Summer Celebration

I'm FINALLY officially on summer holiday! The long, slow and painful process of finals are over and I'm finally done packing. Packing is such a pain- especially when you have to move everything out into storage in boxes and you, like me, do not live lightly. I am always amazed at how much thing can be put together in one small space. Anyway, enough of rambling. The point is, I'm DONE. And in celebration, I went online and looked at pretty shoes. . .

Naturally I was first drawn to these gorgeous ballet pumps from Marc by Marc Jacobs. Especially because the criss cross thing in the front is not elastic. The ones with elastic just somehow looks kind of strange.

Then I saw these adorable pumps. Normally I'm not a fan of this orangy coral color, but Paul & Joe really has a way with it!

These by Pedro Garcia are exquisite-or it would be if the edges weren't frayed. . . . . .

Dior heels are always smashingly sexy.

For a more comfortable height, try these by Kovette. They are funky and cool.

Then there were the beeeautiful shiny ones. Loving this one from Marc Jacobs.

These from Giuseppe Zanotti are divine. The design is just so elegant and simple, but it still stands out a lot because of its bronze color.

Let the summer begin!

CFDA Awards 2006 Fashion

CFDA Awards is the fashion world’s Oscar Awards. So thankfully, most people were well-dressed.

Francisco Costa (Calvin Klein) -Womenswear Designer of the Year with Natalia Vodianova in Calvin Klein (in both pictures)

Diddy -Menswear Designer of the Year. I just don't get this. I mean I'm sure he doesn't even actually design his fashion line.

Olivier Theyskens (Rochas) –International Award winner with Anna Wintour. I have been loving Rochas the past few seasons. For those of you who haven’t checked out the Rochas FW06 show, go look it up now! For someone who’s in her 50s, Anna Wintour looks seriously amazing.

Bee Schaffer also looking stylish Narcisco Rodriguez. Random observation: her hair is so shiny!

Proenza Schouler duo: Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough with Chloe Sevigny in a Proenza Schouler FW06 dress.

Paparazzi favourites Karl Lagerfeld and Lindsay Lohan in Lagerfeld Gallery. The dress is really well-cut. Li-Lo looks fab as usual.

The pretties:

Scarlett Johansson in Calvin Klein. The dress is so modern lady-like, unfortunately not very photogenic.

Heidi Klum in Giles Mendel. Heidi looks fantastic as usual but for some odd reason, the dress reminds me of a furry animal.

Erin Wasson and Gemma Ward. I just can’t resist posting Gemma –she looks so pretty and I love the dark blue cardigan and mellow yellow dress combination. I would say I like Erin’s outfit too, except the dress underneath the leather jacket is absolutely horrendous, especially for such an event.

Carmen Marc Valvo and Lydia Hearst in the designer’s dress. Pretty black dress!

Alicia Keys (in Vera Wang), Amanda Bynes and Jamie-Lynn Sigler (in Monique Lhuilier) are my celebrity picks. This just shows white dresses don’t have to be boring and can vary a lot.

Rhiana and Jameie King both wearing Max Azria Atelier dresses. I can’t decide whether I like the sleek dress more or the pretty one.

Jessica Simpson in Michael Kors. The pretty white dress looks somewhat trashy on Jessica. Maybe if the dress was longer…

Frederic Fekkai Summer Hair- Wash and Wear

Being more on the oily side myself, I am very fed up with hair that goes oily after just one day of washing. So I was very excited when my friend told me about this spray on shampoo. It sounded sooo cool. You spray it on, blow dry it and it'll take away oil and other remnants in the hair. Not a drop of water involved. So we really excitedly gave it a try. Imagine how easy life would be!!

Unforunately, some things really are too good to be true. I sprayed it on, I blowed dried it and waited for the miracle to happen- nothing happened. It looked exactly the same as before. And it actually felt dirtier because I've added more products into it! Am very disappointed. And I don't think its because I don't know how to use it or its just my type of hair or something. My friend tried it as well and nothing happened.

Guess we'll be keeping our hair clean the good old fashion way after all- with water!

SS06 Fashion Trend: Dungaree Dresses

I had always associated dungaree dresses (and anything that look like overalls) to the 90s. So I was pretty surprised when this trend is back again so soon. I'm not a big fan of wearing-overalls and the workman look, but the dresses are too cute and fun to play with to resist. Also, if you're the fashion-loving type who notices runway backstage photos, you'll notice a lot of models have been wearing dungaree-clothes, (although models can get away with wearing anything of course.)

Dungaree dresses are not the easiest things to wear, but there are a lot of ways you can make it fun and trendy. From the SS06 runways:

Hermes and Max Mara -The simplest way to wear it, ie. wearing only the dress. While this works on the runway and works with professionally tailored dresses, you might end up looking like you just walked out of a construction site in real life when you wear the high street versions.

Betty Jackson and Chloe -SO cute and fun! Wear eye-popping coloured shirt or polo underneath. It would be best if the shirt underneath has a good cutting or made of silk, so you would look stylishly cute instead of childish cute.

Marc by Marc Jacob -Are there any trends that can't be found on the Marc runway? The right look shows how dungaree dresses can be incorporated into the haute ballerina look by using simple layers.

