MET Fashion II- Poiret: King of Fashion

More on the dresses from the Costume Institute Benefit gala , here are some of the dresses that I was unsure about or are just downright terrible.

I KNOW Anna Wintour is the queen of fashion and everything, but this is not a flattering dress on her. She looks weighed down. Especially with the metallic shoulders and feathers....it looks like part of a body armour.

I read that she is actually looking better in this dress, but Cate Blanchett still looks very scary and skeletal to me. Maybe its the spikey hairstyle, it makes her look even more gaut and edgy.

This one I'm on the edge. I love the drapery and the greek goddess concept behind this Marchesa dress and its also very classy and discrete for JLo. But then, its not exactly very complimentary to her figure.....

And this one. On one hand, this Bally dress is quite flattering, but on the other hand, the see through material of the bodice makes it look really trashy. Maybe if we just convince ourselves that its not really see through. . . ?

At first glance, I did not like this outfit. Shalom Harlow looked like some evil vampire. But then I found out it was from Viktor and Rolf and then it made much more sense why it looked so strange.

The cutting of this dress is actually very flattering to America Ferrara's figure. But i think i just don't like the stripes in the skirts.

What is with Renee Zellweger and fishtail dresses? And to make it worse, the pattern of the dress actually reminds me of a fish this time. The spotty, stoney looking ones.

Conceptually a simple white strapless dress should look elegant. But Christina Ricci just looks uncomfortable and awkward. Maybe Calvin Klein was too heavy on the starch.

I've always loved the way Liv Tyler looks. She's always so elegant and classy. This dress fell short of my expectations. The color is dull along with the cutting, while her make-up is waay too striking and pale.

You'd think this girl would look good in a haysack, but seems like she's human after all. This dress looks awful on her. The bodice is too tight. The dress too short. The color too dull. It looks like she's trying to fit into a little kid's fairy costume. And the fishnet stockings. . . . ugh.

I really don't think green is much of a red carpet color. Although this one on Chloe Sevigny is slightly more striking, the cutting looked a bit amatuer for something by Balenciaga.

Mary-Kate's tiny frame looks like it's being smothered by the overload of feathers. But minus the feathers it doesn't look too bad.

I usually love the way Ashley dresses, but this one looks like she hastily put it together last minute with some strings and tape. . . not very fitted. And WHO is that old man she's with? Please tell me that its strictly platonic (correction: the old man is indeed Christian Louboutin, so it is indeed strictly platonic).

Maybe Ashley and Claudia Schiffer (correction: Gisele Bundchen) made their dresses together?

And for a truly horrific sight, check out Jessice Simpson in Just Cavalli. *shudder*
And WHAT was Karolina Kurkova thinking? What is that THING around her shoulder?
Looks like Parker Posey had a bit of an accident with the laces....

And Claire Danes decided to wrap herself up in tin foil.....burnt in the middle tin foil at that.
And this looks like the tin foil version of something I drew in pre-school.

Happy Mother's Day!

Its Mother's Day again! Each year I both love and dread buying the gift, because I know its my time to show her I love her and yet nothing is ever good enough (nothing that I can afford anyway). So here is my brainstorm of ideas this year for a gift:

Flowers. I know. How generic. But honestly I've never done this before and really, what females don't like recieving flowers? This is a especially nice gesture if you are living abroad from home, as it makes recieving flowers from you even more special since its THERE. My friend does this every year and her mom still loves it. I am especially loving tulips as its colorful, pretty and refreshing.
Something a bit more personal and sentimental, I love the idea of an album especially made for your mom, its so meaningful! Even a small keychain with a picture of you and your mom would be cute. I can totally imagine my mom using a keychain like this- kind of like when parents keep pictures of their kids in their wallets- now they can have it on their keychain. Shutterfly is just awesome.

A little more practical, I thought of getting beauty stuff. Since I'll never know what the right eye shadow color (I'm not sure my mom uses eye shadows...) or lipstick is, body lotion and sunscreen is a safe bet that is also very useful. Everyone needs to keep their skin moisturized and protected. My mom is partial to the Lancome Treson collection. And this new Lancome facial sunscreen looks like a good one, I tried the older versions and thought they were quite ok.

And onto the subject of beauty, nail varnishes isn't a bad idea either. You can't go THAT wrong, especially if you go with fairly nuetral pinkish colors that are both subtle and very this spring/summery, like this pink one from OPI called Malaysian Mist. Oh and don't forget to get the base/top coat for a complete set. OPI has this great Start to Finish bottle (left) that is both a base AND a top coat! Even better, get you and your mom a manicure(and/or pedicure) treatment at a salon for a mother and daughter bonding session!
Speaking of bonding, what better way to spend more time together than to watch movies with comedy, romance and a focus on mother-daughter relationships? I especially loved Because I Said So, Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore were sooo great. And if you have more time, then you must go for a marathon with our favourite tv mother and daughter- the Gilmore Girls! There'd be SO much to discuss afterwards too!

