found it...
Any ideas??
Haha yes I found Topshop! Well I knew Stockholm had a Topshop and the photo I posted in the last post shows the signs above another shop. I spent about ten minutes trying to find the entrance to this shop, but I don't think it exists! I think it's just posters! So I was overjoyed when I found non other than a Topshop OUTLET!!!
I didn't buy anything, like I said buying things wasn't the reward from the trip, it was just about the experiencing! The prices weren't exactly cheap anyway due to the exchange rate and I'd seen most of the things in store before but it was a nice flavour of home.
Stockholm has a few different parts separated by water so I hopped on the tube to a different island. Check out the video to see how incredibly quiet and clean they are. I guess it's actually a metro? For future reference you must buy a ticket from the newsagents and one will mean unlimited travel for an hour. I went from the Topshop after trying to find all the designer boutiques I'd mapped out and totally failing. My main destination in the old town was Monki!
You can see the black lipstick better in the video. It's a Creamesheen so only gives a darker shading rather than an opaque finish, so it wasn't too dramatic! The Monki appears small to start with but extends at the back and has lots of corners and mirrors so it's actually really big!
It's a pleasure to shop there, very calm and cool with a spacious layout and clear products. Funny how Monki belongs to the same label as Weekday!!
Everything in Monki is a little quirky, with a funny embellishment, pattern or cartoon. There's still the classic Swedish simplicity and nothing is loud but just cool.
Even the changing rooms have a holey wall and random pegs, and like Weekday the curtains have holes in! What's with these crazy changing rooms?!
I tried on this dress because I really want something with mesh in; how cool are the points! I got these leggings which I saw aaaages ago, in fact I think they were in my first Gothenburg post! They look like the sky at night! They were reduced by 75%, but were originally 300kr and I got them for 50kr! That's less than a fiver! They are actually thin trousers but I was in between sizes so they are secretly huge at the waist. I took many more Monki photos when I brought my friends the next day so I'll show them in the next post.
There was a second Weekday which I popped into and saw the Carin Wester fox jumper that I've been emailed about but it was over £100 so I thought best to leave it! I think it's great but I'm not too comfortable with the fox. I mainly like the cut, colours and style of the illustration.
Check out the DJ in the shop!
I was also on the hunt for American Apparel as their heart tights look great quality. Sadly they were over 300kr which is about £25?! For tights?! Sorry AA, I'll just wait until I hit England in a few weeks!
Haha I'm so sneaky, check out this guy on the metro with super cool hair and glasses. So many boys here have side parted, waxed hair, very '20s or '40s.
I met up with my girlies and we had more fika and it was back to the hostel to abuse the free pasta. Totally knackered by this point but we couldn't miss the Absolut Ice Bar!
You can't go to Scandinavian and not go to some kind of ice related place! Some of these photos I stole from friends so I cannot claim to be the photographer, my camera was icing over!
We went at about 111.30 on a Saturday night and there was only a little queue. You pay just under £20 for entrance and a drink, and you get a big blue poncho and gloves before going into a chamber that's a bit like a lift (elevator). It reminds me of a ride at Drayton Manor because there's lights and a bit of music, and then the next door slides open and you're in an ice cube! Everything is ice, even the chairs and glasses.
We were like woooooah for ages and then ordered out super strong drinks from a long menu, which included non-alcoholic drinks fyi! And I saw a kids poncho so I assume they can go too. There's UV lights so we chose glow in the dark drinks that made our lips neon. Before you ask, yes if was cold in there! I hate being hot though so I can loving the cool air. You're all snuggly in your poncho though so it's totally fine, and I had leggings on and my feet weren't cold.
We stayed until closing so this picture was taken as everyone left. To delve back into a weekend full of gossip, my one friend and I were at the bar and suddenly looked over to the other girls and my friend was kissing some random guy! Two people in huge ponchos with furry hoods together is pretty funny, but it was crazy because the guy was insane! Well, insanely drunk! It was some Dutch guy called Rik who asked for a picture kissing his friend on the cheek, then for one with my friend and they just started making out! She was laughing so much and he kept saying is the picture ok?! and my friend taking it was like nope it's really bad!! so he'd suddenly kiss my friend again! This weekend just got weirder and weirder!! Turns out Rik and his hideously drunken mates were in Stockholm for the love boat too!! Arrrgh! We started to realised this boat would be seriously insane, and we weren't wrong at all! God this post is miles long and has taken hours! I'll write about the boat of lurve tomorrow!
Here's a few video clips strung together including Weekday, the platform shoes, the H&Ms, the metro and the ice bar.
Video still processing.... takes bloody ages! Watch this space xx
The love boat to Tallinn turned out to be the titanic with 2500 students and a free bar?! And it was 80% male. Literally it was insane. INSANE. I came back on Tuesday and I still can't believe how ridiculous it was. But the weekend in Stockholm was amazing too. Stockholm is INCREDIBLE!! Book a Ryan Air flight now!!!! The shopping is orgasmic.
Sooo the love boat (which I'll explain later!) set off on Sunday night and I was included in that weekend group hostel booking. The other 12 people got the 5 hour coat at 9am but my friend Emma and I rolled up on the 2pm coach; we aren't morning people! Funny how the extra time didn't help at all because I still left myself minus 10 minutes to pack!! I took a large suitcase in the end though, so I was faffing around trying to find more things to fill it with!
Our coach journey was just the start. We claimed the five seater back row with Emma at the window and a seat in between us for our bags. A guy in stonewashed denim sat at the other window, swigging many beers and munching pringles. We gossiped to a random town where the coach totally filled up and a boy sat on the seat in front of me, and could probably count as a Swedish chav? When he heard us speaking English he turned around and then kept turning round every five minutes. Considering he was about a metre away from my face, he'd turn, I'd stop talking and look at him, then he'd stare, smirk a little, and turn back?! Every time he did it we laughed, and then laughed some more when his Nokia3310 played a monotone Simpsons ring tone haha! A pretty black girl who looked about twenty five couldn't find a seat and took the beer man's window seat, and he came back from a fag break and sat on the seat between her and me. Then his leather jacket kept touching my leg as he groaned and moaned his way through a nap, and Emma and I were eeewing and laughing.
About three hours passed and our Iranian friend woke up and randomly offered the girl some beer. Then he offered her some chocolate. We were like okkk why is she taking his beer, bit odd. Then we were making our way through agony aunt pages and Emma starts to die of laugher behind Cosmo as the man and girl have started kissing! It was terrible!!! He was so old and she was well, so not! They'd have an extremely gorey kiss for a few minutes and then sit in silence, then he'd stroke her leg and lean in again. We were like 'omg did he spike the drink!?! eeew!!!' trying to contain our laughter, and then the Simpsons boy in front spots it and raises his eyebrows at us suggesting we replicate the action. Is this normal Swedish coach behaviour?! Meet an older, greased up stranger and get it on?! Maybe the back seat is a code! And lets just say there was a lot of action under that leather jacket after a few minutes, if you get my drift... ew! Some Swedish girls in front even noticed and it was so funny but so gross! Finally after five hours we were off in Stockholm and we stalked the new couple for a minute until they disappeared, probably onto another coach!
