Snap snap: New York Fashion Week A/W 2011 backstage / Inspiration

Harrow, just a lazy re-posting of images that tickled my fashion fancy. Snapshots of New York Fashion Week A/W 2011 Backstage and other photographs. Oh, and a video montage of models if you're feeling particularly good about yourself today and feel like being humbled.

Here are some images from New York Fashion Week A/W 2011 that I liked. All via models.com

Behold:A sea of lavender and mustard at 3.1. Phillip Lim backstage.






Dusty pink nudes at Erin Fetherston:


Backstage at Monique Lhullier:




Alexander Wang below, king of downtown off-duty model, grunge meets glam [insert other pretentious fashion lexicon adjectives here] style. New York magazine did a great piece on him here, and how he's created a luxury brand at more affordable prices. Note his niece, probably the most fashionable 1 year old in the world.







Some fashion image inspiration:

The LWD, Little White Dress, often overshadowed by her more famous sister the LBD. I love a dress with a low cut back. A simple but striking image, source here.

Image of Rumi Neely, famous fashion blogger.

Ksubi image, unknown source. Weird, edgy, random. I love it. Don't we all love hanging out topless on our toy horses wearing a cone hat?

From a bride editorial, source unknown. Included not due to any wedding urges I harbour but purely for aesthetic reasons, image wise. There's something very beautiful about hedge mazes. Very Alice in Wonderland.

Blue and white, big ring. Via B Elle at tumblr. (Am very tempted to switch from blogspot to tumblr, it seems more image friendly, and they recently sent 20 fashion bloggers to fashion week, paying for flights and accomodation whilst sending them to lunches and cocktail parties with big name designers. Very. Jealous.)

NYFW AW2011 model montage.



Have a quiksilver fitting tomorrow, so off to see the sandman.
Ciao ciao
xxx

The Perfect Picture Book

The perfect picture book, I think we'd all agree, is one about a trip to Paris - because isn't that why we're all sharing this space in blogland, because we love going to Paris and experiencing all of its wonders? The perfect picture book would depict all of the delights in the City of Light, by day and night ... the liveliness and romance, the history and now-ness, from Bonaparte to Techno, and everything in between. The perfect picture book would preferably be all about YOUR own personal trip to Paris. Well, here is my perfect picture book. If you recall, the photo on the cover is the first macaron I ever had in Paris. And inside are pages filled with photos from my trip - where we went to dinner the first night I was there ... me standing in front of the hotel's large, green door ...

 ... at the market, a view to the Eiffel Tower ...

 ... enjoying gelato in the Latin Quarter ...

 ... taking a walking tour along the Champs-Elysees ...

And it dawns on me that I have so many more memories and photos to share with YOU from my trip. And that is why this blog continues. So I need to hop on that! But for now, just wanted to share with you this neat picture book I put together in iPhoto, which arrived earlier this week.

Remember all the complaining I did about not having time to shop for suitable souvenirs? Well, this makes up for that, big time! It cost a little over $35 and is well worth it. The Apple Store/iPhoto folks do a great job with the production of this "print on demand" book. Imagine what you can do with one! I wanted to put more writing into my book, but instead kept it to just photos and a little wordage here and there. What spurred it on was a little computer mishap where I was worried about losing my photos which I haven't yet transferred to a back up storage unit/disk. What if I lost my Paris photos? I think this is a better way to "back up" my Paris photos - in a book. A good old fashioned book, made a new way via my Mac and iPhoto. Isn't that just perfect?

PS The perfect picture book would not have a typo - and mine does! I was showing the book to my brother and he pointed out "Lourve" was misspelled. I could just kick myself in the butt!!!

Tab-oo embellishments, bubbly and a soirée

Somewhere, on a typical Saturday night in Hong Kong in February, between a tiny bar called 'Soirée' and a rather eclectic store called 'curios court' [sic] full of Mao statues in various sizes (which become gradually creepier as one gets more inebriated), the often mutually exclusive realms of style and sustainability collided. As my friend Brandon [pictured] and I engaged in a tête-à-tête, I noticed the most curious but quirky cool of accessories: he had slipped a can tab onto a hoop earring to create the most original of embellishments. The neon sign advertising happy massages next door practically made it gleam. That's one of the things I love about Hong Kong, how often high and low brow establishments are right next to each other.

