I know many of you four season people hate the winter and might probably be thinking “What? Are you crazy? How I wish I lived in a country with summer all year round!” But, the grass is always greener on the other side right? If you were to live in our hot and humid climate, I’m quite sure that you would also wish for the weather to be cold or cool at times.
I love to look at Japanese fashion magazines for inspirations and to simply marvel at their quirky yet fashionable styles. The Japanese really have the knack for dressing up. Outfits and styles which fashion pundits disapprove of somehow always look good on these Japanese.
I’ve been reading my international blogger friends’ blogs every now and then and it’s really cool to see their shift in dress sense as they usher in spring. Grey skies making way for the azure blue, fair slender legs seeing the light of day and skirts and shorts start emerging from their wardrobes. A few weeks ago, I read from some of them that spring had arrived late in some of their areas. However these few days it seems like they have officially welcomed spring with open arms.
Besides the usual bright and bold spring colours and the florals, some spring summer trends I gather from the March, April and May issues of ViVi magazine (Taiwan & Hong Kong edition) include many others trends for the year of 2011.
♥breezy white♥
♥lace♥
♥brownish tones like nude, cream, camel, mocha & other earthy tones♥
♥denim♥
♥layering♥
♥chunky shoes♥
With all these new-found knowledge in mind, I selected some items from ClubCouture with the intent to experiment with some spring summer trends by mixing and matching the new clothing items from ClubCouture with my existing ones.
[Ctrl & click on links to open page in a new tab.]
Here are what I bought:
mesh tiered skirt
katie jumper in dark
marled zip jacket
sleeveless draped vest
kensie boyfriend cardigan
I haven't worn the kensie boyfriend cardigan yet and haven't thought of which outfit to pair it with. I might just do something like how the lady on the right of the picture does it -- white tone all the way with a pop of colour.
In the meantime, I will share with you some spring summer looks which I’ve created.
Let’s start with the mesh tiered skirt! It is a high-waisted mesh skirt with a smocked faux corset waist and a tiered ruffled skirt.
The various looks which I’ve created from this skirt matched the breezy white, lace, brownish tones, layering and chunky shoes trends all in one without being too OTT.
In Look 1, I wore an old “fairy top” bought 6 years ago and tucked it into the skirt with the corset detailing visible. Read all other descriptions in the photos.
As for Look 2, I did not tuck in the top. It looked a little too flouncy and puffy so I added a cinched waist belt.
For Look 3, I incorporated the idea of layering into the whole outfit. In our hot climate, the art of layering is indeed for fashion and nothing about keeping ourselves warm. Hence, I threw on the sleeveless draped vest.
Look 4’s layering is practical for keeping oneself warm.
The marled zip jacket when worn zipped or unzipped creates very different looks. I personally prefer it unzipped but I thought that the placement of the zip on the jacket is really unique as part of the jacket would gather in layers at the bottom middle portion.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post as much as I’ve enjoyed putting everything together. What do you think of the looks I’ve come up with and what are some spring summer trends that you’ve picked up for this year? Do share them with me.
Since I’ve already touched on breezy white, lace, brownish tones, layering and chunky shoes trends, I’m sure you know what Part II will be about. =) I hope to be able to get it done by the weekend.
I’m so sorry for neglecting this space here. I see cobwebs forming! There are just too many things to be busy with that I’ve to push blogging to a corner and write a spring summer post in 2 parts.
It’s 5am now and I don’t feel sleepy at all but I’ve to sleep as I’ve gotta work later. Good night and good morning!
i'm pretty excited that spring has finally sprung here in california but well, i think the weather gods have been finicky this season.
ReplyDeletei lived in thailand so i can totally understand how you feel. it's always nice to have a little bit of coolness sometimes :)
for spring, i love anything floral, pastel colors, flowy, sheer and lace. :)
i loved what you did with the looks! i prefer look #2. but i adore that sleeveless draped vest. wish i could've seen more pictures of it! & the jacket is great too. i agree with keeping it unzipped!
i also think i just wrote a whole novel on here. hahaha hope to see you again soon on my blog! :)
xx,
cins
I like the brown belt. Looks super fun! I want to pull off the all white look but I don't have the physique for it. I'll probably look really dumpy. Haha. It's a hard look to pull off but it's sooo pretty!
ReplyDeleteI like having four seasons--but I don't like having 3 of them over the course of 2 days. That easily gets people sick. We call it pneumonia weather. But the gradual changing of seasons? Yes please! =)
ReplyDeleteAs I scanned the post, I thought I was still seeing magazine pictures when I got to the bottom. But then I recognized you. Your shots fit right in with the professional's.
I hope you'll be entering the herro hachi giveaway I posted today.
Wow.. you're so creative with those pieces! lovely((:
ReplyDeleteThe magz scan also great too. Make me want to buy some clothes><
Cheers,
Dreamy Princess
these outfits look so cute on you!! i love the skirt!!
