three finds

this spring has been really lucky for me when it comes to fleamarkets and thrifting opportunities. maybe it's because i became more interested in actually researching the when and where and what i'd like to spend on which kinds of items, which led to reading more blogs about vintage furniture and interior design and things like this. which in turn led to me being more informed and more specific about what i want and what i am willing to pay.



i found an old beat up trumpet perfect for decorating the living room - for 100kr it was mine and i think that was a fair price.



in norway, traditionally most fleamarkets take place in schools and are organized by the school band. everyone can donate old stuff and on one weekend in spring and one in autumn you can come back and buy everything for random prices (at least they seem random and depend largely on when you buy and with whom you pay - some parents really don't have a clue and others know very well the worth of the items they are selling). the trumpet above was reasonably priced, but the man selling it to me could have just as well said 50 or 500kr - you just never know before asking.










fee was very happy about finding her pretty yellow olympia typewriter for 4eur at the fleamarket - i think my dove blue brother de luxe for 50kr is just as perfect. i guess it comes from the 1950s, and since it is norwegian it has all the fancy strange letters, but no exclamation mark!





last but not least, i found a really cool lamp to use as a reading light in the evening. those fleamarkets are very well organized, so i could try it out to see how it works before i bought it. isn't the colour brilliant?

these were three of my of my larger finds this spring, and i think they fit just fine into our new apartment...

fjällräven - a green mountain fox

i'm not usually a person wearing a backpack. i have a large one for travelling, but other than that i'm quite happy with my regular handbags. however, i make one exception, and i've talked about getting one of those particular pieces of swedish design-history for more than a year now. the fjällräven kånken.



shotgun-jenna asked, on behalf of online-shop weare, if anyone was interested in reviewing the fjällräven kånken and i jumped at this chance to get one for free. so i gladly say thank you very much, and tell you all that, if you live in austria or my homecountry germany, you can order your very own kånken backpack here (if you live anywhere else, you can do a quick search on the internets to find any alternative sellers for your country). i'll do a wild guess and say that weare probably has the most diverse collection of colours available, at least it seems like it.



i was allowed to pick one of six colours, which wasn't an easy task (especially since my absolute favourites, ox red and brick, were not amongst them) - bright yellow or traditional military green? in the end i picked moss, a light apple green which is probably one of the few colours i don't have in my wardrobe. it will make for interesting outfits, and it surely is another case of instant spring!



the fjällräven kånken really is perfect for such everyday activities as picknicks and thrifting tours - which i have already tested meticulously on an extensive thrifting weekend. you can easily fit a bottle of something, some sandwiches, two glasses and some fruit and a camera in the main compartment. alternatively a couple of books, vintage skirts and a flower pot. the design is classic outdoorsy, with it's boxy form and the round red fox logo on the front. also, very smart, the back padding doubles as a small mat to sit on when you're out and about in the woods and need a little spontanious rest. actually, the only thing i'm missing with this backpack is shoulder padding. i have seen other kånkens with padded shoulder straps, so i'm not sure why this model doesn't feature them.

anyhow. i'm very happy with my kånken and will use it extensively this coming summer. and who knows, i might just go along and get a second one. in some shade of red and with shoulder padding.

from iceland

i've done a lot of travelling lately, first to germany to visit some friends, then to sofia in bulgaria, and last week we went on a trip to iceland for five days, to celebrate the birthday of my favourite person in the world. iceland was wonderful. cold, stylish and kind of unreal. magic.

if anybody would ask me now which city i would prefer for a short shopping trip, the answer would definitely be reykjavik. with so many small interesting boutiques, vintage shops and designers, it was really hard for me to limit my souvenir-shopping. this is what i bought:



a pair of vintage frames by yves saint laurent. i'm not sure yet whether i will put in clear glasses or toned ones for sunny days...





just across the street from our hostel in the middle of the city, a young designer called rakel hafberg sold wonderful accesories made from chicken leather in all sorts of colours. her wristbands and chokers are really something special, and on her homepage you can even design your own ones! she custom made a choker in my choice of colour and delivered it to the hostel before we left for the airport, so her service is fantastic.



