MY DREAM CITY! HONG KONG

Oh my God, my shoulders are killing me.

I came back to my hotel from the shopping heaven, and I've never been more satisfied before.

Well, I'm in Hong Kong now, which is the city I want to spend my next coming decade.
Just coming here makes all the stress go away. What better ways are there than to go shopping and out on night? It's my dream city.

At Central, view from Alexandra House

Lan Kwai Fong, this is before it got heated up

To remind you that this is a fashion blog, here is my outfit before I went out on Friday.

(Outfit Info ; Topshop dress)

Well, this is the preview and I will update the rest when I come back. 

I gotta go meet my friend now :)

See you all later!

Love, Victoria

MARY KATRANTZOU

If you are looking for a hottest designer in 2013, it would undoubtedly have to be Mary Katrantzou.

Have you guys seen her collection? Mary Katrantzou has been the most conspicuous collection in luxury multi-stores for sometime. And as if to increase its attention, it showed a collaboration work with Moncler recently as FW13 Moncler M collection. Not sure if it's a great success as Moncer X Sacai collaboration work(Moncler S), but it sure is experimental.

<FW13 Moncler M Collection>

All images from Moncler.com

And suddenly, street fashion in Paris and Milan was dominated with Mary Katrantzou Ready to wears. 

Then who is this Mary Katrantzou anyway?

 

Mary Katrantzou was born in 1983 in Athens, Greece who now lives and works in London. She was born to a very fashion forward family with her mom as interior designer and father trained textile engineer.

Firstly, she moved to US in 2003 to attend Rhode Island School of Design to study architecture. After that, she transferred to Central St. Martins where she completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree. In 2008 on her graduation show, she already have achieved her recognition enough to open the show. After the great show, her collection was nominated for the Harrods and the L’Oreal professional award. And thanks to her sponsorships, her first Pret-a-Porter Collection was finally shown in FW2008 London Fashion Week.

Mary’s signature look can be described to be inspired by her interior sense and trompe-l’oeil. (*trompe-l’oeil : An art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that depicted objects exist in three dimensions-wikipedia) It started with the heavy jewelry on jersey-bonded dress, which gave the illusion of wearing a heavy necklace. Her first collection was a huge success even with a very small collection(only had nine dresses in the collection) and huge buyers like Browns, Joyce and Colette were all over her.

And now, you can literally see her collection everywhere. Over 200 high-end luxury fashion shops carry Mary Katrantzou and is known as a few designer brand that was sold out after a few days of its release. Nobody can doubt that she is the hottest designer these days.

Autumn Winter 2013 Cult Classics on MATCHESFASHION.COM

And for S/S 2014 collection, footwear inspired Katrantzou. Katrantzou ripped the shoe apart and reinvented it as a total look. The details of footwear became decorative means to outline the female form.

My favorite looks from S/S 2014 Mary Katrantzou Collection

images from official Mary Katranzou website

Innovative as she is, how can we not wait for her next move?

Love, Victoria

NEW CAMERA FOR ME!!

After starting this blog, the biggest concern I bumped into was CAMERA.

I love my iPhone 5 camera but it wasn't just enough for blogging. Then you would ask me, did I get a DSLR? Nope. Definitely not. I just can't use that machine. I tried to use the one my father has and it just did not click. (meaning, I had no idea how to use it)

I wanted to have decent camera before my trip to Hong Kong and I got to learn about this amazing mirror-less Camera, Sony NEX-3n. 

I just opened the box and it's not as easy as I thought. 
I thought just clicking on a button would make a great photo, but it wasn't even charged. How long do I have to wait for it to be fully charged? Gosh.

My review on Sony NEX-3n should be postponed, since I'm so exhausted from all the excitements I had. Maybe next time, I come back with amazing photos! :D

Hopefully I learn to use this camera perfectly and move up to next camera, DSLR someday? maybe?

Love, Victoria

OVER 1,000 VISITORS!!

I know you are laughing at me now at the fact that I'm this happy to finally have 1,000th viewer.

When I first started blog, I didn't imagine it could be this hard to gain many viewers. But I am starting to enjoy this and effort makes it perfect, right?

