In the gypsy caravan...

So I'm back to the velvet underground

Back to the floor that I love...

To a room with some lace and paper flowers

Back to the gypsy that I was, to the gypsy that I was...

It is true... one of the great things about getting older, is gaining the confidence and freedom to dress how we want.  I've always said that I admire women who aren't afraid to express themselves through what they chose to wear. There is something redemptive and freeing in the act of not dressing for others.  But.... life is composed on limits, is it not?  There are limits to everything, and when it comes to age, I believe we ought to draw a pretty defined line on how we want to portray ourselves onto the world.  Right?  

Is this the fashion of the free-spirited affluent, 

or just street clowns? 

That amount of patterns blows my mind...  And is that a garbage bag on her head? And what's with the pinkish chunk of hair and huge glasses?... Nope!

Is 'that' a guy or a gal in the Medieval Viking attire?  

Are they members of a gypsy circus?  

Why some people crave that amount of attention over themselves it escapes my imagination.  Even worse when they're past a certain age.  Trying to dress in styles that would be more appropriate for someone much younger it's not even the point here.  It is the ridiculousness what baffles me.

I can be anything my heart tells me to be... I'll be Frida Kahlo today

I have always loved Frida Kahlo's free spirit.  Her style in clothes and hair spoke openly and freely of the woman she was.  She rejected fashion, and it didn't matter where she went—NY, London, Paris, she always wore the style that captured her deeply felt connection with her creative heart.  Her style told the story of how she made clothes part of her identity.  They were much more than the sum of their fabric.  Her brightly colored garments then, seemed impossibly bold even among Mexico's society.

Embroidered dresses, bright pink boots, cat’s eye sunglasses, I love them all.  Her clothes, the flowers in her hair and bold, beautiful jewels speak of a woman who dressed to please no one but herself.  how could you not fall in love with her?

Long long time ago I decided I can be anything my heart tells me to be...  

so today, I am Frida Kahlo...

(if only for an afternoon in my backyard ) ;)

I wish I could do whatever I liked behind the curtain of ‘madness’. Then: I’d arrange flowers, all day long, I’d paint; pain, love and tenderness, I would laugh as much as I feel like at the stupidity of others, and they would all say: Poor thing, she’s crazy! (Above all I would laugh at my own stupidity.) I would build my world which while I lived, would be in agreement with all the worlds. The day, or the hour, or the minute that I lived would be mine and everyone else’s – my madness would not be an escape from ‘reality’ – Frida Kahlo

I used to think I was the strangest person in the world, but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you – Frida Kahlo

To feel the anguish of waiting for the next moment and of taking part in the complex current (of affairs) not knowing that we are headed toward ourselves, through millions of stone beings – of bird beings – of star beings – of microbe beings – of fountain beings toward ourselves. – Frida Kahlo

I am my own muse, I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to know better. – Frida Kahlo 

Several years ago, The Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City finally opened Frida Kahlo’s closet and put it on view for the world to see.  Frida's clothes and personal things were put in storage by her husband Diego after her death, and hidden for 59 years.  Trunks filed with dresses, shawls, and accessories were finally opened, restored and put on display.  Can you imagine? The clothes of a style icon finally opened 59 years after her death? Inside were not only articles of her clothing but hundreds of personal items, including photographs, love letters, medications, jewelry and shoes. The curator, Circe Henestrosa, talks about how emotional it was for her staff to open up Kahlo’s closet to see the dresses, to smell them, and even to see all of the medicines she took. “You feel them, like the essence,” she says. As a lover of old things and another Frida admirer, I can only imagine how exciting and awe inspiring this must have been.

This video is worth seeing...

 

Do you love Frida's style?
Her paintings?
Do share!

Wantings

My soul is one part gypsy and three parts something else...

I love the following photograph here... 

I'm thinking I should try to replicate this look.  

I have the style,

have my boots

have my guitar

Carry with me,

my gypsy soul...

I'm totally head-over-heels 'bout this dress here.

I would wear it anywhere everywhere any time

I want some lace top socks like these to wear

with my boots and long flowy skirts...

...and I want this necklace...

it is to die for!

But most of all...

I just want...

Dreaming in winter time...

We are in the midst of summer, days are hot, and trees bend softy beneath the weight of fruits, and maybe... maybe it is because I've been away from our little white cottage for an entire week and I'm missing it, or maybe it is because of all of the above put together why I woke up today thinking of winter.  And I'm already envisioning those colorful days of autumn in my woods, the softest of evening lights in the garden, the crimsoned shades on now green boughs, and the warmth of a home that's cozy with the aromas of pumpkin spices, apples, cinnamon and clove.

For whatever inexplicable reason I've always felt that winter calls for colorful bohemians rooms, shawls with long fringes and mad hair.

The mad hair part of my winter feelings is something I wear on an everyday basis, regardless the season, and so are the shawls.  That's just who I am.  But the bohemian style rooms is something I must work on, if I really want to achieve that look, or style.  I am dreaming with this...

And this...

And I'm definitely getting a mosquito net canopy, and more fairy lights to decorate my bohemian room... 

I am obsessed with this bedroom's decor on the following photograph...
The more I look at it, the more I want to be there...

So I am dreaming, and planning what I want to do...
If you dream, don't forget to plan...
That's how you make your dreams come true...

I have a particularly special room where I usually go to when I'm yearning for a change.  The guess room.  Because this bedroom is empty for most of the entire year, except on special occasions, it is my most personal space and favorite room, where I let my imagination loose, and my hair down sorts of speak.  This room has a wonderful window overlooking the garden throughout every season.  So when my bohemian soul is just dying to flaunt itself, this bedroom is a great place to start.  It is now styled in Shabby Chic, but not for long.  Comes winter, and my bohemian soul will take over...

I definitely want a bohemian room to spend my winter days in...
Goodbye again, Shabby Chic!

I am usually not restricted by other people’s opinions. So there are no trends in my style, or decor.  The bohemian style is very much dependent on the individual.  It is witty, whimsical and highly reflective of the mind and lifestyle of the person who embraces it.  And I love it.  So I'll say, bring in whatever makes your bohemian soul happy, and have fun.  That's my motto. In the same way that there will never be another you, one thing is for sure: You will never see another bedroom quite like yours.

What's your favorite style in your home decorating?