Quality Time

As I mentioned in my nostalgic post about Talbots Fall/Winter 2012 RTW, my parents used to love shopping at Talbots, The Bay, Holt Renfrew and various boutiques.  As a kid, I spent the majority of my weekends restlessly waiting in changing rooms while getting increasingly annoyed at how long it was taking my mom to try on her pile of clothing.  My dad would only add to the wait time by going around and finding more pieces for my mom to try on.  But now the roles have reversed, and my parents are the ones falling asleep waiting for me.

But aside from me realizing that those childhood moments were actually good times, I also realize those moments influence how I look at fashion today.  My parents were always all about quality at a reasonable price.  Whenever my mom splurged, it was only ever on a classic or unique piece that was truly well-made and would last for years to come (she often mentioned how one day, I would be the one to wear it).

My dad too, always picked out only the best of the best.  Don't take my dad for the typical man with no interest in fashion; he's highly intelligent in many subject areas, including fashion.  He's constantly finding absolute gems, and I can't tell you how many times he's picked out something that I've ended up loving.  It's from him that I learnt the value of a leather shoe - Italian leather shoe, as he would specify.  He gravitates towards classic, well-constructed pieces, and I almost never buy anything without his careful inspection.  I completely trust and value his opinion.

So I guess all those years watching my parents shop, and having them advise me against buying clothing too cheap in quality has honed my own eye for quality.  Quality is one of the first things I look for in a piece, no matter where I shop.  You buy something because you like it, and it makes no sense that you would want to see it fall apart later.  I know people who's wardrobes are constantly changing because their tops get holes in them, or their shoes fall apart.  For me, I only spend money on something I truly love, and with such an emotional attachment to my clothes (Is that healthy?  Probably not.), the last thing I want is to have to throw it away a year later. 

I have some friends who argue that expensive clothing just as easily falls apart as cheaper clothing, but what they're forgetting is that expensive clothing doesn't necessarily equate to good quality clothing (think: it's hard for a cheap top to be made extremely well, but it's easy for an expensive top to be made poorly), and that with good quality clothing, you have to make the commitment of protecting it.  If you take care of your clothes, you'll come to find that good quality clothing does have superior stitching and cut.  That $5 top may warp after several washes (that's happened to many of my cheaper clothes), but you'll find that your better made top still retains its original shape and structure. 

Another huge difference I notice is the zipper.  With well-made pieces, zippers run smoothly and take little effort to zip and unzip.  I tend to zip and unzip my coat pockets a lot because I carry my phone and various cards in them.  With my Joe Fresh coat, I have to use two hands in order to work the zipper and it often gets stuck at a certain point - not great when you're on a packed bus holding on for dear life while also trying to zip up your pocket so your phone doesn't fall out.  With my Calvin Klein coat, the pocket zipper is so smooth I could mindlessly zip and unzip the pocket all day if I wanted to.

But my best example is wool coats.  Take a wool coat from Forever 21.  You'll find the fabric is wrinkly, thin, and tends to ripple along the hem.  Take a wool coat from Aritzia, and you'll find stiffer, smoother fabric, and a more structured cut.

Forever 21

Aritzia

I would have never known, back when I was a kid looking at the clothes in Holt Renfrew and wondering why on earth people would wear these clothes, that one day I would be lusting after them.  If I'm the only one who knows about the inner constructions of my garments, then so be it.  It's that kind of knowledge that transforms fashion from a mass marketed business and form of entertainment to a very personal experience.  I think I've rambled on long enough, but this has been something I've always wanted to post.  People find me nitpicky about the things I buy, and maybe even see me shopping with my nose upturned, but there's a reason behind that.  Nothing quite compares to the confidence a well-made piece of clothing can give you, and you certainly can't put a price on confidence.

Image Source: Photo 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Flash of Skin

I haven't had a real shopping trip to Holt Renfrew since Christmas, but I went there last week to a joyous welcoming.  It was Mother's Day weekend, and Holts had transformed into the land of mother-daughter bonding.  With the saxophonist's tunes echoing throughout the store, it made tasting the complimentary gelato, cupcakes and lemonade all the more enjoyable.  Although we decided against it, we also could have received a free caricature to commemorate our day of good (window) shopping. 

And boy, good window shopping it was. I waxed lyrical about shoes last post, but don't think for a second I forgot about handbags, my second favourite accessory.  Handbags this season follow closely behind the shoe trends - retro colour blocking and refined luxury.  A notable handbag from my shopping trip was the Jimmy Choo Justine L:

The bag takes many cues from 1970s sportswear, seen in its rounded shape and duffel bag handles.  While I would prefer the shape of the bag to be less casual, the bright anaconda skin is just too irresistible.  The way the bag looks like it's revealing its inner secret with a single open flap keeps onlookers wondering how many tantalizing layers your bag actually has.