ReplyDeleteYay a fashion post!! Thanks for sharing all the magazine scans Jo! I agree that Japanese girls/women have a great sense of style. I'm so envious of all the cute outfits I see in the magazines haha :P
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the corset waist skirt on you! It really defines your waistline and flatters your figure. And that's really cool how you were able to create 4 different looks from the same items. I should start learning a lesson or two from you and do the same so I get more uses out of the things I already own ^^
Cindy,
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw your username, I didn’t know who you were. Only when I clicked on your link did I realise you’re the creative mummy blogger with very beautiful photos on your blog. Thanx for coming here and you’ll definitely see me more often coz I followed you. I love marvelling at your photos and your cute son. And it’s definitely ok to write a novel coz I enjoy reading them!
I recently wore the sleeveless draped vest to meet my friends and I took picture of it buttoned and unbuttoned. I’ll let you know when I get round to posting it (just that everything on my blog is always late)Those pictures should be quite clear. Unbuttoned, it looks just like a drape piece of clothing with slouchy smooth material.
I would love to see more of your spring outfit posts too!
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FleurLapin,
You sure you’ve got no physique to pull off the white look? You look anything but dumpy from your photos and remember, I thought I saw Jamie Chung in your past post!
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Rick,
Is there such a weather phenomenon called pneumonia weather that has 3 seasons in 2 days? I always learn something new from you.
Ooh thanx for your compliment. You’re always the gentleman. ;)
I’ll check out your post in a while!
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Dreamy Princess,
Thanx for your compliment. Jap mags always make me wanna buy clothes too!
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Nicole,
The skirt is not my usual dressing style but when I mixed and matched, I thought it’s quite a lovely piece.
~~~
Rinny,
I’ll have more fashion posts in my blog from now on so look out for them! Er... when I settle my lack of time issue to finish up my 2010 posts. LoL. In my opinion, Japanese fashion can never go out of fashion here coz I still find myself flipping Jap mag from a few years back every now and then to gain inspiration. Thanx for your compliment, the skirt is not really my usual dressing style but when I saw it on ClubCouture’s site, I thought I would just give it as try and now I love the skirt. I gotta find an occasion to wear it out though coz it seems a little too airy fairy for normal outing days.
I am a big fan of Japanese fashion magazines and I love Asian fashion even more now that I live in the west.
ReplyDeleteOh my god..that tiered mesh skirt is freakin adorable!!!! Love the detail on the waist. Super cute and fairytail. Even though I want it soooooo bad right now, I am gonna resist.
lol "airy fairy"... I love the words you chose to describe it haha xD
ReplyDeleteAnd you are definitely right about Japanese fashion never going out of style. I think it's because a lot of the styles they wear aren't super trendy or fashion forward, so they have a bit of a timeless look to them :)
Your photos look so professional even if it’s in the house. Is that your room? It looks so warm and cosy. I love your white door. Did kh take the photos for you? Is it his good photo skills or your good canon camera?
ReplyDeleteThe skirt looks really beautiful on you. So much more beautiful than from the model in the website who match with spagetti top oops, but the model look nice in all the other clothes. Yes you said it right, looks like a fairy. Both tucked in and with a belt looks so good. You’re so creative. You match the skirt so well with everything too! It looks just like the fashion trend in the japanese magazines you show. I see all the trends in Forever 21, Mango and many other shops all having the same trend too. I never know Singapore’s fashion is the same as Japan.
Nelah,
ReplyDeleteJapanese magazines are just so different from the rest. I simply lurve flipping them and lurve everything about them except that I have a little problem with some fo their overly cutesy poses. I very much prefer the artistic poses kinda fashion shoot.
It’s always good to resist and if you still think about it the next few days or next few weeks, you know you really should get it. So just resist! I’ve been helping myself to make very wise decisions with this resistence technique and I’m sure you’re also such a person too.
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Rinny,
I find that their trend is more wide-spectrum and timeless. However in certain instances, some of their trends areso quirky so it’ll always be a fashion statement. Their casual going out dressing always comes and goes. I see the same breezy white, lace and brown 3 years back in their summer trend and now it’s still going strong.
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Yen,
I like how when you leave comments, you leave so many lovely ones to read all at once. Yup that’s my room. I moved a whole clothes rack away from behind the door to have the white and clean feel actually. LoLz. Our room is too cluttered. I took that all by myself when kh was sleeping. I balanced my camera precariously on the tv ledge propped higher with boxes and put a mirror behind the screen to try to see how it would turn out and did self-timer. The mirror did slip a few times and my heart skipped a few beats whenever that happened. So maybe it was my good photo skills plus good canon s95. Hahah...
Thank you for your compliments. I haven’t quite expected that all these put together could match so well. It wasn’t exactly planned that way and I’m glad for perfect match in randomness. I haven’t been shopping for a long time at areas with F21 and the likes but yesterday I went shopping with kh and was thrilled to see so many mannequins in the display window clad in breezy whites, lace, pastels and brown bottoms or shoes. However, I’ve to resist myself from entering the shops coz I know I would buy them and I’ve already got quite a lot of new and unworn clothes at home.