What I'm into Now

My Facebook friend is enjoying her summer in China. She post some pictures of bunny shaped mochi dim sum. I can't decide if I want to eat it or pet it- but I know I want it.


Taghrid's desktop background worthy photo shoot for PIKNIK Magazine.


Recently I've been obsessed with Tiffany blue. In my fantasy future house/apartment, I want to have Tiffany blue walls with white columns and crown molding. Hanging in the dining room, will be this romantic blue chandelier (too bad someone bought it already).


A castle made of paper = hundreds of hours of meticulous work. Definitely check out Tokyobling's blog for more breathtaking images.

Neiman Marcus' digital catalogue usually has some cute spreads. I'm loving the one for Chanel's Pre-Fall 09 collection (pg 48). The Russian themed spread includes adorable Russian nesting dolls with Chanel logos for buttons. The video will bring a smile to your face, as it did to mine.


How The Average U.S. Consumer Spends Their Paycheck
I'm very interested in personal spending and being thrifty so I regularly check out Wisebread and Get Rich Slowly. This was on GRS and it was amazing to see where average American families spend their money. Can you believe that we spend almost the same amount for groceries as we do for restaurant food?

Fashion Fuckit List

The article on Fuckit List in the NY Mag had me ROFL. The Fuckit list is basically...

the opposite of a Bucket List: a list of things you don't care about doing before you die instead of things you do want to do.

Readers posted things like:
-learning another language
-running daily
-being less snarky
-cut back on coffee
-not turning into my mother
-reading directions
-being a vegetarian
I can ditto all of those things to be honest.

Since others have covered most things I would put on my fuckit list, I decided to type down my fashion fuckit list. Things that I just don't give a....
-Owning crocs or birkenstocks to be 'comfortable' (those ugly shoes are not touching my feet)
-Not wearing white after Labor Day (who cares anyway?)
-Buying a pair of Louboutins (I know I lust after them daily on this blog, but $700+ red soles are too pricey for me)
-Tailoring my clothes (because it's expensive and I'm lazy)
-Budgeting: Not buying things that I want but don't need (especially when they are deeply discounted)



What would be on your fashion fuckit list?

Tao Okamoto - Model Crush

I love Tao for being so quintessentially Japanese. I'm so glad she cut her hair last year. Her 'rice bowl' hair cut will be her signature. Phillip Lim thought so too when he made her his muse this season. Every single girl in the 3.1 Phillip Lim Fall 2009 show wore a wig cut in her hairstyle. She was so surprised going backstage that all the models looked like her! I remember in my childhood, my mom would give me the exact same haircut. Around 8, I finally got sick of my bangs and haven't gone back to the 'bowl' cut since. The cut still reminds me of little Asian girls.

3.1 Phillip Lim
It's difficult being a muse. (lol)


Yigal Azrouël

I think asian skin tones actually look good against stark white.

ADAM
I just love this dress.

Ralph Lauren FW 2009
I also love the furry vest over sheer turtleneck
The makeup is fantasic- understated but glowing!

Isaac Mizrahi

Tao is certainly making the rounds this season, walking for 18 shows in NY alone. It's refreshing to see Asian girls rock the runway. Fresh faces like Tao, Arlenis Sosa, and Lakshmi Menon prove that girls of color can make in the competitive modeling industry.

Credits: Style.com

Project Drag Queen

O. M. G. How great was last week's episode of Project Runway? Amazing!

I must say Terri's Acid Betty gone geisha look was to die for. For me, that was the clear winner. But all in all, I thought the designers all came up with some great stuff- major improvement from the past few weeks.

I would blog more about this but why should I when you can hear it straight from the horses' mouthes.

Chris March's blog- He totally agrees that Terri was genius. And he makes hilarious snipping comments about Daniel.

Tim Gunn's blog- The fashion maven's take on each designers work. Apparently, the inside dish is that he and Terri got into a big debate about the look.

Designer Vehicles

Instead of rolling up in Hummer or a Lamborghini, how about flashing real bling-bling by driving a Chanel trucker or maybe a Louis Vuitton oldsmobile.

