Phillip Lim's Successful Take On Accessories

F309-0134wsa - Navy

Aiguillette F209-0133rme Hamilton Gold


Pix from www.colette.fr

Urban-Chic is best used for describing Phillip Lim's collections. No doubt that he has proved his talent in designing ready-to wear for both men and women. But I've never seen any significant successful pieces in his accessory line. Finally the bags and jewelries of this season have successfully embodied the essence of Phillip Lim. The suede color-palette bag is versatile and very standout. If you think it's too much, there's also a black leather version available. However, of all the wonderful pieces, the gold aiguillette is my favorite. I remembering seeing Balmain's SS 2010 with military inspired accessories such as aiguillettes and brooches with most of his pieces. With this aiguillette, you can easily make every suit jacket of yours into a cool Balmain jacket! I hope the aiguillette works on every jacket with an epaulet.

Visit: www.31philliplim.com

Modeling for Maison Martin Margiela s/s09

Martin Margiela Lookbook S/s09

The Maison of Margin Margiela is a house of boldness & creativeness. You may never tell which number stands for which line, but you can easily pick out the pieces by Margiela. I fell in love with this camel jacket the first time I saw it on the long-gone E-luxury. I didn't even got a chance to buy it before they shut down E-luxury. I've been one of their loyal customer and clearly, my only support is far from enough to run the business. Every house is opening their on-line stores and I personally see great futures of online luxury retailing. Why they closed it?! Anyway, I was very lucky to find this jacket at Lane Crawford in Beijing and it was on sale. There was only one left and it is one size larger. I bought it anyway... I've considering bringing it to a tailor for alternation but I haven't found a tailor that I can trust enough to do the nip/tuck.

The house also has a unique accessories line. This bangle I bought at TheCorner is one of the my favorites from its ss 09 collection. Unfortunately, even a small didn't quite fit my wrist and it looks odd hanging around my wrist. So I returned it.

Again, can someone reopen E-luxury?

Chanel 08 Walk of Fame

The Walk of Fame

Somehow I've been dealing with several Chanel SAs recently. I've been helping my friend to locate the Valentine charm Chanel bag from this past S/S collection. I expected the difficulties of finding this bag because it's from last season, but I've never expected such terrible service by SAs at Chanel boutiques. Crappy English of those ethnic minorities is totally fine by me because I speak crappy English too! But the snooty attitudes are not something I can tolerate. I've been making phone calls to several stores and the SAs either never returned my phone calls as they promised or are just mind-numbingly stupid. Why do they promise to call if they are not going to? Is the job of SAs that challenging? Don't they work on commissions? I helped my friend purchase this bag last year and I still remember how efficient and kind the SA was.

Anyway, I haven't got a chance to post the pictures of this bag and I've been feeling guilty for ignoring such a beauty. This is so far the best Chanel bag I've ever seen and touched. The craftsmanship is amazingly intricate and elaborate. I hope their service can be as delectable as their products.

Marni's Amazing Fur A/W 2009

Marni Sl0W M0tIon Picks

Everyone's talking about the economy and every fashion house is advocating their so-called investment pieces. Dubbed as investment pieces, collections from big fashion names are working their tails off to provide customers an excuse to "investment" in luxury. What is exactly an investment piece anyway? Everyone understands that clothing is definitely consumer product, which you never expect any future return. Few exceptions do exist, one of them is fur products made by big names. Marni's fur pieces, in my own little opinion, are more likely to be investment pieces. The quality of the material and the avant-garde design made them so unique among all the luxury fur pieces in this current season. For ready-to-wear pieces, few can made its way into the vintage section. So the only "investment" we can make out of consumer products is to use it as long as you can. Pieces from Marni, especially the ones with fur, can never go out of season. That's probably the only "return" we can expect. Fur pieces from Marni are generally priced between $2000 -$7000 and how many years of usage can break that? That's really up to the customer to decide.

