Rainy Day Blues

It's cold. It's wet. It's disgusting. It's Fall. It's October. It's Vancouver. Welcome to the city where you only get a week of real summer weather while all the rest of the year you get dreadful wet winter. I'm sure many people in this city agree with me, that's why they're not showing up at the store today but hiding in their abode, curled up on the couch with a good book and a hot cup of white chocolate drink. Oh how I actually wish it was snowing and not pissing rain. Snow to me is joyous and thrilling. Rain means I shouldn't get out of bed but go back to sleep. It's amazing how snow and rain instill such different feelings in people when they're essentially the same stuff.

So instead of twiddling my thumbs till they bleed, I've decided to update my blog with nothing very important. This one isn't about what I'm making or having altered. It's what I threw together in two minutes before rushing out the door (See? Rain makes me want to stay in bed longer.) I think I did okay. It's one of those no-brainer outfits. Long shirt, leggings, belt, cool jacket, pumps, DONE!


Lookin' awfully stiff there.

I love my ruched leggings. Got them as a gift from my sister. They feel more like pants than leggings. While we're on the topic of leggings, I wish people wouldn't wear leggings as pants: It means you should always wear a shirt that covers your bum. It's raunchy and not very attractive to show off your bum in tight TIGHT apparel. Please be considerate of the people standing below you on the escalator.



All this rain is depressing. I guess there's one thing I can be excited about today. I found the buttons I want on my thrifted Versace jacket at half off from Fabricana. What would have costed me 12 bucks came out as 6. Life is good.

This Is What My Dreams Are Made Of

As if the first post on pleated pants wasn't enough. I'm going to make you LOVE pleated pants when I'm done here.

Anyway, I thought I'd show you this pair because I'm so thrilled with it. I am absolutely in love with this one--along with the 10 other pairs of carrot pants I own (ok, the number's been exaggerated but I promise you I will get there).

I had placed an order with my sister from Hong Kong to get me a pair of really nice pleated pants over there. And this is what she came up with. Amazing. Love it to death.

I kept this look minimal: two different colours, zero jewelry, and a pair of simple strappy snakeskin heels. The reason? I want the focus to be on the drapey effect this ensemble makes. Simple is good. Drapey is good too.

I finished off this look with a pair of my dad's vintage Bruce Lee-style sunglasses. They're from the late 60's. I've got a pair of my mom's vintage sunglasses too but that will have to wait.

Oh and special thanks to my good friend Katherine from London for bringing me such a royal looking pillow! I love it!

Until next time, have a super duper awesome Thanksgiving everybody!

80's Carrot Pants, Back with a Vengeance

I'm an 80's child. I remember the neon slap-on bracelets. I remember the New Kids On The Block and that one of my sisters had the biggest crush on Joe. I remember the scrunchies and the poofy hair. I remember carrying my very own Fraggle Rock lunch box to school. I remember the funny clown pants that my mom wore called "carrot pants." Aaah, carrot pants. You either hate them or you love them.

Who knew they'd be dominating the runways this Fall? They started appearing last spring in the form of jumpsuits. This season, wear your carrot pants with your shirts tucked inside them.

Carrot pants aren't a girl's best friend and can be very tricky to wear. They're not a widely accepted style of pant among the ladies but the gents have been wearing their version (pleated trousers) since dress pants came into existence. As the name describes, they make your legs look like carrots. Here are several things to keep in mind when you want to try this look:

1. Tuck your shirt in to minimize bulk at the top.

2. Wear a high-waisted pair to elongate your legs.

3. Wear high-heels.

4. Use a skinny belt to cinche out your waist.

I hope this style is here to stay for a while. Contrary to popular belief, pleated pants on women could be quite flattering if you wear them right. They can give you long legs and hips. Why not try a pair? In our society, we're conditioned to think skinny is good, skinny is sexy, skinny is what all women should look like. I feel like such a rebel wearing carrot pants! Screw you, North American beauty ideals!

Because I love carrot pants so much, I had 3 pairs custom made by Balsam Custom Tailors. I actually had gone shopping for them before I decided to get them made but none of the pants I tried on really fit me. I also had the fabric I wanted in mind.

Custom-made pants:

Labour only - starts at $149

Labour with material included - starts at $169

Beige Light-Weight English Wool Pleated Pants:

Olive Green Cotton Polyester Pleated Pants:

Black Satin (Bought from Dressew @ $5/meter) Super High-Waist Pleated Pants:

For this last pair (black pants), I actually had it copied from the picture below. I liked the style but I didn't like the material. I wanted a bit of sheen and rigidness to the pants so I got satin for my tailor to work with. He added belt loops so I could wear a belt sometimes.