That really set the tone for a whole weekend of random happenings. We rang our friends and got directions to the City Backpackers Hostel, which I'd definitely recommend as it was right in the centre, and has a big communal area with computers and a kitchen, and free pasta! We considered filling our suitcases and pockets with as much as possible haha. Sadly the room situation was a bit sour because there were twelve beds and now thirteen people. Apparently one person was going to go in a room with random people but the person who booked it said an extra bed squished in the big room would be better, Fair enough, but the early bird gets the worm and guess who was faced with the extra bed! So having zero personal space, space to put luggage, or space in general was a nightmare but I'm not so much of a diva as I always thought I was and if someone had to have the bed, I didn't mind offering. I even embraced the communal showers!
We went off to meet some of the girls and bumped into the rest of the group, which was a mix of English, Italian, French and Spanish, and a few new Italians here for the trip. Hello Italians! Stockholm is nothing like Gothenburg, it's incredible!!! What an amazing feeling to be in a real city after so long! As it get dark so early now, it was like a whirlwind romance. I love Stockholm! The streets are so wide, clean and straight, but have all the charm of a stylish town. It was bustling full of people and the shops looked unbelievable. The H&M was humongous!!! Oh wait, there are three H&Ms, all about two metres from each other! And they are the biggest stores I've seen, just about every item I've noticed in store or in magazines in the past months was there, without a doubt. There was just so much stock!! We found the girls in a cafe having fika (hot drink and a cake) and told them of the coach drama, then went in search for some tights. Only Ahlens was still open and they had a MAC concession!! Love! Sadly they, along with every UK concession, Stansted included, were sold out of the Style Black mineralize shadows but they did have the black lipstick, which I impulsed on. I don't really know why! Well I do, because I hadn't packed very much and knew the next shopping day wouldn't be my ideal visionary Stockholm outfit, so I felt like some distracting makeup.
We knew were were going out that night and when you go on trips, you never really seem to eat much. Unsurprisingly we hit McDonald's, where I stalked well dressed boys. They are everywhere in Stockholm. Swedish boys in general are beautiful, but in Stockholm they have that extra. I was determined to spot a famous Swedish fashion blogger that weekend too but sadly no luck there. But this anonymous diner has a bow tie! They were all wearing shirts and jumpers.
Back at the hostel, the group has some drama with the other girls so was mostly divided for the weekend. The others were in full swing with the drinking games and we slowly got ready, which isn't the best in front of a load of Italian and Spanish guys. I decided on a long sleeved AA dress and heart print tights. If you love the U-neck dresses, you MUST try the long sleeved version. It's incredible how flattering a tight long sleeve is! It makes so much difference! And it's different material to the short sleeved black dress, a bit more supportive. We all set off as a group though at about 11.30, which was quite early compared to the rest of the weekend. My sleeping patterns are so messed up! Sadly it started raining, and the forever-warm me only brought a cardigan. Then it started to pour. Walking around with a cardigan umbrella is not fun! One of the Italian boys said my skirt was too short, the cheeky whatsit! Not that I called him a cheeky whatsit, or anyone ever for that matter, but I implied he was too short hehe! Also from Swedish fashion blogs and general Sweden itself, even in my tiny town, it's clear that legs are an essential part of the Swedish wardrobe. If any of you are Manchester uni folk, check out the student paper for my 'Fashion from Afar' article about Sweden!
We traipsed around for ages trying to find a club that was decent and let in under 23s. This is nearly impossible! We eventually ended up at what I now know was a club called Magenta, which I would recommend if you are a student and don't want to go to a stuffy, electro wine bar. There was a bit of a problem on the door because they are actually an over 23 club and some people didn't even have ID with them and a few like me were 20. We spent ages standing in the rain until I went and tried to get in saying I didn't have ID, and the bouncer said 'If you have ID, you can get in.' Then she checked my driving license (provisional haha) and let me in! Not sure what kind of door minding that is but I'm not complaining! The club was about £10 to enter and drinks were just as much. The weekend started blurring into one because we met loads of people who were in Stockholm especially for the love boat too! We met some French guys and got lots of Swedish 'looks'. This is the only thing that was true in my guidebook, but I think it's a European thing too. Guys will give you the 'eye' rather than come straight onto you. And Swedish girls are quite reserved so the boys in clubs do a lot of leg work.
We left hot and all danced out at about three, and shamefully went back to McDonalds, where we saw some Spanish exchange students from our uni, also for the love boat. Unfortunately they got into some fight because they said some bad things in spanish and a Swedish boy turned and said he'd been with a Mexican girl for two years so knew he'd called his mom a whore and it went outside. Argh! Us girls stayed well away!
Right I'll leave it at that and say goodnight because I have to be up for the 3.07am bus to Gothenburg for Jimmy Choo x H&M! I am going with the Taiwanese girls who have a huge shopping list, but I'm there mainly for the experience!! I hope there is a crowd!! Will fill you in about the shopping in Stockholm and the ice bar and the boat of craziness and 80% men tomorrow!
I'd love a Topshop splurge right now, I've discovered the joys of really great accessories. I'm not shy to wear things a million times so once you happen upon a belt or necklace that you really love, it's nice to buy something you get loads of wear out of. Realistically how many things do you buy that you get 100%, 90%, even 50% wear out of before it officially can be deemed worn and used?
It's kind of annoying that I found a (faux) fur hat in a charity shop last year but it's at home. Damn postal strike! I have a furry bag somewhere in Royal Mail limbo which I was hoping to arrive before this weekend but it's more anticipation. I'm going on a 'love boat' to Tallinn in Estonia on Sunday, where you travel/party overnight, spend the day in the chosen city, and then travel/party back overnight. Last time I heard the stormy seas meant there was a whole new level of sea-sickness when alcohol was involved. It will probably be full of divorced men anyway!
I wasn't going to go early but I was counted in a group booking for a hostel weekend in Stockholm before. The boat sets off from there and I was just going to head there on Sunday nice and fresh but hey ho, I can stuck up my diva needs for one weekend. I have a list of Stockholm shops to visit approximately this long:
Might have to make a map! Any Estonian readers out there? I told my friends I was going to go off on a shopping adventure on Saturday and they were like huh, you don't want to sight-see? I felt quite ridiculous saying I'd rather shop, but really shopping in a famous city is like sight seeing. It's not like I'm actually on the hunt to spend, more like explore, plus I think I'd get more from going to Acne than seeing a boat museum?? I don't know, just trying to be realistic here. But can you always shun classic history for fashion?
Speaking of shunning fashion, the weather forecast states nothing higher than 2 degrees. I guess it's hair and makeup all the way because I'll be in black and more black! I just walked home from a date in the snow! I am an Autumn/Winter lover so bring on the cold I say. But not when I'm in heels! I just looked at a map and Estonia is practically Russia. I wish I'd brought that fur hat!!