Please cheer me!!

Here's my outfit for today.

(Outfit Info : Dsquared2 Dress, Chloe Belt, Alaia Booty, Top shop Gloves)

See that I changed my hair in the bid of removing my bangs? I am still not accustomed with it, hopefully my bang grows fast.

Love, Victoria

MY LIFETIME TASK

I know it's winter and it's unusual to go on a diet when you can cover up any fats you have. But being skinny has been on my to-do list since forever and I've failed every single time.

This time, I will not attempt too much and go simple.

Lemon Water it is.

Here's how you do it.

Buy lemons, express juice, mix it with water and DRINK!
as simple as that!

Few tips are, it's best when the ratio between lemon and water is 1:4.
Drink it in place for water, 1.5~2L a day and you can see your skin change first.

Benefits coming from drinking Lemon water are..
1. Clean skin : Water only can also excrete toxic wastes but when together with lemon, it will keep your skin more healthier while providing Vitamin C and preventing wrinkles.
2. Keeps balance of PH : One might presume that lemon is acidic PH due to its sour taste. However, it turns alkaline PH when it enters your body. It is very important to alkalize inner body to prevent diseases and pathogens.
3. Strengthen your immune system : Potassium in lemon helps you to control blood pressure and stimulate brain and nerves. Also Vitamin C prevents cold as you might all know.
4. Loose weight : Lemon can strengthen your metabolism and through this you can better cope with suppressing sweets.
5. Perfect for Hangover : Did you know that Tylenol is not the only way to get through your hangover? Hot lemon water can also be good for detoxifying the alcohol still remaining inside you.
6. Cleans your breath : Lemon can cleanse your breath after a cigarette.

How can I NOT DRINK when I learned this many benefits of Lemon Water? I am not sure if this will work, but I will post a review with the result in 2 month.

Hope I really loose some weight and post in 2 month would be a happy review :)
Fingers crossed for me!

Love, Victoria

ARE WE GOING TO FREEZE?

OMG it's freezing in Korea!!

Are you guys all ready for the winter?!

More severe and earlier winter is kind of an hot issue in Korea these days and Goose down brands such as Moncler, Canada Goose and Moose Knuckles are at their peak in terms of sales volume and popularity. 

FW13 Moncler Gamme Rouge Collection by Giambattista Valli

images from Moncler.com

As you might all know, I will have to say Moncler is the the No.1 padded goose down brand in Korea in its volume and awareness. And to attain its glory, numerous brands are flooding in since Autumn. 

To be totally honest, it's kind of a blue ocean for the luxury goose down market especially in Korea. Due to this, many new expensive padding brands are introduced and without a pre-thinking of what you really want to buy, it is certain to struggle in such a overflowing styles. 

Then how can we best prepared for the unprecedently freezing winter in option of madness?

Here are some tips,

1. Don't forget the main reason you are buying the goose down padding ; you want to get through a cold winter. If your chosen padding does not provide you the main function, it is most certain that you will look for another one that does. 

2. Look for the one that covers up your neck. For the sake of being stylish, you can give up the length cause we all know shorter jacket makes our silhouette slim. However even with a short paddings you can feel much warmer if your neck is wrapped up. It's is said that your sensory temperature goes up average of +2℃ if your neck is covered. If cannot find any neck covering style, let's at least style it with a thick scarf. 

3. Paddings also can be stylish. Previously, padding was only thought as functional item to provide its warmth. However, this perspective has been changed for a long time Europe and also now in Korea. There are so many stylish paddings that you can be fascinate by and show one's individuality. Choose the one with the design that will never get old for you.

Which do you prefer? Casual or Classic? 

All images from Net-a-porter and Moncler.com

                   LEFT                                                                           RIGHT                                      

MONCLER, Ornament embroidery goose down            DKNY, Metallic shell padded coat                            

    DIANE VON FURSTENBERG, Zona quilted satin coat     PYRENEX, Pink reversible down coat                            

    BURBERRY LONDON, Quilted shell coat                       CANADA GOOSE, Chilliwack coyote-trimmed down coat

4. If you happen to be the person who hates bulky styles, layering ultra light goose down under your coat can be one option. One great advantage coming from this is that it can be styled under your favorite coat (whatever design it has) and you can still feel the warmth of padding. For this case, goose down doesn't always have to be luxurious one. The ones from Uniqlo can also do its role perfectly.

