B / W black n white
13 June 2021
Hello my handsome bumblebees,
the week has been a lovely mixture of seeing lovely people, doing lovely things in the sun (mostly lying around, drinking wine, having a chit chat and a deep laugh). And after that, finally a bit of relaxing. For once, I didn’t pre-plan my whole weekend and DAMN GUYS. I can’t stress enough how good this is doing to my soul. Right now I’m sitting on my balcony, tipping this text for you, sipping on a coffee and my relaxation level is 110%. So all in all – I’m doing pretty good. Can recommend.
Now to this weeks post! After all the hushed, golden hour-esque, gloomy content of the past weeks, I thought it was time for something a bit harsher, more contrasted. This, on the one hand, and that I love black and white photos since forever, on the other, led to the post you’re finding yourself at right now. Well and also the promo shoots of Juergen Teller for the new Yves Saint Laurent campaign. I saw these the other day while scrolling through the ‘gram and felt a quick sweep of inspiration. Now, the look is nowhere as high in quality as the YSL pieces must be – I mean, I like to pretend I can dress high-fashionesque, but your girl, unfortunately, doesn’t have the money for that (yet! ;-). But we can dress just as stylish, without spending a fortune on it.
This outfit is kind of the summery interpretation of the sunglasses-at-night-post. Where you could possibly ever wear this, you might ask yourself? I’d actually say to a lot of occasions! Dinner. At a Dinner-Party or Dinner at a restaurant. Business meeting with a blazer chuckled on top, minus the glasses. For a walk, if you want to feel extra cool strutting the streets. Get creative. The only person that is limiting themselves not wearing experimentive looks to any occasion is you – so go for it. You’ll get all the looks and all the admiration.
This Look has a few showstopping elements, that’s why it might look a bit intimidating first. We have the knee socks, which are, unfortunately, in day-to-day life still pretty uncommon. But they actually are so flattering, as they smooth out blemished skin. And unshaved legs, if you’re worried about that. Then we have the VERY PUFFED sleeves on the blouse. But they are pretty flattering, either. Especially if you’re a broad-shouldered girl like I am. Since they create a voluminous silhouette, everything that’s put in them seems automatically smaller. That translates too – puffy sleeves = small shoulders and neck. To enhance the elongation of the neck, even more, I decided to just tie my hair in the back and don’t do a special hairstyle, that would distract from the neckline.
Now besides the blouse and the knee socks, the look is styled with basics and a few, smart accessories. I decided to go minimal with the rest because we never want to go too over the top. The loyal reader of this blog knows that I don’t like anything less than looking tacky. So keep it simple, minimalistic, classic. Doing so, I decided on some smart shorts (it’s summer and I’m going for a healthy glow, not a healthy sweat, still). Since we show so much leg I went with loafers instead of a heel. Also, because the look is initially high-fashion inspired, and in my dreams, I’m pretending that those loafers are the Prada-ones you might’ve seen every here and there.
Now the only thing that’s left is accessorizing. Here I went for transparent, round sunglasses, to add up a bit on the cool-vibe, but also to protect my eyes from the sun. Friendly reminder to also protect your skin from the sun. D’YOU NEVER FORGET THE SPF, MY FRIENDS. Okay, back to the look. Besides the glasses, I added a golden watch, to smarten up the look and just some delicate earrings, that bring the eye back to the neck. For the bag, I went with my big shopper, because a small, black bag would’ve made the look too “serious”. I do think though, a small-er (not baguette-bag small, rather a bit boxy) bright, colourful bag, would fit the look just as good.
Tada, we’re done. Well, almost. I want to point out the contoured make-up, just as the hint of lipstick. Those two elements enhance the glamour factor. But now I’m really done.
Connecting back to the intro, this week's Yoko-Drip-Tip – take yourself one weekend a month where you plan nothing at all. If you’re not doing this already yet. Free time is such a pleasure! And when someone asks you to come over, you can just say, “hell yeah, I’m free. See you in an hour.” Instead of “let me take a look, uhmmmm there’s something free three months, two days from now. This gon be great!” because damn, this much freedom really is a gamechanger. Won’t work always, but every now and then it is really refreshing. So, enough motivational, self-concerned Yoko for this week. (I’m just trying to take care of our mental healths, ALRIGHT). Additional Yoko-Drip-Tip – visit your local second hand shop! I was doing so with a few girls last week and bought one single dream of a leather jacket. So much joy!
Now I see you next week pretty beb!
‘til then, XX Yoko.
