WOTTONCOOL


Entrenched in the Past
Thursday 29 October 2009, 10:45 am
Filed under: - Sarah, DIY, Our Style, Outfit Photos, Photography, Random | Tags: , , , , ,

I was looking through some old photographs and dug up these photos of a shoot I did with my friend, Steph.

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Taken in the central business district on a Sunday morning. Raffles Place was very quiet, which all worked out since Steph needed the backgrounds to be un-busy. That was the fundamental criteria that her professor demanded for this photo series assignment.

These were taken pre-Wottoncool days, early early in 2008, and the strongest memory was that out of the blue (sky) it rained!

IMG_4409There! Proof! hahas. (:

The weather was very erratic that day and we kept praying that the heavens wouldn’t open up repeatedly and get in the way of shooting. Cos even when the weather was better, the sun would frequently hide behind the clouds and affect the light. (I don’t know how to describe it in photography lingo, so I shan’t try)

And, it you can’t already tell, there was no budget for the shoot. I was the model + helper + stylist + wardrobe. Steph doubled as creative director + makeup artist + hair stylist + photographer + wardrobe.

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In this shoot, I’m wearing

Black dress – Steph’s
Khaki Trenchcoat – G2000, which I should wear more!
Sunglasses – Armani
Watch – Casio
Red embossed Wallet – Catherine Manuell
Black Slingbacks – (i can’t remember which) fleamarket



Wottoncool @ Bershka
Wednesday 26 August 2009, 11:24 am
Filed under: - Jo, - Sarah, Jewellry, Our Style, Outfit Photos, Photography, Shoes | Tags: , , , ,

Here’s what we wore to the Bershka Event at Ion Orchard.

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(Source: Cherry Magazine)

On Sarah:

Qipao: from China ($9!)
Bag: Salvation Army
Headphones: Sennheiser PX 200
Wrist Candy:
1. Broken weave belt: from sister
2. Chain: Perth
3. Necklace (worn as bracelet): Israel
Shoes: Aldo

On Jo:

Cheetah Blazer: $1 Thrift Store
Tank top: Laurie Foon
Jeans: Uniqlo
Sequinned flats: Pretty Fit



Bundle of Joy

A classmate of mine once said, “Messy is sexy”.

And she was referring to the state of our ponytails as we were fussing over them after a usual un-glam  P.E. session.

Since then, it kinda stuck as a catchphrase for our messy hair.

Our own little excuse.

Then, at a recent event, I came across this lady with her hair tied as such…

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I am so amazed by how neat it is.

I bet that all the hairspray and bobby pins in the world could not make my hair remotely that neat.

*kowtows!!!

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Neat, ain’t that bad too eh?



Wottoncool at Tampines 1 Official Opening
Sunday 26 July 2009, 4:00 am
Filed under: - Jo, - Sarah, Desirables, Events, OMGWTFBBQ, Outfit Photos, Photography, Random | Tags: , , , , , ,

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Jo and I attended the Official Opening of Tampines 1 on 17 July 2009.

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Held on the Tampines 1 Mall Rooftop, the area was transformed with pretty tentages (the weather has been very erratic) and multitudes of industrial-standard coolers and mist machines to keep guests cool and happy.

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And that is not forgetting the elaborate decorations…

Everywhere you turned, there was something interesting and eye-catching to oogle at.

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And lets not forget the food!!!

Smart move to have mall tenants provide food for the event. I’m not much of a foodie, but without a doubt, two thumbs up (!!!) it was really good. (:

There were macaroons,  J.Co mini donuts and Bakerzin desserts…

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drooling yet? :D

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There were also three sushi chefs stationed there for the entire evening, frantically folding, rolling, pressing, cutting, arranging sushi for guests to eat. (Thank you sushi chefs, you are appreciated!)

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We soaked up the atmosphere and ate the our food to a live 4-piece ensemble who serenaded through the night.

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Drinks, alcoholic or otherwise, were freely flowing through the night. (wah! big budget can?!‘)

And the white wine they were serving was the shiz!!! I could have downed an entire bottle because it was that yummy. *slurps (:

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In addition to the decor, food and drinks, Mr. Brad Blaze, speed painter based in Sydney, Australia, was wandering around the rooftop, doing caricature drawings of guests upon request.

