#livingvicariously

as a true competition enthusiast, i can't believe i didn't think of googling / google alerting 'win tickets Susie Bubble Brisbane' until the day before she spoke at The Edge.. ahh, there were so many places giving away free tickets.
instead, i have been living vicariously through #portabletalks on twitter for the talk's duration. so depressing.

- Fashionologie, Style Bytes and A Shaded View of Fashion - the 3 big inspiration for Susie Bubble
- blogging is about being authentic - if you're talking about it, live it as well!
- fashion should be about experience - if you're going to talk about designs then why not wear them!
- consumers should be aware of the craft behind brands
- the more you blog, the more of an imprint on google you leave
- a quality audience that really engages with the content is more important than just high traffic - quality over quantity
- bloggers can give brands different perspectives on their own product and image
- through the years, the categories of fashion blogging have emerged
- niche blogs: they're less talked about, but it's what makes fashion blogging such a rich, diverse space
- fashion bloggers have had to fight for legitimacy and to be considered as important outside of fashion week
- fashion bloggers are too cosy with the designers that they buy
- blogger VS journalist? the comparison is often misguided. fashion blogging is in its nature expressive & subjective
- we should embrace bloggers as creatives who express fashion through a range of skills, as opposed to reporters on fashion.
- bloggers as celebrities - there's been a move offline, bloggers are now doing tangible things e.g. books, TV, guest appearances.
- blogger as spokesperson and brand megaphone / blogger as content creator - both are valid

thanks to @KasturiShan, @SLQedge, @slqAPDL, @Portable, @alexatepaper

geeking out about the details of things is a core part of the male psyche

'geeking out about the details of things is a core part of the male psyche.
our ability to obsessively seek and conquer the lesser-known mysteries of the universe – like just exactly which Sonic Youth album has the best guitar sound or how you actually play Advanced Dungeons and Dragons – has given rise to a slew of influential, but not-very-cool pop-culture institutions. like Top Gear. and 4Chan.

we don’t tend to associate this kind of obsessive nerdiness with the world of fashion. but there’s a certain subset of male style-o-philes that take great pleasure in discussing, comparing and contrasting the latest drops from the most obscure fashion brands. and for these guys, few things are talked about with more reverence than the innovative menswear brands that have emerged from Japan in the last decade.
there are so many tiny things to pore over in each product, so many minute-but-crucial innovations each season – perfect for guys who are into fashion but can’t get excited by the flamboyant, slightly girly flourishes on European men’s runways.

'the amount of detail that goes into Japanese brands and production, I think, is unrivalled,' says Christiaan Ashworth, co-owner of Newcastle’s End Clothing, one of the UK’s most savvy and forward-looking menswear boutiques. 'British production’s fantastic, as is American, but...in Japan, the consideration that goes into the products... sometimes it even seems crazy, the lengths that they will go to.'

as examples, he cites pieces like a shirt by the much-hyped technical label White Mountaineering with printed inner seams, or the way in which Hiroki Nakamura, the designer of the ultra-premium men’s brand Visvim, completely redesigns every piece, from basics to the top-priced items, each season. 'whereas other brands might make a bestseller and make it in a colour the next season, he won’t do that because it’s all about design innovation,' Ashworth says.

all this is well and good as a kind of internet/fashion-porn experience, but historically, getting hold of this stuff has been prohibitively difficult and expensive. 'Japanese brands have always been fairly insular and wary of being too global,' Tim Sturmheit, a buyer at the men’s e-tailer and boutique Oki-Ni, says. 'they like to stick to their own and what they know and theywork in a certain way that’s quite difficult for British buyers to deal with. the way that they wholesale is different and you also have to pay for shipping.
so they end up being very expensive, a lot more expensive than they are in Japan.'

but in the past couple of seasons, especially this spring, it seems more Japanese brands are making their way to the UK than ever. at End Clothing, there are new arrivals in Sophnet, a poppy, premium street and casualwear brand, and the related label Uniform Experiment, a collaboration between Sophnet and Harajuku style legend Hiroshi Fujiwara. Oki-Ni has just added Undercover, one of the original, and most influential Japanese street-styleinspired luxury brands, to its roster.

meanwhile, Natalie Massenet’s men’s e-tailer, Mr Porter, is among a select few stores that, as of spring 2012, are now stocking one of Japan’s biggest clothing labels, Beams Plus, a line that offers a characteristically Japanese take on classic American clothing from the 1940s and 1950s.
then there’s the emergence of retailers like the Dalston-based showroom and online shop LN-CC (or Late Night Chameleon Club), which, since it launched at the end of 2010, has done a pioneering job of bringing some of the most obscure and interesting Japanese brands – like Tokyo’s current style frontrunner Sasquatchfabrix – to a hungry UK market.

so, why is this all happening now? first of all, Ashworth says, the accessibility of information on the internet has increased demand. 'you can find a product and read all about what its different features are really quickly,' he says. 'there’s more people in the UK that are aware of these brands than ever before. secondly, there’s the recession and the disaster in Japan last year. previously they haven’t had to look outside of Japan, but now, because of these factors, they are starting to look for other good sources of income.'
Oki-Ni’s Sturmheit points to the undeniably blossoming scene for independent menswear retail in the UK. 'Japanese brands are realising what potential there is here, partly with making money and partly because there’s more stores that fit their mentality,' he says.

given the Japanese way of doing business, which is based on close personal relationships and trust established through face-to-face meetings, this last development is more important than you might think. Keishi Endo, the vice-president of Beams, is keen to underline this. 'we’d like to treasure the good relationship with stores sharing the same concept of values all over the world,' he says when asked if he has further plans to expand Beams Plus in the UK. 'this is more important than expansion.''
- Japanese fashion: Eastern Promises, Adam Welch

adventures in toileing (toile-ing? muslin-ing..)

some (very) preliminary toiles and playing with different shapes / sizes for an upcoming sample review.
i obviously need to work on the lack of symmetry and the extreme wonkiness hahah..

