Joining the Red Army

With Chinese New Year still going on, it's hard not to feel the festive cheer. For the more fortunate ones like me with tighter-knit families and smaller groups of relatives, Chinese New Year is a pretty enjoyable period where cousins of the same wavelength (very important), quirky uncles and blur aunties come together to feast and make merry. I cannot remember a Chinese New Year which wasn't cacophonous with family members practically shouting in order to be heard or screaming with laughter till the neighbours got annoyed over Black Jack with wine, beer and an overdose of pop music or just a good conversation with good-natured suan-ing all around. Sure it gets tiring, but hey, it's still family and I'd rather too much noise over dead, awkward silence. As always, part of the fun of new year comes in dressing up. As I don't have many places to visit annually (yay for me) and my parents are cool with my clothes (most of the time), I don't really have to watch what I wear. In fact, it works as long as it's new. However because this is the dragon year and apparently us poor dragon kids somehow offended the 'tai sui' or some other big shot up in the heavens, I'm joining the Red Army and Fal is my fellow comrade. Red isn't my colour of choice and the number of real reds in my wardrobe is countable with ten fingers. I'm making an exception this new year and hoping that it brings on better things to come in the new year.

The switch back to the non-red options is inevitable of course, just look at the gorgeous nude, pastel, monochrome and printed offerings that S/S12 had off the runway.

Lanvin

Marni for some yellow

Black and white with Lanvin

Marni again and I'm loving the clashing prints 

Marni taking on the florals

Roberto Cavalli  

Kudos to Roberto Cavalli's crazy prints

Happy New Year everyone!

♥,
Fir

Here comes the sun... dress!

Summer. Here comes the sun! Everyday, without fail, I will hear at least two complaints about the weather and I say what's there not to complain about? The weather has been absolutely insane; stepping out into the open means walking directly into a dense, clingy wall of heat, where the unmoving air steams and condenses onto my skin that is already covered with that sticky film of perspiration that all of us Singaporeans are used to. Needless to say, wearing less is more. Exposing whatever we can decently expose of our bodies allows for the pleasure (or you could say, cheap thrill) of feeling that hint of a breeze (ok, a hot/warm breeze is still a breeze) on our skins in this impossibly tropical climate. From personal experience, I tell you truly and sincerely that sundresses are the way to go in such ridiculous humidity. Shorts are great of course, especially for those of you with amazing legs but sundresses definitely allow for the most ventilation, waist-down. Furthermore, sundresses don't come with the top-bottom-matching woes and, frivolous as it sounds, they can be so pretty that I find them so hard to resist. Pictures coming soon!

Couture Week

Couture week in Paris came to an end last night, with Valentino drawing the curtain for Spring/ Summer 2011's collections. To sum up the extravagant event, thefword will feature some of the designers that presented their works.

My favorite show comes as no surprise. Valentino's collection was ravishing to say the least. Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli sent models down the runway in frothy dresses that looked like a dream, with all their delicateness and lightness. Ruffles and femininity were present in full force. Also staying true to this season's hottest trend, the pieces were in a whole spectrum of nude colors.

While Valentino was the epitome of beauty, Chanel's collection was girlish and pretty, with models in frilled and feathered dresses gliding down Pavilion Cambon in flat, backless black patent shoes. Once again, Chanel's palette was pretty muted, with icy tones like pale pink, blue or lilac. Also, the traditional boucle wool suits over narrow trousers that were played out at the start of the show, overlapped with Armani Prive's elements of a narrow shouldered silhouette and a downplay on the womanly figure.

Of course, other designers also stuck to the trend of nude colors, such as that of Givenchy's Tisci who presented a strikingly strong collection which balanced the hard with soft, feminine with technological and paid homage to Japanese dancer Kazuo Ohno.

Then there was Elie Saab who showed off delicate feminine dresses with light touches of embellishment, characteristic of couture pieces.

Couture week was not short of drama either, with Jean Paul Gaultier's outstanding collection that was inspired by Seventies punk meets Moulin Rouge.

Christian Dior's John Galliano showed a flamboyant collection featuring classic Dior looks of the Forties, with splashes of bright red and black that toned down to a pastel palette later on in the show. Referencing to that era were girls in updos and shawl-collared jackets cinched at the waist with wide alligator belts or peplum jackets with narrow waisted pencil skirts. This was contrasted with voluminous skirts under neat fitted bodices.

Probably Giorgio Armani's most architectural show, the Prive couture show was 'futuristic techno meets oriental' where jeweled colored dresses were stiff and sleek, with architectural lines and laser cuts that made the pieces look very streamlined. Huge slabs of embellishment and head gear gave a science fiction feel to the already futuristic looking outfits.

If Couture week is anything to go by, spring/summer 2011 is set to be a really exciting season for fashionistas everywhere.

Photos courtesy of Vogue

♥,
Fal