Oh How I love me some Marimekko

Ok so life is as it should be once again. I am in a Marni dress. I have my Prada sunglasses on my head and lipstick in my Chloe bag. I am clean. And best of all I am sitting at a cornet cafe near the railway in Helsinki, a pint of local beer at my left and a window full of people watching in front of me. My guy will be joining me soon and guess what? he is immune tot he hoards of beautiful blonde women that seem to be everywhere here. Can a girl's life get any better? I think not.

This morning my guy had a meeting that I chose to opt out of so instead have been wandering the city on my own, Finns are incredibly friendly and Helsinki is one of those cities where you can walk around and feel very safe despite the fact that if you are English speaking as I am Finnish is truly incomprehensible. However being the foreign city goddess that I apparently am I managed to not only order a low fat cafe latte but to find one of the local Maimekko stores!

Marimekko is truly a Finnish treasure and if you get to cone here RUN to one of their stores. I have only know Marimekko as a highly collectible vintage label but was pleasantly surprised to find that it seems to have maintained the integrity of design that the house of based on.

If you are not yet familiar with the label here is a bit of background taken directly from the Vintage Fashion Guild Website (www.vintagefashionguild.com)

Marimekko is a Finnish company, founded in 1951 by Armi and Viljo Ratia. They are famous for their brightly printed textiles – large abstracts and floral fabrics used for home décor and made into simple clothing and handbags. In 1954, their copyrighted logo was created. The company is still in business.

The second label is a Design Research label. Design Research was the American representative for Marimekko at the time. Design Research was based at Harvard University, and the head of the group was Benjamin Thompson, the head of Harvard's Department of Architecture. The group's original aim when it was formed in 1953 was to introduce better design into home furnishings. Clothing was added to their mission in 1963. Design Research closed in the mid 1970s.

In my opinion there are very, very few labels that can keep up with their vintage glory but I was quite pleased to find some really great pieces. Apparently I was in one of the smaller stores so am heading out to the main one this afternoon. I am already 2 dresses in so hopefully will have some room left on my Visa by the end of the day. My other quest today will be to try to find somewhere where I can get ORIGINAL 60's, 70's pieces (of course)

pictures are still a bit of a tough thing but I will try to add them as soon as I can. I can tell you that the overall #1 trend here is flats in every shape color and style (cobble streets - need I say more?) and leggings under everything - ling skirts, short skirts, even peeking out of cropped jeans.