Is Gossip Girl getting a little less juicy? Or just REALLY predictable? I'm liking some, I'm hating some, tell me what you think!
How to Succeed in Bassness
First isn't 'Patrick Roberts' a kind of similar name to Robert Pattinson? Just a thought! The character was quite hot but I'm guessing he won't stick around.
Nice to see Jenny with some storyline, even if it isn't anything new. Why does Eric have to be such a sap? And seriously when I was in school, they used to measure our skirts so they weren't more than an inch above the knee. Would the Constance girls really get away with that much customisation to their uniforms? I love them though! They might have stole the story line from Mean Girls though. How long can Jenny keep up her 'I'm only pretending' act when she has all the power! After all, now she has all she ever wanted- to have enough money and status to be one of the cool girls.
I really love Hillary Duff in Gossip Girl!! Olivia acting in a vampire series is pretty relevant, nice job GG. The world is actually vampire crazy.
Blair is a little more scheming and bitter, will she ever be like she was before when she didn't seem silly? The problem is that we don't really want to be Blair Waldorf nowadays, but we totally did before! Would Blair really be allowed in Serena's office? Like if you worked in an office for a publicist, would your best mate be bumming around? Don't think so! I quite like how the boss is so demanding; after all, we all saw Kelly Cutrone on The Hills! Serena's relationship with Patrick allllmost hints at the 'are they/aren't they' rumours surrounding R-Patz and Kristen Stewart? A relationship to feed the media? I can't decide if I like it better when S and B are friends or not though. It feels like we've focused on their fallouts way too many times.
And I had to add LOL to Rufus' halloween costume, teehee!
And of course Chuck Bass, ooooh Team Chuck all the way! He totally knows how to treat a lady!!
The Grandfather: Part II
Well an episode that centres around Nate and his family is going to be a boring one right...
I guess GG viewers aren't all American, so it's kind of annoying when an episode is about an election for something I have no clue about and an election is an unknown thing to me in the first place? Then again they are in New York, so it must happen!
Nate is too pretty to seem anything but. Whenever he acts mean or scheming or clever, he just looks too pretty!
Loved Dan's quote: "Listen ... as much as I enjoy my current girlfriend talking to my ex-girlfriend about her ... fake boyfriend, who is also my current girlfriend's ex, you could probably get us a copy of that Fallon interview, right?" A funny poke at how the GG cast is so intertwined and everyone has history with everyone. What's the the 'bathroom boy' storyline though... couldn't it have been a little...better? Like a spider and a bathroom isn't that hot.
Vanessa always hangs around with the rich folk. Vanessa realistically would have her own friends who are nice and with who she has loads in common with and would generally be having a normal life, not hanging onto socialites who she doesn't even like!! Bring some new characters in for Vanessa please, she deserves an amazing guy!
I think Serena's style this series is fantastic! Previously she's been too Kate Moss, too boring, but this series is super sexy and really shows the reasons why everyone loves her and she's an 'it' girl. I liked her hair in a plait, but if only it was a loose side plait, more Alexander Wang! Unlucky S. Not sure about her ending either... please don't get it on with that politician guy Serena, there are a million hot NYU guys out there for you!
Argh do Blair and Serena have to fall out again!? Chuck tells it straight, Blair is only pushing away Serena because she loves her! B needs to stop being so damn stubborn, I hate to say it but Chuck is not bringing the best out of her.
And another Chuck classic quote: "Look, ladies, please, this is supposed to be a classy event, not a sample sale at an outlet mall." Ah, love him! If every episode ends in a tender Blair and Chuck moment (which it always does), then I'm happy! Here's a HOT picture, just because.
Hot!!!!!!
The 'They Shoot Humphreys, Don't They?' trailer looks amazing!! Threesome? Place your bets! I'm thinking Serena will so get with that politician, and Jenny will get up to no good. Dan and Olivia are so cute together so far, they are bound for collision. Finally there is a crazy college party!! I've never liked Dan before but his character is bringing a lot to GG right now, see you next week!!
I have 27 pairs of false lashes on the go. 27?! I only wear them if I'm going to a club so I do need to get help for my hoarding ways. And I have naturally long lashes anyway?! Despite this I'm going to get my Mom to pick me up some Barbie lashes!! They're in New Look and are an essential addition to a museum worthy collection. I really want the Barbie trolley too, looks like the perfect Ryan Air carry on size. I might put is on my Christmas list! Is it too early to do that?
It's kinda funny or actually a little bit scary to look at the makeup and lashes I brought with me in my one suitcase, and the amount I have now, two months later. I'm always thinking 'argh, how am I going to take everything home!!' but at Christmas I'll try to take things back that I don't need now, and bring as little back as possible. But you always end up with new things after Christmas so a few trips back to England in June might be inevitable! It feels like I do use everything I have here right now though, but maybe just have an excess of everything? Like I only really need one nail varnish, but I can justify nine!?
You know I love a bit of fashion TV and New Look have also cleverly created some seriously good YouTube episodes, where in each one some girls go head to head to create outfits and they show you loads of products in store. Handy for me! When I just went to retrieve the link to the channel, it says you get a £10 voucher if you submit a video? I think the video can be one they feature in the episodes where you film yourself showing the clothes you are loving. Not sure though but you can't say no to a free tenner! Also New Look is a cheaper high street store with good CSR policies, so if you are buying basics, please go there instead of Primark! All these lectures on sustainability are actually seeping into my brain...
Haha I'm totally biased and picked the Birmingham episode! What do you think of the outfits in the style wars? In almost all the episodes say if the theme is 'sequins' or 'prints', every girls will wear it head to TOE. Then again, if I had five minutes to make an outfit, I would totally panic and probably run off!!
P.S. This sounds like a promotional post but it's not! It feels like there's a lot of paid promos over the blogs now but I'm not planning anything soon FYI, it's another unsustainable trait to accept freebies that you wouldn't have bought in the first place I guess!
I'm totally enjoying looking at blogger halloween pics! Quickly here are mine but I did the same as last year from this youtube tutorialso nothing groundbreaking! None of my English friends did Halloween so I went with the Taiwanese girls on their first Halloween. You know when you see Swedish bloggers always at house parties? Well the exchange students of this town always make up at least 50% of the uni parties and clubs here, and it wasn't an exception on the weekend. All Swedish people must be at home! We went to a party early and got a free beer and abused the table of sweets. It was all Swedish students up to about midnight, only about fifty, and at one point they had a catwalk showdown!? Us girls were lusting after this classic French guy though who kept bowing in every photo, aww. He was really tall!
Vivian, Chi Yun and Iris looking scary, but they are super sweet really! I think it's going to snow here again tomorrow, uh ohhh.
Things are getting longer!! Seriously in the past years I think my skirts and dresses have all been mid-thigh length. Apart from maybe a summer maxi dress, I've never purposely dabbed in ankle length or floor length skirts. Mainly because it's hard to get the right length without dragging the hem along the floor. And to stop the dragging you must wear heels. And buying things you can only wear with heels never end up being worn...
