fashion blog

Hong Kong Ballet 40th Anniversary Season Brand Video from Design Army on Vimeo . I am away performing in Turku but meanwhile here is some brain candy and eye orgasm for your Sunday!

Or, that were today. Long time no smoothie! I have a bit of chaga at home of so I made an antioxidant-rich smoothie out of chilled chaga-tea, mango, some cherries and physalis. Admiring my super huge (1,81m) Mucha-poster that I ordered from the Mucha museum. I saw the original sized theatre posters there when performing in Prague earlier this year but couldn't get it then due to luggage restrictions. I ordered it on Wednesday in the afternoon and it arrived in less than 24 hours on Thursday morning! I will glue it to a board and then hang it in our living room. And then on with a lurex dress and out to listen to music! Went to the Russian centre of culture for a mesmerizing concert of Altai' music with Alexey Chichakov . (He is playing in Heinävesi Sat 13. and Tampere Sun 14., go listen if you have the chance!) And oh! Next week season 2 of Vintage-Valtakunta starts . Tuesday 16th at 20, Yle 1! Finland only I'm afraid.

The crowd-funded Atelieri O.Haapala book is finally here and it is so beautiful I almost want to cry! The bi-lingual book -the texts are both in Finnish and English- features the studio's portraits and distinctive style of photography from the last decade (the studio/project was active 2008-2016 and produced more than 7000 portraits),  taking you on a journey trough an imaginary past: Performers, artists, family portraits, guests at events who photographed themselves in the popup photo booth, as well as some of the studio's own project series and adventure scenarios... ...not to forget a few of Saara and Marcos, the photographers', most iconic theme-looks! But apart from being a book with hundreds of beautiful creative images to aesthetically enjoy, this work functions as quite the emotional nostalgia pack for me, being filled with amazing people, dear friends, and oh-so many memories. The Atelieri O.Haapala book is a superb coffee table book and will most definitely make ...

Photo: Neil Kendall It will be a full moon tonight and if the sky is clear I know I will most likely be woken up by it, as it stares straight into my window around 3am with a light strong enough to penetrate my sleep. But I still don't want to close the curtains because there is just something about being woken up by a bright full moon, so I most often tend to stare back at it for a while and ponder the universe. So in honour of that I'll post a picture from a photo series inspired by Méliès 1902 film  La Voyage Dans La Lune – taken   at the end of this summer, when I had the chance to shoot with amazing vintage style photographer Neil Kendall in Chester and I got to be the first one to try out his new moon set! Not to be shared without proper credits.

Hello! Even though it may not always seem like it, I am still here!  At least for the joy of all of those marketing SEO- and escort services, who I know from the comments are the ones that for sure still visit ("visit") my blog. But this is however a quick one, because now I am off to Italy to enjoy myself! But I did manage to schedule a couple of small posts so the spambots have something to dig in to. Happy midsummer! (...and for all the Finns, the greeting you have to add to this holiday: take it easy and be safe!) Vintage travel poster by from ze interwebs - the artist  is Mario Puppo, who did a lot of travel posters in the mid 1900s.

Today I am traveling to Strasbourg to perform at a festival (at Elsass Rock & Jive) in warm and sunny weather! So, logically I thought I’d look back some six months ago to to a very different kind of season, festival and ambience - Paola Suhonen’s SuperWood Festival. The very first Superwood took place late last October just east of the Helsinki city centre in a now hotel, then 1960’s bank conference building; Hotel Rantapuisto. In all it’s 60’s design glory is a prefect base for the event, which, as one would expect when created by Paola Suhonen / Ivana Helsinki, mixes music, art, design and Finnish nature. It’s a rather grown up festival, in a good way, with nice dining and movie screenings - forget muddy fields and tents, and enjoy lounge bar concerts with a living room feeling design hotel rooms - with a twist of spooky woodland vibe: (Photo credits at the end of the post) I only attended the first night but immediately regretted not booking the whole weekend. I managed to ...

