Happy Valentine's Day, my beauties!

If you're deliciously single on this day of Hallmark insanity, buy yourself a piece of clothing that's as divinely, fashion-forwardly red as this piece by Christopher Kane from his latest collection which just showed in London. And even if you're not a member of the Swinging Singles Club, I think we can allow you some buying of red gorgeousness, no? Just to show your man candy that you're Hot Stuff.

(Note that the minis-with-tights-and-ankle-boots has continued on its merry way across the Atlantic as well. This is a big trend, folks.)

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Well, finally, three days late, here comes tcw's wrap-up of all the important highlights of New York fashion week, after 6000 looks by 221 designers over 9 days (christ, that's a lot!)

-plenty of ponchos, shrugs, and capelets mixed in everywhere. Why are these back? They didn't look good the first time around...
-also saw a plethora of dresses, tights, obnoxious hats, and quite a few pairs of ankle boots
-I was impressed with Ralph Lauren as always. I LOVED the puffy gold vest, I'd totally wear that.
-Isaac Mizrahi was finally back, and his collection was one of the most fun out there. Mostly A-lines and simple designs, but bold colors and prints made it interesting
-I read a review somehwere criticizing Vera Wang's originality (or lack thereof) but I will say that I liked her creative, messy-chic layering of different fabrics and textures.
-I see minis and tights everywhere!, especially from Doo.Ri, which went reallyheavy on the minidress/black tights combo

Images, from top: betsey Johnson, Ralph Lauren, Isaac Mizrahi, Vera Wang, Doo.Ri

Labels: fashion week

Was it just me, or did anyone else think Proenza Schouler's Fall 2007 show was a little disappointing? I'm usually a huge fan of these guys and their work, but this time felt less exciting. I love dark colors for fall, but I think they went a little too heavy on the black this time...and the caps. I mean, how original did this seem to you? It's chic, for sure, just not that fresh or exciting.


At least we'll be keeping warm next fall, eh? Although most of their collection was along those same lines, they did produce a few standout designs that I absolutely loved, like this crazy coat and gorgeous drop-waist dress:

Labels: fashion week, proenza schouler

As you can tell, I procrastinate a lot. TF tagged us about two weeks ago and it's taken me this long to get around to doing something about it. And I have 8 drafts of posts for this blog, just waiting to be finished and published. But let's talk about things you don't already know.

1. I'm vegetarian, but I really don't like raw vegetables or fruits. I tolerate bananas, apples, grapes and watermelons. I'm averse to all other fruits, and when it comes to soup or salad I'll always pick soup - unless there isn't a vegetarian soup option, in which case I opt for salad and proceed to waste most of it. I like extremely healthy vegetables though, like spinach and asparagus and broccoli and okra. And then I have a royal weakness for anything with chocolate, unless nuts are involved.

2. I have total OCD when it comes to hygiene. I wash my hands a million times a day, and I cannot go to bed unless I feel like my feet are clean enough. Also, when I return from parties at 4am (even when I'm smashed) I do not go to bed until I've had a shower to get the gross smell of Party (beer, smoke, occasionally vomit - all that good stuff) off me.

3. I love all things French, except their high-end cuisine because vegetarians don't eat snails or goose liver, no sirree. I love croissants, I love French onion soup, I'm learning French now and I love it, I'd love to live in Paris, I'm going to study abroad there next year if all goes according to plan, I love French movies, Catherine Deneuve is one of my idols, and of course French fashion is extremely dear to my heart.

4. I understand exactly three sports - soccer, tennis and cricket. None of them manage to hold my attention for very long. And in PE in primary school, I was definitely the girl who was picked last. In middle/high school (secondary/junior college in Singapore), I just skipped PE classes most of the time. And it's been about three months since I've been to the gym. Maybe it's that great diet of cooked vegetables, cheese and chocolate that's still keeping me alive and small enough to fit through doorways. Sometimes I wonder.

5. I'm having a hard time thinking of more interesting things about me, so I'll just sort of return to the idea of procrastination, except more specifically it's that I have such a bad punctuality problem that sometimes I wish there was rehab for people who're never on time. Ask Nisha - when we met to go shopping I kept her waiting for atleast an hour. Atleast part of that can be creditted to the sad lack of transportation options out of Hyde Park on a Sunday morning (and a bus that literally broke down), but I was mortified that I was meeting this lovely girl for the first time and I was SO late. That isn't the last of my getting-places-late stories, but it's one of the best so I'll save the rest for another time.

Now I'm gonna sleep so I can hit the stores bright and early in the morning! (You can start betting now on the odds of my actually leaving the house before noon.)

Purple's a difficult colour to wear, but I absolutely love it. I definitely have a weakness for red - you're probably aware of that by now. And either one of them mixed up with a little bit of black = So, So passionate, modern, regal, sexy. I adore it.

