Aglaia Dress and Kubik Chic Bootie from CHIYO
Leather Biker Jacket from BLK DNM
Mini pop studded leather shoulder bag from LANVIN
Mendoza Bracelet from Aurélie Bidermann
Flirt with Do What You Love Without Hesitation
24 JunBeen busy building my fashion label and I must say, it has been very educational. Fashion is not always about the glam and glitz that one see on the glossy covers of VOGUE, there’s so much that one has to deal with . It’s almost like an entrance test.. to see if you’ve got what it takes to jump on this , perhaps, erratic course.
I believe the main thing is to stay true to yourself and go forth with what drives you. I won’t say I’m 100% confident that people are receptive of my designs or my style judgement but I definitely wear ’em loud and proud.
And if things just don’t go as plan, at least I know how it all works..I could perhaps aim to be a fashion buyer , stylist etc.. I’ve encountered many which got me puzzled, in my head thinking “seriously, you’re a stylist.. a buyer? I mean, come on… its H&M , not HDM.. even my somewhat-fashion ignorant-boyfriend knows that”
With all that, I continue to live by this quote (with the help of Paul Smith)
Flirt with Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference
24 Jun
Spektrum Dress and Bondage City Platform from CHIYO
CHYC Medium East West Navy Tote from YSL
Velvet Way Sunglasses from Italia Independent
Flirt with CHIYO – a fashion label with a kook
9 AprTook me a year…with all the planning, decision making, traveling (this, I do not complain), meetings, talking, getting pissed, being pissed at, stressing, many face palm moments, lost in translation, losing weight, gaining weight, $$$ poured out, more $$$ poured out… , my baby is finally ALIVE!!
Presenting…
Womenswear // Shoes // Accessories //
// Design // Sui Generis // Contemporary // Kooky //
CHIYO brand personifies being ‘sui generis’ – of its own kind, by creating contemporary yet timeless pieces that can be worn anytime, anywhere. It is intended to produce clothing, shoes and accessory line that will fulfill those who yearn to be different.
CHIYO aims to captivate by creating bold clothes, unassumingly kooky shoes and expressive accessories that will undoubtedly have its wearer stand out from the rest. Asymmetry and geometry both serves as the core concept when creating each collection with various influences from Japan’s eccentric street style to Australia’s avant-garde architecture and colours.
Every piece of CHIYO has a certain personal touch to it from being handcrafted, hand-assembled to hand-printed, which adds to the unique aesthetic of CHIYO.
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The newly launched website (took me 3 full days to build this, but yay.. I can start building e-commerce websites for others now)
A lot of effort has been put into creating this label , and I hope it’ll grow into something A-A-AWESOME
website: http://www.shopchiyo.com
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shopchiyo
lookbook: http://lookbook.nu/pixiebel
stockists: http://www.zalora.com.my/chiyo
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Shoes#1 Collection
This collection was on preview at the Shoe Festival.. http://www.shopchiyo.com/misf-2012/
Check ’em out.
Flirt with Nuclear Boy Japan
1 Apr
A cute way of explaining Japan’s current situation.
I’m so devastated with what has happened and was looking forward to my 2 months trip to Japan this coming august. Air ticket bought, itinerary almost complete, currently taking Japanese lessons… sigh Looks like I do not have much fate with Japan, this is the second time I’ve to cancel my Japan self exploration trip.
One of the biggest event that I’m looking forward to is the Earth Festival that happens every year at Sado Island. It’s a 3 day taiko festival, and being a taiko drummer myself, it’s one event that I do not want to miss out.
15th Anniversary Wadaiko Rindo with 117 performers
Great work on the fundraising concert for Japan. Wadaiko Rindo managed to collect a total of $9615.05 in a short period of time. Dontaions was given to the Consulate General of Japan (Japanese Red Cross Association)
- Donations from fundraising concert – $9615.05
My Taiko sensei - Toshi Sakamoto and his wife Junko
Flirt with the Art of Wing Chun
22 Mar
Right Hand
Left Hand
Pretty isn’t it?
Got this during Wing Chun training, it’s not as painful as it looks and the training is not as brutal as it seems. I got the bruise because I was attacking my partner and she had to block my attacks with a bong sao. This shows what your opponent will get if they try to attack you and all you got to do is just one simple move. Such a fascinating art.
Why kung fu?
When one thinks of kung fu, the vision of some young lone ranger fighting with a long white bearded man that looks like pai mei giving out an evil laugh
or the infamous Wong Fei Hung, which all of us will get all excited whenever we hear the Theme Song..
or even this lady here haha
Well, I’ve always been fascinated about kung fu and for those who knows me, will have heard me utter a million times that I want to pick up wing chun.
