Fun Cropped Jackets

For something more trendy and fun this season (even though they will be dated after a season and will probably not quite as versatile), here are a few suggestions: Bold Colors: Adds instant oomph! This electric blue (right) is especially hot this season! (Both: Anthropologie) Plaid: Yes, plaid is still hot. Plus, it fits right into the Christmas mood! Here we have the more classic cut crop by J Crew (left) and a more edgy crop by LAMB (right). I especially like the wide plaid on the J Crew jacket. More Plaid: For something a little bit more subtle, versatile and less festive I am loving these two plaid crops from Vince (left) and Marc by Marc Jacobs (right). Patent: Well they are everywhere for shoes, so why not for cropped jackets? Yes, it may look like a raincoat, but styled by this way by Robert Rodriguez (left), its a very chic raincoat. And I just thought I'd throw in this crop by Ella Moss (right) even though its not patent just because I think the design looks so smart, simple and CUTE! Metallic: The perfect cover over your party outfit! I LOVE these two by Walter (left) and Express (right). The color and print is subtle and versatile, but the material gives it an extra shine that lends it a more night-time feel.

Image Sources: J Crew, Shopbop, Anthropologie, Express and Saks Fifth

The Very Thin Line

When I shop, I usually like to shop with a partner, (and preferably exactly one partner, who has some sense of style and could give helpful opinions.) This is because with clothes, there is sometimes a very thin line between good style and bad style, and it's nice to have an extra input. And sure, an outfit looks really cool when it's worn by a model in an editorial, but most of the time, those artistic background, makeup and lighting just don't echo real life. Take these two as examples:

When I first saw this Kate Moss Top Shop dress I thought, 'Oooh, I really, really like it.' I liked how only the top had sequins (instead of the whole dress,) and that the dress had a bit of an A-line shape to it instead of a huge T-shirt shape (which a lot of sequined dresses seemed have.) It was a glamorous with an edge, but without being too sparkly. I like the chiffon skirt bit because it meant it will swirl around with you when you walk and dance. And so I thought the dress had a good balance of style and trend. But the more I stare at the design, the more I thought of one thing: showgirls. For some reason, the dress really reminded me of dresses that showgirls in cheesy movies would wear in bars, dancing around poles and entertaining sleezy guys.


This is another dress that I was thinking of awhile back (from Top Shop). It's a 50's style dress and it has a slit-like hole at the back. I've never tried or owned such vintage-looking dress before, and was thinking that I lacked stylish, unique dresses. The dress fit well, and the length was just right. But one thing I was debating about was whether the dress was unique in an old-fashioned way, or in a fashion-foward way.

You will notice that the shoulders of the Top Shop dress is really wide and the waist part fits well. Doesn't it just remind you of the Balenciaga SS08 shape? I mean, obviously it's not as structured as Balenciaga's, but it looks like a more casual design of Balenciaga's, doesn't it? But I was also concerned with the print. It's not the most modern print around and could easily be seen as a print that's too 'old' and 'grandmother-y'. On the other hand, if you can carry it off and accessorise well, then you can pull a really fashion-foward outfit together. Thus, the line between fashion-backward and fashion-foward is really really thin.

At the end of the day, I always think the most important thing is what you think of the item yourself. But in my typical shopping mindset, I just can't help thinking of the pros and cons. So anyways, what do you think of the two Top Shop dresses?

