On the Street. Classic Trench Coat With Attitude, Helsinki

 

There has been very little any interesting street styles around lately. Or there may be, but I don’t personally move around very much due to pandemic Covid. Something anyway. Here we go.

I don’t remember where or when I saw this woman, but the feeling was, that this trench coat has been with her since 80’s. Thinking about the classic cut and thick material that lasts time. Accompanied with black polo shirt, the grey braid on the neck and giant yellow sunglasses from the same era as the coat.

This is a good example of two things. 1. When you buy quality, it may last your lifetime. –> very sustainable from the viewpoint of globe. 2. When you lean your style on classics like ageless trench coat, you make decision of style, not fashion. And style is the one, that lasts time.

On the Street. Man in Boots, Lauttasaari, Helsinki

Time to post this man in boots, carrying heavy plastic bags. Classic outfit toasted with moustaches from 80's.

Many may wonder, why doesn’t he have facemask in these days of coronavirus covid-19. In Finland the authorities have not made any rules that everybody should wear a mask. Therefor it is more rare than usual around here.

The Spring is coming warmer day to day. But it may be, that this gentleman keeps his boots and leather jacket on whatever the weather is. I wonder what is he carrying. Maybe the groceries to his old mama, who is quarantined to home for the sake of covid-19.

On the Street. October Like Grey Flannel, Helsinki

October, the month of Inktober. Let’s participate, at least this first day.

I saw this guy in Habitare fair last year. Just found this illustration under a pile of papers. Habitare is the yearly organized interior, design and furniture fair in Helsinki. Good place to see somebody to draw after.

In October we dive in to the grey, rain and puddles. This blonde fellow was dressed in the tones of black, grey wool flannel trousers, white shirt and black v-neck knit. Fits to the mood. Classic and cosy. To be in style, we can always trust in classics.

On the Pier. Summer Fun, Angling.

Greetings from the Summer Holiday. It’s been a while when I last posted anything here. Spring was so hectic in work I didn’t have any time for this poor blog. Too bad.

Then came the blessed summer holiday and the cottage life in Finland countryside. The countryside life is surrounded by nature. That includes angling and fishing, eating the fish caught from the lake and blueberries from the woods. This year we had a lot of sunshine and it was a pleasure to jump into the lake swimming several times in a day. Rare delicacy in these levels as Finland.

I haven’t seen much interesting street style lately. Therefor I’m sharing some images from summer sketchbooks. In the image above is my daughter angling. Dressed in all time classic Nokia Kontio -rubber boots (first pair made in year 1973), jeans, striped shirt and to the top yellow fisherman’s hat. The color of the hat fits perfectly with the yellow waterlily.

Simple life barefoot, sleeping in a tent to avoid mosquitos. In the evening it was a great pleasure to fall asleep listening the sounds on nature, wind, insects, birds, bees. This is the best way to reduce stress levels in life.

On the Street. Black Beret all Year Long, Barcelona.

It is the last day of summer season. Tomorrow is officially first day of autumn in Finland. It is time to present the last Barcelona street style memory of summer sketchbook.

This older gentleman is kind of previous edition of the guy illustrated below. Same building blocks of style, white shirt and sort of black trousers. Only the time has worn out the deep darkness and turned white shirt to greyish. Despite the hot sun in Spain, the sleeves stay long, not rolled and woolen beret stays in the head. I believe the beret has been an essential accessory through his lifetime. Maybe already as schoolboy it has belonged to the school uniform.

This brings to mind an old phrase. "Why change anything what has once been good." In style issues this is quite true. In other words we talk about style classics. In some other issues some change might still be a good idea. Like, we didn’t have mobile phones in the 70s, why should we have it now? Well… Maybe it is good to think again when some issue is thrown in front of you. At least just a second. 

On the Street. The New Essentials, Barcelona.

On my summer holiday the destination was Spain and Barcelona district. I was curious to see how does the street view differ from Helsinki’s. The result was that there is so hot that the most common combo is T-shirt and shorts. Like pigeons they all look the same.

Still one detail in men’s style was a trend of short trousers. Ten centimetres too short compared to the classical measure. I saw even a grey striped suit with short trousers. And socks, I mean no socks. It is up to watchers eye if the guy looks a little like clown or super cool in these short pants.

Of course the sound of style depends also of the person who wears it. In this case I have drawn a chap that turned my head with his style. So simple, white shirt, black pants and yet interesting.

The place was a outlet mall near Barcelona, La Roca Outlet Village. He seemed to rush to have a break from his duty of the salesman of men’s clothing. In hurry to tobacco and in hurry to track social media. The modern life.

On the Street. Pencil Skirt and Ballerinas, Kamppi, Helsinki.

