In More Ways than One: Houndstooth Tuxedo Vest

Posted by Chris at 3:00 pm

• I am starting a series called "In More Ways than One", IMWO for short, because everything in life needs to be acronymed.
• IMWO is pronounced "I M Wo" because trust me, I AM WHOAAAAAA.
• Inspired by the Uniform Project, I will designate an item in my closet as a constant and attempt to create as many different outfits with it as I possibly (or impossibly) can.
• My goal is to explore the potential of my wardrobe and free my mind from constantly wanting to own more and more things.  We have too many things.
• I also hope that you, as a witness to my pilgrimage, will learn to look into your own closet with appreciation and intent.  Overconsumption is a poison to the mind.  We have to be thankful for what we have.
• There are no rules, because rules don’t rule when it comes to fashion.

First up to bat is a houndstooth tuxedo vest from Club Monaco.  It came into my possession in the Winter of 2008 when it was on sale.  I picked it up because of its rather masculine cut and feel.

So let’s do this.  Here we go with outfit #1.  It's nothing earth-shatteringly amazing, but it's a good work outfit is a good start.  The houndstooth and the pattern of the silk scarf make an interesting combination.

Silk Scarf: Hong Kong
Pants: Hong Kong
Shoes: Hugo Boss - my newly acquired work shoes!

Think before you buy…

Posted by Justine at 10:34 pm

We're smack in the middle of summer time, so you know it's that time of the year: SUMMER SALES!

I'm bombarded by e-mails from every major store and there's 30% off here, buy 1 get 1 50% off there...it's very tempting and things are cheaply priced!

I've been on a diet from shopping, and only purchasing things I plan for, or things I don't already have that I need to carry out daily activities. Today, I was tempted to buy a skirt from Urban Outfitters (originally $78, marked down to $19.99 which would be $10 with 50% summer sale discount).

Just as I was lining up to pay for it, a voice inside me told me to get out of the line.

When you let one purchase slide, you start to let every other purchase slide. This is how people who diet (from food) always fail dieting. You eat one slice of cake after working so hard for your new body, you eat another and another and before you know it, you've gained back everything you worked so hard for.

It was something I didn't need, and I was giving myself reasons to buy it... I was doing things that were all too familiar: rationalizing. I put back the skirt on the rack, and walked out defiantly. And I didn't think twice about going back.

You might think it's not a big deal, but so many people have this problem of buying things they don't need...and they are not conscious of it. It's hard to stop yourself when you're in the moment, especially when a sales associate is following you around. I studied this in my consumer behaviour class, the concept of involvement: when a sales associate follows you around, the longer you are involved with him/her during your time in the store, you are more likely to buy something you don't need because you don't want to hurt the salesperson's feelings. Sounds nuts, but it's likely to happen if you're a pushover.

Be aware when you're shopping -- even if you're "just browsing". It's dangerous to be in a shopping mall and you're "just browsing".

You should only be in a shopping mall if you have a clear purpose; otherwise, get out of there ASAP.

Interesting Links

Refer to Chris' Guide to Clothes Shopping for some excellent tips to keep you grounded
Shoppers on a 'Diet' Tame the Urge to Buy
Six Items Or Less
The Great American Apparel Diet

Fat or Skinny? Discuss.

Posted by Justine at 8:00 am

I was having trouble choosing a belt for this outfit. I chose a skinny brown belt because the colour brown seemed to tie in the light khaki skirt and the pastel striped shirt.... but the thick black belt seemed to proportionately fit the thickness of the existing waistband of the skirt. But the black seemed too... dividing... and not blending in...

Shirt: Vintage
Skirt: Dynamite
Shoes: Vintage (the soles say, "EATON'S", back when it was still a department store)

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Beautiful, as is.

Posted by Justine at 7:52 pm

I began working on this post with a "vintage renewal" theme, where I intended to take an old piece of clothing and re-construct it into something new. I was going to take "before", "during", and "after" shots.

But something happened while I was doing "before" shots:

I started to feel really comfortable in this long, flowy A-line skirt. It felt really nice.

I was going to shorten it to knee-length so that it wasn't so much busy pattern going on, but then I asked myself, "Why fix something that isn't broken?" Well, I guess I was trying to take something good and make it better...nothing wrong with that.

