Thursday 14 March 2013

Shallow Yellow

Yes, it's shallow old me again, thinking of nothing but superficial stuff such as clothes and colours and how to mix and match the three new items I added to my wardrobe last week :-)

Those of you who have been readers of my blog for a while probably have heard it before: I love yellow. It has been my favourite colour ever since I was a little girl, and there are bits and pieces of yellow dotted all around my flat. The kettle in the kitchen is vanilla-yellow, my watering can for kitchen herbs is yellow, the towels in my bathroom are yellow, three of the four walls in my bedroom are vanilla, whereas there is as good as no yellow to be seen in my living room (different colour scheme altogether), and rarely in the Third Room.

But in my wardrobe, oh! There, you can find my favourite yellow dress, a vanilla skirt, several tops with yellow in them, my beloved yellow zip-up and, since last week, a daffodil-yellow striped blouse and yellow cardigan.

In fact, I bought two blouses, the one with the yellow stripes and the same model in grey. They are exactly the same as the ones I bought in preparation for my new job, and I am already looking forward to mixing and matching the many items I have now in my business wardrobe (just in case you haven't guessed it by now: I love dressing for different occasions, whether it is business or just cleaning the house, a party or going for a run. Must be all that Barbie-playing I did as a girl.)

Now I have talked so much about those new things; do you want to see them? Here you are:
 New cardigan and shirt, old trousers, socks, shoes and handbag.

 Again, new cardigan and shirt, old skirt, tights and shoes.

Assorted items from my wardrobe which I will use for the yellow-grey combinations I have in mind. Sadly, for most of them, it is still way too cold outside, but spring WILL be here eventually, I am sure of that - and I'll be ready :-)

(PS: I am one of those people who contribute to the market for cheap clothes thriving, with all the sad consequences this has for the poor people in Bangladesh and elsewhere who waste their lives away in the factories and sweat shops. The cardigan was 7 Euros from H&M, the shirts were 14,95 Euro each, also from H&M, as were the grey trousers and some of the items in the last picture. While I am not proud of that, I tend to shut it out, also knowing that all the big, expensive brands have their clothes made at the same factories and sweat shops as the cheap ones, only that they make a lot more money from them.)

28 comments:

  1. As always you look very chic and dressed 'just right' for the occasion.

    I see nothing shallow in being interested in your appearance. I would be far too embarrassed to tell you what my wardrobes contain but I have enough clothes in both countries never to have to transfer anything other than what I'm wearing when I travel and if I were ever to share my life with a partner again none of the wardrobes in my bedroom would have any room for her clothes!

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    1. Thanks, Graham!
      Speaking of wardrobe-space... when Steve was still alive, he had about 1/3 of my wardrobe plus a chest of drawers in his room for his clothes. Over the past 3 years and 4 months, I have gotten used to spreading my clothes out over the entire wardrobe, and the chest of drawers now contains bedsheets and other stuff that was squeezed closer together before.

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  2. Dear Meike, go right ahead and indulge your passion for clothes; why should anyone have the right to stop you enjoying yourself?

    Since I got old - and, more importantly - moved right to the end of the countryside, I have hardly any reason to buy new clothes. I have enough (expensive) going out clothes, lots of skirts and jackets, trousers and jackets to last me a lifetime. The rest of the time I wear trousers and jumpers or t shirts in summer, which need replacing every so often. Rubber boots for walking the dog come in very handy too.

    Perhaps I’ll have to look for a new spring outfit, just to cheer myself up. (by the way, I have always liked yellow too and wore it a lot, but I now have a much lighter hair colour and the yellow makes me look washed-out.)

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    1. Dear Friko, your approach is the same as mine - sensible! I often see lovely shoes and other items that I wouldn't mind adding to my wardrobe, but I know I would not be able to wear them for lack of occasion and/or because they would not be feasible for an entire day (shoes, mainly - I need to be able to WALK in them, and not just prettily sit in a car and behind at desk in them). My wellies have come in so handy many times this winter!

      Have you tried different yellows? Maybe with your lighter hair colour, a different shade suits you.

