"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

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