After weird spring weather it seems that the temporary snowfalls and the coldest spring season in sixty years is gone and we can finally move towards warmer days. It also appears in the Helsinki street view.

I like the sixties tone in this lady’s outfit. The girlish ballerinas combined in traditional pencil skirt and A-lined short coat. Handbag elegantly tone in tone. Finish with grey gloves. I start to think the women of Jean-Luc Godard’s films. Une femme est une femme. A woman is a woman.

On the Street. Waiting for a Date, Railway Station, Helsinki.

You know the feeling? When you are waiting for a date to arrive in your meeting point. When I saw this gentleman in Helsinki Railway Station I thought this was the case.  Standing aside from people in a hurry. Tidy and groomed. A bit nervous, looking around thinking, is it her? Or her? Code word is red scarf. She should recognize. This scene is like from Aki Kaurismäki’s film.

On the Street. Captain Cap Trending, Kamppi, Helsinki.

It seems that the hat of this summer is captain cap. On a short stroll in city center yesterday I saw about ten persons with captain cap. And why not, combined with striped T-shirt, it feels like summer and salty sea. Style classics rules.

In summer we all sail in terms of holiday more or less. Sailing on leisure time and free thoughts, at least.

* * *
More about Captain Cap and the style corner stones in this post:
Captain Cap Makes the Style.

On the Street. Captain Cap Makes the Style, Skåldö.

After one month stay in the countryside there is not much to tell about street style. The only one that has turned my head is this older gentleman. I have seen him three times during a visit to a local store in boat harbor. He takes care of the vegetables and strawberries sale and has had exactly same look every time. Light-colored shirt, red scarf tied to the neck, blue captain cap and big grey mustache. Apparently he dresses like this every single day in his life.

Really it is very useful when you come up with some particular style. Then it’s wise to keep it and never again have any doubts what to wear. If the corner stones of the style have some character you end up giving more interesting impression than average. Like this chap here.

Another thing is this posture. I have noticed the habit of older men walking with their hands behind their back. You know, the walking style with hands crossed to back, upper body bent forward, staring expression in the eyes, field of view up to five meters ahead. I wonder what exactly is the age when this hand tied behind back -habit strikes a man, because it seems that this manner is never seen with men under fifty years. What is the secret behind it that all the men seem to realize?

On the Street. Rebellious Biker Jacket, Kamppi, Helsinki.

Biker Jacket is such a classic that keep one’s ground from decade after decade. The first milestone was probably marked by Marlon Brando, who performed a motorcycle gang leader in film The Wild One 1953. After that a biker jacket made of black leather has been synonym to restless rebel -attitude.

Punk is not too common style in Helsinki everyday street scene. So this young lady was a nice exception with her extra carefully drawn eye makeup. A biker jacket, symbol of rebellious mind is well suited to the picture.

I did a tour on kids clothing stores past weekend. In one shop there was biker jackets for kids. Later on I saw approximately four year old girl who wore that particular biker jacket. Well, kid are rebels, they have rebellious mind. With kids at some points it is time to oppose most anything that parents propose.

Another spotting of biker jacket was in Finnish magazine cover Apu (”Help” in English). A Finnish singer Jari Sillanpää posed on cover dressed in biker jacket. The headline was like ”Festival Year of Music Agitator Jari Sillanpää in Fifties”. So the biker jacket works as symbol of live spirit in middle-age.

Conclusion. From childhood  to teenage and middle age, classic biker jacket fits any person who wants to express some rebellious vibes with clothing.

On the Street. Grey Plaid Suit, Kamppi, Helsinki.

Finally it is time to ease up a little. To open overcoat and leave woolen scarf in the closet. Little by little we can believe that it is spring even in Helsinki. We have felt the sun, we have seen the coltsfoot and next weekend a funfair Seiterä arrives to Lauttasaari, Helsinki. Clear signs of spring on the air.

On the Street. Nice Simple Style, Lauttasaari, Helsinki.

Simple things are many times the best. Like having a cup of coffee, a pot of tea, reading a book, sleeping as long as needed, talk with a friend, laughing, walking in a woods.

Simple things can also make a memorable nice style. Like with this guy. There isn’t anything super special he is wearing, jeans, ankle boots, grey pullover and kind of marine coat. But to be true there is one exception here. Oh yes, there is this hair. Nowadays shoulder-long hair with men is quite rare. Maybe that is the key that makes his style memorable. The full stop above the letter i.

Okay. The list from the beginning needs some trimming.
Simple things are many times the best. Like having a good cup of coffee, a lovely pot of tea, reading a marvelous book, sleeping as long as needed in own bed, chat with a dear friend, laughing out loud, walking in a woods (this is good as it is).

