Outfit: Fall in Upper East Side

Belt Detail 

Tweed Jacket and bag thrifted from Value Village; vintage belt bought at The Clothing Show in Toronto; skirt from Le Chateau; silk crop top from Yaya & Co

I was feeling very preppy with wearing a bow hairband, tweed jacket and pleated skirt. Somehow I was reminded of how girls dress on the Upper East Side in Manhattan from the TV show Gossip Girl. I loved the fashion in the show and Blair's style. I'm not that interested in the plot anymore, but the fashionable clothes and the talent of stylist Eric Daman in Gossip Girl are still fascinating.    

Favourite Looks from Spring/Summer 2013 Runway

The Spring/Summer shows appeal much more to my aesthetic than F/W ones. I was so happy to see all those beautiful clothes coming down the runways. I picked my favourites this season:

Christopher Kane

Christopher Kane is one of my favourite designers. He is always so innovative. Somehow he manages to inject edginess into otherwise totally fresh and streamline girly looks. Loves his tailored and structurally draped dresses and jackets held together by bolts. I also particularly like the sheer blouse with a bow covering the chest. Some might not think it's new at all, but I love it because too many girls now wear sheer blouses (with maybe a print on it) that exposes the bra, which in my opinion has become very cliche. The fact that this blouse actually maintains the chastity yet looks not at all conservative is very unique to me. The spring/rubber band like texture in the shoes and one skirt reminds one of my rubber band dress, no?

Christian Siriano

I will wear the head-to-toe tone-on-tone blues, lace and satin, short suit to anywhere anytime. I now wish I had money more than ever. And the fairy tale dresses are just gorgeous.  

Marc Jacobs

Who doesn't love a t-shirt that makes you look cool and worth a million bucks?

Nina Ricci

I really like the mix of fabrics and layering in these looks.

Valentino

Valentino never disappoints with prettiness and femininity. The delicacy of the fabrics and sense of ease of the print and colours make me want to treasure these looks in my mind forever. 

All pictures are from style.com.

Beauty of the Understated; Places in Ontario

I could help but amaze at the beauty of an environment outside of a busy metropolis. I took these from when I went on nature hikes and family trips to Northern Ontario. Please bear with my next-to-none photography skills and camera phone pictures, it is what I am trying to capture that counts. 

rainy day and islands 

contrast and blues

trees, mist, and lake

pure waterlilies 

i am always amazed by the ability of waterlilies to grow out of muck and not be soiled at all

German fairy tale castle anyone?

The fact that I can never think of anything to paint bugs me a lot, but I think I just had an epiphany. It seems so simple, but I never realized how much I am touched by the beauty of understated things in my surroundings. I think I will turn some of these photos into paintings when I somehow get the time.

DIY Metal Collar Outfit

Blazer, H&M
Shirt, H&M
Metal Collar Tips, $1, eBay
Tights, eBay
High Waisted Washed-out Denim Shorts, $10, eBay
Pink Envelop Clutch, $10, eBay
Oxfords, Jeffrey Campbell

If you want to know how to find those items on eBay for around $10, feel free to let me know! :)
See the DIY: How to add metal tips to your shirt collar here

Scholastic// First Outfit Post!

Sweater      $10, Thrifted at Black Market Toronto
Bag         Gift

I am a student after all, so I wanted my first outfit post to stay true to who I am :)

I love the beaded chain bag that my friend gave to me as a gift, although she got it handed down to her from a relative. I think the beads were embellished by hand at some point in the bag's life by one of its many owners. Seeing people wear vintage things is so rare around me; I always wish my city and campus were more fashion-forward :P

I wrote about the sweater and thrift shopping in a previous post here

DIY Metal Collar Tips

This is a super easy DIY that everyone can do. It is easy to update your shirt to this season's trends by adding metal tips to the collar!

Materials:
a shirt
a pair of clamps, or any fastening device
a pair of metal tips - can be bought on eBay for $1 plus free shipping

a pair of metal collar tips I bought from eBay for $1

another picture of them

this is the shirt that I wanted to add metal collar tips to, very fitting right?

insert the tips on the collar first. 

as you can see, the collar ends of my shirt are not right triangles,

so we have to adjust the metal tips

use your thumbs to push the two wings of the metal tips closer together,
so they fit the ends of the collar

use clamps or some other device to squish down on the metal wings,
so they are fastened on to the collar

and voila, you now have a shirt with metal collar tips!

And this is why I love eBay.

Anime North 2012 Lolita Cosplay Costume

Wanted to share this costume because I made it myself and feel pretty proud. I took some pictures inside the Toronto Congress Center - one of the 4 buildings in which Anime North was held. 

Photo creds to Calvin :)

Work in progress

My Singer sewing machine :)

                     

Inspiration

Parasol and the top hat both bought at the convention for $15 each.

I made this costume for the 2012 Anime North convention - one of the biggest in Canada. I've been going there for 4 years and it's a lot of fun. I am not that into anime or manga, but many of my friends are, so I just go to hang out with them. 

But my favourite part about Anime North is watching all the Japanese Lolita cosplayers. I really like the Sweet Lolita style because it's very girly and colourful. The dresses are always embellished with ruffles, frills, and bows. And I am all for embellishments! 

So this year, I really wanted to cosplay as a Lolita myself. I was inspired by Chii's style from the anime Chobits. I didn't like the show that much, but I love various artwork that came from it. Chobits artwok by fans or by CLAMP are always so beautifully done with Chii wearing gorgeous dresses. And Chii's style is pretty Lolita-like. Anyways, I bought the pink satin fabric from Fabricland - a chain fabric store in Canada. Its right side was satin and its back side was like a fuzzy cotton texture. I ended up using the back side because I read on a website that authentic Lolita dresses are made of cotton. And shiny dresses are looked down upon because they resemble cheap Halloween costumes. I agree that shiny clothes do look cheap. :P It was many hours of hard labour to make this dress including the arm bands, but it was worth it. I felt more emerged in the atmosphere when I am among the dressed up cosplayers. Can't wait for next year's convention!

Thrill Vintage Finds, and I love Black Market Toronto!

Since I love vintage clothes and thrift shopping so much, I hardly shop at normal stores anymore...

Just wanted to share my recent finds ;)

Tweed jacket from Value Village - $10

The label says it's from Anne Carson, however I don't think that brand exists anymore since this is probably made a long time ago. This is very similar to the boxy tweed jackets made by renowned designers, especially cough* Chanel cough*. A girl can hope can't she? However, apparently 70% of the shell of the jacket is made from silk according to the label. Not too shabby for $10!

Also, I recently visited Black Market on Queen Street for the first time with my friend. I love the store so much. They have such a big selection of vintage clothes and everything was $10!

Oxblood leather jacket from Black Market - $10

I was so happy when I found this treasure. Its brand is Wilson's Suede and Leather and its material is 100% leather. I Googled this brand, and their leather jackets are anywhere between $200 to $500! I am in love with the colour of this jacket; oxblood were seen on many f/w 2012 runways! Even if oxblood leather wasn't the hottest thing right now, I would still love it! 

This jacket had shoulder pads which made it look very 80s on me, so I removed them. If you want to know how to do it, just let me know. :) Also, I am smaller than a size 8, so it fits a little baggy on me. But I think that's perfectly okay for fall weather since I will be wearing layers of shirts or sweaters underneath.

Oversize Sweater from Black Market - $10

Cute sweater with fuzzy parts made of rabbit hair. It also had shoulder pads which I removed. :)

I will be wearing these in my outfits, stay tuned ;)