Image credits: http://www.topshop.com/, http://www.style.com/

Midnight Madness

This Thanksgiving I had the quintessential crazy Black Friday experience. In the last few years, I always thought it was a bit of a hoax to get people into the shopping spirit, because having been to Saks and Macy's etc during Black Friday previously, I did not find anything on crazy sale. Turns out I just wasn't shopping at the right place.
This year after Thanksgiving dinner, we went online to check the hours of the nearby outlet in San Diego, Carlsbad Premium Outlets, so we can go the next day- only to find that it was already opened in at Midnight Madness sale that went from 12am-10am! Excited, we quickly hopped onto the car and made our way there at 2am. Once there, we were delighted to find that the place was packed with happy holiday shoppers. It really put us in the holiday spirit!
And the beauty was that things were actually cheap! Things were on sales on top of sales- I bought a Puma cap for only $6! But anyway, some of the highlights of the night: The BCBG store: The sale was crazy. There were dresses for $39! I've never even heard of that. But alas, I didn't find any my size. Two that I was especially interested was these two dresses (above). I thought the plaid one would be a fun dress to wear for Christmas. It was only about $120. But alas, I decided I didn't really have an occasion to wear it anyway and it was a bit too long and poofy for casual wear. I almost bought the lacey one for $200. It fit perfectly and it felt really Blair from Gossip Girl like. I was actually standing in line to buy it (a huge line at that), until I decided that $200 was still kind of expensive and that the dress was a very thin line between being old fashion and Blair-like.
Turns out, it was a good thing I didn't spend that $200, because the money was better spent elsewhere. To be more specific, on a suit from Theory. Yes, you read right. This gorgeous black suit with white stripes above was only $200!!! Since a normal suit from Theory usually costs over $600, I was (still am actually) thrilled over this bargain. It fits really well too! My best buy all day! I wish I had more time at Theory.... everything was an additional 30% off!! In additional, I also got a really cute pajama set from Ralph Lauren, sportswear from Adidas and some presents for family. Overall it was a very productive trip! And yes, as you can see from the pictures, we shopped from 2am to sunrise.

Hmm.... though come to think of it Black Friday is still probably a hoax. Since this is the first time I've been to this outlet, I don't know if the prices really are this cheap only for these few hours or if Black Friday just means the start of the sales season. Oh well. I'm happy with my bargains :)

FW07 Trend: Ethnic-Looking Scarves

A large comfortable scarf has always been a staple to one's winter outfits. In the past few years, the trend seemed to be of plain, mono-coloured scarves. But ever since Balanciaga's FW07 show, ethnic-looking scarves have become more and more popular. Walk in to any high street store, Zara in particular, and you would notice that they have been selling a lot of Balenciaga-inspired scarves. Think tie-dyed, or coin/ round metal pieces-embellished scarves. I actaully bought a tie-dyed silk scarf from Zara when I was in a runway-fashion haze, but I returned it later becuase I decided it just wasn't practical. Speaking of Balenciaga, if you haven't seen one of the Balenciaga scarves in real life, go see it and feel it! Your brain might just irrationally equate the quality to the huge price tag.

Anyways, I usually buy myself one to two scarves per FW season. This season, one of my scarves is this green printed scarf. (Excuse the crappy styling and photography.) It's half silk and half wool, so it's not the thickest, warmest scarf around, but it's good for those not-too-chilly days. I especially like the purple and green blocks of colour at the ends of the scarf.

Did you buy an ethnic-looking scarf in the spirit of the FW07 season?

Image credit: www.style.com

A Random Black Friday Post

OK, so I don't celebrate Thanksgiving at all, but how I wish the UK did. I am extremely jealous of all the sales the Americans are enjoying over there, although I certainly don't envy the crowds and lines of crazy shoppers that I've read about in the news. Friday's a tiring day for me so this post is going to be a bunch of my completely random observations:

• In accounting class last week, I looked around. Three out of seven girls had earrings on. And out of those three, two pairs were Chanel costume jewelry. One pair's design was the big Chanel logo in silver with crystals, (which I thought the girl carried them on nicely); the other pair's design was a pink 'quilted' square that had a black logo on it, (which I thought was bulky and way too toy-like.)
• In an attempt to warm myself up and keep me awake during my two-hour Finance lecture, I stopped by Starbucks first. While attempting to walk to my lecture, the bubbles from the coffee kept coming oozing out from the little hole on top and the coffee kept threatening to spill out. I had to walk snail-pace and channel my inner princess (much like Anne Hathaway did in Princess Diaries). I never thought much about it before, but how does anyone walk around with a paper cup full of coffee in their hands?
• Apart from the fabulous sales, I am so jealous of the short trips people are on this Thanksgiving weekend. My sister is visiting relatives in San Francisco (mostly for good food I'm sure,) and Barneys Girl has left the windy city to visit friends in San Diego. As for me, I'll be hiding inside my flat from the low temperatures this weekend, maybe except for tomorrow, when I'll brave the cold for a Belgian-style dinner.

