Hole-In-The-Shoulder Tops

During the Easter holidays, I started looking at spring/summer fashion in stores and for some unknown reason, I really got into what I call the 'hole-in-the-shoulder tops'. Maybe it's because I like the look with the sleeves sort of droopy and hanging. It gives the outfit a sort of effortless, casual chic feeling.

One brand which is doing these tops is Zucca.

These (Zucca) tops are so casual and easy to wear. Just throw them on with jeans or denim shorts.

Another brand which is doing this is Vanessa Bruno. The VB ones are of course, more elegant and feminine and less of the jeans-and-t-shirt look than Zucca's. Love the dress on the right.

I think this is the top that got me into this look. Don't the 'sleeves' look like wings? It's style can be casual or smart -makes it kind of suitable for different looks.

Daryl K's Doctored Dress is more of 'hole-in-the-sleeves' dress. I think the black and orange dress (right) is sort of cool, but I've tried it on and the dress is hard to pull off. (That's when I realised I should stop obsessing over this type of tops.)

Now this Ann Demeulemeester tunic is just simple and cool. It has a very effortless vibe. A similar top is the one on the right by Maria Bonita. It feels younger than the Demeulemeester tunic but just not as chic.

And here is how real life people (as opposed to mannequins) wear these tops. Isn't it so cute? And see what I mean by the sleeves dangling down?

Nicole Richie looking very casual chic in one of these tops and shorts. Loves it!

Photo credits: www.a-net.com, www.shopbop.com, www.activeendeavors.com, www.brownsfashion.com, www.vanessabruno.fr, www.net-a-porter.com

Alexander McQueen For Puma SS07

Hey people, my exams are over and I'm back! OK, now most days, I am all about being practical, walking fast and keeping my feet warm (during winter). And even though I love ogling at gorgeous, trendy shoes, the only footwear I have actually been wearing a lot are my tatty, 5 year old, Addidas-lookalike Sketcher sneakers. Said Sketchers are about to break apart any day now and I have started to take notice of the sneakers available around me.

To me, Nike sporty sneakers are my favourite for sports and I don't really like Nike's non-sporty sneakers. I had bad experience with Puma sneakers many years ago and I just couldn't find my ideal pair of Addidas yet. Converse is a bit too flimsy to keep my feet warm during winter and Sketchers are just too sugary for me nowadays.

Luckily on a shopping trip, my mum noticed this cool pair of sneakers and told me to try them on (mums seem to spot pretty things that we don't.) Tada... I finally found a new pair of sneakers! I love how they're sneakers with cool details and a bit of edge, (although I won't be wearing them in the rain until the novelty wears off!) I was slightly surprised because this pair is by Alexander McQueen for Puma and when the AMQ for Puma line first came out a season or two ago, I thought they were ugly.

OK, so ugly isn't the right word. It's just that the last few collections seemed a bit alien-ish. They had funny toe bits (as shown in the picture), which I'm sure is supposed to be avant-garde and all, but it just looked weird to me. Plus I didn't like the colours. (All the pictures in this post is from the SS07 collection.)

I don't like the toe bit here but leather sneakers are way cool and useful.

For those who understand this, McQueen's inspiration quoted from the site: 'For Spring/Summer 2007, the study of anatomy continues through the exploration of body ornamentation with references to the Masai tribe culture.'

This pair is quite pretty, and not as 'designed'-looking as the others too.

Photo credit: http://alexandermcqueen.puma.com

Miss Japan Becomes Miss Universe!

Congratulations Miss Japan!
Congratulations to Riyo Mori for winning the title of Miss Universe 2007. She looked chic and stylish in her Gucci Spring 2007 gown. I'm sure Nina Garcia approved of this dress! Nina looked stylish and elegant herself.

This video was very unfortunate. Rachael Smith never looked comfortable from the start of the contest. I think that the weeks of feeling unwelcome by the Mexican population was weighing on her and our sources tell us that besides being booed at the National Costume Parade and preliminary judging, the booing started from the moment she was introduced at the National Auditorium and reached it's climax when she answered her final question. The fall was unfortunate but what was even more regrettable was the unsportsmanlike attitude of the audience.

Live From Mexico City: Miss Universe 2007!

It's Pageant Time Again!!

Tomorrow (Monday) is the "Miss Universe 2007" pageant and besides being Memorial Day it also means one thing: Get out the Guacamole and chips and Margaritas, it's time to get your score card out and rate those gowns!!!!
But really, because of my sister's involvement in beauty pageants and having designed many "Miss USA" and "Miss Universe" gowns, as well as the gown Nancy O'Dell wore to host last year's telecast, this is my other "Academy Awards"! As you may remember, I went to last year's telecast, which was held in Los Angeles, at the famed Shrine Auditorium. This year, the pageant, is being held in Mexico City, Mexico featuring almost 80 girls from all over the world.