Shopping around online:

This denim dungaree dress is by Guess. From the photo, it actually looks pretty well made. I did see a similar, lighter-coloured version at H&M and thought that one looked cheap. (I bought it and returned it the next day!)

Lux Washed Rip Apron Dress from Urban Outfitters -I actually just bought this one last week. I tried it on with a sparkly tank top underneath and loved it. It's also got a bit of an empire-cut, so it looked like a dungaree babydoll dress when I tried it. In typical UO fashion, it def looks better in real life than in this website photo.

Top Shop Pinafore Style Dress -From the shape of the dress, I'm guessing it won't suit everyone. It's much easier to wear A-line ones (like the Guess one.) However, I have seen some people pull it off and they look great in it.

Sunner Christie Overall Dress from Shopbop -Here is an example of unflattering shapes. Actually, the problem with this dress is that it doesn't seem to have much of a shape. When shopping, look for the dungaree dresses that tighten at the waist or have an empire-cut.

Do have fun with this trend!

Thinking About Makeup...

If have been reading our blog for awhile, you would know that I have been on a make-up fast since last Dec. I set the 'fast' for half a year, meaning that June 7 will be the first day I will be allowed to buy makeup again. June 7 just happens to be the day of my last exam so you can guess what I will be doing that afternoon. So in my excitement recently, I have been doing research and making up a list, (I absolutely adore making lists!) And yes, I even like listing my research and thought processes...

First there is Lancome's new Summer makeup collection -Summer Freedom. Daria looks so gorgeous in the ad! OK, since I'm not a fan of the tanned look, I'll definately not be buying the bronzer, but I'm interested in the eye shadow. Daria basically has grey shadow on the eyelids and pink right under the eyebrows. While this is admittingly not a particularly creative combination, I still really like it.

Although to be honest, I'll probably not end up buying the new eye shadow duo, and end up just using whatever old grey and pink eye shadow I have at home.

So what will I be buying? From what I've seen online, I'm in love with Stila's new blush duo: All Over Glow. Pink blush to give a natural flush of pink and a gorgeous shimmer powder to highlight the cheeks -all in one package! Perfect for the natural look. And just think how great it will be for travelling too.

Lip glaze by Stila -I have read rave reviews about the lip glazes (and Barneys Girl also loves them.) The only problem is the over-whelming choice of colors, (and the fact that the makeup ladies at the counters are sometimes seriously unhelpful.)

Tea at the Four Seasons

If you've been reading this blog long enough, you'll know that my all time favourite pastime is to have afternoon tea. And no, it is not something reserved for the Emily Gilmores' of the world (although I've seen plenty of them too). It is a fabulous opportunity for one to just sit, eat and chat with friends for hours on end with a constant refill of tea in a nice environment. Everytime I go to a different country, I try to find the perfect place for tea. My favourite in Hong Kong is the Mandarin Oriental (but its under renovations right now) and the Peninsula. In San Francisco, its the Ritz Carlton hands down. But in Chicago. . . I am still trying.

Although I think I've found the one that might be "it": The Four Season's Chicago. Conveniently located above Bloomingdales on Michigan Avenue, the setting is traditional quaint victorian style- just the way I like it!

They have pretty good scones too- I had 4 (I am scone deprived)! You can really tell a place by its scones. The Ritz Carlton in Chicago for example had a great atmosphere but terrible scones (although I might be because we were late for tea, but who stops serving tea after 4 anyway?).

Plus, they have this really cute teapot. When it first arrives, you are supposed to let it sit like this- upside down- for a while before tilting it back upright again.

This is because, inside the tea is seperated from the water by a little tray thing as seen above. How cool is that?

Although the scones there are still no competition to the ones at Ritz Carlton SF (or am I just putting them on a pedestal because I haven't had them in so long?). So I'm going to keep trying. Maybe the Drake? But I heard it was very Americanized tea and is not actually very good at all. . .

SS06 Fashion Trend : Short Shorts

Usually I am not much of a fan of short shorts. They just always seem more fitted for the gym, not the streets- unless you want to look like a tramp that is. But this season, on the runway, there is a more ladylike short shorts trend that has made me completely rethink my initial dislike for short shorts on the streets!

I especially liked the preppy short shorts look found on the Luella runway. And the slightly loose, boxy short shorts from Chloe are definitely not skanky.

Neither are the structured white short shorts from Prada and Paul Smith. Tuck in the shirt or wear a thin ribbon belt to emphasize the waist and create more shape.

Details are also a great way to take away from hot pants effect from short shorts. I especially LOVE this one from Versace (left) She just looks fabulously cool. And the military (or is it sailor-ish) details on the Sass & Bide runway also addds structure.

So the key to wearing short shorts in a ladylike manner is to balance it out with tops with more coverage, like long sleeves, jackets and even layers. Tanned legs are also a extra bonus, cause they make your legs look more elongated and thin. It almost makes me wish I was more tanned- and I like myself fair!

For ladylike choices on the streets, try these structured boxy short shorts from Marc by Marc Jacobs, Forever 21. . .

. . Theory and Gap.

I also adore these structured striped short shorts from Alicia + Olivia and Top Shop. It just makes them that much more interesting.