"Clothes make the man.

Naked people have little or no influence on society."

- Mark Twain

Mulberry Fall/Winter 2010 Launch Party

Spring/Summer 2011 presentation is coming to an end, yes. But we all know that fashion works like a bullet train, and Fall/Winter 2010 hasn’t even ended yet! And sometimes I wonder, what’s the point of the hurry? Aren’t we supposed to live in the moment? Mulberry certainly knew that, and just last month, Mulberry held a FW2010 launch party at Tanjong Beach Club.  

 

The theme of the night? Naughty Royalty. I would associate that with girly rich jewel colours and I was half right. The location was decorated in pink, purple, gold (all my favorite colours!)  and leopard prints – exclusively for the fun-loving fashion royalties. There were leopard statues in glitter everywhere! Basically, it was a glittery night literally. Even the gold flower décor hanging on the trees was covered in glitter! Guests were served with the inevitable booze, fish & chips wrapped in newspaper, mini burgers, lemon meringue pies and Mulberry Alexa cupcakes done by Singapore’s very own 20-year-old business student and self-taught baker, Felicia! I am definitely getting her to customize me one of those for my 21^st birthday!

 And who can be more fun and more fashionable than Brit long-time IT girl, host, model, DJ and muse, Alexa Chung? (Oh the Mulberry Alexa bag! I’d die in peace if I have a bag named after me.) Dressed in her trademark casual-chic cream shirt and black cuffed pants, Chung dj-ed for the night.

Chung was presented with the Mulberry Alexa cakes that Felicia made! Awesome!

Needless to say, the highlight of the night was the fashion show, with the runway by the pool. The models strutted down the runway with dogs in matching outfits, utter cuteness! Loved the clothes, but the spotlight was on the accessories, especially the bags!!! Lusting after the over-the-top leopard print one. In the words of Rachel Zoe, I die!

source: here, here and club21

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“Only great minds can afford a simple style.”

- Stendhal

I went to Haji Lane last Friday in search of Define Happiness Sunglass Shop because the boyfriend wanted to buy a new pair of sunglasses. This relatively new boutique came from an online retail website, My Oakley Collection. The reason behind My Oakley Collection, was because (as its name suggest), the site was used to sell the owner's used Oakley sunglass collection. He then realized that it was so salable that he started this business of selling sunglasses.

 

It was a very simple affair. The walk up the stairs to the boutique felt warm and homely, with cute over-sized sunglasses, sunflowers and little picture frames on each stair. The shop was even smaller than my bedroom, but the variety of Oakleys, Maui Jims and Ray-Bans on the glass shelves definitely cost more than my room decor.

Mens Radar Path in Polished Black

In my opinion, Oakleys are for the sports people, Maui Jims are for the general public, and Ray-Bans are for the fashion people! And surprise, surprise. Their retail price are cheaper than megastores' retail prices, and it can go up to a hundred dollars cheaper. The boyfriend bought a Mens Radar Path in Polished Black and I fell in love with the Womens Radar in Polished Pink (/Hot Pink? I don't know). He generously offered to buy me that, but I wasn't about to let him drop a $600 bomb at one go. I regret.

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“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable...

that we have to alter it every six months.”

-  Oscar Wilde

Moschino Spring/Summer 2011

Wild West meets the eighties - this very much summarizes Moschino's Spring/Summer 2011 collection. It sounds like craziness, but trust me, these pieces - if worn separately - might actually work on the streets. This time, Moschino has really gone over the top with the accessorizing. But really, nobody can ever fault the Italian fashion house for that. This fashion house is known for its colourful and quirky (sometimes to the point of eccentric) designs. But even fashion’s favourite oddball is observing the white trend. In addition to the white ten-gallon hats seen throughout the show, Moschino opened with this white ensemble...

… Why of course, not without its quirky add-ons of polka dots, stripes, chains and a pair of huge-ass earrings!

During the first quarter of the show, the first thing that came into my mind was Uncle Sam (a national personification of the United States)… what with the red and blue. What about the stars, you might ask. Well, try checking out what's dangling on the models' ear lobes while they're strutting their thang and you might just start to get a little starry-eye. 

 The show then transited into an array of monochromatic outfits and a little bit of denim ensembles here and there… definitely less crazy judging from Moschino’s standard. But don’t be fooled, the last half of the show? Think prints galore of different shades of red and blue all over again. 

And what's a show without some hits and misses?

Hit Outfit 1: Tailored jacket and pants will never go wrong. Those strappy cuffs and sandals look great paired with the monochrome colours.

Hit Outfit 2: Parisian-chic!

Hit Outfit 3: Sailor girl with mustard goodness.

Hit Outfit 4: Surprisingly the huge blue polka dots and the electric red worked, even with the headscarf!

