Hoop Fashion

You know how I love and adore my hoops, I think they are the ultimate fashion accessory and sure to turn heads particularly on the crowded streets of Tokyo. So when I jumped over to check out the latest costume and design range by CHAPTER I almost had to take a little lie down after my heart skipped several beats upon seeing hoops incorporated into their designs.




These funky pieces fit for all hoopy kings and queens of style are designed an created right here in Tokyo by the CHAPTER team Shotaro and Ikumi.

CHAPTER also sell their hoopalicious accessories on TOKYOMADE. The swirling and twirling form of their rings always remind me of the light patterns created by LED hoops and poi.

Ollie the Owl

Ollie ready to jump, originally uploaded by Effunia.

i started doing some drawings of owls and after tons of drawings... this is what I imagined in plush form. I was pretty happy with the result, especially considering he's my first one.

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My Day of Holding an Oversized Clutch

Oversized clutches are all the rage this season. If you haven't 'tried out' this trend yet, imagine holding onto a bag with your hands the whole time you're walking around and trying to rush to your next destination.

So last summer, I had plans to have lunch with a friend of my mum's at a fancy restaurant. It was a rare occassion for me since I usually don't spend more than a sandwich's worth of money on lunch, or actually get up early enough to have lunch out (-hey, it was the summer holidays!) The thought of a fancy lunch put me in a weird, cheerful mood, which prompted me to only carry a large clutch. I was probably imagining myself to be a Hollywood girl about to be photographed by the paparazzis. Like I said, my brain was clearly not awake yet. So I painfully transferred most things from my normal, larger hangbag into a smaller, oversized clutch. My clutch is basically a larger version of this Marni clutch. It's very simple and made of patent leather.

Here's how my day went: I felt very glamorous at first, clutching onto my shiny clutch and rushing to lunch. But as the day went on, I had to go to a few places to run errands and let me tell you, it is very inconvenient to have to hold onto a clutch while carrying other paperbags, listening to your iPod and trying to dig out your wallet for the underground ticket/card. The novelty quickly wore off. The said clutch is now more of a dinner-out-only clutch. As for daytime, I will stick to bags that have handles or straps attached.

Have you tried carrying an oversized clutch for daytime yet?

Image Credit: www.net-a-porter.com

Mosquito Coils

In the evenings, my maternal grandmother would carefully take out her box of msoquito coils, kept safely in a Jacob's biscuit tin. almost with the greatest of care, her small gentle hands would take two twinning coils out and slowly separate them. then she would light one for the "landoh", the covered bridge between the kitchen and the main house where we would sit and tell stories under the pressure lamp. And she would bring one coil upstairs , to be placed in front of her room.

Thus mosquitoes were kept at bay in our riverine paradise. Most of us were still under the age of ten at that time.

In the day time, we would bring a small piece of mosquito coil whenever we went to the outhouse, built about 100 feet away from the main house. Some of us were terribly afraid of going, so we would get three or four to go along. My grandmother's outhouse had four cubicles. They were very properly built.

The flush toilet came to our village many years later when my uncle built a smaller house further in land, after the huge currents caused by the Express boats had slowly swept away our land and lastly our wooden mansion. By then she was already completely visually disadvantaged. So the modern sanitory facilities were a boon to her old age.

In later years an American Peace Corps told me that it was part of their orientation course to separate two twinning pieces of mosquito coils. It was one of the most difficult living skills for an American to learn. Perhaps he had big hands, or perhaps he was not used to applying gentle pressure, and that particular "break" on the most important leverage part of the coil to separate the two coils, so well meshed and factory placed together.

The nostalgic fragrance from a burning mosquito coil invokes memories and the magic of yesteryears. My grandmother's stories, her sense of humour, my uncle's laughter and the shrieks of playing children would just come floating back. It is no wonder that Shirley Lim, in her poem, Monsoon History, wrote about mosquito coils as part of her memories forty years ago.

On the down side, mosquito coils have been known to cause home fires, burning of babies in their cots, and bad asthma attacks.

In industrial description it is a coiled clay-like material which is set on top
of included stands which will serve as a biting and nuisance flying pest repellent when lit. When burning, they will release a pleasant odor to people but one that is highly repellent to pests. They will burn slowly and generally will last 2 or
more hours per coil.

