Luxury Luggage

Designer luggage is something that I never even considered using, for the following reasons:

1. It is never a good thing to attract too much attention at airport/ custom. Particularly if you are travelling in places where pick pockets are common, or places that aren't safe in general; or if you live in country where they levy heavy taxes on purchases you bring home from your trip. Using designer luggage will only make you look like a good target to rob/ to tax. (essentially I consider taxation and robbery not significantly different from one another) Thanks to terrorism, the customs are now much stricter when it comes to examining luggages, especially in the States. I would feel pretty terrible if they cut my LV or Chanel luggage apart to examine inside :S

2. The so called "designer" luggages usually involve very little "design" by the designer. They usually just look like normal luggage plastered with monograms. Monograms are cheesy enough on handbags, the much larger surface area on monogrammed luggage only esculate the cheesiness and are not elegant at all.

3. Indeed, some of the luxury luggage do have better quality. Louis Vuitton started business as luggage artisan, it had been said hat the luggage that they produced survived the destruction of Titanic and was subsequently recovered. (Although now they are better known as an artisan of hideous looking hand bag then quality luggage) The quality of the leather on Chanel luggage is just irresistible. That being said, what is the point of using quality leather for luggage anyways? So that the luggage transportation workers can keep their skin nice and supple since they are handling luggage with soft buttery leather? Luggages are inevitably thrown around in traffic, as long as they provide enough protection so your belongings are safe, it is fine. Brands like samsonite and victoroix can do the job just fine, and I won't wince when they throw around my samsonite as opposed to a Chanel.

So my conclusion is, rather than paying $2000 for a luggage, I'd rather buy a high quality well designed bag with that money. That being said, I do agree some luggage are pretty well designed and looks nice. Like the luggage line that was born under Alexander McQueen's collaboration with Samsonite above, is innovative, edgy, and you can tell there's designing talent behind it! The skeleton shaped luggage is controversial, some find it a little freaky. Although I do find it a bit freaky, I still think the design is brilliant! I really like the shape of it. Seems like more and more designers are entering the luggage production market, but most of them did not show the kind of committment to design. Like the MICHAEL by Michael Kors below, is sold at 500+ at www.nordstorm.com and there is no way I'm purchasing that designless ugly monogrammed chunk.

Guess: What is the thing in common among these outfits?

Can you guess what is the common thing among these distinct outfits? Are they by the same designer? Worn in the same event? Not quite. The answer is, all six of the above outfits are chosen as The 10 Best Dressed of the week of March 24th, 2007 by Vogue's Alexandra Kotur. These outfits, while very distinctive, some better than other, commonly raise question regarding how is the "best dressed" and "worst dressed" list decided? I have started to question how biased worst dressed list can be, particularly these years. For example, how on earth did Kirsten Dunst make it to best dressed in Oscar this year? And why isn't Beyonce Knowles on worst dressed with her Armani Prive dress, which was so unflattering for her figure both in colour and style?

I am not going to discuss in detail why I question Victoria Traina's look, it is self-explanatory enough. The messy and dirty looking hair and the gigantic trash-bag-like Christian Lacroix gown make her look fresh from dumpster. Her sister Vanessa, marginally better with the vintage Bahmain leopard dress and Prada turban, seriously looks like some Gypsy in Africa, ready to do some fortune telling. I see that turban is going to be the next big thing after head ban, as Rachel Roy also wore hers to Mario Grauso's dinner and made it to the best dressed list. Despise the fact that I'm not a fan of this exotic urban hippie look, her whole look is just questionable. The neckline and the oddly positioned waistline truncated her body into 3 odd sections, which along with the loose fitting style of the gown, almost cancel out her body completely. The turban further adds weight to her head, aggravating the imbalance. I normally like the Traina sister, but that night was definitely a miss.

I love Rachel Roy's Lanvin trench coat a lot! The Roger Vivier shoes are also adorable, and they look gorgeos together. Perhaps it is just me, I seriously find the turban out of place in the first glance. After a bit of getting used to, I actually start to find the combination quite well put together. Downtown chic with a hint of hippie ease. Marina Rust Connor's ensemble is just not well matched. True, white with light silver is alla moda, but the white shirt just looks too casual to be worn together with the Nina Ricci gown, and it isn't cool enough to achieve the edgy-elegant look. In addition, the fit of the gown was not good, her chest looks sadly gravity-defeated, and the volume added by the white shirt simply made her look fat.