i had read a lot about kronkron before i left, so of course i had to have a look at their store. i would have loved to buy a pair of their colourful shoes, but my budget said no, so i only got myself one of their brand new designed patterned tights. i love them! now i just wait for warmer weather to wear them...

africa vintage

today there was a huge fleamarket at the school right across the street from where we live. i got myself out of bed early for this and was quite lucky - although norwegian prices even at fleamarkets still make me stand with my mouth open because i just can't figure why stuff should be so expensive (yes, 12€ for a vintage dress with stains and smell is considered cheap here.. i still don't get it).










































there were loads of people there, especially in the room with the ladies' clothes, so i just grabbed whatever nice fabric i saw and tried to fight my way to a corner with some room to see what i had in my hands. there was no way of trying things on, so guess how glad i was when all the four dresses i bought turned out to fit like a glove! i left with one woollen vintage winterdress and three vintage cotton dresses - the one above included a pretty matching bolero with fabric covered buttons as well!



























































these vintage cotton dresses (including one more which i had to leave behind for lack of funding) must have been donated by a lady with great taste. i would say that they probably were made in the 1960s, but i am not quite sure, one seems home-made and two are done by a professional tailor, as the label says. all of them are made of patterned fabric which seems to be inspired by african batique patterns - maybe the fabric was even printed there?









































just a couple of weeks ago i stumbled over some nice dresses and jumpsuits at asos, by their asos africa brand, and was quite tempted to order one, and i have also seen several items at zara with small patterns in brown tones, batiqued patterns and other native inspiration. these three dresses really fit my bill for this autumn - i'm happy i found them!

a ship, a book, a tomato

three fantastically amazing and outrageous pieces on etsy i would buy immediately if i had the money:


























tomata tomato! this looks just so delicious... cherry tomato necklace by EleanorJaneJewelry

























your own personal library, always available.... miniature book necklace by The Black Spot Books


















a ship to sail the seven seas - ahoi!!! the so very decadent sea pearl ship hat by Chatham Girl

all pictures from the different etsy-stores

fröken lila's oslo: Birkelunden

part three of my little oslo series! this time i thought i'd present you the best fleamarket in town, at birkelunden which is very close to that vintage-paradise street markveien in grünerløkka (actually, it lies at its parallel street, thorvald meyers gate, in a little park).

















it is an open air market taking place every sunday from around noon till late in the afternoon, all year round. you can find records, old norwegian books, cool kitchenware, vintage and other used clothing, shoes and loads of nice and expensive vintage porcelain.



































i've been there once until now and am sad that i didn't find out about it any sooner, for even though it is not the cheapest fleamarket in the world it is really cool and absolutely worth visiting. most people selling there know what their stuff is worth, so you really won't make a huge amount of bargains, but you can always haggle a little and find the one or other steal...

apart from this fleamarket, there is one at the other end of town, at vestkanttorvet, but i've never been there. most fleamarkets in oslo are usually organized by schools and you have to check on the internet when there is one to be. i've been to one and was rather disappointed as it was a lot of chaos and not really nicely organized. so if you love fleamarkets, birkelunden is your place to be in oslo!

nuvonova

a few days back my last purchase from before the shopping ban arrived in my mailbox. you know how half the blogosphere is kind of wild about those carrie-style name-necklaces? well, i don't like them too much, though i do like the idea of having jewelry with your initials, so this is what the little package from london contained:


















an adorable vintage heart-necklace with my initial L (for lila, of course =)! i have already worn it on several occasions, and am really quite in love with it. it came in a lovely little cotton canvas-pouch with a matching print, so it can never get lost!

i bought the necklace from nuvonova on etsy, and there are some other initals left, though none of the L-ones, as i got the last one..
apart from those necklaces, nuvonova (coming from a combination of art nuveau and nova, the star, two things that owner and designer clara loves) offers, amongst other things, some other absolute bestsellers:




















handmade and -printed pouches, both customized after your own wishes or with clara's wonderful designs such as those roses in every possible colour, or also - behold, december is approaching quickly! - a set of 24 for your christmas calender.




















