I heart fashion blogs

Micheal Kors details

Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast

A modern Edie Sedgwick.

Pink hair at Charlotte Ronson

Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast

Images via some of my favorite sites: The Cobra Snake, Fashion Toast, and JAK&JIL.

Crispin

Dian

Dian (back side)

Dian
(long strap pictured. shorter strap is available)

Inspiration: Street style/ Graffiti

Yu Li and Yvette

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Last weekend we were in Kee club for a friend's leaving party. In a sea of leopard print and LBDs, I felt slightly out of place in my monochrome plaid mini-skirt, black leotard and dark plum lipstick (perhaps I was subconsciously channelling the '90s witchy vibe of The Craft ladies.) Turning to dutch courage to ease my mood, we danced along to some wonderfully trashy eighties music. I noticed a rather eclectic pair in the corner boogeying away. Blithely unaware of social boundaries, I immediately plotted with my friends on how to interrupt their tête-à-tête. "I'll distract the white guy, then you can swoop in!" one of my girlfriends offered helpfully, clutching her mojito. Felicitously, the crowd of dancing peoples parted like a human red sea, and, whether due to bravery or foolishness (two traits that are never mutually exclusive) I approached them and was lucky enough to get a quick shot. Apparently the androgynous Alexander Wang look-alike and his foxy lady friend had just come from a fancy dress party. The infamous Miu Miu naked lady motif was a designer giveaway on his sweater. I think I equally loved the fact that he wore harem-style grey pants to a nightclub. And I'm a fan of any girl in tulle. Not in a creepy way.

I do have a tendency to over-elaborate on how I get my street style shots. Chortle.

Below: some shots of graffiti in Central, Hong Kong that I thought were pretty cool.

I wonder who is responsible for the fat, alcoholic Batman adorning our streets?

xxx

Black Swan/ Eye Spy

For the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens this year (Hong Kong's version of Mardi Gras: it's technically a "Rugby event" but who are they kidding, it's all about tipsy dressed-up fun), a group of us girls have been inspired by Black Swan to don tutus, tiara and black makeup for what is basically the largest outdoor dress up party in Hong Kong. Alas, Rodarte will not be designing our ballerina outfits, which is probably for the best as this is one notoriously messy party. Although there has been controversy about Rodarte getting the credit they deserve for designing 40 costumes for the film, one can't help but notice their exquisite designs. I saw Black Swan for the first time over the weekend: haunting, beautiful, refreshing but scary film-making. Every frame is an aesthetic feast. A well deserved Oscar for its leading lady Natalie Portman. Who has a fantastic name I might add. Below, one of my favorite scenes from the film.

In other news, I chanced upon these eccentric sunglasses designs the other day in a recent Hong Kong sunglasses trade show magazine. I especially like the Eiffel tower and Kiss inspired designs.

Below: I love the notion of eye wear as an "eye dress". Note to geeks everywhere, rock those eye dresses with pride! (Unless you're a boy: calling them eye dresses may make everything infinitely worse).

Seemed fitting due to the current trend for geeky frames as mere accessories versus functional pieces.

Right, I must bid adieu and go collect my tiara.

xxx

Recreating Paris

Every effort went into recreating Paris at the Philadelphia Flower Show, which ended on March 13th. In my last post I told you had more photos to share. Here are just some of them. I tried to pick out ones to show you how the exhibits throughout the show tried to recreate different aspects of the City of Light. From the Eiffel Tower ... to the shops ... and even "underground" Paris.

Here you can see the base of the Eiffel Tower structure at the center of the exhibit floor, where the exhibit creators used "trompe l'oeil" to make it appear as if the tower went up and through the Convention Center's ceiling. Notice the pretty cherry blossom tree...

More detail of the base of the tower

Even Paris' underground catacombs were represented at the show. It must have been a challenge to try to figure what kind of flowers to put in this display!

An art gallery such as you might find in Montmartre.

All kinds of food was available at kiosks along the outskirts of the exhibit floor. We had a wrap like this. Ours was called "The Parisian."

These hanging flower displays remind me of kites.

Here's a very lush outdoor bistro where you must stop to have a glass of wine and perhaps some fromage?

Isn't Paris grand?

Pretty pink azalea, one of my favorites.

This pastry shop needs more sweets in the window, don't you think? But it's all about the flowers at the flower show.

This reminds me of the kind of floral arrangements you might find in the lobby of a five-star hotel.

More flowers as you might find along a walk in the park

Another piece of stage setting like the pastry shop - this time a parfumerie. While at the flower show I had the pleasure to try on some vintage French perfume at one of the vendor booths.

Isn't this beautiful?

Happy Spring!

"Nice ring! May I...?"

