I've realised I've been doing very formulaic posts of late. AND I'M EXCITED HENCE THE USE OF CAPS, SO I AM SHOWING YOU SOME VIDEOS THAT I LOVE.
The reason I love Lady Gaga so much. I think someone killed me with a disco-stick, and sent me to Lady Gaga heaven again and again. AND AGAIN. For the entire duration of the video.
Oh gosh, I love this video so much. And I am an instant Bieber fan convert.
I think this may need some introduction. In this video, there's this girl called Tavi. I don't think she's any awesome, wearing some sort of Jil Sander sweater thingum and gold shiny Miu Miu mini-skirt. I seriously don't. Honestly, I've never heard of her before, but someone told me she's a very famous old lady. But for Spencer, it's a totally different story. Spencer is my favourite person ever, and I mean favouritest person ever. And he was the original creator of that hairstyle, I think they call it the "Bieber". He was first, I've been following him since 1978. Justin Bieber is just a copycat, who happened to become famous. Bleh. But anyways, this video is the cutest. EVER. It's for a magazine, FIRST KISS!
While 2010 may be the year of minimalism fueled by Phoebe Philo for Celine, it is however (at least to me), so much better to see colours and prints rather than camel and beige for Spring. And it was exactly what Marc Jacobs was all about for Spring 09. There were so many references in this collection, so many cultures, so many different identities, so many characters, so much colors and prints. Mary Poppins goes to Dubai, Japanese artisan meets Parisian florist, King and I set in Calcutta, or a Yves Saint Laurent Ballets Russes collection redux, as Nicole Phelps put it, there were so many interpretations to this collection, all quirkier than the one suggested earlier. This collection was a perfect statement on how far imagination could take you.
While each look was styled (very perfectly) crazier than the last, the collection still felt very coherent. The mish-mash of different cultures were able to gel together: while layers and accessories were distinctly different, each look was topped (literally) with the craziest straw hat ever conceived. It was just incredible to see the coming together of a variety of prints, fabrics, and colours for each look, and while it is usually not the easiest to pull off, the geniosity (is there such a word?) of Marc and his team of stylists managed to make it look so effortless. Take for example, the first look from the second collage: it brought to mind kimonos and geisha, but given an European twist and definition in the form of a jacket and knee-length skirt, and held together by a cummerbund-sash-obi-belt, accessorized with chunky necklaces (very artisanal, I thought), the dopiest shades and finished with a cute little straw hat. Now just imagine the story behind this look, or if you have the time, for all 53 looks.
The truth be told, it was very hard selecting the looks for this collage. I'm a hoarder, I guess and when I like something, I would love to get my hands, or in this case, show everything. There wasn't much thought when putting together the collages, but come to think of it, each could tell a story of its own. The first with the background of Paris (I imagine a Chinese immigrant in the City of Lights), the second a photo of Florence (to me, a place where art flourishes and originated, perfect for imagining any of these women strutting their stuff down one of the back alleys), the third a photo of flowers and bicycle (a bicycle, VINTAGE BICYCLE, HOW VERY APT! And flower complementing the metallic floral prints of Jourdan Dunn. HOW VERY APT AGAIN).
It was one of the happiest, feel good moments of fashion.
Background photos are from this amazing flickr album by an amazing photographer called Natasha.
I know I shouldn't do this: exposing others but this person has been making countless of fake accounts of models like Lily Donaldson and Sasha Pivovarova and I feel this is getting very out of hand. I guess I kinda suspected that many of these accounts were fake when Cathy Horyn (who is real, very real) tweeted that Sasha Pivovarova was not on twitter. Come to think of it, even before this incident, I happened to chance upon our very dear 'Sasha P.' twitter account and sent her a link of a tumblr that had archived all her runway and editorial photos. You know what happened next, she began copying these photos from the site and linking them up on her twitpic account. All under my nose (or twitter, if you say so.)
And I always had this suspicion that many of these similar models accounts were fake. Just yesterday, our very dear 'model' aka 'Fake Lily Donaldson' who happens to be on twitter did the most unusual thing ever. She had the nerve to criticize others who had made similar fake accounts when she too was a fake. And when I tweeted her to prove her identity, she went silent, very silent. And when I asked the same question to another 'model', 'Fake Sasha Pivovarova' she too kept very silent. Both of them have never posted real-time photos of themselves, either posting pixelated ones (that they probably got off google), or any photos that can prove their identity. The funniest thing is that these fake models do talk to each other on twitter, even if they are operated by the same person.
If you are finding it hard to believe me, please look at the evidence below, and I think (based on this observations I have) I may have found our mastermind. And then, are you allowed to make up your mind and decide who's telling the truth. I suggest you click on the photos to see the words more clearly, the truth will too be much clearer.