• If you're bored this long weekend (or you simply want to procrastinate from work), and you loved Sex & the City as much as I did, go read the original column, which is being republished each week over at the Observer. Remember the phrase, 'Welcome to the Age of Un-Innocence'?

Winter Getaway

Now that the weather is getting cold (its cold, windy and raining in Chicago today....) and the holiday season is officially upon us, its time to plan our winter getaway wardrobe! This holiday I am going to San Diego- I heard its not actually that warm over there, but I have my fingers crossed anyway!



Now for wardrobe ideas. The first thing that pops up in mind- DRESSES. Cute summery dresses! And lucky for us, this is also the season for the Resort Collections, so there are plenty out there. Here are a few that I wish I had:

Bold dresses by Catherine Maladrino. As the guy at Saks told me- Catherine is smokin' hot this season!

Bold PRINTED dresses. I love these ones from Karen Zambos (incidentally Karen Zambos seems to be the queen of winter getaway wear on shopbop- so check her out!).

Printed dresses by T Bag (i.e. above left). And to be VERY this season- ethnic inspired dresses like this one by Tibi (right).

Shiny dresses for the evenings. I am loving these two from Ingwa Melero (left) and Mara Hoffman (right). The colors are just so rich and bold and pretty!
Cropped jackets/cardis to keep warm. These two from Catherine Maladrino (left) and What comes around goes around (right) are so cute. The sparkly one is also great for adding a glam factor to your outfit.
Platform sandals to look pretty in and cute flats to walk around in. These two from Marc by Marc Jacobs (left) and Report Signature (right) are just the thing!

Have a nice holiday/thanksgiving everyone!

Image Source: Shop Bop

NYC- Festive Displays

Another thing I love about NYC this time of the year is the window displays. They are just sooo classy, pretty and festive! None of those over the top multicolored flashing light bulbs in the shape on Santa pasted onto a building thing we see in some places....
Walking down midtown on Fifth Ave, there is this (recently lighted this weekend) star hanging in the middle of the street, which I thought was really really cool.
Right next to it, we have THE Tiffany store looking all pretty lighted up.
And my favourite- the Cartier store. Passing by, I initially thought it was under renovation with lights there to make it pretty. But looking at it from afar, I realized that it was in fact in the design of a gift. How cute! Oh and if you happen by at night (when there aren't hoards of people), take a picture under the arches in the lights. Its soo very very pretty.
Onto more subtle displays, we have these very abstract displays from Bendels (Oooo and Bendels reminds me of Gossip Girl!).
And these very artsy looking displays at Bergdorf Goodmans (these are one of my favourites). One would think Saks would be included, but I didn't find the recent displays very inspiring... maybe its not up yet?
And here is turkey made of utensils on display which I thought was really neat!
Onto Madison Avenue, I loved the Ralph Lauren display, its just soo......Ralph Lauren- which is perfect for the festive mood, with its all American family style.Not really festive, but just wanted to throw in the Issey Miyake display because I think that the leaves with the leafy looking costumes are just so neat.

Too bad the Christmas tree at Rockfeller was not up yet. I would've loved to see that. Thanksgiving I heard. Hmm... maybe that means I should go again! :P

What do you think of ASOS?

A few weeks ago, I had a party to go to and no new dress to wear. My friend told me to check out asos.com, which if you don't know, is a site famous for selling clothes that are 'in the style of x celebrity' and also clothes from a few UK high street brands (like Oasis, French Connection and Mina).

