A Year in McQueen

The title says it all. The Alexander McQueen Facebook page posted a collection of Alexander McQueen magazine covers from 2011. From those, I selected 12 covers, marking a year in McQueen.

Thank you for reading my blog!  I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve!!!

and...

May the new year be filled with happiness, love, and peace.

xoxo,

N

Magic in Makeup

As someone who loves fashion as I do, it is a given that I also love makeup. I was probably 4 or 5 when I discovered eyeshadow and nail polish. Of course, I wasn't allowed to put them on, but I told myself that when I am "old enough," whatever that age may be, I will totally put those gorgeous eyeshadows on and do my nails. And I did.

Sephora by O.P.I

Some people may argue that makeup is a mask that a person puts on to hide behind. Isn't that such a negative way of seeing things? Makeup, when applied correctly, makes people look beautiful. What is so wrong about being beautiful and loving yourself? I'm not saying that everyone should look like Angelina or Giselle (that's just impossible). It's about loving yourself for who you are. Personally, I believe in always looking my best because that is how I want myself to be. Putting on makeup is just something I do to look gorgeous.

From Left: Courreges, YSL, Courreges, Urban Decay

So this means that I don't think I'm gorgeous without makeup? Not exactly. It's not like I'm changing my face after I put on a makeup. I like myself without makeup, but the truth is, no one looks super fabulous without makeup. If you are the rare kind who do look amazing without the help of makeup, congratulations, you got good genes. Most people are born with features that needs some tweaking with to look great. Me? I'm all about tweaking; I got uneven eyes and eyebrows that just won't go with my face. Don't get me started on my nose. There are features that I would rather change, but this is just how I look. Instead of hating myself for it, I figured out a way to love myself.

Urban Decay

Uneven eyes? Use optic illusion in a form of colored eyeliner that matches with the eyeshadow. By drawing the right eyeliner significantly thicker than my left, my eye sizes are evened out. I would never use black eyeliner on my top eyelid; that actually makes your eyes look smaller. I only use brown eyeliners on the bottom eyelid. WTF-shaped eyebrows? Time to put those tweezers and eyebrow pencils to good use. You know what the totally tweakable eyebrow means? Depending on what kind of eyebrow shapes are IN, I can totally tweak mine without much effort. So in other words, my eyebrows are always in style. As for my too-low of a nose to the point where I can't wear some sunglasses and safety glasses (they just. freakin. fall. off.), I can get hit by a ball right in my face and not break my nose. It's not like I plan on getting hit in my face, but with my level of clumsiness, it is expected. Apparently the only time I'm not clumsy is when I'm skating or dancing. Anyway...with the number of times I got hit in the face playing volleyball (it happens...), basketball (hurts the most), football (can't catch the damned ball), dodgeball (epic-fail at dodging), I'm pretty sure I would have broken my nose had it been higher. But it's not! Awesome, right?

Bottom: Rimmel, Rest: Sephora

Beauty comes in different style, and if putting makeup on is not your style, that's fine. Just make sure that you love yourself for who you are. It's easier said than done, but don't give into the peer pressure or some set idea of how you're supposed to look. I'm all about makeup, not because I gave into peer pressure or read one too many fashion magazines (although I do that anyway) and want to look like a model. I just love it and that's all there is to it. Proof that I'm so not into the mainstream style? I'm addicted to dramatic eyes to the point where I was rocking the super winged eyeliners for good 3 years, Cleopatra-style. But doing it in black got boring after a few months, so I switched it up and used colors. I'm not talking about usual violet or pink here. I'm talking bright blue, emerald green, and bright orange. I got rid of bright orange, only because I finished it and I can't find another one in the right shade. I still use bright blue and emerald green eyeliners, then went metallic and added gold and silver to the collection.

Makeup is all about having fun and loving yourself. That's the magic in makeup.

xoxo
N

My September Issue

When I first started this blog, I had no idea what I wanted to write about. So I wrote about sports, movies, and random things that I have a very strong opinion, like my attempt at getting rid of bullying from this face of the Earth. Okay, fine, I may not be able to get rid of it, but I can write about it in hopes that I am inspiring someone, somewhere. As I wrote several posts, I have found my own "topic" to focus on, and it should come as no surprise to those who know me in person: Fashion.

