Last weekend in Modena there was the FestivalFilosofia, 3 days dedicated to philosophy, which I've blogged about before here! This is a yearly event that has become a massive tourist attraction for the city, which is incredible when you think about it because the main events are public lectures.
The city is filled with tourists from all over Europe that come to listen to some of the world's greatest thinkers, educators, authors and activists. The organizers take great care not to take the focus away from the speakers, and although there are events for kids, live music and exhibitions, everything remains connected to the theme and is very tastefully done. There are no gimmicks or things for sale aside from books and the idea is similar to TEDtalks.
This year's theme was "ereditare"- to inherit and the few lectures we made it to were really interesting. Plus, this is the first time in two years we've actually been able to listen to long lectures because the little man is totally fine watching cartoons with headphones and a lollipop while we discuss Akhenaten and Monotheism or the Greek debt crisis!
Inheritance
In Canada, people my age don't plan out their lives according to their inheritance, but in Italy it is an ever-present theme. The idea that your parent's house will become your house, that your grandparent's house will go to your parents, that so and so's aunt died and left so and so a large piece of land.....and so on and so forth.
People talk about their inheritance with a great deal of entitlement as though it is their God given right to "get something" for being someone's heir. Even my husband always talks about why he wants to stop having kids...."if we have too many they'll need to share their inheritance!" I actually find this kind of funny, I mean, it's not like we're the Hiltons! Language is the manifestation of culture, and if people in Canada continually talk about their mortgages and retirement funds, to me that means they have a lot of hope for the future. Hope that they'll be able to pay off a mortgage and confidence that they'll be able to retire with a nestegg. On the flipside, Italians, in general, live with fear, that without their inheritance they won't have anything.
What I Wore - 80s Denim from SheIn
I was contacted a few weeks back by the online store SheIn and asked to review any item of my choice. This wasn't the first time I had ever heard of SheIn, they are an online only store that seems to be based in China, and from what I can gather they are a manufacturer turned brand. Indeed, you can even become a wholesale seller of the SheIn styles. On the website you'll want to keep your eyes open for their "Exclusive styles" which are only available through them.
I really have to share a few reflections on this experience because not only are their clothes VERY reasonably priced, infact you could even call them downright cheap, they are well-made and there is NO DUTY on international orders! Not only that....but I did some investigating and I found a lot of the styles that were on the SheIn website were the SAME, I mean the as a few of the styles on some of my favorite online retailer's sites, only the other stores were almost double in price. So that got me to thinking, "if you're going to buy... at least buy direct!"
Really. If you are a fashionable woman on a budget you will love this website for all things trendy. I'm really happy with this jean jacket, which can be found here and is currently on sale for $24.90. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen me style it yesterday for a Parisian inspired look.
I should say that although the image on the SheIn site has the buttons done up, this jacket does not actually button up as the button holes are "fantom" holes, meaning they are stitched closed. This actually doesn't bother me because I love wearing this open and over my shoulders.
I paired it with an H&M striped t-shirt, Zara boyfriend jeans, this leather George J. Love bucket bag and these new soft leather booties.
It was really nice of SheIn to give me this jacket to review and also not nice that I'm now addicted to their website!! Oh dear, expect a few more SheIn posts on the blog!
Hello Again
I just wanted to end this post by saying HELLO AGAIN EVERYONE!!! At the beginning of the summer I decided to really cut back on how much time I was spending on the blog, on commenting and online in general. My son had just been diagnosed with something, which I'll get to in another post and life became intense and full. I also wanted to be present in his life and not in front of a computer since we are together for 12 hours a day, plus we went away a lot this summer and I finally got a chance to spend time with some of my family.
But now.
Now it is OCTOBER and today is his first full day of school. As of next week I will be back to featuring bloggers from the linkup, tweeting out links and starting on collaborations, thanks to all of you who have made an effort to maintain our friendship and I cannot wait to repay you with the attention and support that you deserve. I'm so happy I discovered blogging, my life was missing this outlet and I'm thankful for a husband and situation that is keeping this opportunity knocking at the door.
Now onto YOUR style...#REASONSTODRESS Street Style Linkup
RULES OF THE LINKUP:
#reasonstodress is a linkup intended to inspire everyone to get dressed up & OUT OF THE HOUSE!
Join in by:
- Adding the URL to an outfit post an Instagram photo tagged #reasonstodress
- Follow @reasonstodress & let me know if you'd like me to follow you back, this is about community after all
- Leave a comment, I'd love to visit your blog and return the kind gesture
- Let people know that you've linked up by mentioning Reasonstodress.com on your blog
Feel free to use the #reasonstodress hashtag when sharing your outfits on twitter & I will retweet you!
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