I was going to go for the weekend to "El D.F.", but I was called in for a job assignment over the weekend which ended up being a lot more lucrative. I was hoping to return to Mexico City and visit some family and friends (my sister's ex-husband's family is from there and my nephew and niece were born in Mexico City), but alas, I could not. I was even more disappointed when I found out Olympic Ladies Figure Skater, Michelle Kwan, would be one of the judges for the event. This would have been my chance to "slip in" one of my dresses to her, amongst all her Vera Wang's (Wang is her one and only designer).

Just recently, I had a "double" run-in with Miss Universe, when I attended my friend, Brook Lee's wonderful Baby Shower, thrown by her best friend, comedian Alec Mapa. At the party, all of sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I recognized another guest, former "Miss Universe", the beautiful Justine Pasek , from Panama. Well, I just about died! But of course, I could not show it. I was calm, cool and collected (as much as "Uncle Nick" can be!) We ended up talking for a long time, like old Panamanian girlfriends! Brook almost had to pull us away! She was like "Excuse me! This is MY Baby Shower!" She did tell me that she was on her way to the Mexican capital to judge the preliminaries of the Miss Universe Pageant. I just kept thinking of what my Missologist (pageant experts) friends would think of this moment: Brook Lee, Justine Pasek, and myself; I had to capture it with a photo.

The contestants have been in Mexico City for about a month and last week were the "National Costume" and "Preliminary" Contests. There was a bit of a scandal during the open air Parade of Costumes show, when the gorgeous "Miss USA", donned up as a sexy "Elvis" impersonator(she hails from Tennessee), was booed and jeered by the Mexican audience. Poor girl is getting the brunt of a whole country's feelings towards the US Government and especially its immigration policies. It reminded pageant-watchers of an incident that occurred the last time the "Miss Universe" pageant was held in Mexico City, when the Mexican audience also booed --for an hour--the contestant from the United States. She was continually booed when she made it into the Final 10, during her presentation on bathing suit and evening gown, as well as when she made the Final 5. An entire country looked tacky and "unsportsmanlike". History repeated itself.

Amongst other minor gossip, Jessica Simpson-hairstylist Ken Paves, has declined to appear as a final telecast judge, and was replaced by a Mexican soap-opera actor. Also, former "Miss Universe" Cecilia Boloco from Chile has declined an invitation to Monday night's show. This would have been the year celebrating the 20Th Anniversary of her crowning. Instead she opted to "lay low" as a result of recent scandalous topless photos of her that have appeared in the media showing her having an affair (she is married to the former President of Argentina, Carlos Menem).

But on to more fun stuff: Who are my favorites? Miss Venezuela (of course), Ly Jonaitis. She really is beautiful and will wear a stunning Angel Sanchez gown, designed especially for her. Some say she can "take it all". As long as she shows a "real, more down to earth" side of herself. Miss Venezuela's are known to always be perfect; from the hair to the gown to the surgically-enhanced body. Miss Venezuela is perfect from almost any angle but she can come off as rather robotic and rehearsed. Those savvy international panel of non-pageant watcher judges are looking for "realness"and personality, not necessarily a "pageant Betty". My other favorites include, Miss Korea, Miss Thailand, Miss Guatemala, Miss India, Miss Spain, Miss Dominican Republic, Miss Greece and Miss Japan (she will be wearing Gucci directly from the Milan runways!) Lastly, I am certain that Miss Mexico and Miss USA will also duke it out for that coveted crown. You can go to one of my favorite sites Global Beauties and check out all the contestants and their swimsuits and especially, their gowns. Some are absolutely a mess, and you wonder "what were they thinking?" with slits going up to their cha cha's and way too much whickety wack! While many of the "Top Tier" girls that I mentioned above chose beautiful, elegant and sexy dresses. May the best gown, I mean girl, win!

Pirates of the Caribbean III

One of my most anticipated movies of the year, I very excitedly went to see it the first day it was out. And no, I was not one of those people who went to see it at midnight dressed in Pirate costumes. Although I must say, I did see a few on the streets and the effort put into these costumes is to be commended.

Anyways, onto the movie (and if you don't want to know what happens next- time to stop!). This time it talks about how the crew sails to the World's End to save Captain Jack Sparrow, who got eaten by Davy Jones in the last movie. First they sailed to Singapore to find the Chinese Pirate, Sao Feng (played by Chow Yun-Fat), to get a ship and to steal/get the map to go to the World's End. I'm not sure I like the portrayal of "Chinese" culture here, I've been there and in any century, Singapore is not like that and I don't think they speak Cantonese there. But then again, I guess this movie IS fictional and a lot of things (like immortal squid monster pirates) don't exist.

