ANTM Cycle 13

Cycle 13 of ANTM is gonna be slightly different from all previous seasons. This time round, they are opening spots to girls who aren't exactly model height (5'3-5'7 which is about 1.6-1.7m). Gonna be interesting watching the girls work high fashion editorial shoots. ANTM Cycle 13 premieres September 9 on The CW (for Singapore, you probably will have to wait until next year since they haven't shown Cycle 12 yet, depend on YouTube for now).

Photos: The CW

Luxirare: Fashion+Food You Will Love

If you love fashion+food, do check out Luxirare. The girl behind this blog is extremely creative showing her love for fashion & food in the most awe-inspiring ways. Love it.

Someday I Will Have A Book Like This

Just saw a video flickthrough of The Sartorialist book on Style Bubble. I mentioned this book in my wishlist sometime back and how I'm hoping to get it when it hits stores here. If I were to publish a book of my own, this would be the kinda book I'm hoping to produce. Not many people know this, probably only 3 are in the know, that the initial concept for this blog was to do something similar to The Sartorialist, like a local (Singapore) version. Hence, the name of the blog. But of course, if you have been following the blog, you can see it's currently nowhere near what I had anticipated. But! Once I get my DSLR, I will start roaming the streets and get some pictures for real. Such an excuse I know. Haha. Well, at least for now, I have been keeping my eyes on anything interesting my friends wear (oops, now they'll know I've been secretly watching them all along) and the random person on the street when I'm not too busy talking to my company for the day.

Photo: amazon.com

The Lace Effect

Love the layering of the lacey blouse over a plain tank dress. Simple casual chicness.

Photo: Still in Berlin

Bloggers Of The World: Tavi

Even though blogs have been in existence for many years now, I'm extremely new to blogging and before this blog, I think the only blog I read was xiaxue (and that wasn't even on a regularly basis). So, to get inspirations for the blog, I started surfing around and discovering the huge pool of fashion bloggers from around the world. There are literally like thousands of them. This girl you see on the cover on the latest issue of POP magazine is Tavi. She writes her own fashion blog, Style Rookie, is in love with Rei Kawakubo and muses about M.M.Margiela alot. She comes up with non-conventional ways of putting an outfit together, sells her own self designed T-shirts, talks fashion like she's been in it for decades. And best of all, she's only 13.

Photo: ThePop.com

For Nel

Was browsing through Yvan Rodic that day, saw a pic of this girl and she just totally reminded me of you Nel! I duno why. Your twin in Japan! But of course, you're cuter! Haha.

Live From New York (V Magazine Sept 2009)

Models: Sasha Pivovarova & Freja Beha / Photographer: Mario Sorrenti / Stylist: Jane How

Architectural fashion with outta this world head pieces. Especially love the head piece made of cans in this last pic.

See the rest of the editorial (here).

Photos: fashionising.com

Coming Soon

A random thought --> Extra work --> More inspirations for the tiny amount of people who bother reading this blog.

Coming Soon.

Celia

One of my favourite models of Cycle 12 ANTM - Celia Ammerman. Love the whole outfit. I've been drawn to sequined things in stores lately which is odd coz I've never ever loved sequins that much. Been thinking about a really cute sequin vest I saw last weekend though. Dropped by m)phosis today again on e way home, ended up with 2 buys. I love sales.

Photo: Altamira NYC

Quirky Murals

I've been wanting to post about this for awhile now but somehow I didn't/couldn't snap a photo of it whenever I was there. One random day while waiting for the train at the Bishan station, I happen to see the reflection on the station glass doors, of a wall covered with a colourful mix of illustrations right behind where I was standing. For about almost two months now, I've been wondering who the artist behind those illustrations was. Finally, while browsing through a copy of this week's 8days, I got my answer.

The quirky murals you now see at the Bishan MRT station is by an illustrator by the name of eeshaun. Eeshaun is not only an illustrator, he's also a lecturer at Republic Poly. His illustration works include collaborations with brands such as Adidas, Nike, hip clubs like Butter Factory, MOS and many more. You can check out more of his art works here or buy his art.

Photos & Text Source: 8Days, eeshaun.com

Rock Star Goes To The Opera Gallery

I would like to introduce two places to visit the next time you are in town. The first being a newly opened shop located at Orchard Cineleisure. I hardly ever go to the 3rd level of Cineleisure (duno why) but somehow decided to explore that level after lunch yesterday with a few friends. We stumbled upon rockstar by soon lee and were immediately drawn to the interiors and wide variety of merchandise in the store.