Today, with camping and outdoor living becoming very popular, the mosquito coils have become a heaven sent gift indeed.

A company producing them advertised that they are made of nature's own insecticide (camphor) and using these coils one can get hours of constant protection. Perfectly safe and pleasant! 12 coils per package. Wt. 7oz.

In Malaysia a decent pack of mosquito coils are about RM1.80 for 12 coils.

As a Sarawakian, I would always travel with a packet of mosquito coils, kept safe in a biscuit tin. This would be what my grandmother would do. then there would be no frustrations from mosquitoes. And the nights would be as wonderful as days. Some extra anti insect repellent would help too.

But strangely with all the development around us, we should have less mosquitoes or no mosquitoes at all. But instead, we have mosquito netting on our windows and for outdoor activities around the house we still depend on our ever faithful mosquito coils!!

Stories of People Connected with the Borneo Company

The Borneo Company Limited had a fairly big building right opposite the Masland Church, on Island Road.

While it operated as Borneo Company in Sibu, it was almost like an icon in the business world.

In the 1950's the Manager of the Borneo Company together with the Manager of the Standard Chartered Bank were the celebrities of Sibu. No social function would happen without their presence. Such was their economic significance. And for a long while these two managers were English, appointed from the London offices.

The Borneo Company developed one of the best houses in Sibu, situated along Tun Haji Openg Road. As students we would all get the gossip whether the "mem" would be having a party or not since we cycle in and out of those roads. And one of our school mates was actually related to the Manager's cook. It was fun listening to the gossips.

But today, many young people of Sibu would not know much about this company. Perhaps it is no longer important. As they say, "It's history." But somehow, I feel that it is important to know this historical period of Sarawak, how our economic life was interwined with world development. Borneo Company was already global at that time.

Another interesting personal recollection from my memory bank regarding the Borneo Company was the interesting personnel connected with the Borneo Company. One such colourful person was Mr. Chiew Hock Siew and the other was the older Mr. Chiew, who was known as Panjang. Both spoke excellent English.

Mr. Chiew Hock Siew was a heavy drinker but he was an absolutely interesting character. He wore what I considered a colonial attire : white shirt,long stockings,nice leather shoes, nice leather belt. He could drin like a fish. Legend has it that he even kept a small bottle of whiskey in his office drawer. What amazed me at that time was his great ability to speak English like an Englishman.

He would come around our school,which was just opposite the Borneo Company, to pick up his children. And he would speak to some of the parents in his perfect nicely accented English. We as young children were very impressed. Our Headmaster Mr. Wong Kie Mee would also exchange a few words with him and they would have a good laugh.

I suspected that at that time all these laughter must be related to their love for drinking. Perhaps almost everyone in Sibu knew that the late Mr. Wong Kie Mee and his brother the late Mr. Wong Kie Ing were famous or infamous for their alcoholic adventures.

The older Mr. Chiew or Panjang was an old Borneo Company hand. (This is a very old colonial word). Panjang's life was indeed remarkable as he spent his whole life working for Borneo Company as a travelling salesman. He went far and wide in Sarawak,especially the interior, even though, according to one story, he was actually born and raised in Singapore.

He met his Melanau wife at a Bangsawan in Mukah. He was so taken by the beauty of his wife that when at the end of her singing, every one threw coins at her, he threw his pipe. She was amazed by this unusual act, that she picked up the pipe and sort of fell in love with him. What followed was a very romantic Chinese-Melanau love fit for a drama series.

According to his son, Panjang was a very "obedient servant" who would go out and distribute about to be expired goods to the longhouses, free, under the orders of the English Manager who did not want to waste the goods, This was not dumping of expired goods. This was charity as the goods would still be good for three months. In fact, to day, very few business men would do this. They would quickly pass the nearly expired goods to the rural people and sell them as quickly as possible. Even with alll the Enforcement Officers around, there are still many such commercial culprits. Some are even known to have scraped off the expiry date!! Of course we do have some lelong goods along the five foot way. That is still in practice.

Panjang went on to buy some property , bought by the gold owned by his Melanau wife, and his own savings, in Sibu, especially around the Roman Catholic Church but unfortunately he was cheated by some developers in his old age in the early 70's. He was invited by some contractors to have a business share. But things did not turn out well for him. His young son then was just too young then to help him. It is a pity that the family lost their property in this way. Otherwise the family would have been one of the richest in commercial land today. (Source of this story: His son and I went to the same school in Sibu for quite a number of years.)

