Rocker Chic

Everybody I know loves watching American Idol and tell me who doesn’t? Ryan, Simon, Randy, Kara and the other lady I don’t much care to mention (who in my opinion doesn’t have the resume to justify her sitting in the judges’ chair – well that’s another story…) make for an exciting watch week after week. This season I’m roping for Crystal ….what about you?

The rocker inspired way of dressing has been on every fashionista’s list. Top designers like Balmain had practically re-invented this style of dressing and made it well…almost unaffordable to mere mortals like us. I’m sharing some great shots of his S/S 2010 (above) pieces for you to drool at anyway.

Ok, enough drooling. With a little creativity and sense of style, you could get the same chic look.

Break it down:
1) Great fitted jeans is a can’t-do-without wardrobe staple. My advise – invest in a really good pair even if it means coughing up some serious bucks.
2) Cool T-shirts. If you walk into Topshop, t-shirts can cost more than a hundred bucks. But you know, for something as basic as that, why splurge? Go to any shop that carries t-shirts at very affordable prices. You’ll be surprised that if you go to the major malls where there are smaller booths, you can actually find t-shirts at RM5 upwards! If you buy plain ones, you can get your artistic friends to draw tattoo like artwork on the t-shirt using fabric paint. That way, you ‘ll have a one-of-a-kind t-shirt that’s 100% your own. Or…get a pair of scissors and hack away at your t-shirt. Believe me, if a Balmain ripped T-shirt can cost thousands, your personalized ripped t-shirt may look just as expensive. Just make sure you wear it with attitude.
3) Blazers - this piece in your wardrobe is what would make your look current and young. Roll up your sleeves and throw on the blazer over jeans or tights.
4) Boots – Nine West has some pretty rockin’ designs. Check out my blog on Shoes Fetish. You’ll get some ideas.
5) Accessories – for these, most boutiques have collections at affordable prices. However, if you really want ones that rock your world, then invest in pieces from Folli Follie and Swatch Bijoux. Better yet, if you visit net-a-porter.com, you’ll find that pieces from new designer Daisy Knights will give you that rocker edge in a more refined way. Go surf, you’ll know what I mean.

So, now that you’ve got the 101 on rocker chic, why not belt out your best this weekend? Sway those hips and know that you look ‘smashingly’ great!

Hello Sunshine

The weather is really hot in Kuala Lumpur. Thanks to the phenomenon El Nino, the heat has reached sweltering heights. Wearing stockings is unthinkable so is wearing anything that requires more than a layer of clothing.

This season however, designers have tampered with a little bit of sunshine. Yellow or variations of this vibrant shade was seen on the major runways – Bottega Veneta almost always adds yellow to their palate. Emilio Pucci did a great evening piece in yellow (yes, the colour works well in the dark of night).

However, I do know that some may be a bit hesitant in adopting this shade in their wardrobe. Too bright? Too in-your-face? No..no…no…. please!

On the contrary, yellow makes your skin glow. This sunny-side-up colour really gives you that extra kick in your day. If you don’t believe me, why not try it. Go grab that yellow dress that you threw way back in your closet or borrow the yellow outfit your friend has been shamelessly showing off on several occasions. See if it doesn’t put a certain spring in your step!

If you are going to follow my advice and shop for a yellow piece, then consider the following:

1) Make sure the shade of yellow is not fluorescent bright. Usually cheaper China-made pieces are made in this unforgiving colour. Stay away from it. No one looks good no matter how beautiful you naturally are.
2) If you are not too sure if the shade of yellow is working against your skin tone, bring your sister/friend – ask their opinion.
3) Shades that are mellow (even two-tone) works on most skin tones. Yellow can be a fun shade to wear when the dress is cut sexy (take a look at this dress from Bottega Veneta S/S 2010).

Most importantly, check out my collection that will be at Mori Pin , Bangsar Village II and Monizal, Amcorp Mall sometime first week of May 2010. You will find yellow pieces that will make you look scorching hot!

