Heartfelt

via The Sartorialist

Blogging (reading and writing) is one simple pleasure of mine. I savor the inspiration I get from viewing other blogs, the piecemeal glimpses it affords into people's lives. Surprisingly, I've found that beginning my day by writing an entry, with cup of coffee in hand as morning streams through the window, is a precious salve.

Lately, I've found more delight (if more could be possible!) from The Sartorialist, who has posted a contest involving vintage photographs. I forget what the prize is, but the crux of this competition is what I enjoy most about blogging, fashion, and fashion blogging: stories of faraway times and places captured in sepia-toned images, dress steeped in memories, and cultural studies filtered through the lens of dress.

The photographs and accompanying stories are heartfelt and inspiring! Take, for example, this picture of a reader's father who lived in St. Petersburg, Russia at a time when jeans, among many other things, were banned and only procured through illegal means (hello, black market). To acquire such a treasure, as the father did, was an act of rebellion, an act of love. You can read the full narrative here.

Also, doesn't the melancholic tint of this picture just capture the spirit of St. Petersburg? Beautiful and tragic, really, in light of the recent bombings in Moscow.