The store sells apparels, bags, accessories as well as a wide variety of sneakers from brands such as Pointer, Keep, Converse, Keds, TOMS & Reebok. Besides apparels and shoes, they also have furniture, cushions, vintage telephones and notebooks for sale. My friends and I also spotted a whole series of Penguin Classics books retailing for only $4.80 each! Great gift for your book-loving friend.

As for the interior of the store, the glass window on the end side of the store brings in ample sunlight which instantly brightens the store, giving it an inviting feel when you walk in. I'm loving the colourful gradient wall at the front of the shop as well.

This store is filled with endless things to explore and has something for everyone. Do drop by the next time you're in Cineleisure.

Rockstar by Soon Lee

8 Grange Road, Orchard Cineleisure, #03-08

Opening Hours: 12-9pm (Mon-Thurs & Sun), 12-11pm (Fri & Sat)

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The second place is an art gallery that used to be located in Takashimaya but has now moved to ION Orchard. The Opera Gallery houses art pieces by artists, sculptors, photographers and furniture designers. I've always thought that art, like fashion, is very personal which makes it baffling to the viewer at times. I'm definitely no art expert, trust me, alot of art pieces are beyond my trying to understand the meaning behind them. But I do enjoy looking and attempting to interpret them in my own way. Haha. I've visited the gallery probably 5 times or less when it was still situated at Taka and went for the first time to the new gallery at ION yesterday. The gallery seemed to have gotten a much bigger space at ION Orchard as compared to the old premises. I was walking around and saw this art piece by Alexis Paul near one end of the gallery which stopped me in my tracks. Maybe coz I'm very drawn to faces, or maybe, its was just plain amazing.

Imperial regard by Alexis Paul

Opera Gallery Singapore

2 Orchard Turn, ION Orchard, #03-05

Photos: Soon Lee, Opera Gallery Singapore

I ON Orchard

Yami Yoghurt! Peach flavoured with fruity pebbles. Yums!

Visited ION Orchard for the second time yesterday and explored all the way up to the 4th level. As you go up to the higher levels, you will notice a huge decrease in noise and crowd. The main reason would be that from ground level up, the mall houses mainly high end labels and restaurants/cafes. Also visited Uniqlo for the first time. Plenty of basics and pretty looking jeans. Ended up purchasing a hooded dress. Will probably return to try on the jeans another day (was totally lazy to remove leggings to try them on). One piece of advice, avoid wearing complicated shoes which are time consuming to put on and take off because all the cubicles in the fitting rooms are carpeted and you will be required to remove your shoes before using those rooms.

Other buys from my shopping trip include a m)phosis top & flats*, magazines from Kino* and yums chocs from Muji.

*Shopping Discounts:

m)phosis is having 30-70% discounts storewide now. Sale ends next Thursday (27 Aug) according to the friendly salesgirl at the ION branch / Kinokuniya is having 20% storewide for all card members now until 31 Aug.

Gimme My Paper Bag

Remember how carrying paper bags of high fashion labels (or us commoners call them 'branded paper bags') as 'handbags' used to be the cool thing back in the nineties? Well, if you still have remnants of those bags, you could probably create your own high fashion looks/shoot like this editorial in the September issue of W Magazine.

Model: Sasha Pivovarova / Photographer: Craig McDean / Stylist: Alex White

Photos: See the rest of the editorial @ IMG Models Blog

Slippery Addiction

Watch and make your day alittle better.

I actually thought this was a real runway show at the beginning and was basically hooked on the drama-antics. Then the tag line came, and it made sense. Very clever idea. If only ads for that issue was this interesting, the message might come across more effectively. Check out the other ads in the same series: (Girl) & (Guy).

I Wish...

My Current Wishlist:

1. The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman. According to The Sartorialist himself, the book will be available worldwide early September. However, if you're eager to lay on hands on one, you can buy it here.

2. Canon DSLR.

3. Multi-layer necklaces. With or without charms.

4. Brogues (as seen on Topshop's site).

5. Black Gladiator Platform Heels.

6. Chanel 2.55. I'll probably own one in a century's time. Or, I could rip off this brilliant idea and have a one-of-a-kind:

Photo: Amazon.com, ThePop.com, Topshop.com

Get Up & Dance

I've been wanting to post about this for quite awhile but somehow I forgot about it until I came across videos of it again yesterday. I'm assuming most of you have heard & seen videos of Susan Boyle from Britain's Got Talent. I personally do not watch either the British or American version of the show but I did check out videos of Boyle on youtube which led me to watch performances of other acts on the show.