and wonderful handmade ribbon bound notebooks, also with clara's wonderful designs (and i think she could do them customized as well, if you wish it) featuring a stilized swan, flamingo, art nuveau doll or even her signature design, the flapper girl (which you can see in the uppermost picture).

apart from etsy-ing, clara works as a fashion design assistant (exciting!), collects art in the form of ACEOs and also writes a blog which is very well worth reading.. i do hope you stop over both at her blog and her etsy-store! clara always has new projects for her store going on, so every now and then there are pleasant surprising new things to be had (the last one were, guess what? - the necklaces..)...

fröken lila's oslo: Skaperverket

here comes part two of my little oslo-series. "Skaperverket" is a very special small store at the lower end of markveien.

























maybe it could be best described as a combination of giftshop and gallery, as most of what you can find in there would be perfect as a gift, both for mothers, best friends, collegues or people you don't know so well. you can be sure to find something nice for everyone!




















"Skaperverket" is a collective of different artists, designers and crafters from norway, who together sell their own works, but also imported things they feel fit into the concept. thus, the store features pretty white pottery, handmade clothing for grown-ups and children, japanese paperwork, handcrafted jewellery, cool toys and enchanting accessoires.
















































one of my favourite picks would have been this really cool elizabethan collar:

























for contact, more information and opening hours, check out skaperverkets homepage!

shopping ban

ok. i have seriously spent far too much money on (random) clothes this summer. my bankaccount is not happy. at all. also, i have spent way too much time on shopping. didn't make me exactly happy, either. (though i do like what i bought..)

so. this leads to one conclusion: stop spending money on clothes. i have read several blogs on how to do a shopping ban, and have come to the decision that i will do the same. of course i'll write about my experiences here on the blog. the way of how to go about this thing which appealed the most to me was a mixture of sal's from already pretty, and jane's from workthat wardrobe (now blogging on the small fabric of my life).

both sal and jane knew (just as much as i do) that cutting out on shopping completely wasn't an option. thus limiting the amount of money spent on shopping on the one hand and creatively using what you already have in your wardrobe on the other hand is the solution to the problem.

so. i will, just as sal did, limit the amount i'm allowed to spend on clothing (including underwear, socks, accessoires and perfume) to 7euroninos per week. i will be allowed to save up in case i want to spent more than that on something. thus, i will not spend more than 28€ per month (roughly counted). which is absolutely within my budget.
furthermore, i will allow myself (just as jane did) to sell stuff from my wardrobe on ebay and use that money if i want or need (well, ok, i don't need, at all, at this point) to buy something more expensive. i will (as i have done before) try to present on the blog what i'm selling on ebay and will also try to post the results. like this, i'm not expanding my wardrobe but i'm getting rid of stuff i don't use anymore.

what i will exclude from the shopping ban is fleamarkets. this is, because i usually limit my fleamarket sprees to 10euros all in all and don't decide beforehands on what i will or will not spend this money. you could say it's like a hobby that you pay your 10bucks for every other week.

as you may or may not have seen, i have included a little wishlist to my sidebar on the right (thanks jenna for the how-to!), which has two purposes. firstly, to remind me of what i want to save up for, and secondly as a kind of goal i'd like to reach by not spending more than a certain amount of money. i will certainly not be able to buy all of these things during my shopping ban, but it'll be fun to see how far i get. i guess i'll also change the list every now and then, since my wishes are likely to change during time.

last but not least, time limit. as some of you know, i'm writing my thesis right now and have to hand it in in the end of november. so i limit my shopping ban until the end of november, with an option to expand it depending on how well it works out. this will hopefully give me more time to work on the thesis, keeping me away from shops. let's see how it goes...

fröken lila's oslo: Frøken Dianas Salonger

i have had thoughts about doing the one or other series for my blog, related posts which i'd try to do fairly regularly. one idea for those came up during my latest stay in oslo. as some of you know, my favourite person in the world lives there so i visit the city quite often, and i thought that a series about my favourite boutiques and places would be cool, especially if any of you are planning a trip there in the future..

so, here is the first part of the series!

