The Borneo Company Limited was formed in 1856 to "exploit" the business opportunities in Borneo (Sarawak). It was also active in other parts of Asia.

James Brooke was a man who believed in business and connections, as it was the lifestyle at that time in Britain. He was nevertheless fairly well connected . After he successfully established himself as Rajah in 1842, he started to manage Sarawak like a vast estate and planned for its commercial development. Trade was foremost on his mind.

James Brooke , after he was given adequate advice, enlisted the help of Ludwig Helms, a Danish merchant who was operating out of Singapore. Helms incidentally was well connected to a Glasgow-based merchant house of MacEwen & Co. which had branches in Singapore, Batavia and Manila. MacEwen's office in Singapore became Brooke's agent while Helms managed Brooke's business in Sarawak.


The BCL thus became very much involved in importing and exporting, banking, production of agricultural commodities, mineral exploitation, and development, with a lot of political support from James Brooke.

The first motor car came to Singapore in 1896.But the BCL started selling imported cars in Singapore and Malaya only in the 1920's. Five years later, due to the vast business it had to handle,its subsidiary, Borneo Motors Limited was incorporated in 1925 to import and sell cars. Car sales subsequently became one of the most important businesses of the Borneo Company.

After World War II, the company's business expanded to cover other products. In 1967, BCL merged with Inchcape Group of UK. As a result, the Borneo Company became a subsidiary of Inchcape, while Borneo Motors Limited was split into two separate entities - Borneo Motors (Malaysia) Sendirian Berhad and Borneo Motors (Singapore) Limited.

In the 1980s, the company was agent and distributor for a wide range of pharmaceuticals, consumer, technical, sports and leisure products. Meanwhile, Borneo Motors was involved in the distribution of motorcars and trucks and motor-related products and services. They were selling leading brands like Austin, Rileys, Vauxhall, Bedford, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Chrysler, Pontiac, Buick and Leyland.(1)


Source :(l) Joshua Chia Yeong Jia

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Happy St Patrick's Day

Happy (early!)St Patrick's Day everyone! It took me a while, but I think I finally figured out what this day is all about: getting drunk on beer and looking green. Since I'm not a fan of beer nor of getting drunk, I think I'll focus on the latter: looking green- stylishly of course. Getting into the spirit of spring, I'm loving these cheerful looking dresses from Tibi (left) and See by Chloe (right).

Since it is not quite warm yet, I think this green coat from FCUK (left) is awesome, the model looks so cool and this season. On the other side of the temperature scale, this paisley dress from J Crew (right) is just the thing for a beach holiday.
And for the night, we have this green Raphael dress, which is my absolute favourite! I love how the gold prints line the dress in absolutely the most flattering way. And for something simpler, we have this plainer, but still very stylishly cut with cute bubble sleeves, dress from 3.1 Phillip Lim (right).
Green eye shadows are also quite the thing this season and are everywhere. This Ponder Four Piece (left) from Bare Escentuals is to-die-for! And for something with a bit more variety, DuWop also has this lovely green eye palette (right), though I'm not so sure exactly how green it really is from this picture.
For more subtle hints of green (or if you're just looking for something to match your green outfits), these green Mawi teardrop earrings are PERFECT. I love them. Its so elegant and sophisticated. For something more casual for the day time, there is this Monica Vinader Luna cluster necklace. Doesn't quite compare to the teardrops, but they'll do for the day.

The great thing about everything on this list is of course that they are all perfectly wearable outside of St. Patrick's day!

Image Source: Sephora, Shopbop, Net a Porter, FCUK and J Crew

S/S08 Trend: Jumpsuits Continued

Last June, I blogged about how I didn't particularly like jumpsuits. And after looking through the S/S08 collections on style.com, I thought jumpsuits have become a thing of 2007. But it seems like my brain was so desperate for this trend to be over that it just missed the jumpsuits in the S/S collections. Vogue.co.uk identifies them:

Stella McCartney designed a few printed, light-weight, long-sleeved jumpsuits. They look like they're for people who are bumming around the countryside, and the one in the middle looks like PJs.
Bottega Veneta and Moschino both had tailored, summery-looking jumpsuits.

