PUNK GLAM? / Chain-link Maje blazer to top off a black and white outfit

My mom's birthday was Monday and three days later, yesterday, was my sister's birthday!  Happy birthday to my sister!

I've admired this blazer since March and after mulling over it for so long I finally decided to pull the trigger.  The removable chain-link lapel adds a bit of punk to an otherwise polished blazer.  This piece fits right into the punk theme that has been going on in fashion events including the Spring 2013 Costume Institute exhibition at the Met museum and Luisa Via Roma's upcoming Firenze4ever.  Since I have a handful of fitted blazers, I purchased this one in a size up to get a more relaxed fit.

PEEK-A-BOO / Uniqlo x LuluGuinness tee with blazer and leather shorts

This whimsical tee is one of my very first Uniqlo items!  Walking down Powell from Westfield Shopping Center to Union Square, I walked past the Uniqlo store and had to do a double-take because of the darling Laduree x Uniqlo window display they had showcasing some of the charity tees.  I can never resist sweets and the macaron-printed tees lured me right into the store. I didn't end up getting that patterned tee (though I did get a couple others from that collaboration) but I did disccover the second collection of Lulu Guinness x Uniqlo!

Falling in love with Lulu's signature doll eyes combined with the "hair" and the little bow, I knew this would fit right into my small collection of graphic tees.  In addition to the signature eyes, the color palette of red, white, and black is also classic Lulu so I wanted to keep that color palette for the entire outfit.  I am loving the red loose crepe blazer (last worn here) worn with a tee, gives it a bit of casual-polished look!

CASUAL BALLERINA / Bow-tie back silk blouse and black coated denim

BILLOWY / Helmut Lang chiffon hi-low blouse with black (faux) leather mini skirt

And they're back!  Moving away from pairing these [still so] gorgeous Alejandro Ingelmos with solids, I ventured into wearing them with a billowy printed chiffon blouse.  To be honest, this was probably a safe, maybe too safe?, print to turn to because it is so subtle. The black leather trimmings as well as the solid black pocket are a sharp contrast again the print and combined with the black tank that shows through underneath the sheer chiffon, black really takes precedence over the outfit.

EXPERIMENT / Leopard-printed peplum over a chambray dress

TGIF!  I had a follow-up appointment with my oral surgeon today and he told me I can drink boba again, HURRAY!  That news made my day and you can bet that right after my appointment I went to the nearest boba shop and got me a tapioca milk tea.  He jokingly said that my headaches were probably caused by a boba withdrawal and I should be fine now.  We will see about that =D.

In order to balance shapes I've always practiced wearing peplum tops with a more fitted bottom (whether it's a peplum jacket or this same peplum shirt).  However after seeing the ever chic Blair of Atlantic-Pacific effortlessly pull off peplum with a full skirt, I wanted to give that combo a shot.  The result was a bit out of my comfort zone but that's the fun of fashion.

CLEAN AND CRISP / Stripes and bright whites for a new blog design!!

If you came here from my blogspot address, you may have noticed that you got redirected to a new domain!!  And with that domain change came a whole new name/header!!  Don't be alarmed, it is all self-inflicted as I transition into a more streamlined blog name and layout.  I've always been excited to post but even more so now because everything just goes together.  I do notice that there is a slight lag in loading the pictures/header so part of the transition will be to figure out how to make the site load faster so expect a few more changes over the next week.  Overall though, I am really stoked about the change and thank you so much for your support!!

To celebrate this joyous event (at least for me), my first outfit for the new layout is something clean and crisp.  Mom's first thoughts on this outfit when I asked her what she thought was that the outfit is very "ching" which is Cantonese for clear.  Direct Cantonese to English translation is sometimes funny so I would say "ching" used in this case means crisp.

SIMPLE AND COMFY / Striped maxi dress with colorblock wedges

Just as I've developed a new love for maxi dresses, so has mom.  She actually picked out this dress for me because she was enamored by the very first maxi dress I wore.  She also liked the mishmash of lines on this one.  Weather has been a little bit unpredictable lately with it being hot one minute and then windy the next so a nice leather jacket fixed that right up.

CROCHET AND CHAMBRAY / James Perse chambray stands out against crochet skirt

Hi!  Hope you've been having a good week so far.  I was summoned for jury duty yesterday so spent all morning in an assembly room and then the rest of the time in a court room.  Unfortunately I didn't get selected to be a juror.  And since California has a One-Day or One-Trial jury service policy my name is out of the hat for the next 12 months.  I did come to a sharp realization from this summons though.

During dinner with my family on Monday night I had a discussion with Vicki about how much jurors get paid and we both shared the same thoughts about getting $15/day.  That amount would get us lunch.  And we can stretch it to pay for parking.  Yesterday afternoon as I was sitting in that assembly room, I felt extremely lucky that I could afford a ~$12 lunch because I remembered a fundraising campaign that my colleague told me about - Live Below the Line.  Live Below the Line is a campaign to raise awareness about poverty by challenging individuals to live off $1.50 PER DAY [for 5 days] to experience what extreme poverty is.  I will not hesitate to admit that I would not be able to survive on $1.50/day - $15 covers a meal for me whereas $15 would be able to cover 10 days of food for someone living in extreme poverty.  That campaign combined with the "salary"of jurors is enough to make me so appreciative that I can afford three meals a day.  What a reality check.

STRIPEY WEEKEND / Denim shorts and striped tee with a pop of red

I seem to go through phases and right now I am in my "stripes every weekend" phase.  I've noticed that I've been wearing a whole lot of stripes lately and they've all happened to be on the weekend (from the striped t-shirt dress to the striped maxi and now this).  There's just something very casual cool about this pattern.

SUNSET / Dressing up a white tee and denim skirt with orange blazer and sparkles

Denim skirts are a love-it or hate-it fashion piece.  Some banish them to the deepest, darkest part of storage never to be seen again and others pull the neatly folded, carefully stored piece out at the first sign of sun.  I plead the fifth to loving denim skirts and I even have a few of those short, undone hem ones (oh, no shame...).  This one is my favorite though because of the chuckle I get whenever I wear it (last worn here).  Does anyone else see the irony in a denim pencil skirt?  Denim, which is considered to be a carefree casual material, made into a pencil skirt, the silhouette of skirts that women typically wear to work.  This would make a good contender for a casual Friday ensemble!