Fall/Winter 09-10 : Capes(Capelets) & Cloaks & Poncos

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Are you ready for the upcoming Fall and Winter?
Here are the trends for this winter holiday!
Get your wardrobe a reserved space for your new winter collections!

For those of you who doesn't really know the differences between capes, cloaks and poncos:

Capes (Capelets): A cape is pretty much any form of outerwear that opens at the front. It has no sleeves. Usually with slits for the arms instead, they could be round or straight slits. But many designers now made capes as a form of a coat with another sleeves alternative, which is the slits.

Cloaks: Cloaks are similar to capes, but longer. It has no sleeves as well. Again... sometimes designers would re modified this design.

Poncos: Poncos are a closed rounded fabric with a hole for one's head and body to go through. Completely sleeveless.

I extremely in love the first 5 picture's capes and cloaks. These styles are pretty cool. It also depends on how you mix and match, you can look either elegant and classy with your ankle boots and pumps or Gothic and punk with your over-the-knee boots.

And for those of you who live in a tropical part of the world like Indonesia, you still can have this trend with a more casual style. Wear cotton, jeans or linen capes like Picture #9 by Vera Wang with your mini skirts and pants. You could also find some night dresses or tops made and designed by these concept, look at the red dress, Picture #3 by Elie Tahari.

Get ready to Get busy for the Fall Winter Shopping! Enjoy!

Gladiator in Ballerina by Vivienne Westwood

My Italian teacher Vieri Simoni, (Ah! Yes! it is his birthday tomorrow. I should not forget to wish him Happy Birthday) By the way, he used to tell me that it is very normal in Italy that Italian men tend to look at the girls from head to toe so obivously and so amazingly. HaHaHa! I was not used to the way they look at me and my friends. But Vieri continues, "You will feel ugly when you go back to Jakarta or Shanghai when no one is staring at you like that anymore." I was laughing so hard, so do my friends.

Now that I am already in Shanghai..... I thought again of what he said... He is right! No one here in China looking at me like how the Italian men did. Yea...he is right I feel ugly, especially when it rains almost everyday here in Shanghai. The rain ruins your hair you know that! Anyway... as I said, I feel ugly everyday BUT not today! As I walk to campus, I see some girls and women were staring at my feet then they go to my upper body then making an eye contact with me. At first I didn't notice until a woman poked my shoulder and she spoke Chinese with me "Ni zai na li mai ni de xie zi?(where did you get your shoes?)" and I replied "What!!! ah! shen me?!" SO......... It was my shoes that all the girls were staring at! Ah obviously these shoes are adorable aren't they?

As I entered the class, 4 classmates (Jessica, Effie, Zoe, and Tina) were asking about my shoes. I think they like them too.

These shoes are rubber made, it is very strong plus comfortable plus very pretty! =) And perfect for this raining weather and it is very easy to clean! Only 1 thing is not so good about this pair of shoes... they are rubber therefore no air ventilation. However you still can wear an underneath socks for flat shoes. You can get these pair of shoes at Vivienne Westwood called the Ballerina. They come in beige, red, black, silver, green, yellow, and blue.

http://www.hervia.com/AW09-Vivienne-Westwood-Melissa-Shoes-Ballerina/c192_319/index.html

Garden on Your Nails

How do you love these girls? I have this big thing about hair and nails. I always love to carry pretty nails on my fingers. Until now... I am not used to have plain nail with nothing on them. I do my nails every week with nail polish. But you do realize right, that polishing your nail all the time will ruin the nail themselves? The nails get yellowish and weak.

If you have the same addiction like me.... don't worry girls! There is this beautiful solution for your nails. Have you heard of Nail Gel? You can find it in nail art stores or a manicure places. Nail Gel is a layer that covers the nail just like nail polish... and it harden the nails. Usually the nail artist will apply the gel many times and you will need x-ray lights to get it dry. As the result, you nail will be much more thicker and very glossy. Nail Gel will strengthen your nails.

You can apply many other things while doing the Nail Gel or after. For example, you could have some glitters together with the Gel or you could put acrylic nail art with Swarovski crystal on top of your Gelled-Nail. When you do only gel with no 3d arts, you can apply as many colors of nail polish you like on top of the gel, because you still can erase it just with acetone. These Gel could stay on your nails for about a month. But my recommendation is that you should go to the nail salon again within 2-3weeks to get the gel refill. So there will be no flat/empty/colorless on the part of the growing nails.