Many highstreet retailers have jumped on board and are now selling them:
Urban Outfitters (US) has a few styles. These are very casual and relaxed looking. These are way too casual and PJ-looking for me, but believe me, the models in these jumpsuits look very cool in UO's Spring catalogue images!
Even Lacoste (left) came out with a preppy version of jumpsuit. And the blue jumpsuit on the left (from UO) looks very LA-style.
Jumpsuits like this red, camisole version by Top Shop is one big reason why I don't like this trend. Seriously, does anyone actually just wear this and walk around the streets? Talk about cheap-looking and skimpy!
Although to be fair, Top Shop is also selling these two cute versions. (To my horror,) I actually really like the flower-printed jumpsuit on the left. It probably wouldn't suit me and I certainly won't dish out 45 pounds for something I won't wear often, but I can image it would look cool on certain people (like the people in Nylon magazine and Top Shop ads.)

2 months back, Vogue UK had a page or two featuring around 4 people photographed in different style of jumpsuits. They all looked fantastic of course and there were quotes from them proclaiming their love for jumpsuits. In the following few weeks, a couple of UK newspapers' websites also sang their praises for jumpsuits. But at the end of day, I just don't 'get' jumpsuits. I really don't think jumpsuits are versatile at all. I mean, wouldn't having the pants/shorts and tees/tops seperate be much more versatile to mix-and-match? Oh well, I suspect I'm just very biased towards disliking the fashion from the time period when jumpsuits were popular (-the 80's right?) Let's hope we'll stop seeing jumpsuits around next S/S!

Image Credits: http://www.vogue.co.uk/, http://www.topshop.com/, http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/

Eggcellent Eggsample of Eggstracurricular Eggtivities

Village Shop Keeper's Generosity

Along the Rejang River amongst the enclaves of Foochow settlements were little shops which helped with the economic development of people.

Each area would have a small shop often built near a primary school and that would be like a market square of an European village.

My mother's Ah Nang Chong, or Lower Southern Village boasted a fairly vibrant primary school called Kwong Nang Primary School and a little sundry shop called Huo Ling Shop. Huo Ling Shop was sited at the head of a bridge , a locality similar to any Chinese shop in China, as it was strategic that all people must pass the small bridge whenever they travelled up and down the road to all the different villages along the river.

Every day the children would be given some pocket money for snacks and at the end of the school day, they would buy some supplies for their mothers. Such was the simple and easy life of that time. A bit of sugar, a bit of salt, some dried squid, ginger, and everything else for the villagers as most of them would only take the slow motor launch ride of more than two and half hours to Sibu once in every two or three months.

Going to town was a celebration!! And not all children would be brought by their children to see the town lights. A trip would have meant a real treat and the children would have many stories to relate to their siblings and friends at school.

My mother's youngest sister is married to an extra-ordinary man. He was a teacher, a principal and then later personal assistant to a timber tycoon because he has proven himself to be exceptionally trustworthy, ethical and loyal.

This exceptional man has an extra-ordinary childhood filled with bitter sweet experiences which helped him turn into a very strict disciplinarian.

When the children were growing up in the village, most of them had a certain amount of pocket money. they were not however, extremely rich. So they could afford an icicle may be, a lolipop or even a biscuit or two with the few cents they had. They would of course had brought their own packed rice which they would eat cold.

But my uncle unfortunately had a mother who considered pocket money insignificant.

Ikan bilis was only a few cents a kati at that time. And so was peanuts which were really sold for peanuts. The owner of Huo Ling shop did not really pay much attention to any child who came into the shop to pick up a few ikan bilis and chewed them right in front of him. Many ladies would also come into the shop and pick a few peanuts to chew. He did not mind at all.

So my uncle would walk into the shop during recess and grab a handful to put into his pocket. Whether the towkay saw it, we would never know. But my uncle would have something to bite or chew during recess or at lunch time. According to my uncle, he was creative enough to have "something to eat" during recess and no one was wiser to know that he never was given any pocket money by his mother.

whenever my uncle recall his days in the primary school, he would look so sad and shake his head. He had suffered so much. Perhaps it was also God given that Huo Ling's towkay kept one eye close on this matter. In later years, my uncle treated him with respect and they were truly the best of friends. My uncle was so grateful to him for allowing him to fill his empty stomach with ikan bilis.