Frøken Dianas Salonger is, in my opinion, one of the neatest and loveliest little second hand stores in all of oslo. it is situated on markveien, which is norway's mekka for vintage boutiques, and is run by two wonderful ladies who obviously love their store and who sell nothing they wouldn't like to keep for themselves.

























the "parlour's" main focus lies not on clothes, even though there is a nice range of dresses and blouses, but on accessoires for you and your apartment: lampshades in perfect condition, handbags, cooking utensils, chests of drawers, postcards, some kitschy new things such as matchboxes with marilyn on them and everything else nice in the world.
















































the store is only just a year old but the ladies running it have managed both to offer a great range of wonderful selected items and to give it an amazing atmosphere. you feel like you can look about you for hours and see new things all the time, and you almost feel at home. definitely one of the best shopping experiences one can have!

























opening hours (they are open on sundays!! perfect!) and contact information can be found on the shop's website.

sunday finds

yesterday i went to a fleamarket here in oslo, at birkelunden, together with maria whom i know from volunteering at by:larm in february. we had a great time and both of us found some bargains to take home. sadly enough (or luckily, depending on how you look at it) most of the porcelain was rather expensive, and even though i was tempted a few times i didn't buy any. instead, i came back with this:

























a very pretty, unused cocktaildress by mango which fits perfectly. it came with an ugly belt which i really don't want to show you. also, it only came with one strap (which you can take off), and even though i searched the bag i found the dress in, i couldn't find the other one. an hour later we came back and -whips - guess what appeared somewhere in between a few pairs of shoes, some t-shirts and a bunch of belts? yes, the second strap. made me very happy.









































a lightweight summerskirt with a lovely cross-stiched border. the length is not perfect as it hits below the knee, but with a pair of heels it should work. also, i plan to use it for layering. nice!

























and a pair of unused grey suede gloves. autumn can come now!

shopping spree

sweden is great for shopping clothes. not only do they have brands we don't have in germany, they also have those crazy sales. ok, i can have almost the same in oslo, where i am quite often, but still, it's not 100% the same.
so of course when we went to sweden last weekend i went on a little shopping spree, mainly with two targets in mind: monki, and myrorna (which is the salvation army's thrift shop). monki was to be the first station and they did not disappoint me. even if i hadn't found anything else at any other store i would have been very very happy with my score:



















i don't really know what came over me, but i went out with only dusty-powdery-rose-coloured items. not bad for somebody who until quite recently said she doesn't like... pink. ok. this is not pink. it's old rose. a little purse, a belt, a tulle-dress, a skirt (which is not on the picture but will follow in my next outfit-post) and a top with lace-trim.

myrorna have become quite expensive especially when it comes to clothing. the only interesting piece i found was a blouse and it should cost 160sek, which is around 16euro, and thus far too expensive for a thriftshop-item which wasn't even vintage. anyway, i found some nice pieces of fabric for very little money:



































this hawaii-style print is going to be a summer-skirt. very beach-y!

then, i still had some time left before i had to be back for lunch. usually i don't go to mq, as their prices tend to be on the higher side, but i thought i might check the sale, because, well, you never know what you'll find. they had a kind of final sale with 50% off the former sale-price, meaning that most things were marked down by at least 75%. i went with a pair of trousers, a blouse and a coat:

























some of my swedish readers may well recognise those pieces. they were all part of an exclusive capsule collection by hanna lindström who won last year's fresh fish (a fashion fair and design competition for young swedish fashion designers). the collection was really hyped when it hit the stores in february, and when i went to karlstad in march i had hoped to be able to afford a piece or two. well, i couldn't. but now in august i could. the battle coat was marked down from 1500sek to 200, and the trousers from 700 to 100. guess who felt really really lucky!
both pants and coat are a little too long for my taste, but that's nothing that can't be fixed...