Yes, I'm one of those rare kind who is a big time space nerd that religiously reads Vogue. I mean really, Vogue is my bible. Sadly, I have absolutely no fashion freak friends in real life. I feel like there is some unspoken rule that if you are "serious" about your job, and if that said job is unrelated to fashion industry, you should not be a fashion freak out of fear that you may come across as "vain."

I object.

Legendary Anna Wintour could not have explained this any better in the documentary, The September Issue:

I think what I often see is that people are frightened about fashion. Because it scares them or make them feel insecure, they just put it down. On the whole, people that may say the mean things about our world, I think that's usually because they feel, in some ways, excluded or...not a part of the "cool group." So as a result, they just mock it. Just because you like to put on a beautiful Carolina Herrera dress or a pair of J Brand blue jeans instead of something basic from K-Mart, it doesn't mean that you're a dumb person. There is something about fashion that can make people really nervous. 

So. True. I know I'm making a generalized statement here, but some people think that in order to be taken "seriously," they have to look like, excuse my honesty, crap. Sure, if you show up at your work wearing a Dolce&Gabbana evening gown, you probably won't be taken seriously, unless your job requires you to put on that said dress. But then again, that's called common sense.

So why does fashion make some people nervous? Is it because fashion freaks secretly trash talk all those non-fashionable people behind your back? Before you go cry in the corner and throw one of your Forever 21's at us, let me explain.

First of all, most fashionistas are not born with this amazing sense of fashion. We have made some seriously ill-advised fashion choices in the past. At the very least, I know I did on more than one occasions. However, instead of being absolutely clueless about what looks good on me and what doesn't, I invested a significant time and effort in learning everything about fashion styling. I have gone through numbers of fashion magazines and studied each styling in the photo spread or one of those ad spreads. Also, whenever I go shopping, I try on more clothes than I would buy, so I would know what works for me and what doesn't. Unless you are a model, chances are that there are some looks that you just can't pull off no matter how much you love. For me, I look downright ridiculous in anything that has frills or anything that's in the soft color family, even though I like those super girly looks. What can I say, pink frilly dress and I were never meant to be.

So when one of the fashionistas make some "bitchy" comment about some outfit, we actually know what we're talking about. Honestly, we mean well and we just want you to look the best version of yourself. Some people who are "sort of" into fashion take that as a serious offense but we just shrug it off. Sure, inner beauty is what matters the most, I absolutely agree. You can wear the most amazing Alexander McQueen gown with a pair of Jimmy Choo stilettos, but if you forget your brain, well, what a waste of a lovely outfit. Now, imagine you're meeting someone for the first time. Do you want to make a positive impression and build up from there, or make a negative impression and work your way up to turn that negative number to positive? and no, you can't just pull off more negativity in hopes that negative times negative becomes positive. That doesn't work in real life. So really, what's "vain" and "dumb" about knowing what would make you the best version of yourself? I would say that is one intelligent move.

In case you are wondering, yes, I have given some styling tips to my friends. Let's just say that after following my styling advices, they started getting compliments on how they look, and they have never gotten that before. Yup, I pretty much rock. :D

With that, I'm closing my own September Issue.

xoxo,
N

Alexander McQueen Women's Pre Spring/Summer 2012 Collection

What do you do to unwind after a long day of work? Aside from the usual things like, reading, TV, working out, cooking, etc, there's one thing that always puts me in a good mood. For someone who adores high fashion, there is nothing more wonderful than staring at the clothes by your favorite designer online, while Keane plays in the background. (If you wanna snicker, you have 5 seconds before I give you a dirty look.)

If you're a reader of this blog (Thanks!), you probably figured that by "my favorite designer," I mean Alexander McQueen. I even have a category called "Alexander McQueen" and if that's not a dead giveaway, I'm not sure what would be.

Women's Pre Spring/Summer 2012 Collection lookbook is just SO gorgeous, you have got to see it for yourself. Good news: Remember that "super-wide belt over a jacket" style that was in about 4-5 years ago?   According to Sarah Burton, it's back! Now I get to wear my belts and totally be in style, or even ahead of style.

Notice how the belt matches with the embellishment on the pockets of the dress? I like how the style is put together, but not so over-the-top matching. Subtle matching says "I'm a classy fashionista," while over-the-top matching screams "fashion rookie."

Animal prints are still in next year! Maybe I should stock up on some leopard and snakeskin prints, since those two are such an "it" material this fall/winter.

