Houndstooth trousers with a purple jumper (sweater)Lots of new items in this post like the houndstooth trousers, the purple jumper (sweater) and the black earrings. You will see a close-up of the earrings further down. I know all these new things are not very sustainable. What can I say? Nothing in my defence.
In the past I have had an orange and a yellow jumper by American Vintage and I loved them. However, after a few years wear, they lost their luscious vibe. The fact that I washed them in the washing machine (and not on the wool programme), probably has a lot to do with that.

As I passed the American Vintage shop in Amsterdam a month ago, I decided to go in and I scored two new jumpers: this purple jumper and a yellow one. I love colour in winter. In principle this neckline is a good one for me, but I would have preferred it to be more narrowly fitted. Perhaps I can solve it by wearing a black tank top underneath it with the straps showing.

Loes was my photographer that day and the weather was grey, very grey. No rain, so I am thankful for that, but a little bit of sunshine would have brightened up the photos.
What was nice, was the street we chose. All the people who live there, decorate the outside of their house and the street with greenery. I love what they do.

Below: This is one end of the street. Photo taken from the middle of the street. Notice the lamps and ornaments they have hanging above the street.

Street in Haarlem

Below: And this is the street from the middle to the other end.

Street in Haarlem

Below: I particularly liked these lamps.

Street in Haarlem

Below: And this angel.

Street in Haarlem

Below: And here is Loes in a houndstooth dress and scarf with a beautiful, colourful coat. Her boots were new and so very comfortable.

Loes

Below: I was ‘hiding in the bushes’. The trousers are by Mads Nørgaard, a Scandinavian brand. I bought them at my trusted supplier for lovely clothes, kpa.haarlem. These trousers were taken in at the back by my seamstress as trousers don’t fit me in that area.

Houndstooth trousers with a purple jumper (sweater)

Below: On our way to the cute green street, we passed this building with the strange letters on the facade, spelling De Aker. I only found this out, after posting the photo on Facebook asking for help. It turned out that ‘De Aker’ means a particular kind of bucket, one that is cylindric and was used to hoist water up from a well. The Wikipedia explanation of De Aker is in Dutch so if you don’t speak Dutch you will have to use Google Translate.

Building De Aker

All I could see was the green door. Green doors are perfect as a background for my blonde hair.

Below: I was wearing my Max Mara coat from years ago, bought in the outlet in Turin.

Bright fuchsia coat by Max Mara studio

Below: These people apparently were still in a Halloween mood, which is really not something we celebrate.

Street in Haarlem spider web

Below: I like these old things; a door, way up high. It was used to hoist up anything to store upstairs. So I suppose this must have been some sort of a warehouse in the old days.

Street in Haarlem

Below: Cute little house. It is now part of a restaurant.

House in Haarlem

Below: Now that is what I call a front door. The sticker on the letterbox indicates what kind of unsolicited leaflets and papers you’d like to receive and what not.

Street in Haarlem

Below: One last photo of how green the people make their street.

Street in Haarlem

Below: Loes and I went for lunch in a restaurant, adjacent to an almshouse court. So pretty.

almshouse court in Haarlem

Below: Statue in the courtyard.

statue at almshouse court in Haarlem

Below: They had a bench, which we used. Of course we did.

Houndstooth trousers with a purple jumper (sweater)

Below: A close-up of the earrings, this time from Baublehaus. They are made from polymer clay which means Anne (the designer) can create almost anything she wants. These black ones are from her Art Deco collection and they are very light-weight.

black earrings by Baublehaus

What happened in my life this week

There is some lining fabric left of my new bespoke coat and my seamstress is making me a scarf from it. I am curious to see whether that looks good as the coat is really at its best without a scarf. Alas it is wool and very prickly wool at that, so I really need something in my neck.

Of course there was the weekly visit to mum. Ron joined me that time. He did the shopping, trimmed the firethorn in the garden and make mum laugh with his wit.

Below: Mum in blue.

Below: Close-up of her pearl brooch. She said brooches were old-fashioned; I brought her up to date as they are hot.

pearl brooch mum

Below: I was wearing this outfit. Link to original post. The top and the skirt are both Essentiel Antwerp. The skirt doesn’t look like much in this photo but it is nice. Wearing the same black earrings from Baublehaus as just shown.

