Fleur

It's been 7 months since I wrote a word here, and it makes me sad to realise perhaps I have not made blogging my priority. What happened? Looking back, this 2017 has been a whirlwind of events. In the past 12 months, I had left my old job feeling really lost and discouraged, travelled, got my first tattoo, got offered a job I love, and met a whole new bunch of people at my workplace whom I treasure and consider my extended family. I wish I had it in me to pen down every single event that mattered to me, but there's only so much energy I can muster, so if you're still with me, I appreciate it so much!

One thing that mattered to me this year has been building a greener wardrobe, which involves downsizing my collection, getting more wear out of clothing, and my favourite part – buying second hand. To illustrate this, I'm dressed in mostly thrifted items today (minus the shoes). The vintage dress was bought off Carousell for only $8. Based on the aged fabric and unique silhouette, I believe it was made in the seventies. Definitely not an everyday look, but I love the square neckline and intricate embroidery too much to care. Meanwhile, the straw tote was spotted by my dear friend Jing at The Salvation Army. Its bamboo handles, crochet stitching, and leather flower brooch sealed the deal for me at $15. These items may not be shiny nor perfect but like faded photographs and dried flowers, I think they carry plenty of character and charm.

Photos by Yun Jing.

Tokyo: Vintage Shopping & More

When it comes to shopping, I always make it my personal mission to go thrift and vintage. I see it as my personal "me time" as I spend a slow day getting lost among racks of pass-me-downs, people watching, wandering around with a warm latte in one hand. It also supports a conscious lifestyle decision of mine to reduce my consumption in fast fashion. 

I focused on three main districts I found particularly interesting, namely Shimokitazawa, Harajuku, and Shibuya. Keep scrolling as I share my best shopping, dining experiences, and other goodies I discovered along the way!

Pages Of Gold

Show me the way it used to be

Show me I want to see

I am no longer afraid of my past

I want to confront all my new tasks

Show me the river where we swam

Show me the miles that we ran

From ourselves

And nothing more

There are some days when I wish I could time travel. There's a saying, "our minds aren't good offices" which is why we take notes – to remember things and other minute details. I'm really glad I caught my second Annie Leibovitz exhibition, titled 'Women: New Portraits', in Singapore. Her photographs, far from 'perfect', always show me some form of vulnerability within her subjects. Held at the old Tanjong Pagar railway station, its aged grittiness made quite a spot for an afternoon of aimless book browsing and daydreaming. 

I'm wearing vintage 70's maxi dress from Granny's Day Out, vintage Calvin Klein bag, c/o Misaki pearl earrings and vintage Casio watch. 

Photography by Yun Jing.

Vintage

Shadows of iron gates

Cast on sidewalks of deep space

Burning like a black hole lace

As mica turns to milky ways

I don't remember a distinct point when I fell in love with vintage, but it must have begun with my mother who passed down many of her preowned pieces. My earliest memories were her brass earrings, makeup brushes and silk scarves. My mother, born and raised in Shanghai, is a stylish woman. Surprisingly, some of her best vintage pass-me-downs were gifts from my father during their courtship. I can only wish my father's fine taste would have continued on today. The world's shift to a more sustainable lifestyle is an unavoidable topic. Reclaiming clothing is truly an excellent way to not only reduce waste but also give your style a retro flair which is always popular on the runways anyway.

With so many vintage collectors all over the world, there must be good reasons why anyone would make a conscious choice to adopt and preserve something old and aged. With most vintage clothing accessories made from genuine leather and delicate fabric, preservation is even more challenging in humidity which speeds up material deterioration. But I believe the delight in collecting lies in weaving stories embedded in the object with your own.  

The mini backpack I'm carrying, which belonged to my mother, has the most beautiful steel hardware that is impossible to find in today's mass manufactured market. Its smooth grain leather has faded over the past two decades to a deep brown. On the other hand, some vintage pieces come as they are with no background story, leaving a void for the owner to fill. I found this dusty pink dress in a thrift shop for a whopping S$6. Even though much of its thread was already falling apart when I discovered it, it was easily repaired. The silhouette, fabric and colour of this dress are so beautiful to me. I'm glad its owner had decided to give clothing a second chance.

Wearing a vintage dress, mom's vintage backpack, c/o O'ORO Accessories earrings, GH Bass oxfords, vintage Casio watch, Sephora lip rouge in Oh Oh. Photos by Mandy

月里嫦娥 + Outtakes

Anka crop top - Feist Heist

Satin tail skirt - thrifted from The Salvation Army

Paper Chinese fan - uncle

Jade bangles - hand me downs

Lipstick - Rimmel Kate Matte in .111

I present to you a continuation of the previous Chinese mythology inspired photo shoot '哪吒闹海'. This one is about a 嫦娥, lady who is immortal and lives a lonely life on the moon upon as the consequence of drugs overdose. We have not reached the period of moon cake festival but whatever, I simply felt very inspired to do something outrageous before I lose the drive to do so. 

This outfit is very interesting. One day, I was on a thrifting trip with my friends at Salvation Army when I discovered the most epic skirt ever. It was priced $30 but I managed to bargain down to $15 after the sales lady saw that I really loved the skirt. At that point of time I had no idea how I'd ever have the chance to wear it, unless it's for some red carpet event or something. It wasn't tagged with size but it fits me perfectly. The luxurious and heavy satin material glides elegantly against the floor as I move, at the same time I felt really guilty for literally sandpaper-ing it against the ground. It must have been tailored to the point! Now that I think about it, it really resembles Chang Er right? Close enough:

Moving on... So what's with the Chinese fan you might ask? Well, it's another one of those things that are so beautiful yet are impractical as hell. It's a paper fan that was meticulously hand painted by my relative. On one side it's a landscape and on the other there are a bunch of Chinese characters that I vaguely understand as something about education or character building. I'm such a sucker for Feist Heist tops that I couldn't resist bringing it into this look. Upon second thought it actually looked like some Japanese Samurai gear, not sure if Chang Er would wear such thing so I shall put my disclaimer right here that my outfit was not planned for historical accuracy.

Some outtakes/ behind the scenes photos stolen from Yun Jing's blog:

A note to my foreign friends who might be travelling to Singapore: shooting outdoors in Singapore is NOT fun. It's hot as hell and don't expect your hair to ever behave. Don't even think about volume cause all you'll ever get will probably be frizz and oily streaks.

It may sound unlikely but we weren't the only people in this place. Haha people were staring as we roam around with ridiculous poses and clothes (just me).

Wearing pants underneath my skirt didn't help with the heat. But, allow me to emphasise that there were nowhere to change from my previous outfit! Not even a toilet!!

We may not have the best equipments, lighting or cameras. We dragged our bags ourselves and made do with whatever we could use but I love these pictures so much! It must be exciting to look back in a few years time and laugh at these 'amateur' shots. Jing makes the best photo companion ever, which makes me utterly depressed that she's leaving for NZ. :( :(

Photos by Yun Jing.