Chanel

Gucci

Burberry

Louis Vuitton

Although I first thought the idea was ridiculous, I actually like the multicolored Louis-Vuitton momogrammed Harley and the Burberry Vespa. What do you guys think, fab or just bad tastes?

Runway Redux

It just me or was this the first real challenge of the PR5 season? The first challenge was a recycled one from PR1; the second was not superduper challenging except working with crummy fabrics (for some designers); the third challenge was alright, like designing for DKNY; the fourth was just too confusing for the designers and too many took inspiration from the opening ceremonies of the early 1900's. The latest challenge was actually working with a client, Brooke Shields, and she would wear the winning designer's dress on her show Lipstick Jungle- so there's huge prestige from that win. At the same time the outfit had to be able to transform from the office to the cocktail lounge.


I honestly liked this outfit and I loved the blue tank inside. However, it just wasn't appropriate for the challenge. Since Brooke chose his design and told Blaine not to make it too busy, I really feel that both Blaine and Brooke were at fault for this miss. Still, I liked the concept and it was really well made.

Terri certainly has an eye for pattern, because I hated it when I first saw it but then it started to grow on me. Still, this was definitely not my favorite look. For me, it's too casual for work and not enough pizzazz for evening. It was just- O.K. It'll work on Brooke Shields but not on t.v.

Keith's dress was soo pretty. I would totally wear it and it works for both day and night. Brooke chose this dress, but I don't think it fits her. Her wide shoulders and large bosom will overpower the lightness of the top. Overall, I think it's just too young for her.

Compared to Keith's, I had the opposite reaction to Korto's look. I thought this look was too old for Brooke and the color would clash with her skin tone. It does hide her broad shoulders but I think hiding trouble spots under swaths of cloth is more for older women. I actually believe this outfit would look best on Oprah Winfrey.

Jerell's dress was my favorite. It was so age appropriate, and so ready for tv. Maybe, the ordinary woman wouldn't wear this to work but this is for Lipstick Jungle. I am so impressed with Jerell's mixing of pattern and texture.


Ack, hot tranny mess. I honestly feel bad for Kelli because she had the talent to move further, but this was just bad. The construction was a bit pieced together, and the skirt hem was not good. Part of the blame falls to her partner Daniel, for making such a craptastic skirt, but she didn't get it together. It's funny, but I think she could have made it less cheap hoochie by adding more leopard print.

Unusual Semblance

I was browsing through the jewelry section of the Neiman Marcus website and I came upon a necklace that seemed awfully familiar. The necklace was a miniature lock on a chain. Then it struck me; it was Ren’s necklace from the Japanese comic NANA!

Roberto Coin Appassionata Necklace

Ren from the manga Nana

Surprised by my love for mangas? Well I appreciate both sophisticated fashions and childish comics. Somehow, this necklace joined my two passions.

But with such similar designs, I wonder which idea came first. Did Ai Yazawa sketch Ren’s necklace, and then Coin replicated it in reality? Or maybe Roberto Coin came up with the concept, constructed it, and then Ai Yazawa loved it so much that she incorporated it into her manga? I actually think Ai Yazawa probably came up with the lock necklace first since Nana has been around since 2000. Also, this manga artist is super fashion savvy too. Yazawa loves to feature Vivianne Westwood designs on her characters, and she wrote and drew Paradise Kiss, which is the only fashion-centric manga I know. Or it could be pure coincidence. No matter what the reason, I’m happy that I could potentially buy Ren’s necklace… if I had $2,000.

Click here to read Nana on OneManga.com- it's a seriously good read.

Update

Hi guys, I'm finally done with this semester. Finals were rough and I caught a cold that lasted the whole week. I spent my time studying like a good little girl and then I had to move out the day after my test. I was so caught up with tests and packing and coming home to a decent meal in weeks that I didn't have a chance to update the blog. Sorry!

I really want to blog some more but I'm actually vacationing in China and Japan for the next month. I'll probably have limited internet access so that means fewer updates. But when I get back, I'll have tons of pictures to post.

picture: from Flickr

My Style Diary

I apparently like to waste time. Remember how I said I wouldn't keep a Style Diary because I should spend the time working on the blog or studying. Well, turns out I get great enjoyment from taking pictures of myself in different outfits and putting them up on Style Diary. Amazingly I kept up with it for the past two months. Please check it out- Lyralie's Style Diary!

