Wednesday 31 August 2011

Love Story


Source: Numero China, August 2011

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Margherita


I had a craving for fresh basil so I made this Margherita Flatbread Pizza today for brunch. Even when I think I've got my flatbread making skills down pat, I still never know how the dough will turn out and it seems like such a hit and miss thing. Sometimes the dough is too wet, sometimes it's too tough, sometimes it's too elasticy (not sure if that's even a word). Anyway I put a bit of oil and yoghurt into the mix today and it worked just fine. The topping is fresh basil, tomatoes and mozarella cheese with a pinch of salt. Simple and tasty and I couldn't stop smelling the fresh basil leaves!

Monday 29 August 2011

Lena



I recently posted this picture up on my street style site Style Sophomore, but I love the photo so much that I'm posting a slighter bigger image here too! This is Lena who I met up in Petaling Jaya the other weekend. She was at the markets thrifting through a rack of clothes when I kindly interrupted her, took her out to a back street and took some quick shots. I absolutely love her style, it's so complete and so effortlessly chic, and the photo has such a peaceful mood about it that I can just sit and stare at this picture time and time again. I hope to take many more photographs like this one. Can't wait to see what Seoul will be like in 9 days time!

Sunday 28 August 2011

Eight Dollars Seventy Nine

With just $8.79 left in my bank account the other day, I had to come up with something pretty basic for dinner. So I went to the supermarket and spent exactly $8.45 on ingredients to cook up two bowls of Kakiage Udon Noodle Soup. It's really simple to make, it's just mixed vegetable tempura (made up of potato, carrots, onions, mushrooms), and Udon Noodle Soup served with mushrooms and nori. It was actually quite delicious and I'd definitely make it again... Amazing what you can create when cooking on a budget!


Saturday 27 August 2011

The Finished Shirt!


Got James to pose for me this afternoon while I took a few shots of him wearing the shirt that I made. He hates having his photo taken and he did suggest that I just take a picture of it on the hanger but that wasn't going to happen! I'm actually pretty happy with how the shirt turned out and it's probably one of the more time consuming pieces I have made. At times I felt like I would never get it finished and it took some time to get the cut exactly right, but I think I now have a pattern (or close enough) for me to make another. 

This first one is made out of light Japanese cotton and I think the colour suits just perfectly. One more shirt to make and that's going to be using Egyptian cotton so I can't stuff that one up! Just need to build up enough courage to get started on it. And the fact that I can make a perfectly fitted shirt and save around $80-$100 (what it would usually be the minimum cost to get one tailor-made or bought) makes it all worth it in the end.

Friday 26 August 2011

Selling: Shoes from Tokyo, Brand New


Pair of brand new Mâre-Mâre shoes bought from Tokyo, and made in Japan. Actually James bought these with only a guess of my size - they turned out to be a halfsize too big. So they've never been worn and cost approx JPY6500 (SGD101.00).

Size medium / 25.0cm / UK6-6.5, selling for $70.00, the colour of the photograph is correct (cream) - leave a comment or email to: passivedreams (at) gmail (dot) com

Thursday 25 August 2011

A Position Of Length | Wang Xiao


Source: Surface, August 2011

Wednesday 24 August 2011

At Home

Just a few quick shots that I took this morning when I re-discovered the built-in flash on my camera! I don't think I've ever used the flash before and that's not only cos most of my photographs are taken outside using natural light but also because I totally forget that it's there. There have been so many times where I'm indoors and there's just not enough natural light (usually when I'm trying to take food photos in dim light!) and I've been quite frustrated cos I could never get a good shot! Need to remember that I have flash next time I'm shooting indoors.






Tuesday 23 August 2011

Charo



Source: Elle Vietnam, August 2011

A few of my favourite shots from an editorial in this month's Elle Vietnam, featuring Filipino model Charo Ronquillo, shot by Jose Castellar and styled by Ana Rosa. Isn't Charo beautiful?! I think she has such a unique look and the most amazing smile!

Monday 22 August 2011

Maxi Inspiration


Source: Stockholm Streetstyle

I've still got loads of black cotton knit fabric left to use, so I thought that I'd quite like to make a full length maxi dress or skirt next, probably one quite basic and similar to the one in the top left picture. I like how all these maxis are quite slim fitting and create long lines. I really need to stop thinking that you need to be tall to wear dresses like these because in fact the dress itself can create the illusion of height.

Still working on James' shirt at the moment and I'm determined to get it finished! Having a second go at the sleeves after spending a good hour last night unpicking side seams and sleeves. I really am going to somehow invent an automatic unpicker machine one day - not so sure how it would work but it would make things so much easier and make me less angry!

As a side note, if anyone wants to buy any black cotton knit fabric off me, please email me and let me know. I'm selling it off at a super cheap price of $5/metre (SGD) as I need to get rid of it all before we go travelling! It's a good quality cotton blend from Korea, about 110gsm (very lightweight) and is great for making summer tops, t-shirts, dresses, skirts or anything else you'd like to use it for!