The snakeskin is so soft both my dad and I had thought it was textured leather, but a quick Google search confirmed that it is in fact real anaconda skin being unzipped and displayed.  The clean metal bar securing the flap in place adds a whiff of industrialism, dressing up the otherwise insouciant bag.

It's a coy bag made for a coy woman.  While I don't normally advocate gaudy flashes of skin, in this special case, flashing skin couldn't be classier.

Image Source: Jimmy Choo, Net-a-Porter

Precious Metals

I've just been bursting with happiness walking through the mall these past three weekends.  Spring 2012 is full of colour, florals, and gorgeous, polished pieces.  Especially the shoes; they're making me weak in the knees.  Definite shoe trends are emerging, among them are suede colour blocked heels, wide strapped sandals, and metal detailing.  I would dedicate a post to colour blocked heels (and maybe I will), but for now, I'd like to focus on the growing number of shoes developing their own steely personality.  Remember the gold capped flats from Givenchy I tried on last year?

It seems Givenchy was ahead of the curve, as metal capped toes are now showing up all over the place.  Zara, Louis Vuitton and Stuart Wietzman have all hopped onto the bandwagon, cleverly mining their way to our hearts.

Zara

Louis Vuitton

Stuart Weitzman

But as I was shopping in The Bay, I found something truly unique: the Dolce Vita Archer.  So far, metal capped toes have all been seen on either flats or pumps, and sandals have been forced to wait patiently for their turn.  It is for this reason that the Dolce Vita Archer caught my eye, even from across the store.  Metal rimmed sandals have arrived.

Ingenious.  Absolutely ingenious.  No longer will you have to worry about stubbing your toes, and just imagine the glamour of having sunlight seemingly reflecting off your toes.  I tried on a pair of metal rimmed sandals from Boutique 9, and funnily enough, it wasn't the metal tip that enticed me, but the lovely, light lavender colour of the Boutique 9 Berthes. 

Although the lavender leather is heartbreakingly beautiful and soft, the sandals didn't look as chic as they did on the wall.  The wide straps made me feel like I was ready to trek through the desert, and as interesting as the exposed inner half of the shoes were, I wasn't fond of looking like I was wearing two different shoes on one foot.  However, the tasseled zipper was a delight, and I still envy whoever ends up being an owner of these shoes.

Shopping is going to be a joy this season.  There's polished luxury everywhere I look, and everything I see is telling me to indulge in myself a little.  This spring, it's all about dipping (and tipping) your toes in gold.

Image Source: Givenchy, Dolce Vita, Boutique 9

Fame Game

With time to finally catch up on all the fashion magazine reading I've missed in the past four months, I'm here to share a spread from the October 2011 issue of Flare Magazine, titled Fame Game.  What struck me about this spread was not the model or the fashion.  In fact, I found the looks to be dull and average - your typical glamorous photoshoot.  None of the photos really made my jaw drop, but what made me linger a little bit longer on each page instead of swiftly flipping through them was the theme.  As any person familiar with the process behind putting together a fashion spread knows, a theme that ties all photos together is key.  For Fame Game, the theme was, well, climbing the oftentimes slippery ladder of fame.  Below is a look at the spread, with respective captions above each photo.

The sheer reality is that you haven't really made it until your face is plastered on a Times Square billboard.

J'adore the star spangled spotlight, but it's lonely at the top.

Dress to impress - today it's almost famous, tomorrow it's Internet sensation.

A little snakeskin and late night scandal never hurt anyone.

Overexposed and underdressed: essential elements of Youtube fame.

Piling on the fashion hits creates a magnet for the paparazzi.

A woman in traffic stopping red becomes the only woman in the room.

Generally, photos in a fashion spread all have a similar feeling, but Fame Game branches off by jet setting us all over the place.  I found the use of the billboard, Youtube interface and TV screen to be very creative, but at the same time, the spread as a whole was incoherent.  I felt like I was looking at 7 individual photos instead of an entire spread.  Even the story only loosely tied all the photos together - how did she go from being plastered on a billboard and being "at the top", to becoming a Youtube sensation?  Maybe that was the idea, to show how fame is just one big confusion.  Nonetheless, a spread about the reality of fame is an idea worth commending.  Fame may be a game, but it's a deceiving game where the winners don't always play by the rules.

Image Source: Fashion Photography, noirfacade

Ali Michael

At the request of Dahl, Ali Michael is up next on this blog's model feature!

