Category Archives: Fashion

Falling for Cougar Boots

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Matchstick has graciously offered to send me a pair of Pillow Boots from Cougar Boots to review and style.  Of course I jumped at the chance!  It’s illegal to say no to shoes.  Besides, I am all about supporting companies which spring from my country’s red and white grounds.  I have utmost faith that a Canadian company would turn out a boot worthy of engaging in battle with our cold and wet elements.  Hardcore as these Pillow Boots are (pillows are SO hardcore!), they have a soft and cushion-y inside too.  I felt so comfortably protected and invincible that I wanted right away to jump into a big pile of snow, but I guess nature can’t be hurried.

The Pillow Boots come in a variety of colours, but the tan with red fleece lining is LIMITED EDITION!  Can’t ever go wrong with Limited Edition.  (Side story, in the makeup world, we call them “LE”.  And we looooove our LEs!)

I can imagine getting a lot of use out of these when the snow hits.  Check out the store locator to find out where to purchase yours!

I am wearing..

Top:  Zara
Blazer:  Yeou-Ya (Korean brand)
Shorts:  Stella McCartney for GAP kids
Necklace:  Street Vendor in Toronto

Special thanks to Davis for snapping these shots!

Hold on to me

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Unfortunately, it’s too cold to dress like this now.  Toronto has been getting some chilly temperatures already. I guess it’s time to bust out those opaque black tights again!  Just as well, because despite my best efforts, the pasty legs just refused to adopt any colour.  Softball, jogs and camping apparently weren’t enough to beat them into submission.   Summer, you really weren’t that hot, but I’ll miss you anyway.

What are you gonna miss the most about Summer fashion?  SHORTS for me.

I am wearing..

Skirt:  H&M
Blouse with bow:  Club Monaco
Belt:  Versace
Shoes:  Nine West
Headband:  Hong Kong

Magic hour

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The best time to take outfit photos (and any photos for that matter) is at around 4:00-5:00 in the afternoon. That’s when the sun sets and the light is just right (if it isn’t overcast/cloudy). If you miss it, you miss it. But there is always tomorrow.

These huge hipster glasses have my new prescription (I’m nearsighted) and got them free from Clearly Contacts (well, I had to pay for shipping which was like $15-$17). They have promotions for free glasses (select frames) every so often. I keep a lookout for  promotional codes from Smart Canucks. The funny thing is, Clearly Contacts never had freebie promos for contact lenses, even though their business name sounds like they’re all about contacts, clearly (ha!). It’s like that restaurant with the words “express donuts” in the name, but they don’t sell donuts (???) and are well-known for their quick chow mein lunches.

I’m trying not to depend on my glasses so much, but it’s really hard. I find that I even need to wear them when I’m in front of the computer! And the screen isn’t even that far away from me! I guess my eyesight is getting worse…

I kind of got a little overboard at Forever21 and suddenly bought 5 dresses from there in a span of 4 weeks! I don’t know, I never really bought dresses from there since I know they don’t last long and probably made by sweatshop workers, but they’re so cute!! And I guess, like the rest of the middle class, I passively feed the exploitative system and perpetuate bad business practices because I think “they’re so cute!”.

I try to stop and think — is wearing cute clothes a priority over ethical consumption? But it’s too late, the credit card has been swiped and the ethical shopper in me had lost. But the battle was already lost when I stepped into the store.

Now I’m trying to just spend my lunch hours with bubbly new co-workers and have insightful conversations, rather than walk around the big mall like an Olympic sport. Like any addiction or bad habit, the first step is to replace those bad activities with something else (hopefully better), and take other conscious steps to ween off of it. Baby steps….

I am wearing:

Dress: Forever 21
Purse: Vintage
Shoes: Korea
Glasses: Clearly Contacts

Strange but familiar

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One of the many good things about keeping a fashion blog is I feel like I can venture way out of my comfort zone, wear crazy thingies and then write it off as “something to post about on my blog”.  For this reason, I’ve felt “empowered” to experiment with a lot of styles, whether it’s androgyny, sickly-sweet, prep or what-in-the-living-heck-is-that.  It turns out, I like’em all!  My point is, try something new!  Know your body and get creative with adorning it.