Sunday 21 August 2011

Outfit | In PJ For The Day

It's quite funny that we went to KL and back yesterday just to go to a market and get photos. A lot of people would pobably think that we are quite nuts! We basically flew up to KL airport, arrived there at 10:30am, taxi'd out to Petaling Jaya (PJ), spent about 6 hours at Jaya One Markets, left KL at 10:30pm and touched back down in Singapore just before midnight. It was really worth it, there was a good turnout, the markets were in a great location surrounded by loads of resturants and cafes and I managed to get a whole bunch of street style photos. It was actually quite a well curated market where the organizers handpicked the vendors so it was all boutiques and blogshops selling new and vintage stuff. And the people there, especially the malays, were all so friendly and I had no problems with asking people for photographs (in fact, both James and I had nobody who said no to getting their photo taken!). Everyone was really happy and and it was just big smiles all round!


Wore this yesterday but the blazer didn't last very long as it got hot pretty fast running around getting photographs. I'm wearing a Gap blazer, Femmex top, Uniqlo pants and belt, shoes from Tokyo and bag fom Taipei. Back in Singapore for two and a bit weeks and then we head to Seoul for 6 days. It will be our very first time in Seoul so I'm pretty excited about it!

Saturday 20 August 2011

A Quick Dash

At the airport now and waiting to board our flight up to KL. This is probably the quickest trip I've ever done, zipping up to KL at 10am, spending the day out in Petaling Jaya (which I found out is actually a city on it's own), and then flying back later tonight at around 10pm. Gonna go check out a huge market that's on today, eat some good food and hopefully get some cool street style photographs. I am so not a morning person and will probably fall into a deep sleep during this 55 minute flight. Ok be back soon, and for now just a few random shots from the other day.


Friday 19 August 2011

Boy Meets Girl


Source: Vogue China, August 2011

Sometimes when I think about the way I dress, I often think it's a bit boyish, not as in tom-boyish or androgynous, but it's just not girly or very ladylike haha! I don't often wear dresses or skirts, I never wear heels, don't like florals, and I can't stand anything that is frilly or lacey or puffy. Instead, I love things like shirts, blazers, pants, loafers etc and I wish the weather allowed me to wear a lot more of these things and wear them comfortably!

It was actually quite interesting when we went to Tokyo last month because I wasn't that interested in what the girls were wearing but I was so inspired by the way the guys dressed there. It was so my kind of style and all very french inspired, so a lot of stripes, whites, navies, and neutral colours. I wish I took photos but there's always next time! 

Thursday 18 August 2011

The Shirt So Far...


Been working on James' shirt today and slowly but surely I think I'm getting there! I was just going to post a picture of the final thing once I finish, but instead thought I'd take some quick shots of what I did today and where I'm at so far. You also get a sneak peak into my very messy sewing corner. I've never been a very neat person but I think that's just how I like to work. 

Anyway, I'm onto the dreaded sleeve plackets now which are the openings at the bottom of the sleeves that make them easier to roll up. I still have no idea how I'm gonna do them but I've started with unpicking one off an old shirt. I don't think there is an easy way so will just have to see how I go! 

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Collared

Since we got back from Bangkok with cotton fabrics for James' shirts, I spent a week deciding whether I was actually going to make the shirts myself, another week actually getting around to washing the fabric, a week to think about how I'm going to draft the pattern and then today I finally got started on it! I'm such a procrastinator at times and I think that's down to the fact that I'm also a perfectionist. I need to know that things are going to work out the first time before I can get started. Ok this is just making excuses for my laziness. Anyway I finally got started and after having 3 goes at getting the pattern for the collar and collar band right, I have a collar! 


I wish I could learn how to draft and make patterns properly instead of having to hack something together but I think I'm also too stubborn to go and take a course! At the moment I've cut up James' old shirt and am trying to make a shirt pattern out of all the pieces. I'll be very suprised if this actually turns out - I think it's going to be one of those garments that I make where if it turns out I'll be really happy, but if it doesn't, the whole thing will probably end up down the rubbish shoot. Ok, off to work on some more and by posting this now, it's going to make me stop procrastinating and finish it! I'll post the final product once done and let's hope that's not too far away!

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Casual Coloured Bottoms


After seeing so many different coloured bottoms being worn on the streets this season, I finally went and bought a couple of metres of bright red denim to make myself a pair of trousers. I know many people say that Spotlight is expensive for buying fabrics but when you can get good quality denim for only $5/m down from $24.95/m, it's worth popping in every now and then just to see what they've got. I absolutely love the mint green coloured pants above and also the mustard yellow, so I will be keeping an eye out for those colours next. Can't wait to make my pants, I seriously need to stop buying fabric for now and get sewing!  

Monday 15 August 2011

Style Sophomore

In the space of less than a year, I've tried my hand at being an artist (had a couple of exhibitions), then moved onto designing clothes (sold a few pieces), and now I'm having a go at photography! I can imagine that my parents are wondering when the hell I will settle down and actually stick it out at something but at least I can say that i'm giving everything a go right?! 

Well after getting James to hack together a website for me one night, Style Sophomore was born. It's an Asian street style site focusing on fashion and trends and people who just look good! I've actually been contributing street style photos to a site based in Japan for about a month now, and since it's an ongoing thing and it gets me out onto the streets most days, I thought that it'd be cool to start my up my own street style site as well! I'll be posting photos from Tokyo, Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and basically every other place that our travels take us to in Asia. Exciting times ahead!

Here are a few from the site so far. I'll be posting 4 new photos every Monday and Thursday, so if you're interested, follow me on Twitter and Facebook and I'll let you know when new photos are posted! 


Sunday 14 August 2011

Random


Source: Various Tumblrs