Aiming higher

Sometimes, miracles do happen. Sometimes things accidentally go the way you wanted. It doesn’t happen often at all, but exceptions exist! A few weeks ago, I found the exact right shoes. I had a specific sort in mind, and I found shoes so close to them that I could barely believe it. Thankfully, my cool mother told me to just buy them, because she knew I really wanted them. That made me so happy, so very happy that I knew I would regret not buying them.

So, I bought them. And I’m still in love with them – because I can really love objects such as shoes and bags. This means I will use them as much as possible, so no fear, I don’t just put them somewhere to look at them.

The thing with these shoes is that they have heels.

Laarsjes met imitatiebont van s.Oliver

Here they are! It’s fake fur. S. Oliver. Via this site

I’m a quite tall girl, 12 cm taller than the average Belgian woman according to this site. In my hometown, I don’t feel extraordinary tall, but in my university town, I often feel as if I can overlook everything. I don’t want this to keep me from wearing heels though, so I just continue lengthening myself. You see, there is something about heels that just appeals to me. They make me feel elegant. They make me feel strong. Even a bit intimidating sometimes, because after all they make me even taller than the average Belgian man. There is nothing wrong with having some effect, right?

A lot of women know how the attraction of heels feels like. Though they’re often not the most comfortable shoes, you still want to wear them for the good feeling they give you. And hey, I’m a dancer, I stand on top of my toes for fun – wearing heels isn’t even that strange for us. It’s even more than that. We have this teacher, a young woman, who nearly always wears heels and walks around in them like it’s a piece of cake. I admire that. For real. I’m not sure why, I mean, it’s okay to wear whatever shoes you want, but I always admire those who wear heels as if they are the comfiest shoes ever. Maybe because I believe that you shouldn’t only care about what is comfortable. Of course, comfortable shoes and clothes are nice, but that should never rule out the look they have. I hate it when people give up on elegance and just go for the ‘oh they are so comfy’.

But where do heels come from? Who came up with the idea of lifting the heel? According to the Wikipedia site on this matter, the first ones to wear heels were Persian horse riders, who used shoes with heels to not slip of the stirrups. Since then something happened and then everyone started wearing heels – men included. Apparently, European royalty started wearing them in the 16th century to look taller or larger-than-life. Wikipedia adds that nowadays, women probably wear heels as a sexual prop.

I’m not sure about that though. I’m more likely to scare away the guys because of my length when wearing heels.

Wikipedia also gives a nice list of pro’s and cons – in which the cons are all about the damage they do, and the pro’s circle around the aesthetics. One of the pro’s is that they make your arch more defined, and as a dancer, I do admire a good arch as well. The other thing about heels my inner dancer adores, is the fact that your line isn’t broken. When your foot is flat, the line of your body suddenly gets broken by your foot with a 90° angle. But when you lift your heel, your line doesn’t get broken, it goes on with some deviation. Much more elegant, my inner dancer says.

We all know that wearing heels every day is not healthy and will hurt, but it has to be said that they give you this feeling of elegance and strength and that is worth something as well. I don’t feel the need to be taller, but I can imagine that being interesting for some girls as well. As longs as you don’t aim too high, it can even be more comfortable than a really flat shoe, like ballerina’s. Though Wikipedia has this last piece of wisdom for you:

“Extremely high-heeled shoes, such as those higher than 5 inches (13 cm), are normally worn only for aesthetic reasons and are not considered practical.”

Who could have guessed.

So, what do you think of high heels? Do you like wearing them? Do you like seeing them? Or are you against the high aim?

That’s Too Bag

As a woman, I don’t understand how men survive without bags. This might have something to do with the size of ladies’ wallets and pockets. I have a giant wallet and yet that is not because of all the money in it (unfortunately). Next to that I know own a smart phone – almost the smallest you can find, but still too big for the pockets in my jeans and other trousers.