Maxi skirts were a significant part of my wardrobe during my high school days.   I’m at a point in my life now where I’m very much ALL ABOUT THE PANTS, but I can totally live with this maxi business too.  I’ll even give you a wink of reassurance.

I am wearing..

Top:  Club Monaco
Maxi Skirt:  BCBG
Clutch:  Zara

Don’t sweat the small stuff

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Yikes, my last post was on April 26. I really don’t know where the entire month of May went, or the first half of 2011 for that matter.

For the most part, I’ve been alright. I’ve been going through the usual tough stuff that any 20-something goes through, and the unusual tough stuff that I’d rather not get into. The things that make us vulnerable are the things that can make us so strong. At the end of the day, if I have the freedom to express myself with art and style, I am thankful and grateful. There is no more that I could ask for.

I guess these thoughts are sinking in after I lost a lot of material things that brought me so much stress, and at the same time, I lost a lot people and things that were irreplaceable. I had several wake up calls which came in just in time. Without making this too cryptic or serious, the positive side is that I learned a lot of lessons and I feel that I value different things. Now all I need to do is keep it going, and make sure I don’t fall back into old bad habits.

These shoes are so cute but they gave me a blister today. Note to self: only wear these with cotton/wool tights or socks.

I am wearing:

Cardigan sweater: Heritage 1981
Dress: Vintage
Shoes: eBay

Time poverty, fashion poverty?

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If time poverty is defined as having little leisure time as a result of working long hours, then fashion poverty would mean a wardrobe so consumed by work clothes that the proportion of leisure (aka fun) clothes becomes depressingly minuscule.  I don’t even know what to wear on weekends anymore.  Talking about minuscule, I was overcome by sudden urge to get my hair hacked off a few weeks ago.  Not sure what was going through my mind..  I think I forgot to eat oatmeal in the morning or something  like that.

I am wearing..

Blazer: H&M (I was surprised to see this at H&M.  The construction is solid and quality superb!)
Pants: Halston
Belt: BCBG
Silk Scarf: Pierre Cardin
Purse/Clutch: Street vendor in Hong Kong

When Tiny Tines met Tommy and Anna

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Justine and Christine met Tommy and Anna!

In case you’ve been living under a rock (well, that rock had better be chic and speak French), Tommy Ton is the photographer behind the noted fashion blog Jak & Jil and Anna Dello Russo the editor-at-large and creative consultant for Vogue Japan.  ADR, aka the boldest, fiercest and baddest chick in town, is known for her overstated fashion sense and numerous outfit changes at any single event.  She is the very definition of maximalism and never fails to turn heads with her flashy lavishness.  If she were a dessert, she would be a 7-layer triple chocolate cake with a more-than-generous portion of fudge sauce served on a plate made out of chocolate to be consumed under a sea of chocolate sauce.

On April 25 2011, a colourful miracle happened here in Toronto in the form of a photo exhibition hosted by The Room @ The Bay on Queen Street displaying Tommy’s images of his muse Anna.  As if that’s not exciting enough, Anna and Tommy actually landed on the ground of our humble city and Tiny Tines seized the opportunity to meet and chat with them.  Overjoyed we were, at the chance to break free from the torture of final exams and a boring life of a 9-5er.

Justine got a good shot of the shoes!  What a Tommy shot.


Justine’s Anecdote: When we approached the table for autographs, I asked Tommy what was his favourite lens. His answer: a 18-200mm zoom to be ready for anything.

You’d think that someone who dresses in million dollar outfits and owns 4,000 pairs of shoes would be snobby and hard to talk to.  Not at all.  She greeted all her fans with warmth and as much sincerity as she puts into her every ensemble.  Many who attended the event put on fun outfits to welcome Anna which was so quite refreshing compared to the everyday street fashion of Toronto.

We were thrilled to finally meet Tiny Tines’ long-time blogger friends such as Laura of For Those About to Shop (left) and Sharon of Backseat Stylers (right).  Photographs to document this monumental moment were in order.

