Haute Couture S/S08 I

'Tis the week for mega-gorgeous, artistic and unwearable couture!

Christian Dior
Haute Couture S/S08 started off with a bang with the ever-dramatic collection from Christian Dior by John Galliano. As per the collections from the last few haute couture seasons, this collection was composed of strong, bright, vivid colours. The theme of this collection was Madame X, which I know nothing about and am not bothered to Wiki it, but do do so if you're interested. To be honest, while these couture pieces are all truly amazing, I'm not completely awed after Dior's Japanese collection in HC S/S07, my favourite yet. Perhaps it looks more stunning in real life.
The jewel colours are SO gorgeous. Gosh, imagine all the work put into constructing the dress and all those little details!
These are great to look at (in an artistic way) and very unwearable.
Don't the models look like they're wearing super-volumous dresses with capes on? And please don't tell me that the grey dress (left) is made of animal skin because that's just scary. (Hmm, maybe I should look up a closer-up photo.)
Aww, these are so cute and girly! (-in an expensive and unrealistic way of course.)

Anne Valerie Hash
I like how this collection feels very delicate, yet still edgy in some ways, (maybe it's the neatral colours or the menswear characteristics.) A very soft and feminine collection, with some current trends incorporated in:
Huge shoulders.
Soft and see-through.
Pencil-dress and menswear.

Giorgio Armani Prive
I think this is the first Armani Prive collection that I have truly liked, (or maybe it's just that I've already forgotten the older collections.) I've always thought Amrani collections as sleek, sophisticated in a slightly outdated fashion. Yet this collection feels more modern and softer.
The suits look somewhat impractical. Good thing people don't actually wear these, but if only we could wear cute, bubbly suitskirts to work!
I especially love the cocktail dresses -so divine! Sigh.
Cocktail dresses as art pieces.
As for the long gowns, they're feminie and glamorous as always.

Image Credit: http://www.style.com/

Kirsten Dunst For Miu Miu SS08 Ads

For people who love to shop, January is a bit of a dry month. But for fashion-lovers, January is pretty exciting as it is when a lot of the SS campaigns are released. One of the campaigns I've been most anticipating is the Miu Miu campagin because a) Kirsten Dunst is Miu Miu's model of the season, and b) I usually love Miu Miu's campaign images. I have to admit I didn't really like Lindsay Lohan's FW07 campaign. Maybe I just didn't think Lindsay suited Miu Miu, or maybe the images just seemed too grown-up for Miu Miu.

The colour scheme of the SS08 campaign seems pretty similar to the FW07 one. But what I like about this campaign is that it really conveys the feeling of the clothing collection - the clothes and bags are very obviously featured, but it still manages to be artistic and dramatic. Also, I think Kirsten did really well. She manages to look coy, theatrical and ladylike while still looking playful. (You have to stare at it for awhile before really feeling the images. Go to the Miu Miu website for larger pictures.)

Now I don't actually love all the images, but I like the campaign as a whole. Plus I may be biased as Kirsten is my favourite actress. And while it would be nice to see Miu Miu use a model to model the campaign, it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon.

I want to say this looks like a good 'look' for work (minus the red bow on the head,) but the skirt is way too short. If only I could go to work looking this chic though! Even the bag looks big and practical for work!

Hmm, I couldn't decide whether I like this image (top)...

or this image (top) more. But these two are definitely my favourite out of the lot. The clothes are SO cute, girly and quirky. I just don't know where one would wear them. Oh well, it's not like I could afford these clothes.

Do you like Kirsten's Miu Miu ads?

Image credit: http://www.miumiu.com/

Sleeping Before 1a.m.

At the beginning of January, BG and I evaluated our New Years Eve celebration on the phone. (We like to evaluate all our activities in great detail. Sometimes our talks are even longer than the actual events!) Then we decided to set out our new year's resolution. Reading back on my 2007 resolutions, I cannot imagine what I was thinking back then so this year, I wanted the resolutions to be beneficial and somewhat achieveable. I think I should admit here that I write new year's resolutions mostly for the fun of it and not 100% because I spend my whole year slaving over them.

So anyways, I suggested one of my last year's resolution for both BG and me, but we modified it: "Aim to sleep before 1a.m. -For the nights I'm not out." I added the last remark to make it realistically achieveable. And it's not like I'm out much anyways, so it's ok.

