Military Style

An obvious trend this Fall/Winter is the military-inspired jacket and I've seen so much of it around Taipei as well as when we were in Seoul last month. Worn by both men and women alike, over skinny jeans, contrasted with a feminine skirt or dress, or even just on their own, it's a key piece this season and is everywhere in the shops and around the streets. Here's a few shots I've taken in Seoul and Taipei for StyleSophomore that show just how versatile this piece is and how it can easily be incorporated with other current trends.

Source: StyleSophomore

Last Night's Feed

Last night's dinner and as usual, eyes were bigger and I don't know why we assumed that our burgers wouldn't already come with a side of fries and salad. Instead, we ordered fries on top of that as well as onion rings, and then changed our minds and decided to get the assortment of three sides containing both plus some chicken strips. Burgers were juicy and delicious but it was all way too much to eat. I think I need to starve myself today as me being me and not liking to waste any food, we (or I) almost polished it all off! Needed a hot drink of Jasmine Green Tea to wash down the grease afterwards.

Outfit | Autumn At Last

Finally I get to have an Autumn! Well, for a little while at least so I'm gonna make the most of it and get dressed in cozy knits, wear in my new jeans, wrap up in chunky scarves, dust of my leather boots that have been sitting around for the last 2 years and do everything else that comes with these cooler temperatures. And I say cooler as in compared to the unbearable heat and humidity in Singapore, I think most people back home in New Zealand would probably think I'm crazy thinking 20 degrees here is cold! I realise I talk about boring stuff like the weather a lot but this has been what I've been looking forward to the most about Taipei! I suppose you would have to live in Singapore to understand my excitement. Wore this out today to get photographs around Zhongxiao East Rd area. Wearing Uniqlo sweater, GAP jeans and Converse shoes. Back in the land of Converse!

Nomade Land

Lots of layering inspiration. Love these shots from the October issue of Jalouse magazine featuring Madisyn Ritland, shot by Paul Schmidt. Especially liking all the knits, the different textures, and of course the colours, it's so Autumn and earthy! I feel a bit like a nomad sometimes and I think I could quite happily live the rest of my life not knowing where I'll be living next, moving from place to place, not really making any plans but just seeing what happens. That's the way I like to do things, it makes life just that little bit more exciting! Here I am in Taipei now, who would have thought a 4-day holiday that we initially booked would turn into a 1 month stay?!  

Merino

I actually felt like knitting myself some sweaters over the weekend cos I knew I'd need them for Taipei going into Autumn. Yep, on a Saturday night all I wanted to do was some knitting! But, the cost of yarn in Singapore makes it hardly worth knitting anything more than a scarf, and it was hard enough finding a yarn shop let alone one that had a good range of natural fibres as opposed to the acrylics and artificial stuff. I know, I'm a bit of a natural material freak when it comes to clothing especially, I always check the labels and if it's not made of pure cotton, silk, merino or wool, then I'm not gonna part with good money for it.

Anyways, I stopped by at Uniqlo before we left and picked up these two knits made of 100% merino. They're so soft and light but probably not warm enough to wear on their own in Taipei. Might need to go buy some warmer chunkier knits to get me through the next month. Or maybe I'll go on a yarn hunt and do some knitting while I'm here! By the way, all settled into our wee apartment and loving the weather already. It's nice to feel cold again, nice to walk around without getting completely drenched in sweat and nice to be able to live without air-con for a change!

Time For Taipei!

The time has finally come! It's 6:30am in the morning and we're at the airport, eyes half shut, sippin on hot tea and waiting to board our flight to Taipei. Traveling so lightly that I'm almost certain I've forgotten to pack something. We're bringing with us just two cabin bags, and that includes one which is packed with A3 sized photos for James' street style exhibition next month! Looking forward to so many things in Taipei - of course the weather, but also the cafes, the food, the shopping, the people, the style, the bubble tea, and just being able to live and experience Taipei without having to cram everything into just a few days. It's an exciting month ahead!

Tailor Making

Started on another shirt for James and, minor frustrations aside, it's actually quite enjoyable making shirts and seeing the little components of it all come together. This one's a light grey and made of a soft Egyptian cotton that we bought in Bangkok. I'm about three-quarters done, just need to do the cuffs, finish the hem, sew the button holes and attach all the buttons. Aim to have it finished before we leave tomorrow which should be easy unless something goes drastically wrong and it ends up down the rubbish shoot before then. Let's hope not!

