SS08: The "IT" Shoes

The other day when I was at the hair salon flicking through Vogue, I came across what they claimed to be the new "it" shoe this season- these Etro sandals below.
The term "it" shoes is apt. Cousin IT shoes that is. First Prada had these fringe things all over the place SS07, and now these shoes. Gladiator sandals with fringe piled on, I really don't see the attraction. They kind of look like sandals pretending to be boots or the other way around. Just not quite right.
No matter how they matched it on the Etro runway, there MUST be other better footwear out there to match these cute printed outfits. More simpler sandals perhaps? Heels? Barefoot??? Just when I thought perhaps it was just a one off random thing, I see the exact likeness on the Zara display window. For a moment I worried that this will become a prominent feature in daily fashion (it IS Zara after all). However, HG has convinced me that this is just one of those fashion items that are picked to featured to look cool (I don't know where they get these ideas from) but not really meant for mass consumption- or so I hope. Fingers crossed!

I mean, would YOU wear this????

Image Source: Elle.com

The Cult of the Luxury Brand

I love book shopping. Strolling leisurely along the aisles with rows and rows of books, you never know what treasures you might come across. Some of my best discoveries have been books that had randomly caught my eye. I like to think its fate. This is probably why I love book shopping. But anyway, my latest treasure has been, "The Cult of the Luxury Brand," by Radha Chadha and Paul Husband. I'm sure you can imagine why it might have caught my attention.... This book focuses on the cult of the luxury brand in Asia, which takes up 37% of the $80bn USD global luxury brand market, while Europe and US only take up 35% and 24% respectively. I think in this case, "cult" is definitely the right word. Living in one of the centers of this phenomenon, and admittedly to most degrees being part of it, I've always wonder why we behave the way we do. And as much as I wince at being labeled as part of the luxury glutton society, I must say, Chadha and Husband comes up with some intriguingly insightful points.

Their main thesis is that "luxury brands are a modern set of symbols that Asians are wearing to redefine their identity and social position," which I guess for the most part is true, but that is kind of obvious. Here are a few other points which I thought were interesting:

• The Spread of Luxury model, where they split the luxury evolution in Asia to 5 stages: Subjugation, Start of Money, Show Off, Fit In and Way of life. I think they are all pretty self explanatory and pretty accurate
• The single parasites is the group of young women aged 20-35 in Asia who are still living at home with their parents. Since they do not have to pay for rent etc, they have a larger disposable income to spend on luxury goods- which they do in hoards!
• One of the reasons that luxury consumption is so big in Japan is because while the Western culture celebrates individuality, the Japanese culture (and indeed most Asian cultures ) places great emphasis on conformity and fitting in. So when the majority of people wear luxury brands, the rest of the people need to wear it too. That is probably why 94% of Japanese woman in their 20s own a Louis Vuitton
  
• In Tokyo (and other small cities I suppose), because the apartments are so small and expensive, it is difficult to show off wealth and success. And so people have turned to luxury brands as the best way to display their success- by literally wearing it!
  
• For the Chinese, their love for brands stems from their Confucius roots, which places a lot of importance on "family face." And so, today Chinese see luxury brands as a way to show "face" and signify their success
  
• In Hong Kong, luxe consumption has been adopted as the central ideology. Making money and blowing it on the luxuries of life is the one thing that the people are clear about, while on everything else, from politics, culture to patriotism, ambiguity reigns. Coming from Hong Kong, I must say, I totally agree
• In Korea, there is a clash between their love for luxe (Burberry is apparently the Korean word for trench coat!) and their culture. Luxe consumption is seen as "sinful" since frugality and moderation is very big in their culture. Additionally, nationalism is also very big and so wearing imported goods is also frowned upon. No wonder Koreans typically dress in more subtle designer brands (those I know anyway)!
  

These are just some of the more interesting points that I remember off hand. At this point, I'd usually expend on how awesome this book is and how much I love it. But I find that this time, I cannot quite do that because I am still unsure about my feelings towards this book. On one hand, I thought it made some very clever, valid and insightful points about this phenomena. But on the other, I felt that it made the consumers caught in the heat of this phenomena sound like a bunch of fools continuously chasing after greater materialism trying to fit in and outdo each other at the same time. Maybe they were just writing it as it is and I just took it too personally because I admit that despite being fully aware of this materialistic path I am taking, I am still part of this phenomenon. Maybe the truth is just hard for me to accept, when put down so matter-of-factly. But I still cannot help but feel defensive. Now you can see why I feel so unsure about this book.

Image Source: Cult of the Luxury Brand

outfit: first day of spring

Today it's really nice and warm...just one of those sunny first days of spring when you can really enjoy life and be happy. I took the picture in our garden, one of the first blossoms.