My grandpa is a huge fan of action movies, and I’ve spent most of my childhood days at their place watching many wong fei hung, jackie chan movies, rocky etc. It never fails to crack me up whenever I see him get so immersed with the movie, doing air round punches as if he was the one kicking the enemies’ asses. Whenever someone asked me, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ The answer is usually something along the lines of musician, entrepreneur, and so on..but really deep down.. i want to be a SUPER HERO!
so reason behind it all.. is that, I really want to be like my childhood hero
YATTA!!
I always dreamt of being able to do the Hyakuretsu Kyaku (Hundred Tearing Kicks) and her Spinning Bird Kick ( I used to call it the helicopter kick)
Spinning Bird Kick
Hyakuretsu Kyaku (hundred tearing kicks)
Jackie Chan as Chun Li ( so wrong!)
and also my other hero. SOI FON!!
The closest I could get to being Soi Fon was during cosplay. This is my first time attending a cosplay convention and making my own weapon – Suzumebachi. Guess it’s pretty obvious both my idols are from kung fu background.
Don’t mess with my suzumebachi
My suzumebachi…made from craft foam hehe..
My interest towards wing chun heightened after the infamous Ip Man movie starring Donnie Yen. I guess most people have the misconception that kung fu is mainly for males and that the art is slowly fading away if you compare to other martial arts like karate, taekwando, etc. due to its tradition of being very secretive about passing the art to the next generation. Often, only selected ones are chosen to be taught the traditional art form.
The movie definitely got me hyped up and I went on to research more on this art. When I found out that the wing chun martial art was created by a female, it got me even more excited. The only thing that’s holding me back from going for it is that I always have this feeling that martial art is aggressive and I’ll probably won’t be too comfortable having physical contact with 20 tough guys ready to kick my ass. (i’m a very petite creature and I still want to have a pretty face). So knowing that this art was created by a female and it’s for those with a smaller build had got me even more intrigued.
So here I am, enrolled in a Wing Chun’s Academy.
I did hesitate for awhile when I reached the place, was about to turn around when I was at the door, staring at a bunch of students doing their training. Took me a couple of mins to finally get my courage up to go in and ask for a trial lesson. Glad I didn’t chicken out.
I know I won’t be able to do any hyakuretsu kyaku or kicking some hollows’ ass but it definitely made me feel like I’m one step closer to realizing my unrealizable dream.
Flirt with eyegasm at the LMFF L’Oreal Fashion Festival 2011
19 MarThere are many things that I’m passionate about but the one that tops my list will always be
I’ve been to a couple of fashion shows in Melbourne but this is my first time attending show organized by L’oreal and its absolutely fabulous.
As you can see, this year’s look is return to Glamour – back to the 1950s chic look where women have poise and style. Often wears a look that will leave an impression (the infamous bold and satiny red lips). It was the period where society has evolved, being more liberated and accepting towards females’ capabilities , hence the trend in menswear for females.
Here are some themes from the past years’ shows
I managed to catch the L’oreal Paris Runway 2 presented by Vogue Australia featuring Arnsdorf, Bassike, Dress up, ELLERY, From Britten, Laurence Pasquier, Lui Hon and Song for the Mute (who received the LMFF Designer Award). I picked this show because of Lui Hon, from Project Runway Australia and him being a Malaysian too makes it a lot more interesting.
My favourites for the night were ELLERY for its simplicity but quirky and Lui Hon for its eccentricity and its play with the fabrics. Dress Up’s fabric colour match was quite interesting too.
ELLERY - one of my fav from the collection
DRESS UP - going for the vintage look
LUI HON
I did smack myself in the head for not bringing my camera and my iPhone is in a rather bad shape seeing that 3/4 of the screen is cracked. Didn’t get to take any good picture during the show and the one below obviously does not do any justice. Also, I’m pretty sure I saw a celebrity as there was this really gorgeous lady sitting right opposite me and Amanda – and we can’t keep our eyes off her. She looks so familiar and I told Amanda later that night that it could be Dannii Minogue. Not sure if she’s from Melbourne but she did mentioned LMFF briefly in one of her tweets.hmmm..
The perks about this event is the Powder Room (psst..I had to steal some pics from this missy). I’ts a lil room set up on the outside where people can have their hair, lips, nails or skin care done for FREE.. and get a snap shot after that.