This quiet generosity of the shop keeper reminds me of the Bible verse that when we measure grains for our customers, we have to make sure that the measurement is overflowing and beyond the required weight. God's grace would be overflowing for you too.

A Washerwoman's Tale

In the 1970's when I was reading the Chinese newspapers I came across a Chnese style obituary of man whom I knew as a child and on the list of relatives, the children had put up two names under "spouse", with one deceased and another, the name of a good Chinese lady I knew as a teenager. But what was very interesting was that the old man had adopted three children who maintained their own surname.

Being curious, I called up my aunt who related a most unusual story of the 50's in Sibu.

Apparently the surviving wife had come from China in the same way as many brides in the 1950's to marry her fiance. After a few years, and after having three children, her young husband passed away.

Because she could not read and write,she went around washing clothes for a few families. She could not do much else. The lady and her three children shared a house with several other families, which was typical of the 50's in Sibu. I believe at that time, she also received some allocation of rice from the Welfare Department. And furthermore there was no micro-credit to help her finance a little retail shop.

After many years of struggling, a shopkeeper who had became a widower, saw that she was very kind and still pretty, asked for her hand in marriage. It was like a gift from heaven and she asked her children for permission to marry this fairly older man.

From then on, her life was smoother. According to my aunt, the shopkeeper's children treated her extremely well and they were ever so grateful that she was willing to be their stepmother. These children also treated their step brothers and sister very well.

She had agreed to marry the shopkeeper on two basic conditions. Her children must carry on their own surname and the shopkeeper must educate them.

The shopkeeper agreed and they were married in a very simple ceremony in front of all the children.

I don't think there are many similar stories but I am glad that there was this little heartwarming story of an older man who took in a young family in this way.

According to my aunt, the two sets of children are all very capable people and received very good education, and probably they are now all overseas. Because they followed the Confucian rules of correct behaviour towards each other, the family members have been especially blessed. However, the old man's business was not carried on by any of the children, so the small shop is no longer in existence in Sibu.

People move on,some memories fade. But the strong imprint of an exceptional woman of character would remain.

Giving Away A Daughter

One of my mother's cousins told me this story years ago. This is actually one of the many stories I know about Foochows giving their daughters away when they were born. There were many reasons to give girls away :poverty, lack of amenities,ill health,disabilities,etc. But this story has a unique twist.

"I was extremely sad knowing that I have given birth to my 8th daughter. And as I was still warm and tired from the difficult child birth, sitting under my mosquito net and waiting for the first flow of my breast milk, I looked at my beautiful daughter, newly born but soon to be taken away by the Malay family down the road."

When she related this story to me so touchingly at that time, I could smell my own breast milk flowing unceasingly to feed my own hungry daughter, my first born child. I could still feel the warmth of the confinement bed, without air conditioning and even a fan. When she shed her tears, I could feel every muscle of my body twitching with pain.

It can never be easy, giving away a child you have carried for nine months.

The story continued as she told me that the Malay couple came to the house with all the clothes ready to take the new born child away. She and my uncle had already discussed that the 8th daughter would have a better life with the new family who loved and appreciated girls because of their culture and religion.

It was not because my aunt and uncle did not love girls. It was because they had too many children. The new born was the 8th daughter, but the 10th child. There was no family planning at that time and my uncle had just lost his job as a sailor. He had to go further away perhaps Simmanggang to work and send money back and my aunt had to take care of the children who were only a year apart.

As the child was taken away lovingly, the other children stood by, close to each other, some hidden behind the door. My uncle passed some old clothes as a token of love and comfort for the baby to take away. And the Malay couple indicated to the chickens they had brought for my aunt's confinement food, as was the agreement.

Everyone was upset and emotions were high in the wooden house. But not much was said. In fact a mutiny was brewing without the knowledge of my uncle and aunt.

Two weeks later, my cousins , all nine of them, approached their parents and told them very sternly , that they would fetch their baby sister back. They would start earning "spare money" and "small change" every day by chopping wood,glueing paper bags, washing coffee cups in the coffee shops and anything else. My uncle and aunt were amazed and touched by this unity amongst their children. They too had been having qualms about giving their child away.