So they sail to the World's End and saves Jack, who in turn very cleverly leads them back into the real world, where they are accosted by Pirate Sao Feng and people from the East India Company and a whole lot of treachery occurs. So much that I couldn't even keep track. But everything just turns out so perfectly, that one wonders if they (esp Jack's many escapes) planned it or were just spontaneously clever and lucky.

But the basic idea is that Will Turner wants to fight the Flying Dutchman to save his father, who we discovered has gone mentally crazy and all, until the very end.

Meanwhile, Davy Jone's heart lands in the hands of the East India Company and he follows their command, threatening the power of the 9 pirate lords of the sea.

So they all convene to their private lair, Shipwreck something I think, and have a meeting. Here, Captain Barbossa comes back from the dead (first movie) and tries to convince everyone to free the Calipsa, to get the power of the sea back or something.

And Calipsa turns out to be the voodoo woman who seems to know everything from the last movie. Turns out, she's also the reason Davy Jones cut his heart out and everything. Eventually she does get set free, but I don't really see what use it was as she turned into a pile of crabs and created a storm.

Into all this is Elizabeth, who by pure chance, becomes the leader of the Chinese Pirates and the "King" of Pirates by vote. She then declares war to the East India Company and all the other pirates had to heed her. She actually played a really big role in this movie.

Oh and in the heat of battle, she and Will gets married, which I thought was really cute. But then again, marriage with Will (or whatever role Orli is playing) would be cute in any circumstances :PDoesn't he look so handsome and piratey? He SO does not look girly.... I was REALLY sad when he died. I was worried that he'd look like an ugly squid when he turned into the captain of the Flying Dutchman, but luckily he came back and looked handsomer than ever. Just one question, does that mean that after 10 years of doing his duty, he and Elizabeth can live happily ever after should they stick together? Or that they are just doomed to be forever seperated, and Will will remain young forever and Elizabeth will get old and die?

And then of course there is Captain Jack Sparrow himself. Whenever I see him, I can't help but admire the amazing make-up and Johnny Depp's acting. Johnny Depp just looks soooo unlike Captain Jack Sparrow!

Although what was with all the hullucinating of multiple Jack Sparrows? That was kind of weird. And at many points, I didn't know whether to like or hate him, because there were so many betrayals between all the characters that its hard to tell!

Overall the movie was.....very complex. For the whole 2 hr and 45 minutes, we all just sat there trying to follow and figure out what is happening. And to be honest, 3 hours after watching the movie, I still haven't quite figured everything out. Like, what is the point of freeing the Calipsa? And why do they even bother fighting against the Flying Dutchman? They're immortal! Their ship won't sink and their crew can't die. But I did so love all the little funny bits. Like the adorable monkey, the get up of the french and chinese woman pirate lord and everything that Jack said!

I'm surprised to hear that there may be a fourth one coming out.....I think its better to stop at three before it feels too much like they're trying to make a movie out of nothing.

Ugly Betty Season 1 Finale

One of the hottest tv shows this season, the finale was last Thursday. And boy, has a LOT happened since its premier- I don't even know where to start! But I shall try, so if you don't want to know what happens- don't scroll down!

Based at the head of the fashion industry, Mode Magazine, the main character is ironically the most unfashionable person one can imagine- Betty Saurez. At first, I thought it was a sort of spinoff of Devil Wears Prada and so have been waiting for a magical transformation since the premier. But no, despite temptations of the wardrobe sale and being best friends with the wadrobe manager, Christina, Betty has stuck to her true self, unfashionable self- and you know what? I think it actually grows on you, its quite endearing. And if you look carefully, her completely awful looking outfits are actually very coordinated!

Relationship-wise, she started off dating Walter who works at a place similar to Best Buys and at first dumped her for another girl and then came crawling back to her. He tried to fit into Betty's new "Mode" life, but alas, they didn't work out. Meanwhile, there was Henry the accountant, who is just SO sweet, I was totally vouching for him and gave a WHOOP when Betty dumped Walter. But then comes a Charlie and messes things up. ARGH. I'm so frustrated for Betty. They're MADE for each other.

