tight tweeds and secret needs

It’s headache buying a pair of flats. At least to me, since I live in high heels all the time, unless I’m barefooted.

So I dedicated one hour on Monday to hunt for a pair of flats. It’s quite an arduous task, worse than mastering a piece by Chopin, because. . I probably need Flats For Dummies.

Finally, after shortlisting a few pairs mentally, I walked into this new store known as Trois + Inch. I found a few really pretty pairs and finally decided on a brilliant flowered pair with the prettiest prints on the back of the sole. (It’s okay, I look at the backs of my soles)

Later on after my stomach lurching looking the Ridiculous shoes offered in Bebé– God, do I love Ridiculous WhamBamSlam shoes (okay, sometimes words fail to articulate I just grunt and warble)– I decided to get myself a pair of silver shoes. It’s like ZipMeUpFeet! As usual, I went off to Zara. I love their printed dresses. And got a bit busy in the changing room . .

So I’ve test-driven the silver heels already. Up and down a few steep slopes. Comfort level? 8.5/10. Lovely.

*******

I never knew it was so difficult to decide what to pack. I.e. To Pack Light. That’s my main concern. It’s a bitch to lug around truckloads of stuff, esp when you’re considering snow which means coats. So I spent a bit of time drawing out mood boards for stuff to wear. I swear it sucks to plan what to wear, it’s the hardest thing in the world because I’m so used to just about throwing on anything. Before long it was time to leave for the day again. Got on my colorful culottes that I picked up at the jumble– I love culottes since you can sit like a gangster in them, and yet they;re still so flowy. Kinda like gaucho pants.

Colors seem to be the recurrent theme these days

top Zara; culottes vintage; earrings Accessorize; hairband some random store; shoes VNC; belt Aldo

The past two days I’ve been scuttling and running around. Today, though, I finally have about two hours to spare. Back from the derm’s, hopefully he’ll kill all my acne and then I can save some money.

The earlier part of yesterday was spent buying essentials for my trip. Like power adaptors, travel-sized contact lens solution (and of course, testing them out for today), tightening my eye glasses at the optician’s, etcetera. I realized something. It’s only before I’m embarking on a travel that I will buy a pair of flats. Like this gorgeous golden pair that has since spoilt because one of the dogs at the pound chewed off the straps. My fault for wearing it to the pound.

On Saturday I found a dress at the jumble sale. It was a tad too long, so yesterday morning, I haphazardly snipped it off before going out in it. . Anyway, it’s only forty cents (or is it thirty!?) so it doesn’t really matter.

Belted it up with my Mango belt before leaving. I swear it’s so bloody hard to take self-shots, I had to balance this on the steps, cross my fingers and hope it turned out well. I’m kinda sick of the same backgrounds I have in all my photos, but ever since that macaque I was doing research on chased me everywhere and I dropped my camera, I’ve been pretty wary about taking it out. Yes, I seem to be doing research on alot of animals for my schoolwork, and then on weekends I’m counseling at the pound, I suppose it’s some sort of self-compensation for not having sufficient money to enter vet school.

At Miss Selfridge’s, I found this triple-buckled belt. And you know my penchant for buckles and belts and leathers. So this had to come home with me. Immediately after paying, I wore it. Shopped and read a while, caféing and planning some work stuff before heading off to The Best Friend’s place for chocolate fondue over chick flicks. Heavenly. Hopefully she sends me the photos soon.

dress vintage; shoes Charles & Keith; belt Ms Selfridge; earrings vintage; handbag Chloé; ring Aldo

*******

On Monday I received my researcher pass at the zoo! Wheewy. Which means I’ll be spending about two days a week there researching on the . . zebras. Oh God, how do I love those creatures. Every zebra has got its unique markings that constitute its fingerprint. And I love their tails, which look so ingenious; the serious scientific aspects of the one-year study I’m embarking upon aside, I could create quite a few fashion ranges just getting inspired by zebras alone.

The upside is that I can tell all six apart now. This one’s Nanu, the alpha female. The thing about doing animal research is that you sit there doing focal and ad libitum sampling, it’s relaxed and very Zen-like. Kinda like meditation. A time for No-thought. I like it. A throwaway from an otherwise fast-paced life that makes my friends call me Sonic The Hedgehog.

Quite obviously, I had to dress down. The top has cute little ruffles at the bottom hem, and a lace-fringed neckline. It’s nice and loose and purrfect for hot days. The belt is actually one of those floral ones from my mother’s collection of tea dresses. I’ve been stealing them all with a vengeance.

And whilst locking my house doors, I saw my father’s shoes. And had to wear it. Ho ho ho.

Threw in my brother’s cuff for a leather-and-lace look (a subtle one that only I know about, that is

The cheetah at the exhibit where we took shelter from the rain seemed to love me. It bounded over to the glass and pose there as though it was my cat.

top Mango; shorts some factory outlet in Perth; cuffsome random store; bag some random bazaar market; ring Forever 21; shoes Bata (my father’s)

*******

Off to work now, for an algorithm and chemical-equation filled five hours or so. Before a good dinner. Maybe I’ll do a shoe post tonight. Ciao!