Sweater & T-Shirt from Monki, Cheap Monday Jeans and Vagabond biker boots.

kaffesugen

...drinking a cup of coffee <3 and listening to Cat Power...so good!

Kate Moss for Yves Saint Laurent

"She is one of the highest paid models in the world. She creates huge public interest that can shift serious units of fashion products. And she is looking better than she has in quite some time.

So it's little wonder Stefano Pilati - creative director of Yves Saint Laurent - chose Kate Moss to appear in the fashion house's spring/summer advertising campaign.

What is slightly bewildering is why he decided to obscure Moss's famous face with door-writing in the majority of the 18 shots."

"This collection was focused around iconographies," Pilati said. "And in fashion, Kate Moss is one of the great icons. I am particularly drawn to her versatility as a model, and of course to her timeless beauty."

How Not To Wear Colour Leggings

First off I must confess I haven't worn colour leggings myself before. I am simply not creative or bothered enough to actually buy them and do the whole mixing and matching thing with the rest of the outfit. Hypothetically, if I were to wear colour leggings, I would probably just do it the boring and simple way: colour leggings with a casual black dress like in the picture above. And yes, I know it's spring now and leggings is more of a F/W thing, but I thought I would share some of my observations here.

As the title suggests, these are my observations of how not to wear colour leggings/tights. A few weeks ago, I saw someone on the streets wearing something like this:

A bright yellow tee (way brighter than the tee in this image,) a green, half-length trenchcoat, a flowery skirt (very popular in UK highstreet stores this season) and bright, solid red leggings. OK, so obviously I am not a colourful dresser, but I'm usually pretty open minded about style. Now I'm not criticising this girl's outfit exactly (-I'm all for personal style), but I do think that she went overboard with the colours. Wearing solid green on the top (the coat) and solid red at the bottom (the leggings) just does not look cool, arguably except for Christmas day. If you wear colour leggings, please refrain from wearing ten million other colours. Really, colour leggings are colourful themselves already.

And just yesterday, I saw a women who looked at least 45 yrs old wearing shorts and bright red leggings. I'm not actually sure of her age, but she certainly didn't look that young from afar. Sure, colour leggings are fun, but isn't it something that is more for younger women? Is it wrong for me to think the maximum age that anyone should wear these colour leggings is 30? And I don't mean to discriminate against age, but I just really believe in dressing suitably for one's age.

There you go: just a bit of how not to on colour leggings. What are your thoughts on my two points?

Image source: www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk, www.topshop.com

Lucky day..

I guess today is my lucky day. I won tickets for a Mando Diao show this Saturday including a 'meet and greet' with the band!! I didn't plan to attend the concert as the tickets were a bit expensive and I'm not too fond of the venue. Plus I've seen them before.
I would've never expected to win the contest..it's not like I ever win anything..haha. Well, guess I got lucky this time.

I'm really excited for Saturday now but to be honest I really don't know what to expect from the 'meet and greet'. I mean what exactly do you say? I don't have anything to tell them..haha. It's great anyway and I'm sure I'll have a blast.

Toywatch

Now I'm not one for watches really. In fact, I haven't worn one since I grew out of Swatch and cannot quite afford a Cartier yet. Also I secretly think that I might have been so spoilt by the digital clock on my mobile that I now find it hard to read analogs. But I'm not quite ready to admit that to myself yet. But anyway, despite all that, my interest was peaked the other day when my cousin mentioned that he wanted to get a Toywatch- especially when I found out that it can be found within the stylish walls of Lane Crawford. So I decided to take a look.
For those unfamiliar, Toywatch are known for their lightweight, over sized plastic watches. I was pleasantly surprised by the designs. They are simple and elegant, with just the right amount of fun in the colors and the clear plastic material. I love the colors and designs of the two above. Priced at around $200USD each, they are great a great accessory to match your outfits with. If I was the watch wearing type and had resources to spare (one can always dream), I'd totally get a few!
Besides those fun ones, they also have ones that kind of resemble more classic designs. Like this white plastic one (left) from the Plasteramic collection, which is designed to look like those oh-so-sought-after ceramic watches but is not. And the one on the right looks remarkably like all those watches that I would describe as "elegant, feminine and delicate" from various luxury watch brands.
Naturally, in this day of super luxing everything, even a brand called Toywatch has a super luxe line. They have it in the form of this black ceramic collection (left). Now this is actually ceramic and not plastic pretending to be ceramic. The design is very elegant and sleek looking. Priced at $1500, its not bad for a ceramic watch- if only it didn't so resemble the J12 Chanel watches (right), which are priced at 5 times that price. Now it just looks like a ceramic watch pretending to be a J12. Not that there is anything wrong with that, Zara does it all the time, but this one is not even cheap! Personally, if I was going to fork out $1500 for a ceramic watch, I'd rather save up longer and get the original one.

