30th October 2015

Wallet & Rucksack – Coach Mount Plaid Collection. Nail polish – Dolce & Gabbana. Lipstick – Bobbi Brown. Watch – Larsson & Jennings. Bracelets – X Jewellery.

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Leather Jacket – Coach AW15. Wallet – Coach Mount Plaid Collection. Trousers – Finders Keepers.

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It’s that time of year, when the sky turns a few shades of grey and bawls with thick raindrops, swatting down leaves from yellowed trees on their descent. I blame Adele and that bloody song. (Will I get the two days of wistful sobbing back, ADELE, WILL I?) Mornings smell of firewood and wet leaves (a whiff of that gosh-darn PSL still lingers in the tube), uniformed teens swarm the bus-stops, kicking up a cloud of leaves with every gossip and gag, and something in the air commands that you buy a fresh pack of pencils.

Denim jumpsuit – ASOS. Rucksack – Coach Mount Plaid Collection. Boots – Sam Edelman

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Jacket – Zara. Jeans – Marques Almeida. Shoes – Coach. Rucksack – Coach Mount Plaid Collection.

It’s back to school time: golden afternoons that last a minute and a half, crazy/confusing few weeks when you crave homework, and a new backpack that go with your new haircut. Coach’s Mount Plaid collection takes me into the season with its nod back to the 90’s – back when ‘homework’ did not mean 10 hours of pixel-shifting while seasons of muffled South Park stream in the background. The quintessential academia silhouette comes in red-and-black workwear plaid – a la Kristen Stewart in American Ultra, with similar attitude and gusto. Best of all, UK.Coach.com is now a fully transactional e-commerce site, which means I can now completely eliminate human interaction over the gift-buying period (win).

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Right now, my own Mount Plaid Turnlock Tie rucksack holds a host of camera equipment and notebooks filled with wireframe scribbles and client requests, and I have a feeling it’s going to take one strong coffee and sharp pencil to tackle this ‘homework’ in the next few weeks…

So, excuse me while I go sniff a fresh pack of crayons.

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In collaboration with Coach as part of season’s ambassadorship.

Fashion Week

Home ground

28th October 2015

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London Fashion Week · ss16

art direction SHINI PARK photography & styling PARK & CUBE supported by THE APARTMENT, in collaboration with KURT GEIGER

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coat HARRIS WHARF LONDON socks KOREAN (SIMILAR) shoes KURT GEIGER

Place Charles de Gaulle: the deathtrap of a roundabout in central Paris where twelve straight avenues cross intersect in a star-formation – a place where I have sworn I will eventually die no matter what mode of transport I’m in/how veteran of a driver may be commanding the wheel/handlebar – is possibly the best I can do to explain Fashion Month to those outside the industry. It’s that noise, the lack of traffic lanes of any sort, the uncomfortable closeness to fellow comrades marching around the roundabout, and having to manoeuvre through the full circuit without crashing into, say, a scooter, or a blithe pedestrian (most possibly a tourist – even in the metaphor) (how many a German tour group experienced a Lion King-esque streetstyle photographer stampede towards Kendall, I do wonder) trying to jay-walk his way across to the Arc de Triomphe and wreaking havoc to any conceived order in this chaos. That is Fashion Month, for me.

In this equation, London is a relative comfort zone only due to the fact that the bed is familiar and the husband is baffled IRL (instead of ‘Y U DO DIS’ goodnight messages on WhatsApp), but the chaos is as thick. Tickets are missing, Simon – my source of enthusiasm in all this – ever scrambling in pursuit of some order in chaos (an impossible feat), and of course, the new Soho venue is simply a ‘hilarity’. Between all that, the fresh, new collections are the only clear sound in the commotion, that and the Apartment – a sanctuary known to digital somebody’s in the same plight. It may hustle and bustle, but anywhere that’s stocked with burgers, nap-pods, emergency Kurt Geiger, and infinite charge-stations is a clear win in this roundabout of death. In fact it’s like taking residence in the Arc de Triomphe, which coincidentally is also one of the best vantage points of the city (Alice knows).

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shirt CARVEN top KEEPSAKE skirt KIRSTY WARD boots KURT GEIGER

Here’s a scribble and a song, on the past season in London. More a scribble, because even after three weeks of supposed R&R my ears are still ringing of shell-shock. But I suppose that’s just me, getting closer to my 30’s and the bottomless barrel of excuses that come with. Call us a cab, BECAUSE I’M 30 AND WALKING IS DIFFICULT. Heck, I can’t wait to be 50.