Oh my gorgeous. Seriously, whoever first came up with black and gold pairing is a freakin' genius. Wait...it's probably Coco Chanel, right? Anyway, back to this gorgeous evening gown. I love the distressed layered skirt; it's so McQueen. Edgy, yet classy.
 

The cocktail dress version of the above evening gown, I presume. Okay, I'm running out of synonyms for "gorgeous." Fabulous? Beautiful? Well, you get the point.
 

Here, the contrast between the metallic bodice and flowing skirt is perfectly balanced. Giving the dress the tough-and-sweet dual personality that most women have these days. You gotta be a fighter to be absolutely fabulous at what you do, but that doesn't mean that you've given up on your girly side. I feel like this dress represents that duality in a perfect way. Maybe I'm going overly sentimental over a dress, but you know what, I got my blog so I get to interpret it however the way I want. :)

And by the way, yes, I do have a thing for Brit-rock.

xoxo,
N

Timeless Fashion - Spring/Summer 2010

To all of my non-fashion-obsessed readers: I'm so sorry that my blog is turning into a fashion blog these days. I blame my teams for their premature defeats -- let's put it at that. Schalke got booted from the UEFA Champions League after semifinals, and while I like Barca, I'm sort of rooting for the Bundesliga teams. In the basketball front, Lakers and Celtics were done after...which round was that? Yes, I know me liking Lakers and Celtics is very frowned upon and it is equivalent to me saying that I like both Yankees and Red Sox. Alright crazy NBA fans, you can throw imaginary popcorns at me. I mean don't throw real popcorns at me, I like eating them and I'm no Spiderman.

Anyway, so this post is a sequel to Timeless Fashion - Fall/Winter 2009. In the ideal world, I can keep all of my fashion magazines...which is so not the case. Thus, me turning some magazines into collages.

Enjoy!

xx-N

Paint It Black

All the Glamor in the World

Amusement Jewelry Park

Sweet'n'Edgy

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

If you adore art and lucky enough to be in the City (by that I mean New York City) sometimes between May 4 and July 31, 2011, I suggest you include the Met in your list of places to go. Here's why. I intentionally used art instead of fashion, because McQueen's work surpasses fashion; it really is a work of art. I won't go into details on what the exhibit is about, because the website does a much better job at it. In short, the exhibit has loads of dresses designed my Lee Alexander himself, and you have to be mad to not go have a look because to quote Barney Stinson, it's Legen-wait for it-dary.

NY Times Fashion&Style ran an article about this exhibit too, and there was this passage that I thought was not the accurate description of McQueen's work.

There are streaks of sadomasochism and misogyny in Mr. McQueen’s work. The concept of using as a model a woman with prosthetic legs or of having a robot squirt paint viciously over a dress still seem discomforting. And Sarah Burton adds a further menacing note when she explains that a robotic Perspex armor-like shell worn by a model in a Givenchy collection designed by Mr. McQueen could have electrocuted the person wearing it.

I have seen most, if not all, of McQueen's work, but I seriously have no idea which collection or dress this passage is referring to as being sadomasochistic and misogynistic. I suppose demanding someone to wear Armadillo heels to walk around the city can be a bit sadomasochistic, but who does that? Not even Lady Gaga walks around the city in that shoes, because if she did that, we would know.

Honestly, this ensemble screams nothing but "I'm gorgeous." To top it, what is wrong with using a model with prosthetic legs? I really have to disagree with the idea that not looking like just another emaciated model is discomforting. I first fell in love with McQueen's work because of its originality and the underlying concept that beauty lives in all shapes and forms. I love that Lee Alexander had women with prosthetic legs model his collection. People don't go on prosthetic legs by choice. You don't choose to be born without a leg or two, be sick, or be injured. I love how Lee Alexander let the world know that these women are not "disabled;" instead, they are very able and beautiful.

I did some reading, and as it turns out, Lee Alexander refused to invite Victoria Beckham (who went as Posh Spice then) to the 1999 collection, because he thought Posh Spice's celeb-status would overshadow the appearance of a model with prosthetic legs. Aimee Mullins, the Paralympic athlete, modeled the hand-carved cherrywood prosthetics designed by Lee Alexander. Seriously, how is this sadomasochistic or misogynistic? I think it's quite the opposite.

As for squirting paints, it's all in good fun, right? The almost-electrocution incident could have been easily avoided if any of those artists had an idea to ask an engineer for a consult. I have no idea exactly what that almost-electrocution dress looks like, but all it really takes is good insulation. Anyway, that's enough of me writing; here are some more of the looks that will be showcased at the exhibit. Enjoy!