Now you get some more ideas about these nail arts. It is not only pretty but useful for all of us girls, especially when you are working as a clerks or sales person in a department stores where you have to meet a lot of people and you have to use your hand a lot when communicating with them. Having these pretty nails will be a total PLUS.

The first two pictures was done in Jakarta, Indonesia for about Rp. 750.000 / US$75 / 580RMB. With Gel, Swarovski crystal, and specialized acrylic art by a nail artist from Holland. And I did this one for 6 hours. This one until now, remains to be the top on my list!

The last two pictures was done in Guangzhou, China for about Rp. 500.000 / US$50 / 350RMB. With Gel and simple acrylic art. I did this one for 2.5 hours.

So girls, what do you think of this Nail Art? Is it worth the time, the price, and the utility?
Definitely a yes for me!

TRENDY: The Parisian Wardrobe

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Inspiring fashion icons aren't they? These Parisians...
I was there this June 09... people were so stylish and good looking.
The surrounding in Paris is totally different with any other in the world.
As you know, Paris is the most visited city in the world, you can tell who are the visitors and who are the real Parisian from their outfits.

I love their tailored blazers, especially pic #2 with the puffy sleeves, very clean cut.
I love how these Parisians matched their dresses with stockings and their stylish boots, together with their country-brand-bags like Hermes and Chanel.
And I love how they did their hair to make the look so elegant and classy.

These pictures have been such an inspiration to me and I believe many of you too.
They actually are giving us many new ideas how to mix and match.
Pic #12 has so many different pieces, but combining laces with ruffles together is actually very classy and elegant. She plays neutral colors therefore, I think it is very acceptable.

Marc Jacobs with his Skirt and Hermes Birkin Bag

I wonder how we always love the design and the creativity of our favorite designers, while they are not dressing themselves that well. Many of the fashion designers I know rarely dress as well as what they have created. You know right... when we went to a hair salon, we will see and pay attention to our new hair dresser, whether he/she is professional or not, just by looking at his/her own hair look. I don't know about all of you.. but I do sometimes take the credibility of their performance by looking at how they treat or manage themselves. Another example will be: when a sales person is talking to us about a beauty product and how good the product is to the skin, but her skin itself is not healthy, then how would we trust her? Is she credible to what she said? This will not be the same when we want to perceive fashion. There are anti-fashion and the phrase so called "fashion-disaster". The way of perceiving fashion might be different from each person.

Some designers are born to be trendsetters and some are followers. The trendsetters always think out of the box, beyond my imagination sometimes. Look at Mr. Marc Jacobs, it was a shock to me at the first 5 seconds that he is wearing a black skirt with an exclusive Hermes bag in his hand. It was something new, something for people to talk about.
In my opinion personally, he looks kind of awful, imagine him walking the streets, I would drop my chin. But hey! let's look at it in a different point of view. These trendsetters have always been inspiration to many others throughout the world. They sense fashion as an art; and we can't argue about art and taste, am I right?

Therefore, after that 5 seconds, I changed my mind, and decided that I like this picture very much. Not a picture you often see. He is standing there confidently because he has his own perception towards fashion, and he likes it this way. Although I think he might not be a good influence as a fashion icon, however he has been a great fashion designer. Mr. Marc Jacobs has been an inspiration to me and the part of his right brain has taken much of our attention these days through Vuitton to his own collections.

In the Beginning...

I am currently attending a Masters Program in Fashion Business and Retail in IFA Paris (Shanghai, China) and Polimoda (Florence, Italy). Our Marketing Communication Instructor, Mark Greiz believes that nowadays, someone with a fashion blogs are more special, more sensitive to the fast-changing trends in fashion. Therefore, here I am, with my new blog. I have the love to share my knowledge and information about fashion and to exchange thoughts with many of you about the way we see fashion these days. So doing it here in the blog will be a good start.

I took Business Marketing as my major in University of San Francisco and graduated at the end of 2007. Then I took this Masters Program in Fashion, because I have always been interested in Fashion since I was young. I came from a Fashion Industry Family background. My Mother owns garment factories both in Indonesia and in China with more than 20 years of experiences. I have been sitting in her office since I was little, and often go with her to the factories and to the meeting with her clients. Having the smell of fashion industry from the early stage has made me today.