It’s worth noting that the sweet guy who took the picture of Tiny Tines and Backseat Styler is Rui Amaral, the mastermind behind the concept of this brilliant event who approached the Hudson’s bay company to make it happen.  Rui, you genius you.

“Fashion is a MUSE, you must seduce her.”

Oh Anna, I think you do more than just seduce her.  You and her have become one flesh.  Thank you for inspiring Toronto to jump out of its rut of humdrum into a world of endless fashion dreams!

 

Outfit photography: Lots of Light

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By weekday I am a full-time business management student, by weekend I am a photographer that shoots figure skating and the occasional self-outfit photo. Sports photography (especially indoor sports) requires super fast lenses that are ridiculously expensive (but worthwhile for the work I want to do). Outfit photos, I’ve learned, do not need anything fancy. I’m serious!

The day my Canon Rebel T2i broke down (I’m sending it to repairs), I took a very close look at all the lenses I had. I purchased a lot of third-party lenses by Sigma (with a Canon mount) to avoid having to pay triple the price for a Canon lens. The end result was a lot of lenses (I was up to 5, a lot for an amateur photographer) and none of them were really up to my satisfaction. Some had trouble focusing in low-light settings, some were just plain too heavy for the little they did…. I sucked it up over the weekend and decided to trade in all my Sigma lenses. I barely used them for those reasons.

These photos were taken with the Canon 18-55mm kit lens that came with the Rebel XT and taken with the Rebel XT body.

These shots were taken in a very dark room on a cloudy day.

What I Did:

  • Opened the curtains allllll the way so I could let in as much light as possible
  • Slowed down the shutter speed
  • Bumped up the ISO to 1600
  • Stood really still

That’s it really takes to expose a photo correctly with very little available light!

Not to mention, the 18-55mm kit lens is SO light in comparison to my other lenses for sports photography (the one I mainly use for figure skating weighs about 5 lbs. and I use it for 3-5 hours at a time — it’s literally like weight lifting!).

Anyway, the lesson here is that you don’t need anything expensive to produce good photographs of outfits.

All you really need is:

LOTS OF LIGHT!

What I wore:

Cardigan: Urban Outfitters
Blouse: Sears
Shorts: High school uniform pants turned into shorts
Shoes: Korean brand (eBay)

Aren’t you suite!

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I’m gonna let you in on a little secret.. One of my and Davis’ favourite pastimes is watching the Disney Channel together.  I know, so romantic, right? Seriously, who doesn’t love corny humour, unnecessary havoc and uncomplicated “issues” that resolve within a half hour? Life should be such!  Now that the cat is out of the bag with regard to my choice of dates, I might as well tell you that while most of the fashion blogosphere enjoy Gossip Girl, I have a soft spot for The Suite Life on Deck.

From Sharetv.org

The character of London Tipton, played by Brenda Song, inspires me to be adventurous with fashion. She can get quite costumey (borderline disco ball) on the show, but her confidence allows her to execute each outfit with so much pizzazz. Every episode is an expressive and interesting look!  I fully identify with the philosophy that fashion should be fun.  Do you agree?

I am wearing..

Silk scarf: Vintage
Silk top: Club Monaco
Skirt: Mom’s closet

snap CRACKLE pop

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I find myself frantically trying to wear all my velvet items as often as humanly possible before it gets warm again.  Oh yes, you remember correctly, I was also the wuss who complained about the cold weather just a few weeks ago.  I can’t seem to make up my mind about many things in life, including the following:

I picked up this bottle of China Glaze Crackle (Cracked Concrete) a couple of months ago when the collection first launched.  These work the same way as OPI’s Black Shatter if you are more familiar with that product.  The nail polish, once applied, will automatically “crack”, revealing the base colour you wear underneath.  To be honest, I only purchased it for novelty reasons.  I actually didn’t like most of the pictures I saw online.

So I tried it for the first time last night on top of OPI’s Birthday Babe (an aluminum-like silver), and I was pleasantly surprised.  I don’t hate it!  I am not completely convinced that I will use it a second time, but at least I haven’t removed it yet.

 

I am wearing..

Top: H&M
Necklace: Forever 21
Skirt: Hong Kong
Belt: BCBG