From my own wardrobe came this lime shirt. Worn quite a few times but every time in a slightly different way, making the most of it. Usually I just run to the shops and buy new things. Nowadays the subject ‘sustainable’ keeps nagging my brain and of course I know that overconsuming is not helping. OK, I use the clothes for a long time and I give my old clothes to friends and friends of friends, so no landfill here but still…
Which is why I asked my friend and blogger Misja to come and give me some styling lessons. As she has written, photographed and published a book about styling (Oog voor Stijl, in Dutch only), she is clearly further advanced than I am. She knows how to do colour blocking well and I love the way she adds interest to her outfits with simple things like polka dot socks, a brooch, a belt, a scarf. As we know each other a couple of years now, I dared asking her to give me tips, to teach me a thing or two. Sure enough, she rang my doorbell last Monday morning.
Below: Misja arrived all colourful with an interesting belt around her top, hair beautifully done after a visit to the hairdresser.
We went through a lot of my outfits on my blog. In the top navigation is a button called “Outfit Gallery”, documenting most of my outfits, making it easy to pick the outfits I had doubts about and ask questions. In the beginning Misja apologized a couple of times for being honest as she was afraid of hurting my feelings. I assured her it takes a hell of a lot more than that to hurt my feeling. Besides, I asked for her opinion, what good would it do me if I had to guess what she meant. We continued the old-fashioned Dutch way: say it as you see it.
The outfit of this post was one that she put together. I bought the shirt in 2014 (worn with white trousers) and I had done a similar outfit with black leather trousers in winter. To sum up Misja’s pointers: wear it with those 7/8 black trousers, black sneakers, put a polka dot scarf around your waist and carry a bag in a different colour. Those were the tips I was after, hence this outfit.
Loes was the photographer of this lime shirt and Koningshof in Haarlem was to serve as background.
Below: This was my reference…wow, what an estate.
Below: It totally slipped my mind that a family is actually living in this estate. So this is as near as we got to it. The family opened the park for the public but of course they wanted privacy for themselves as well.
Below: Which meant that the green trees were our only background.
The sun was shining far too brightly for amateur photographers like us. We took a lot of blurry face photos and couldn’t work out why. Loes is a very patient and optimistic person. Her remedy is: “I will just take a lot of shots; there is bound to be one good one among them”. An excellent approach haha.
Below: This photo from the side shows all the places on the shirt where there are black and white stripes.
Below: Loes took another side shot but in this photo my collar had flopped down. Even though the seamstress reinforced the collar, it didn’t help.
Below: I like the collar turned up all the time, so the black and white stripes show. Alas, still too floppy.
Below: Floppy collar but at least in this photo I am sharp and the background blurry instead of the other way around haha.
Below: We found another spot where I could sit on a stump and suddenly the camera decided to cooperate.
Below: Then I felt the tree stump underneath me becoming very soggy…Panic. Fortunately nothing bad happened.
Below: Loes in a dress of a beautiful blue colour. Brings out her eyes.
Below: Her fun earrings.
Below: The details. Lime shirt: Diane von Fürstenberg, scarf/belt: La Dress, black trousers: Marella, sneakers: Essentiel Antwerp and fuchsia bucket bag: Picard. All items are in my wardrobe for years.
Black and white bracelet Little Mole Boutique. Sadly the owner is closing down her online boutique and therefore she is offering heavy reductions on her jewellery.
Below: Close-up of the Essentiel Antwerp sneakers. One of my best purchases.
What happened in my life this week
What a nice week this has been. In the sense that the weather was really lovely, sometimes even hot.
Below: The day I was at the beach it was sunny but not very hot and the wind literally sanded us. Dog Watson loved it, chasing the birds. The ‘birds’ in the air behind me are kites from kite surfers.
The jacket is by Ralph Lauren and I found it in that lovely second-hand shop I went to in Leiden, called Lionheart Vintage Boutique.
Our friends Maurits and Marcel joined us at the beach with their puppy dog. We had the usual coffee and lunch and lots of chats. Always so nice to see them.
Below: Even wore high heels in the weekend (only for a short time). (Link to original post.)
As I said above, Misja came round on Monday to give me styling tips. I cannot show you all the photos I made as that would be giving away all the outfits I am going to post in the near future.
Below: I wore this dress and Misja added two more necklaces. Why not? Pile it up.
One morning I had met Kitty for coffee, this time without her taking photos. I wanted some friends-time with her and not only photographing time. Below: Wore this (link to original post.)
