I've moved on...
...to a different domain. Why, what were you thinking? The truth is, I just woke up one day and decided it's time for a change—a metamorphosis, if you will; or, in layman's terms, if Britney can shave her head, then maybe so can I? Nevertheless, it's been a rather handsome 10 years of talking to you, and thank you for putting up with all my moodswings and terrible dad jokes. Fear not! The hormonal imbalance and jokes are more terrible on CUBICLE, see you there.
Top – Dagmar. Trousers – Rodebjer via Zalando. Shoes – Sarah Flint. Necklace – Lali Shop & Vivienne Westwood.

Park-and-Cube_Zalando-CK_Share-Your-Sexy_001

My Sexy
art direction SHINI PARK photography MR TRIPOD in collaboration with ZALANDO & CK

If you happen to know me in real life, or follow along on Snapchat, you know my reaction to fresh-baked pizza, glistening spaghetti, or a steaming burrito wrap: “YAAaaaARS”. As loud as possible, and with a roll of eyes that would knock down a ten-pin bowling line-up. One bite of said burrito would send shivers down my spine and I’d feel an odd sense that I, am in love, with this food, would like to procreate with it, sit under the stars, read poems together about salted caramel, and roast garlic over open flame. #LongTechnicallyInacurrateSentenceDontCare. So, what do I consider sexy, you ask? A bowl of phô wearing Agent Provacateur.

On occasion of Zalando’s #SHAREYOURSEXY #UK campaign with Calvin Klein Underwear, fronted by ultrababe Joan Smalls, here are a few other things that I think sexy: Food, great sense of humour underlined by dirty jokes and sarcasm – sharp enough to make sashimi out of any serious/non-serious situation – and nerds. Talk to me ONLY using lines from LOTR and you can be Ron to my Hermione (also must be proficient in at least two FPS games and own a gaming mouse).

What’s your Sexy?

Shirt – Jil Sander. Corset & Skirt – ASOS. Necklaces – Lali Shop, Louis Vuitton

Park-and-Cube_Zalando-CK_Share-Your-Sexy_002

humour (aka dirty jokes)
AKA Any joke including your mum, weiners and farts, essentially, because we all know I have a mind of a 13-year-old. Great humour make my knees weak, especially the borderline-inappropriate kind, laced with darkness and dripping with sarcasm. Arrested Development, Rick & Morty, Natalie Tran – I’m looking at y’all.
geekery/nerdery
If you haven’t dissected your PC tower at age 15 and spent 4 days catching Mewtwo in Pokemon Red, then you wouldn’t know the joy in communicating solely  using lines from Star Wars/Trek, LOTR, Harry Potter, Marvel/DC comics, Sims (yes, the jibberish) and occasionally dirty lines from Game of Thrones – the books.

Park-and-Cube_Zalando-CK_Share-Your-Sexy_003

Park-and-Cube_Zalando-CK_Share-Your-Sexy_004

good food, bad food (ALL THE FOODS)
Doesn’t matter if it’s been swimming in grease, or fresh-plucked out of the ground, food is my BFF and lover. More the cheese, the sexier it gets, though – that’s one equation that works every time.
V-Sweater – Coach AW15. Leather wrap-skirt- ASOS. Front-slit trousers – Cheap Monday. Heels – Kurt Geiger (similar). Backpack – Coach Mount Plaid collection. Turtleneck – Zara.

Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount-Plaid-2_0001

Sweater – StyleNanda. Leather trousers – ASOS. Wallet – Coach Mount Plaid collection.

Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount-Plaid-2_0002 Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount-Plaid-2_0003

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can to that.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount-Plaid-2_0004

In light of recent events that left the world sick to its guts (save for pockets inhabited by human degenerates chanting under the same banner), I had contemplated whether pushing yet another, self-infused, colour-clad story was the appropriate stance for a Monday morning. I had spent the weekend mourning for a city I loved, for the friends (from Beirut, Paris, Ankara and further) I cherish like family, and a humanity that proclaims to be under God yet Godless in action. There were moments of utter disbelief, powerlessness, of loathing; but this morning I woke up to a London enveloped in milky fog and odd silence, and decided to get on with things, with zeal – if not more. To love life and celebrate light, because if pre-school taught anything, it’s that thriving in your current disposition is the only effective way to deal with bullies. So dear readers, keep calm, and carry on – and rejoice in the fact that with this, we raise a middle finger to those who envy and terrorize freedom, love and peace. And here, an oufit post to raise the stakes – choke on that, bully.

With that said, my heart goes out to those affected in the attacks, regardless of resolution. I hope you find rest in knowing the world breathes at the same tempo today.

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0001

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0002

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0003Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0004

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0005

Brussels by foot, nose and waffles
Discovering Elixir, the new Flower by Kenzo

There must be some kind of a grand plan to have me familiarize with the city of Brussels through briefest of stints, using – quite exclusively – my olfactory senses. It’s like one of those memory games where a card flashes a part of a photo and with every card you have to do your best to figure out the larger picture – in my case, the Brussels I know consists of: the pungent aroma of a sack of cocoa beans (with a chocolate factory attached to the end of it), the whiff of cinnamon sugar on my very genuine Belgian waffles*, and a fruity, sweet note of Elixir – the new Flower by Kenzo perfume – a note that graduates into a scent bathed in rose, and ends with a tinge of bourbon vanilla.