So the nine children,ranging from age 10 to 2, carrying a small basket, marched to the kampong house and took back their baby sister from the surprised Malay couple who turned out to be very understanding and humourous.

My cousins , in one single act, reunited the whole family.

Today they are very successful and determined parents themselves and my aunt and uncle are as happy as can be. They are still very united and strong as a family. They have kept their promises.

Why So Many Chinese Men are Single

Have you ever wondered why many immigrant Chinese men remain bachelors all their life?

I am not saying that many Foochow men in Sibu have remained bachelors. Statistically that is not a proven statement. But in many countries, I have been told, the immigrant Chinese men, and also the Chinese in Mainland China today, are still bachelors even in their forties. And if they don't ever get married, they will reach their old age as old bachelors.

While most men would find it a necessity to marry and have a family, it has been found out by researchers that some Chinese men consider it virtuous to stay single and be within a certain kind of fraternity. For example many of the the cultural troupes from China and Korea have single men who remain loyal to their art long after they retire from their performances. Some of the modern kungfu fraternities are filled by members who remain single all their life.

Many Chinese men in the 1950's and 60's in China after the Revolution had found it expensive to marry so they remained single. Some were divorced during the Revolution but they maintained their single life after their divorce. According to research, many of the farmers could not fine a suitable wife because they did not have anyone to choose from, as most of the single female workers have gone to the cities to look for jobs and better marriage prospects.

Now this new "phenomenon" has actually quite upset the so called apple cart in China where it has always carried out the Confucian teaching that men must marry to carry on the family surname, thus producing a male heir was like a life long objective of a Chinese male. this new finding has indeed been much debated upon.

Furthermore,with the new imbalance male:female ratio in China because of the one child policy, more and more men will remain single. It has been the cause of concern for many demographers lately.

In many other countries where the Chinese males have migrated to, it has also been found that many remain single all their lives. They had started off working very hard and probably had been sending money back to China. when the time came for them to look for a bride, either their choice had married or they had no choice left. Sometimes, a bride by mail order might be sent to them but the consequences might not have been too positive.

Because they are immigrants, they will find it difficult to marry local born, but more educated Chinese women, unless of course, they are themselves very well educated.

But with new values, new mobility all over the world, Chinese men should now have no problems of finding a life time partner. But then perhaps unknown to us, some secret societies will continue to have a large number of unmarried Chinese men members.

Hoopaholics

In all it's blinging glory the new Hoopaholic demo vid has hit the internets in a very powerful way! Watch it, love it, feel the glam!

I cannot wait to meet up with the Hoopaholics in Sydney. Only a few more sleeps! You have no idea how grateful I am for this opportunity - eternally!

Nicole Kidman Sexy Actress

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Robots in Disguise

Back by popular demand! After being featured by Gala Darling last week in her post entitled Fun Accessories the Mixed Tape Transformer Necklaces were snapped up in no time.

The funky mix masters were featured on other spaces around the internet too so Miss BLITZ Kiss put her fingers to work and created a few more to share with you.

A gaggle (what is the collective noun for a group of transformers?) have been sent off to Red Mutha for the opening of their new Brighton store. The rest we held on to tightly but they are already robot dancing away, snatched quickly by global style lovers!

Erica Durance Sexy Women

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An Invitation to meet Nina Garcia

Just when the finale of Project runway was airing last week, I received the following:And such a pretty invite too! How could I resist?!?
So today I went to Costa, the restaurant where this cocktail event was held, at IFC, a mall/office building next to the harbor (this is in Hong Kong fyi). The venue itself was quite small and could barely accommodate the crowd waiting to meet Nina. Luckily, they had a lovely balcony outside, facing the harbor where guests could mingle and breathe in some fresh air. Personally we spent quite a lot of time there drinking fresh orange/champagne and eating hors d'oeuvre (we were especially fond of the parma ham wrapped around the bread stick) and enjoying the view- I do have a penchant for staring into the sea.
But anyways, inside the venue, it was gorgeously decorated with little display sections each representing one of the chapters of Nina's book, The Little Black Book of Style, which is the reason for her presence and the purpose of the event- to promote it. I love the displays, they were so stylishly designed. This one (above), featuring those gorgeous nude Louboutins was my favourite. I especially love the quote from Louboutin himself (right). Haha.
When Nina arrived (around half an hour after the event started), there was immediately a crowd surrounding her, greeting her, getting her to sign their books and, in typical Asian fashion, taking lots of photos of her. I happily whipped out my camera and joined in. Soon, the event became an impromptu book signing and picture taking event and we all lined up for our turn. I daresay, the event was genius. Almost everyone there bought a book or two so they won't miss out on the fun. Naturally I fell in with the crowd, despite the niggling part of my mind telling me that this is all a marketing ploy and I that do I really need this book (especially since a week ago I had no intention of buying it!)??

