Springtime DIYs

Outfit picture from the weekend, we had a nice time outside walking in the sun and drinking beer. 

Farewell jacket, you have served me well for the past couple of years, but your design wasn´t fit for a proper punk jacket. 

It was given to me and I used the opportunity to sew patches and put studs on it, but the cut of this jacket always made it look military-ish with no real collar design to put pins on. Plus, it had a belt sewn to it which broke when I tried using it as a bottle opener last summer.

The time has come- a new jacket in the form of a blazer awaits. It is currently being altered to my size by a friend, so hopefully I will be able to DIY it this week and show pictures later!

Old patches from old jacket had to be redone as well, as most of them were frayed and didn´t hold on any more. All of these are made by me except for the Metro Cult patch (go check them out!). The cruelty patches were cut from a Cradle Of Filth t-shirt ;) kind of like a more brutal take on the infamous "hate" backpatch lol.

Today was a nice productive DIY day. My new jacket will be way more punk 77, I am so excited!

N. Finsternis

Things that made me happy this month

A stressful time is behind me and I´ve had just the most blissful day after walking through town in the warm weather wearing my favorite clothes and went for some second hand searching. I felt drunk, even though not drinking anything. My day has been that good.

Just wanted to write about the things that have made me happy through the annoying everyday life this past month. Even when I wasn´t necessarily in a bad mood, here are some things that made me smile recently:

Instagraming

from my Instagram

I sometimes flood, like a bunch of pictures from people I don´t know or just search for different hashtags for hours, but in the end it´s the lovely picture editing that does it for me. And it makes me happy when people like my pictures, just like instagram conditions you to be. It gives me a nice feeling. 

My recent favorite picture editor is Aviary, I really recommend it (unless you haven´t been living in a tank like me and have been using it forever now).

Suddenly liking a band I´ve disliked before

I´ve never liked Sonic Youth- they were too vague for me, plus they don´t have, as Boris puts it, a "face", which makes them ever more vague. But somehow recently they are all the music I want to hear (aside from our little Placebo fever, continue reading), and it is suddenly that I realize that them being vague is exactly what does it for me. I still don´t quite like the singing at times, but the instrumentals are killing it in every song!!

Taking relaxing selfies after coming home

Taken today after my lovely day. I am not sad in the pictures as I might appear to be, I just had my melancholic photogenic face on. I love coming home with the urge to take pictures out of nowhere, then edit them a little and think where to post them, I know it´s silly but it feels nice.

Fangirling with Boris over Placebo

Boris has been having a Placebo fever: in all our years together I have been telling him here and there that I actually love a few songs by this band and would listen to them on occasion (before their music depressed me to bits). Boris would always cringe and make a face, saying he hated their guts.
Well what do you know- these past couple of weeks this is literally the only band he listens to. It gets better- he loves the lyrics, Molko´s singing, he watches their live videos every day, he has managed to brainwash all of the people around him by playing Placebo songs and asking what they thought about them and he even tuned his guitar like Molko does to see how it would sound.
It escalated to the point when we spent an entire evening together looking at videos of Molko and Olsdal kissing on stage like the true fangirls we are.
I am happy I´ve had a chance to know the band better, they have some amazing songs.
The best part? We´ve never listened to Placebo as teenagers, so we cannot remember embarrassing adolescent times while enjoying to their music. Late bloomer realness.

Reading

Source

While writing my paper for uni I haven´t had time for reading. The last good book I read was To Kill A Mockingbird (no, I haven´t read a lot of the classic literature in the English language at school). The last bad one was Ulyses- I´ve tried forcing myself on it but it was stupidly boring. 

So I said fuck it and got a few books from the library that I would actually enjoy and learn something from.

I am now with The Great Gatsby, which Boris had recommended me. It is perfect so far. Some further classics will follow.

Those will do for now. Have a wonderful weekend!

N. Finsternis

Face Of The Night- Drag Race

I am missing today´s screening of Drag Race because of work, when I remembered I haven´t posted my makeup look from the premiere of the show 2 weeks ago.

I need to buy new chargeable batteries for my camera, phone pictures for now...

I didn´t want to go crazy with makeup too much, but I´ve missed my purple eyeshadow and black lipstick. Fringe has been cut since then and is almost entirely natural hair by now. I am excited how my second coat of henna will look like, want to make the orange a lot darker, even though the radiance of the first coat has faded only slightly (seem better in natural lighting). 

Spring is slowly making it´s way. It has become a lot warmer, I have finished my uni assignments and can relax, with up to 3 working days a week. A dear friend is coming to visit us from Copenhagen at the end of the month and I will have a little vacation. So excited to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Wardrobe change is in plan as well. For now I have a goal to buy only new stuff to replace the old, which is a new jacket to diy for patches and pins, and Vans shoes (never had those before!).

Have a wonderful week!

N. Finsternis

90s Goth Fashion Inspirations

Posting a lot about clothes lately, maybe it´s because I am eager to change my wardrobe a bit when it will get warmer.