But some things really are beautiful as they are. Perhaps it's a feeling due to personal reflections about self-image that I've been trying to internalize -- appreciate beautiful things as they are, on its own, without alterations and purposeful change.

So I dropped the scissors, the pins, the needles, and I put away the thread. I'm going to wear this skirt as it is and love it as it is

Buttoning up my button-downs

Posted by Chris at 12:00 pm

Hello my sweet little buttons,

I am most positive that you are already fully aware of my love for button-down shirts.  (Case in point: here and here.)  My closet is a home for at least 10 of these guys.  Somebody needs to talk me out of acquiring more!

Well, bust my buttons!  I've recently recruited yet one more into my team:  Chambray Dolman Sleeve Top from ADAM by Adam Lippes.

Source:  Style.com

This top first caught my eye when I was browsing the ADAM Spring 2010 collection on Style one fateful day a few months ago.  I saved this very picture on my iPhone as inspiration and thought nothing of it thereafter.  Needless to say, when I unexpectedly bumped into this wonderful creation in person, I was floored because I recognized it immediately.  Yup, pretty darn sure the universe wanted me to have it.  While it is a button-down shirt, the sleeves and cut are unlike anything else of the sort in my wardrobe.  I love how it is relaxed but structured at the same time.

I tried to style it the same way as it was worn on the runway.  I don't own slouchy white pants, so I did a skinny white jean.  I can't wait to wear it in different ways.

Pardon the red light from the camera remote control..

Jeans: H&M
Chain: Aldo

Creative Zing

Posted by Justine at 9:59 pm

This Friday and Saturday, Creative Zing will be at Night It Up (formerly Asian Night Market / Toronto Night Market).

Creative Zing is a graphic t-shirt and accessory brand established in 2008 by a group of awesome graphic designers, many of which are graduates straight out of York University's graphic design program.

I will be there on Friday (and only Friday!) helping out my friends sell their merch, so please drop by! Check out their designs beforehand if you want to get an idea of what you fancy

I am wearing:

• Penguin 360 t-shirt by Creative Zing
• Belt and skirt by H&M

Pains of a fashion blogger

Posted by Chris at 11:00 am

While we fashion bloggers all love fashion (duh..) and have our own tastes and styles, we find that we constantly need to push ourselves beyond all that to provide good and fresh content for our audience.  At least I feel this way.  Sometimes I catch myself wanting to create a "super unique outfit" just so I can post it on my blog and have something interesting for my audience.  Really, 5 days of the 7 in a week, I don't have these super creative outfits.  Fellow bloggers, do you find that we try too hard sometimes?  We put on too many accessories, drape on too many layers, think too much in our outfit construction, get too matchy-matchy and overall put in too much effort.

I really want this blog to reflect my own point of view, no matter if it's unique or significantly less than that.

Shirt: GAP
Pants: Initial at Hong Kong -  these are amazing and fit extremely well.  I bought many pairs of pants when I was there because everything was made for the asian body.  Nothing's more exciting than well-fitted pants!  It's like discovering landmass.

NERRRRD!

Posted by Justine at 3:39 pm

Let's talk about glasses ^_^ I'm not as vision-impaired as some of my friends (I have one glasses-wearing friend who is legally blind O___O), but I do need to wear glasses or contacts when I go out. I can't see a person's face unless they're standing less than 6 feet away from me.

I thought this was very fashion-related because it seems that "readers" or glasses without prescription are quite popular these days. But I'm also incorporating some helpful links to places that sell prescription glasses for affordable prices ^_^

These are my usual, every day glasses. They're newly-manufactured but resemble vintage-style brow-line eyeglass frames:

Before I got the brow-line frames, I had full-rim frames. Big and nerdy 8D but they fit my head snugly and comfortably.

I have these really trendy clear plastic full-rim frames but I never wear them because they're so loose on my head I can't get them tightened or adjusted because I bought them online :\

All of these glasses were purchased from Zenni Optical. Each pair was under $30 with shipping included, and they are prescription glasses!

Pros:
- Cheap frames
- Lots of selection
- Very fast (from order to delivery, it was 6-8 business days)

Cons:
- You won't know how the look on your face until you actually get them in the mail, after purchasing
- If you have a very high prescription, you have to pay extra for high index lenses
- No refunds or adjustments, and may not be covered by your insurance

Do you wear glasses?

Where are yours from? What style do you like? Do you have multiple pairs? Share share share!!