Essentiel outfit in fuchsia and green

This week I did visit the eye doctor and it took a long time. My appointment and the ones before me, ran for a long time, but she was very competent and that is what is most important. Result so far: I do have cataract, which doesn’t surprise me at all. I do not have macular degeneration. YAY. And she needs to do further research to see whether or not I have glaucoma. The glaucoma indication on the photo could also be a disturbance created by the cataract. My next appointment is set. I secretly giggled when she said to me: “OK, your next appointment will be on the 10th of December”. No discussion, no question as in “Does this day suit you?” No, just the simple announcement. It wasn’t a problem though.

As I had had drops in my eye to widen the pupil, my eyesight was terrible when I left the building. I had asked an assistant two days before, whether I could drive afterwards and he had said: “Yes, no problem; I don’t see an indication that you will have drops in your eyes.” He needs to go back to school.
At the suggestion of the eye doctor, I had coffee and lunch in a restaurant before going home. After that my eyes were still not too good, but I could drive.
I want her to operate on the cataract as soon as possible as it bothers me a lot. Before I do that, I want to try the ‘One-Eyed Jack’ method with contact lenses. It means, one eye (lens) will be to see in the distance and one eye (lens) will be for reading. At the moment I have multi-focal contact lenses. The lower part of my lenses is for reading. The lenses stay in place because they weigh down. That is OK with me now, but it is not really comfortable reading for a long time and I don’t think they can put these kind of lenses in my eyes. They can, however, apply the One-Eyed Jack system. I want to try and see whether my brain can handle this before the operation. It would be rather nasty if I find out my brain gets confused AFTER the operation.

I had a Facetime conversation with Susan of Une femme d’un certain âge. Always so nice to talk to her. She recently bought some awesome new jackets, tops and a pair of boots which are so stylish.

Marcella dropped by and we explored a new way of selling her earrings. I might be straying with Baublehaus earrings but Lara Design is still my ‘main supplier’ haha.

Below: Marcella with some new earrings which you can pull through your earlobe piercing. You can switch the pearl for a lilac or a graphite ball. Me likey.

On the one day my agenda was empty, I suddenly had a sample sale from a Dutch couturier to go to, Mart Visser. As one does… A sample sale of his ready-to-wear clothes, not his couture clothes. Even so, the man knows how to give garments a good cut and applies this to his ready-to-wear clothes as well. As soon as you put it on, you feel the quality. I went together with my Instagram friend Janna of @timelessstyle.nl.

Below: Janna took this photo at the Mart Visser sample sale. Wearing my Denham jeans and my yellow American Vintage jumper. This is the same jumper as the purple one above. Leopard booties from Eijk Amsterdam and my Chloé Marcia mini crossbody bag. Underneath I wore a blue bodystocking. Always handy at sample sales, I thought, but it wasn’t necessary as it was pretty chic in this place with proper dressing rooms.

At Mart Visser's sample sale

Below: A tiny video of me trying on a top with matching cardigan. I did buy the top but cardigans and me, we aren’t a match.

Below: The staff was very helpful in taking photos of us. We were allowed to remove our masks for the photos but we did keep our distance.

Janna and me at the sample sale of Mart Visser

Below: Yes, Janna and I were successful.

With Janna of Timelessstyle

The nasty thing this week were aching muscles in my back and neck. One night I couldn’t sleep because of the pain. Had to take a pain killer and a sleeping tablet. My physiotherapist is working on it; I already had one session and next Monday I will have a second one. When I am at home I have one of those electric heated cushions on my back and neck. Oh well, it will pass.

Friday I visited Antoinette whom I hadn’t seen for a long time. She used to be my hairdresser, way back. As a matter of fact, she gave me a make-over in 1995.

Below: Antoinette, who lives on a large ship. Incredible that she has two grown-up children, she looks the same as 20 years ago. You can imagine that we had lots to talk about.

And that brings us to the end of this week. The weather is cold, rainy and miserable at the moment.

Greetje

No Fear of Fashion

 

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