Anyone who has rad my blog troughout the years would by this point be familiar with Atelieri O.Haapala ,  the neo-victorian portrait studio by Saara Salmi and Marco Melander! The project went on for a decade, and there were many amazing themes, backdrops and set ups, with thousands of beautiful pictures as a result. I've had the pleasure to have my photo taken several time during the years, both in studio but mainly at the pop-up events. And now they are aiming to make a beautiful and elaborate book out of it! You can pre-order the book by supporting Atelieri's Indiegogo campaign , or support the book with smaller printed perks. And please do! You will love it - and I definitely want my copy too - so lets make this happen! You can find most of Atelieri O.Haapalas photos in their  Facebook albums . Oh, and the image you see being edited at one spot in the film? This is the final version; from Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2017. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/atelieri-o-haapal...

Altough in general I was always more of a CMYK person. I've been organising, kind of, as in trying to, which rather means: looking at and going trough things at home that have been packed in boxes; drawings and sketches and paintings from my art school years. And then I thought about those years. And then I watched this and thought about art school some more. I like the red one best.

Last Sunday we turned our studio into interstellar space -or intergalactic if you so like- they way it would look if an, umm, elementary school or some kind of vaudevillian basement theatre put up a play about space. We really wanted it to look adorably crappy on one hand with our small self made planets and things hanging by the help of string and clothes pins but on the other hand still keep it on the right side of being deliberately camp (the way we like it) as well as to function as the optional drawing detail or background inspiration. The navigators of the ship with the brave cosmonaut. (Our space aesthethics always tend to be rather b-movie retrotastic.) So as you know from what I've written before, Dr.Sketchy's is a worldwide concept of  "alternative" live model drawing. There have been  Dr.Sketchy events in Finland for a decade now , and last autumn Tinker Bell and I revived the Helsinki branch. We make sure our Sketchy-playlists suit the themes as well and ...

It's time for the next Dr.Sketchy's Helsinki! This time we create you a little mini cosmos over at our studio, where the drawing takes place. Dr.Sketchy's is an "anti-art school", a so called 'cabaret drawing'- event, where attendants can draw and paint croquis with a little different setting than the one you might be used to from art school. Usually with a specific theme, styled and set up according to that, and with great music. Photos by Asko Rantanen, whose alter ego Johnny Moth also will serve as our model. The space shuttle will be navigated by Tinker Bell and yours truly. So,  Sunday 23rd from 4pm onwards . Bring pencils papers and cash and see you at Shangri-La!

Pretty much two of my favourite things! (Well you know, depending on what level of life and living you are referring to.) I find these images of snacks matching the outfits; a series named Wardrobe Snacks  by Kelsey Mc Kellan with stylist Michelle Maguire, strangely soothing for the eye and mind, partly in the sense that they somehow are very reminiscent of my childhood. Must be the hues and the polyester, early 80's. That. And the snacks. I mean is there anything more 80's than that cardboard like waffle cone?  Those (and they are still around) were the only ice cream waffles back in the days. And that shade of ice cream - pear ice cream. An instant childhood boost for me. You might have heard this story before, but we were in Heikintori in Tapiola with my mother and now late grandmother and it was warm and sunny and I got a pear ice cream and then my 9-month pregnant mother's water broke and we had to rush away and I did not get to finish that ice cream. Or so my almost...

Some time ago I watched the film Sayat-Nova / The Colour of Pomegranates. It is a1968 Soviet film written and directed by Sergei Parajanov that tells the story bout Sayat Nova, the Armenian 18th century poet and musician. It describes his life symbolically and poetically via his works, often with an allegoric meaning, rather than presenting the events told in a form that we are used to. This did not result in a very amicable reception from Soviet officials the time; the name of the film was changed from  Sayat-Nova  to  The Colour of Pomegranates  the most religious iconography were edited away, and the international release was not until years later. (Plus, Parajanov was persona non grata because of his films for a long time and was also imprisoned in the 70's.) But the internet can tell you all that in better detail. The Colour of Pomegranates is different from and not directly comparable to any other film I've seen - I got into watching if after reading a film rev...