Images from Uniqlo.com

Hope you all enjoyed my post and have a very warm Winter <3

Love, Victoria

TENDER FRIDAY

It's Friday!!!! yeah~!! Hope you guys are all enjoying a great Friday!

I usually dress up aiming to be sexy for Friday nights, but today I wanted to go casual, but not too relaxed. Let's say, a bit tender Friday outfit.

(Outfit Info : Top Shop knit dress, Vintage red long Cardigan, Chloe stud boots)

This Chloe stud boots is one of my favorite winter item and may be the only reason I can't wait for winter.(FYI, I love summer <3)

After done getting ready for Friday Night! Yeah!!! I can't wait for a glass of Mojito.

On my way out the office, just beautiful! I love this time of year in Gangnam, they have the most beautiful light display ever. 

Love, Victoria

CARVEN

My next brand to discover is Carven, which currently is one of my favorite Ready-to-wear brand.

Carven began in Paris in 1945 as a haute couture house designed by Madame Carven Mallet(whose name originally was Carmen de Tommaso) and flourished in the 1950's and 1960's. Interestingly, the house name "Carven" is the contraction of her own first (Car of Carmen) and aunt's surname Boyriven (ven of Boyriven). 

It's first collection was a great success with famously known green and white striped summer frock named "Ma Griffe" (which also is the name of Carven's first perfume). An enthusiastic traveler, Madame Carven went around the world several times and was inspired by her travel to become one of the first designers to use African and Indian motifs in her work.

By 1950, Carven had achieved global success but from 1970~1990's, the house's early success had died down and was bought and sold several times by various companies. Finally in 2008, company named SCM bought the house and put an end to the house's haute couture collection, appointing young designer, Guillaume Henry as creative director for the ready-to-wear collection to bring young and fresh spirit to the storied house.

Basically, Guillaume Henry's work is based on its haute couture heritage in a style that he brings up to date with an aristocratic elegance that is very NOW and this is what I love about Carven so much.

Guillaume Henry, Carven Designer

Interesting thing here, is how Carven started her fashion career. She studied architecture and interior design originally but after that, went to fashion because of her small size(known that she was 1.55m) and felt it was hard to dress for her. To make up for her height, Carven began to create simple, slender designs which continues till now. 

I think this is why Carven dresses are so very popular among Japanese(and Korean, which is me!) women cause it might give us a few centimeters we may lack. 

<FW13 Carven Collection>

I just can't believe how someone can use so many pastel-toned colors and give the same vibe. Guillaume is just rocking it this season! This is why whenever I fly to Paris, I'm back packed up with Carven. Carven is not publicly known to Koreans at the moment, but I think it's a matter of time! Why don't we try a piece of Carven in FW13?

Lastly, my favorite AD cut from FW13 Carven.

Love, Victoria

REAL FRENCH CHIC

If  you could let me have a chance list my favorite brands, Isabel Marant would be definitely in top 3 with no doubt.  My fever for Isabel Marant Sneakers and Printed Bomber Jacket has not cooled down yet, and I whenever I have a change (or have a spare money) I always end up in one of Isabel Marant store. (or Balenciaga)

And imagine how I would have felt when I first heard news of Isable Marant X H&M collaboration. I could not help but to save up for the collection.

And finally, only one day left for the the release!!!!! (Revealing on the 14th of Nov.)
Before running to the shop, here is the quick summary of the collection.

Above are the inspiration of Isable Marant X H&M Collection. I love how chic and free they are at the same time.

Going through the inspiration, here are some of the key products that I can't wait to have in my two own hands!!!

And lastly, my favorite look from Isabel Marant X H&M Collaboration.

(All images from H&M official Website)

I really got to have those red pants!!!! <3

Love, Victoria