Vintage Inspired

Time travel would really be great wouldn’t it? I’d love to travel back to see my grandmother (whom I never got the privilege of knowing because she passed on before I was even born). However, she left much of her handiwork behind for us, her grand-children, to remember her by. Oh, if you could only see some of them – the crochet pieces were so finely done, her embroidery work exquisite. So really, to go back in time to meet her and see her at work, ‘weaving’ her finest, would indeed be an event unlike any other.

Decades ago during the years of opulence - the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s, lace, beading, feathers and intricate embroidery of gold and silver were painstakingly used to create dresses that seem so fairy-like its as if they were being made for the gods. Yes, indeed it was the goddesses who had the luxury of parading their couture garb at clubs and parties where the music was as intoxicating as the women. It was a time when legends were born and couture became a social standard.

Today, many designers have been making references to the past and who should lead the way this season – Valentino. This dress (shown below here) is truly vintage inspired with its layers of lace and embroidery.

Other designers have managed to collect vintage lace and materials from the past, and designed modern-day pieces (as shown above). These pieces however carry a hefty price tag because of the rarity of the materials used and the fact that there can only be one of its kind in the world.

What I personally find in vintage pieces is the quality of the cut and the polished stitching. Some of the vintage pieces I carry at Monizal Boutique (Amcorp Mall, PJ) and Mori Pin Boutique (Bangsar Village II) are re-worked to give a modern spin to it yet still maintaining its individual characteristic. You should walk into either one of these boutiques and ask to see a Catherine D design. As these pieces are one-of-a-kind, you would want to be among the privileged (ahem!) ones to own them.

Shopperholics Anonymous

When you are a shopperholic as I am, you just cannot resist a good bargain.

It starts with the thrill and anticipation of a sale (and if you are a member of a department store or premium boutique you get invites to the preview sale - even better!!). Then its deciding if you should just apply leave from work so that you can be there bright and early , even before the doors open. The morning of the sale, you get up with heart pounding deciding what would be the best outfit to wear (one that will be easy to undress and re-dress when trying out clothes). Then not a moment too soon, you're at the door waiting to dive into and emerge with the best sale items ever! Sound familiar.....?

Well, today, if you are a tech savvy shopperholic, there is no need for such rigorous preparation to walk into a brick and mortar boutique. All you need is, to keep your mouse-clicking skills sharp so that you can click away on online store bargains and get them delivered to your doorstep.

Sometime last week, the online bargain store Outnet had a 1 british-pound(approx. RM5) sale for designer items like Stella McCartney and Givenchy. There was such a huge rush, the management was surprised that tech savvy shoppers could buy so many items and at quite literally the speed of light!

So, I visited this online boutique today and found out that the prices they were offering for designer items (once the 1 pound sale was over) were quite good actually. And the sizzling part about this bargain boutique is their Flash Sales where items are priced very low for only a few hours. Shoppers (only those who register an account at the site) will be notified and the e-shopperholics start flexing their finger muscles to grab the offer. Sounds exciting, doesn't it?

I have picked some items from the website that I felt were bargains not to be missed (pictured here).

So, go on... click on theOutnet.com online store. You might enjoy staying home more often now and secretly wish your husband/boyfriend could have more 'boys nite out'!

Asian Invasion

Yesterday I blogged about how we should be supporting up and coming designers to preserve the creative juices in the industry. New designers are a breath of fresh air as they bring with them a very young take on fashion. It's not that I am dissing the more experienced designers. Sure they have been leaders to whom we are greatly in debt to for giving us brilliant tapestries of their work. But the younger generation is giving a fresh spin on techniques that make their designs cool and youthful. That is what all of us want isn't it? - to look young....as long as we can.

In the past three to four years, there has been a string of young and hip designers crashing the international fashion scene. While we have always been used to names like Valentino, Donatella Versace, Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan and so on, have you heard of Philip Lim, Derek Lam, Prabal Gurung...? They are the Asians (some have settled down in New York) who have gate-crashed the party and carved a place for themselves in the international fashion circuit. Take a look at their creations.

I am convinced that Asia is a force to be reckoned with - we're big, we take up the largest percentage of internet users in the world and we're the next big cash cow. There's a huge market in Asia and the western world is already hacking at it to get the most of it.