Long story short: I carry bags with me wherever I go. And I’m okay with that. It means I can carry tissues with me, and lip balm, and sun glasses, when the sun shines. A bottle of water, some food, a book. A vest. You know – stuff. Wherever I go, I need stuff. And hence, a bag.

I like bags though. I like seeing beautiful bags in a shop, or hanging from my arm. Not that I own many, because a good bag is expensive, but still. I have one little black bag which my mother had bought when she was my age more or less. I’m still using it often – so very useful. Next to that I have a few other bags, but truth be told: they suffer. They suffer because I use them to stuff things in. The bag I used to take with me to class (and to cafes) has died. So recently I bought another bag to sill have one for school.

Say hello to my new love, the Cowboy Bag. It’s pretty giant, but that’s okay, since I will use it as hand luggage on planes too. You can stuff it, it all fits. It’s my new partner in crime when I go out for the day too. When buying this, I imagined myself traveling around with this bag, sitting in trains and airports and going to class with my bottle of water (1,5l).

Sometimes it feels like  a bag is more than a means of transport. Sometimes it feels as if it’s a partner in crime, a mate who accompanies you everywhere. A reliable one. So yes, I can kind of fall in love with them, and get all enthusiastic about the topic.

Do you like bags? Do you carry them around and love them? And if you’re a man: how do you manage without them?

On exams

I’m in the middle of my exams and right now there’s a discussion going in my sweet little country on this very topic. There are people who want to get rid of exams in high school.They say it is better if there is a constant evaluation throughout the year.

It certainly makes for an interesting discussion. Currently I’m studying for my university exams, which are different from the high school ones, of course. We get a few days (or at least one…) to study for every final. In the first years of high school, we had three exam periods. You could have either one or two subjects each day. The last two years we only had two exam periods. You could still have one or two subjects on one day. Let me tell you though that two on one day is pretty hard.

Fast forward to university: the amounts are huge, the stakes are higher. Failing an exam means you have to retake during the summer. The pressure is on, while in high school, you were so very likely to succeed.

I do think that these kind of exams need practice. If you’ve never had exams in high school, it will be a big shock to suddenly have to get through such a giant amount of knowledge. Suddenly you have to sit in front of a professor and answer questions and it’s goddamn important. This needs some habituation, some practice in order to build up the stamina for it. Exams are tiring and demand a lot of you. But I’ve been working on this stamina since I was 12. If you take that away from people, they are probably more likely to fail in college. At least, that is what I think.

Now, speaking of exams, I’ve got almost only oral exams nowadays. That’s a challenge, because there is a big difference in failing on paper or failing in front of a professor. But on the other hand I like to dress up for it. Suddenly you see guys in suits walking on the streets. That is nice! I too dress differently, because I see it as an important thing to look better than usually. Somewhat more chique. I wear heels and necklaces and try to pick clothes that you don’t wear everyday just like that.

I would not take the risk!

I would not take the risk!

There is a girl in my class though who is a very good student, but she comes to oral exams in shorts. Of course, since we are with about 20 people in our class, the teachers know us quite well. Still I don’t quite understand how she could dress so… regular and summer-like. It was a very warm day, yes, but to come to an exam in shorts? Dressing up in a chique way is also a way to show respect I believe. And a way to show you know how to dress according to the situation. My dad once told me that on an important meeting at work, the men in suits would get a handshake, while they may have been less important than some others.

The way you dress can make people look differently at you. In some way we all respect men in suits just a little more than a guy in a regular sweater. This impression you make can be important. If you go to an interview, you want to make sure that you look like someone who is capable of doing the job. Well, I guess it’s quite the same when doing exams. I want to show that I am aware of the importance of the exam, as well as the fact that I’m very capable of doing it well.

This is sometimes a lie.

But you get the point. When I look decently, the professor might just have a subconscious respect for me and my knowledge and it might just show a little in my grades…

What do you think, should exams be banned in high school? And is picking the right clothes important for exams, interviews and so on?