Usually I'm not one to broadcast my resolutions, but since I think some of you out there might benefit from it, I thought I would share it and maybe you would consider it too. I take skincare pretty seriously. After washing my face at night, I always put on eye moisturiser, (I'm currently using the two in the picture above.) And while this may seem like the norm to many of you, I know people who actually don't use eye moisturiser. Anyways, so in the past few years, I usually go to bed from 2am-6am -not exactly healthy. There are always emails to check, youtube to watch, Facebook to stalk (uh hum, BG,) random sites to surf, books to read...... You get my point.

And while it was totally fine and not os obvious when I was younger, I've noticed that when I sleep very late now, the skin around my eyes have starting to age. Think dark circles, puffy eyebags and most scarily, fine lines. So in an attempt to stop all these from happening so soon (-I'm not that old!), I have decided to really try sleeping before 1, or erm, maybe at 2.

What are your beauty-related New Year resolutions?

Image credit: http://www.sephora.com/

Light-Coloured Blazer With Black Satin Lapels

Hey, so you may have noticed that the blog has been on a short standstill. BG is currently enjoying a chilled, though rainy holiday in Sydney. As for me, I've been MIA for a week because the thingy that gives off the wireless broadband signal broke down at home! (I feel the need to explain because my friend, J was nice enough to make sure I was alive on Facebook, and to apologise for sending out panicked texts and emails from the library to some friends.) So basically, I've been living in an Internet-less environment for 5.5 LONG days. Very long days. I don't know about you, but I'm extemely Broadband-dependent. After digging out all the wires at home and attempting all possible ways to access the Internet and failing, all I thought was, OMG how am I going to survive? Omg, save me. The situation was somewhat like the situation descibed in this NYT article.

So obviously, I finally have broadband wireless at home, (thank goodness!) and can blog again. Today's post is about one of my favourite item of clothing, the blazer. Specifically, light-coloured blazers with black satin lapels. I'm not 100% sure that the black bits are called lapel but I basically mean the collar and the flap of fabric along the V-neck. (Yes, I know I lack fashion knowledge.)

Even though I only own one black blazer, I realised that black blazers sometimes look too boring or formal for casualwear. So when I saw this Marc by Marc Jacobs blazer I really wanted it. It's so sleek, well-cut and cool. And since it's cropped, the length looks really flattering and perfect. Unfortunately it costs 398USD -well above my budget for a not-too-practical blazer. If you think about it, white jackets get dirty really easily, and this blazer is definitely not one for the worn-out look.

After searching awhile, I found another one. This one is by Lux at Urban Outfitters. OK, so it's not white and doesn't look as sleek as the Marc one. Just in case the picture isn't clear, it's light grey and has grey stripes on it. But at 55 pounds, it's way more affordable and worth it for casual-going-out wear.

What does everyone think of these blazers?

Image credit: http://www.shopbop.com/, http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/

Cozy Gloves

To protect our hands in the chilly winter (they are one of the coldest extremities!) a pair of cozy gloves is an essential investment.
Having grown up in the subtropics all my life, I never really needed to wear gloves. So when I went the States, I got really excited and thought, "Yes! Now I can finally wear all those cute woolen gloves with the matching hats that they sell from Ralph Lauren!" I even bought a matching pink cable knit beanie, scarf and gloves in preparation! Unfortunately, when I finally got to the windy city, I realized that the measley protection that my woolen mittens were not enough. Not only were my fingers numbed from the cold, but the gloves got WET (from the snow) and made my hands even colder! (Above: RL)
And so I finally decided to invest in a pair of more serious gloves. My attention turned to leather gloves, because they were waterproof and they looked fitted enough that I'd be able to kinda utilize my fingers. I finally settled on a pair from Marshall Field's with serious looking lambswool lining (it was fluffy looking). They've served me well for the last three years. Recently, I also bought a pair of leather gloves with faux fur lining from Milan cause it was on sale, it looked so sleek and the fur lining inside felt soo nice and divine (almost real like!). Though they've both served their purpose for me so far, but I have to admit, on occasions when I'm outdoors in the negative degrees for too long, my hands and fingers still get numb from the cold afterwards! (Above: RL)
This made me wonder how people survived wearing those thin lined leather gloves of cashmere, silk and fleece when my very serious fluffy ones don't quite do the job! My friend who owns a pair that is lined with cashmere, claims that the warming properties of cashmere does the trick- even better than faux fur. She let me tried her gloves for 10 seconds and it felt warm enough, but I'm still skeptical. It just doesn't make logical sense for me! I know cashmere is extra warm, but ultimately it is still really really thin. Can it possibly top the job of many many layers of fluff? (Left: RL, Right: Saks)
Oh and if you like to build snowmans, go skiing or have a snowball fight i.e. anything that involves direct contact with snow, a pair of very very serious waterproof super fluffed up North Face style gloves is probably a good idea. I made the mistake of going skiing with my first pair of leather gloves and the leather was positively ruined (in my defense, it was my first time skiing and I didn't see the point of getting a pair just for half a day of skiing). After that, since they were ruined anyway, I tried to build a snowman with those gloves (snowman building is SO much harder than it looks on tv!). After an hour not only did my snowman looked pathetic (the snow just wouldn't pack!), but my fingers were beyond frozen and numb- it was burning! How I wish I had a pair of these at that moment........(Above: North Face)