Outift | Khaki Grey

Wore this into town yesterday afternoon to go watch the RWC grand final. I'm wearing Cotton On men's tee and self-made pants. We literally took this shot, went to the pub, watched the game and came home straight after. And that was our Sunday! Have found the last few months in Singapore very un-stimulating to say the least and it's a really good thing that we are leaving for Taipei next week. It feels like this place has sucked the life out of us and I feel like I could do with a great big burst of energy to kick start my life again. Hopefully Taipei will be just the thing to do that! Can I just crawl into bed and sleep until Wednesday comes?

Jang Jun Won

Last week, I posted up a street style photo from StyleSophomore and said that it was my favourite shot from Seoul. But who says you can't have more than one favourite?! I love this shot too. Ok, I'll make this my number one guy shot from Seoul! I met Jang Jun Won in Hongdae and I think he has a really cool, simple and complete style that all comes together nicely. I love the Autumn tones, the leather bag and the casual fit of the clothes. But the thing that I like most, is that if you look at the individual components of his outfit, no one piece really stands out or dominates the other, instead you have to look at the outfit as a whole to really appreciate his style.  I really love the way guys dress in Seoul and I get a lot of inspiration from looking at the photos that I got. They really know how to dress comfortably and casually, and pull off amazing style at the same time.

Outfit | Boyfriend Style

Wore this out today. As usual, we didn't really plan our day, just wandered around, James ended up doing a bit of shopping and then we went for coffee and cakes. I'm wearing a boys shirt from Journal Standard in Tokyo, boyfriend jeans from Uniqlo, bag from Taipei, cuff from Tokyo and Converse shoes. 

Since we were in the area, we went to check out Maison Ikkoku Cafe and had coffee and cakes. The carrot cake was quite nice, it wasn't too sickening and had big chunks of crunchy walnuts throughout. The coffee however was bitterly disgusting (I'm sorry but I couldn't think of other words to describe it!), and it even did something weird to trigger off my asthma. I'm not sure what coffee beans they used or whether the coffee was just too over extracted, but I expected more after the reviews I read had really talked this place up. A lesson to me also to always carry my inhaler. It is not pretty when you can't breathe properly and your life saver is at home!

Below... the hustle and bustle of Haji Lane at about 2:30pm on a Saturday afternoon. Makes a clean backdrop for pictures if only there were people to photograph!

Compare this to say Hongdae (Seoul), or ShiDa (Taipei) at about the same time...

The Way To Stay Together

An editorial in this month's issue of Esquire (Hong Kong) magazine featuring Japanese models Ai Tominaga & Ryohei Yamada. I like these sorts of editorials where it's about the story, the emotions, the expressions, and then the clothes come after that. Just like how they should be! 

Oh and as a side note, have I mentioned how excited I am about Taipei? 4 more days, 5 more sleeps to go! Can't wait to be on our way, we've been ready to leave for the last month. And when I say we can't wait... we even looked up flights and considered bringing our flights forward to this weekend hah! 

Black The New White?

Vera Wang's Fall 2012 Bridal Season showcased models taking the runway in almost entirely black gowns. It's so refreshing to see! The start of something new? After all, why should wedding gowns have to be white anyway? Personally I'd go for black!

Locomotive

I quite like this song from the Urban Outfitter's Music Mondays collection. It's such a catchy song and good whenever you need a little lift me up on one of those blah days! Keep goin' keep goin' slow down...

Nail Food

My favourite nail colour at the moment - Revlon's Tropical Temptation. Love the fruitiness of it and it's the perfect shade for summer/spring. If only I still had my tanned skin colour then I think I would love it even more! Two coats of nail colour completed with a layer of top coat and I'm good to go. Well, until they spoil which usually happens within a few hours. I'm really not good when it comes to these sorts of things!  

Outfit | Just Another Sunday

Today's outfit. I'm wearing a GAP shirt, cut-off denim shorts from Harajuku, Uniqlo belt, Converse shoes and bag from Taipei. We're pretty much winding up things in Singapore and getting ready for Taipei in 8 days. Man I'm like a little kid counting down to Christmas but I don't care, I can't wait any longer! This weekend we pretty much planned our days around the Rugby World Cup semi final matches, but also headed out to get some street style photos too. And I take back what I said about rugby union matches being boring compared to rugby league - I should have included the exception of when the All Blacks play the Wallabies. It was a pretty exciting game and even better that we came out on top and completely shat all over the Aussies. It really made my weekend!

Sonyejin

If I had to pick my favourite street style photo from Seoul, then this would be it! Not only do I love her minimalistic style and her hair, but my favourite shots are always the ones where the person is as equally as cool as their style. There is a lot more to style than clothes and it's the person as much as their style that i remember when looking back at my photos whether it's one week or one month down the track. In Seoul, there were very few English words exchanged when photographing on the street, usually I would just get a smile and a nod which was cool but then you'd get the occasional person who somehow stands out from the rest.