If I didn't remember wrongly, all reports of the show featured in the papers here were focused mainly on Susan Boyle with practically no coverage on other acts in the show. For people who don't watch the show like me, you HAVE to check out videos of these dance acts from the show. I'm not a dance expert or anything, but I thought they were FREAKING A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

1) Diversity

Made up of 3 sets of brothers and 4 other friends, the group is named as such probably because of the diversity of ages, occupations and backgrounds of all the members. They won the competition, beating Susan Boyle (who was 2nd place btw) with their creative choreography and chemistry.

Watch: Audition (full of surprises, very entertaining), Finals (Transformer-inspired routine)

2) Flawless

This 10 member dance group was definitely Diversity's closest competitor. Trying to choreograph group dance routines is difficult enough, keeping in tune and synchronised in movement is the greater challenge. Flawless is extremely synchronised in their routines which is amazing.

Watch: Audition

3) George Sampson

This guy or boy I should say, auditioned for the first season of BGT but didn't get through. He came back for the second season and proceeded to win the show at the age of 14.

Watch: Audition, Finals

I'm sure there are way more dance talents than those mentioned above, but since they all appeared on TV, en route to fame and fortune, I thought I might just share about them with you.

Back here in Asia, if you haven't already been swept by the "Nobody, nobody but you" fever, you must have been living under a rock. The Wonder Girls have made their US debut and is currently touring with The Jonas Brothers on their World Tour. Watch the English version of Nobody - same video, different language. Tell me if you can understand what they're singing about.

Watch: Wonder Girls "Nobody" US Single

Photos: http://talent.itv.com/, http://yeinjee.com/, Videos: YouTube

Sometimes When We Touch

Photo: Yvan Rodic

Ad Campaigns FW 2009/2010

Lily Allen for Chanel

Uncle Karl must see something in Lily Allen. I would never have associated her with Chanel. Anywho, Lily Allen is the face for Chanel's new line of Coco Cocoon Handbags. I'm guessing Audrey Hepburn must have been part of the inspiration behind the styling.

Photographer: Karl Lagerfeld

Scarlett Johansson for Mango Fall/Winter 2009/2010 Ad Campaign

Scarlett Johansson takes over Penelope Cruz as the new face for Mango. I love this girl but once again, she doesn't seem to be the Mango girl. I find her her style to be more of a classic 40's/50's kinda girl.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti / Hair: Bob Recine / Make-Up: Aaron de Mey

Jennifer Connelly for Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2009/1010 Ad Campaign

Awkward pose anyone? Looking gorgeous in Balenciaga but she so looks like she's gonna slip off the couch any moment?

Photographer: Steven Meisel

Lanvin Fall/Winter 09/10 Ad Campaign

If you think the Lanvin campaign shots bear some sort of similarity to the Balenciaga one, that's probably because this campaign is also shot by Steven Meisel.

Photographer: Steven Meisel / Model: Kristen McMenamy

Photo Credits: http://www.highsnobiety.com/, http://www.stylelist.com/, http://forums.thefashionspot.com, http://www.fashionising.com/

Shop! Shop! Shop!

Ok..lagging in updates again. Will try to do a summary of what has been going on. First off, shopping malls! Went to check out 2 new shopping malls in town.

Orchard Central

This mall is rather huge. Though alot of shops aren't opened for business yet, which explains the low human traffic, seems like it's gonna be an exciting mix of stores. Will check it out again when more stores are open.

This is part of a fashion display you will see when you enter the mall. Totally do not get the blue neon lights though.

Spotted these cool cut-outs on the wall and ceiling on the 7th floor. This level has no shops though. Think it's probably offices?

But the best thing I spotted was this!

This just look like a structure of an enourmous pair of red heels right?

Say hello to the owner of that pair of red heels! Miss Red here is about 4 storeys tall mind you. Do not anger her or she'll stomp you dead.

Here's how she looks like. Smiley and friendly enough.

Something random. Although it can be found in alot of places, if you do go to the mall, do check out the MOS Burger there. The service staff are mainly old folks who provide excellent service. And, they use glasses for drinks and bowls for soups for eat-ins! First time seeing these kinda cutlery used in a fast food joint locally.

ION Orchard

Went to check this mall out over the weekend. Didn't fully explore the place yet though. Only checked out the basements. Human traffic was crazy though. Mainly because it was a weekend and it's a newly opened mall. Will return for a 2nd visit to check out all the other stores on the upper levels.