New Favorite Blazer

Today I stalked off to Zara to check out the fall stock that is slowly trickling in. I did see some crazy wooly Rick Owens/Marni-inspired vests that would be fun to try out, were the prices not out of my range for mere experiments. But I did come out lucky! Does anyone remember that floral blazer I blogged about earlier? Today there were a couple left on the racks marked down by about 70%! I snatched up the last small quickly and traipsed to the cashier with glee.



I also took a couple of photos of some lovely pieces I wouldn't mind having in my wardrobe. Maybe when they go on sale... The shoes are divine!

All Zipped Up

I am a complete sucker for versatile pieces that can completely change an outfit. Susie Bubble's new zippered neckpiece is a perfect example of what I am talking about. I can see it being worn over everything from fitted black blazers, to wispy floral mini dresses. If I had even an ounce of the talent of Outi from Outsapop I'd be on the task as we speak. Unfortunately, I'm far too impatient to properly finish my diy projects. I tend to stick to hemming skirts or taking in large pieces. Fortunately, my two grandmothers are officially moving to Vancouver to stay for good this fall. That means that I'll have two talented ladies with tons of time on their hands to do my bidding. Hehehe. Ideas of beautiful custom-made clothes are swirling in my head.

Fall 08 Picks

Having nothing better to do whilst staying home sick, I browsed through all of my saved images from the Fall collections and decided to take note of what I'd like to look for in these coming months. I don't remember these particular looks being labeled as key trends, but they're definitely something I'd like to try. I've never worn long skirts in a casual way before, but they look perfect for chilly days when tights just won't do. I don't know how practical it would be to wear a floor-length skirt when my campus starts to flood from rain, however. Maybe I'll save them for the dry windy days (if I'm lucky enough come across some this winter).

Insecurities and Comfort Clothing

Have any of you been through this scenario: you're about to make a blog post, you don't have a strong source of light for photos, your camera can't scale focus, your photos end up too blurry, or too dark, or your thighs look a little too round in this photo... You're basically worried that your recent posts aren't up to scratch. I think bloggers need a good amount of self-confidence, not to put up with criticism from others, but to battle that inevitable self-criticism. Does blogging have the tendency to make you scrutinize yourself in ways you wouldn't have done before? Does it make you paranoid about hitting the streets in a mediocre outfit out of fear of being recognized? I am very much interested in hearing about your experiences with these rough patches.

Night time is still rather chilly so last night I donned quite a few layers including a military-style blazer I share with my boyfriend. It fits like a glove on him, but I also like the casual looseness of it on me. It's like my cozy security blanket, with the added bonus of looking great on top of anything.

Healing

So I was about half-way through writing a long-winded rant about my disappointment with the lack of creativity I'm seeing in resort collections when I decided to reign in the unnecessary negativity and focus on something that I do enjoy. That would be Limi Feu's quirky/cozy fall collection. There's nothing better than wrapping yourself in layers of comfy knits when you're feeling under the weather health-wise. Somehow I managed to catch some sort of feverish cold in the middle of July. All the more reason to avoid letting my thoughts go under as well. There is definitely some truth to healing properties of positive thinking.


Images from tfs.com
(Couldn't find the proper credit)

Rough Roads Ahead

A couple of days ago the Telegraph posted an article about plunging hemlines, which have historically been linked to bad economic times. I'm not quite sure how strongly the two are correlated in this instance, even though maxi-dresses are definitely an established trend. It isn't as if the majority of the population is out and about in floor-skimming skirts. It's quite the opposite, at least in my city. Not that I don't believe we're in a bad state economy-wise. It's one of those topics I obsessively read about every day. In fact, I think it's ridiculous that I still see newspaper headlines claming that we might be "heading" for a "down-turn". Come on guys, it's a recession okay? Stop with the euphemisms already. Does this mean that we are in for longer hemlines next fashion week season?

Click here for the article.