I always thought short hair don’t really have much choice when it comes to hair styling but what the lady did was she took small chunks of my hair and pin them up.. 20 pins altogether. I might just try doing that myself one day.
Me and Amanda had our hair done just before the fashion show. She had the croissant bun style on her, very chic.
It looks pretty crazy with this angle
looks better from here 🙂
I’m not exactly a makeup person… I love make up but I’m just too lazy to do anything about it, and most of the time, I’m just not sure exactly what I’m suppose to do. Took me years to finally remember the order of application. I have to admit I am a late bloomer on beauty products, I only discover concealer at the age of 18 and didn’t know how to handle a eyelash curler until around 22 (a gay salesguy had to teach me how to use it and recommended Givenchy mascara saying that that’s the only mascara he will every use *blinks his eyes at me*)
When I saw the Marie Claire & Loreal paris Beauty workshop, I thought to myself, maybe I should check this one out , could learn some useful tips. The makeup guru for the workshop was the flamboyant Rae Morris, she is just amazingggggg!
Rae Morris : Makeup Guru
The looks that she has created were gorgeous and the most important bit, simple and easy to follow. She’s a great presenter and highly entertaining too. She is also the make up artist for the runway shows. For the workshop, she had prepared 3 looks and the top hit was the Statement Eyes Look!
Show off your statement eyes
The trick to do the statement eyes is DUCT TAPE and decided to give it a go. Hehe.. kinda works..
Here are some of Rae’s other works in editorial and advertising.
The next fashion event that I went to was the Fashion Industry Forum – E-tail Detail. I was hoping to get some great insights on e-commerce for fashion as I’ll be *crosses fingers* starting my own online boutique soon sometime in April/May if all goes well. The forum was alright, I guess it’ll be useful for those who do not have any advertising or marketing background. It just felt like I was in one of many advertising lectures.. talking about porters 5 forces *rolls eyes* And the girls from Asos weren’t exactly clear about their presentation. Nice presentation slides though.
E-tail at BMW Fed Square
So fashion show is DONE, makeup DONE, business DONE, there is only one thing left to do….
SHOPPING!!!
I tired my luck at the Fashion Weekend Designer Sale by Shop Til You Drop… and it just exactly what it says.. I shop till I drop and had to get a cab back coz I looked like a crazy shopaholic with 6 shopping bags. Let me present you my achievements:
My new 5 pairs of Melissa Shoes: Welcome to the family
Melissa Juggler Beige
Melissa Malika Blue
Melissa Liberty Gold
I know buying 5 pairs at a time is.. slightly more than usual BUT it’s dirt cheap. Damage: $340. Seriously, any Melissa Shoes fan should soooo check out this sale but its ending tomorow and you’ll need to get a $10 ticket to get in (it’s worth it). They have more designs, like the VW Wedge, Jean Paul Gaultier Stiletto, Ashanti, VW Flip Flop, AH Troupe Gloss, VW Lady Dragon Stamp, which I’m so SOO tempted to buy and it wasn’t really the money issue (since its so darn cheap), was more of the space issue. I’m running out of space trying to fit my 50 pairs of shoes in this tiny apartment.
A useful tip for those who have a pair of Melissa x Viv westwood shoes and has a problem with their studs often popping up when you walk (can be very annoying), you can bring your shoes to the Melissa Australia office and they’ll fix it for you. For those who can’t make it to the Fashion Weekend Sale, Melissa Australia is having their sale online from Monday onwards.
My Melissa Shoes Collection : Now my Lady Dragon is not so lonely anymore
Well of course shoes is just one part of the shopping…say hello to Maurice & Eve and House of Harlow
Maurice and Eve Sweater Dress (looks like a straitjacket :P)
What a steal!
Some House of Harlow treasure which were 50% off!
I go by the theory “Work Hard Play Hard”..now that I’ve shop hard…
it’s time for me to work hard…….. T_T
My lil home office
Flirt with Nintendo Gameboy Nanoloop
27 Jul12 years since I last touched a gameboy.. nostalgic feeling to the max. My definition of relax during my pre-teen years was listen to my walkman while playing my gameboy and a bottle of coke by my side. Ah what luxury!
My colleague friend, who’s a music synthesis junkie brought this to work to show me how cool a toy this is. Behold! the Nintendo Gameboy Nanoloop!