Things I Really Shouldn’t Think About, But I Do

Oh man, today was absolutely nauseating. I just had two finals, both of which required some mad studying. So I tried to stay up and study as much as possible. Sometime around 3 or 4 am, I just could not stay up so I went to bed and set my alarm for an hour later. Always, always, a bad mistake. An hour later, I woke up, turned off my alarm, didn’t reset it, and went back to bed. I, somehow, woke up five minutes before my exam. I called the taxi and basically ran out the dorm with my notes in hand. Even though I tiptoed into class fifteen minutes late, there was plenty of time to take it, and everything turned out fine.

Then I went to the bathroom and took a look in the mirror. I seriously looked fugly, like a woman who has three small children and turned her wardrobe into a monotonous slew of colored v-neck tees and light wash jeans. I just grabbed the first clean shirt and first clean pants from my drawers and put them on. I did not think, I did not put anything over it to add any pizzazz. It just looked so plain and slobbish. So why did I have these two items in the first place? Well they do go well with other stuff, just not together. I was embarrassed to be walking around looking twenty years older, which is just as bad as forty-somethings dressed up like Paris Hilton. Why, oh, why did I not grab a jersey dress instead!?

Instead of lamenting about how horrendous I looked, I should be thanking my lucky stars that I made it to my final in time. But it was just looked so bad! Just goes to show you where my priorities are.

picture: from Flickr

Parsons' Designer of the Year: Stephanie Suberville

Today was my last day of classes (woot woot) but I still have finals in the coming two weeks. While I’m prepping for my final exams, seniors at Parsons The New School for Design (that's a mouthful) are getting ready to graduate. The best fashion designers of the graduating class get the opportunity to showcase their designs at the Parsons’ Annual Benefit and Fashion Show.

The Parsons’ Benefit is a fabulous black tie affair that raises funds for scholarships and academic programs at the school. This year at the event, Parsons honored two acclaimed individuals in the fashion industry: fashion designer and CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg and Barneys New York Chairman and CEO Howard Socol. The school also awarded Stephanie Suberville as the Designer of the Year- an honor that could potentially launch her career.

Dress designed by Stephanie Suberville

Suberville says this of her final collection:

"I wanted to show who I am, and a lot of who I am as a designer comes from my background," said Suberville, who grew up in Monterrey, Mexico and whose grandparents owned a department store. "I come from a French background, but I am actually Mexican. As a Mexican and as a woman I have always been very inspired by Frida Kahlo, but it was very important for me to not be the Mexican student doing Frida Kahlo. So instead of focusing on her paintings, I focused on her personal life. Frida always said that her whole life was based on two tragedies: Her back accident and her love for Diego Rivera. So it's a very dark, very romantic collection."

It will be exciting to see where these new graduates will end up. Recent graduates Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez (the Proenza Schouler boys) have gone far. Hopefully, Suberville will be as successful as McCollough and Hernandez. Maybe someday soon I can make a post about her new collection at Barney’s.

Here’s the list of Parsons students who also showed their collection at Parsons’ Annual Benefit and Fashion Show:

Boram Oh, Kirstyn Catlett, Nayeon Lee, Yoon Jeong Gee, Sunghiun (Seonghyun) In, Amira Marion, Judy (Yun-Chu) Lee, Hanmin Kim, Sarah Law, Samantha Aprea, Heezu Hwang, Dominique Cammaert, Spencer Phipps, Melissa Luning, Wen Shi, Sylvia Kwan, Andrew Rogers, Esther Marina Shimberg, Hye Seong (Clara) Yoo, Yoon Jung Ha, Grace Shin, Aiden (Seunghoon) Yoo, Bo Bae Lee, HJ Lee, Cullen Meyer, Sara Shahbazi, Rachel Rymar, Hernan Garcia, Woomi Pyo, Freyja Van Noort, Hyun Ah Choi, Jigon Son and Angela (Yang Zi) Gaoxia.


Edit: Tracey Lomrantz attended the event and blogged about her experience and top designer picks.