But that is not quite my mom, because she doesn't watch these kind of shows. So in the end, I got her earrings. One looking similar to the drop ones above from Sheila Fajl (left), except mine were pearl drops. And another pair of hoops from Ralph by Ralph Lauren similar to the one above (right) also by Ralph by RL. I actually have the exact same pair, and since she's always been saying how it suits her face more, I decided to get her one too!

So that sit for my ideas this year. But really, gift ideas for Mother's day never goes old. So if this is still not quite what you're looking for, check out our last two Mother's Day posts for more inspiration, here and here!

Photo Credits: Amazon.com, Nordstrom, OPI and Shutterfly.

MET Fashion I- Poiret: King of Fashion

It was the annual Costume Institute Benefit gala at the Met again this monday. This year, the theme is in honor of Paul Poiret and his designs as the "King of Fashion," which focused on draping rather than tailoring a dress. As usual, everyone dressed to impress and indeed, in most cases, we were impressed.

I'm usually all for classic elegance, but surprisingly in this event, it was the vibrant, adventurous and unique looks that caught my attention. My three favourites, were Cameron Diaz, Kirsten Dunst and Lucy Liu. This fuschia Dior by John Galliano dress Cameron Diaz is wearing is just so vibrant, young and striking. The simple top strikes the perfect balance with her flowing tiered skirts. And the blue contrasting necklace with the simple strapless neckline showed off by her simple upswept hair is just genius!

Slightly more sophisticated in a dark purple dress by Zac Posen, Lucy Liu looks equally as gorgeous. I love how the deep color compliments her complexion and how the dress is simple yet complex at the same time, with its simple cutting and exquisite details on the neckline, waist and of course, the flowing train like purple waves flowing around her. And as usual, Zac looks fab too.

This dress on Kirsten Dunst was quite adventurous for the red carpet and in my opinion, definitely paid off. She looks refreshing and cute in this gracefully flowing deep blue YSL dress. Finally, something besides the usual form fitted red carpet dresses on everyone else. And the black rosette on her head that matches the rosette on her shoe is just sooo adorable!

Another cute and unique dress is this gold number on Kate Bosworth by Prada. The loose cutting, the incredible folding of the skirt and the shiny material makes it both fun yet formal.

Another cute short dress, this one on Eva Mendes is by Michael Kors. In a more classic cut and style, this dress is fun yet ladylike with its fitted cutting, belt and brocade like material.

This dress on Winona Ryder by Marc Jacobs is not exactly one of my favourite dresses, as it doesn't look very flattering and in fact looks kind of heavy. But I thought the contrasting velvet and silk material and the silk neckline draping puts a very interesting twist to the usual black dress.

Feather seems to be everywhere these days- and I'm not very fond of that fact. But I thought Peter Som did the feather thing rather well here with this dress on Joely Richardson. The feathers are subtle and anchored with a strong black bow, so it doesn't look like its spurting out of nowhere.

Can Mischa do no wrong when it comes to fashion? As usual, she looks elegant and pretty in this by Giambattista Valli. The pattern on the bodice and the subtly unique draping of the skirts is beautiful. Although is less more or would she benefit more with a pair of simple diamond earrings with this dress?

This flowing dress on model, Molly Sims, is another one of my favourites. The flowing drapes and details is just soo feminine and pretty and yet the cutting and style of the dress still shines through.

Zhang Ziyi looks striking and cute in this black and white poofy dress. I don't know who its by, but I'll venture to guess that its by Armani. I think the fitted bodice and the strongly contrasting colors balances and gives sophistication to this dress and prevents it from looking completely like a cute candy wrap.

And speaking of striking, Jennifer Garner's red hot Valentino dress is definitely that. The simple but intriguing cut of the bodice and the expert draping of the skirts makes it especially so.

Claudia Schiffer's shiny silver dress also caught my eye with its reflecting material and the intriguing texture of teh skirts.

Moving onto the more classic and elegant dresses of the evening, we have this sequins dress on Alicia Keyes. I'm not sure, but I am guessing that this is from the Armani Prive collection. It looks gorgeous and typically red carpet. Although the loose curly hair here is definitely a not a good match. Upswept hair and drop earrings seems more appropriate.
Ellen Pompei in a simple elegant sparkly dress. Although is she too skinny or something? The proportions seems a bit off in this picture.