Yay. I’m faking things. . again. So being The In-House Midget means that skirts that flatter The Mother look frumpily long(er) on me. Like I like to joke, ‘exquisitely dumpy’. I like the floral prints on this skirt– even if I hated it a good many years ago, I swear my hatred of florals, polka dots and lace is haunting me right-smack in the face, given me a bloody good slap. Karma, say I. I decided that the tie-waist portion could be tied around my neck instead, therein faking a dress. Yesterday was pretty rainy and cold, so I wore a tee rather than a wifebeater inside.

tee: Red

skirt: Trend

earrings: Six

booties: ClubMarc

ring: Aldo

Yup, minimal accessories for yesterday. Alright, Happy Friday and have a glorious weekend, all!

I woke up this morning with a fever. Popped some pills and fell asleep. But I had stuff to see to later, and thankfully the fever wore down, I was up and about by 2.

Threw on my PJ top– yup, it’s really PJs– and then I decided not to sell this old pair of cutoffs but rather roll up the hem and play with it.

See the tiny rings at the sides of the pockets? My dad calls them the Beggar Sect a.k.a. 丐帮 pants because in pugilistic China where all swordfighting novels are set in, there exists a sect of highly skilled beggars. The leaders would have rings around their pockets, and from these, stuff and trinkets and what-nots would hang off.

One day on, I’ve decided I really love the hair. And the command not to wash my hair and let the chemicals settle in was followed. No matter how strange it felt. I hate sleeping without washing my hair. It’s the greatest sin ever, living in a tropical climate like this.

top: PJs from La Senza

pants: Mango

earrings: Accessorize

bangle: Dorothy Perkins

shoes: Charles & Keith

shades: Mango

handbag: Charles & Keith

ring: Aldo

belt: Osmose

The better part of Monday afternoon and the late morning was spent at the reserve and reservoir area doing some monkey research. The walking and trekking is insane, when I first began I decreed it’d replace all my feeble attempts at weekly exercise. Although running might be more high-intensity for the abdominals. Long gone are my Gym Rat days; I’ve upgraded towards being a Lazy Cat. It’s Wednesday, my lower body is still aching immensely.

So lazy to dress up for the evening, I made myself sing a clashing song of pink and blues, wearing clothes I don’t wear anymore. Most of the time I dress whilst grabbing random stuff here and there. And therein suffer from Christmas Tree Syndrome.

take a bow tie, safety-pin the elastic connectors and thread your chain into the same safety pin to create a one-minute necklace.

oh God, my hair’s so messy. if there’s any consolation, I finally conditioned it yesterday.

top: Calvin Klein

skirt: Osmose

Mary Janes: Charles & Keith

bangles: Aldo

chain: Aldo

pearl necklace: Forever 21

belt: vintage

eagle necklace: Sportsgirl (@ Perth)

bow-tie: Akon

Yesterday, I trudged down to the country club to meet my cousin so we could semi-finalize the details of the trip. Like where exactly to go, how to be as cheapo as possible as save money especially since I’m still studying and all, what to do, and what to wear. It’s a lovely thing she’s about my size, meaning we can pack light(er) each and double our outfit choices. Too bad her feet are smaller than mine, though. Winter in Melbourne means I can finally wrap up in gorgeous coats and wear my boots. I might be mad with a thing for cold-weather wear, because the weather here is hot and sunny almost all year-round.

“You have tights and all to wear there, right?”, she asked.

“Yup, I’m pulling out all my stockings, turtlenecks, pullovers, socks, boots, berets, scarves . . ” I replied.

And she looked at me with a OhGodYouHaveAnEntireWinterWardrobe expression already. Luckily I didn’t add in ‘mufflers and gloves’.

A lazy afternoon means dressing down. So I threw on my flower dress over a t-shirt, hurriedly slipped on some accessories, gathered my MacBook and left.

We sat on the big couches, had some sandwiches and drank some chocolate and latté, laughing insanely at the things we’re gonna do. It’s a good thing the vacation coincides with the Brisbane Arts Festival and The Melbourne Film Festival. Wheewy. I suspect it’s going to be yet another one hell of a mad holiday. I also wonder how we’re going to pull them off.

t-shirt: Mango

dress: from Patong Beach, Phuket

necklaces: Aldo; Accessorize

bangles: Dorothy Perkins; the zoo

Do you sometimes worry that at an event– it could be a dinner or a wedding or a prom or whatsoever– somebody shows up in the exact same thing? Well, it’s happened to some of my friends who always caution me to ‘buy the most inimitable thing ever”. But just how, I wonder sometimes. I mean, with my really bad spending habits of late– blame the sales and my insatiable appetite– I stupidly realized that a few hundred a day means Idon’twanttoseethegrandtotal at the end of the month. Had to step on the brakes, literally. So to create the OnlyIWillLookLikeThat outfit on the cheap, because I couldn’t find any more excuses to buy that expensive kimono-print dress that has been haunting my dreams, I decided to add The Mad P Twist, which is known as throw a few elements together, wave your hands, chant an incantation, and voila!