Life Choice # 8: Trousers or Skirts?

Now this is important. This is something I’ve been struggling with. What you wear, defines you, so you have to be sure you wear the right thing. That’s most obvious.
No, really, it’s not that dramatic, but it’s an interesting question. For years and years I wore barely any skirt or dress, I was all jeans, because it was so easy. I had to spend almost an hour on a bike every day, through rain and snow and sun, and in that case jeans are just the most comfortable solution. There was even a year I didn’t wear a skirt for about seven months. For a girly girl, that’s not so typical, is it…? I mean, I’m not all pink and flowers, but I’m certainly not a skater girl or a sporty one. I have never been that way either. You’d expect me to wear heels and skirts.
But I like comfortable clothes, so I wore trousers. I still like trousers. There are so many cool ones in the world… Like, everywhere you look!

I have similar ones, and seriously, I was the first one to wear these. Call me hipster, but it's true. Source.

I have similar ones, and seriously, I was the first one to wear these. Call me hipster, but it’s true.
Source.

I know I recently ranted against them, but actually that was above all because of one awesome and cool pair that is just not quite long enough for my endless legs (ahem). I still like my skinny jeans and the leggings-with-zippers-so-trousers, the inevitable black trousers, and the fake leather ones though they aren’t quite long…

But I’ve also come to love skirts and dresses a whole lot. I mean, I’ve always liked them, but barely wore them. Now the tide is turning. I spend less time on a bike. At least, it’s divided into more parts, so I don’t spend much time at once outside. I can be sure I won’t freeze to death – always important to know!
And now I’m a big, big fan of skirts and dresses. It’s hard to find good ones as well. Try being as tall as I am. Finding a skirt that’s long enough is like finding a treasure really…! I hope people realise I’m not voluntarily slut like dressed. There isn’t really a choice…

One thing that makes me love skirts so much, are nylon stockings. There are many cool trousers, but there are at least as much cool nylon stockings! Sometimes I just want to buy more skirts in order to wear those awesome nylon stockings. I kid you not. Recently a friend of mine came over wearing the most awesome stockings, and I kept telling her they were so cool, until she granted me permission to buy them as well. Yay! Thank you, friend. You rock. (And so do the nylons, which by now have been bought by me as well of course).

These are the nylons I'm talking of. Of course we don't wear them like this... But they fit with many different styles. Source.

These are the nylons I’m talking of. Of course we don’t wear them like this… But they fit with many different styles.
Source.

So now I’m balancing on the edge of trousers and skirts.
But what do you prefer? And why? Which ones do you consider the most comfortable for everyday use? And for the men: do you like kilts? Please be honest ;).

How to hate pants

There was a certain year in my life I suddenly realised that it had been eight months since I last wore a skirt. I’ve always been the girl you imagine in heels rather than sneakers, the girl who cares about clothes, the vain one, but a skirt? Barely. That had a lot to do with my fear of being cold and with the fact that I had to drive my bike to school every day. Believe me when I say you prefer pants when driving a bike.
Though that’s not longer true… Alas! Today, I’m a tall and slender girl, 1m80, size small (waist at least), whatever size that is in Amerika. The point is that clothes aren’t made for people who are tall and slender. Somehow you’re supposed to be fat when you’re tall, and skinny when you’re small. The point is that this is not always true, and that’s why I end up not buying a lot of clothes because when the size is right, they are too short. Especially now the fashion’s all ‘short and wide’ my life is ruined. ‘Short’ means extremely short for me, and sorry, but I don’t want the entire world to see my belly button. Besides, that’s freak ass cold!

Are you kidding me? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

Unfortunately the same thing happens to pants. One golden rule if you buy pants: make sure they feel tight at the waist when you buy them! They always expand. I hate it when they do, because I don’t like wearing belts. But when you try to find pants that seem to fit, they are always, always too short. Try to ride a bike without looking fucking ridiculous because your pants disobey gravity and end up exposing your ankles…. It’s very well possible that no one gives a shit, but I can feel it and it pisses me off a whole lot.