Image Source: ToyWatch and Chanel

Checking Out H&M Spring 2008

I've been seeing this H&M print ad everywhere I go, mainly on billboards and in magazines, in London and Hong Kong. I feel like I'm being chased after by this pretty yellow image of Raquel and a wall of flowers telling me that: a) it's Spring! b) Wear yellow! c) Go shop at H&M now! After stalking H&M's website for awhile, they've finally updated their website last week with some of their Spring's offering.

The instant I saw this colour-block, T-shirt dress in the campaign image (worn by Raquel -not this image but the same dress,) I thought, wow, I really want this! It's such an easy, summer casual dress. I love the colour blocks of black, pink and orange together. It's just the splash of colour that I've been wanting in my wardrobe, and since I'm not bothered or creative enough to actually buy seperate colourful pieces and match them together, it's so nice to have the crazy colours put together in one dress in a stylish, easy-to-wear way.

So the next day (last Thur,) I rushed to an H&M store to check out the dress and they only had one size left, and of course it wasn't my size. It is so hard for me to actually find something I want from H&M (or from any store) and it was sold out -I was SO disappointed! It was even sadder when I found out that the dress is seriously affordable -it costs only about 199HKD (=26USD.) I am a bit annoyed that the H&M store was displaying this dress at the display windows when they hardly had any sizes or stock left. I always thought H&M was all about the volume business so I just assumed they'd always have sizes available. Obviously I was wrong. Lesson of the day: Check out these stores more frequently!

The other thing I liked on the website was this bright pink, silk-material-looking dress. It looks perfect for a night out, and since it's not expensive, I wouldn't feel bad if someone spilled drinks on it or if the place was smoky. Alas, they were also out of my size.

As for this red and white flowery top, it's not that I particularly like or dislike it. I thought I would post it up here because I swear I keep seeing people on the streets wearing it! And when I was browsing through a few online stores, I saw something very similar by Marc by Marc Jacobs. So expect to see a lot of red and white flowery tops near you this summer!

Have you checked out H&M's Spring's clothes yet? What do you think of the clothes?

Image source: www.hm.com/gb (Note that the prices are in Pounds.)

Outfit: my friend's birthday party

^ the birthday girl <3


Two more pictures at a club, later that night: bad picture 1; bad picture 2
I wore a Mango cardigan and clutch, H&M belt and skirt, a Topshop top and my banana heeled pumps I got in Stockholm.

Fruit Salad Fashion Style

Yet Another Black Blazer

Two years ago when I bought my fitted Juicy black blazer with velvet lapels, I thought I was done with this staple. One good quality one is all I thought I'd need. But then this other black blazer popped up on the rack and it had gorgeous silk mini ruffles on the neck collar and black subtle pinstripes AND it was 70% off. I couldn't resist. Then this summer, there was this super fitted dark gray (with a hint of sparkle), 3/4 sleeved blazer with this to die for fancy double layered collar thing also on sale- I had to have it. So really, one can reasonably conclude that I've reached my quota for black blazers. For the record, I have had great mileages for all of them- so they were all completely worth it. Unfortunately recently, I find my eyes wandering again in the black blazer arena.......
While I have enough sharply fitted blazers that stops flatteringly at the waist, I don't have any more loosely shaped blazers that stops at the lower waist. And thus I cannot achieve the totally casual chic look shown above by the Stella McCartney blazer (left) and the Paul & Joe blazer (right) with the sleeves scrunched up. Loosely fitted yet tailored they are the perfect compliment to the more loosely fitted styles that is the trend of late. I saw Heidi Klum wear such a blazer over a cute dress on Project Runway this season (or I thought I did, since I looked back and could not find it!), and thought, wow I need one of those! I was just facing such a dilemma the other day when I was wearing a dress and couldn't find an appropriate jacket to wear over it. All my other black blazers are simply too fitted and short that it makes the whole look too proper and put together, which totally defeats the current style of casual chic dresses. This more casually fitted blazer cutting neatly solves the problem. The above styles from Tucker (left) and Theory (right) demonstrates my point perfectly. Also note the yellow and gray color theme going on here with the Tucker blazer and the Paul & Joe blazer look.
This blazer also works for a more casual office chic look as seen above from the Zara catalog. They even have a sleeveless version for the summer! Sigh.... I think I've almost convinced myself that I need yet another black blazer with this post. It seems like such an investment staple! Or do I?