As for the book itself, I skimmed through it tonight and it seems as good as any how-to-guide can be. It has practical advice, interesting anecdotes, inspiring quotes and gorgeous illustrations. I REALLY must stop buying staples and buy more drama pieces- like a colorful bold winter coat!
Dressed in this studded top and black skinny pants from Givenchy and Balenciaga, Nina looked great if a bit disheveled (either from the hoards of people crowding her or its part of the "imperfection" she mentions in her book). We only exchanged a few words, but she seemed nice (especially considering that she's been smiling and patiently signing books and posing for pictures all night) and was surprised when we asked her why they thought that Rami deserved second place instead of Jillian. Apparently the HK channels were not up to the finale yet.... whoops! And as for the answer to our question, she cleverly returned that it was a question best answered with all the judges present.

Image Source: Amazon

F/W07: Fur Coats

I've been meaning to write about this, oops I mean last season's (F/W07) white fur coat but I kept forgetting. This is probably a bit outdated now, but it's so cold (by that I mean windy and rainy) in London that it might as well still be F/W07. Anyways, I'm guessing the recent trend of white fur coat started with Kate Moss wearing it to an event, (which unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of, although there will be other pictures of her wearing the same fur coat more casually below.)

To be honest, I've always thought fur coat as something middle-aged and old people like. Maybe it's partly because real fur coats are so expensive and so older people are more likedly to wear them. My mum also claims that they are really warm, although my high school physics teacher once said that fur coats would probably be more effective in keeping us warm if the fur was inside instead of outside. Since I'm not an old rich lady, and nor do I frequent formal parties, I frankly never got the appeal of fur coats. Actually, I find the fur coats that look like they were literally ripped off an animal a bit vulgar.

I only started to understand the appeal of fur coats when last winter, Mary Kate wore a white fur coat with a black mini-skirt. This is probably not the best photo, but it started to make me think that even young people can make fur coats look chic and stylish without looking stuffy. The mini-dress makes the whole outfit look young and most importantly, modern and wearable, not too formal and easy to put together.

So I ended up buying the same white, faux fur coat by Top Shop. The best thing is, it took me so long to decide whether to buy it or not that it went on sale online (back in December)! Hong Kong is not a cold place to I really didn't have much use for it. In the end, I wore it on top of my purple dress for New Years Eve celebration. When I walked towards the bar, I felt like a gorilla lost in the city! My dad confirmed this before I left the house by laughing and said I looked like a gorilla from old movies. (Thankfully, I dress too much for myself to care what other people think.) But during the night, I loved the coat. It kept me warm and when I held in my arms, I felt like a Hollywood celeb holding her little dog! Definitely made the night more fun!

If you're not a going-out-in-a-dress type of girl, then wearing it with jeans is also glamorous.

Apparently the fur coat can look cool for daywear too: MK (left) and Kate Moss (right)

Here is an example of how not to wear fur: colour fur! Heidi reminds me of that blue character from Sesame Street!

Lastly, I just want to say that I am not supporting or objecting the use of real fur for fashion. I personally haven't thought this issue through and have no opinion. Anyways, like I said, this post is very late but since fur seemed to be abundant in the F/W08 shows, this 'trend' will probably continue into next F/W.

What do you think of the white fur coat and fur coats in general?

Image Credits: http://www.topshop.com/, http://www.thefasionspot.com/

(roller)Skate or Die!