Lauren Davis doesn't look THAT bad in her Nina Ricci, but Best Dressed list? I have doubt. I love both the gown and the cardigan ---- separately. The cardigan is too long to be worn with a full length gown, it shortens her legs and drags her down. The overall silhouette is unflattering despite her long and slender frame. Wear the gown alone and save the cardigan for skinny jeans! Finally, Carolina Herrera in Carolina Herrera. Shirt dress taken to full length as evening wear, quite a creative idea, but I'm not sure if it works out well judging from Carolina's own interpretation. Although the drapping and silk actually makes the shirt dress evening appropriate, the buttons are way too casual and put the dress in an awkward position--too dressy for the day and not dressy enough for the night. It would probably have been a gd idea use material such as pearl, jeweled, or vintage inspired button for a better interpretation of evening shirt dress.

While none of the above commit serious fashion crime frequently, if they could make it on best dressed list with this kind of ensembles, I feel sorry for the truly tasteful and well dressed ones.

Dolce and Gabbana, where did your taste go?

After seeing the horrifying F/W 2007 collection by Dolce and Gabbana, now I see the tasteless ugly D&G S/S 2007 collection for sale now! These outfits look extremely cheap and cheesy, with a sad resemblance to Vegas showgirls. I mean, Domenico and Stefano are cool, but not so cool when they start treating us as some morons who would wear these, let alone paying 500+ for them!!! I love floral prints and I often wear them in spring, but these prints are just ridiculously tacky and does not look like something designed by the talented duo. Honestly, the long dress up there looks like what those Juliana dancer in Japan back in 1990's would wear, or some trashy cheap Chinese dress costume they let you rent at tourist attractions in China. And check out that slit on the yellow mini skirt and pale skittle coloured cardigan! That ensemble just look incredibly cheap and trashy. The jersey is hanging and I cannot see any structure what so ever. That metallic fuschia Greek-inspired dress with the chain is simply ridiculous. One could seriously look like some Roman warrior wearing that. Those unflattering chain just makes one look unproportionally top heavy and wide. The whole thing is just costume-like and cheap. Do I even need to explain myself for that unimproved-80's dress with the horrible print and ugly shade of pink? Adieu Adieu, I fare thee well the good taste Dolce and Gabbana!

1990's Japanese Juliana Techno dance at nightclubs:

Rented Chinese dress costume at tourist attraction:

As a matter of fact, If I am to pay 500+ on one of those cheap looking D&G dresses above, I would much rather spend 300-500 for a nice contemporary designer floral dress! In fact, many contemporary designers actually make really nice, well-constructed, versatile dresses that can be easily worn in everyday life. For example, below is a floral mini dress by Rebecca Taylor. It has a high waistline that hides fat (very useful for early spring before you manage to lose the winter bulk just yet), decent floral print, and nice hybrid of rossett and frill in the bottom in shape of white flowers. It is only 365 at Bergdorf Goodman and it looks better quality.

Think Jewel

Today is the equinox day, so it's officially spring today! I'm sure all the fashion magazines have collectively make the point clear that metallic and vibrant hue is going to be big this spring, and I'm sure everyone should have a good does of the metallic dresses and accesories by now. Other than the usual silver and gold, another way to update your look would be jewel tone. As a matter of fact, jewel tone will still play a big part in the upcoming F/W 2007 so it is quite worthwhile to invest in a jewel tone dress or accessories such as bag, shoes, or even belt. Jewel tone clothes are actually much easier to wear and much more versatile than many of you think. For day wear, a jewel tone top pair with a pair of skinny jeans with flats for a casual but slightly dressed up look, you can even get away with that for an evening at the lounge or a dinner date in this. A pin striped high waist pencil skirt in black or grey is also perfect to pair with a jewel tone blouse for a refreshing, sharp look at work. If you want to be more subtle, add a jewel toned bag or belt to your usual ensemble to instantly chic it up. For night wear, a jewel toned dress is an instant killer! Imagine the 3.1 Philip Lim emerald dress above with a pair of louboutin black patent pumps and a simple clutch! It just has elegant and chic written all over it! And walk into a cocktail party with the sapphire Bradgley Mischka dress, you instantly stand out from the crowd of black, sassy and stylish but still elegant and appropriate!

(Above from upper left: Bianca Nero dress in amethyst, 3.1 Philip Lim dress in emerald, Kay Unger New York dress in ruby, Bradgley Mischka dress in Sapphire. Below from upper left: Lanvin Nil bag in ruby patent leather, Yves Saint Laurent Downtown bag in amethyst patent leather, Christian Louboutin Decollete in black patent leather, Fendi B belt in sapphire patent leather.

