Sabrina the Wood Nymph

This Halloween (I know it's late! This is what happens when your boyfriend only likes to shoot on film!) I set a few flowers in my hair and paraded around as a wood nymph. The original plan was to dress up as Robin Hood, since I had a short forest green dress, green tights and beige booties that would have looked perfect with his iconic pointy hat. Unfortunately, I didn't find any hats to my liking. Looking back, this Claudia Schulz hat would've been perfect. Not being one to give up, I trekked to the large dollar store at my local mall and looked around desperately for ideas. After an hour or so of bending, tweaking and adjusting my own little piece of millinery, I finally had myself a proper costume.



Even though exams are yet to arrive, I can't help but feel a little more relaxed and free. I've been wanting to visit a fabric store to see what kind of ideas pop into my brain. Last time my grandmother came over, my favorite thing to do with her was stroll through aisles of fabrics and throw ideas back and forth. I still have this one particular trim in mind after two years. It has very large pleats in a beautiful shiny royal blue. Looking back at this picture of my costume makes me itch to get my hands dirty with another craft project.

Country Club

Even though it's slightly past the time for bright autumn colors here, I still found this Elle Italia editorial very appealing. The color palette is so rich and the clothes look like something I can pull out of my own closet or find at a thriftstore right away. I love it when an editorial is both inspiring and practical. My favorite outfit by far is the first one. Is that a puffer underneath the patterned shawl/jacket? That's a brilliant way of wearing a rather boring and conventional item.













from Diciassette attfs.com

Bundled Up

After freezing my toes off walking around campus with wet feet today I was very much in the mood for some warm winter inspiration. After browsing hundreds (no joke, I spent an hour!) of pages worth of magazine threads at thefashionspot, I have come to the conclusion that the fashion industry is stark-raving mad. Where are all of the winter editorials? It's almost December! You'd think publications in the northern hemisphere would crank out at least a few warm and cozy looking editorials around this time of year. All I can find is models prancing around in their underpants with a fur jacket or two.

So in the absence of any current inspiration, I decided to dig through my messy archive of random photos to see what I can find. Ahh that's better.


ID mag via foto_decadent, A. F. Vandevorst via style.com, Stella McCartney via style.com, other sources lost

Speaking of wet feet, I've been on the lookout for simple stylish rain boots but can't seem to find any to my liking. I'm looking for black knee-highs in particular. Any Vancouverites know where I can go to solve this dilemma?

Li Xiaofeng makes your grandma's dinner plates fashionable again

It seems as if I'm not the only one inspired by blue porcelain. Artist Li Xiaofeng has made entire dresses and suits from china and porcelain. This is the stuff of my dreams right here. The cut of the dresses is surprisingly flattering, especially that piece worn my the model.

Layered Raspberry Souffle

During my trip to Prague I met the lovely Sabina, a reader of this blog, who was kind enough to show me where to go and what to see in terms of shopping in the Czech capital. One store we visited was Leeda, an apparent hit-and-miss style-wise, or so I've been told. Looking at their current collection (nothing but bathing suits!) I'm assuming that this particular season is their off-season. However, I did fall in love with a zany little dress when I visited the store last August. It has layers and layers of light pink and orange fabric. The standout of the line at the time, in my opinion. I can see it glowing prettily under neon club lights. It's a shame they didn't let me take a picture in the store, or display the dress better.



Yesterday I found a nice comparison to the dress. The Mischen version is more subtle and refined (and still out of my price range!) but still gives off that yummy dessert feeling.



On the runway, Pollini's layers of fruity colors certainly brings to mind a mix of lemons, kiwis, raspberries, grapes and oranges. I probably shouldn't blog when hungry.

Hunt & Gather

I was browsing through the website of a local Vancouver photographer a while ago and came across this wonderful editorial, set in my own backyard. I have to congratulate stylist Emilia Pelech for creating a look that is strikingly NOT Vancouver-like. The contrast between familiar sights and unfamiliar clothes is very appealing to me. I love the spats and vests from local label Hunt & Gather. There is some hope for Vancouver after all!

Friday Night and Saturday Morning

Last night I stayed at home watching Harry Potter 5 with the boy. He's never seen it. I think it might have been my third time? He has sort of jumped on the HP bandwagon a few years too late. I dressed up in a fully floral outfit with sky-high heels to totter around Blockbuster looking for the rental. It was fun dressing up to go nowhere special in particular.

It looks like Susie has proclaimed florals and geek glasses to be a dead last summer trend. I can't help but stick with what I like. I tend to pick up on trends early, but actually buy the trend later on, and by the time it's over, I'm thinking "no, I don't have my money's worth yet. This blazer will be buried with me."



I'm wearing a blazer from Zara, thrifted scarf and two skirts, a pink scarf from Italy, and Topshop heels.



Today I finally trekked to my favourite place to shop second-hand, Value Village, and purchased a big load including more scarves, three skirts, and two tops. I'll share them later on when they're worn as outfits.



I dressed up in a turqoise Zara turtleneck and a thrifted scarf and skirt. I threw on a brown leather jacket later because it's too cold to be walking around in only sweaters this time of year. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the jacket. This particular skirt is rather difficult to wear. I usually settle on black, or not bother matching it any way at all, like in these photos. I think the scarf somehow pulled the top and bottom together. I like wearing patterns because you can pick up so many colors out of them. I remember Stacy and Clinton from What Not To Wear saying that when I watched the show in high school. Somehow I'm not sure they'd really approve of this outfit.



Oh, and Kevin looked good today too. I'm glad we finally took photos outside today. I was getting dreadfully bored of taking mirror shots by myself.



