How I learned to love Winter? / Kako sam zavoljela zimu?

Late Autumn. The days are getting colder. Finally, it feels like real Autumn, some might say (those that enjoy the colder weather). I would say that it is starting to feel more like Winter. The days are getting shorter albeit not for long. The weather is colder (generally speaking, I know there are parts of world where it isn't so but here it is). We still have a week or so before the official start of Winter ( 21 th of  December) but it seems to me that most of us already feel that the Winter has arrived. Even those who live in warm climates feel it. I think that Christmas and holiday season in general contribute to this. Personally, as soon as I start seeing holiday decorations, I'm starting to feel like Winter is here. Not that I’m complaining. I used to be that girl that doesn’t like Winter. Autumn was alright, but Winter was just something to get over with. I don’t feel that way anyway. I’m looking forward to Winter.  Especially to those sunny Winter days. I’m a big fan of those. Those days when the mountains look just a step away. Those days everything seems peaceful and perfect. If you look carefully, you will see beauty in every season. It took me a while to warm up to Winter but now I’m all for it.

Kasna jesen. Dani su sve hladniji. Konačno, imamo osjećaj da je prava jesen, rekli mi neki (oni koji vole hladnije vrijeme). Ja bi rekla da je i zima već u zraku. Dani su sve kraći, ali ne zadugo. Vrijeme je hladnije (općenito govoreći, znam da tako nije u svim dijelovima svijeta, ali ovdje je). Još imamo tjedan ili tako nešto prije službenoga početka zime ( koji je dvaesetiprvoga prosinca ), no meni se čini da većina nas ima osjećaj da je zima već stigla, pa to osjećaju čak i oni koji ne žive u hladnijim klimama. Mislim da Božić i vrijeme blagdana pridonose tome. Osobno čim vidim božične dekoracije, osjećam da je stigla zima. Ne da se žalim. Nekad sam bila djevojka koja ne voli zimu. Jesen je bila u redu, ali zima je bila nešto što se moralo preživjeti. Više ne mislim tako. Veselim se zimi. Posebno sunčanim zimskim danima. Veliki sam obožavatelj istih. Ti dani kada se planine čine samo korak udaljene. Ti dani kada se sve čini mirno i savršeno. Gledate li pažljivo, vidjet ćete ljepotu u svakome godišnjem dobu. Trebalo mi je dugo da zavolim zimu, ali sada sam baš ljubitelj.

 One more thing I learned. Unless you live in an extremely harsh climate, being cold is optional. I mean if you dress appropriately, you shouldn’t be cold even when outside’s temperature is close to zero. It is all about the layers and keeping most of your body well covered. I usually pay most attention to dressing extra warmly if I'm going to go out in the morning or in the evening because it  is when  it can get quite cold. However, if I'm going out around noon (and that is usually the time when me and my husband meet in town or go out for a coffee date – I know the worst time to take photos but well….) I tend to dress warmly but not extremely so. The reason for this is that Mostar is a town with a high number of sunny days. Don’t believe the rumors that Mostar is the city of rains. It is true, however, that once it starts raining, it can rain for a few days- but Mostar is far from a rainy city. Anyway, even in Winter we often get a lot of sun. I'm in Split quite often as well and the climate there is even more mild. Anyhow, with so much sun, I feel like I don't need to pile tons of clothes on myself. I just make sure I'm using the layers correctly.

Još jednu stvar sam naučila. Osim ako ne živite u ekstremno oštroj klimi, hladoća ne mora biti vaš izbor. Mislim ako se odijenete kako treba, ne bi vam trebalo biti hladno čak ni kada su vanske temperature blizu nule. Sve se svodi na slojeve odjeće i na to da vam većina tijela bude dobro pokrivena. Ja obično obratim najviše pažnje posebno toplom odijevanju kada izlazim ujutro ili navečer jer je to kada zna biti poprilično hladno. No, ako izlazim ko podne (a to je obično kada se muž i ja nalazimo u gradu ili izlazimo na kavu- znam da je to najgore vrijeme za fotografiranje, ali eto:)) onda se oblačim toplo, ali bez pretjerivanja. Razlog je što je Mostar grad s velikim brojem sunčanim dana. Ne vjerujte glasinama da je Mostar grad kiše. Istina je da kada počne padati kiša zna potrajati nekoliko dana- ali ipak daleko je on od kišnoga grada. Uglavnom, čak i zimi ovdje ima dosta sunca. Često sam i u Splitu, a klima tamo je još blaža. Tako da, s toliko sunca nemam potrebu da stavljam tonu odjeće na sebe, samo se trudim da se pravilno slojevito odijevam. 