A couple of us girls arrived via Eurostar on a snug Autumn morning, and weaved our way through the city towards the launch of the fragrance at MAD (Mode and Design) Brussels, curated by artist Jean-François d’Or. The exhibition is a play on words and a performance of scent. A little trivia would reveal, that ‘Coquelicot’, or French for the word poppy, was oft written coquelicoq – where Coq means rooster. As a tribute, the most notable installation – Le chant du coquelicot (the song of the poppy) – fanned golden leaves into the air, every time the sun rose in the world. The campaign is a nod to the power of flower and celebration of peace and justice. By the dawn in Panama City, we shuffled out to catch the train home, pockets full of silk poppies doused in Elixir, leaving golden leaves dancing in our wake.

In collaboration with Kenzo

*contrary to doughy wannabe’s on Oxford Street (aka Does sir know the Heimlich Maneuver), the original proves to be quite fluffy in texture, and therefore makes sense to inhale with a layer of melted chocolate, and ask for seconds at the next block.

Coat – Versus. Leather trousers – ASOS. Bag – Celine. Top – Zara. Boots – Acne

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0007Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0008

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0009

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0010

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0011

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0012

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0013Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0014

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0019

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0015

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0016Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0017

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0018

Park-and-Cube_Flower-by-Kenzo_0020

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

Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount_Plaid_001

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

Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount_Plaid_002

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

Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount_Plaid_003

Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount_Plaid_004

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).

Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount_Plaid_005Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount_Plaid_006

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.

Park-and-Cube_Coach_Mount_Plaid_007

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

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_001

The Setting

this is a photo Diary(ish) of a twenty-something year-old taking on seven days in new york city for fashion week, one hot minute a time. watch as she steps into a puddle of trash juice and denies the whole thing happened, then does a marylin monroe over subway fart in front of a gaggle of construction workers. it’s ok, she is proud about it all.

I can never go back, can i.

Park-and-Cube_Cry
art direction SHINI PARK photography & styling TEAM PARK & CUBE supported by THE APARTMENT, in collaboration with KURT GEIGER
00:10
Checked into an AirBnb in SoHo and got lost everytime I went out to get milk.
Dress – 2nd DAY. Skirt – ASOS (similar). Hat & Bag – Kurt Geiger. Watch – Larsson & Jennings. Bracelet – X Jewellery.

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_002Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_003

00:20
…so much that once I took a cab back from two blocks away.

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_004

As usual, the effect of New York to this European-to-the-core is that of whiplash, whatever medal I mentally award myself for packing semi-appropriately for the weather (contrary to the numerous occasions in the past in which I had completely missed the memo about either blood-stopping cold or biohazard heat). The minute you get in that Uber at JFK, it’s Keep your hands in at all times, and better secure those sunglasses because they will fly off on the next loop. If a New York minute is to Johnny Carson, the interval between a Manhattan traffic light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn, to me it’s that (ever so slightly dejecting) micro-moment when the tax gets added onto a bill. One minute you have the exact change, the next minute you’re splitting your $100 note and getting a Robin Hood sack of change in coins. My point is, seven days in New York is but a blink of an eye, and at the end of it all, you’re just in sheer amazement of how much you managed to take in such beautiful grandness, smelly, screaming awesomeness, in that split second of a minute. Well here’s me trying to explain in photos.

And of course, it’s just too bad a London Minute is essentially the customer ahead of me in the Royal Mail Post Office checkout line, which means I’m looking forward to being in New York again in about TWO BILLION YEARS.

Bag – Kurt Geiger

#SPARKYxNY

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_005

#SPARKYxNY
Cotton shirt
Boden
Contrast boots
Kurt Geiger
Messenger Bag
Coach
Navy Bandana
ASOS
Mineral UV Shield
Omorovicza
V-Rings Pack
Claire’s
Denim Culottes
Topshop
BOND Stilettos
Kurt Geiger
Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_025

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_026

Dress – Coach. Culottes – Finders Keepers. Bag – Coach. Boots – Kurt Geiger. Watch – Larsson & Jennings. Bracelet – X Jewellery.

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_006
Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_024

New York Fashion Week
Lest we (or I) forget the fact that we are in town for work
Streets of London bracelet
Park & Cube for X Jewellery
Knit top
Carven
Tailored trousers
Filippa K
D Earrings
ASOS
Wool wrap-skirt
Jacquemus
Tortoise Sunglasses
Kurt Geiger
CM Silver
Larsson & Jennings
Sparkling probiotic drink
Kevita
A little bit obsessed with layering a wrap-skirt over similar-coloured trousers these days!

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_007

00:30
Fell back in love with dresses at Zimmerman SS16

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_008

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_010Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_009

…and fell in love with multiple beautiful models at POLO Ralph Lauren

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_027Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_011Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_012

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_013Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_01411363958_884296084994697_1724202467_n

Speaking of falling, the models kept falling over at Opening Ceremony. On purpose, it turns out, and to one sick beat.

#SPARKYxNY

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_015

00:40
The Apartment as a base between the hustle and bustle…
Brigadier Skirt
Boden
Rings
Astrid & Miyu
Belt
Boden
Platform heels
Kurt Geiger
Sunglasses
Gentlemonster
Sometimes I look back and think, how did I even handle life during the Fashion weeks without the haven that is the Apartment. Now, I haven’t explained much why I spend so much time at the Apartment, but it’s basically my second home away from my Airbnb home during Fashion Week, and voluntary self-spoil-station with manicures, plush sofas, food… Particularly loved gathering some of my favourite people during NYFW with the help of Boden for brunch this season.

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_028
Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_016Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_017

Pouch
Kurt Geiger
Black Bond bracelet
Park & Cube for X Jewellery

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_029
Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_024Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_018Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_019

#SPARKYxNY
Shoes – Kurt Geiger. Trousers – Filippa K. Top – Carven.

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_020

00:50
…and of course, stuffed my trap every moment of the way.

Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_021Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_022

01:00
In the end, seven days in the city of dreams dashed by like a single New York minute
Park-and-Cube_NYFW-SS16_023