Gray Area

“When I was a little girl, everything in the world fell into either of these two categories: wrong or right. Black or white. Now that I am an adult, I have put childish things aside and now I know that some things fall into wrong and some things fall into right. Some things are categorized as black and some things are categorized as white. But most things in the world aren't either! Most things in the world aren't black, aren't white, aren't wrong, aren't right, but most of everything is just different. And now I know that there's nothing wrong with different, and that we can let things be different, we don't have to try and make them black or white, we can just let them be grey. And when I was a child, I thought that God was the God who only saw black and white. Now that I am no longer a child, I can see, that God is the God who can see the black and the white and the grey, too, and He dances on the grey! Grey is okay.” 

― C. JoyBell C.

You may have noticed that though I post outfits on a regular basis (shamelessly plugging my Instagram and Lookbook page here for reference), it takes time for me to post them officially on this blog. Why? As an aspiring book author (chic-lit please), my goal is to write a li’l something about the outfit. It could be a anything – a fun story about how I got an item or something that inspired what I wore albeit celebrity-inspired. Otherwise, I feel that this won’t make any difference from my other social posting sites. No? 

But as the long quote above stated, sometimes it doesn’t always have to be about the rules or the black and whites. There are gray areas, the compromises and the in-betweens. Since I have just recently made a post about timeless color combo of black and white, let this outfit post serve as a reminder of that beautiful area between extremes - the abstract and ambiguous.

P.S. Not liking the serious tone of this post. Lol!

Blazer: Forever21
Shirt: Mango
Pants: Mango
Bag: Mango
Shoes: Zara
Necklace: Zara
Sunnies: Flea market in Osaka

Vest: Mango

Top: Penshoppe

Skirt: Topshop

Bag: Marks and Spencer

Shoes: Zara

Earrings/ Watch: Mango

Random Playful Accessory

You know you oughta be a fashion blogger if something as silly and playful as an animal print accessory triggers your friends to wear it too. :P

Hey everyone, apologies for the lack of posts lately. I was in Tagaytay (a province down south) with friends from work two days ago for the Chinese New Year holiday. We visited this theme park called Sky Ranch and on our way there, we found this animal print scarf (sort of) from a store sold with other winter accessories and souvenirs of the place. We also saw something like this on our way to Maokong Gondola in Taipei but that one has an animal head cover (hat sort of) and we refused to buy because the saleslady wouldn't give us a discount. Haha!

Obviously, it's a cute way to punch up my rather dull black and white ensemble but what amused me the most is the way it functions as gloves too. I was expecting that my trusty boots (and PVC skirt albeit mini if I may add) was enough to protect me from the cold climate but I didn't expect it to be rainy/ windy that day. I  also loved that the paws served as big pockets for my phones too so overall it was a really good buy. Haha!

After posting the photo in my social accounts, I got friends messaging me to buy pieces for them and I had to buy 5 more on my way home. Now that's what good fashion blogging is all about. Lol!

Hat: Terranova

Specs: Market in Osaka

Top: Dorothy Perkins

Skirt: Topshop

Boots: Chinese Laundry

Monochromatic Sensibilities

As early as 2007, prolly 20lbs+ ago, I was already blogging about this color combo. Need proof? It’s here. It’s one of the no-brainer and fail-safe combo that you’d go to for a put-together look, officewear or otherwise. Uncle Karl Lagerfield was once even quoted “black and white always looks modern, whatever that word means”.  So unless you are strongly against these hues (or hate Dalmatians for that matter :p) then I’m pretty sure that you’ve tried this graphic look  before.

It’s timeless, unbreakable and chic all over. Waxing poetic not much needed.  

When I captioned the Perfect Pair in this look in my social media accounts, I was only talking about the skinny jeans. What with a big pair of legs like mine, it’s really hard to find one with a nice fit. So when a friend commented which pair exactly I was talking about, I ended up defending the whole look – the high contrast, the cropped top and high waist and the jeans itself.  It was initially meant to be just a retort as I have even added that I was perfect in the end (with a lol!). But now that I’ve given this look a much more thought for blogging purpose, I was more convinced that everything was perfect. Of course I’m still kidding about myself being one. :P

Sunnies: Flea market in Osaka

Necklace: Zara

Top: Unbranded

Jeans: Dorothy Perkins

Bag: Marks & Spencer

Shoes: Zalora

In the interest of monochromatic dressing, I took the liberty to add more two looks below:

If you ever feel that your black and white ensemble looks plain, you can punch up your outfit by adding some alien-like round sunnies here. ;)

Sunnies: Sunnies Studios

Blazer: Mango

Jumpsuit: Topshop

Shoes: Zalora

Belt: Unbranded

And for the last look, I remember that this store had the same design on a different color. But I picked this one because it looks more elegant. The black lace contours on a white background produces the best silhouette than the other one. Perfect pair for optical illusion! :)

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Sunnies: Flea market in Osaka

Necklace: Zara

Dress: Dorothy Perkins

Shoes: Marks & Spencer

Taipei 2015

Cliché I know but I love traveling. Style blogger or not, let’s admit it, it’s one area of dressing that we’re more particular about. If you’re traveling on a business, you might wanna present yourself smart and polished to your business partners. If you’re on a sightseeing mission, you might wanna look your best for the pictures with the scenery or famous landmarks etc.

With traveling comes also another grueling task – packing. To make it easier for me, I make a list of my day-to-day outfits after another task called “wardrobe rehearsal”. In my previous company, I was notorious for bringing my whole wardrobe when I travel. More options, more fun. Right? Lol! So it came to them as a surprise, one day when I brought a compact luggage for a 3-day business trip. I tell you, they kept on eliminating me when trying to guess the owner of that suitcase parked at the office lobby when I went out for lunch. Haha!

Over the years, I’ve mastered the art of lite-packing I think. My last leisure trip to SG involved just a medium Le Pliage shoulder bag for all my clothing. And for this recent trip to Taiwan, I was able to squeeze everything in a duffle bag which is a feat considering all the layering involved in the weather. Whereas before I would put on 5 different pairs of shoes, this time I bought only these Chinese Laundry thigh highs to make way for more coats! Check out how I styled it in my 4-day trip below:

Day 1: Duster Coat

Coat: Unbranded

Scarf: H&M
Sunnies: Flea market in Osaka

Bag: Topshop

Clutch: Cotton On

Dress: Terranova

Shoes: Chinese Laundry

Day 2: "The cold never bothered me anyway"

Sunnies: Flea market in Osaka

Top: Night market in Seoul

Dress: H&M

Bag: Night market in Taipei

Shoes: Chinese Laundry

Day 3: Blanket in Taipei

Hat: Unbranded

Sunnies: Flea market in Osaka

Poncho: Choies

Shorts: Tomato

Shoes: Chinese Laundry

Day 4: Gray in Taipei

Hat: Terranova

Necklace: Mango

Sunnies: Flea market in Osaka

Dress: Terranova

Shoes: Chinese Laundry

Bag: Topshop