For example, here I'm wearing high heels as opposed to boots. I paired them with thick tights and I felt warm enough. If I were to go out in the evening (provided that I planned to spent time outdoors), I would have probably worn boots. Naturally, if I was very cold, I would try to add additional layer (for example leg warmers), wear a longer coat or something of the sort. Here I wore a short coat but underneath it I wore a really thick sweater over a dress. I also wore a tie! I actually love ties. I'm not sure why I don't wear them more often. I suppose we all forget to wear things we like sometimes. That is why keeping a fashion blog is practical, you can always look at your old photos and remember something you used to like. But I guess that nowadays one doesn’t need a blog for that. After all, we live in an age of digital photography. Well, looking back at my digital photos I was reminded that I like wearing ties. You might thing that Winter is not the perfect time to do so, but I think it is. I mean a button up shirt and a tie are as a good protection against the cold as a turtleneck or a sweater. If you have a low tolerance to cold like me, you can always wear sweater over your shirt and tie combo. I mean we (or most of us) all love wearing sweaters over shirts, this is just adding another accessory. So, let’s all wear ties more often. Another thing I like is a scarf tied as a tie, but that’s really a variation on a theme, isn’t it?

Na primjer, ovdje nosim visoke pute umjesto čizmi. Iskombinirala sam ih s debelim najlonkama i bilo mi je dovoljno toplo. Da sam izlazila navečer ( i imala na umu biti na otvorenom), vjerovatno bi nosila čizme. Naravno, da mi je bilo jako hladno, dodala bi još dodatni sloj (npr. grijače za noge), nosila dugi kaput ili nešto slično. Ovdje sam nosila kratki kaput, ali ispod njega sam nosila debeli džemper preko haljina. Također sam nosila i kravatu. Ja zapravo volim kravate. Nisam sigurna zašto ih ne nosim češće. Zato je praktično imati modni blog, možete uvijek gledati stare fotografije i sjetiti se nečega što vam se sviđalo. Pretpostavljam da danas i nije potreban blog za to, ipak živimo u dobu digitalne fotografije. Tako da, gledajući svoje digitalne fotografije, sjetila sam se da volim kravate. Možda mislite da zima nije savršeno vrijeme za to, ali ja mislim da jest. Mislim košulja zakopčana do grla i kravata preko su prilično dobra zaštita protiv hladnoće, ništa lošija od dolčevite ili džempera. Ili ako ste zimogrizni kao ja možete uvijek obući džemper preko košulje i kravate. Mislim svi mi (ili barem većina) volimo nositi džempere preko košulja, tako da je to samo dodavanje još jednoga modnoga dodatka. Nosimo kravate češće. Također volim marame i rupce vezane kao kravate, ali to je zapravo samo varijacija na temu, zar ne?

The origins of tie (or necktie) is linked with a crack regiment of Croatian military, but it was a French king who made it so popular. Its military origin is nothing unusual, most fashion of that time was connected with military attire. If we go really back in time to 210 BC when the first emperor of China died and have look at his terracota soldiers that were buried with him, we can notice that these sculptures have something tied around that neck, what exactly we cannot be sure, but it might have been a piece of cloth. Unfortunately we can't know for sure, based only on the sculptures and we don't have any historical findings that would support this possibility. It seemed worth a mention, though. Let's get back to the topic of first known mention of ties. The first time that Croatian's ties caught the attraction of the French was when in 1635 a regiment of Croatian army came to Paris to support the French king Louis XIII. Their ties were made from different materials, the ordinary soldiers had ties made from common materials and the officers had silk ties. However, all the ties were hand painted and decorated with embroidery. Many of the soldiers from the regiment stayed in the king service. In any case, that is how the tie came to France. 