And really, one can't go wrong with a pretty black dress. Especially when they're from Ralph Lauren (as I'm assuming that is indeed what Lauren Bush is wearing here....especially since she's here with David Lauren).

Another one of my favourite dresses is this black dress on Kate Moss, especially since I know I actually have a chance of being able to afford it since its from the Top Shop Kate Moss collection. Brilliant marketing skills here Kate! And as usual she looks gorgeous, matching the dress perfectly with upswept hair and dangly earrings.

Trouser Jeans

Now that the private sale season is approaching, I'm thinking about jeans again. Since I've already got a million pairs of boot cut jeans, a pair of skinnys and a pair of straight legs, I thought maybe its time I got some of those wide legged jeans.
Turns out I'm not the only one thinking about them. In fact, My friend beat me to it and came home the other day with a really cute pair of Sevens trouser jeans (similar to these two Sevens shown above).

She had the same concern as me though, that they would look really silly and high school-ish. In fact, wide-legged denims brings to mind high school when everyone had wide-legged jeans/pants, trying to look cool. This image is especially fresh in my head, because thats what the teenage girl in The Land of Women (which I watched recently) wore all the time.

So we got to thinking how we would go about making it more sophisticated- and concluded that it was all about the footwear (and to a some extent, the color). Typically high school trouser denims are light colored and are worn with sneakers (as shown in the movie). So to upgrade the trouser denims a bit, might I suggest choosing a relatively dark pair and wearing them with a cute pair of pointy pumps/flats (left: Citizens, right: Paige).

Or a pair of platform sandals! Personally I think I prefer matching them with flats because I think it looks more casual (also it is essentially covered by the wide leg most of the time anyway like here left: See by Chloe) than pointy high heels, which somehow to me makes the whole look suddenly more formal (and I mostly relate this style to the more casual look). I also like these strappy round toed platforms (left: Diane von Furstenburg) cause they also give off that casual daytime look. And top wise, I think the rules for high-waisted wide leg trousers still applies here with denims, although the ones shown here are not quite as extreme as in the other post.

And do be careful when cropping these denims (if needed) and think about what shoes you'll wear them most often with. If they're too long, they'll drag and you'll trip every few steps. But if they're too short, than you run the risk of looking really dorky with the hem hanging in mid air and you won't even be able to past them off as gauchos!

photo credits: www.shopbop.com, www.net-a-porter.com

Fancy Casual Tops

I know, this title seems like an oxymoron. But you know what I mean. I mean those shirts that are fancy but casual at the same time. Plain but with a bit of a twist here and there to make it special and worth its (usually exorbitant) price. We all need a few like these in our wardrobe amongst the basics to give our outfits a bit more definition and style. So here are some I like this season:

Since the last post, I found some more cool graphic tees from Top Shop that I totally don't mind having. So I thought I'd just put it in here.

Make a bold statement with these polka dot and geometric printed shirts (left: Marc by MJ, right: Spring and Clifton). These are definitely something you would wear with some very plain basics, like jeans or solid colored bottoms.
Something a little bit more subtle but still has a lot of style, there are these two very pretty and feminine shirts from Top Shop. I actually REALLY like the corset/tee shirt on the right. Its from the Kate Moss collection and I like it because its different but still very simple so would match a LOAD of things from casual jeans to a pretty evening skirt. Some more cute camis. The united coloring makes these two camis easy to wear and the textured pattern gives it a more delicate and feminine touch. (Left: Catherine Maladrino, Right: Juicy Couture).

Back to solid colored shirts, we have more versatile but feminine and cute tees. I am loving these designs from McQ (left) and See by Chloe (right). These are definitely something I'd like to pair my printed summer dresses with, without looking too casual in a simple white tee and such.
I simple ADORE the neckline design of these two from Marc by Marc Jacobs. In fact, I REALLY want that tank on the left. It would look good and pretty by itself or underneath a blazer without being overpowering.

A continuation of the simple oversized shirt thing going on this seasn, I thought I just throw in these two from Alice + Olivia (left) and Top Shop (right).

Now these are the definition of simple with a twist! I definitely see myself in the sleeveles by Marc by Marc Jacobs, both for day AND night. And the Vanessa Bruno ATHE top for the day as a more feminine version of the oversize top thing.

A simpler (and cheaper) version of the grey Marc by MJ top above. This one is from Top Shop. And for those in the UK, I think this red top from the Kate Moss collection at Top Shop is a GREAT investment. These folds you see here are at the back, from the front it looks like a plain scoop necked tank. And unlike some back-folding detail shirts I've seen this season, I think this one actually looks flattering. How cool is that? Definitely go check it out!

Photo Credits: Shopbop, Top Shop, Net-a-Porter