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Seriously, Tampines 1, where do you get all your money from!!! I’d like some too!

And if you think a rooftop party with tentage and fans, freely flowing alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and donuts, macaroons, shotglass desserts, cakes and sushi, (did I also mention that the 15+ waiters kept asking us if we wanted hors d’oeuvres through the night!), live music, Aussie artist and photographers taking guests photographs…

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We each went home with a party favour – a bottle of wine!

EACH!!!

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(Source)

Thank you for inviting us Tampines 1! (:



Wardroblings 2009
Monday 13 July 2009, 11:52 am
Filed under: - Jo, - Sarah, Design, Events, Models, Photography, Runway Reviews | Tags: , , ,

Wardrobe is an annual fashion show organized by Zouk featuring new and upcoming talents in the realm of fashion design.

Wardroblings is a sister to big brother event Wardrobe.

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Organized by The Fashion Fraternity, Wardroblings focuses on showcasing the works of oozing-with-potential fresh graduates from the Fashion Design schools in Singapore.

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Models stomped down the runway with oversize animal heads and carrying signs of protest.

It took me awhile to pull my attention away from the props to focus on the clothes.

I have to admit, though, there are definite challenges in attempting to achieve seamless flow and effortless cohesiveness to the collections of seven talented emerging designers with their varying influences and philosophies.

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Kite Fight by Indy Mantik

Indy Mantik

With a bright palate and playful juxtaposition of the geometric and the fluid, Indy Mantik’s collection sought inspiration from Indian fighting kites – their colour, shapes and movement.

Indy Mantik detail

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Stage Beauty by Daisy Fabrina

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Daisy’s romantic interpretation of ‘Swan Lake’ ballet shows clearly in the muted colour palette and soft fabrics (which must have been a pain to sew!!!).

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The details of the pant (see first picture of Daisy) and the sequin top caught my eye.

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Natalie Cheah

Bitten by the fashion bug after catching an episode of Project Runway, the lustre of a normal desk job simply lost its appeal to designer, Natalie Cheah.

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I liked how the collection was made up of separates. And some of the shapes, proportions and textural combinations were definitely intriguing. Wasn’t completely won over by the styling or colour palate though.

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Ugly.Beautiful by Foo Jia Wen

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Ugly.Beautiful draws inspiration from unconventional forms of beauty, from everyday objects that we often overlook.

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The collection is raw and rugged. The colours, textures and fabric experimentations reflect that.

Images of nomads are conjured in my mind, and I’d become a nomad to wear awesome clothes like these!

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The combination of knits, chained accessories, draping and shredded fabric looked effortlessly cohesive.

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Jia Wen originals will soon be stocked at Black Market (if I’m not mistaken) in limited quantities with prices starting from about $100 for a dress. I can’t wait!

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Can you tell I’m a fan!?!

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Turning Point by Elvin Ooi

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Inspired by Santiago Calatrava’s Turning Torso (below),

Turning Torso Santiago Calatrava

(Source)

The inspiration was most obvious in the single-spiral-seam leggings on the models.

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PVC was also used throughout the collection. And according to the model, the jacket was quite comfortable. (:

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Pushing boundaries with new silhouettes, shapes and unorthodox materials without being over-the-top. I was definitely impressed.

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Especially impressive was the workmanship of the pieces. Anyone who can sew panels like that deserves special mention!

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And if he made a girl version of this jumpsuit, I’d wear it!

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Erika Szczepkowski Shralai

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Highly influenced by her Asian background, Erika sought inspiration from her life in Thailand, its culture and religion – Buddhism.

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From the textures and styling, the references are obvious and seemingly too literal. BUT! I love the fact that its a whole bunch of separates layered one on top of another. I think as separates, each piece is a real statement of its own.

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Doubt I could layer and toss this many colours and fabrics together and make it look any cooler or more cohesive.

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Jennifer Choi

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Set in Alice in Wonderland’s garden tea party, Jennifer’s collection exudes romanticism and whimsy.

Jennifer Choi

The tulle was a nice touch.

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Although I can’t quite say I was falling head over heels..

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So there you go. The seven rising designers to note in the near future. I’ve got my favourites… do you?