GTG, husband’s just texted me a ‘Y U DO DIS’ from the other room.

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09:10 Japanese Breakfast at Koya Bar

10:01 Soho traffic is actual comedy

10:16 Stripes = YAS. At J.JS.Lee

12:20 Picnic-chic at Mother of Pearl: Season’s Favourite

Wool-piqué top
Mother of Pearl

Twist Lock Bag
Louis Vuitton

Love Chords Bracelet
Park & Cube for X Jewellery

Platform Sandals
Kurt Geiger

L Der Watch
Larsson & Jennings

Platform Heels
Kurt Geiger

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Top – Zara. Skirt – Louis Vuitton. Trousers – Finders Keepers. Shoes – Kurt Geiger

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The Apartment

A hub, rest-stop and playground for digital influencers during Fashion Month

Move aside coffeeshops, hotel lobbies and odd little sandwich joints. Wrangling over one power outlet with 12% battery and changing awkwardly in the unisex toilet is a thing of the past. the Apartment is juice-a-plenty (both of fruit and the electric kind).

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15:10 rockstar eedding vibes at julien macdonald

15:55 Flash hair trim at Jhair

17:25 slinky silk & fluff at Topshop unique

18:05 Regina Pyo pick-me-up

Peekaboo bag
Fendi

Matte Home Ring
Effra London

Asymmetrical knitwear
Joseph

Zipped Boots
Kurt Geiger

Pleated Culottes
1205

‘Streets of London’ bracelet
Park & Cube for X Jewllery

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Burberry SS16

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Beauty

Three hits wonder

24th October 2015

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Rose gold-tone headphones
Frends

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Neutral Rose

A handbag staple, right next to the eyeliner. Doubles up as cheek-pinching equivalent of a blush colour – just apply with your fingers like war paint and pretend you totally had breakfast.

Three Hits Wonder

The classic three that took me through Paris Fashion Week and any other high-intensity moments.

Stainless Steel watch
Shinola

Platform pumps
Kurt Geiger

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Parisian Red

The forever classic, this Red means business. I always like to add a flick of eyeliner, which adds a hint of flirtiness and confuses the husband greatly. Also known as lazy-day colour when you don’t feel like applying makeup on the rest of your face.

Polka-dot skirt
Tibi

Crossbody
Saint Laurent

Hoop earrings
Dinny Hall

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Atomic Orange

Proenza Schouler

Celine

Bucket bag
Gucci

Shimmer brick-compact
Bobbi Brown

Tray
COS x Hay

Enamel Ring
Delfina Delettraz

Pop and pizazz in one bullet, for days when I long for human interaction – it sure is a conversation starter. Add softness to the strength by applying with a blended edge and wear against minimal makeup.

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Blazer – Each x Other. Blouse – Raquel Allegra. Bag – Baraboux

When all you need is a glass of wine and a good book. And polar bear GIFs on the phone:
Bobbi Brown ‘Paris Red’

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White and orange were meant for eachother. Just like ketchup on a new white shirt – magnetic attraction:
Bobbi Brown Atomic Orange

Dress, bag & Shoes – Louis Vuitton. Trousers – Zara. Sunnies – Dior.

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Guaranteed to not look like a corpse today. Win:
Bobbi Brown Neutral Rose

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I feel like a big part of the process of becoming an adult, is the ability to brutally edit down some very broad choices in life to an easily digestible-yet-not-so-round number of three. How many little pigs? Three. Musketeers? Three (not sure if those particular ones are life choices…). How many people in a priest, a minister and a rabbi joke? My point is, three is a catchy number, and that’s the number of takeaways I can find in my past 7-days Deliveroo log, and number of words in one of my favourite phrases: Just get naked. (Or I’m lovin’ it)

I’ve spent most of my 20’s leasing space in the beauty pouch to what would now be collectively a sizeable lipstick assortment, which, if laid side-by-side and compared, would simply divide into three categories: the everyday, classic red, and the pizazz. As shown above. The dark purple gothy glittery number doesn’t even make it into the bag.

