Photographic Time Travel 1900-1910

There is something magical about old pictures, they really seem like special objects as they bring back a slice of life that’s long gone. Especially amateur, or family photos of old…



































There’s and amazing website, Fortepan.hu, which collects amateur photographs from 1900 to 1990, which you can browse and enjoy and also share if you feel like it! The creators collected old negatives and slides, saved pictures from being lost forever. Luckily for us, one day they started to scan and publish them online for everyone to see. So now time travel really is possible for us! All we need is some free time to immerse yourself in the everyday life of the 20th century...































These pictures are from Fortepan too, from between 1900 and 1910. Looking through the pictures, (and let me warn you, you can get lost in this website for hours and hours...) I saw the past century come alive and felt instantly transported. It’s amazing to see how people weren’t any different from us a 100 years ago, really. You see laid back, smiling girls or clumsy ladies, ashamed of looking into the camera, or looking piercingly straight into it, stolen moments and carefully organised scenes.



































Not only can you pan the history of 20th century Hungary through the eyes of everyday people, the evolution of fashion is also fascinating!

































Look at the pleating, the ruffles of the hat and the dainty but long necklace! Swoon!






















What a wonderful little room, with the dressing table and pictures on the wall… Of course the fingerprint gives it extra charm!





































Don’t you think these girls made their dresses themselves and they’re really proud of them? (Also, what’s up with the flying piano?)




















I bet the Sartorialist wishes sometimes he could travel back in time and take some streetstyle pictures like this! These girls seem to walk with such confidence!



























This wedding picture is so sweet… Just look out for the guest of honour, the dog. :D























This picture is my favourite of them all... Such happiness, such ease.
I've got new imaginary friends.

I could go on and on about each picture and choose more and more, every detail spins a whole story for me. So go on and visit Fortepan and have a browse. You can also read more about their project here!
I rather enjoy time travel, so you might see similar posts in the future. :)

Glamour in the City

Are you wondering how the hat goes with this outfit? Well, I didn't choose it to wear for myself, but carried it to a photoshoot I had the pleasure styling!

We had such a great time the day before with Gabi, the subject of the portrait/glamour session, working out her outfits and combining pieces of her wardrobe and clothes and accessories I'd brought. The main thing for me was to create looks she'd feel comfortable and great in - and most importantly, truly herself.
Here are some of the many great pictures Zsófi took that day.

Meet wonderful Gabi, with hairclips made up by me with flower pins I'd brought, after Zsófi's genious suggestion to use fallen leaves.

How gorgeous is the setting? No wonder we couldn't resist playing with the leaves!

(You might remember this overdress of mine from this guest post over at The Ginger Diaries blog. It suits Gabi so much better! :)
Here are some other pictures in another outfit - a darker tone in another great setting, a steep old street.

Zsófi is a brilliant portrait photographer - catching so much of Gabi's personality, and so many facets of it.

It wasn't the first time we worked together with Zsófi Raffay on a photoshoot and I sincerely hope there will be many others! :) Here's Zsófi's website and her blog, plus her Facebook!

I'm wearing: 

Promod trench, Takko jeans, Shoe Zone boots, Zara bag, Chinese scarf, Debenhams hat.
Gabi's wearing:
In the first look: Her own dress and shoes,  my overdress and trench, hairclips by mother nature. :)
In the second look: Her own dress, coat and scarf, and my Debenhams hat.

Tablecloth Dress

The monsoon season started or something... I wanted to take some pictures of what I wore yesterday, but you know those rainstorms when it's literally pouring, and from every possible direction? Yep, I was caught up in one of those and was soaked to the skin. Brrr!

Anyway, the great thing about clothes - I can always wear that outfit some other time. 

Once it's all dry. :)

The same kind of rainstorm hit today, but luckily I was still at work and rushed out immediately after to take these photos while the weather cooperated.

It makes me smile to see the huge dots with the tablecloth-like dress. :)

In a recent blogpost Pau over at Titine and Totoche wrote about who women dress for - themselves, other women or men? In this case I hope every weather-beaten pedestrian with a keen eye for pattern was cheered up a little.

See the happy guy? He absolutely has a spring in his step. :)

I don't know what's going on here with the movement, but I like it.