I've saved loads of floor length inspiration pictures for a few months and have been stalking high street stores. I wanted a dress because you could easily turn it into a skirt by putting a top over, so it could count as two outfits! I eventually found one on ASOS a few weeks ago and it came yesterday, what a wait. I've been hearing of this UK postal strike and I'm not so happy!! Most shops don't seem to be affected but not everything ships here, so anything my Mom has forwarded recently is going to take a while, what a shame! Still now I can play around with the longer dress, even though I have to dye it grey to black. There's just something effortlessly chic about throwing on a floor length dress. For one, you don't even need tights, so it's a total outfit! Also they look hot even though they cover your whole body. It's a step to buying warmer clothes, as it's about 4 degrees here right now, and so dark all the time! I feel like I live in Twilight.
A long dress also puts more focus on your hair and makeup, so a really bright lipstick or one in an odd colour like lilac or matt black would be really cool. At Christmas I will be hunting around charity shops, always inundated with longer skirts for pennies! And remember the competition is still open below, you know you love tags :)
I've been tagged a few times but Typepad just changed and I can't search comments! So if you kindly tagged me in the past months please don't be shy to remind me or say in the comments so I can link a thank you!! But you're always a bit stuck when you have to suddenly say ten things about yourself so I thought I'd sum up the best things I've learnt about here, and then some of the less great things!
The good...
1) The shops of course! It's just nice to have access to some new places. Also the British high street is quite common but Swedish style is plainer, so if you pass someone in the street wearing the same item, it won't necessarily look the same. Things are very ethical so people don't seem to go crazy and splurge on loads of stuff.
2) I'm certainly not a nature girl, but things are so clean and beautiful. I live in the 'ghetto' apparently, or at least the nice, Swedish version. And there's even the forest with the lakes right next door, and the other day a deer ran in front of my bus!
3) Swedish people. Everyone is perfectly lovely. I read in a few places that Swedes can be a bit cold and silent, but I've only found they are more than helpful and will always speak English with no hesitation. I can speak a bit of Swedish now and can aaalmost go through a shopping transaction.
4) It's still great to live in International halls. A Chinese guy on our floor made a shrimp and vegetable stir fry the other day and ate it on toast with Nutella?! Aww he's only 19 and we made him borrow a friend's passport to come to the (only) club here. There was this beer pong and sauna party too, but I didn't go in the sauna as I have no swimming costume or anything like that here. When I bring one back though I am totally going in the lake, even if it will be freezing!!
5) Swedish living is very cool. You are encouraged to stay really long in cafes and restaurants and just chill and drink coffee. Swedes drink a LOT of alcohol though despite it being so extortionate, so you can guarantee everyone in the club is seriously hammered. The girls will push you because they are dancing so crazy, but are very friendly and will offer you drinks and little cigarette parcels that you put in your gum?? My friend and I acted enthusiastic to be polite, then took them out straight away!
6) The uni is very student friendly. You don't even need to open doors, they're all mechanical!! Maybe it's because it's a small uni, but life is made very easy for students and it's so calm.
7) It happens to be next to some pretty cool countries. Where to shop first?!
8) It's strange not to be around so much western language or culture. Like watching TV means you don't understand any adverts or if the bus driver stops and shouts something, you don't know what's going on. You get used to it but when I went back to England last week, it's so much easier to know all that's going on around you. But it's a good thing because I guess it makes you stronger, more adaptable, and you are more appreciative of other cultures and where you come from. Also you're not affected by advertising!
9) The girls. The fashion is more subtle too, so the girls can be totally stylish but don't stick out. Then again, to me Swedish style is always insanely fashionable and inspiring but maybe it's just normal to the Swedes! I think 'omg, a hair bun!' about ten times a day.
10) The boys. There are many stylish guys here, but again it's not so showy. I have met a Swedish boy but it's OK, I won't start filling this blog up with that :)
The bad...
1) Of course living away from home is the worst thing. Home being your family, friends, language, cultures, customs, everything! Sometimes it's so frustrating if you need to get something from home or say if you have to contact someone or do something important like with banks, but you simply can't.
2) The post is incredibly slow for packages. It takes two weeks for a slip to arrive saying you have a package. This might not seem that long, but by the time you are able to walk the mile to the post office, half a month has already gone by. You know when you buy clothes and things online and you want them straight away, but say if I wanted or needed something from home, by the time someone in my family can post it, it's about three weeks later, nearly a month!
3) As I found last week, the plane is the easiest part of the journey home. I'm scared of flying but it's even tolerant when you have to travel to the airport, which means an extensive journey. There's all the stress of what to pack and what to bring back and leaving everything in Sweden OK but making sure you're fine when you get to England, and then getting home from the airport. Ryan Air might be cheap but if you ever travel through them, book priority boarding as people just about run to the plane to squish into a seat after forming a standing queue about 30 minutes early in departures. It makes home seem that much further away. If you're having an off day, you kind of feel quite trapped.
4) I'm really independent so it's weird to feel so helpless if you want to buy or do the simplest thing. Like if I need even some eye-makeup remover or to find a card shop for example, I have no clue where to go. You're kind of trapped only to what you know so life is a little more closed. The shops here are very few and it was EXTREMELY apparent why England is famed for shops because there, if you need a card, you go to a shop absolutely brimming with any type of card you would ever need. Or if you need makeup remover, guaranteed you'll have a shop dedicated to cosmetics and toiletries right nearby. Here maybe they'll have the supermarkets and malls, but there's no huge retail chains with flashy discounts and endless products.
5) I've lived in Birmingham and Manchester, so coming to a tiny town is the biggest shock. There's just not a lot to do or see. But the only reason to leave the city is to shop maybe in Gothenburg, but you can't justify a shopping trip every week! I live in somewhere similar to estates, and it's not a town crammed with houses and streets, it's mainly motorway-like roads or forests. There's no corner shop to pop to or little high street to pick up a few things at.
6) This is kind of related to fashion to where it's a problem that you don't understand things around you. It's a shame to hear of all the blogger events and promos in England, because obviously they have huge fashion blogs here, but I don't know anything to do with them! There's fliers and advertisements everywhere but you don't know what any of them say. Maybe someone will say they've heard a party might be going on, or the student pub will be open, but you never really know what's going on so it always ends up to be bad haha! It's like you're outside of the loop. In Manchester, everyone knew everything that was going on. Also the headquarters of Gina Tricot are in this town and (while I was in England, so it's OK) there was apparently a MASSIVE sale there, where all the only stock was heavily reduced and people were just stripping in the middle of the shop and throwing clothes on big piles and it was insane. My friend only found out because the chef at her work happened to mention it a few days later.
7) It's weird too that I'm here for a whole year, so only need to do 15 credits a term, whereas almost everyone else is here for their whole degree or are doing 30credits in one term, so are leaving at Christmas. This means I will be graduating a year later, which means all the people that were in my year at university in Manchester and all my friends and people on my course will have graduated, so I will never see them again! Looking at photos now of my friends going out to the clubs we used to go to is so strange, almost like I should be there. It seems so far away!