Malaysia is no stranger to the fashion scene either. There's a pool of talented designers in Malaysia that have made their mark internationally with the likes of Melinda Looi, Bernard Chandran, Zang Toi to name a few. There's no stopping the Asians. We want to take on the world!

High Fashion Drama

The artistic work that get's put into a couture dress is priceless. It bares the soul of the designer. The inspiration that bloomed out of perhaps looking at the soft-silk back of a muse or the sensuousness of her blush pink lips.

The designer and his team puts in twenty or thirty hours (at times even longer) of labour on a dress until he has perfected the movement, the 'float' factor and the way each embellishment is in absolute harmony with his vision of beauty.

The moment the dress is put on, it no longer becomes just another bodily cover with no relationship, no connection with the wearer - it completes the natural beauty of the muse. It becomes part of her. It will make her shine, make everyone around her filled to the brim with envy. And she knows it....

One of my all-time favourite designers - Christian Lacroix (who is no longer designing - I will tell you why in my later posts) has this innate ability to design, cut and then paint his canvas (the cut dress) with ribbons, lace,intricate beading and precious stones to make a dress that just takes your breath away.

Take a close look at these pictures. It just shows how detailed and intricate designers like John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix and the likes of them embellish their creations that have become their trademark.

The other day I was talking to a boutique owner and she declared that the high-fashion retail business is dying (she was referring to boutiques that carry premium items with premium price tags).

But I wonder - without designers who push boundaries and create confections that give the wearer the 'wow' factor, fashion will be truly boring. It's like a chicken and egg scenario. Low-end garment manufacturers always copy high-fashion designs but put a low price tag on their clothes.

Without designers conjuring up unique and statement-making pieces where would these low-end garment manufacturers get their blue-print?

So, don't let creativity die. Support designers - new and old. Its time to appreciate art for what it is....art!

Disco Shorts

Disco Shorts! Have you ever heard of even the word 'disco' these days??

When I got hold of these pictures, I was thrilled at the rebel of an idea - Disco Shorts in 2010?

Well for the old timers (you know who you are...secretly at least!), disco nights are when the young things in the 70's and 80's bring out their very best bling and dance the night away at clubs. Nights like that called for big hair (made possible with cans of hairspray), loud and heavy accessories and of course the bling continues from accessories to the dress!

These shorts you see are from designer Ashish Gupta's S/S 2010 collection. He is a UK-based designer who had his debut collection back in 2001 and has steadily gained international respect and recognition. Thanks to him, we have the Disco Shorts sliding back to the 21st century in high-fashion style.

How could you possibly wear these unapologetic shimmering loose cut shorts with style and look so chic that noone would pass you off as a time traveller from the 80's? The picture below gives you the perfect ensemble.

Interestingly though, you could make a variation of these shorts on your own.

1) Get a pair of cotton shorts that have a similar cut. (Make sure they fit you well, you wouldn't want your butt cheeks popping out!)

2) Sew on gold/silver sequins in any design of choice. Sequins can be bought at any arts and crafts store.

3) Wear it if you dare!

Queen of Hearts

I got up this morning and the first thing I read was an article about Alexander McQueen - a very respected designer. So immediately I was compelled to write and share with you about this wonder of a designer. Fired up my laptop, haven't eaten my breakfast yet but wanting so much to blog about him. Here it is....

The great one - Alexander McQueen or a.k.a Lee McQueen to his friends had taken runway shows to a new level. For his Spring/Summer 2010 RTW collection, he live streamed his runway show. Audiences at the venue were mesmerized by his creative use of the digital world. As models were trotting down the runway, robotic (or remotely controlled) cameras running parallel on both sides of the runway followed each model and captured the details, textures of his clothes while projecting those images on a large screen which acted as the backdrop for the runway. Hard to imagine? Then go over to style.com and click on his s/s 2010 video.

Alexander McQueen committed suicide after being so devastated by the death of his mother whom he loved so much. His death was such a great loss to the fashion industry and many insiders were wondering what would become of his company and the brand. Great thing is, the management had vowed to continue with the brand under the hands of his assistants who have been working very closely with him.

Before his death, he completed 80% of the F/W 2010 collection. (I have included some pictures of this collection for you to enjoy.)

