Kool Like Karlie

Karlie by Terri Richardson

This six-foot bamboo pole of beauty and grace caught my attention because she had ballet training when she was younger. As someone who has nothing but love, passion and absolute respect for ballet as an art and ballet dancers as the most dedicated artistes, I am naturally more inclined to people who have experienced the beauty of dance and gone through the love-hate and obsessive compulsiveness that comes with perfection of this art form. Repetition of the same motions on a regular basis, just to achieve a personal standard that the dancer sets for his or herself based on the limitations of the respective bodies, without complaint is proof enough of the discipline a dancer has mentally and physically to push the body in that way.

It never occurred to me that it is a talent that dancers can move their bodies the way they do. For most part of my dancing years, the comparison I took on with my own body was with the professionals, oftentimes questioning why the turnout is not turned out, why the torso is too short, why can't I turn triples just like that and so on. Until about the age of 20, it came to my realisation that I was already gifted with one statement the ballet mistress made in class "remember the body doesn't naturally move or stand in this way" (or something like that). 

Ballet in particular is the foundation for most forms of dance. Watch So You Think You Can Dance and the judges usually advise the non-ballet trained to at least take a few classes to get their basics together. Ballet is so precise that there is no space for mistakes and one wrong placement will definitely, without a doubt, lead to muscles building in the wrong areas, killing lines and inevitably the professional career. This highly technical form of dance basically forces you to truly understand your body, from muscles that ache daily to those that you never even knew existed. It teaches form, discipline, posture and rhythm, which is exactly what Karlie herself referred to, that ballet taught her how to move.

The versatility of this leggy beauty is nothing short of impressive. If models are blank canvasses onto which hopes, dreams and ideas are displayed upon, then Karlie is definitely one of the top dogs. Her ability to morph into any style or look is a quality I believe all models dream to possess.

Alexander Wang Lookbook

From couture to Victoria's Secret to regular girl, Karlie has pretty much done it all, and all in her youth too. Talk about accomplishments.

Saucy and sultry for none other than Vogue Italia

Good morning Karlie

With Frida Gustavsson

And fellow VS Angel, Chanel Iman. Candid this-is-super-fun shots are the best. 

Adorable. Although not my favourite type of dog, but who's complaining?

Such is why, Karlie is model of the moment in my books. 
And then there's Freja. 
Float. 


♥,
Fir

Living on the Edge

'Edgy' has been thrown around carelessly and used so often to describe any look that is unsafe that no one really knows what edgy really means. It got me thinking and I decided to find out. According to the free online dictionaries (all hail and long live Google), 'edgy' at its root means anxious or irritable. In terms of Art or Fine Art, 'edgy' means excessively defined. The essence of 'edgy' however, lies in the way it excites because it is innovative and to a certain extent, intense. Hence, edgy is neither an unconventional look that is way out there, nor an (ironically) safe combination of tons of black eyeliner, leather, boots and distressed denim. The latter is the Harley/biker-chic that Singaporean girls have been so eager to adopt. Being edgy just means being innovative and showing some creativity in putting outfits together so you don't wind up like all the other cookie-cutter girls out there. You've not only portrayed a bit of yourself in those clothes on your back, you've also captured an essence of that edge.

Fashion, style and such advice are all highly subjective and in a sense, absolutely cruel to those who don't subscribe to conventional notions of the so-called fashion manifested in seasonal or annual trends that people are so keen to follow. Somehow this system works and has worked since time immemorial probably because as social beings, humans need to attain that innate sense of belonging to a community of some sort and if it requires that we follow those set customs and norms to be part of the same 'pack' so to speak, then so be it.

As is the case with all subjective and undefined subject matters on this planet, there is an escape clause or loophole. The escape clause that always works: this is what I consider edgy which may not be what you define as edgy. Sure there are some benchmarks that position 'edgy' somewhere around 'eclectic' but this definition is far from set in stone. Personally, as long as there is some element of creativity in an outfit that makes me go "hey omg, I didn't know you could wear it like that", then that's edgy.

We can't talk edgy without mentioning Alexa Chung. She has definitely nailed that Brit-eclectic-chic.



Then there are models Frida Gustavsson and Abbey Lee. I love their personal styles.



With celebrities like Lady Gaga, no doubt poised on the edge of glory and the brink of madness in her odd-as-hell outfit (or lack thereof) choices, pushing boundaries with way-out concepts of fashion (the meat dress was one disgusting piece of work), one could say that the playground has definitely opened up a lot more today. There is so much more space for creative genius as well as mistakes.





Moreover, with so many high street brands replicating runway looks and creating new trends on their own (Zara, H&M and so on), fast fashion is indeed a fantastic way for anyone to push their personal fashion boundaries. Affordable clothes definitely make experimenting a lot less taxing on our branded wallets, imagine spending more than $100 on one item every time we go shopping. There is no way that will help the fashion industry which is, today, just thriving on the whims and fancies of more and more women who are acheiving a level of disposable income that makes it alright for them to shop till they drop, embedded and embroiled as we are in a consumerist and materialistic culture that encourages capitalism and senseless expenditure with every swipe of a credit card.

Whoever coined shopping as 'retail therapy' certainly was brilliant. I am personally a sucker for retail therapy, as is almost every other person out there. In cities like Singapore, I think it's fair to say that most pastimes require spending some money one way or another, especially if you choose to head out. Spending your heard earned money on yourself becomes therapeutic because you can say "hey, I worked for this and I deserve to treat myself", which in turn fuels that capitalist cycle of making more and more money so you can spend more on yourself every single time. Overspend and you live on the edge of debt; keep saving and you'll live comfortably in retirement.

In any case, that's the way the world works. So? Deal with it (haha). I'm happy spending on myself when I can afford to and there's nothing better than fueling some of that creative energy into buying some edgy gems stocked among the shelves in the shops in town to play around with at home.


♥,
Fir