Appropriated Edge

It's time to fess up to my guilty secret. My name is Rio and I'm a concert shirt addict. 

I have more of these things than their usefulness merits. At the last count, there are around 40 of these babies, choking up drawers and overflowing from the laundry bin. But I'll always find room for just one more. I can't seem to get enough of them.

Some of them are over ten years old. The last one arrived only last week. I like to pretend that I'm supporting the artists but in truth the pursuit of another scalp has long since become an end in itself. No matter how much I'm enjoying the band there will always a part of me that's impatient for the music to stop so I can go check out the merchandise.

But they're a useful basic, right? They're superior quality and nicer prints than you find in the shops. They're more likely to carry organic cotton and/or fair trade certification. And every one of them has a story to tell.

Here's Patti Smith. She's touring her classic album "Horses" this year. If you love her, try and see her. I guarantee she'll make you cry. I'd swear up and down she was wearing Ann Demeulemeester, but who can tell at that distance?

And here's Underworld, a band I'd been waiting to see for 20 years, and managed it twice this summer. Karl Hyde may wear nothing but Breton stripes but he did good by the fans. This is a beauty, a shirt for a connoisseur of tees.

The silhouettes change but the formula remains the same. A bold print, a cute jacket, favourite pants and statement shoes. Instant cool.

Following my visit to the Savage Beauty exhibition this week I felt moved to put on some fierce tailoring and architectural shoes. 

I don't have the build for the McQueen wasp waisted silhouette but I can definitely do the pointy shoulders. I've shown this dress here before, but not with shiny black accents to reference the notorious Dress No 13 from 1999. The United Nude Eamz heels are somewhat similar to the cantilevered sandals Shalom Harlow wore to be sprayed with paint by industrial robots. 

This is probably only remotely McQueen in my dreams, where I too am a master craftsman with the tailoring skills to deliver a perfectly armoured lady cuirass. As you can see, the reality is soft and rumpled, but at least I can still ride my bicycle and I will only be sprayed with paint if I'm careless going past the building site. 

Angie brought a heatwave with her when she arrived here in Amsterdam, and now the city's basking in some glorious sunshine. And by amazing coincidence, today's blog post features yesterday's outfit plus a splash of animal print, which sadly doesn't exist in my wardrobe. Maybe I'll fix that one of these days.

Thursday was a teaching day, and I want them to listen to me rather than check out my clothes, so I kept it simple with a tuxedo shirt from Uniqlo +J, shiny crash pants By Brown and white Birkenstock sliders.

Today it's far too hot for anything so formal, so I'm in boxer shorts from BACK, vintage kimono and a Panama hat I bought in Barcelona. And my only spoil from Monday's grand day out (still can't believe I went shopping with Angie!) a very cute magnetic necklace from COS.

I wore this with loose fitting skinny pants for a meeting earlier today and I think I prefer the look like that, but it's definitely the weather to show my pasty white legs some sunshine. Now off to sit on a terrace with an ice cold beer!

After Aziraphale wowed us all with her gorgeous Fluevogs, I was inspired to kick out in my Vivienne Westwood pirate boots. It's only taken me three weeks to get around to photographing them. Sorry about that. 

They're a few years old now. I found them on deep discount in the most unlikely place after admiring them online at full price. The only problem was that they were half a size too small. I stretched them on my feet over a few wears and it was excruciating. They fit fine now but I wish I had followed Angie's advice and done it with wet feet.

You'll also notice I'm wearing jeans under a silk chiffon skirt by Dries van Noten. I thrifted it a while back and it's been a problem child ever since. It's an awkward colour to wear with either hose or bare legs, but bizarrely it seems to work over a pair of skinny pants. Result. :)

The jacket is Isabel Marant pour H&M, and is one of those surprise workhorses which gets worn all year round. It has a twin on the back of the lovely Leandra, who, as you can see, stole my look months before I even thought of it. 

Summer's a long time coming here in Amsterdam. It's still quite cool and windy, and we've had some apocalyptic rainstorms, so not quite into the warm weather wardrobe yet. 

I'm venturing into 90's territory with acid brights today, pairing the Bad Boyfriend with a chambray skirt by House of Holland. This is what I bought when I went shopping for a loose fitting black blazer and a denim midi. No, really. That's how both these pieces came to be in my closet. The shirt is by Uniqlo SPRZ NY, and features a work by LA artist Daniel Martinez. It always makes me think of Terminator. 

This ensemble has a high happy quotient and I feel properly Bright Winter. It's been pulling a lot of side eye today, but that's maybe more to do with the colour contrast than the execution.

I put on this fantasy outfit and left the house without bothering to change out of it because I liked it so much. The whole thing feels like a fantasy rendition of my ideal closet - unique statement pieces teamed with no-nonsense well made essentials. Please forgive my disheveled appearance. It was a windy day and I couldn't get my hair to lie flat.

The jacket is my ultimate fantasy piece. It's silk velvet by Ann Demeulemeester, bought by Mr Edge for my birthday (it had a zero in it and it was a few years ago now - go figure :P) I don't wear it as much as I'd like, mostly because this is Holland and I'm afraid of getting rained on, but I've found myself reaching for it a fair bit this spring.