‘If pants are no longer good’, you’d say, ‘then wear skirts.’ But guess what… All skirts are short as well! And as ever, ‘short’ means ridiculously short for me. Sometimes people tell me I look like a model (which isn’t true, I think) and they’re jealous of me. Well, they should try to find decent clothes with my height.

Voluntarily exposed ankles. Wtf.

Okay, this is all a bit dramatic.  Being tall has its advantages, but also some disadvantages, one of which is the impossibility to find well fitting clothes. At this moment I’m wearing total badass leatherlook pants, but they are too short when I’m on my bike and this pisses me off so goddamn much that I could have knocked over anyone who would have dared to say something to me. Of course I’m opposed to violence and only hit my chair, to which I almost apologised again.
My point is that I start to hate pants, and skirts, and clothes in general, for not being fit for my height. So dear shops and designers and whatever, just start making clothes for all those people who are tall and slender because they exist for god’s sake, they are alive and want good jeans!!

PS: One tip – don’t look for ‘naked ankles forbidden’ on the Internet. I tried to find an image about how it used to be forbidden to show your ankles. That’s not what you find though. Not at all…

Another rainy day

Rain.
Everything is rain.
There is no point in realising it’s spring, because everything is dark anyway.
And life slowly ends.
Our cafe is closed because the people who run it should be studying.
Everytime I walk past our very own closed cafe, I think of how depressing it looks.
Just chairs on tables and darkness.
No people.
And the puddles.
The lack of sun.
The cold.
It’s so cold.

It’s winter.

There aren’t many ways to survive this endless winter, but if I may suggest something, go watch The Great Gatsby. It’s a wonderful movie. Those parties look awesome, the clothes are fantastic, and that entire world is intruiging. I didn’t know the story in advance, but it was easy to follow. The looks on teh faces of the characters is sometimes enough. Powerful. Great.

Meanwhile, we will all have to try to survive this. Let’s support each other in these hard times, that aren’t elegant and vivacious as in The Great Gatsby. I’d seriously like to be at one of those parties, just drinking and making fun and looking fabulous. Life should be that careless.

 

Trendsetting

It was a rather boring and meaningless Wednesday when I got my helix. Just another day. Just because I wanted something to happen, perhaps. Because I wanted the doubts to disappear. I no longer have anything to doubt about, because I’ve got my helix and there’s no turning back. And I like it. It’s something that has become a part of me as soon as I stopped freaking over the fact there would be a hole in my ear forever and fucking ever.
But after that freaking, I got used to it, attached to it. It’s always there, whatever I do, and I like it. No regrets at all.

When I returned home the weekend after I got that new love of mine, I discovered my mother still lived though I got my fourth earring now, and that she had bought a Vogue Netherlands. As I’m quite fond of magazines, I started reading and browsing through it. Suddenly, I bumped into an article on how piercings are very hot right now. Apparently, I read with great pleasure, Chanel introduced the ‘chique piercing’. That means you are allowed to have piercings, but they have to be pearls or diamonds. According to the fashion world, that is. I almost ran up to my mother to show it, such coincidence! Or perhaps it’s no coincidence?

I didn’t know anything about this trend though. I didn’t get my ear pierced because I wanted to be ‘en vogue’ – mostly, I turn away from the mainstream. It’s just another proof of the fact that I’m quite a trendsetter.

“Piercings”

I did this before, you know. When I was 13, I stumbled upon a pair of shoes, like these:

I was in serious doubt then, to end up buying them anyways, because they were very cool, obvs. Not even a year after this happened, polka dot became an absolute hype. You would see everyone wearing it. Such coincidence… Not. I mean, I was obviously the hipster here, liking polka dot before it was cool…

The same happened with my leather vest. I needed one, I seriously just needed one to survive, and I knew exactly what it had to look like. After searching a long, long time, and running from the beginning of a street to the end again, I finally found the vest of my dreams. By now, you can’t leave a shop without having seen at least six different leather vests. In every colour, long, short, everything you could imagine and much more.