Can you believe that till a few days ago, I realized I did not have a black tube dress? I have black dresses in all cuts and lengths and necklines but no tube dresses. So I got this one, because I realized it would bring pretty good mileage. Although I really suspect it’s a skirt, not a dress. Whatever works, works. And then I got the deep hot pink slingbacks with the silver bow. I realize pink kinda clashes with the turquoise, but since I’m in the spirit of anything-goes-as-long-as-I-think-it-looks-good, here’s The Outfit On The Cheap.

wound the elastic potion of the hair-tie around the pearls and safety-pinned it to my dress to create The Mad Orchid Necklace With Feathers

wore a hairband with a tiny bow but the pictures fail to capture it

black tube dress: Nichii

turquoise clutch: Perllini’s

deep hot pink slingbacks: ClubMarc

diamond anklet: my mother’s

chandelier earrings: Forever 21

pearls: Forever 21

orchid hair tie: Accessorize

ring: Mango

“But I want to sleep” I mumbled and protested into the phone. It’s Sunday, I’m tired and want to roll in bed. Anyhows I got my ass dragged out. In the most casual of casuals– a sign of protest– and to my shock horror, I went out in denim jeans. The last time I wore any pair of denim jeans was nowhere near the second half of 2007. Twisted-up hair. Eyebrow pencil, concealer, a loose top, a pair of earrings, skinnies, a bangle, a bag and a pair of wedges. Minimal for once. Couldn’t even be bothered to change laundre– I realize this lazy-to-change-laundre habit is fast becoming a Sunday Pattern. Bleah

Some of my favorite pathetic faces.

top: Arithalia

drainpipes: Warehouse

earrings: Live (@ Perth, WA)

bangle: The Zoo (yup, and I mean the zoo where you visit the animals)

wedges: Charles & Keith

handbag: Roccobaracco

On the subject of re-wearing my hardly-worn stuff, and on the quest for wearing my entire collection of short skirts, I woke up deciding to wear this.

My mother’s knitted top that my uncle got for her at 16 from Hong Kong. It’s still going strong, and worn by me. What then, does one wear to dress up a miniskirt? My 4.5-inch high kimono-printed heels, of course.

Twisted my hair up nonsensically yet again. And found a flower corsage with feathers. Strapped a strand of satin ribbon twice around my neck and clipped it on.

top: my Mother’s

skirt: Valley Girl

shoes: Mollini (@ Perth, WA)

ring: Forever 21

clutch: Perllini’s

ribbon: from Spotlight

corsage: Sportsgirl (@ Perth, WA)

Menswear is getting to be an addiction. It’s just like one of those phases I go through. The most notable one being, the red-and-black phase. So today I had to head down to the zoo to meet the curator in order to confirm my grad project. After a grueling and rather nerve-wrecking discussion, the study’s been approved. I’m going to become a zebra expert! Heh.

And alright, mandemonium’s actually a personal term used to describe ‘an avalanche of men’. Tweaked outta context, again. .

The dilemma as usual. .to dress up or to dress down? It’s going to be a sort of meeting, therefore do I really wear my casual animal-observation attire? Eventually I grabbed a man’s shirt with the tiniest checkered design and a pair of white capris, since I was going out later as well. Lopped my chain belt over my neck as a necklace– as usual, my habit of wearing two belts. And this pair of silver flats.

After which it was time to let one’s hair down, literally. . Kick off the slippers and slip on a pair of heels. .

at White Dog Café. . what an adorable name

men’s shirt: John Langford

white capris: Osmose

silver flats: Marie Claire

pink pumps: VNC

belt worn as necklace: Guess?

bangles: Forever 21

handbag: Roccobaracco

ring: Forever 21

earrings: vintage

belt: my mom’s

The daytime part of yesterday was so sweltering 15 minutes on the piano yielded as much perspiration as body conditioning with weights. That bad. The deal with lazy days like that where I have to pop out for a few hours makes me think I don’t want to dress up nor wear much makeup nor bother to match the proper laundre etcetera. The mish-mash concept, therefore, becomes my best friend.

The modus operandi:

1. throw on a t-shirt and some skirt.

2. throw on some random accessories

3. a pair of shoes

4. any clutch

5. randomly twist up the hair

I reverted back to my old habit of taking photos in black-and-white.

and the good ol’ 11-year old Mickey Mouse t-shirt that I wear from time to time. .

absolutely adore the layered chain with two boots. one is gold; the other studded with rhinestones.

t-shirt: Disney

faded dark grey denim skirt: Mango

long pearls: Forever 21

layered gold necklace: This Fashion

clutch: Guess?

shoes: Charles & Keith

earrings: vintage