Trad goth aside, some aspects of the 90s goth fashion have always seemed pretty to me. Maybe it was that time when dark attire began to be very versatile: you had the grunge one the one hand, and different goth styles on the other (cyber goth, bondage, victorian etc).

Here are a few style icons that I still like:

Anna Nurmi and Tilo Wolff (the early Lacrimosa)

Source 

Source

I think that after all these years Lacrimosa still have a special place in my heart. Plus, Nurmi´s bondage attire is all I ever want in a goth outfit.

Jack Off Jill

Source

Source

Source

I was never into riot grrl bands nor into the kinderwhore fashion, but as JOJ being one of the first alternative bands I´ve discovered I still love their "murderous little girl" look. 

Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez

Source

Source

I had to, you guys.... All is well if this has contributed to your sexual awakening at the time. I never was into MM´s music, but I´ve always loved what he did and who he was, plus I do believe he and Twiggy are talented musicians.

Lydia from Beetlejuice

Source

Source

Source

Again, I had to... I love how there´s not much going on with Lydia´s look- there´s some huge black dress, messy hair and that´s it. You don´t have the exaggerated makeup, the edgy clothes or whatever. This is very down to earth goth, looks very comfortable too. I think why a lot of people find Lydia´s style inspiring is because it is practically applicable.

Malice Mizer

Source

Source

Source

I know, I know- visual kei is an entire different realm, but you have to admit that it is fascinating. Malice Mizer were one of my favorite bands when I was a teenager, and I love their 90s looks more than the others. And for the record- I´ve always liked Közi and Klaha, and was never that excited about Mana.

Contrary to basically everyone, I hate Nancy from The Craft. Sure, she was dressed well but I didn´t like that representation of goth (nor witchcraft) in that movie. She was evil, narrow and stereotypical. I loved the main character in the film a lot more.

I also love the grunge look, but I couldn´t find photos that were very gothicly inclined.

What are your 90s inspirations?

My health issues are getting better. Luckily I will not need an operation in the end, which is a huge relief. Big assignment is due on Monday as well, so I am quite stress, can´t wait to relax afterwards.

Have a wonderful weekend!

N. Finsternis

Boris´ hippie shirt

While the weather has turned really disgusting lately (rain and wind galore) I have been inspiring myself into summer with colors and garage rock. 

This is a rather optimistic solution since:

1. I have a huge paper for uni to write.
   
2. Physiotherapy is solving one of my leg problems veeerrryyy slowly and I fail to have the patience when constantly feeling pain in my right ankle while walking. At least it is somewhat working...
   
3. Regarding further leg problems (this time my left knee, I have an issue with both my legs, unbelievable...), I will have to endure an operation on my left knee and I am fucking terrified. Like omg, an operation???? MRI is first to come, another "industrial speedcore gig" awaits (if you have ever done an MRI you know how loud that is)...

I have had very optimistic expectations towards the beginning of this year, and I certainly hope these weird orthopedic issues will get solved before April comes, I have a lot of fun plans for that month and I want to be fully mobile! Not to mention being able to work. :(

A lover of eyeless selfies, am I.

Tuesday was a lot of fun at the premiere screening of the new season of RuPaul´s Drag Race. The local queens have organised a great live show after the screening, and were all stunning. My favorite queens of the season are Max, Miss Fame and Violet Chachki.

N. Finsternis

Long black jacket -or- Joy Division is your favorite band

While shapeless black things (as The Mutant Stomp Friends likes to call them in her blog, and yes- thanks for inspiring me to write about fashion more!) are a relatively recent dark fashion item, the long black jacket (shaped black thing?) has existed a lot longer, and is frankly one of the most classic wardrobe items ever, along with the black suit, little black dress and whatever other items rich people wear.

Source

I haven´t given a thought about it until I have encountered a few Tumblrs which had a very "post punk noir" feel to them. And then it hit me- the long black jacket is the key item in every young person´s wardrobe these days, especially in Berlin, where you can see hipster resembling kids walking to the club in the Kreuzberg or Prenzlauer Berg district.

Source              &                Source

That Saint Laurent guy has been on my radar lately.

The long black jacket is a very simple piece. Even if you don´t give a rat´s ass about fashion, wear it and you become automatically sophisticated as fuck. And oh, is that a "hate" back patch? I see where this is going...

Source

Seriously though, there´s something very elegant and mysterious in the rectangle shape which this item gives you. You can wear anything underneath, it doesn´t matter- you have already seized the street with a timeless look, and if you are a bigger smartass you will wear your long hair with an undercut in a messy bun, and pair your long black jacket with -god forbid- colorful Nike sneakers.

Source                     &                                             Source 

I love how this is very androgynous and basic, and pretty much work safe.

Do you have a long black jacket? What do you think about this look? Should I continue blogging about fashion?

Have a great rest of the week, we are going to see the premiere of the new season of RuPaul´s Drag Race today, following some performances. So excited!

N. Finsternis