Copycats.

My point is, if I want or buy something, it’ll probably end up being a trend. So definitely watch me, people. I’m foreseeing all the trends.

Which trends did you foresee? What suddenly became fashion after you had finally bought it? Or are you always following trends instead of ‘causing’ them?

Small note: please do not follow this advice. I want to be unique, and wasn’t really pleased with these things becoming trends after all. And no, I’m not a hipster, okay? Okay. This is just to be sure. Small case of lack of self-esteem. That is.

Inexplicable loves

1. Tartan shirts

A few days ago, I was at a party with a guy I had seen once before. He wore a tartan shirt, so I said: “Nice shirt!” He laughed and said: “Thanks – you also said that the first time we met.” “Was it a tartan shirt?” I asked. And have a guess, it was… I can spot them from miles away, and if you’re wearing one, you’ll get complimented by me. That’s for sure. I don’t know why I love tartan so much. That’s what makes it an inexplicable love… I could probably have a wardrobe filled with either black clothes or tartan. In all possible colours (red on top though).

I see you’re wearing tartan. Your personality is irrelevant.

2. Leather jackets

When entering a shop, I always immediately run to the leather jackets when present. I’ve got one (fake leather, that is), and it’s my greatest love. One of my best friends even told me she saw me with that jacket the first time we met, and she immediately liked it. Greatest moment of my life. (More or less.) They are so very cool, they fit with everything, they are sort of badass without being too manly and so on. I’ve got mine for two years now, or something like that, and it’s still a pleasure to wear it. It makes my bike feel like a motor cycle. Aww yeah!

Instant coolness.

3. Violins.

If a song contains violins, there’s hardly any chance I will not like it. It’s one of the most beautiful instruments I can think of, and I’d love to play it, if I could. Obviously I can’t, and my life is filled with too many other things to take lessons. But that’s okay. I’ll just enjoy it in songs and stuff.

4. Earrings

Jewels in general make me drool, but earrings are even worse. That’s why I got myself four places to put one, I guess… You can feel rings too hard, when I wear one I never wear, I feel it for days even when not wearing it. Necklaces can ruin a beautiful T-shirt, or they are disturbing, hanging there. The same for bracelets. But earrings, you have so many earrings and they don’t even have to be expensive, and there’s no reason for them to break, and they can really add something and- oh well, you get my point. I’m very happy I finally had the guts to get my helix… It’s already a part of me. Very fancy.

I couldn’t choose one image, so I give you this awesome duckling instead.

5. The 80s guitar sound

It’s no secret I like 80s music, but there’s also a lot of contemporary music I like starring an 80s guitar. I only realized this when my parents were like ‘sounds very 80s!’. Guitars are ever awesome, but 80s guitars rule them all. I simply can’t resist them… Here are some examples of songs I liked without realizing they sound pretty 80s like: Elephants – Warpaint, R U Mine? – Arctic Monkeys, Shewolf – Intergalactic Lovers. They’ve all been showed here already.

What are your inexplicable loves?

Fiction females

Fiction is filled with many interesting female characters. Most of them are pretty superficial and boring, actually, but some of them are worth taking a look at. Especially since I saw Inception. I present you: two impressive female characters of two movies.

The first is Mal from Inception. I can’t get that movie out of my head, which is a good sign I believe. In an attempt to not spoil anything: Mal is not the kind of woman who seems very nice. But she only appears in dreams, and apparently she was a very nice woman in real life. The actress is Marion Cotillard, and she does a great job. One look of her could kill you… She is so pretty and yet so threatening. I like that a lot. The first time Ariadne enters Cobb’s dream world and she takes the elevator down, and Mal looks at her, out of the blue… It was just a look, but I was terrified. Unfortunately I couldn’t find that scene, but this was one is equally scary.
Small note: everyone seems to be arguing because of the ending of this movie. Was it a dream? Was it real? I hope it is real, like everyone else I guess. But perhaps there isn’t one possibility for the end. Perhaps even Nolan doesn’t know it. I think it’s possible they didn’t want to choose one way, so why arguing?