Ali is an American model known for her clear complexion and strong eyebrows.  In 2005, she won the Fashion! Dallas/Kim Dawson Model Search contest.  She's struggled with an eating disorder in the past, and has spoken candidly about pressures to be thin in the modeling industry, revealing that a lot of the models she knew had issues with food in some way.

On the streets, she keeps it casual and you'll most likely find her with a slouchy shoulder bag, and black separates which she will energize with a white or printed top. 

Her latest appearance has been during the Pre-Fall 2010 collections:

Oscar de la Renta

If there are any other models you would like to see featured, just give me a shout if you haven't done so already!

Image Source: Ali, Editorial 1, 2, 3, 4, Street 1, 2, 3, 4, Style.com

Price of Beauty

I'd like to share three situations I came across where I've come to realize something about the way people judge fashion nowadays.

1) I showed my friend the two romantic, pretty nail colours below from Dior's summer collection, and the first thing she said was, "You could easily find cheaper knockoff versions.  Those are very common colours."  Of course, she said it in nothing but a supportive manner.

2) I spent hours shopping in Forever 21 with my friend - those of you who know me know that I have a somewhat irrational dislike for Forever 21- but when I suggested we check out Anthropologie just for fun, she claimed it was too expensive (which I completely respect) and sat in a chair waiting for me to finish.

3) I used to frequent PurseBlog, but I found that the majority of readers would constantly comment on how a bag was simply too expensive.  Quite often, that was the whole basis of their comment.

Maybe you're beginning to see where I'm going with these three instances.  The burning question I have is: when did the beauty of fashion become so dependent on price?

A beautiful bag is a beautiful bag; price only becomes relevant when you have the intent of being a consumer.  Sometimes I find when people judge an item using price as their main determining factor, they don't seem to realize or acknowledge that the item itself is worthy of some praise.  When the price of an item goes beyond what they can afford, they tend to instantly label the item as bad.  But the problem is that the item might actually be exquisite in its construction or innovative in its design, and price just becomes something that is tacked onto it.

After all, fashion is an art form, and art has always been more about creative expression than price.  From time to time, we have to stop looking at fashion from a consumerist point of view, and look at it for what it truly is.  When you limit yourself only to what you can afford, you miss out on some beautiful creations, but more importantly, you miss out on endless opportunities to dream a little. 

I read a lot of fashion magazines full of designer merchandise and enjoy keeping up with the world of high fashion, yet believe you me, I am in no capacity to afford any of it.  But I don't see any problem in appreciating the intricate work of high fashion, and when it comes down to it, price is irrelevant.

We have to stop stressing out over how expensive items are, and just focus on looking at the beauty of the item itself.  Don't let price cloud your perception of something that is inherently beautiful.  In the end, dreaming is free, so why miss out on it?

Image Source: Dior, Anthropologie, Purseblog, Dress, Heels, Bag

Flat Out Frightful

Flat shoes on the runway are rare, but when they do make an appearance, it's almost always to an approving audience.

I, on the other hand, spend the entire show cringing.  I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you: flat shoes look bad on the runway.  Runway outfits that look good with flat shoes are few and far between; most of them need that certain sway, height and structure that only a pair of heels can give.  Even the most opulent gown will turn into a dress appropriate for a beach-side stroll if the wrong pair of shoes are worn with it.

And it's not just because outfits look bad with flat shoes that I am so against them.  Few models know how to maintain their runway walk in flat shoes.  My first time witnessing this phenomenon was back in 2009 when I saw a runway show (I can't remember which one) with one particular model who let flat shoes get the better of her.  She walked the length of the runway, stopped at the end, and in an attempt to pose, ended up posing with her feet pointing outward in the shape of a V.  Not very elegant, I must say.

From the front, flat shoes aren't all that appealing either.  With each step taken, you see the sole of the shoe flopping down against the floor.  Almost like a reverse flip flop, if you will.  Even when the model simply stands there, the top of the foot looks flat and wide.  The only way this can be avoided is with sleek flat shoes (à la Chanel, who has done flat shoes successfully many times).

I hope you know I don't have anything against flat shoes.  Even though I prefer all my shoes, even my flats, to have a slight heel, that's only because I find the sound of heels against pavement a horribly addicting confidence booster, and because low heels are generally more comfortable than washboard flat soles.  In the end, flats are an essential part of any wardrobe.  Just a regular day on the streets certainly does not call for a pair of heels.

I cringe all the same when I see a model wobbling and falling on precarious heels, yet despite all the stress, pain, agony and embarrassment heels cause for models, there's no way around it - heels were meant to be on the runway.

Image Source: Photo 1, 2, 3, 4, 5