This gold jacket the model is wearing was made entirely of gold coloured feathers. Amazing!

Shoe Fetish

Haven't been blogging since yesterday....cos I really have other more important things to do? Nah...well ok...yeah certain priorities came first. But I'm back now. :)

My last few blogs were about prints and its really the rage this s/s 2010. By the way, for those of you new to the fashion world a little lesson on the acronyms:

1) s/s 2010 = spring/summer 2010

2) s/s rtw 2010 = spring/summer ready-to-wear 2010

3) f/w 2010 = fall/winter 2010

4) f/w rtw 2010 = fall/winter 2010 ready-to-wear

Then there's ctr = couture rst = resort.

So, the big designers design clothes, accessories, shoes and every fashion necessity around these seasons. So every time you see say MNG having a season clearance sale, what it really means is that they are getting rid of , for example, their spring/summer collection to make way for the fall/winter lot.

This s/s 2010, designers have been really putting their creative wand to work - especially in the shoe department. Take a look at Donna Karan, Jimmy Choo, Fendi, Emilio Pucci and Thakoon. Great stuff. Really funky yet sophisticated at the same time (especially love the Emilio Pucci boots, dripping with cool factor). Wear these with any outfit, and instant glam!

For those on a shoe-string budget (pardon the pun), a quick visit to Vincci or Vincci+ can give you the same high. You may want to try checking out places like Voir , Shoes Shoes Shoes and Rockin Reptile too.

Look at how some of the stars are rocking designer shoes (above).

If you've got a shoe fetish, drop me a comment, ok. Love to hear from you.

Street Prints

Second day of blogging. This is just great stuff. I was so excited about my new blogsite yesterday, that was all I could think about all day!

Anyways, I'd like to share with you how prints get translated from runway to the street. Enjoy these pictures. To note, prints are great for both day and night wear. You'll just have to wear the sexy ones ala short mini, body-con dresses for night and every other variation for day/night.

Accessories are a must and again, in my last post I said that you really need to chunk it up for night but keep it simple for day/work.

You see, the thing about accessories is you might get bored of them really fast and some accessories are so in-trend that they go out of style before you get to wear them the 2nd or 3rd time around. So, my advice is:

1) If you must spend on branded or expensive accessories, then make sure they are timeless in design so that you get to wear them often and even from work to evening. Semi high-end jewellery will work great such as Monet and Liz Clairborn from department stores like Isetan and Metrojaya.

2) But if you want accessories that are on-trend, then its best to buy ones that don't cost you an arm and a leg but will give you the 'bam!' factor. I'd suggest browsing around places like Amcorp Mall, PJ (especially the one shop on the 1st floor, a few doors from Watsons). They have stuff that are really trendy, tasteful but affordable. Believe me, I have sooooo many pieces from them that I have already filled up my 3rd box!

3) Another tip though if you have that creative wand in your head is: create your own accessories from the old ones you already have. It makes a great weekend project when you're about to pull out your hair from boredom. I once dismantled a diamante rose from an old necklace and sewed 2 black chiffon strips of cloth to both ends so I can tie it around my neck. Turned out to be a pretty funky chocker and best of all, it looked quite expensive. Try it!

Red Carpet Runway

I just wanted to share how some celebrities are wearing fabulous dresses on the red carpet. If you notice, prints are big this spring/summer and they are just having fun!

I love how Alexander McQueen's digital print dress was sighted on the red carpet recently (I told you I'd talk about him again!). If you could look even closer, the dress actually has 2 different textures with the same print. I have a close-up shot of this dress. There's actually alot of pleating and draping that went into it.

And then there's Scarlett. Need I say more. This girl has got the figure and personality to match. This dress is a Dolce & Gabbana - absolutely fabulous to the ..nth!! Notice the white strip at the sides of the dress that gives it a sporty effect on the whole animal print.

Right below you will see fashion designer/celebrity Stella McCartney (yes, she's the daughter of the legendary Paul McCartney of the Beetles) in really cool chic printed dress of her own design.

And that is how prints are translated from runway to red carpet. In my next post I'll share about how prints get translated from runway to the streets.