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  3. I love your outfits... Anyway we all have a passion, mine is books and clothes... Most of my clothes come from Ebay, charity shops & carboots. I love clothes and creating my own styles which are now lovingly known as Vintage... So if you didn't buy new clothes where would people like me get our second-hand clothes?
    I got into Charity shop shopping when I was a single mum with child and just can't get out of the habit of buying second-hand Oh, sorry, Vintage.. Its a posh name to make it ok to charge us higher prices for second-hand clothes. :-)

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    1. Paula, I love vintage clothes, too! There are a few dresses in my wardrobe that are older than I am, or more or less the same age.

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  4. Elegant, as always (sighs enviously...)

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    1. Thanks, Frances :-) I realized too late I forgot to mention that you "foresaw" this post even before I published it by mentioning me on your blog!

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  5. And yellow is precisely the right colour for spring. My office has a wall painted in (as far as I can see) those shades of yellow. Just a small wall, but the two shades. The rest of the walls are white. I matched the colours exactly to a daffodil I had at the time!

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    1. It so brightens up a room, doesn't it, Jenny! I remember when, in our old flat, we painted the bedroom a sunny yellow. A few days after we finished, I was in the living room and thought someone (= my husband) had left the light on in the bedroom, it looked so bright.

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  6. Meike,
    I love those colors together too. I just received a greyish overtop from the Swedish company, (gudren something) and it that folk look I like, but with lots of greys, blacks, yello/green and pale yellow. So right at any time of year. I am on the lookout for a vanilla/yellow tee so I can get some layering going!
    Also got some leggings which I laughed out loud when I openend them, they look SO tiny! Hope they stretch...)) Unlike yours they end at the ankle, love your shoes too, they are perfect for your ensemble. You know how to put things together!
    xx
    julie

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    1. Thank you, Julie!
      Your folk-look top sounds very pretty and cheerful, I can just imagine how well it suits you!

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  7. Very stylish Meike! Yellow is a cheerful color and perfect for cheering up at this time of year when it is not quite yet spring but we all are so impatient for it to arrive.

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    1. True, Janice! I wore the yellow cardigan yesterday over a grey woolly dress and felt comfortable, warm and cheerful at the same time.

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  8. Oh my, I really love that combination of light grey and yellow and then the dark grey and yellow on you! Clothes don't matter that much to me, I just like simple things but I almost always notice if a color suits someone or not. And that creamy yellow is just such a perfect color!
    You, shallow? Never!

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    1. It's my favourite combination for clothes (and many other things - I don't think I have mentioned that the house my flat is in has the facade painted vanilla with a dark grey foundation), but I also love shades of blue (sky-blue, duck-egg-blue, baby-blue, forget-me-not-blue) combined with yellow very much, just not quite so good for wearing them.

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  9. Those colors are wonderful any time of year. When the weather pulls your spirits down the sunny color of your clothes can raise them. And when it's spring and summer the cheerfulness echoes the world around you. You really wear clothes very well!

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    1. Thank you, Kristi!
      Yes, it's really an easy way to cheer oneself up.

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  10. I particularly love the sweater!

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  11. You know I put up my yellow kitchen curtains a few weeks ago... Outside though, winter persists! In my wardrobe there is nothing yellow except one silk scarf. Not really my colour. I did have one yellow period like thirty years ago... But my hair was darker back then.

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    1. Yes, Monica, your yellow kitchen curtains are beautiful, and so is the lemony tablecloth. I don't use tablecloths and have no curtains in my flat, but if I did, they'd certainly have some yellow in them!

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  12. That's so funny...you also put a post on color...we must have had ESP!:) It suits you. I'm more into BRIGHT colors, red is my favorite and the next favorite is fuchsia.

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    1. I've posted about colours and the effect they have on us several times over the past few years. I like fuchsia and red, too, but yellow is my all-time favourite :-)

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  13. Well, I'm not a huge fan of yellow, but I sure enjoyed seeing your finds. If only we would now get some spring outside so you get a chance to wear it... Personally, I'm a big fan of linen trousers, so you can imagine my impatience with our current climate!

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    1. You're right, linen trousers are certainly not feasible below certain temperatures!
      It is sunny outside today, but still cold at only 3 Celsius on this Saturday morning, and it was well below zero during the night.

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  14. Material is another way to include a spice to dull bedroom.
    Add a lightweight fabric, such as tulle, in a soft color.
    While duvets are down filled, comforters on the other hand are often filled with artificial fibers and/or cotton.

    my homepage - Luxura

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    1. Interesting contribution, if a little late - more than 4 years after the original post...

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