8) It could be said for every nationality or culture, but you don't really know what the difference of being English is. Some people, especially guys from certain places, are overly friends and sometimes quite creepy, which makes you suspicious of everyone deep down and you wonder if they're just so keen to be your friend because you're an English girl? You started here with an open mind but a few guys have just proved steriotypes right and it's not always pleasant. Also say if an Italian or French boy joined your class, naturally everyone would want to be friend's with them mainly because of the novelty and uniqueness. So can you be sure someone likes you for you, and not because you're from somewhere else?
9) Magazines! Argh!! The problem isn't the lack of them, it's the huge supply of them! In the newsagents, they have ALL the Vogues and even Jalouse, 10, and a huge selection of men's magazines. Maybe like me, you have your monthly magazines that you always buy, but you tend to get others on impulse if you fancy one or have a flick and they look good? Well at £10-15 a magazine, I can't afford any at all! Elle UK didn't show for three weeks though so I had to order it online for £12 and it came two weeks later!
10) I miss English shops!! You might think I'm mental because of Weekday, Monki and Gina Tricot but really, the town I'm in only has some Gina's, and they're basically like a small, small New Look. Weekday and Monki have very small ranges too and don't have fresh stock coming in. I can totally appreciate how amazing the British high street is. When I went home last week I went to the Bullring and couldn't even shop! Imagine if one day you were taken to a shopping centre with all the shops you know, but also Forever 21, all the Swedish shops, every designer you could want,etc. Just imagine all the shops you've ever wished to shop in. That's how I felt. Like going from H&M and Gina to about a million amazing high street stores jam packed with the latest season's stuff, all of which I'd never seen before and it's all fresh for Autumn and lovely. And of course if someone gave you anything in Topshop for free, you would love it because everything in that store is lovely. I couldn't shop because I liked everything. It was so overwhelming. I used to high street shop at least every week but now I had no idea where to start! I went into Miss Selfridge first and could of picked up almost everything to try on because it was all just great. I forgot that on the British high street, it is quite painful to shop but you have to hold back for thing you really love and know what works in your wardrobe.
Hmm the cons seem much longer then the pros! But really the bad things are just little niggles that you think about if you're having a bad day. It all makes you stronger!
p.s. You are tagged! If you have a blog and do this tag and tell me, you will be entered into a contest to celebrate the new design of my favourite online jewellery shop, Love Hearts and Crosses! You can win this sweet Alice in Wonderland pin. If you don't have a blog, you can comment ten things about you, ten favourite things, ten things you hate, ten anything! Or get 10% off anyway by putting FLYINGSAUCER in at the checkout. A little present from me to you to say sorry for the absence :)
The Autumn market hit the town. Mainly a not-so-unfamiliar array of fake bag stands!
Why did this dress have to bunch up to give a pregnancy bump? I didn't have the (or any) boobs for it anyway. A painful return. See it looking gorgeous on Nic of She's Dressing Up! Multicoloured nails though make it a must publish pic though, despite food babies.
There's a pretty decent shoe shop here, if it is pretty expensive. I always check out these Chloé-ripoff shoes when I walk by that were all over blog lust lists a few months ago.
170SEK on bloody hair serum. That's like £15?
But cute booklets and plastic tupperware at the department store Åhléns! I think they were only 19SEK, so maybe £1.70?
I have an eyelash addiction. It's gone to drastic levels. I found these in a Taiwanese shop.
I think there are wasps' nests on the roof here because if I ever open my window, one will always fly in to investigate. I sit at my computer and they fly into the window trying to get in. Eeek!
I'm used to rain in Manchester, but there is no absence of it here.
I felt so far away from all the hype. I bought the t-shirt on whim to get to see part of the collection, but have found it's the easiest top to wear ever! I thought I'd offer it away as it's quite horrible, but I like everything ugly right now. It must be the shape, because it's the perfect travel wear. And by the time you've layered, you can't even really see the print. Haven't scared anyone yet! You got free stickers if you shopped online.
The first time I saw the infamous McQueen SS10 collection was on the train to the airport for a week at home. Woah!
I'm luckily managed to sneak past Ryan Air check-in with a LOT of hand luggage.
This is Gothenburg. More industrial than you might expect. That day I got a bus, train, coach, plane, train, tube, train, and a taxi, from 9am-8pm. Then went to a party!
I went out at home for my best friend's Loulou's 21st. Tom and I had matching nails. Gum?
I stayed over in London with my other best friend Melissa before the Saturday flight back from Stansted. We went to Shoreditch, but we're impressed by this sign in a club toilet. Or the club!
My absence has been due to exam week. ?!?!. There's four exam periods here. I've been revising 'til late and napping instead of sleeping. It's worth it though for a November with only three classes. Maybe I'll travel the Scandinavian shopping spots?
Doing recycling (pictured left). Sweden makes you very environmentally aware. I think 50% of the exchange girls have this Monki tee. This is a fall back out, always skater skirts and girly tights.
Hate revising!
I always wonder why other's are up late too?
Someone stole my salad dressing. Fridge thieves are in every country!
The flats are made up of crockery and bits that people have left over years and years. We listen to '90s techno at dinner on the boom box.
Do return for a more frequent blogging schedule! Back to revision...
I don't live with any Gossip Girl watchers so why not share the love! How good is it to have a Chuck fix again?? And now that he's all nice yet still up to his naughty dealings, it's all good!
But seriously, the rest of the characters are a bit confusing. For one thing, why has Blaire become a sex addict? And why does Dan have some kind of perm? I suppose it was high time that people actually realised Dan would be quite cool in real life, but Blair should never be the loser! The whole college things is a bit lost so far anyway, have they even gone to class yet?
Serena is her usual whiny self; why do they always refer to what a party girl she is, but in the programme she's always 'taking a break' or talking about when she did party. Show us some parties!!
Now that everyone's changed though, I wish they'd really find something to do with Nate. It feels like they don't know exactly what he's like, so throw him into these weird love stories. Isn't the Bree Buckley story line a few million years old? Shakespeare needs his stories back!! Nate always meets these girls/women and totally falls for them. Did he forget about Vanessa? She looks so unbelievably stunning this series! Would it hurt to have Lilly and Rufus' son to be a bit less boring? I don't even remember his name!
I quite like Georgina, even though she has taken Blair's place as the queen bitch. I think she plays her character so well, whereas Hilary Duff actually plays an actress but to me it's not buyable. I won't even mention Tyra's appearance because it was hilariously painful!!! What do you think??
I'm not really a Francophile and had no real Karl love before we saw these videos in one of my classes! It's a total pleasure to experience a different style of teaching to reading theory off a power point and then having a forced seminar where everyone is too scared to talk. I've had zero time and I've been dying to post these videos, I finished that class last week! Seems weird to complete a module when in England I would have only just started them. It's really gutting to see freshers week going on in Manchester though and it's sad how I won't ever party again with all the people from my uni year as they will graduate before me!