Image Source: Zara, Shopbop, Net a Porter and Elle

cupcakes

I made cupcakes for my best friend's birthday party ^o^

Prostitute of the millenium

Ashley Dupree
Ashley Dupree may become the most famous prostitute since Monica Lewinsky. Ever since this sex scandal broke out with her providing oral services to former New York governor Eliot Spitzer aka client number 9, her career has sky rocketed. She’s being offered movie deals, TV appearances, her Myspace page has a million hits a day (I’ve seen her page a thousand times already). Everybody wants a piece of her, including me. American Idol wants her to come on the show to perform for Simon Cowell. Simon, you’re a lucky man. I know some people don’t agree with what Ashley Dupree does for a living and they despise her for having sex with a married man, but look what it’s done for her. It’s made her a celebrity. She’s on the same page with Britney Spears. She’s a star now! And like the Jeffersons, she’s moving on up to the East side, to a deluxe apartment in the sky. She’s moving on up. I know what she did was illegal and immoral, but who hasn’t had sex for money? We’ve all had sex for money. We may not have noticed it, but we have done it. One of my friends always pays his girlfriend for sex. He gives her $20 after sex as a reward. And I know girls who will have sex with guys for a pack of cigarettes. We’re all prostitutes in some shape or form. People shouldn’t hate or judge Ashley Dupree for what she does and who she is. Prostitutes are people too (Just ask my grandma). They have feelings like everybody else. And they pay their taxes….some of them. They’re just doing their job just like everyone else. But their job requires a little more hands-on work. Let Ashley Dupree enjoy her five minutes of fame. And let the guys enjoy Ashley Dupree. I don’t care if Ashley Dupree is a prostitute. She looks good! I would let her give me Herpes any day. I think she deserves the hooker of the millennium award.

Poncho

Back from Vacation...

Sorry I've been gone for a while....

THE BLOGGER IS BAAACKK!

Yes, I do love vintage electronics.

Not so vintage but gorgeous.

Fancy Hair Accessories

I used to wonder why accessories stores would sell these fancy hair accessories as if they were popular hair accessories because I had imagined that they were only suitable for fancy daytime events, like for a wedding in a garden or an old-fashioned Sunday brunch, which I supposed not many people attended these days (esp young people.)

But ever since Gossip Girl, I have started seeing hairbands and other similar hair accessories in a different light. (OK, so the huge red bow with Blair's school uniform is a bit over the top, but the others are usually cute.)
So when I went into Accessorize (the UK version of a much better Claire's) last week, as soon as I saw those fancy hair stuff, I rushed over. The first one I held this red rolled sinemay one against my hair. I LOVED it! It was unexpectedly pretty and just so different from what I usually see on myself. Believe me, I've always thought these things were fussy and old-fashioned but I just loved the way the material formed pretty loops on my head.

So I went back to check the hair accessories on Gossip Girl and apparently my preconception that these hair accessories were for brunches weren't completely off -Blair wore one to the grand brunch hosted by Chuck's dad in Episode 102. The one Blair is wearing is so pretty! It's a simple, classic design without being boring.

Here's a similar one to the one Blair is wearing. It's the black version of the red one I tried on. I didn't think the black one looked that great on me because my hair is black -the red one totally stood out more.

Maybe it's the pokka dots, but this one definitely gives off a more dressed-up vibe. It really looks like the ones one would wear to a garden wedding, (where older ladies would wear those fancy hats! Wait, or is it at funerals?)

I couldn't resist including this pink feathers with beads accessory -it's so girly in a non-cutsy way.

This silver sequin and feather accessory looks young and trendy. Perhaps one can even wear it on a fun night out (complete with a 20's styled outfit)?

So yes, maybe I have been brainwashed by Gossip Girl, but if I had a themed party to go to, I would totally try one of these out! Happy Easter holidays people!

Image Credits: http://www.youknowyouloveme.org/, http://www.accessorize.co.uk/

A Trip to New Zealand

Usually on a holiday, one of the main attractions for me is the shopping. Even if it is the usual department store stuff I can get back home, I still do it. When it comes to the actual tourist attractions, likes views and such, I am the type to just take a picture with/of it and be on my way. But lately, I've been feeling a need for change of scenery, probably because I've been living in the concrete jungle,where whenever I step foot out the door there is shopping- and they're not even on sale yet!- for too long.