Podrijetlo kravate je vezano uz istaknut odred hrvatske vojsku, ali je zapravo jedan francuski kralj zaslužan za njenu popularnost. Njeno vojno podrijetlo nije neobično, većina muške mode toga doba bila je povezana s vojnim odorama. Zapravo ako ćemo se vratiti doista daleko u povijest, u 210. prije Krista kada je umro prvi kineski car i pogledati njegove vojnike od terracote koji su pokopani sa njim, možemo primjetiti da imaju nešto oko vrata i iako nije moguće vidjeti točno što, može se pretpostaviti da je bila nekakva tkanina. No, nažalost ne možemo znati točno samo na primjeru kipova, a nalazi iz Kine nisu nikad potvrdili neki slični odjevni komad. No, vrijedilo je to spomenuti. Vratimo se na temu prvoga spomena kravate. Prvi put kada je kravata zapala za oko Francuzima bilo je 1635. kada je pukovnija hrvatske vojske došla u Pariz dati potporu francuskome kralju Luju XIII. Kravate ove hrvatske pukovnije su se razlikovale po tome što su obični vojnici imali kravate od običnih materijala, dok su časnici imali svilene kravate. No, sve su kravate bile rukom oslikane i ukrašene vezom. Dosta članova pukovnije je ostalo u službi kralja kao plaćeni vojnici. U svakom slučaju,  tako je kravata stigla u Francusku. 

The French named it (what we know as tie today) a cravat (origin of this word either a phrase they used -à la croate- meaning in the style of Croats or maybe just their word for Croats).  As I said, a  necktie ( a tied scarf worn around the neck) was a part of the uniform of some Croatian soldiers. The next time tie is mentioned is when one Croatian regiment caught the eye of the boy king Louis XVI. The Sun King was quite a stylish man, I'm sure that many fashionistas would be surprised to know how many things we like today were made popular by him. For example, it was his signature style to wear scarlet heels. If you don’t believe me, look at his historical portrayals. Louis Louboutin suddenly doesn’t look that original, right? Back then in the time of the Sun King, only men wore heels. Funny how things change, right? Anyway, even back when Louis XVI was still a boy king he must have known what he liked, because he started wearing a cravat when he was seven years old and thus started a fashion among royalty and nobles. The Parisians took notice of it and started to wear ties themselves. The English took to it soon after and this item of clothing grew in popularity. The rest is history. Nowadays, ties are an essential part of formal and business wear. Moreover, they are popular in casual wear as well. There are many ways to style a tie. How do you like mine? 

 Francuzi su onome što danas znamo kao kravatu dali ime cravat, podrijetlo ove riječi je francuski izraz à la croate koji bi se dao prevesti kao - u stilu hrvata, a možda dolazi i od same francuske riječi za hrvate. Kao što sam rekla, kravata (zavezani rubac oko vrata) je bio dio uniforme nekih hrvatskih vojnika. Drugi put kada se spominje kravata je kada je hrvatska uniforma zapala za oko kralju Luju XVI. Kralj sunce je bio čovjek s ukusom, vjerujem da bi iznenadilo brojne ljubitelje mode da znaju koliko stvari koje danas volimo možemo zahvaliti njemu. Primjerice bio je poznat po tome što je nosio cipele s crvenim potpeticama. Odjednom Louis Louboutin ne izgleda tako posebno, zar ne? U vrijeme kralja Sunca samo su muškarci nosili cipele s potpeticama. Zanimljivo kako se vremena mijenjaju, zar ne? Uglavnom, čak i kada je bio dječak Louis XVI je znao što mu se sviđa jer je kravatu počeo nositi sa sedam godina i tako je započeo modu među plemstvom. Parižani su to primijetili i počeli su je nositi. Englezo su je uskoro preuzeli i tako je ovaj odjevni komad dobio na popularnosti. Ostatak je povijest. Danas su kravate osnovni dio formalnoga i poslovnoga odijevanja. No, one su popularne u ležernom odijevanju. Postoje razni načini za nošenje kravata. Kako vam se sviđa moj?

A portrait of Croatian poet Ivan Gundulić  wearing a tie. This painting dates back to year 1622  which makes it the oldest know portrait of a man wearing a tie.
Portret hrvatskoga pjesnika Ivana Gundulića s kravatom iz 1622. godine, što ga čini najstarijim poznatim portretom čovjeka s kravatom.

coat/kaput: Tally WeiJL,  dress/haljina: modna kuća Uzor, sweater/ džemper: Mana, tie/kravata: vintage, bag/torba: dresslink (it's an old piece, sold out so no link sorry), shoes/cipele: Peko

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