Painted Flowers

These pictures were taken by Zsófi Raffay. She's an amazingly talented and what's more, a very lovely person. I'm so lucky to have had the chance to work with her as a stylist!
So when she offered to take some pictures of me (and my belly), I said yes of course, I'm bringing the cakes. :)

It wasn't easy though to decide what to wear for my own shoot! I know you saw this dress before, but I like it too much. It's like wearing a painting.

I know I will treasure these pictures for ever - reminding me of this weird, wonderful and truly blessed period of my life, with a very special guest residing with me at all times. 

Do check out Zsófi's pictures if you wish to see great portraits and city photos, 

and more... Oh, she has a blog too!

 Wearing: Thrifted dress, H&M Mama tights, H&M flowers.

Photographic Time Travel 1920-1930

Probably thanks to period movies I have a distinct picture in my head of 20s looks and fashions - much like the picture above and below.
























However, looking through Fortepan's amateur photographs you don't only see the "do take a picture of me in my best dress" and "well off people in the park" shots, but real, everyday people going about their business... And how different those looks and settings can be!



































My favourite photo from this lot... So everyday, so laid back, so simply, effortlessly perfect.








































She's way ahead of her time, isn't she?























I find it so captivating how they all look into the camera like they'd look into your eye.






















I trend to forget that longago people still had fun. :)






















I wonder who these youngsters are and how did they get to know each other?


























And one more for laughs: twenties trolling. :D

In case you missed my previous Time Travelling posts, here they are:
Photographic Time Travel 1900-1910,
Photographic Time Travel 1910-1920.

All of these wonderful pictures are from Fortepan.hu, which collects amateur photographs from 1900 to 1990, mostly from Hungary, 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 ourselves in the everyday life of the 20th century... So go on and visit Fortepan and have a browse. You can also read more about their project here!







































<3

Big News!

Here I am, again! And also somebody else... There are two of us on these pictures. :)
Yes, I'm expecting a baby! The Little One growing inside is now about four and a half months old, and causes me to marvel at the wonders of the world and just how lucky and blessed I am every day.










































My mind is really occupied with it all too, so concentrating on blogging took a back seat in the past month, but I don't intend to give up my corner of the internet that easy!

I know full well it can feel painful to read about pregnancies for many women, for many reasons, so I definitely don't intend to turn this blog into a pregnancy one, however, as this is partly a personal style blog, the Bump will play an increasing role on the pictures, visually definitely! :D My body changes really fast and it took some time to get used to this, but obviously I didn't stop getting dressed - in fact I rather enjoy that I have to rethink my wardrobe for a new body shape.

So please stay tuned for more style and art, and I will try and not abandon my blog again for so long! :)

These great pictures were taken by Zsófi Raffay, when we were out for another photoshoot I styled for her - but more on that later!

Wearing: Thrifted dress and shrug, H&M Mama tights, Bershka outlet thigh-highs 

(very uncomfortable to wear them like that though! :), Doc Martens.

Styling Rozina

This gorgoeus lady is Rozina Pátkai, a jazz singer whose photoshoot I had the luck to style. It's always a great pleasure to work with Zsófi Raffay, a brilliant photographer indeed!

First of all, we met Rozina, who explained what sort of pictures she imagines and discussed the atmosphere and general style of the future shoot... She also sent us links to her band's music, which immediately started me thinking. It's wonderful to be part of a creative process which starts with music and ends with pictures. A few days later I was ready to visit her and wreak havoc in her wardrobe!








































I made some sketches about the type of dresses that would suit her shape (she has a great figure, as believe it or not she's also a fencing champion!) and work for the shoot - we both imagined something colourful, and not too elegant, but still put-together. A bit like how you dress for a date you're really looking forward to and you're very happy about! :)

After a long trying-on session, and looking through both Rozina and her Mum's wardrobe, plus my suitcase of accessories, we came up with one full outfit, featuring the yellow dress accented with spicy colours in the shape of flower pins and belts, and we also agreed on a dark blue dress as well, with red sandals.





















Let me tell you, it is the best feeling when the people whose styling you're working on follow your general guidelines and go shopping on their own, turning up with a few perfect pieces! That's exactly what Rozina did, and sent me the pictures of a few more dresses she picked up for the shoot - the green and red ones you can see below. I made sure I picked up accessories for these as well, and we were ready for the shoot, which took place in a wonderful retro café, Táskarádió.






















The shoot was great fun and I just love the pictures... At the moment this reclining one is my fave. :)
I hope Rozina can use them promoting her music! Here's the link to her blog where you can find all the links to their great bossa novas and jazz songs.
Oh, and do look around Zsófi's photos as well, they're absolutely worth a good look!











































Aaaaand, this is not the end of the story. A week or so later we also did a shoot for the whole band! More pictures to come! :) 

(Obviously no animals were harmed, this is just a fake butterfly. :)

In Green Hues by Zsófi Raffay

I'm blown away every time by Zsófi's photos, and I'm so lucky to work with her! We met up with a client of Zsófi's who would like a portrait shoot of herself, which I'm really looking forward to. She's such a sweet girl and styling her will surely be a pleasure!