Shopping Day

Today the boy and I went thrift-shopping. But of course, by thrift-shopping I mean we went to Value Village because of my awesome employee discount. Has anyone else who's ever been to Value Village or Savers noticed that their prices are steadily rising? The pricers are becoming much more efficient at spotting higher-quality brands. Sometimes their decisions leave me scratching my head though. For example, once I was clearing the shoe section to find a pair of old Prada shoes. They looked very dated, almost orthopedic. But they were priced at $34.99! Now just because the shoes were a well-known brand doesn't mean used shoes merit that kind of price. Maybe if they were extremely of-the-moment. Once I found a pair of beautiful buckle boots I still regret not buying.

Anyways, we did manage to score some beautiful items for him. The first blue jacket was his find. I'm in love with the color and shape. It's very streamlined. But then you look at the back... Unexpected for sure.





I put the second outfit together. We were going for an Etro-style pop of color for the pocket square (which is actually a scarf of mine because we didn't find any to our liking today). I like the bookish professorly look to the blazer. It's rather hard to match pants to it though. Any suggestions?





Lastly, we scored a rare perfectly fitted trench. You normally find the most hideous coats in thrift stores. The shoulders are too large and the sleeves are too short (at least on tall folk). This was a lucky find indeed.





We also bought a midnight blue velvet blazer, a black velvet blazer, a few shirts and a pair of wool pants (who knew that small pleats can look quite good?). Alas, there are no pictures of these items because Kevin was getting too hot and tired for more shots. Oh well, some other time.

As for me. Today I wore a light pink dress that I belted up to shorten.



And what's a photoshoot without a few silly moments? Here is a picture of a toy car I picked up from an empty lot...



And here is a picture of me fallig backwards off of the said car. Or acting like a zombie. Whichever works for you.

Update

Update: Everything is fixed! I temporarily upgraded my photobucket to pro, and will be looking for my own domain to store images in the months to come. Sorry for the hoopla!

Bandwidth Exceeded?

To my horror, I logged onto my blog today ready to update and found a bunch of ugle "bandwidth exceeded" warning signs from Photobucket. Does anyone know what this means? Have people been linking to my photos from elsewhere? Did too many people come onto the blog at once? Please bear with me while I try to sort the issue out. Thanks!

Wrap dress in 4 easy steps

Hey all! I think it's time to own up to my unannounced week-long absence from the blogosphere. I've been fighting a tough gaming addiciton. That's right, my inner nerd came out to play for an entire week. I pretty realized I had a problem when I played the same game for seven hours straight on a perfectly sunny day... It's a bit of an embarrassing issue you see.

Anyways, I remember getting being asked how I managed to turn that green sari into a dress a few posts ago. Here's a quick tutorial. The procedure is almost exactly the same as the one I posted with the burnt-orange dress.

Step 1: Start by wrapping the fabric around the body from the back.



Step 2: Criss-cross the corners of the fabric around the front.



Step 3: Tie the ends around the back of your neck halter-style.



Step 4: Add a belt for structure to avoid the beachy sarong look.



And that's it! Easy! This is my new favourite default outfit for hot summer days when nothing else seems to be cool enough.

A Step Up

I usually try to avoid image spamming but I just couldn't help myself this time. I'm completely in love with Etro's FW 08 ad campaign and I had to share all of it. I'm a little confused though. I found the runway show a little lackluster. Where are all these wonderful colors coming from? Just photoshop? Because I found the actual colors on the runway to be very toned-down for Etro this season. This campaign is better than the clothes.


















Images from MaxCardelli.com via idolfan8890 on tfs.com

Runway Looks... V2.0 Lite

The SS 09 Acne Jeans collection references the work of many other designers. I suppose the creative team behind the scenes has decided to go on cruise control and bank off of the ideas of others. That said, I think they make the looks much more wearable. I'm actually coveting the slouchy sweater dress and sheer striped pants ensemble. I was eyeing the Givenchy tights since they came out, but I haven't found a similar pair around. Acne's looser version really has my mouth watering. I'd love to whip up a pair of my own, but I'm not very crafty, and extremely lazy to boot.