But these are from the class where the husband and wife teacher used to play a youtube video at the start of each lesson. It was a really cool module despite classes being 9-4, argh! But one day the one teacher randomly showed us the H&M advert way back when Karl Lagerfeld did a collection and it's totally fabulous, I've never seen it before!
Also I've never seen the film below, Signé Chanel, which follows the making of Chanel couture. Before you think it might be a bit stuffy or you're not really interested in fashion design, it's the most charming documentary ever! It goes right through every stage, from Karls initial sketches, through all the drama of the fittings and the patterns and then onto the actual show. The ladies who make the couture pieces are so cute and have strange little traditions like if you sew a hair into the wedding dress means you will get married, and every time Karl comes they're like eeek! Also it shows a woman who's been doing the signature Chanel braiding for years and years on her obscure farm. You can find the whole thing on YouTube! Sadly one of the parts has no sound but there are many episodes so if you find you really like it, you can always buy the DVD. And that's only one part out of about 20! I always watch youtube videos when I'm drying my hair.
It's true!! Ahhh! A Christmas 09 collection including accessories and lingerie, in 1,500 stores worldwide, AND a Spring 2010 collection for women and girls in 250 stores. Ohlala! Bring on the knits.
I was highly inspired by this Pop editorial posted at the marvy Cheapskate Chic (thanks Miss Woo!) that I nearly bought the magazine for £10. I just ordered over Elle UK at £12 though so maybe I shouldn't be frivolous with magazines! But there's nothing like holding the original pages in your hands right? Well I saw these pictures and thought wow I wish I had lilac hair. Wouldn't the world be better...
...which got me browsing through my inspiration archives for other pastel haired beauties. I'm a bit hesitant to do inspiration posts as often I don't know where the pictures come from. So some of these are just google searches and the rest from the fashion spot. Points if you can name the shows above! Originally- unsure where the snaps are from!
So like I tweeted, I am a woman of action and also armed with student loans, so I went and bought some lilac hair! This was quite coincidental as I spotted a random hairdressers with a window of rainbow hair extensions a few days before. When I was in my teens, I used to love the spray-in colour that Boots used to sell. I used to go in with my friends and test them but I eventually bought a pink bottle, I bet I could dig up a photo of me with random pink curls! Bright colours seem to look best with black or blonde hair though as they are base colours to start with, but I want some colour action too! So I popped in and bought a few pieces. Now what to do... what to do... plait it in? Curl them and clip them in? Dye some hair for real? An Asian girl in my fresher year had the ends of her hair dip dyed a turquoise-green colour which was too cool.
For now I am pretending I am an Alexander Wang girl with a chunky side plait. Major trend prediction yes!
I have found a great way to take outfit photos! And it only involved balancing my camera on my toothbrush. Quite ingenious really! So this is sort of my first Swedish outfit. I'm not wearing denim hot pants and putting my hair in a bun just yet, but these are the shorts I got in Weekday. I always buy a skirt for autumn that I throw on religiously, but as soon as I saw these shorts I thought, yes these will be my autumn staples! Something about being high waisted and turned up, and not tooo short but still short enough for my usual liking. They remind me of the Chloé shorts from last season with the wavy hems. The best thing about them is they are made of a very light, thin suede, so they're super soft and a muted black. Black fabric used to make trousers and shorts usually has a sheen to it, so these feel more expensive! In fact they were- about £40- but they are great quality and I had Weekday blindness. I would have worn them with the amazing suede boots, but as I said before, they are SOLD OUT. Argh. Also, not sure what to do with the waist tie? Tuck it in or leave it down. Hmmmm.
Since Balenciaga sent polkadot tights down the runway it seems they are making a cool come back, rather than a 50's vibe. A girl working in Weekday had on a long, over-sized shirt with ablack shorts, polkadot tights, and wedge lace-up boots, which looked amazing. It's also unbelievable to have such a downsized wardrobe! I can now see the appeal of selling your own old and last season clothes, as I like to hoard things and so often the thought of my wardrobe is scarily chaotic. But having only a few skirts, tops and dresses, and then an array of tights, is a welcome luxury. Although in October I will definitely bring a suitcase of clothes back over!
I swear I do the three same poses all the time. Lace top is from Monki a while ago through Filippa's shopping service and Debenhams polka dot tights.
The Mexican party on Friday was pretty fun; we missed the food but there was plenty of tequila and salsa dancing, not that I know how! We spied an Indian party in the next flats though and popped over for some food! We stayed about ten minutes because it was about 30 guys and maybe two girls, although they did put on the Spice Girls for us and the food was niiice! On Saturday was the opening night of the only club here called XoY, which was about a tenner to get in and £8 for doubles. Scary! We walked in and didn't know where to go, and suddenly a boy came through a random door and said something in Swedish, to which I said 'umm we're english!', and he shouted 'ah, I love you!!' and ran off! Not too bad! People pre-drink heavily here because of the prices and there is much crazy dancing. The Swedish girls will dance and bump into you and not acknowledge it at all, just keep doing it! The boys still all dance in big groups and are seriously all blonde. It felt like the student night because they all looked so young, but all the guys I spoke to had jobs and were at least 25! The student night is on Thursday, which should be interesting as I have classes at 8.30 on Friday and quite a few people are planning to party in Gothenburg that night and stay awake at the train station until the first bus comes on Saturday morning...
Today I was invited by the Taiwanese girls for tea at a seriously cool cafe along the river called Viskan, where many people sit outside under black umbrellas or inside among the flamingo illustrated wallpaper and strange light fixtures. The food here is so good, and eating out or even having lunch is a really drawn-out affair. In coffee shops in England it is easy to overstay your welcome, but here a 'fika' is to have a coffee and a cake, as the Swedes love coffee! And it can last for ages, you are encouraged to chat and lounge around. They have some amazing cakes, bakes, muffins and deserts, not to mention the sandwiches!
Vivian, on the right, got this huge muffin, it was the biggest I've ever seen! And they say many people in Taiwan have blogs for photos, Vivian's is here! I asked why Asian people always pose doing the peace sign and they gave a few answers; it seems you can't pull a cheesy grin for all the many photos they love to take so you can do a peace sign as a smile instead! It also makes it obvious you are having your photo taken so you don't get trampled in the busy streets! If you remember that far back, I was originally going to apply for the Hong Kong exchange but my course didn't offer it this year sadly, so I feel really lucky to learn about some Asian culture here too! The girls are so sweet, I really hope to visit there some day. And their English is amazing, we were talking about models and Gossip Girl! Anybody who is a fan of Jessica Stam and Chuck Bass is a friend of mine! If any of you are about to start back at uni, I encourage you to talk to the Asian exchange students, in fact all the international students!
Phew I am so tired! I've had lectures all day long this week but have been so shopping-starved that I did trek to Gothenburg today! This day might have been a different story as I literally made the bus by about 10 seconds. There are only a few around every 2-3 hours and I woke too late to get the morning bus and just made the lunchtime journey after spotting it as my normal bus pulled into the town centre and running across the street to jump on! If not I would have had to wait around for a few hours and probably would have gone tomorrow instead.