(hope you enjoyed the photo-filled post)

<3!



Fancy Schmancy

Jo: OMG I love this dress! It’s so cute. It has a full skirt, it’s so brightly coloured… and I love it. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland!

Sarah: Buy it!

Jo: Bbbbut it’s not me! I don’t wear stuff like that… and how and where on earth am I going to wear this to?

Sarah: We’ll have a party in celebration of the dress!

This is how we sound when we’re mid-decision.

A party in celebration of the dress! That’s such an awesome idea isn’t it? But we haven’t go around to buying the dress… or planning the party. But maybe that was how racing fashion came about.

Carmelita: (animatedly) Oh Margie dear, I procured this lovely, lovely dress about a week ago, and I do not have the slightest idea about where to wear it to! It is a darling confection of fluff and puff, layers of can-can and lace and ooohhhh, it came with a matching hat that the kind dressmaker picked out!

Margaret: Oh Carmie, I do wish that I could help you with that… (pause) It is such a pain to have beautiful dresses lying around, unworn and unloved! I think they would feel a tad bit like me… (whimpering) untouched and unloved by my husband… (sobs)

Carmelita: (taken aback) Don’t say that! Oh my heart bleeds (!) to see you like this… We need something of a perk-me-up.

(paces around to think)

Carmelita: A party! A race! All built into one! Them men are crazy about horses and all that equestrian sport they haven’t even cast a glance at poor ol’ wifey us! This will give us a chance to better those horses and steal a glance from our husbands… and others!

Margaret: Oh Carmie you could not have come up with a better idea! (gradually more voluble) Once that old hubby sees someone else set eyes on me he will be enraged and all fired up! And you… oh you in that beauuuuuuuutiful dress. Yes! Let us!

Okay but alas, that is not how racing fashion came about, and we have yet to find out.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Derby will be held on 12 July 2009, and it is the 14th year that the Singapore Turf Club and Emirates have collaborated for this event.

They got the dressmakers from Heng Nam Nam boutique and milliner, Shai Tabassi to design dresses and head dresses for the event.

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Cream and gold were put to use in more casual outfits, which were kinda like just wife-beaters with upholstery fabric. Nice but… not enough.

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The outfits towards the end were much more decadent… in terms of material and drapery and details.

But what we felt was more amazing were the head dresses that Shai Tabassi made. She conceptualised and lovingly created each of them within a month, without even seeing the pieces in person.

With all that love put into each hat, its no wonder that they are all one-off pieces.

Some hats are made with pretty exotic material… like horse tail hair and stuff that I cannot pronounce or attempt to spell, haha.

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Emirates also unveiled their new uniform. The red accents and pinstripes added a sophisticated touch.

The event was held at the Shangri-La Hotel over lunch (which was delish!) and provided the lovely backdrops for our Twigs and Trunks entry.

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After the show though, I’ve got an itch to throw a Hat Party. And Xiao Wen from Fash-E did mention something about a bloggers’ picnic… Maybe we could combine the two?

Stay tuned!



LG GD900 Crystal
Monday 22 June 2009, 1:28 pm
Filed under: - Jo, - Sarah, Competition, Design, Desirables, Feature, Photography | Tags: , , , ,

At CommunicAsia 2009, Jo and I had the opportunity to meet

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(Source)

The LG GD900 Crystal face-to-face. (:

Her reputation certainly preceded her.  And before being introduced, I had heard…

about her style and svelte figure,

about her fun-filled and vibrant personality, and

about her enviable combination of both beauty and brains.

She certainly blew me away with her multitude of talents and skills.

I admire her 8 Megapixel camera and tempered-glass slide-down touchpad. And not forgetting her ever-so-approachable touchscreen and outstanding memory. In addition, she knows how to balance work and play, with built-in games as well as MS Office & PDF document viewing capabilities. I like!

What struck me most during our little heart-to-heart, was the ‘crystal’ pad. Because not only does it function as a keypad, it also doubles as a mouse pad to allow for easy navigation to icons without leaving the usual unsightly fingerprints on the screen.

Molesting the crystal clear touchpad is SO much more fun! Seriously!