So after spending some time on it, I didn't know what to think about it. Because

a) ASOS has no physical store and you never know how the clothing item is like in real life until you've actually felt it.

b) The prices are high-street prices, meaning very affordable. This again, makes me very suspicious of how the clothes would look and fit.

c) I've heard mix reviews from friends. A few of my friends said the clothes were decent, and one wasn't a fan of the quality.

d) If I wanted to return the clothes, I would have to mail them back. Talk about inconvenient and the extra cost involved!

These two black dresses are classy and stylish. The quality looks decent too. I especially like the sequinned one.

The red dress is quite cute, and the silver, sequinned dress is perfect for this party season!

Now these are examples of what I think are poor quality and design. The black dress's material looks cheap and the gems a bit too plastic-y. OK, I know the dress doesn't actaully cost a lot (38 pounds), but I have no desire to wear that material. As for the cream-coloured sequined dress, the design is just not very flattering.

This is the dress that has got me seriously thinking to give ASOS a go. I really like this dress. It's stylish, pretty and very youthful.

And on a closer look, even the beads and sequins look ok in quality. So should I dive in and get this dress?

Another dress I'm liking is this waistcoat dress. It's cute and cool. It's made of all polyester though, so I'm not sure how it'll look in real life.

So I need your opinion: If you've ever bought anything (or seen your friend's purchases) from ASOS, let me know what you think of them! Oh, and what do you think of the last two dresses?

Image credits: www.asos.com

A Cute White Coat

Back in September, I was suddenly very determined to find a casual white coat to have fun with because I was bored of my other coats, which were all black. (Also I'm guessing it was a photo of Ashley Olsen in a white coat from around four years ago that triggered this sudden 'want'. Kind of strange right?)

When it comes to shopping under time constraint, I do target-shopping. Which meant that I headed straight to Zara, where I know would have somewhat stylish, basic and very affordable coats. Zara didn't let me down and I ended up buying this:
OK, so I have recently seen a LOT of girls in the streets here in London wearing basic coats from Zara, either exactly this one or similar ones. But since I get cold easily, I have already started wearing this in late September, so almost no one was wearing it yet. Oh, and I know the coat looks really not-pretty like that, but it looks really cool with the collar up and the top part wide open (the lapel part.)

Oops, rambling off my point. So the white coat did prove out to be really fun. It brightened up my casual outfits and I found it especially fun to wear it with dresses. Unfortunately, the white coat got dirty really easily. I stopped wearing it to lectures after only one lecture because my sitting around in random seats was just too much dirt for my coat to take.

My point is, while I wouldn't spend a huge amount of money on a white coat, I think it's worth trying out a white coat from affordable shops. Think of it as a youthful, cute thing to cheer you and your outfit up on those grey days!

Shorts For Winter

The whole shorts + tights + ankle boots thing is a huge trend this season (a follow-up of the super-mini-shorts trend from the summer.) Some magazines even claim it's the new mini-skirt, which I'm not too sure about but I'm a fan of mini-skirts much more than of shorts. Anyways, so I've seen a lot of girls in London wear this trend -at school, in the supermarket, shopping... While I can totally understand it's a huge trend, I'm still amazed by how many ppl are wearing this combination. Why? Becuase dude, it's cold out there. Like seriously cold. And with this look, it's a very thin line between fashion victim and cute/ cool.

But if you really like this trend, then make sure you wear 'dressy' shorts. And you might want to stick to basic colours. Here are some that I like from Top Shop:

Checkered shorts -They're casual and preppy. Plus I've always thought checked things look better in winter than summer.

Silky-like shorts -Silky-looking things always make the item look classy, expensive and perfect for a night out.

Velvet shorts -These are also very wintery feeling and give off that going-out vibe. They're very girly so they're probably not suitable for everyone's taste but if you're a girly girl...