Images from style.com and elle.se

A Shot of Color

Are you bored with the somber black and grey mood that editors, stylists and models have been sporting day in and day out for months? Years? I am. I fall prey to it myself (case in point, a very trendy yet boring black leather skirt/grey v-neck combo I was wearing yesterday). I admire those who sport perfectly-executed simple looks day in and day out. But I think I admire these three individuals more. Does anyone else think the girl on the far right may have been inspired by the orange-dress/blue scarf outfit Ashley Olsen wore a while ago?


Images from wunderbloc and the sartorialist.

Fashion, ethics and globalism

The Fashion Spot has an interesting thread in the Trend Spotting Section where a debate about the fetishizing of ethnic cultures for a western audience is inspiring many heated comments. It is obviously a touchy subject for some. There are those who accept "ethnic" trends in fashion as an inevitable result of globalisation, and then there are others who believe that the west is simply co-opting the cultures of the east, robbing the items of their cultural or spiritual meaning. I suppose my upbringing guarantees that I lean more towards the former opinion, as I was uprooted from my own culture as a child and have lived in a very diversely populated city ever since. I can't relate to any particular set of cultural values or belief systems. I've always been a blank canvas open to anything striking or beautiful that comes my way.

So this is why despite the debates over ethnic-inspired clothing, I still made my way to my local Value Village this morning and snagged three beautiful sari's from the fabric section. Why are they mixed in with sheets of raw fabric? No idea. But I love the many possibilities the colors shapes and patterns have to offer. I think I've solved my what-to-wear-when-it's-too-damn-hot dilemma. Here I draped one from behind up over my shoulders and belted it in place with a satin belt from another dress.

Dior Musings

These past couple of weeks I've been somewhat of a nomad. Drifting to and fro, sleeping here and there, taking random work shifts, spending lazy days on benches by the beach or walking for hours from one side of the city to the other. It has been a great cure for my usual summer restlessness (what does one do when they don't have exams to think about?). However, I haven't been able to settle down long enough to keep track of the to-ings and fro-ings of the fashion industry. Galliano has released a restrained couture collection for Dior? I love the combination of flapper hats with wasp-waists. The former giving a cheeky nod to the liberation from restraint in the form of loose drop-waists in the 20s, and the latter slyly chaining the waist once again in a very dramatic 50's-style silhouette. But most of all I love those shoes. Dior certainly knows the way to a girl's... ego.


Images from style.com

Snapshot

Because I feel guilty for not taking very many recent photos of myself, here is an oldie. Well, a few weeks does not an oldie make, but I have nothing good to share that is recent. I blame part of it on my new film camera, because I don't carry my digital around to take instant photos. This one was taken on film by the boy.

Pyjama Pants

So I've already posted about the mens Etro SS 09 collection, and I know that some of you thought it was a bit gaudy and sleezy, but I still managed to pull something which I find very covetable from it. Don't laugh... pyjama pants! I think the idea solidified in my brain after I saw a girl wearing a loose pair of silky trousers in a beautiful rich jewel-tone print. My friend tells me that I can pick them up around folk festival times, when some venders sell goods purchased from India. I'm hoping a similar idea will be transferred over to the women's collection. Here are a few more photos featuring the type of prints and colors I'm interested in. They'd be perfect for breezy summer days!


Photos from style.com

Let's Celebrate, Eh?

Happy Canada day to all of the Canadian readers! I skipped the traditional red and white garb today. Does anyone else think that showing patriotism once a year by wearing your nation's colors is more spectacle than meaningful? Anyways, I unfortunately still have a work shift to slog through tonight but I was able to briefly enjoy the sunshine with a couple of friends this morning and afternoon. It pretty much feels like any other summer afternoon. Not that I can complain now that the sun has finally arrived.