CHANEL PRECISION HYDRAMAX+ and MASQUE DETRESSANT HYDRATION

Its end of March....winter should be over soon....spring should come soon.....hopefully! so now, its finally time for me to rehabilitate my skin badly damaged by the severe North American winter weather this year! I must introduce to everyone my two best friends: CHANEL PRECISION HYDRAMAX+ gel cream and MASQUE DETRESSANT HYDRATION. Yeah, I know these aren't new products, but sometimes the old school ones might work better! Since I moved to this extremely dry, cold, and windy weather, my old moisturizers and hydration masks are no longer sufficient to keep my skin from becoming dry and flaky, so I tried the MASQUE DETRESSANT HYDRATION, it serious worked like magic. Not only does it have this pleasant nice scent that makes me feel so relaxed using it, but it also worked really well. After using once a week for less than a month, I feel that my skin became so much smoother and softer, and no longer dry at all! So I decided to try the HYDRAMAX+ gel cream as well, which was just as good. The texture was quite light, so it is suitable for even people with combination skin like myself. If you have really oily skin, perhaps you could still use this one as night cream. I must emphasize that even for people with oily skin, it is essential to keep your skin hydrated, because dehydration will only send signal to your skin to produce yet more oil!! This gel cream has the same pleasant scent as the mask and I feel my skin well hydrated everyday using it. I can't imagine without this duo in combating winter weather now!

3.1 Philip Lim

As an Asian fashionista, I can't help but feel somewhat proud, and very happy about the fact that Asian designers are playing an increasingly important role and becoming more appreciated in the world fashion scene. I just love the work of the uprising Asian designers like Derek Lam, 3.1 Philip Lim, and Thakoon among others. Today I'd like to talk about 3.1 Philip Lim. My dear friend introduced this wonderful designer to me last year and I fell instantly in love with the way he marries cool and chic with femininity and romance to create his own distinct, very modern point of view. He was a contender of the CFDA award. Although he didn't end up winning, his work is a total hit among the fashionistas and are often seen in the front-rows. If we look at the pieces, we see lots of girly romantic elements: the flower prints, frills, rosettes, lace, bows...etc. However, Philip puts them in the garment in such interesting way that make these elements look really cool. For example, rossette buttons on military style coat; diagonal frills across easy fitting pull-over; big flower prints in bold tone like yellow or contrasting black and white; and extra large bow on cardigan that add more of a statement than romance, just to name a few. Philip really finds the creative way to balance the feminity for cool urban girls!

miu miu Metallic Flats

After talking so much of the F/W 2007 collection, the weather here is actually so cold that I haven't even have a chance to start wearing S/S 2007 yet!!! I am just so looking forward to store the winter coats start wearing the light spring clothes and spring accesories! I think it is really an excellent idea for new season ad campaigns, and runway photos to flood the market well before the season starts. That totally builds up anticipation and gives us a good time to digest the trend, then when the collection hit stores shoppers will just go crazy about them! I am just so mesmerized by these miu miu glitering spring flats right from the first one I saw in magazines back in December last year, they are just so cute and so adorable! They are all gliterry and jewelled and shiny, yet still so elegant and clean looking. These are just the perfect accesories to glam up any look. You can simply wear them with skinny jeans and T-shirt; or you could make it an evening look by pairing them with skinny pants and a loose and loose flowry single colour metallic silk or satin top for a perfect night out. I just adore them!

NET-A-PORTER Free Shipping

Free shipping on NET-A-PORTER from March 14th to 28th by entering promotion code: FREESHIP

Take this opportunity to make purchase of the spring merchandise from NET-A-PORTER! Especially for those who have waited so long to finally experience a hint of spring, and can finally anticipate to wear spring clothes some time soon like myself....-_-"

H&M Attack Asian Market

The popular High Street store H&M which sells affordable fashionable clothing is finally entering the lucrative Asian fashion good market. They are opening 2 in Japan and they just opened one in Hong Kong. Apparently, anything foreign, new, and endorsed by celebrities are bound to create a fad in Hong Kong, and of course, H&M is not an exception. The pictures above and below shows the line up to enter the store before its grand opening. As you can see from these snapshots, the queue is some real business! These people lined up for hours and hours just so they could be the first ones to purchase from H&M. Some unknowing tourists actually thought there is a demonstration going on here, as the store is located at Queen's Road in Central, which is where the financial centres, government offices, and all the designer flagship stores are located. Many celebrities bought a LOT from H&M without even trying them on during the VIP opening party. One famous Hong Kong model, Kei Kei, actually bought 100+ items without trying, and that actually made headline of entertainment news! As lyricist Wyman Wong describes, "trying clothes on just isn't cool enough." All these publicity of course will only further fuel the fad abotu H&M in Hong Kong. I'm personally not a fan of H&M, although their runway inspired apparels come in nice styles, a lot of time they incorporate too many elements that actually require higher quality of material and craftmanship to give them proper look. For example, I have seen nice looking corset top with velvet ties, lace and mesh. It looked really cool so I tried it on, but my body seriously looked deform in that thing, the corset just simply was not properly constructed. For High Street or the mix-high-and-low looks, I just prefer stores that sell simpler items in urban style, with less details so to lower the requirement on craftmenship and material quality. I wonder if those celebrities actually have idea of all these before they start purchasing..........

H&M Hong Kong is their first store in Asia and they plan to open another 3 in Hong Kong and 2 in Tokyo within this year. Wow.