Picture from Lulus.com

Photography by Cindy Wu

Accidental High-End Balmain...Thrifty Style

The term "haute couture" and "thrifty" would never appear in the same sentence. A thrifty person would never even think about spending three months worth of salary on anything designed by a person whose name he/she can't even pronounce.

I would classify myself as a big time thrifter and I definitely would not spend any money on anything designer. But what I do do is try to pronounce designer names for fun and to pretend that I'm French or Italian.

For example, how many people would say "Hermes" the correct way? Most North Americans would pronounce it like [her-mus] or [her-m-s]. An actual French speaker would say [ehr-meh-z]. By the way, I'm not familiar with writing out phonetics but if you don't get this at all, you're not missing out on anything important.

When I can say Hermes the French way, I feel so authentically French. Try saying Yves Saint Laurent! You'll feel so authentically French!

No, I'm not trying to make fun of snobby fashion leaders and trend-following freaks. I think people should applaud and appreciate them because without them, we wouldn't have cheap-chic plagiarizers like Forever 21.

Oooh, I smell controversy! But I won't go into that. Feel free to look it up though. Let's just say, no lawsuit is going to knock this cheap-chic retailer giant down. A new one is going up at Richmond Centre for all you thrifting monsters.

So I've really gone off topic.

I was trying to say that I'm a thrifter when it comes to trendy items but if somebody laid a pile of (no, not turd) designer stuff in front of my doorstep, I would slip everything on in a heartbeat, no questions asked.

Wait, I just remembered a thrifting-related annecdote. I bought a pair of high-waisted pleated pants from Salvation Army once for 6 bucks and I showed my mom. I tried it on for her and she thought it looked decent and almost nice if only it weren't too big. She only thought that because she didn't know where I had bought it from. As soon as I told her where it came from, she recoiled and told me I was crazy and that I should take the pants off to avoid getting lice or some sort of skin infection. She thinks it used to belong to someone who died in it. Maybe. I thought it was the funniest thing ever. I can't wait to post the pants up. Soon.

Sorry, I veered off again.

As I was saying, thrifting isn't a bad thing. You save money. You have fun. You can throw away the things you thrifted without feeling guilty. You sometimes find unbelievably awesome stuff!

So, one time, I found this really incredibly gorgeous tailored peacoat that had some missing buttons. It sold for $18 and I bargained it down to $10. I could've gotten it for free if I had pointed out the moth bitten holes on the sleeves. But it was Salvie and I wanted to do good. The reason why I picked it up in the first place was because I had notice the tailoring and that it was actually a Versace from the 80's. That's my guess because that was the time when Balmain shoulders were a hit. The crazy shoulders have made a comeback last Spring and is still around this Fall.



Check out this link for more pictures of Balmain clothes:
http://www.elle.com/Runway/Ready-to-Wear/Fall-2010-RTW/BALMAIN/BALMAIN#mode=base;slide=25;


This is my costing-next-to-nothing-designer jacket with excellent rare tailoring. The shoulders aren't as evident when it's on the hanger. I'll take some pictures of me wearing it later.








You know what I find funniest in all of this? Aviation Geek Boy thinks I'm a thrift junk hoarding maniac and he worries about it. Don't most guys like it when their girlfriends/wives don't spend a fortune on expensive things?

Two Positives Has Got To Make a Right

Ah! Another chunky sweater post. I'm a chunky sweater addict in case I haven't mentioned it.

I love this cream colour store-bought sweater and I love it for two reasons:

1. It keeps me very warm in cold weather.
2. It's long enough for me to wear as a dress.
3. When I wear it, I reminisce about the times when my family lived in Halifax and my mom would knit my siblings and I each several wool sweaters to keep warm through the crazy cold winters. I absolutely love and cherish the things my mom makes me--even to this day. She's too busy to knit nowadays, unfortunately.

OK, I was wrong. That was three reasons but who's keeping track?

I've had this sweater for about a year and a half and it's starting to show signs of over-wearing--especially in the bum and elbow area. Since I love this sweater so much, it occurred to me one morning while I was putting it on that maybe I shouldn't be wearing it so much. That way, I could preserve it for a little longer.