So I was counting my lucky stars as the coach set off on the hours trip, while tuning into some crazy Swedish radio on my non-working phone (thanks Orange). To give you an idea of the music, they played Lady Gaga's Disco Stick followed by The Pretender's Stand by you, then, without any hint of irony, the Venga Boys' Boom Boom Boom Boom. Seriously?!
For some odd reason it was actually a really sunny day! Made a difference to my first visit on Friday where it was extremely windy and drizzled all day. For a Thursday, the town was busy and bustling. The atmosphere is more relaxed because there is no traffic and noise pollution; there are trams and buses and very slow cars, but that's really it. The cobbled streets and river form a stark contrast to the large malls.
I doodled on a little map in a free Gothenburg guide last night to make sure I hit everywhere, even though last time I discovered where the shops I already knew were. The main attraction is the biggest mall in Sweden which is basically like every other mall... lots of random European shops that aren't too special. I went backwards to the Friday visit and started off by walking through here and into H&M. I think the three stores here in Boras definitely don't stock everything and I had a proper mooch; pretty impressed by the goodies they've got in the trend section, lots of long blazers and tapered trousers and shiny stuff.
I quite like this big woolly coat and am having pangs of longing for my coat all the way at home. The weather here is so different every day that there's not much need for wrapping up yet, although there are some great coats around. Are you one of those people that just can't buy certain things? I never buy tops, cardigans or jackets. Something in my mind just bypasses them, maybe because they feel like smaller purchases that I would wear out more quickly.
I spotted this mock-suede dress way up high in a bright purple/mauve that was love at first sight and an SA reached it down for me; Swedish people are all speak literally perfect English, it's great! I was browsing quite slowly as I had just over three hours to kill and there were so many good things that I tried on a whole bunch and ended up with a stack on my arm. H&M always reaches out to less wearable trends but somehow tones them down into something more understated.
Trying on the above velvet harem pants was kind of an experiment. What is it with velvet and velour at the moment that is SO appealing!? It is the nicest fabric to wear. But I remembered that harem pants and me just don't mix. I had a bit of a dilemma about the dress because the fabric is amazing and the purple is really deep and rich, it's just beyond a high street dress. But I'd have to wear some kind of bra with it or else it would just fall down, and my top half is a bit skinny so I never really wear strapless stuff. It was only about £30 anyway and I have a rule that if I'm umming and ahhing over something, I'll just walk away. But I bought it anyway, I can always return it if I do change my mind! I was conscious that I might come home empty handed, which is always a lethal thought when shopping! In fact I bought quite a few things!
Ah I wore the shirt H&M kindly sent me with the huge sleeves with a H&M lace skirt and, for once, plain black tights. I've been looking for some flats everywhere but tbh, EVERYTHING in the shops right now is exactly the same!!! Everything is black, studded, tight, cut-out, one shoulder or sequined. Argh! Every single shop has the same versions or everything, it's really annoying!!
An exception to this is Topshop! At least they have some variety. A few people said the Gothenburg branch was small, but I think it's perfect! It's got two floors and has all the best selling stuff and the whole range of basics. The shoe department is a decent size and they have the Kate Moss stuff too. I doubt they'll have the Christopher Kane range but at £75 for leggings, maybe it's best for me that they don't!
They also have a pretty large Beyond Retro section downstairs! I'm not so much into this kind of vintage anymore, it all feels a bit samey and musty. But it was stocked to the brim with all kinds of dresses and hats and tutus.
I tried on a few things for fun, and took in the long sleeved, tight black dress with the pointy ruffles on the shoulders that seems to be a signature piece but didn't even try it on in the end. It's no fun when you wear something so blatant and I know a lot of girls have this dress! I tried on this skirt as I haven't bought a skirt in forever, but at £45, I left it. As I said, my top half isn't my best feature so I don't have too many little tops to wear with little skirts. Stick to dresses I say!
I thought the mannequin display was pretty crazy too, but they're going for a witchy theme this season right? I wandered into FACE and saw an amazing neon green nail polish but didn't see any eye shadow colours that grabbed me so wandered on!
On the hunt for Weekday, I popped into BikBok. I might be wrong but I think there's one on Oxford Street in London? I wasn't expecting much but this shop is actually pretty good! It's got all the things the other shops have but the prices are more reasonable, and it has a few hidden gems like these great suede skirts that are SO soft. They have velvet leggings for only about £9 too. I actually bought this dress with the leopard print but I'm having second thoughts as the picture isn't so great. In real life the whole dress is black so you only faintly see the leopard print, and the pattern is in a thin velvet. I got the next size up by the way, I don't want a show-cha your chocha moment!
I also bought some legging with cut out plaits up the side, which come in handy when there are so many parties to go to here that I want to dress up for, but don't want to wear an outfit I would wear to a club. Then onto the main dream of the trip: Weekday. Namely for those Weekday boots, but we'll get to that sad, sorry tale in a minute. Weekday is INCREDIBLE! Elisabeth you would love it!
The larger store has this huge, open door with crazy wallpaper either side of the entrance and a few steps...
Then inside it's almost like a gallery. In fact I think there is a gallery in the middle? Anyway the first section of the shop is like a huge gallery. The clothes are laid out clearly but there are a good few sizes of each item and some are hung in a decorative way. It almost has the coolness of a boutique or really expensive store, but with non of the scariness or intimidation because it's big enough to get lost in and browse freely without it being silent and awkward, and you are free to browse through a small rail for your size and carry a few items around to try on. The people in there are so COOL. The people who work there are insanely dressed, they just look amazing. Classic Swedish style, really tall girls with even taller boots. And then the people that shop there dress so well too. The groups of boys shopping in there are divine! But it's not scary because everyone in Sweden minds their own business and are so polite.
As you get to the centre of the shop, there is the gallery-type bit that is all painted white and had some strange newspapers hung in some kind of artistic manner (haha, what do I know?!). Then you come into the larger part of the store at the back, with all these hanging metal structures and loads of clothes. They stock the whole Cheap Monday range and at first I couldn't work out which side was the boys and which was the girls because it's pretty similar!
The clothes are incredible. Really well-cut, well structured clothes in beautiful fabrics. The fuss is in the details rather than obvious embellishments. I never thought to much of it before and wavered towards Monki, but Weekday is a great shop. It's the kind of place that would satisfy your needs and has enough stock to have a really good browse. I was looking for those boots that I showed in the previous post, but in black suede. I didn't even see any in here so I decided to go back to the smaller branch where I had first seen them after. They have loads of the patent kind but they're just not the same! Now I'm kind of swaying towards them but I'm not sure when I'll go back. I loved the lacing on these dark blue boots but thought the white fur was kind of random?!
Also thought these cardigans with the draped picture of a fox around the neck were pretty cool, they have it as a jumper too.