Image Source: Saks, Ralph Lauren and Nordstrom

SPF Hand Cream

*Gasp* I just read the most horrifying article in this issue of Elle (Feb, p190): Gloves Off, where the writer goes to investigate the newest procedure for hand rejuvenation. The doctor basically injected *wince* her hands with the latest plumpers, Radiesse, which is supposed to be more long lasting. The after effect was her hands looked 10 years younger as it lessened the ropey appearance of her veins and filled out the hollow spaces between her tendons. A few hours later however, her hands were swollen and in pain- which apparently is perfectly normal and lasted for about a week. Apart from that she later found out that if they hit the wrong place, injecting these things into your hands will also lead to permanent swelling *shiver*.

After THAT horrifying article, I realized that in my craze to buy sunscreens for my face, I'd forgotten about my hands- which in all respects are exposed to sunlight as much as my face is! Sunscreens from all sources is after all the one most effective way we can protect ourselves from aging. And so I've decided that it is time I got myself some hand cream with SPF! In my googling I realized that there really weren't that many hand creams with SPF. But here are a few that I've found. On the high end, there is Lancome and Clarins.
In the medium range, there are Kiehl's and Boots. I think I may try the Kiehl's one, because it also claims that it is, "Unusually rich but not greasy at all," which sounds intriguing. But then again it only has SPF 10.
And in the drugstores, we have our ever trusty Neutrogena and Dove brand of SPF sunscreen. I wonder how much SPF is sufficient for the hands...most of the ones listed here have SPF 15 (besides Dove with SPF 5 and Kiehl's with SPF 10).

Image Source: Clarins, Kiehls, Sephora, Boots

Weekend Casual?

Today I wore a plain black long sleeved dress that had a cotton bodice/sleeves upper body part and velvet skirts, with a textured black belt, black (almost) flat boots and my medium size shoulder black leather bag. I know, it sounds really black, but it is what I would consider a very safe brainless casual everyday outfit. Because really, even though the dress has velvet parts, it IS still very plain and casual and is really suitable for all occasions. But anyways, you get the picture.

So, dressed like that, I walked into the restaurant and met my mom and aunt up for Saturday lunch. And the greeting I got were affronted expressions followed by, "Oh dear, what are you wearing today?" Granted my outfit is boring and black, but I didn't think I looked THAT bad. Turns out that they thought that I was dressed too formal for a weekend! Apparently while it was fine to dress up so on a weekday, on a weekend one always dresses very casually with jeans, t shirt and flats/sneakers!

Generally I take these edicts my mom says with a grain of salt, because most of them contradicts previous edicts and I get thoroughly confused, but this time I couldn't help but wonder if there IS a grain of truth to it. As I glance around the streets, people indeed were all dressed very casually (though I WAS in a casual part of town). And I'm sure that the term weekend casual didn't just come out of thin air. One of my friends recently even bought a pair of "weekend shoes."

Personally I don't dress any differently on a weekend than on a weekday. Mostly because I'm a student and its casual day everyday so I wear the same things everyday regardless of the day of the week (though I DO dress differently depending on where I go, my mood and how much time I have). Over the summer, while I was working and wearing semi formal clothes every weekday, I DID miss my jeans. So I guess "casual weekends" could just be a social by product of this. But that doesn't mean that I want to wear the "casual" outfit every weekend. Weekends are the also the only time I get to experiment with what I wear and have fun with fashion! I really don't think that just because everyone else decides its casual day, I have to follow it as well.

But just out of curiosity, what are everyone's preference for weekend dressing? Do you generally dress down or is it an arbitrary decision subjected to many other factors that don't include the day of the week?