Thou Art Fierce

Sorry to do a Fashionista-style quote post but this was too good to pass up:

“Vanessa Williams is the queen of fierceness and Becki Newton is the princess…” ~ Christian Siriano

I love it because it’s so true, so true. If you want to know why Christian is commenting on the fierceness of the Ugly Betty crew, well that’s because he will be joining them as a guest on the show.

Hopefully, some Christian Siriano will inject some fierceness into Ugly Betty again. I really liked the first season of Ugly Betty which was so funny and endearing. My roommate introduced it to me and I was immediately hooked. I probably watched 4 hours straight of streamed video that night. Somehow this year, I’m not so tempted to watch. It’s probably because the plot got too ridiculous, a common problem for new hit dramas. Once I missed an episode, I wasn't all that interested in catching up, but now I'm completely lost. I, at least, will tune in for the Christian episode on May 1.

It seems that Christian is taking full advantage of his popularity following his Project Runway win. I just saw him on "Make Me A Supermodel" and now he's doing "Ugly Betty." He either has a really good publicity person or is naturally talented in that department too.

Salvatore Ferragamo Museum

I think one of the best ways to access the paramount of fashion not through window shopping, but through museums. Museums often feature the best of current and past fashions. So I’m always thrilled to know when there’s a fashion or costume exhibit at a museum. It’s incredibly exciting to see detailed craftsmanship up close.

While I love fashion, I am absolutely obsessed with shoes (think Kelly from the Shoes video). It is my favorite part of an outfit. I bet you already knew that from the unusually high number of posts about shoes in this blog. Unfortunately I have found few exhibits that solely feature shoes.

Today while browsing the Salvatore Ferragamo website, I was ecstatic to find out that they have a museum… in Florence, Italy. Go figure. It’s a little sad because I visited Florence just four years ago and did not know there was a shoe museum there. Well the bright side is that the Salvatore Ferragamo website put up a few pictures of the current exhibits.

How cute is this rainbow flats display?

Wardrobe as an Investment?

That’s the idea behind this article by NY Magazine. Can the clothes we wear potentially be worth something in the future? Are they collectibles? Clair Watson, who works for an NY auction house, assesses one woman’s wardrobe for its potential worth at auction. The stylish New Yorker who allowed her person style to be monetarily assessed is music artist Sandra Hamburg. Her sense for statement pieces that pop and quality craftsmanship may make her wardrobe one of the few that actually appreciate in value. It also helps that her mother passed down some great iconic clothes from the past.

But does “investment wardrobe” apply to everyday people like you and me? I’m thinking not so much. We really don’t have the expendable income to buy Dior couture dresses, hold on to them for fifty years, and then sell them to a museum or collector. Nevertheless, I like what this article and ideology promotes.

This article encourages me to be more careful about what I buy. I want to limit the things I buy at malls/high-street stores to items that I tend to wear down: tees, jeans, and comfortable shoes. But for statement pieces, I want them “investment worthy.” Instead of turning toward H&M or Macy’s, I want to find gems on ebay and charity/vintage shops or save up for sales on designer brands. I’ll try to buy more leather, fur, and silks because those items hold their value well. Because they are potentially valuable, I plan to take better care my clothes and hoard them longer. This idea promotes wardrobe longevity and buying less overall. I would even like to pass down some of my favorite pieces to my daughter if they last that long. Although we probably won’t make a fortune (or break even) from clothes, I do think that this article present a sophisticated way of looking at our wardrobe that most people could benefit from.

The College Uniform

Magnified view, click on image and drag to move.

I never really liked school uniforms. They are restrictive and unimaginative. I always thought uniforms were for Manhattan private schoolers and the Japanese. However apparently, at my liberal arts university, there seems to be what I call the "college uniform," at least among the sorority girls. I suppose the purpose of this "college uniform" is to say 'I (my parents) have money and I fit in with these other rich girls.' But if you had money, wouldn't you want to deck yourself out in Mui Mui, or YSL, or whatever fashion-house-wallet-drain your choice. Of course then again, there aren't enough true fashionistas at my campus to recognize and gawk at your Stella Mccartney floral dress, and peer envy and admiration is the whole point. It's quite unfortunate that my school's sorority girls aren't quite on par with the "Gossip Girl" crew, or else I might actually have fun dissecting their outfits. What a sartorial disappointment!