Ad Campaigns:

Miu Miu. The Lindsay Lohan doll-face edition. Not a huge fan of Ms LiLo, but the wild shopaholic teenager in me (only a teenager for 2 more months! omg.) occasionally feels a kinship to her craziness. And these ads are pretty damn special.

There's a Prada ad as well, which is very strongly red-black-purple but I've been searching for a picture online for days and I just haven't been able to find one. Maybe when I get back to Chicago I'll just scan it in from Vogue. If someone knows which one I'm talking about and has a picture available, please post a link in the comments!

S/S'07 Runways:
YSL, Gucci, Narciso Rodriguez

Celebrities:
Zooey Deschanel and Keri Russell at Sundance - these are good examples of combining these colours in a more subtle, wearable manner. I like Zooey's quirky green boots, even if they totally clash with the rest of the colours. It's a dark enough green that she's able to pull it off.

And then there's this handbag by Gucci - available for pre-order at Bergdorf Goodman. It's not a bag I'm dying to own, but there's something very unabashedly stylish about the bold colours and the shape. I kind of like it. What do you think?
Just today I picked up the a purple and white dress from the Proenza Schouler collection for Target - it's not purple and black but I just wanted to inform you that I'm pulling some purple into my wardrobe and so should you!

Labels: 2007, colors, spring/summer, trends

How cute would this silk-screen look, hanging on a dorm room wall?

‘Keep calm and carry on’, a message fly-posted around Britain during World War Two, in order to prepare the public for invasion! These hand-pulled silk screen prints have been produced as a modern tribute to that statement.


I really want it in Plum but that colour's sold out.

£25.00 each + £6 Postage & Packaging, at keep-calm.com

PS - I also have to apologise for the lack of posts, especially regarding New York Fashion Week. I've had a beyond-crazy past week. But starting tomorrow night I'm taking myself a little break - I'm going to get me some Rest, Relaxation and Retail therapy. And I'm also going to blog a whole lot. I'm actually taking off to New York, but unfortunately I don't have passes to any of the good Fashion Week shows. I may try to find some tiny off-site show that I can get into somewhere, though given that I'm trying to take a break, I'm not going to stress out too much about running around looking for a show. So while I don't want you to hold your breath for a personal account of a Fashion Week show, definitely watch this space for a lot of posts based on the photos provided by the fantastic people at Coutorture and ShopStyle!

Labels: blog, dorm decor, links

Ok, I know I haven't been around lately, and my timing is particularly unexcusable because we are right in the throes of New York's Medrcede-Benz Fall Fashion Week!!

I wish I could update this blog multiple times a day to give you readers up-to-the-minute coverage of what's going on in New York, but I can't--balancing a full schedule of 18 hours of class, a job, an internship, an a cappella group, and various other committments this semester has been very very hectic. So emails have been piling up unanswered and this blog, which has really only been a beloved hobby for me (as opposed to an avenue for a potential career, I guess), has been put on the backburner...but I'm back! I wish I could truly enjoy fashion week full-time like all the fashion industry professionals out there...but instead fashion is what I indulge on during study breaks and free time (which, by the way, is actually nonexistent right now).

Anyways, here's some things I've liked about Fall Fashion week so far, when I've had the chance to look, and/or read those pesky daily emails from Style.com:

This gorgeous Luella Bartley drop-waist coat, which unfortunately can only be pulled off the by the extremely skinny, but looks nice all the same ans is everywhere for fall

This edgy Diane Von Furstenberg dress (paired with ankle boots, no less)

I loved this gorgeous gown (among other things) by Naeem Khan

For more obsessive fashion week coverage, I recommend some hotspots:
New York Magazine's Show&Talk Blog
New York Magazine's Fashion Show Index
Style.com, of course (if you have time, create your own lookbook)
Fashion Wire Daily (a personal favorite of mine)
Women's Wear Daily
Coutorture, newly revamped just for fashion week

That's it for now...I'm hoping I'll be able to update a bit more this week with more fashion week related-posts, but as I've got work and school and two exams tomorrow night and a performance wednesday, I can't be sure. In the meantime, indulge yourself in all the fashion week coverage you can find, and I'll be just a little bit jealous...

Labels: fashion week, links, news

Check out this fantastic article by Cathy Horyn of the NYT (who else? I love Cathy. And you all are probably aware that my favourite 'blog' is the NYT Fashion&Style section.)

This is the woman that TF and I both hope to overthrow at some point in our lives. Most of the time I just don't get her, but I kind of secretly have this enormous admiration for her. She's going to be a hard one to overthrow, that Anna.

Labels: links, news

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Can someone tell me who Eva's boots are by? I am in love with them. And grey boots are So In right now.

For a less-cute, but currently very-much-on-sale alternative, try these by Dolce Vita (crazy sale on their website!!! Stocks are running out so shop fast!)
They have them in an amazing Midnight Blue as well.
I'm trying to decide if I should get myself one of these. They're only $50, but right now I have so many pairs of boots that I don't even wear enough to justify having all of them, so I don't know if I deserve any more.

Labels: boots, Sale