That day I had a splitting headache, migraine even and it lingered and lingered. And I thought the headaches stopped with my retirement. Fortunately it was totally gone the next day. Strange.
Ron came home with a story…: he was at the seashore in his swimming trunks and asked a couple of older ladies, while pointing at the sea: “Is this the way to England?” They were baffled with that question. He then jumped into the sea together with his dog Watson and stayed under water for about 30 seconds, emerged again and said: “Come on Watson, we have to turn back. I forgot my lunchbox.” The ladies were too surprised to see the humour haha.
Another combination I have been wearing this week: boyfriend jeans with Kenzo top and yellow suede slingbacks.
Then on one of my cycling tours I spotted these two murals. Neat.
Tried Hatha yoga on Friday instead of the Mindfulness yoga on Wednesday and I prefer Hatha. My knee didn’t hurt the day after so that is good news. I am careful and cannot participate with every exercise but for someone my age and never having done yoga, I was quite pleased. It is going to take me a few years before I can really do the difficult positions but the road to it is fun.
Wore this dress and cycled in it. Not a good idea. AT ALL.
I bought a white summer dress at the beginning of the year thinking it was perfect. Then when I started to wear it, I didn’t like it anymore. Very strange but the feeling did not go away. A friend is very happy with it now.
We wrapped up the week by eating paella at Georg and Marla. There is a very good shop in Haarlem, called Spanish Harlem which sells all sorts of Spanish food. I picked it up and Marla shoved it in the oven to warm. Very fresh and very easy.
Have a nice week.
Greetje
Ooh, how fun to have someone go through your outfits and critique them! I’m with you: I want to know what people think. It’s boring if all you get is “you look great” (of course, that is nice too).
Love that first outfit, and the tip of pulling in other black and white accents to go with the stripes in the shirt is excellent. I also really like the outfit with the yellow blouse (great sleeves) and the awesome chain necklace.
Ron’s joke is…bizarre. I love it. Ha!
Those murals are beautiful!
Sheila, you could be Duth. Sure there isn’t Dutch blood running through your veins haha?
The chain necklace on the yellow blouse with bell sleeves was a lucky second-hand find: €5 (7.82 CAD). I don’t have many finds like this, nowhere near the amount you have, but sometimes I get lucky.
Ron has me laughing every day. Very good quality in a person and certainly in a husband.
Lieve Greetje, ‘lucky you’ zo een getalenteerde vriendin op styling gebied te hebben.
Maar dat zegt natuurlijk ook veel ( goeds) over jou dat jullie bevriend zijn en de wijze waarop jullie samen dit traject zijn aangegaan !
Geweldige resultaat.
Groet @timelessstyle.nl
Heerlijk zoals je dit verwoordt. Ja, het is heel fijn en lief van Misja om me zo belangeloos te helpen. Ik stuur haar stiekem nog wel eens fotootjes van nieuwe creaties met haar tips en dan krijg ik nog weer hele goede aanwijzingen terug. Ze zal het wel een keer zat worden hoor haha.
Love, love, love the way you have styled the lime shirt with the black trousers. I recognise Misja’s top as I bought the matching culottes. I think we all need a Misja in our life!
The bright yellow top with balloon sleeves go really well with the trousers you are wearing. Your outfit gallery must be a really helpful way of remembering which items you have paired with each other.
Have a great week!
Cx
I can tell you, my outfit gallery is THE perfect help. I often check if I don’t know what to put on (if you have so much you can get lost). It is also a big help to remember. Like: “Oh with that belt/bag/those shoes.?!”
I can recommend to making a photo of your outfit every day and storing it on your computer. You don’t need a blog for that.
The yellow top with balloon sleeves outfit was one I actually came up with myself (hurray.. proud). And yes, I am very grateful to Misja.
Great photos in the woods, and I love the philosophy – take lots of photos and you’ll probably get one good one. Hahaha. I live by those words.
I like all your outfit combinations here, and the shots of Loes came out well too.
Most of all, I love your beach shots, though. So open, fresh, breezy. Sigh. What happened to summer?! Ron cracked me up with his joke with those women. Hahaha!!
We lead a very happy life and the beach to us, is such a common thing. Ron enjoys it a lot more than I do. I think it is sort of all right, he loves it. And Watson loves it as well.
Perhaps if I wouldn’t have a beach on my doorstep anymore I would miss it. You know what they say: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it is gone.”