I thought of a way to preserve the elbows while changing the look into something like an old vintage professor sweater. I decided to add durable leather patches to the elbow. I told my boyfriend what I was going to do to my sweater (not that he really cares about these things but I always like to let him know about everything--that's called communication I believe? *grin*) and his reaction was, "Wait, you mean you're going to make a professor sweater? A sweater that professors wear?" Then it was followed by a chuckle and a snicker.






Disregarding what my boyfriend thinks about my wonderful idea *grin*, I proceeded to handstitch these patches (pictured above) that I bought from our store onto my sleeves. It took me over 3 hours to finish the job. I actually contemplated on quitting halfway because it was so difficult to push the needle through the leather. My fingers were numb from the pushing even though the tags attached to the patches said that the edges were perforated...peforated my ARSE!









So here's the final result! It looks like a sweater made for an intellectual. It's aptly named the professor sweater. I love it.

And to prove that my idea wasn't a crazy one, I am wearing this sweater today and I received TWO compliments on my sweater--TWO, THAT'S TWO compliments...and both times, the two young ladies pointed out how awesome my patches were.

But here's a tip, if you're going to sew patches on your sweater, use a sewing machine!!!

(Genuine Leather Patches: $8.50 + HST - Available at Balsam Custom Tailors; Sewing Patches onto Sleeves: $25 + HST)

Photography by Cindy Wu Photography

Eight Bucks CAN Most Definitely Buy You Style

I was going through withdrawals not having updated this blog for almost half a month--and I honestly was feeling guilty that I've neglected my readers. Sorry! I've been busy with some photography projects but now that I have some down time, I can finally squeeze in a little post.

Several weeks ago, I went shopping--aimlessly--not really having any thoughts on what to buy. Did I really even have a reason to go shopping? Not really.

Girls. That's what we do.

I love bargain shopping. Consignment shops. Thrift stores. Garage sales. Vintage shops. Regular mall sales. Basically, anywhere with cheap great finds, I'm there!

To me, fashion is really about creativity and stepping out of the known territory and trying something new. I'm not only talking about a new style--I'm talking about a new SIZE. Yes, that's right. A. New. Size.

With my innate ability to sniff out bargain goods and my wonderful sense of adventure, I was able to find a beautiful pink chunky knit sweater that was 10x the size I normally wear for EIGHT. FRICKIN'. BUCKS (tax included). I found it on the clearance rack at Smart Set. The sales girl and the manager were probably relieved to see someone pick up the poor neglected sweater. It was an XL and I'm an XS.

With a little bit of alterations done to the shoulders (I had it taken up an inch), I now am the happy owner of a pink chunky knit sweater which by the way is so fun and easy to rock in the Fall and Winter.

Who says eight bucks can't buy style?









Photography by Cindy Wu Photography

We're Prepping You For A Career as A Doctor, Nick!

Think back to your childhood: remember your first bicycle your dad bought you? Or your first video game console? Or how about your first desktop computer? What about your first cell phone? Remember how cool you felt when you became the owner of a new toy?

I'm quite certain that Nick experienced the same kind of kick he got when he sat on his first bicycle (assuming he did get a bicycle when he was younger) while he was putting on his first custom made suit a couple of weeks ago at Balsam Custom Tailors. Slipping into a fine custom made suit is like diving off a 10 meter platform and slipping smoothly into the sparkling water below, then feeling the water engulf you completely.

Getting your first suit made is a thrilling thing. It may not be water that engulfs you but you'll be engulfed in a beautiful suiting that fits you like a glove. You'll be so good looking that even your mother won't recognize you. You'll be so good looking that when you cast your gaze upon a million bucks, the one million bucks will think you're worth more than it.

I'm guessing you now want a custom made suit?

A custom made suit can make you look really good. You want proof? Feast your eyes on Nick. He wants to apply to med school once he's done his degree. Wearing his new suit, he doesn't even need to go to school to become a doctor. He looks like a doctor already!

This is pre-doctor Nick in his 80% done suit. I absolutely love his tie. It goes beautifully with his shadow stripe navy suit.

When I say it fits like a glove, I'm not exaggerating. Check out the contour of his back. You can actually see it!

Stunning!

And this is the look that will make the one million bucks cry.

Thank you Nick for sharing your suit with everybody. And thank you Nick's dad, Geoff, for being so excited! We're excited for you guys too!

(Navy Suit: $580 + HST)

Photography by Cindy Wu Photography