All images are taken from here.

So beautiful, don't you think?

xoxo-N

PS: According to British Vogue, this exhibit is the Met's Costume Institute's most popular exhibit ever. Is it just me who keeps thinking, what is Lee Alexander himself was still alive to witness all these?

Alexander McQueen Men's Spring/Summer 2011 Collection

To all of my non-fashion obsessed readers: the next post will be on a movie, just slightly delayed to have my post coincide with the release date.

Ahem.

As someone who has been obsessed with fashion, I have always wondered how men's clothes are being designed. There are just so many ways to reinvent the look with women's clothes, when compared to men's clothes. I am aware that I need to study more on men's styling area, but for the moment, I feel like a lot of the men's collections look very similar to one another. It is such that I was very curious to see how men's collections are being designed and styled by my favorite designer, Alexander McQueen.

I'm always fascinated by the fashion era, genre, or culture at which McQueen draws inspirations. McQueen always takes one style and reinvents with more Brit-rock'n'roll edge while maintaining grace. Sorry for my lack of adjectives, but that is just so. freakin. COOL. In this Men's Spring/Summer 2011 Collection, my "it" item of choice is a jacket.

I love this 20's-ish formalwear inspired jacket paired with an also vintage dress shirt. This look is way hotter than the overdone tuxedo in my book. I mean tuxedo look will always be James Bond-hot, but once in a while, a new formalwear should be introduced. :)

I LOVE this entire ensemble to the point where I would totally wear this. Fashionista 101: Forget the gender deal in fashion; if you like the clothes and can pull it off, wear them. The way I see it, true fashionistas shop at both men's and women's section at the store for a very simple reason. On some occasions, the design that I like only exists in one section and there's no way I'm letting the fact that "the clothes I want are not in my 'gender' section at the store" get in the way of fashion.

Shiny jacket? So futuristically cool and fun! Although, I probably won't be able to pull off this look. Darn. Maybe with some tailoring...

I love this 20's-ish aviator jacket, especially the dark green-brown combo colors. Unlike the shiny jacket above, I bet I can pull this one off...I think.

If you are interested, here's the entire Men's Spring/Summer 2011 Collection (all of the pictures are taken from there) and here's my earlier post on Women's Pre-Spring/Summer 2011 Collection.

xx-N

Timeless Fashion - Fall/Winter 2009

If you know me in person or have been reading this blog, you probably have figured out by now that I'm a bit of a fashion addict. So much so that I have watched the entire Sex and the City series + 1 movie (have yet to watch the second) just so I can study the awesome-gorgeousness that is Patricia Fields' styling.

In fashion, I would estimate that some clothing trends have a 10-15 year-cycle, while other clothing trends stick around for really long time. Remember that horrific hammer pants from the 80's that somehow made a brief comeback a year ago, and got promptly faded out shortly after (thank goodness)? On the other hand, variations of boot-cut pants have been around since the 70's when it was first introduced into the mainstream fashion in the form of pantalones. Hammer pants = not so flattering. Boot-cut pants/pantalones = flattering for most body types. Also, boot-cut pants make stilettos look gorgeous. My point? Truly beautiful fashion pieces are timeless.

To showcase that, I have made some collages out of Vogue Japan 2009 September and December issues. Enjoy!

Red. Gold. and Vogue

Glamorous Glitter

Colorful Explosion

The captions are rather small, so feel free to leave comments if you want to know which designer label the particular piece is from. 

Many thanks to Vogue Japan for the gorgeous pictures. :)

xx-N

Brains vs. Fashion...!?

I figured after doing a bunch of best-of-lists, it's about time I actually wrote something. My "serious" posts have been about fighting stereotypes and negative thoughts associated with it. The notion of fashion vs. intelligence is definitely a blog-worthy topic to tackle, as I'm certain there are many, many stereotypes that comes with it.

"Fashionistas are not smart"
I bet this is one of the most-believed stereotypes. Also very untrue. Fashion is a form of art, and to produce an art piece, yes, you would need this vital organ called brain to work. A great work of art and regular day-to-day styling do not pop up from thin air. Fashion is something you work with everyday when you decide your outfit. Some people have a rather misguided concept that if you are brainy-smart, you can get away with a very unfortunate wardrobe choice. I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but this is not the case. On to the next topic...