Summer is still upon us here in the Netherlands but is going to check out this Friday. I doubt whether it will come back before winter, but you never know.
Ron is my stand-up comedian and makes me laugh every day.
The lime and black outfit looks just great on you. And I thought your hair was perfect. Lucky you to have a good friend to help with the styling. You have some wonderful friends and I enjoy reading of your adventures together. What fun!
p.s. My husband and I have been enjoying the TV show “Van der Valk.” Are you familiar with it? Great locations in Amsterdam and always an interesting mystery.
Thank you for your lovely words. I do lead a very happy life and I am very grateful for it.
The TV show Van der Valk has been on Dutch TV as well I discovered now, but I totally missed it. Could have been that it started late and I always had to go to bed early when I was still working.
Always love your outfits, but the lime green shirt and black pants really looked great on you! I wish I had a Misja to dress me! Love your blog. Always look forward to reading it on Sunday afternoon
I have always asked friends who are better at styling to help me. And a lot of shop owners/assistents are great stylists as well. If I pull an outfit off all by myself I am mighty proud.
You made me happy by saing you look forward to reading my blog on Sunday. Thanks.
I really like this outfit with the lime shirt. The proportions are great, and it’s simple but interesting. Well done!
Love Misja’s top, and Loes’ dress. Both really suit them well.
I miss my Iyengar yoga at the studio (it requires a lot of “props” so can’t do much at home) but my workout program has some gentle yoga sessions available too.
To add a bit more interest, I need Misja’s help, I am glad she is giving that help. And of course I will keep my own style. It wouldn’t do and it wouldn’t work if I copied her.
Yoga is a whole new world for me.
looking good as always. You nailed the lime green and black outfit with the polka dot belt and great sneakers! Not fond of that orange outfit, not really your color! Love the bell shaped blouse, stands out in a crowd. A beautiful blue dress on your friend. Happy photo at the beach also!
I have to disagree with you (again haha). Orange is very much my colour and I have many items in that colour. But I am glad you approve of so many other things in this post.
Nice blog as usual. So now you know the place in Leiden for our next visit to Leiden.
It is a lovely place to visit and the owner is really nice. Wouldn’t mind going there again.
The lime shirt looks beautiful to me. With black pants it works well, but my option for you is with your jeans. Those jeans that I always associate with your legs. I love the photos in the forest, that landscape that is my favorite habitat. I love the photo with your scared face. Your orange look with stilettos is beautiful, it is a beautiful and elegant option.
And here I am, trying to move away from jeans. Jeans are my first choice and they are always good. But I have to be more creative. Misja is giving me tips which is lovely, but of course I have to find my own style. You surprise me when you say that forests are your favourite habitat. I would have thought mountains were your favourite habitat.
My scared face was too good not to include haha.
The orange suit is nice and elegant. I bought the shoes I am wearing with it in Turin with Daniela.
Love the beginning outfit, but especially love the picture of you and Watson at the beach. You both look so happy!
Thanks Anne, well I have to admit, I do lead a very happy life. Of course I have had my share of sorrow but not really too bad. So I count myself very lucky. You never know what the future holds for me, but for now it is a great life.
Can’t wait to see Misja’s suggested outfits. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have such a resource in my life? We all can use some help from time to time. After months of not feeling like trying new combinations, I am suddenly inspired to dress a little more creatively, even just for home.
DeeDee – I’ve been feeling the same way. I have all these great clothes sitting in my closet – why not wear them? I’m a school librarian and I’ve been doing Zoom readings to kids since mid-March. Might as well jazz things up!
I totally agree. See my reply to DeeDee.
Good for you. I totally am in favour of always dressing to feel good, even if nobody is around. If only to go to a shop or do a video meeting. I learned from others that they actually feel better when they gave given it a little effort rather than just putting on a track suit.
I go a step further and sometimes even wear high heels. That is to keep my muscles used to this position otherwise it would take so much effort to teach those muscles again. But I am crazy. And besides, being retired, I doubt whether I will wear a lot of heels any longer.
I am looking forward to seeing the other outfit recommendations from Misja. She really does have a good eye for combining clothes.
Oh yes, Misja has a great eye for combining clothes. I just have a clever mind (to seek her help haha). I am not after copying her as we have a different figure and taste. Copying wouldn’t be fun and wouldn’t work. But you will see her hand in my combinations. If it is one she has helped me with, I will say so in my post.