This is Sonyejin who I met on our last day in Seoul. She was with her friend shopping in Hongdae when I saw her across the street waiting at the traffic lights. When I asked her for her photo using the Korean translation on my iPad and all my hand gestures that went with it, Sonyejin was really sweet and without any hesitation or even turning to her friend she just said "sure!" and gestured to her friend as if to say "let's go!" I really liked that, instead of the usual "turn to my friends to save me" response, I remember Sonyejin as being a very confident person who is comfortable with her style and was just totally cool with having her photo taken.

Venus In Furs

Some shots from SOMA Magazine featuring Hye Jung Lee, styled by Laia Garcia and photographed by Billy Kidd. Styled in pieces by Maison Martin Margiela, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Doo.Ri and others, I love the powerful silhouettes, how they've played around with different materials and the contrasting textures in the leather, fur and velvet. I especially like the first shot where she's kind of frowning!

Knitting's the "In" Thing

Or maybe not! It was a miserable morning yesterday weatherwise and I was sitting around the house feeling like I needed to do something a little different. Next minute, I was getting dressed and going out to buy some knitting needles and a yarn of wool. Yes, I am knitting! It's been awhile since I've picked up a pair of knitting needles, actually I think I was about 10 when my mother tried to teach me, but even then, patience wasn't my thing and I don't think I ever finished knitting anything that I started.

So, I've been working on this ribbed scarf today and it's actually pretty fun and addictive. Especially since I purposefully bought some chunky as yarn and large needles so that my scarf would "grow" quickly. Knitting is so easy, as there are just two basic types of stitches (knit & purl) and with different variations in yarn, needle size and stitch combinations, you can create so many different designs! This scarf is a ribbed scarf made up of a knit 2 purl 2 stitch combination. Listen to my geek knitting talk. Anyways, can't wait to finish it and maybe move onto knitting something else or even just another scarf. You can never have enough scarves right?

Autumn Knits

James and I took these shots for La Mode Outré and StyleSophomore when we were up in Seoul at the start of September. They were just transitioning into Fall at the time and there were a lot of knits around, worn as under layers, outwear or just on their own. For as long as we've been in Singapore, I've never even thought about wearing or buying knits of any sort. Knitted jumpers, cardigans, sweaters, dresses, I've had no real need for them as fortunately I'm not stuck in a freezing cold air-conditioned office all day and I wouldn't even set a foot outside in even the thinnest knitwear. But, we are moving to Taipei right in the middle of Autumn where temperatures will get down cool enough to wrap up in cosy knits and scarves. I really can't wait to wear knitted jumpers again and mix and match them with jeans and pants that I've missed wearing so much. Ahhhh I'm so excited! 12 more days to go!

Gap 1969

I always get pretty excited when I'm shopping for a pair of pants or jeans and I find a pair that actually fits me! So, when I found these Always Skinny jeans from the Gap 1969 collection, I was super happy to come away with two pairs. I'll still have to hem up the bottoms but a nice fit around the bum and hips is good enough for me! They're just the type of jeans that I want and need for my body shape as they're skinny through the hip and thigh area. And they're a lightweight, soft denim so will be perfect for the weather in Taipei. Can't wait to wear them!

Simple Salad

My favourite go-to meal whenever I need to cook up something quick or when I don't know what to cook for lunch or dinner. It's a warmed penne pasta salad with tuna, smoked ham, cucumber, tomatoes, mayo, a drizzle of sunflower oil, and salt & pepper to taste. It's so quick and easy to put together and kind of healthy-ish too. I'm pretty sure I could eat this everyday!

Outfit | Black & All Blacks!

I've always loved the whole dresses with converse look, it's such an easy and comfortable style. Wore this out yesterday while we went into town to do a bit of shopping and watch the quarter final matches of the Rugby World Cup. We caught the last of the first game between South Africa and Australia which I was both happy and gutted with the result - I don't like to see Australia win when it comes to any sport, but on the other hand, the rivalry that comes with a NZ vs Australia match-up is always exciting. Then we watched the All Blacks game which I found hard to get into. It seemed like the All Blacks put in a pretty average performance against Argentina but were always still going to win it. We left at about 75 minutes and I still don't think that I've watched a full game of rugby union yet. In saying that though, the game has seemed to change and is not the tedious kicking game that I remember it to be, so who knows? I think it's going to take quite a bit to convert me from a league to a rugby fan. For me, rugby just doesn't have the same pulsating intensity, stress, frustration and excitement that I like in the game of league when the Warriors take the field. Ok enough sports talk, here's what I wore. Self-made jersey dress, Comme Ca Ism scarf from Tokyo, leather bag from Taipei and Converse shoes.