Cursing myself for having left my camera at home, I had to make do with a grainy photo from my Galaxy. Which actually turned out rather well despite the fact that for some reason I cannot fathom, Samsung decided not to put a flash into a mobile phone that is pretty much better than the iphone in every other way. Why?? Koreans, Why??!

As I sipped on my glass of champagne while trying to avoid making eye contact with numerous mini Maos that I swear were staring me down and judging my hedonistic capitalist behaviour, Brandon amused us with a story of how he started this look in Tokyo rather recently and actually saw a designer rip off his design. So I offered to record the origin of this fanTABulous style [haha...cheesy I know] by blogging it. People, when this trend explodes, when you see Lady Gaga wearing can tab jewellery, and they credit the Japanese, just know that you saw it on Brandon on here first!

The soirée at Soirée [chortle] was to celebrate the birthday of two friends of mine, Scott and Kenny. Hong Kong lacks a creative vibe at times, and what was great about this party was the number of people in the creative industry, be it styling/modelling/ graphic design etc, outweighed the number of bankers for once To all my friends in finance, I apologise. But I doubt you're reading this. Love you. One male stylist had on the most amazing Rick Owens wedge boots with a spike coming out the back. Alas, I lacked a camera. Fashion blogger FAIL on my part. I had to comfort myself with the mini burgers and mini cupcakes that were floating around. That and the open bar. Bubbly + burgers + sugar = happy times. Algebra that we can all get behind. And of course, copious dancing afterwards to burn of said calories. This was a more creative industry crowd after all.

In other news, my previous blog post got relatively high viewership. I think it had something to do with "Eric Bana" being in the title. SO tempted to put that in every subsequent blog post title...

au revoir

xxx

I love Eric Bana. And this bag.

This is Ismay. I really like her bag. It's working both the minimalist boxy shape of purses which is on trend this season, which juxtaposes the very un-minimalist leopard print, stud and leather-look that has endured for a season or too. Very Rachel Zoe with a strap on!!!...ha not really. I've always wanted an excuse to end a sentence "it's...with a strap on!" but I'm just not cool enough. Speaking of straps, I do like the thin chain strap option that allows one to wear it as a side bag. Surprise surprise, it's from Maple, Hong Kong's stylish facsimile to, say, Topshop, but at Primarni prices [that's Primark, or "Preeemark" if you're Welsh. See, I'm culturally aware, y'all].

Do you know what I love about blogs? I can pretty much write what I like, in whatever level of grammar and punctuation that takes my fancy,.,. Yes that's a comma full stop comma full stop situation right there [this man has forever ruined that word for me. There really is no good alternative or synonym for that word]. Despite my lexicon jests, and as demonstrated by my acute punctuation skills, I've always considered working at a magazine, having interned at WestEast magazine in Hong Kong one summer during university, but fear that it might not be the most lucrative career. Sigh. I envy those with more fruitful career passions, such as those who actually enjoy Law or trading or other prosperous careers. I like fashion and photography, and so will probably end up penniless like the old woman who lived in her shoe. Which would be alright if they were Manolos. And there were no children involved.

Oh and I really really like Eric Bana.
xxx

Honeysuckle, Tiffany blue and the Devil Wears Prada

Working as a buyer allows me the pleasure of being privvy to certain design industry knowledge. This little tidbit certainly tickles me pink. Sorry IT WAS JUST TOO EASY. Pantone, well know in various design industries such as digital technology, fashion, home, plastics, architecture and contract interiors and paint as a provider of professional color standards has announced that the color of 2011 is (drum roll please) honeysuckle. Anyone in the fashion industry worth their salt owns a PANTONE® MATCHING SYSTEM®, a book of standardized color in fan format.

