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Haute Houghton // A Visual Diary

You guys, I go to events now. Proper ones. Tell your friends.

Seriously though, I don’t know what took me so long to drink the 3-day koolaid. I blame Canada maybe (get it? GET IT?) for not having what one might describe as a ton of eventing, not in my areas anyway, or perhaps I wasn’t looking hard enough/always at Spruce Meadows. At any rate, I attended my first, count it, numero uno, event this past weekend, at the Houghton International Horse Trials. Houghton is part of The Shearwater Insurance Tri Star Grand Slam, hosts the Askham Bryan U21 National Championships, as well as claims the the only British leg of the FEI Nations Cup. This seemed an appropriate starting point in my event experiences, as I fully believe one should, at all times, go big or go home, and Houghton certainly

does not go home.

I loved a lot of aspects of Houghton; there’s a ton of classes to watch, a vintage fair, tons of shopping, and everyone brings their doggos. I brought mine so I could blend in, and I auto-love anywhere I get to pet doggos at, so I was already fully sold before I set off on to watch the cross country phase of the CCI*, CCI** and CCIYR** on Saturday, but once I did, I was converted fully. Like, I now think that leg grease has a noble sort of Braveheart vibe to it, and that body protectors look sporty. I’m a changed woman.

I gotta say to anyone who has not gone to watch a cross country phase: go. Go now. It’s so so lovely. It was my favourite. It’s the best country stroll of your life. You will be so close to the track you feel involved in riding it. You will cheer. You will be in awe. You can bring the pup. You can wear Dubarrys with white jeans and not feel weird. You can bring a picnic. You can lay under a big oak and take a 2 pm siesta. It’s absolutely the best weekend activity. Go now, and pick me up on the way. We can coordinate our outfits.

No truer love: an Ode to Greige

You guys. I am the most amped to inform y’all that I’m working on the coolest projects of all time right now. Bomb ass projects, if you will, of the currently-secret-but-soon-to-be-substantially-less-so variety. Hint: they require swatches and mood boards, and I ain’t getting married (been there, done that, no t-shirt to show for it but I did get a hangover). More to come on this, but meanwhiles- me have an obsession.

I have developed some strong, strong feels about the new neutral, greige, and here is the fudge why: IT’S THE GREATEST STABLE-FRIENDLY COLOR OF ALL TIME. Seriously. Think on this. Black or navy shows dust. White and beige show everything (including the cellulite we totally don’t have). But GREIGE… greige is the money shot of equestrian dressing, and it’s trendy as what right now. Naturally I processed this revelation in the healthiest way possible, and immediately updated my wardrobe with some Horse Pilot X-Balance breeches in light grey, a dolphin grey washable suede bomber (let’s get serial I need washable everything for civilian life, don’t even get me started on barn life, also bombers are everything right now), and a handful of grey and taupe t’s to cycle through. Is my life better for it? Yes. Absolutely. Yours can be, too. And it’s super simple bc there’s literally an unending variety of shades to choose from and mix into a little capsule wardrobe. It can also be adapted to suit everyone’s coloring, unlike some color specific trends that just don’t jive with everyone.

The key is picking the right shades- not only to go together, but to complement your coloring. I can already hear someone going off in their indoor voice about how petty that sounds, and Imma let you finish, but it’s a real thing that actually helps, and it’s not my opinion or invention or anything, k? IT’S A REAL THING, like picking foundation with the right undertones. After fit, color is the most important factor in how flattering a garment will be on you. Write that down. Remember it always. Clothing foundation. Don’t be that girl with the jawline stripe. Be the girl with the seamless af dewy model thing going on. Sermon over.

There are literally hundreds of articles online on how to determine your coloring, but here is the most basic of summed-up explanations:

There are three undertones: warm, cool, and neutral.
If you have warm undertones, your skin will have a peachy, yellow, or golden hue, and look best in earthy neutrals (brown-cream spectrum) and warm, muted colors, and wear yellow gold well. If you’re cool, your skin will lean towards pink, red, or blue, and you tend to look best in bright jewel tones, or cool neutrals (white, black, grey), and wear silver or white gold well. If you’re neutral, you have a mixture, and can play for both teams. Get your mind out of the gutter.
If you have blue, grey, or green eyes with platinum blonde, brown, or black hair- you’re probably cool toned. Warm toners tend to have brown or hazel eyes with strawberry blonde or auburn hair. Samesies if you dye your hair- if you always go towards colors that say ‘ash’ or ‘platinum’, you’re cool. Colors that feature ‘golden’ or ‘mahogany’ are warm.

BONUS POINTS: you can work this with black OR brown boots/helmet, depending on your undertones, which anyone who knows me will understand how deeply this resonates with me. #Icantpick #Ihaveboth #sosueme

I’m setting you up with a little inspo sesh below, including a little helper chart on similar greige’s in different tones. Get amongst it!

xx // Stefania

Royal Windsor Preview

Show: The Royal Windsor Horse Show

Stats: Held annually since 1943 on the Crown Estate currently known as Home Park at Windsor, Berkshire, England.

Reasons to freak out: Ben Maher’s Cella will be making her comeback. Also, Ben Maher, generally. Also the only show in the UK to have all the sports, and by that we mean dressage, showjumping, endurance and driving.

Things we plan on doing: Champagne; wearing all our sunhats because it’s actually supposed to maybe not rain constantly; pretending to not fangirl completely out whenever Cella is out; lying about how many ice creams we’ve had.

Current style vibes: Red breeches, light cashmere, aviators always, brogues because sass.