Pix: www.style.com

BIG LOVE for MARNI Spring 2010

Marni Spring 2010 Sl0W M0Tion Picks

Consuelo Castiglioni is the big brain behind Marni. Though without professional training in fashion, she managed to take Marni, founded in 1994, into the mainstream fashion names. No one defines minimalist better than she does. Marni for men has the unique simplicity no other names can copy. Simply simply chic! You can easily sort out pieces by Marni among racks of clothing by its constructed and innovative structures as well as its minimalism.

Marni also does AMAZING furs, elaborate and fashionable. For a brand with only about 15 years of history, Marni has made its way through this picky industry and the future is beyond promising. BIG BIG LOVE!

Pix: men.style.com
Marni Online Virtual Store: http://www.marni.com

The IT Bag --- BOYY SLash

French Actress Lou Doillion Posing with Boyy Bag
(Pix from vmagazine.com)

The new season offers python and suede

Limited Splash $1,100

Ever since Lou Doillon was spotted wandering around NYC with her Boyy bag, it has become the new IT bag. Luckily, most of their bags are not insanely priced, even the ones with python. It is truly a versatile bag by easily converting between a should bag and a evening clutch. Regular versions are priced at $595 and come in many colors and materials.


For more information visit: www.boyybag.com

Balenciaga Voyage Camel Leather Bag

Me Posing with Balenciaga Grey Camel Bag $1595

The house of Balenciaga finally heard my craving. The classic Arena & Voyage are too feminine for men to carry. Finally, this voyage bag, enough to carry a laptop and some weekend clothing, finally came out this season. It is made of strong camel leather and it comes in gray and black. It is ultra lightweight but extremely durable. It does come with bag tag (not shown in the pictures) like those for girls, but it doesn't have a mirror tucked in it. The mirror is just too girly. I hope the house can come out with more and more pieces for men, both in clothing and accessories!

The followings are pieces that I am still drooling over with, is there anyone so kind to stop the drooling? (pix: www.balenciaga.com)

Louis Vuitton Plus Kanye West -- OverDued Don

Louis Vuitton Plus Kanye West Don Sneaker

Never a big fun of hip-pop music or culture. Never a big fun of Kanye West, especially after seeing him on VMA Awards. However, being always a big fan of Louis Vuitton means to go after whatever it embodies, not to mention that the shoe really looks cool. I've been running around all summer trying to find it in my size and failed. The more difficult the more tempting. After so many phone calls with so many either helpful or resentful SAs, I found the last one in my size at San Francisco. Over-priced? Definitely. However, I do find a problem with this shoe. It is so loud that there aren't may outfits to go with it, neither any occasion. But anyway, I don't think Louis Vuitton will go after Kanye again for collaboration, or maybe they will. This one is definitely going to my permanent collection.

TIFFANY IS WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Tiffany 18k Gold Crown

Tiffany 18k Gold Crab

Max, The King

I've never read . I mean the short book. But when I first saw the trailer of the movie, I was very much touched. I went and watched the movie yesterday. As I expected, everything was childly, in a way that I don't quite get. The music, acting, scene, and everything was original has some kind of cult while romantic, simple while complex tone to it. I didn't quite understand the movie and I felt stupid to not be able to understand a movie based on a children book. I then realized that maybe I was too old for the movie. Sometimes we really should be satisfied with just understanding vaguely, because the truth is not always what we wanna hear.

Anyway, the thing about a shop-a-holic is that they can turn any life inspiration into shopping incentives. When I first saw the Tiffany Crown, I knew I have to have it, like Max has one in the movie. We don't understand the movie anymore. But at least, we can have some grown-up fun. R. I. P. The simple while complex childhood.

Drooling Over Louis Vuitton Scarves

Graphite-colored Damier Scarf Stole
Combined with Scarf in Tricot and Mink

Graphite-Colored Damier Scarf $715

Indigo Scarf in Cashmere and Silk
With Mini Flower Print

Winter has never been that cold, but I always need one more scarf to keep warm, or just to hang myself or choke myself. I like how they combine two scarves together and I am sensing a really expensive smell on the mink scarf. Even if I can afford it, I am not sure that I can wrap a scarf as complicated and chic as they do. I need to find a tutorial on how to wrap scarves.

Pix from www.louisvuitton.com