dressed for happiness success

Earlier this year I decided I'd post outfits more regularly on Instagram - despite hating to post pictures of myself, other than shoe per diem ones - to inspire people to dress in colours more. The world needs it. Colours equals happiness. And hopefully kindness can tag along there too.

Regularly for me means about once or twice per month. Since I find vegan food, cats and such more fun to photograph than myself. And I'm really not keen on seeing other people obsessively posting selfies either - thank goodness for the new IG mute-button... You can unfollow without unfollow, now, how brilliant is that? - so why should I contribute to that I wonder.



But then sometimes I'm pretty pleased with a particular outfit. And I'm even more pleased when I'm able to thrift something in my own wardrobe that match, the idea I have in my head.

So when my two year old budgie skirt from Palava was finally altered last week I couldn't wait to take it for a spin of course. And this is what I came up with day one.



The blouse is about eight years old, organic cotton in a folklore model, with little birds embroidered at the neck, from Gudrun Sjödén. Haven't used it for years because one of the cats tore a hole in it and I being lazy as usual when it comes to mending, altering and such only just recently mended it. (I will never be a pro on mending, but at least I can wear it now.)

The blue organic cotton cardigan I got in the Marc'O Polo store in Berlin 2011, since I tore a hole in another cardi I had with me, and it has been a faithful, much worn summer companion ever since. It's such a lovely blue hue. And I love how there often are endearing memories attached to specific garments. In this case a bit wistful, I miss Berlin and I miss M, but it was a lovely trip with good memories, as always.



And the shoes are one of my favourites, the yellow El Naturalista Tesela mary-janes from 2010. At least I can never be accused of not being consistent in style. And how utterly fab is it that these shoes, eight plus years later, still are great to look at and walk in? Quality and comfort trumps everything.

Never mind my messy hall, cat food bags and heaps of paper recycling is life too.

In 2013 I bought the Impi dress from Marimekko. I still think it's one of my best garment purchases ever. It's such a carefree and happiness instigating dress - and being very A-line you can indulge in how many cakes your heart and tummy desire without the dress showing, if you are so inclined - which I've had so much fun in over the years.



And since I happened to wear it when I stepped in to the Marimekko store a while back and their new fitting rooms are perfect for outfit selfies I snapped one. Same cardi as above, sandals of 2015 from ART shoes (still super comfortable too) and obviously the Re-Kånken. It's so sweet how no matter what colours you choose you can match everything with that dress.

Since I think it's a perfect summer dress (and yes, it has pockets) I've been meaning to turn that model into other dresses with old, pretty fabrics. But well, since I wasn't able to alter the above budgie skirt until two years had passed that is a major project I don't see come to fruition any time soon...



And since all good things come in three, here's a third outfit that makes me happy - apart from that time an idiot (clearly) snapped a selfie of himself and the seminar audience in which I looked like a super-sized, striped and unflattery fluffy pastry. And posted it on LinkedIn. Oh the joy - the fabulous Marimekko Tasaraita dress, a classic pattern from the 1960ies which is a symbol for equality. It's a very Little My-esque power dress in cotton poplin, and I hope and think it'll be an awesome dressy companion for many years to come.

Even if one of the features that makes it special, the drawstrings, gave me a slight headache a while back. One day I noticed that one of the strings had mysteriously disappeared in to the waist tunnel. And then the other one did too. I couldn't for my life figure out the construction, so I ended up having to go back to the store asking for help. Where I was fortunate enough to stumble on a clerk that had experience with the same issue.



Turns out the two pesky little strings go from left to left side and right to right side, meeting inside the waist tunnel. Which is elaborately designed below the button-up chest part of the dress. I thought the strings where one front and one back. But no, the dress is designed like those ol' gymbags with drawstrings you had in school.

Well-made and interesting, but not the easiest concept to grasp at first. In hindsight it's very logical, but not there and then. Now I can at least sort the issue myself, if it would appear again.

So at the end of this post, my question is of course,
are you already dressed for happiness success in colours or 
are you now inspired to?