I love the hazy pink light I captured in this last photo. Kevin loves to shoot on film and doesn't appreciate my little DSLR very much. I wish there were two of me so I could take photos the way I see them in my head.

What I Wore... Last Weekend

I think the titles of my "What I Wore" posts are becoming rather silly. Read my previous post if you really want to know why.

Last Friday I took my marshmallow skirt out for a spin again. I know that these kinds of skirts are more commonly labeled as "paper-bag skirts", but in this case, it really does look more like a marshmallow than a bag. It might be adjusted by my grandmother soon. I've been put on the waiting list for now. Others in my family require her services as well! I'm planning to take in the waist slightly so it sits higher up, and keep the poofiness by adding two darts only at the hem so the resulting folds puff out slightly.



On Saturday night I attempted to create an outfit around a beautiful scarf given to me by my other grandmother. It's very soft, and I love the sparkly beads at the end. I matched it with a tee from Joe Fresh Style, a vest made by my seamstress-grandma, and my favorite Topshop trousers. I'm very into playing with color combinations at the moment. Light blue and olive feels very fresh.

What I Wore Today

Once again shopping my closet, I pulled out a white skirt that has also been sitting around collecting dust. I purchased this skirt because the subtle pattern drew my eye to it, but it's about two sizes too big and (I think Rumi's to blame for this one), it's just slightly too long. By too long I mean just above the knee, but these days I'm just really craving miniskirts. I pushed the skirt higher up and belted it around my waist. It looks a bit like a puffy marshmallow in the back (not the most flattering thing), and my grandmother offered to take it in and make it shorter for me so I don't have to walk around having marshmallow butt. I personally didn't think the bunching up at the back was so bad, but she insisted.

Odds and Ends

Last night and this morning I dug through my closet to pull out more clothes that I don't wear often enough. I have a big messy pile of shirts of all colors and patterns in fabrics of the type that are impossible to fold nicely but luckily don't wrinkle.

I first picked out a frilly polka-dotted blouse that my grandmother made a few years ago. I loved it back then, but it hasn't been worn recently because I consider polka-dots to be much too girly and young (even thought I'm not very old myself! I like to pretend that I am, but that's another matter). Anyways, I probably just didn't know how to pair the blouse to reflect my changing tastes, because when I matched it with another in a more abstract print, I decided that I really liked the blouse after all.


The other shirt is thrifted, and the pants are from Topshop.

The next blouse I tried on is another thrifted number. I was drawn to the splatter pattern but didn't wear it because it's rather short and boxy for my frame. I belted it up here to solve that problem.



The dress underneath is from Zara.

Yesterday my mum showed me this pretty necklace she picked up for 4 bucks at Value Village. I stole it for the photo and might be borrowing it again soon. It's almost tacky but I still love it. I guess if the leaves were made of metal instead of plastic it would look more chic, but that won't stop me from wearing it.



And lastly, an outfit I'm wearing right now. It's rather boring, but better reflects what I wear most often (unfortunately).

What I Wore... Yesterday

I wish the rain will stop already because I'm running out of places to take photos in my own house! We don't have many uncluttered walls. Here's what I wore yesterday. I layered floral net tights over a pair of shiny sheer grey ones. The leather skirt is vintage, and the sweater is second hand as well (but I wouldn't call it vintage).




This cold of mine refuses to leave! I'm not sneezing any less today than I did yesterday, and the day before, and the day before... How frustrating. I'm eating very well. It must be stress or lack of exercise.

Claudia Schulz Hats

I hope you don't mind the lack of outfit posts lately. I've been sick and I'm dressing solely for comfort and warmth so I don't think any combination has been blog-worthy. My nose won't stop running. I stopped by my internship today all sniffly and stuffed up. At least I'm getting work done! I think I'm pretty much scouting out the website of every local fashion brand in Vancouver for research. I wanted to get more in touch with the local fashion scene. Looks like my wish came true!

So I'm sure local Vancouverites would have already heard of hat designer Claudia Schulz, but I think everyone else should take a gander at her beautiful pieces. Claudia's collections are inspired by the hats of 1920s and 1930s Europe. I love the simplicity of her designs. They're a proper nod back to the cloche hats of the roaring 20s, but they still have a strikingly modern feel to them.

Image, Branding, Politics and the Obama Family

Followers of this blog might remember my criticism of the September Harper's Bazaar editorial with Tyra Banks posing as Michelle Obama. In brief, I'd like to hold you back from painting the town blue for just a second. Remember that Mr. Obama is a human being. Like all other human beings, he should be held accountable by his actions, not his words. He is a great orator, but whether he will be a great statesman as well remains to be seen. I want to remind all of you that one man, one politician, doesn't bring about fundamental change. People bring change. You have to demand it. You have to always hold your representatives accountable to their actions. Don't hope that someone else will solve your problems for you. Don't assume that they have your best interests at heart. I'm not exactly doubting Mr. (President!) Obama's integrity, I'm just fearful of the zombie-like idolatry I'm seeing everywhere.

So now if I haven't scared all of my readers away, I would like to add that I'm incredibly impressed with the brand image the Obama family has created. Everything from the campaign rhetoric to the visual aesthetics was perfectly crafted. I really liked the campaign logo. It's a rather odd thing to mention when talking politics, but I thought it was very now design-wise.

I was also very impressed with Michelle Obama's choice of dresses last night. I actually have that particular Narciso Rodriguez dress in my saved images folder, and I applaud her for her excellent taste.

Karlie Kloss for 10 Magazine

I love this striking editorial in 10 magazine featuring model Karlie Kloss. I'm a fan of editorials that inspire you to look at your wardrobe in a new way. For example, how about binding a loose pair of pants with ribbon or strips of leather? Fantastic! See the rest here.