High-waisted shorts -While I could never pull off anything high-waisted, I've seen some Londoners try them on at Top Shop and they look really cool. Imagine these shorts with something as simple as a white T-shirt (tucked in) and platforms. Cool huh? (Although I think they'll look better without tights.)

What are your thoughts on this trend? Have you been wearing it?

Image credits: http://www.topshop.com/

Paul and Joe Boots

I know that the main focus of a lookbook of a fashion collection is the clothes, but upon looking at Paul & Joe's latest lookbook, I could not help but stare in fixated horror at the model's feet. Maybe I am just not fashion forward enough, but upon seeing these boots (almost everywhere in the lookbook) all I can think of is ugh!
Maybe in a few months (or even weeks) time, I will find them cute and want a pair. Who knows how fashion evolution works? I mean, without the slouchy thing, the shape of the pointy toe is perfectly rounded and the heels look just right. But right now ,at this moment, the slouchy thing (which I assume is the CENTER of the design) just makes models look like they have swollen ankles to me- and that is never attractive.
I tried looking at them from different angles, but still- nothing. Maybe it is also the awkward height of the boots as well, making them not quite ankle boots but not quite tall boots either. Only a model with super long legs like that can carry it off (I should know since I stupidly bought a pair of such awkward height boots last season and I am still trying to figure out how to wear them....) without looking short with their legs sectioned off like that.
So what is the verdict for these $825 Peper Suede Paper Bag booties? Fashion forward? Or should it be stuffed into a paper bag?

Image Source: Paul & Joe and Shopbop

Top Ralph Lauren Picks

In anticipation of Ralph Lauren's private sale, which takes effect online this Thursday 9am eastern time through to Monday 19th Nov, I decided to do a little feature on some of my top Ralph Lauren picks this season. I mean, the sales are going to be pretty good, going up to 40% off with an extra 15% off already reduced price items on Thursday by typing in "NOV15", so better make the most of the opportunity! First thing that pops into my head that I want from RL- dress shirts. Especially blue/white stripey ones like these two. They are just classic. It would be a great addition to my building work wardrobe. I wonder if RL considers these classic enough to fall under: "Up to 30% off RL Classics: cashmere sweaters(whopee!), polo shirts, oxfords, chinos and select Create Your Own items".......
Off to more interesting pieces, I also like these white dress shirts with an extra feminine touch. Especially the one on the left, the pleats are just right to make it look interesting, but not so much that it looks overtly girly.
Long cardigans are also just the thing this season. Paired with a printed dress shirt (left), you'd have perfected the preppy chic look. By itself, they are casual and cool (right).
And we must not forget this season's must have: dresses. These dresses above are both simple and elegant. The key of course is the belt. The one on the left with the badge and the collar is more casual and youthful. Except I'm not sure if it would look as good on me as it does on the model...what if I look school girl like? Its a thin line.
As the holiday season approaches, we have these very holiday feel sweaters with the snowflakes, plaid and red. Personally, I'd go for the red sweater and plaid shirt combo. Least then I can also wear it separately and besides, plaid is going to be fun this season.
Something dressier, there is this adorable bronze satin dress. I don't know why, but I have a huge affinity towards RL shoes even though they are not known for making footwear. This season is no exception. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE these black ankle boots. They are high, but with platform, so I won't be in pain all the time. And the heels look sturdy. The toes are perfectly rounded. The black bow is just the right of detail to make it interesting while still keeping it simple. I just LOVE it. I can wax poetry about it all night. I WANT these!
And last but certainly not least are these jackets/coats. Coats and jackets are the best investment, because they don't change everyday so you really get good mileage out of it. They are the first thing people see you in when you walk in somewhere- so make sure you make a good statement with it. I am loving the stylish cropped jacket (left), which can be worn formally like this or casually, layering with jeans etc. And the long coat- it is just princess like with its perfect fit and flare!

So yes, don't forget to check out the RL private sale this Thursday!

Image Source: Ralph Lauren