Family-wise, Betty lives with her sister Hilda, her nephew Justin and her father Ignacio. Justin is AWESOME. I love him. I just love how he's even more excited and knowledgeable about Betty's job than she is, and he's not afraid to be himself and all even if it means not fitting in. Plus, his acting antics are just great. And unlike Betty, her sister Hilda (Justin's mother) is a beauty queen. Drama occurs between her and her son's father, Santos. And just when things were about to go right, it gets messed up with a blast. Part of me feels really bad for Hilda and Justin, but the other part realises that if things went happily ever after, what else would the writers write about next season?

And then there is her father, whose status as an illegal immigrant becomes known and the family goes through a spam lawyer and a crazy psychotic immigrant worker (Constance) who tried to marry him to get him legal residency. But alas, he ends up back in Mexico, where I predict his past is going to come back and haunt him next season. (And I think we are going to see that guy who Hilda sat with while everyone went to the little blue house, a LOT more).

Work wise, this is Betty's boss Daniel Meade. The heir to the Meade publications empire and playboy. But with Betty's help, we eventually see his serious side and see that his activities is just a result of all the pressure he faces. He just looks so cute and lost that I feel sorry for him!
First he falls in love with Sofia, an up and coming magazine editor, who was out to con him from the start for a story to launch her magazine, hiring a stripper to pretend to be the perfect boyfriend and all.

Then, just when he gets over that embarassment, the scary bunched up woman in the institution thingy turns out to be Daniel's brother, Alex, who they all thought was dead. Turned out, he just went to get a sex change. And indeed, Rebecca Romijn, is starting to look manly to me. She comes back with a vengeance because her father wouldn't accept his/her sexual preference and fights with Daniel and all. But towards the end, I think all conflict is resolved and the bonds of brotherhood holds. Although I wonder what happens.....

And then there was that whole thing about Fey Summers, Bradford Meade's ex mistress and ex Editor in Chief of Mode. All this time, they made us think that Fey Summers was not dead, with Bradford sneaking around and everything. Very clever. And then there was Claire Meade. At first she seemed like an unimportant victim in this whole story, but in the end, Who knew she had so much in her? And I don't understand? What is with men and feet fetish? Its just that I've been seeing this fetish a lot on TV shows lately. First in Sex and the City, then in Dirt and now in Ugly Betty. What is with feet that would make you cheat on your wife and blind your good judgment?

Then there is WIlhemina Slater, the creative director of Mode, and has been plotting all season to get her hands on the throne as Editor in Chief of mode. At first I thought she was just a pawn under another mastermind- the masked woman who turns out to be Alex, but turns out, she's a woman of her own. But you got to admire her determination to succeed and devotion to the industry.

Although we're reminded of her good side, through her failed relationship with that Texas guy, her daughter and her assistant- she DID swap her wedding date to have him back. Its hard to decide whether I hate or love her. And for a woman her age, how chic are those outfits she wears?

And into all this, there is Mark the assistant and Amanda the receptionist. I just LOVE the two of them, their antics and the things they say are hilarious.
I especially love Amanda because out of this whole "fashion" industry show, her outfits are the cutest and chic-est that is close to our age. Plus, the two of them do have their own little side story, and it seems that Amanda will play an even larger role next season.

Overall, as much as I love this show, I think the quality has gone down since the first few episodes. WAY too much have gone on that its starting to get slightly ridiculous. I miss those episodes where something goes wrong, and Betty comes in and saves the day. Perhaps it will get better again next season?

Wow, I just wrote a whole essay on Ugly Betty....if only school papers were so easily written!

SS07: Neon Bright Colors on the Runway

In case you've been in the dark this season, neon bright colors are back. My first reaction to this trend? Eww. . . Having been raised in the 90's, I was taught that neon colors were a fashion faux pas and I've always wondered what my mom was thinking when she bought that electric blue top now sitting in the back of her wardrobe.

Turns out, she just had incredible fashion foresight. Neon colors appeared everywhere on the runway this season in sync with the futuristic look also making a come back. It most prominently dominated Christopher Kane's collection. Electric blue, bright yellow...

...lime green, bright red, you name it!

Slightly less futuristic in design, Jil Sander has an equally vibrant collection in eletric blue, green..

and hot pink. It really adds a punch to the typically simple Jil Sander designs. And something a bit flirtier, we have this hot pink dress from Costume National.
Another funky yellow dress, this one is from Preen. And although not my favourite shade of green, I like how D Squared2 matched this bright green cropped blazer (?) with a sporty bottom.

Personally I am still having trouble adjusting to such glaring shades. Hence I prefer the tamer side of this color palette, such as this electric/royal blue shade on the Belstaff and Julien MacDonald runway.
And of course, there is my favourite color of all time, purple. Even electric purple. The color is just so rich, striking and flattering to most skin tones! I'm loving these two shades on the Gucci and Prada runway.

Photo Credit: Elle.com