Its quite simply a standardized format for identifying, selecting, matching and communicationg colors between design communities. Apparently, the colors they choose are often mimicked throughout the design industries after. See previous 'colors of the year' below:
Cerulean blue, at the top of the color pyramid, was famously discussed in the film 'The Devil Wears Prada' in one of my favorite scenes, often cited in debates about whether fashion is important. I managed to find the deliciously snarky exchange between the lovably unfashionable intern Andy and razor sharp fashion editor Miranda Priestly below:
[In the magazine office, Miranda and some assistants are deciding between two similar belts for an outfit. Andy sniggers because she thinks they look exactly the same]

Miranda: "Something funny?"

Andy: "No. No, no. Nothing's... You know, it's just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. You know, I'm still learning about all this stuff and, uh..."

Miranda: "This... stuff'? Oh. Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of......stuff."

Color choices may seem benign and not so important (I too used to adopt Andy's attitude to it, as above), but they are actually a significant part of the fashion industry and branding. Note the famous 'Tiffany blue' shade, linked to the jewellry brand Tiffany & Co., which years of branding and brand consistency have trained into emoting qualities such as 'class', 'love', 'commitment' and 'gift'. It sounds very simple, but is no mean feat when you consider that it is simply a shade of blue. The idea of finding a little blue box in Tiffany blue under a Christmas Tree is often enough to send most women into hysterics. [hint hint Nic! Just joking...].

The 'Tiffany Blue' color, custom made by Pantone with PMS number 1837, is actually copyright protected by Tiffany & Co. And thusly [yes I still maintain that this is a real word] is not printed in the Pantone Color matching swatch book.

Just as the orange color of Hermès branding immediately communicates 'luxury', and the monochrome black and white of Chanel connotes a notion of 'chic', colors will always play a significant part of the industry.

With that, I leave you with the aforementioned Devil Wears Prada clip. Enjoy. (Not sure if it works though, apologies!)

xxx

Valentine Papillon

HONEYGO BEASLEY CARDS by Cynthia Maniglia
Valentine Papillon, special order - one of a kind

My darling Mark is of French/Canadian descent, and his mother Theresa grew up in Vermont, within a large French/Canadian residential community. When Theresa went to school, she often gazed out the window, daydreaming. This is how, Theresa told me, her teachers gave her the nickname "Papillon" - French for "butterfly."

More Japanese Street style

How awesome is this chick above? Beret + Yukata (summer kimono) + thick glass frames = geeky euro-Japanese style which is just so cool

For those who have been following my blog, you'll be well aware of my trip to Japan the previous summer. I wrote a lengthy blog about it. Here are the other streetstyle photos that I took on that trip. Looking at them conjuries up such great memories of amazing food, quirky shopping, and friendly people. I truly truly love that country and its warm and sartorially eclectic inhabitants. These photos are from Tokyo and Osaka.

Girl on the left: A Japanese Daria. It's so great that Japanese guys also make an effort with their style here

Above: the girl on the right is pretty much the quintessential Japanese poster girl for their style.

私にフライドポテトを与えます。今すぐ。クスクス笑う。
Sayonara! Anyone want to head to Niseko to go skiing with me?
xx

i burn i pine i perish

Saw this bag on the metro. I want a minimalist brown side satchel like this one.
xx

Macarons or Pandora?

 

Macarons are lovely. And so hard to find in the states. I mean - the real thing. MAD MAC offers a wonderful way to get your Macaron fix. So, how about some Macarons for Valentine's Day? I get their emails so I thought I'd share this with whoever may be interested. You only have until the 9th to order if you want them for Valentine's Day...but you can order anytime.

OR would you rather have a Pandora bracelet for Valentine's Day? It's not French or Parisian but it is lovely ...

I am on a Pandora addiction. Here's my bracelet with beads from Christmas and my new Valentine's Teddy Bear and fuchsia heart. I wish Pandora made an Eiffel Tower charm!

Macarons or Pandora? I say ... both are nice.