And don't think the men are any better. It's always the same outfit: Ralph Lauren polos in every color, khakis, and more Rainbow flip flops (that are as fugly as Crocs and Birkenstocks).

WTF! Project Runway Moves!

I can't believe this. Apparently Project Runway is no longer a Bravo series, but is moving to Lifetime. The whole story is here.

I'm a bit sad. Project Runway was the show that first introduced me to Bravo which I now love. If PR is really moving to Lifetime, I will follow because it's one of my favorite shows and I adore Tim Gunn. Personally, I'm not enthused with Lifetime. I feel that many of their programs are fluff and their movies are very predictable and therefore boring. I probably won't watch anything else on that channel until they produce some edgier shows. I also have no love for the Lifetime website- which is very sterile and directed at 40 year old women (well, that is their base viewership). I am quite sure that Projects Runway's move is less about reaching more viewers (because there's a ton of us already) and more about the bigger paycheck. Well enough of my cynical delvings into the subject. I guess what I really care about in the end is that PR keeps its 10pm time slot and plays reruns right after, because otherwise I will end up missing episodes and will be very sad. Oh Project Runway, why did you have to get greedy and go to the highest bidder? I love you still, but I question your loyalty.

Oh, and some secondary news- Nina Garcia has been let go from Elle. Supposedly, she had been spending to much time outside of the office and not enought time doing her job. I can believe that, especially when she's been promoting her book and making appearances at different events. Based on this article, Nina may still be judge for PR's next season, but somehow I'm doubtful. The producers would definitely want to sell the judge position to the highest bidding advertiser (based on their current record). If ELLE is still on board, wouldn't they want the judge to be one of their own?

Fun Fashion pt. 3: Crazy Shoes

Man, there are some crazy shoes out there. Barbara at ShoeMi spent two hours documenting 21 of the craziest. I must say, some of the shoes scare me, especially those that resemble animals. Here are some of my favorites.

I call this the Industrial Shoe. I love the silhouette of this. It’s a strong look but still elegant.

Spun glass makes such a gorgeous shoe, one Cinderella would wear!

This shoe is like a work of abstract art. I wonder, how does one wear it?

I think the only things missing from this wacky list are those bird shoes from Olivier Theyskens Spring 2002.

Edit: MyFashionLife has discovered four crazy art shoes just from this (Spring 08) season.

Fun Fashion pt. 2: Duplicating Walmart

From WebUrbanist:

Zoe Saldana has put a great deal of effort into an art project that the future owners of will never appreciate. Wait, how does that work? Well, she buys items from Walmart and carefully replicates them by hand down to the pattern, fabric and embellishments. She then swaps her handmade creations for the one she purchased, adds the original tags and ‘returns’ them to Walmart for future sale. Above on the left are images of the originals, and the photographs on the right show the returned duplicates.

This story makes me laugh every time. I wonder if anyone noticed that this 'Faded Glory' t-shirt is different from all the rest. I bet Walmart employees could care less, but a discerning shopper probably noticed and became very confused.

Fun Fashion pt. 1: Monochromatic Wardrobes

I do my fair share of reading fashion blogs and articles, and over the years have stumbled upon many wacky/riveting stories. I'd like to share three of the best: monochromatic wardrobes, duplicating Walmart, and crazy shoes.
New York Magazine did a great article about five people who have monochromatic wardrobes (but not in all black because that would be too easy). Some people go to extreme lengths to make sure everything in their wardrobe is that exact color. Personally, I loved Valeria McCulloch's wardrobe which is in electric blue. It's stylish and bold. She must spend a lot on her wardrobe because she buys Louboutins and colors them in custom blue sharpie.

I think monochromatic wardrobes are a cool concept. People will think of you when they see that exact color. Also you would never have to worry about matching because everything goes with each other. I wouldn’t do it myself because 1) it's too difficult to accrue so many items of the same color and 2) I enjoy being a different color on different days. You can express a lot more through mixing and matching.

The closest I would get to this is probably creating a whole monochromatic look for a day like Susie Bubble and Fops and Dandies.