How could you understand?
Do you know what it is to be a lover?
Half of a whole? Hmm?
I’ll tell you a riddle.
You’re waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away.
You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don’t know for sure.
But it doesn’t matter.
How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

The second woman is almost as freaky as Mal. I know Snow White and the Huntsman doesn’t really sound like a movie for grown-ups, but hey, it was pretty good. I didn’t really like Kristen Stewart as Snow White, but that was more because of me imagining Snow White differently than because of everyone hating on her. She was sad enough for Bella I believe. I have seen but two movies of Twilight though, I’m just not going to judge.
But it’s not her I want to talk about. It’s Charlize Theron. She was Ravenna, the evil queen with the most fabulous clothes. Seriously, her wardrobe is awesome! And her jewelry as well. Classic, but with an edgy twist. Me like that. A sort of punk princess avant la lettre. She was really scary as well, but also very mental. I liked the way Charlize made her seem so vulnerable. She isn’t just a mean woman, she’s also a girl who was hurt too much, who’s afraid of growing old. The moment when she’s talking to the mirror man, and her brother sees her talking to no one, to air, is so powerful. unfortunately I couldn’t find these scene either… The gods were against me or something. But I got you the trailer.

Lips red as blood
Hair black as night
Bring me your heart
My dear, dear Snow White…

Evil as hell, but fabulous anyway!

The Edita Edition

Sometimes, when sitting in a bus or when working, you see someone passing by with a face that reminds you of someone else. Like, really hard. You wonder if they’re family or something. Perhaps some people just share some facial characteristics. Possibly. Other times, you talk to someone and find out that they are very similar to you – but in another way. You discover that you both like the same stuff. When this happens, I’m always a bit stunned. Isn’t it weird how some people seem to have so much in common with you – though they live somewhere else?

For me, one of those people is Edita. Of course it’s a bit swanky to compare yourself to such a beautiful and nice girl :). But still, Edita and I have quite a lot in common. She’s a Lithuanian beauty who currently lives in London. (Obviously, that’s not what we’ve got in common!) Next to that, I found out she’s fluent in Russian and Polish – the languages I’m learning right now… Coincidence? I think not. She might look innocent and sweet, but don’t be fooled: she’s one of the people who understands my Kalashnikov jokes. And that is a bonus for sure. People compare her to a black widow. Don’t be fooled by her looks…

Because her looks can easily fool you. She hasn’t got one face, but much like a diamond (cornycornycorny) she’s got a lot of facets. One day she’ll be sporty, the next day she’ll be incredibly elegant. Whenever she post pictures of herself she surprises me – how many more sides of yourself can you reveal, Edita? Is there no limit to your ‘renewal’? It’s incredible.

This post is a sort of prize, in fact, but I actually wanted to this anyway. There are many bloggers who deserve a post about them, but not many of them are like Edita. Not many people combine beauty and brains and humour like that. Pret A Reporter isn’t just a fashion blog and Edita is no fashion victim. If that was true, I wouldn’t be writing a post about her.

Fashion can be fun, but just like me (time for some self-confidence, right? 😉 ) she doesn’t just follow the fashion rules. No, Edita rules fashion. In a very amusing way. With every post, she creates a new world, with its very own light, clothes and everything. Props to the photographer as well!

I’d love to go to London and have a chat with the bloggers who live there – and she’s on my list as well!

PS: sorry for me being so corny. I always become corny when talking about her – perhaps because we’re more or less friends…?

PPs: all pictures are stolen from her site, and are her ownership!!