Happy (belated) St. Patrick's day! Last night, on my way out from work for lychee martinis (which were dyed green for the occasion), I stopped off at my usual photo-processing shop, a tiny hole in the wall in Yau Ma Tei which is one of the few places that processes Lomography/ holga film. Analogue film photography neophytes and general "wtf??"ers click here. Due to the fact that the film is 120mm medium format (as opposed to the usual 35mm format) it is rather hard to find suitable camera shops in Hong Kong that cater to my quirky camera obsession. My holga has been in hibernation for literally half a year, collecting dust. I found 2 full rolls the other day that I had completely forgotten about. Am very intrigued to see how the photographs will turn out, I recall using a red color filter for one roll (this is on top of the multi-colored flash. I'm not a minimalist when it comes to photography!)

The Chinese lady behind the counter and facilitator to my holga substance abuse problem immediately recognised a holga addict when she saw me approaching. " 'Sup" quothed she, swinging her bowl cut in a manner that suggests a strong case of Bieber fever . I was all " 'Bout it 'bout it" as I gave her my rolls of film (rolls of film! How antiquated). Gleefully catching sight of her key-design ring, I immediately wondered what would be the least awkward way to ask her if I could photograph it (a blogger's occupational hazard). She kindly acquiesced. And so behold bowl-hair lady's awesome accessory. (I wish I had taken her snapshot actually, her hair was pretty cute). And yes, the above photo was posed. Chortle.

xxx

Jewellery trade show, street style, vintage and sparkly brogues

My new favorite word of the moment. Clusterfuck. Learnt it from watching Kell on Earth, an awesome show about Kelly Cutrone and her New York based fashion PR company. If you are curious about fashion PR, watch it. I implore you.

A rather varied series of blog posts, slightly overdue. Due to unforeseen technical difficulties (laptop cable broke. I got it in Beijing. “Fool!!” I hear you cry. Shyeah. But that’s what you get for anything electrical under 100 RMB. Bygones.) And been rather busy of late kicking netball ass, working, visiting factories. Finding out that I am a youtube star (See around the 2.05 mark. Little girl with blonde curls. Getting knocked over by a model airplane twice her size. No jokes, c'est moi).

Here are random snaps, mainly street style, from when I have been out and about..

Above and below: some cool jewellery I found at Maple.

Above: I've seen quite a few of these mirrored platforms around.

Chanel on Canton road, TST. Apparently the most profitable one in the world: where many mainland Chinese tourists tend to indulge their 2.55 cravings. What kind of store has velvet ropes and a queue?

On Saturday I visited the lomography shop to stock up on holga camera film, and found one of the few vintage stores in Hong Kong. Literally called Vintage HK. Found awesome quirky Lennon esque shades that would not look amiss on an Olsen twin. Key necklace from Harajuku, red top from Maple. I like the idea of vintage, especially in terms of sustainability, but sometimes it is just a really clever marketing ploy to label something that is simply USED and OLD. Although, I do covet vintage electronics, like art deco style tv sets/ radios, or an old telephone WITH ACTUAL BUTTONS.

White side bag that caught my eye in central. Me likey. It's white and it carries stuff. Not much more I can say.

Brown suede wedge boots, red one piece, aviators = a gift to the sartorial gods.

I attended the Hong Kong International Jewellery trade show. As I don’t look good in orange, and have an unnatural attachment to my Galaxy phone, frozen yoghurt, and er, freedom, I had to restrain myself from taking too many photos of the jewellery on display, due to copyright reasons. I did get a quick snap of one display case, but made sure it wasn’t too close up.

Quite honestly I am much more into fabric and garments than jewels, which is why I don’t own much expensive jewellery. I am fickle in my jewellery taste, and often lose jewellery. Perhaps jewellery is an acquired taste that will kick in once my bank account can accommodate it. Regardless, I do like shiny sparkly stuff and rather enjoyed this work assignment. There were sections called “World of Glamour” and “Hall of Fame” (surely the same thing?!), and categories such as antique, diamonds, gold, stainless steel etc. On the last day they apparently sell off most of their samples at ridiculously cheap prices, but alas I was bound by my 9-5 work day and didn’t have time to return.

Some of the assistants there. Not sure what inspired their Star Trek esque outifts.

Sparkly toe tips. SPARKLY. TOE. TIPS. Need I say more.

Awesome cape. Snap snap.

I also had the delightful opportunity to visit a couple of factories in China. One of which was a weaving factory. Behold my artistic phone snapshots of the machines a whirring. I actually do have a selection of good cameras, but often lack the inclination to lug the heavier ones around. A poor blogger I doth make. Factories in China are not nearly as bad as people may perceive them to be. Most are in large, industrial buildings with workers in casual wear. Some of the women, bizarrely, wear heels as they sit and work. Using fashion to add sparkle to the monotony of daily life? I feel ya, ye ladies of the cloth.

Word.
xxx