Saturday night a bunch of us went up to Oaks Park to to skate the night away with Joylyn and Monique for their birthdays. I didn't skate but I opted to observe others skating and watch the people that really take it seriously. Also, it's amazing how many people are into skating. It was the place to be for a lot of Diablo Cody lookin' Portlander's and I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that something so retro is so popular in Portland. But I digress. After I ran though about $3.00 in quarters that Tieryn gave me (I played Area 51, Lord of the Rings pinball, and The Simpson's Game) I went back over to the observation area and thought about all of the roller skating movies that I have seen (I had made numerous references to Roll Bounce which all went right over Denessa's head) and I was amazed that I could conjure up so many memories (or simply recall) and so many movies I have seen with roller skating in them. Here's what I could remember ( I am not promising extensive here, just a small list of what I could remember that I had seen) :

Rollerball --- All I remember about this movie was that it had James Caan and was remade in 2002 with Chris Klein. Yup. That's all I remember about it. Oh and apparently Joylyn is going to join a roller derby league. Good luck and I hope you don't run into Chris Klein...he'll do whatever it takes to win, because he needs the money.

The Shaggy D.A. --- According to skatelog.com this classic Disney movie starring Dean Jones (!) has roller skating in it. I don't remember any, but I know I have seen this movie...plus it was just an excuse to mention Dean Freaking Jones!

Roller Boogie --- I think I watched this one when Troy and I were buying up tons of videos at Movie Shack when they went out of business. Before I sold this off I watched part of it because it had Linda Blair and it was directed by Mark Lester, the genius who gave us Commando. Yeah. Mark Lester rules...this movie sucks though.

Xanadu --- Nothing like Gene Kelley gettin' down to some funky disco music by Olivia Newton John while dancing around on roller skates. This movie is so bad.


The Rollerblade Seven --- I have never even heard of this movie, but I thought I would mention it because it has Frank Stallone in it!

The Warriors --- Because you know you were a menacing street tough if you had roller skates on. I actually needed skatelog's help remembering this movie, I know that it's almost impossible to remember roller skating in a movie, unless it's Roller Boogie or something like that, but I was actually thinking about this old Sega Genesis game called Streets of Rage 2 and you could be this cool little kid on roller skates (aptly named Skate) who had red leather gloves (because I guess it looks cool and it hurts more if you're punched by red leather gloves) and you would skate around and beat up all of the bad guys. Essentially the game was just a rip off of Final Fight...but it was still a staple of my adolescence, and Skate is taken directly from The Warriors.

Prayer of the Rollerboys --- All I remember about this movie was on those late nights when I couldn't sleep I knew I could count on the Preview Channel (with Jim Ferguson reviews and all!) to put me to sleep with it revolving clips of movies currently on premium cable. I always remember the add for this movie playing about a hundred times on ch.4 as I would see lots of Corey Haim acting like he's not trying to act like he is too cool. Corey Haim ruled and I always thought that Patricia Arquette was hot. This was a direct result of Gleaming the Cube becoming so popular.

Airborne --- And thus began the barrage of Shane McDermont pin ups in Bop and Tiger Beat magazines for a year, until sadly this rising star flew too close to the sun...oh wait...he sucked and was never popular. But the ladies sure loved him...I can't believe this movie had a theatrical release. And yes...I know that we are moving into rollerblades at this point...but come on roller skates were so not in at the time...

Boogie Nights --- This came to my memory because of Rollergirl of course. Who can forget the Pesci-esque beatdown she gives that dude after he tells Burt Reynolds to eff off. Wonderful.

Brink --- I always loved this cheesy Disney movie. It has all of the classic Disney movie moments. The wacky sidekick, the funny/too cute for camera pet (usually a dog), the really hot girl who is dating the mean jock, the quiet and confident kid who can skate, and the mom and dad who tell their son to believe in his dreams...of rollerblading. Yeah, I don't know if any of those elements are in this movie, but I am probably 50% right. I don't remember much about this movie except for the fact that I have seen it. Yikes.

I think that's all I can remember (I already mentioned Roll Bounce) if you have any titles to add to this let me know. The only other ones I can think of that have roller skating or rollerblading in them would be Dogma and D2: Mighty Ducks. The latter which was better than the former. Yeah that's right. I just called D2 better than Dogma. Emilio has my back on that!

Sun Dance

We woke up to a rainy but noticeably warmer Tokyo this morning. The weekend however was STUNNING! These photos were taken by Masao in celebration of the coming of spring! Rock on! Blossoms are on their way baby.