Gesture shortcuts, a key feature – allowing me to trace a symbol on the touchpad and immediately direct me to the linked widget, was such a fresh idea that it took me some time to warm up to it. Now, my interest is piqued and I’m dying to use it!

Alas, my current mobile doesn’t have such capabilities… ):

Having met, I’d really like the GD900 Crystal to be a more significant part of my life, instead of just hi-bye friends.

I’m so sure we could be BFFs! (We are like totally on the same wavelength, yo!)

And YOU could help Wottoncool win an LG GD900 Crystal!

All you have to do is vote for our photo

Sarah and Jo

You can cast your vote on the Facebook Group: Get Creative with the LG GD900 Crystal!

Your vote may come in the form of

a) ‘Likes’-ing our photo
b) Casting your vote under ‘Comments’
c) Casting your vote on the Group’s Wall

Any votes in our favour would be greatly appreciated :D

And…

If we win, Jo and I will have to flip for it

Because they will only give one phone to the person(s) in the winning photo :/

(Damn Economic Crisis!!!)





Dancing Shoes
Sunday 19 April 2009, 1:21 pm
Filed under: - Jo, Art, Feature, Inspirables, Music, Photography, Shoes | Tags: , , , , , ,

shoes

The eyes may be the window to the soul for most of us, but for photographer Geritt Starczewski, he takes the bottom-up approach and turns to shoes to tell tales.

“The most important in a look are for me the shoes. Shoes betray something about the personality, about the character. “

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He takes photos of mostly pop musicians during live performances, but always no higher than the knee.

They’re in mid-step, they’re worn, sometimes tattered, they stand out, they overtake the picture.

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Sometimes you can sense that the musician is dancing, slightly nervous, with feet turned inwards, or trying to pump the crowd, with a foot on the monitor.

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She’s wearing happy tights and ballet flats – could you tell the genre? He’s wearing shiny red leather shoes – quite the showman eh?

“Many musicians are styled perfectly and everything is produced when they come on the stage. However, I have discovered a weakness in them; their shoes. With the help of the shoe you can draw conclusions about the music and the personality without knowing who is in these shoes.”

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What does this say?

Do you recognize your musicians from their feet? Or can you tell what music they make?

Granted, I don’t know some of them but it was fun to imagine!

From top to bottom: The Kills, The Hives, Grand Island, Mia, Zoot Woman, Roisin Murphy, Low-fi Fnk



Maria Mena
Friday 17 April 2009, 5:14 pm
Filed under: - Sarah, Design, Desirables, Inspirables, Jewellry, Photography, Random | Tags: , , , ,

A (very) distant time ago, I managed to catch the music video of ‘Nevermind Me’ by Maria Mena.

If you’ve never heard of her, I don’t blame you. I’ve only seen her video twice. Once, in full, and the other was a smidgen of the ending :/ Yet, there was something about the video…

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(Source)

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(Source)

It showed her wandering around the place in a bear (?) costume, searching for this guy dressed in a cow costume.

Plus the song (and the rest of her music) is very nice! But her CDs are hard to find. ):

Anyway, my reason for posting was to share this image of a necklace she purchased and posted on her official, though sporadically updated, blog.

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(Source)

The teal flowers are so fat and juicy-looking! Doesn’t it remind you of mangosteen?! :D

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(Source)

*slurps!



Israel Eye-Candy
Thursday 2 April 2009, 2:01 am
Filed under: - Sarah, Inspirables, Photography, Street/Scene Style, Travel | Tags: , , , ,

As part of a module for school, we have the opportunity to visit Israel (!) in early May.

And although, the research I’ve done is not entirely related to my Business Study Mission module :D , it has certainly been insightful.

Behold!

ILook: Israeli Street Fashion

Although I can’t read the Hebrew text, there is eye candy to enjoy :D !

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The lilies on her shoes speak to me (:

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Could you wear that much tartan and look this cool?

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Plain Jane Fierce. does that make sense?! hahas

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Loving his shiny shoes and skinny belt

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The incorporation of red (lips, vest, shoes and hair) makes the whole look ‘pop!’

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And my favourite!

A yummy and commendable combination of vintage prints.. Plus points for the red bow-tie accent

AND have you noticed her shoes!!! <3s

Check out more Israel Street Fashion here!