Dress: Second hand, Leggings: Chinese shop, Sandals: Tamaris (worn before here and here), Umbrella: Ikea, Belt: H&M (I turned it around, to show the simpler side), Big ring: Small boutique, Roses: Jojó Art Shop. 

Special Birthday Guest

If you just thought "Oh my, she's gone blonde!", it's not me. :)
Meet Anna,  my sister whose birthday we celebrated yesterday!

Have you ever heard of a girl who doesn't like layered cakes? Well, now you have! Anna's birthday cake was a special walnut-hazelnut pastry with a vanilla sauce, called "the wasps'nest". I assure you no insects are involved in making it.

How much better is she at posing than I am? And she has fab legs... And fab fashion sense. Our styles differ, but not that much, really. See Anna's more refined take on polka dots!

Congratulations to Anna on her birthday, especially as she just won two Erasmus scholarsphips to study abroad, one to Denmark and one to Italy!

Here's her present to mark the day: a tiny silver Vespa to bring luck in Italy (and Denmark too:)!

Anna wears: Dress - New Yorker, Coat: New Yorker, Shoes: Humanic, 

Necklaces: both birthday presents :)

The downside of silver Vespas is that they don't carry you home and you still have to wait for the tram. Oh well!

Pálinka and Broderie Anglaise

What is pálinka? The lovely, fruity, rich and very strong national spirit of Hungary. Why is it so good? It's made entirely of fruit, and fruit, and more fruit. What sort of fruit? Any and all types, really, from plum and apricot to walnut, quince, and all the berries you can imagine. Why am I writing about this? Because this weekend the famed Pálinka Festival, where all the distillers present their best pálinkas, is held in the Castle of Budapest, and obviously we had to pay a visit!

My favourite type, the "ágyas pálinka" (fruit-bed pálinka) is aged together with fruits - even more fruitier! Here, I am tasting a green walnut pálinka... Look at the colour, enjoy the rich scent, then taste! Wonderful!

Good pálinka has a culture, just like wine. I never used to like alcohol, but gradually warmed to wine and pálinka, mostly because of the work that goes into making them. Hungary is not a beer country, but we're really very good at wine. And pálinka. :)

But you might also be interested in what I wore, so here's a picture where you can sort of see all of me... (and a bit of the castle.)

If you wondered what Broderie Anglaise is, it's the embroidery technique used on my blouse, involving cutting out the patterns from the material.

This blouse was made by my Mother when she was younger, using an old pillow case. Can you imagine the care that used to go into embroidering pillowcases? I'm so amazed by the detailing on this ex-bedlinen. It felt fitting to wear it to an event celebrating practically handmade drinks.

Top - handmade by an unknown housewife, refashioned by my Mother, 

Leather skirt - thrifted, Leggings with holes - Chinese shop, Ballerinas - Vagabond, 

Clip-on earrings - handmade by me, Bracelet - by my lovely little Cousin,

Necklace that looks like a huge doodle by an annoyed child - Rossmann.

Invitation to Discuss and a Red Fish

Dear Readers, Picture Viewers, Random Blog Finders,

I proudly present the new commenting system on my blog, Disqus! You might have seen it over at Kendi's blog, or Sarah's, who actually helped me with some useful tips in installing. The most useful of them definitely being "don't panic". :)

I would like to thank each and every one of you who left me comments, followed me or e-mailed me so far, it's been a wonderful experience, starting blogging and meeting so many nicer than nice people all over the world! From now on, connecting will be even easier, it will be much easier for you to find my answers (or anyone else's) to your comments, and if you feel like, you can reply. That possibly means a start of a conversation! How great is that?

Hopefully the change to the new system will work fine, but please e-mail me if something doesn't seem to be working, or the settings aren't practical, or something along these lines.

To celebrate, let me include this picture Zsófi Raffay took of me last week, needless to say, she's brilliant, and this picture is so much more me than the photos I'm trying to snap of myself. The fish I'm holding is a recurring star in her photography, she hands them to her models to see what they'd do with it, sometimes with hilarious results. :)

Looking forward to reading your comments and answering them too! See you soon! :)