My trip to Auckland, New Zealand was just the retreat I needed! It was all so incredibly peaceful and tranquil being there. So refreshing to not be accosted by shop after shop of merchandise tempting me. In fact, the experience was completely different from my usual vacations. Instead of finding the prospect of being outdoors very scary and frankly rather boring, for once I actually stopped and appreciated it all- and it was nice.
Our first stop on my arrival was a drive up Mount Eden, which is an inactive volcano in the middle of Auckland. Now you can only see the the crater of it covered in grass, with cows grazing in the center of it (left). Tourists are not allowed down into the area, because it is really quite steep (not to mention tourists would errode the grass). Mount Eden also happens to be the highest point in Auckland, and as you can see (right), affords us a very nice 360 view of the city.
The next morning, we went for the America's Cup Yacht Sailing experience as part time members of the crew, helping roll the sails up/down and taking a turn at the wheel- its hard work! And even though the weather had been summer-like all week, out on sea, it was surprisingly cold. Not at all what I'd imagined sailing weather to be- good thing I brought a sweater!
Despite the unexpected weather, it was a wonderful 2 hours. The weather was perfect and the view was absolutely breathtaking. Shown here is the view of Auckland downtown and the view of the Rangitoto Island- which my friend tells me looks like this from all around. How cool! I especially love how the white clouds/ blue sky compliments the scenery (I have a thing for blue skies and white clouds).
Seeing as how I was in the land of the sheep, I thought it was only appropriate that I went to see a proper sheep show (even though one can see sheep/cows practically anywhere over there). It was surprisingly interesting. Basically they put on a show very much like the one in Babe (the movie), except using dogs instead of pigs of course (left). It was impressive how well the dog is trained, it was like a robot! Then we were shown how a sheep is sheared (right). It was really quite cool! And afterwards we even got to feed the lambs and they were just darling!
That night, we then went to Parnell for dinner. Its an adorable old quaint street full of cafes etc. Unfortunately by the time we finished dinner, it was already pass 10pm and the Chocolate Boutique Cafe was closed. It is the most darling-est place ever, luckily I got to go back later for a cup of hot cocoa, which was divine.

Then we headed to our next stop (yes it was a LOONG day)- the Minus 5 Bar. Basically it was a small room made of ice, decorated with ice sculptures that is very very cold. Even the cups they served drinks in were made of ice! It was VERY cool. I absolutely loved it. Way better than the little "ice room" we have here at Balalaika in HK. Unfortunately even with borrowed uggs (they have hygiene socks- thank god!), gloves and coat, it was still very cold, so we didn't stay for too long. Kind of reminded me of my days waiting for the bus to come during the Chicago winters. Haha.
The next morning (Sunday), we woke up at 7.30am and participated in the Round the Bays charity walk/run! This is definitely not something I'd usually do in my home town. Definitely unique. I heard that so many people on the streets at once is not a common Kiwi sight. Luckily the weather was really good, cool and cloudy- perfect for a walk. We completed the 8.4km walk in 1 hour and 33 minutes!
After THAT we recovered with a 3 hour nap and a few further hours of laziness at the Piha beach, munching on pizza, reading and waiting for/watching the sunset. Its a truly beautiful beach a hour away from the city. The sand is supposedly volcanic dust or something, so its darker than usual. Not a swimming beach though, cause the waves are too strong. But its fun to walk along the shores. It was soo nice, I actually wanted to stay there forever- and I'm not even a beach person! I do believe I am now a newly converted beach at sunset/out of direct sunlight person!
And on my last day in Auckland, I jumped out of a plane. It seemed the thing to do in Kiwi land. Once I got there of course I started freaking out. The idea of defying years of well trained instincts and jumping out of a plane seemed like an insane idea. What if the parachute doesn't open? What if I die? But then I figured that I've come half way across the world for this and its now or never. If I do it when I get older, I have a higher chance of dying from a heart attack! So I paid and before I knew it, I was strapped and was on an one-way plane that will take me up to the height of 12,000 km. One way because it wasn't designed for landing with passengers (no seatbelts!). 20 minutes later I was up there. And then, before I knew it, the door was opened and I was pushed out into the sky. After the initial shock/scare though, I realized that I was falling down in the sky and the feeling was INCREDIBLE. I'd imagined it to be like one of those things in the theme park where they drop you down from a height x 100, but no, this was nothing like that. Your heart stays inside your body and there's just this RUSH coursing through you as you fall. And too soon, the parachute was opened and I was floating comfortably down to land. It was AWESOME. I am so glad I did it. The experience was totally worth all the nerves and scare going up!

Sigh I wish I was back there! Now I think I know what "retreat" means and why people want to go to the middle of nowhere and just relax and enjoy the scenery and be away from the hustle bustle and the claustrophobic atmosphere of the city from time to time.

Ps. Click on the images for a better look!