On the Street. Street Credible HAI Rubber Boots, Vallila, Helsinki.

I spotted this lady in Vallila Emmaus Thrift Store. It was a refreshing change to see some colour, when the majority of the people in Helsinki dress in dark shades. In her feet she had the very street credible bright yellow Hai rubber boots.

It’s nice that in these days of globalization, when almost same products can be found in every big city around the world, there is still some islands of national style icons. Finland one such iconic piece of clothing is HAI rubber boots (HAI-saappaat) made by Nokian Footwear. Designed in 1967 by architect Esko Lahesmaa the model has stayed true to the original design ever since.

Lahesmaa was challenged to design a rubber boot that would be perfect for boating. As a sailor himself he knew the properties that a rubber boot should have in sailing circumstances. Quick-drying polyester lining, firm grip of the outsole (ideal for yachting), light-coloured rubber outsole leaves no traces to the deck of a boat. Low and wide stem makes it easy to move around the boat and – if knocked overboard – allow easily get rid of the boots.

The name of the boot came after a certain boat model called Hai, which Lahesmaa had sailed a lot of his youth. Hai means Shark in english.

If you want to try out Instagram photos for tag #haisaappaat you will notice the huge love that Finns feel about HAI rubber boots.

Now I’d like to know if you have some similar style icon in your country. Like HAI rubber boots are in Finland. Time after time super popular item and not necessarily very well known abroad. Share your ideas on comment box below.

Links and sources:
Nokian Footwear, since 1898, story
Hai rubber boots
Hai-saapas, Wikipedia
Hai (keelboat),Wikipedia

On the Street. Grey Pea Coat, Vallila, Helsinki.

I love pea coat. The uniform of Corto Maltese, my hero. Traditionally it is dark blue, but grey is a good option. A pea coat is perfect to wear in November, when the frost has not yet bitten our noses. And note how the beanie is set. Hip and pop in Helsinki right now. With this I am referring to the previous post.

On the Street. Evergreen Duffle Coat, Laru, Helsinki.

Autumn is in a hurry to the point that the trees are beginning to be pale and leafless. The color palette of the nature becomes narrower. Sun sets early and grey tones dominate. It seems that the scenery on the street goes hand in hand with the nature. People rely on black and dark colors.

When there is not so much detail in respect of color, attention is drawn to the form. I found this man’s silhouette interesting. Small noddle, wide box coat and legs like narrow sticks. And of course I love all time classic duffle coat. It is just perfect coat for becoming November. By the way, it seems that now the right way to wear beanie in Helsinki is just like here; leaving the forehead bare.

On the Street. Tones of Blue Denim, Lauttasaari, Helsinki.

I have encountered this older gentleman on the street about ten times during the last few months. Every single time he has the same uniform, jeans and a denim shirt with a short vizor cap. Only the tones of blue denim vary. This denim look with wide pant cuffs could be from the era hundred years ago. So classic.

Blue denim is a wonderful material. I'm just wondering how does his wardrobe look like. A pile of denim shirts in slightly different shades of blue, pile of blue jeans, white T-shirts as undershirts. No worries what to wear. Casual and cozy. Easy as breathing.

On the Street. Feeling Jazz in Grey Suit, Ruoholahti, Helsinki.

I met this guy in a entrepreneurs event. Somehow his style differed from the ordinary in my view. I mean if you have a suit, it may be dull and ordinary. But if the cut is right, there is some idea in details and fabric has some nice structure, a suit is a whole different thing.

Of course I had to tell him that his style is perfect. He told me that the feeling he's trying to catch springs from jazz. By mentioning jazz-music, the picture was completed.

Helsinki Spring Brings Charlie Chaplin

Helsinki Spring brings with it the possibility to dive into the world  of Charlie Chaplin's. Helsinki City Artmuseum in Tennispalatsi has a nice exhibition of Chaplin going on. But that's not the only thing. Finland's National Audiovisual Archive, Cinema Orion performs various Charlie Chaplin films in this Spring.

The series start next Sunday with special show. There will be live band, Cleaning Women playing their music with the films. (Behind the Screen, 1916, One A.M., 1916, The Bank, 1915)

I have already tickets in my pocket for my family. You can try to get the tickets from here.  Let's see what kind of style ideas will come this time. Last year I picked up this big bow from Charlie. Because as much as the funny tricks I enjoy watching the style of past times.

On the Street. Herringbone Tweed Coat, Kamppi, Helsinki.

You know, I'm weak in herringbone tweed. So when I saw this young dandy in Kamppi, it was self-evident that I am drawing his look later. I'd love to wear this coat myself!