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Marc Jacobs checked into rehab

Designer Marc Jacobs has checked into rehab! This is what I read in some celebrity gossip news today, apparently MJ has checked into rehab right after presenting his shows in Paris. I wonder if his substance abuse problem contributed to the hideous clothing and bags that he has created for both Louis Vuitton and his own lines Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc Jacobs in the few recent seasons. I seriously hope that after he comes out from rehab, we will see the talented, innovative Marc that actually has taste again. That being said, these days rehab had become way too common that it's almost a trend, we see Miss America, teen queens or former teen queens, even politicians checking into rehab, wonder if that truly does make a difference in the person's life. One suggestion I'd make to Marc though: "quit hanging out with people like your ex or Lindsay (unless she stays sober after rehab)!" Here is the article if you are interested:

Designer Marc Jacobs Enters Rehab
13-Mar-2007
Written by: Jess Boettger

Well-known designer relapses after seven years of sobriety. Well-known American fashion designer Marc Jacobs has entered rehab. With the support of friends and family the designer has entered a drug and alcohol treatment program. Jacobs has admitted in the past to struggling with substance abuse problems, and he has recently relapsed from seven years of sobriety. Such relapses are quite common, say experts. According to Jacobs’ business partner, Robert Duffy, the American designer recognized the problem right away, on his own, and made the right decision to get treatment. He adds that Jacobs’ friends and family are praying for him.Jacobs’ rehab announcement came on the very same day that the designer received two nominations in an impending award show. The Council of Fashion Designers of America has given Jacobs nominations in women’s wear and accessories for its upcoming award show. The nominations follow Jacobs’ recent well-received previews of fall collections, one in New York and the other in Paris.

miu miu RTW F/W 2007

In the miu miu RTW F/W 2007 collection, Miuccia went back and reinvent the preppy Brit meets playful Parisienne look. This collection is less confusing than the Prada collection, which is really innovative but I'm not sure whether it is exactly aesthetically pleasing, let's say I am confused. Miuccia has incorporated new element to this geek chic look such as loose fitting cut, sheer fabric, and a kirky kick to preppy old-school accessories. I must say I adore the accesories, the big school-bag like leather tote in vivid color leather/ ostrich are just amazing briefcase material. The logos are subtle, and the style is classic -- which makes it low key, but the color and material adds personality. The the classic pumps in girly cream tone color combo and a little "collar" are really cute too. You could certainly hide the collar underneath grey trousers and wear with romantic blouse at work, then add black tights and grey high waist knee length full skirt after work, and voila, you're ready for a dinner date or girl's night out! I especially like the folded clutch. It looks like you could undo the buckle on the handle to convert it to a medium size tote, which makes it really versatile depending on the amount of bulk you have to tote around. This style reminds me a bit of the LV monogram mini Francoise bag, but i like this one better. I also like the pink and orange tweed a lot. The colour and material gives a classic good girl look; while the mid-sleeved jacket and coat makes the looks stronger and trendier, balancing out the girly element. I actually liked the sheer fabric a lot too. Those peices definitely are not meant to be worn alone or in a total outfit of sheer pieces as shown on the runway. They are real good layering pieces though. Wearing one of the sheer cardigan or coat on top of cashmere sweater or layering a sheer full skirt on top of a wool skirt (or even pencil skirts for the venturous fashionista) would instantly give a cool, refreshing look. As for the loose fitting cuts, some of them look really comfortable and sleek, such as the grey short sleeves sweater above and the tanned coat and full skirt ensemble below. However, some of the loose cut just look unfitting and unflattering on the model. I mean if they make models look fat, imagine us wearing that!

Nina Ricci RTW F/W 2007 in Paris Fashion Week

So here it comes! The long anticipated Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci collection! I must say I was quite surprised by this collection when I saw it, not in a bad way though. I expected something really feminine and romantic, but this collection is actually more sporty that I thought it would be. Monotone is a main theme throughout the collection and I must say I am really impressed by the way Olivier did monotone. I could never have imagined black, white, gray and sporty clothes can look this romantic! the bright tone of grey gives a lift to the looks and make it really light and almost heavenly. The collection emcompassed the en vogue futuristic look yet the romantic undertone make it almost celestrial to me, I feel like I could fly in these clothes! I also like the Citron Yellow dresses a lot. This is a similar dress with the one Reese Witherspoon stunned everyone at Oscar, yet the limone tone makes the dress really refreshing and project a stronger, edgier image versus the more traditional femininity in purple and pink. I also like the footwear a lot. The Grecian lace up contribute greatly to the celestial look that I mentioned, and the interesting shaped lucite heels add to the futuristic look. Olivier demonstrates a perfect balance of avant-garde fashion sense and romance, which makes the pieces edgy yet surprisingly wearable.