The necklace is a new acquisition, from a small atelier in Amsterdam's red light district. I'd been walking past the window and admiring the jewellery for ages, and finally went in with the objective of buying my mother a birthday present. The designer, it turns out, is wonderful lady named Josephine Colsen. She is a veteran of Yves Saint Laurent's atelier in Paris, now retired. We ended up talking for over an hour. She had some stories to tell.

I left with two pieces, one for me, and one for Mum. I found it hard to choose one for myself, so in the end I let Josephine choose for me. She picked out this piece made of found chandelier crystal, which she thought suited me best. I think she was right.

Underneath, a navy shirt from Uniqlo +J (best women's shirts ever on sale again, so I bought two) and a favourite pair of navy pants from Acne, now ancient.

In reality, the combination of trophy jacket, dress shirt and statement necklace felt a bit too dressy, so later on I swapped out the shirt for a blue/grey draped tunic and the shoes for a pair of white Birkenstocks. Still complex but less dressy. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to photograph it. Fail. 

I have a shameless love for the 80's power suit. I had a mental one in tomato red wool gabardine with black and gold buttons. It was beautiful, full of lady attitude. I wore it well into the 90's. 

It has a bad rap of course because of Joan Collins and Dynasty, but done right it calls to a very subtle kind of feminine power, which is all about looking tough and ladylike at the same time. A woman in a power suit takes no crap from anyone. 

I was pretty thrilled when I found this vintage Escada jacket while shopping with a friend last summer. I'd been looking for a long black blazer, and this was a definite wild card with its big shoulders, shocking pink revers and red lining. She warned me that the jacket was like a bad boyfriend - the one you know you shouldn't love but you do. I ignored her and bought it anyway.

The Bad Boyfriend, it turns out, is a bit of a workhorse for going out in the evening, when I style it with a printed tee and skinny pants. But this is the first time I've tried to take it back to its 80's power roots, with pleated tailored pants and pumps.

The shoes gave me pause, as I spent far too long in front of the mirror asking myself what Grace Jones or Tina Chow would have done. Still not convinced these flat pumps were the right choice, and I'm pretty sure the Pants Length Police will be along any moment to slap me in cuffs. Diamante cuffs, of course. 

Sadly, I don't have any spectacular plastic earrings anymore, but I do have a giant perspex ring and a mix tape full of 80s power pop. Enjoy!

1. Culture Club - Do You Really Want to Hurt me?
2. Queen - I Want to Break Free
3. Eurythmics - There Must Be an Angel
4. Kajagoogoo - Too Shy
5. Aha - Take On Me
6. Duran Duran - Rio
7. Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me
8. Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
9. Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
10. The The - Uncertain Smile

This should have been a cakewalk, given that I have so much vintage in my closet. In fact, it was harder than I thought it would be because I wanted to put together an authentically 80's outfit that would work today.

The coat is a classic Issey Miyake design for Vogue Patterns from the middle of the decade. I had one in brown when I was at university, so I can say without doubt that this is something I would have worn back then. I made this one about five years ago, some time before loose fitting draped coats started trending again, when the original pattern was reissued.

Nothing else in my outfit existed then, but all of it could have done. Lace up dress boots (I wore them), baggy pants with asymmetric fastening (my too cool for school friend wore them) and batwing sleeves (everybody wore them).

It all feels very contemporary, but also very much like old friends. What do you think?

Two jackets, one on top of the other. The boxy shapes express a cubist vibe and the digital print of the top layer evokes the sea. The pants are denim chinos from Christophe Lemaire, bought on very deep discount. They are extremely baggy, even after alteration. 

I like the mix of high and low style here but I'm doubtful. Everything's playing nicely together, it feels quite edgy, but I can't help thinking I should be wearing slimmer pants.

I actually had to think about this one. I'm a lover of colour, but I found it quite hard to combine the right ones here. In the end, I went for this vintage tapestry coat layered over a green sweater dress over red skinny pants and the new creepers which I'm Not Taking Off this week. (here's my report in case you missed it). Not as spectacular as some of the outfits I've seen, but hey, I'm happy. :)

Since I'm off to the Paradiso later to jump up and down in front of Sleater Kinney, this outfit needs to go day to evening. So I've layered it with a printed tee, some fun arm candy and, of course, the mix tape bag. I've packed a few golden '80's hits to go:

1. Human League - Love Action
2. Wham - Everything She Wants
3. Hall and Oats - Kiss Is On My List
4. ABC - The Look of Love
5. Heaven 17 - Temptation
6. New Order - Blue Monday
7. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
8. Talking Heads - Burning Down The House
9. Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
10. Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm

Enjoy!

ETA: that was incendiary! Those ladies really tore up the Paradiso.

For your viewing pleasure, here are a few pics of Sleater Kinney from the pit. As you can see, Carrie is a guitar goddess, and Corin wore a dress to match my socks. 

Best. Girl. Band. Ever.