We got there earlier and Zsófi snapped a few pictures of me with her newly aquired objective from an old camera.









































These fuzzy pictures are my favourite... I thought if we're doing something out of focus, it would look good if I twirled... And proceeded to do so for the next 6 minutes, which was rather exhilarting, but absolutely worth it! Aren't the pictures just dreamy?









































Here I am in all seriousness. I wanted to emulate the below photograph I found on Fortepan.hu, but forgot how the girl sat exactly...
































She also snapped a few pictures in a newly redecorated Art Deco style shopping centre from the early 20th century, which now has a huge antiques strore on the top floor. Such an atmospheric place with huge windows!

It's always a great experience to be on the other side of Zsófi's camera. If you ever feel like some brilliant pictures, look around on her facebook page, and do order a session with her! She works in Vienna and Italy too, apart from Hungary. Oh, and if you ask for styling, you'll meet me too! :)

Wearing: Invázió tee, F&F skirt (Tesco value, hehe), H&M belt, 

earrings bought at a design market and crafted onto a clip-on by me. 

I also wore green tights and a black pair of shoes you can't see. :)   

Photographic Time Travel 1910-1920

A fellow self-photographer a hundred years ago...

































A picture from around 1912 that would work just perfectly on most of the blogs I read in 2012. Let's just say I'd love to borrow the whole outfit.






































A radiant smile and a great belt!








































Looking at these pictures my first instict was to reach out to these girls, to connect, as I do every day when I leave comments on blogs. I felt them as close as I do my blogger friends. It was such an eerie feeling to remind myself that they are now frozen in time forever, and their youth and kindness that radiates from the pictures is not in this world anymore. 





















The 1910s was a turbulent decade in Hungary, the First World War rearranging and ending so many lives. I hope this soldier returned to this girl after the battles...


































And that this defiant nurse helped many of the wounded and was safe herself at the end of the decade. The mystery of these pictures is that we'll never know...



















Looking through Fortepan's collection from between 1910 and 1920, what you notice is that so many of the pictures that people kept and cherished and that eventually made their way to the world wide web a hundred years later, talk about happiness and joy, of friends, families and loves. I think we feel close to these pictures because in essence, nothing changed. These are the same things we keep close to our hearts.






















Look at these wonderful swimsuits! What a summer it must have been!

























And these girlfriends in a brilliantly lit café? I wonder what they talk about!

























I kept this one for last. I'm pretty sure these girls are wearing their boyfriends' suits, posing with their unlit cigarettes, and judging from the cheekyness of their smiles and the liquor on the table, the boys must be quite scantily dressed. :D 

In case you missed my first Photographic Time Travel post, all of these wonderful pictures are from 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... So go on and visit Fortepan and have a browse. You can also read more about their project here!

Sun in Medveja

Sometimes the sun came out and it was perfect! I even swam, about 5 minutes at a time though, as seawater 15 degrees Celsius is a bit difficult to get used to! :)






































Here's one tip for travelling: always take jewellery with you! For me the feeling of being able to pick and choose from a few necklaces in the morning makes all the difference - especially as I never take many clothes. I'm all for a light suitcase, as I don't drive, so being able to lift my luggage on and off trains and buses is quite important. :)





















By the way, I affectionately call this above piece the oxymoron necklace, as the bow should be textile and it's metal, and the chain should be metal and instead it's textile. So yeah, it's a solid bow with a soft chain, behold the oxymora!





















This gorgeous bay is Medveja, a few kilometres from Opatija. walking there among the pines heavy with the scent of summer and fig trees growing tiny little fruit was such a joy. A perfect day.

Wearing: Promod dress, Chinese shrug and leggings, Vagabond shoes, 

C&A necklace, clip-ons... can't remember.

A Stroll in the Angiolina Park

Most of the days I had the luck to spend by the Adriatic I just watched the sea, sitting on the rocky shore or wrapped up in blankets from the balcony... And went for long walks of course, on the Lungomare, a path that runs right by the sea.






































One of the things I fell for in the Opatija area is that it's seeped in history. It used to be the riviera of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, so there are plenty of gorgeous old buildings and signs of a multicultural history.





















I have to admit two of my favourite things to take pictures of are decay and cats.
Now, the Opatija Riviera has both, and in plenty!





























































There's also a gorgeous park, the Angiolina, which is actually an arboretum with interesting plants from all over the globe. This is where I walked to on one of my days away in my beloved chequered dress, which you can't see I bundled up so much.:)






































(I love how my camera decided to focus on the stones in the foreground.)


























































This statue is one of my favourites ever. It's of Isadora Duncan, the celebrated dancer, who wrote in her diary that the Opatija palm trees influenced her fluid dance moves...





















Oh, James Joyce was here too of course, maybe visiting when he lived in Pula or Trieste, or both... Any Joyceans out there? :)





















Here's a link to Opatija's website where you can read more about the history and places in rather amusing English, if you're interested!

Outfit 1 - 

Promod skirt, H&M  top, C&A clip on earrings, Calzedonia tights, Vagabond shoes.

Outfit 2 - 

thrifted dress and jacket, Calzedonia tights, scarf bought in an underpass, Doc Martens.