But most things were typically cool Swedish style; black, plain, and well-cut. I found a floor length skirt!! Sadly it was a crazy £35 and was literally a length of material, so I could probably make one myself even? I can only imagine wearing it with those suede boots anyway, so c'est la vie! The changing rooms were certainly an experience. They're at the back of the shop with white shiny doors, if you could call them that. You know in a wild west movie and the saloon has those doors that are head-height and have a metre of free space at the bottom. Well the double changing room doors are like that. If a slightly tall man walked by, he would be able to look over! And they are a diamond shape, so in one mirror it feels like you have no space, but in the other they feel like a decent size. And everyone can see your legs. Very strange!! I bought some very light suede shorts that are extremely soft and very Chloé. I thought it makes a nice change to skirts all the time, and shorts look great with polka dot tights and wedge boots. Argh I need those boots!!!!!!!!!!
Here's a little pic of Din Sko, black boots as far as the eye can see! I have black boots at home though so am hesitant to buy more but they are such decent prices!
Ah Monki!! Now Swedish fashion seems split down the middle of the above-mentioned tight, studded, cut-out, blackness, or anything folky (the Swedes do love nature!). Monki now seems like an odd little shop because it's quite retro and weird. Check out this girl chaining up her bike before going in to have a look round- so cool!!
The shop has crazy carpets and oddly shaped fittings at strange angles. It's quite different and cool in an almost Urban Outfitters way, but much more fun. I saw some jeans-come-leggings (not leggings with a jean pattern, eek!) that I should have tried on because now I'm pondering them. They weren't stone wash but had a print that almost looked like stormy clouds...? Imagine!
They have some fab coats and lots of stock, although it's quite pushed together so it's harder to browse. Nothing really caught my eye even though it was very new and fresh (and not black and tight and studded and cut-out and...). It's not toooo cheap but I'm a bit sick of flared skirts and cute bodies that I'm longing for new things. Bring on the fashion weeks!
I hunted through the second and smaller Weekday store but they only had the suede boots in a 38, and I'm a 39. Nooooo! They are heaven! I asked the SA, who looked amazing in a black sheer top, but she said the boots had sold out in two days and people kept ringing them up to see if they had any sizes left. Hopefully they will re-release them! Please Weekday! They're only about £50 too, and for suede wedge boots, that's pretty damn good!
I've been very curious to go to Acne, but was quite disappointed. The shop is almost like a show room and is very tiny. They have hardly any clothes and I didn't recognise anything, so only spent about two minutes in there!
I'd googled some vintage shops and there are a few here but it's all a bit samey now in vintage boutiques. There's only so many dresses and jumpers I can see!
I'd sort of avoided looking at the time all day, because there were very few buses and I thought I'd base my choice on whenever I had finished shopping. There weren't really any more shops I wanted to go to and I'd bought enough! I didn't really understand the coach station so ended up missing it anyway, so I got the train instead. And as I was checking all the newsagents at the station for bloody British Elle (where are you?!?!?!), I found the holy grail: Look magazine!!!! Sure it was last week's, but who cares! Yesss!
A young girl was waiting for the train too and said something to me in Swedish, which of course I didn't understand. She sat by me for the whole hours train journey and spoke such great English for only being eleven years old! She was so sweet and now I have another Swedish friend, haha!
Tomorrow I will show you everything I bought in detail as I will attempt to take some photos of myself! It's been so long it seems! There is a Mexican party tomorrow night and on Saturday we are actually going to a club!! Praise the Lord!! I have no idea what to wear but last week I bought some lilac hair, so it should be good! I will explain later! In the mean time, I must go to the one alcohol shop and spend £20 on a bottle of vodka, boo. In fact no, I must go to bed! My legs are killing me from all the walking! xx
I'm not one of those people who ignores trends or is inspired solely by their present desire; I love trends! Mostly to follow and browse the blogs for, but there's always the question in my mind, 'ooo can I pull that off?'. We all know shoulder pads are all over this season like the plague and I was so ecstatic to find an amazing haberdashery shop (be it a very expensive one) that it was the opportune excuse to make my own. This was sparked by a Face Hunter pic of the outfit from Vanilla Scented, who made some amazing shoulder pads from a tutorial by a lady called Elise here at Anywho.
A bit confusing but bare with me! I've tried padding the shoulders of jackets and tops when trying on outfits, but it just doesn't work if there was no room for them in the first place! So on the outside, they must go. I like them and urge you to try this because they're not the most obvious of things. Sure they are right by your head, but shoulders are quite a small part of yourself and when whipping by someone in the streets, it is not immediately noticeable. The whole point is the silhouette, which immediately makes you walk taller and feel generally cooler, powerful and owning your pavement space.
I made these in about half an hour the night before I went to Gothenburg with the Textiles school, because I had the urge all week to wear a lot of black. I only safety pinned them to the shoulders of last year's Topshop blazer and it was such a windy day that our boat tour got canceled and they kept whipping up in the air! So for a lot of the time I had vertical peaks on my shoulders, hmmm. But I found a way to subtly hold them in place, as well as keep my hair and bag under control. Also it might be useful to note the velvet leggings really make dresses ride up!
Since I went around with friends, I didn't really hardcore shop but more took in the city and got a feel for how it is laid out. Sweden is fond of malls it seems. Since the only club here isn't open tomorrow like we thought, in the morning I am taking the hour trip back there to shop myself out! I did take photos last time but tomorrow I'll take more and do a better post about the city.
For now here is how I made the shoulder pads, much like the original tutorials!
I found some very concave (or is it convex?) shoulder pads for 350SEK I think, which is about £3. Then I picked up some wool/felt like lengths of random black pattern and some fringing. I also picked up a mini sewing kit, which was pretty damn handy! All came to around £10 in the end, but I be you could get the equivalent for less than a fiver in the UK.
I just laid a strip across the middle of the pad and pinned it, then cut off the excess. I laid a piece either side, which was enough to cover the whole area, and pinned them too.
Then I pinned on the fringing, not sitting it right at the edge of the pad because I wanted it to hang off the very edge at the top of the shoulder, and the pad curves round the shoulder too much.
Then I did a poor, poor sewing job (i.e. a few botched stitches and pricked some fingers) and cut off any excess, and um, that's it!
You can kiiind of see them in this pic which I took in H&M, but I will take some better ones. I found a way to balance my camera on some shelves which is much better than a £50 tripod from here! I think they will look better with even more stuff added, so I'll revisit the sewing shop and raid everything that's black and textured.
I still have this horrible thought constantly that says 'remember, you still have LOADS of clothes at home, why are you buying more???' but it must be ignored! I'm going back for a weekend in October with an empty suitcase and coming back with a full one most definitely! Probably full of alcohol, chocolate and Look magazines but I'm sure there will be some room for more clothes!
But it's not like I'll be buying things anything like I already own so my list to look out for tomorrow is a sweeping floor or calf length skirt, some kind of chunky knit to last until I go home and can bring back my coat, any kind of jumpsuit, anything made of white or cream lace, embellished tights, and I need to check out the above Weekday boots again in suede because they were amazing and that shop is incredible!!! I wish I could fly you all to it!
P.S. Still thinking about the shopping service, but it could only be for Gina Tricot and Din Sko anyway. Will keep you posted!