So this is a story we shot during PFW, celebrating Bobbi Brown’s new Luxe Lip collection as one of the digital ambassadors, and also an semi-official dubbing of the three colour categories that I’ve nailed down and can now move onto my next ‘three favourites’, in the grand path of becoming an adult.

In collaboration with Bobbi Brown & Shopstyle.

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Home and Interiors

Blush

22nd October 2015

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art direction SHINI PARK photography & styling TEAM PARK & CUBE created with support from THE SOFA & CHAIR COMPANY

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Draw me like one of your French girls

Meet Rose. Not named after colour but the fact that it pulls the user gradually down into a posture not unlike the ‘Draw me like one of your French girls’ scene in Titanic. You know this posture very well, one that epitomises comfort and general sexy vibes, yeah that one. And also the fact that technically it’s a two-seater but there sure ain’t any space for Jack on this surface once the Mindy Project goes on. (Sorry Leo) Arms splayed, one foot thrown over the backrest and the other somewhere in a Dorito’s bag – this how I like my 5-minute breaks.

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Blazer & Skirt – Filippa K. Trousers – Filippa K. Gold cap Heels – YSL. Clutch – Whistles (similar).

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Bracelet – Meriko London. Skirt – ASOS. Off-the-shoulder top – Topshop.

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…see the world one more time with rose-tinted shades.

Rose is a great gal, soft but of solid build, great legs too. One afternoon in May I had spent an embarrassing amount of time at the Sofa & Chair Company, doing laps around the showrooms and then poring over fabric books as thick as my forearm. They are known to specialise in bespoke, luxury furniture, and I was in the market for a sofa. If you follow on Pinterest you’ll have noticed this little corner of my brain that still hasn’t reached puberty, clearly one that saw an opportunity and yelled ‘PINK, Let’s just do pink’ after hours of umming and ahhing and many a frazzled nerves of those waiting for me to decide. Six weeks later I met Rose, and I was enamoured by the result. (It could’ve been worse, I have a secret Austin Powers board) The blush fabric (Fabric: KOBE – Samba 38) was pulled over the supple foam-wrapped feather cushioning of the Renoir, and the light bounced cheekily off the dimples created by pulled buttons covered also, in linen blush-pink fabric. A cloud-grey piping (KOBE – 8) swept the edges and married perfectly with the marble coffee table. I was in love.

Ignore my brash Dorito-infused lifestyle for a moment, I’m marking this sofa an icon of awesome spontaneity, and small a reminder to see the world one more time with rose-tinted shades before this sarcasm becomes my identity and it’s too late.

Stay tuned for Part 2: The (gruelling) customization process and a tour of the Sofa & Chair Company factory (specifically, a room filled floor-to-ceiling with pastel-coloured foam, or also known as CAN I HAS DIS).

Shoes – Senso. Coat – Filippa K

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Jumpsuit – Dagmar.

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Event · Home and Interiors

Carry on playing

18th October 2015

Dress – 2ND DAY. Flared Jeans – Frame Denim. Bag – Saint Laurent. White top – Zara.

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It’s one thing to be circling a beautiful piece of furniture and imagine one day taking it home to display it like a trophy, and another thing to be able to sit down on (a very yellow) sofa and talk to the designer of the piece himself about what he had for breakfast. I am no expert, in anything – except maybe making e-commerce check-out pages and pizza pockets – and with a ‘blogger’ background I’ve always seem myself an observer* of the industries, be it fashion, food or in this case, interiors. But frankly, I revel in this fact, because I still get to see things curiosity (and ask how you spell Gabbana), and a lot of things are still exciting for me. Collaborating with brands like The Conran Shop being one, asking some of my design heroes what they would tell their 10-year old self on camera, being everything else.

‘You can still carry on playing’, was in fact Russell Pinch’s (awesome) answer to that question, one that set the mood for the rest of the evening where a very cheerful crowd (including some of my adored readers) sat around the panel for the LDF #TheConranshopEdit Designer Panel Discussion, glass of prosecco in each hand. What a great night to be reminded that we do what we do best by playing like a kid – letting your imagination go wild, not taking things too seriously and once in a while eating glue.

*On the downside, this does mean I can’t contribute as much informed opinions/judgement, but on the upside I’m the girl in the conversation circle that is eating all the canapés while the rest are busy talking (a full-mouth is tactically also used to wave off my turn to shed my thoughts on any given topic)