"Looks does not matter, especially if you got the smarts"
Okay, before you turn green and go Hulk on me, you should know that I actually hope that this was true, as people should be judged by the inner beauty. Unfortunately, we don't live in the Disney world where your furniture will put up an amazing dinner show just because you are hungry. Since the first bits of yourself that gets registered to a stranger are highly visual, it's understandable that the said stranger would probably have some idea of who you are through your looks. You got the smarts, so why not work that to your advantage? But don't go sulk in the corner because you don't look like a supermodel. You do realize that a fashion model's job is to make the clothes look pretty, right? So, if you are a model, great job pulling off all sorts of outfits! As for the non-models, your job is to best project your inner beauty to your outer beauty, which really isn't that hard if you got the basics covered.

Know what works on you, and what don't.
The highway to fashion disaster is wearing something that doesn't suit you. This unfortunately seems to be happening on a regular basis for many people. Know that what you like does not always equal what works on you. The easiest way to figure this out is just trying on clothes at your favorite boutique/store, and see if you can pull it off. It's free to try on clothes, you see. If you don't trust your judgement, recruit your fashion-obsessed buddy (there is always one around you) to come shopping with you to be your personal Tim Gunn-Anna Wintour hybrid. Trust me, a true fashionista would jump at an opportunity to be a stylist and trash talk hideous outfit without hurting your feelings.

The trick here is to tell apart a true fashionista from a textbook fashionista. A textbook fashionista never ventures outside of a fashion norm (thus, textbook), will stick to the safe zone, and consider everything outside of the safe zone as a "faux-pas." I suppose you won't go wrong with this kind of fashionista; however, you won't get any original, unique styling ideas from them, either. On the other hand, a true fashionista is not afraid to invent new looks that are original, or incorporate looks that are straight off of runway. I would say a true fashionista signature style would be ones that are stylish, yet original, and can easily pass as one of the photo spreads from a fashion magazine.

At least do regular maintenance. 
Above statement can be shorted into two words: look clean. Truth is, most people can't tell if you got a $100 or $10 shirt on, but everyone can tell if your shirt has your lunch on it or looks like you slept on it. Proper clothes maintenance is all it takes, and by that I mean putting your laundry machine, ironing board, shower, and razor to good use. After all, it defeats the purpose if your clothes look clean and you don't... ;)

xx-N

Alexander McQueen Pre Spring/Summer 2011

As I was going to write this article, someone decided that it would be a great idea to hack Twitter, which happened to be where I kept all the fashion related news articles. Impeccable timing, don't you think? So instead of writing about London Fashion Week, I get to write about my most favorite designer label of all times - Alexander McQueen.

I think the first time I learned about him was when I saw his clothes on Marie Claire fashion spread. Until then, I always had "LOVE!" and "...miss" in every designer collection. No offense, but I can't just love everything and still have a solid style of my own. Then I saw some pieces by Alexander McQueen and I just loved every single one of them. Since then, McQueen has never failed me in terms of originality and gorgeousness. And yes, I do love that crazy stiletto shoes Lady Gaga totally rocked in Bad Romance music video. I'd wear that shoes in a heartbeat! Let's hope that I have enough balance skills to not break a leg. Literally.

I'll totally rock this one day :D

Now, onto Pre Spring/Summer 2011 collection. McQueen likes to use black/red with gold, and for this collection, the main color of choice is black.

 

I'm loving the idea of having a similar look, but have one for cocktail dress and another for eveningwear. You can see how the cocktail dress style is a bit downplayed by using the gold motifs on shoulders only. 

McQueen is also known for having a very theatrical design - and yet be very wearable. It's every girls' (and some guys') dream to wear those crazy-gorgeous dress that you would only see in theater, and somehow McQueen made that dream come true by making the theatrical patterns wearable. LOVE. IT.

Lastly, this eveningwear is my favorite of all. Some of McQueen's looks are inspired by traditional orientalwear - I think this particular look is inspired by kimono - and McQueen adds a flair of originality while maintaining the class that is present in every traditional style. I have to say, that takes serious talent. 

I hope all the fashionistas out there liked this article. I also hope I have enlightened those who are not really into fashion. I disagree with the stereotype where fashion is deemed as a genre for girls and gay dudes. Fashion is a form of art, and everyone should be able to enjoy it! At least, don't be judgmental and hate it without knowing it first... 

xx-N