Nanoloop is a mobile music software that provides all functionality you need to create nice electronic music. With its clear, minimalistic interface it plays almost like a game while still allowing for complex musical structures as well as sheer noise. – Oliver Wittchow
I like one word from that sentence, minimalistic…
4x4 grid sequencer
It’s like the cartridge works as the sound library and the gameboy console is the midi controller. The developer has also created Nanoloop for iPhone. Still thinking if I should pay $2.99 for it…
Here’s some loops I messed around
Now I feel like searching for my old gameboys and have some old skool times…
Flirt with Little Creatures
20 JulAt 7 degrees and light showers, we passed by a glass door with a man on the other side making hot dogs…
It’s a crime to walk away
- The hotdog man
Welcome to the Little Creatures Dining Hall
Little Creatures brand logo
Pork sausage hotdog and Little Creature Bright Ale
Great food, Great beer.. what took me so long to finally go there.
The hotdog comes in two choices, pork or lamb. Never knew there’s such a thing as lamb sausage 
Written somewhere at the side of the stairs, it says that you can take those red bikes for a ride.
Bar counter with all the lil descriptions of their beer
Can’t really see from the picture but there’s small lil hanging chalkboards with descriptions of the beer. I usually go for pale ale but saw the bright ale’s description as ‘fruity, citrus and sunshine’. So need that under a gloomy weather!
Little Creatures beer range:
Pale Ale
Brewed with Chinook and Cascade hop flowers all the way from Washington and Oregon, US and local ones form Tasmania. Creating an intense citrus and grapefruit aroma.
Pilsner
Brewed with Tasmanian Hallertau, New Zealand Pacifica and Saaz hops. Giving a light flavour and crisp Bitterness.
Rogers
Brewed with the best whole hop flowers and toasted malts. Gives a combination of light, citrus with roasted hazelnut, toffee and caramel malt flavours..
Bright Ale
Brewed with summer fruit aromas of luscious pineapple, passionfruit and melon with a generous addition in the brew house of whole US Cascade and NZ Motueka hop flowers. The happy little beer.
Beer angels
Flirt with Wadaiko Taiko Drums
19 JulTaiko (太鼓) or Wadaiko (和太鼓) means “drum/wide drum” in Japanese and the taiko drumming ensemble is known as Kumi-daiko (組太鼓)
I was blown away with Tao Drum – Samurai of the Drum performance at the Palms@Crown.
A lil’ info on the Tao Drum troupe:
- they were formed 16 years ago, with a 10 year plan on establishing themselves
- the troupe is divided to Tao Red and Tao Yellow
- Tao’s homegrown is Aso-Kuju National Park (that’s where they lived, trained, performed. Accommodation with full facilities such as halls, sauna, spa, theater, gym etc.)
Morning on the Handa Plateau, Aso-Kuju National Park. Good place to focus and practice.
Tao Red and Tao Yellow
The group that performed at the Palms was Tao Red as a recognized some familiar faces:
Arisa Nishi - the hot chick who plays the biggest drum
Maki Morifuji - the super hyper lion head
Takuya Era - the one who can really swing that stick :p
My seat at the Palms. Quite a good view for last row seats
No pictures allowed during performance but here are some pics from the Tao Drum Gallery
The humorous part where they tease each other
It's not only about hitting the drums, it's got body movements too
Drums and Flutes
My hyper lion head chick!!
Because they looked like they’re having so much fun, I wanna try it too. Before I start Googling, I found this in my bookmarks
Can’t remember why I bookmarked this last year but.. .yay!!
Contacted the instructor, Toshi Sakamoto and he asked me to come for the basic class (right timing, they were about to start the new term). I figure I could go for the Beginners class instead, since I’ve did drumming and percussion before (as long as its not constantly hitting the downbeats like triple cello parts in Steelpan >.< ….that still haunts me……) and plus I do play Taiko Drum Master (hwa hwa hwa)
Taiko Drum Master
Reached there early and got so excited when I hear the drums going on. The people in Abbortsford must be cursing these drums. I walked around the neighbourhood and I can still hear it a block a way.. its so LOUDDDDD (I guess that’s just how it is, Taiko Drums were meant to motivate military troops during war)
My Taiko Drum sticks
Taiko drumming isn’t just about hitting the drums. Its also about the pose, body movements making it all a great work out!!!
one hand hits the drum while the other make a circle while keeping your knees bend
Move 1: X across your chest
Move 2: Throw hands to the sides
Move 3: swing your right stick *swish*
These moves were part of the Umai, which generally have more spirited movements based on the rhythm. We had a brief session on Hachijodaiko, with two person hitting the drums at both sides and the rest of us following them, like a call and response.
Hachijodaiko (we had a much bigger drum)
Looking forward to my classes 🙂
Flirt with the Pixie 