INFLUENCERS SERIES - part VIII

while fashion interviews and online magazine articles are constantly quoting figures regarding the major bloggers' tens of thousands of hits to their websites daily, i think the real art is a blog that remains truly consistent and develops a loyal readership - rather than people who simply skim the content and move on.
Dorota, the brains behind The Divinitus personal style blog, has truly mastered this level of refinement. there is a real sense of satisfaction in knowing that future posts by a particular individual will certainly leave you in awe while also retaining a sense of comfort and familiarity - an aesthetic consistency.



i'm more than flattered that Dorota was happy to answer some questions for me, as i can appreciate that the more renowned bloggers such as herself often have a thousand and one projects (and a separate full-time job, in her case) continually on-the-go. while you are welcome to peep some of her insightful answers and imagery below, i would also recommend reading the previous interviews that she has answered online - all are terribly interesting..

what inspires your outfits on a day-to-day basis?
structure, abstract cuts and volume as visuals, because as with every person who's coming from a strong artistic background i'm sensitive to a good design. but my main goal is the functionality and ease of dressing, so i intentionally limit myself to only a couple of designers whose aesthetics are close to mine.
people may find it monotonous and not very inventional or take it as an easy path, but to me such consistency is well-calculated and a necessary part of conscious style. as an artist myself i'm able to comprehend and respect the other's vision as you should with any artform. this approach brings everything to another level, as opposed to focusing on the random-shopping effort, wasting time or proving you have too much of it.

do you have a way of categorising your wardrobe? (eg. colour / style / season)
i categorise it by each of those.

do your tastes in fashion and interior design become influenced by the same sorts of ideas, or do you see them as completely different artistic mediums?
i believe their main aesthetics should complement each other.



has your personal style evolved or changed as a result of beginning your blog?
my style evolved but not because of my blog, but as a natural process of maturity and the perks that come with it.

do you tend to mostly buy new or vintage pieces?
i don't shop for vintage anymore, because there is too much of other's interference in it already.

do you mostly follow local or international blogs?
locally probably because of similar needs. generally the country doesn't matter, only general aesthetics.

what characteristics do you believe make a successful blog?
either choose approachable aesthetics that are worshiped by the masses or go against, and choose a niche and be the best in it.



how much time do you generally spend on putting together each post - do you have a particular strategy to your blogging?
as little as possible, but still with lots of planning to achieve the perfect ensemble with relatively limited sources. whether you have a lot of money or just a little, neither will prevent a forced or over the top look. i'm able to express my creativity on a daily basis thanks to my profession, so i'm not interested in a 'creative' getup show. instead i want a wearable ensemble based on quality over quantity, where i keep the original concept without taking it too literal.

what do you think your point of difference is to all of the other fashion blogs out there?
besides my main goals, all pictures are mine and taken by me. searching for the perfect ensemble i intentionally made my images plain and without pretty backgrounds or spied modeling. i take a risk and eliminate engaging scenery which may compensate for a weak ensemble.

if you had unlimited money, do you think your style would change?
probably not the main concept, just the ease of execution. sporadically i could drift away from practicality and take more risks.



are you influenced by any particular designers, or more so by street style?
i'm interested in permanency found in avant-garde. i like dark aesthetics and casual approach. i like consistent collections with their repetitive cuts facilitating timeless ensembles. the ease of dressing coming from that kind of permanency is proof of a good design and influences me the most.

does the style of the city or country that you live in affect your choice of outfit?
it may not necessarily affect my general preferences, but it does manage the standards and force me to utilise them differently.

(all images courtesy of The Divinitus)

data von teese

‘the man of the moment is just way ahead of his time. ..could be why you see just distance in his eyes. he could be watching ashes grow - where all your best seeds were just now sown, but for all i know there's far more i don't.
new rays of light must fight for a place between the leaves, so son don't seem surprised to find no shade beneath this tree.
just like Abe you can't think twice when offered your piece of the franchise. now every kid expects a birthright.

hand-me-down, hand-me-down, oh brother. now it's your turn, it's your turn to deliver. what's the measure of a man made to measure?

it's some privilege to claim that only the strong survive - if you can choose the time and place and what you'll sacrifice. we'll all get our piece of the dream.
and the have-nots will have to take another hit for the team..well that's just how it's always been.
it went something like - garden, tree, Adam and Eve, and Father, pray, forgive. but if i never hear that shit again i'll live and live and live, and whatever made the world go round before is probably what will keep it going round after they're gone.
but for all i know there's much more i don't.‘

XXXXXXX

skirt 2.0

more vibez from the same assignment..










i am assuming that the pattern making is all wrong, i've never done any of that sort of thing before..