Miss Outfit 1, 2, 3 and 4: These outfits look great! On a clown, that is. =/

Verdict: Some prints and outfit combination worked perfectly together (great job, Moschino!), but some are – let’s just say – not meant for each other. Ever.

Ps: Still loving Moschino nonetheless! I can never get over this belt.

Image source: here, here and here

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“I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little - if only out of politeness.

And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny.

And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny.”

- Coco Chanel

Speaking of white... this season's showcasing a whole lot of white, white and white! Gee, even the fashion world has caught on with the boyfriend's white fever (sans the shoes). Carolina Herrera opened with a white number, Acne opened with another white number, Alexander Wang ALSO opened with a white number, and Thakoon… okay you get the drift. The list goes on and on and on. Even though white is an eternal  summer colour, you cannot deny the fact that white this season is hotter than ever, capturing more attention and spotlight than it usually did. Move over, overwhelming, hallucination-inducing prints! It’s time for us to immerse in some holy cleanliness of fashion – white!

From a white tailored jacket for work, a white evening dress for a dinner event, a white fringed mini-dress for the club, to a white “bondage-esque” bralette for, ahem, maybe the rest of the night – you name it, they got it. White is coming at the fashion world in all shapes and sizes, and in all fabrics and cuts. It was casual at A.Wang, sporty at Rag & Bone, sexy at Mark Fast, and elegant at Marchesa. Do it A.Wang-casual if you like, or the other way round with Francisco Scognamilgio. This staple colour is perfect for anytime, anywhere. White’s simplicity is never boring because it exudes sophistication without going over the top. This monochromatic colour is so timeless you’ll never go wrong. Plus white looks fantastic in all skin tones! 

Even celebrities like Carrie Underwood, Erin Wasson and Pink are donning white ensembles like there’s no tomorrow.

Carrie Underwood; Erin Wasson; Marisa Miller; Pink; Rihanna

And if you still think white is oh-so-boring, this is further proof that you’re a démodé.

Rumi from fashiontoast.com; Streetstyle shot by The Sartorialist; Streetstyle shot by Facehunter.

From the runway to the celebrities to the streets, white is definitely on top of my shopping list. Starting from now!

"Bottom line is that couples that are truly right for each other wade through the same crap as everybody else.

But the big difference is they don’t let it take them down."

The boyfriend and I decided to check out Marina Bay Sands last weekend. Nothing interesting there... until the boyfriend spotted Limited Edt, a.k.a. Boys' Heaven. The store front was badly designed in my opinion, totally incongruent with the cool white interior of the boutique. There was a vault-like vault (I know right, I have very bad vocabulary) that says "Members Only". Oh well, too bad to the boyfriend.

Why do boys (especially the boyfriend, or maybe just the boyfriend) like plain white sneakers? They try so hard to get out of wearing white shoes to school and now they're practically drooling over them. I mean, it's just a pair of white sneakers... but nooooooooo. There's never such a thing as just a pair of white sneakers. There's high-cut, there's low-cut, there's the chukka (hell, there's even a mid-cut term), and then there's different tongues and laces and god-knows-what.

Hold on a minute. I bite my tongue. I guess platforms, wedges, thigh-highs and laced-up are to women as plain white sneakers are to men. Oops.

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"I like fashion... I like music...

I like beer."

Dottie & Me at the Dolce & Gabbana after-party last year.

 "Sometimes you get tired of fashion," says Dottie, former blogger of the now defunct fashionation.com. WHEW. So I'm not the only one who feels this way! I've always thought that when you're in fashion, you basically live and breathe fashion, 24/7. Strangely, though I'm in this line, I cannot wait to get out to take a breather once in a while. Luckily I'm not alone. Well, thank God somebody else thinks this way too, haha! "Blogging fatigue", that's what Dottie diagnosed this situation as. And the prescription to this "sickness"? "Don't sit by your computer, nothing will come to you. Take breaks!" Okay guys, listen to the pro! After all, she is one of Singapore's most famous fashion bloggers.

So what's her secret to her success? "Be interesting but don't write something that's not you." Having high quality pictures is a plus too! If this is a social studies question that expects you to agree or disagree to a certain extent, my answer will totally be "I agree to a large extent". As cliche as it sounds, having a personal voice is the most important thing as a blogger/writer. You want to fake it? You're out. Baby, it's as easy as ABC.

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“i like my body when it is with your body.

It is so quite new a thing. Muscles better and nerves more.”
- E.e. Cummings

So I went to a concept bookstore, Books Actually, the other day. They were having a 20% storewide sale! It's too bad I didn't get anything because number one, I have a boyfriend who doesn't have a "thing" for bookstores, and number two, our purpose of going to Ann Siang was to shoot. They were selling pencils with authors' (such as Enid Blyton and E.e. Cummings) names on it. Oh, how I love concept bookstores! Definitely going back there to get my author pencil. Maybe some day I'll have my name on a pencil too. Kidding!

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