The first clue: Cathy Horyn's tweet. Yes people who are on twitter, the account that goes under the name 'vovarova' is fake. Sasha Pivovarova does not tweet.
And because Sasha is fake, by telling her followers to follow other accounts of models is just plain stupid. It just shows that these other accounts are fake too. And by the way, 'itsdonaldson' changed her name to 'ImLilyDonaldson'. Here's proof that she changed her name.
The first tweet in the first box has given her away. Why would she ask her followers to follow a fake Sasha P. account? Well, because the same person who created 'vovarova', had probably created 'ImLilyDonaldson' and a whole other bunch of accounts too. (Except Jessica Stam, Agyness Deyn and Coco Rocha which are proven to be true by the twitter community. Jessica Stam and Coco's are verified by twitter and Henry Holland tweets to Agyness Deyn.) And hey look, what do we have as we look down the red box. The irony of her telling her followers not to follow fake accounts and criticizing those who have made them. Hahaha. I practically fell off my chair when I saw that.
And I think I may have found out who is the mastermind behind this bullshit. And may I emphasize on the word 'MAY'. My deduction is based on my observations and it's completely up to you to take my words for the truth. The shocking thing is that she is from Singapore, which happens to be where I come from.
(THIS IS JUST A GUESS AND NOT MEANT TO DEFAME ANYONE. THIS IS BASED ON WHAT I HAVE SEEN. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO JUDGE.)
These are some of the list of the accounts that these fake accounts have followed. See if you can spot any similarities between them?
Vovarova's:
MyNameIsVlada, who is impersonating Vlada Roslyakova:
lovesnejana who is impersonating Snejana Onopka:
ImLilyDonaldson:
The thing is that all of these fake model accounts are following this very same person, monikaglory. NOTE that it is the models who are following monikaglory and not monikaglory following them. You may want to ask yourself as to why internationally well-known models (assuming they are real) would want to follow a kid from some small country of Singapore.
And if you look at the users who have followed monikaglory's account, you can spot many other fake accounts. Well apparently, there's Miroslava Duma, Chace Crawford, Angela Lindvall, Isabeli Fontana. All who have claimed that 'they are finally on twitter. YAY!' thing. I guess you're an idiot if you believe their shit.
To summarize all of this, basically @vovarova, @ImLilyDonaldson, @lovesnejana, @MyNameIsVlada are fake and I suspect they are created by the same person, @monikaglory. But I do know that @jess_stam, @Oh_So_Coco, @AggyDeyn, @HeidiMount, @HilaryHRhoda and @CTurlington are real.
Well, I guess if you want to make multiple fake accounts, you've got to be smarter and not let people find out. You know, I'm just sayin'.
Update: A kind reader (Moonglow1980, thanks.) has alerted me to a site that tracks the tweets of models on twitter. Apparently, our very own Jessica Stam (who is verified by Twitter and hence very reliable), has tweeted that the accounts I've mentioned above are fake. I guess it isn't really that hard now to know who's right and who's wrong, who's true and who's fake.
Update: The funniest thing just happened. MonikaGlory just changed her username. The model accounts that I said were fake just blocked me on twitter. And the fake accounts stopped following MonikaGlory. I guess the verdict is clear: GUILTY AS CHARGED!
I know it says Friday in the title, and it's Saturday morning right now, but who cares. As stupid as this sounds, I fell asleep while sitting on my bed.
For every friday starting from today, I'm going to post collages of collections that have been stuck in my head all week. And because I know that you do not have such EPIC thoughts like mine, I'm gonna make you smile to yourself like a creepy fool during the weekends by making my thoughts (and these images) diffuse into your brain. MUAHAHA!
I've been pretty much obsessed with this John Galliano collection. I don't know whether to put the focus on the set, or the make-up, or the headpieces, or the shoes, or the clothes because I want to show everything to you guys. Simply because it was such a flawless collection, it was my favourite for that season. And by favourite, I mean FAVOURITE!
Ukrainian virgin brides, John Galliano had taken inspiration from somewhat a relatively untouched character. And it was a honest tribute to what Galliano stood for- exceptional theatrical showmanship. The set was an amazing illusion of sorts, made perfect by the "laser snow", which made the whole runway seemed like you know, a time tunnel that we usually see in movies, whatever method mad scientists used to time travel. Or it could be my imagination. Frozen eyelashes, melting snowflakes on the skin, an ombre lip, I wish snow would make me this beautiful but more often than so, I get cracked, swollen lips and shivering dull eyes. But I guess that was the magic of Pat McGrath's make-up. The play of volume and proportions, the workmanship of each pannier-hipped, balloon-sleeved, full-skirted coats, the intricate embroidery, the headpieces, the bias-cuts, everything was perfect even to the finest details of a thread and a ribbon. The only one thing that I wasn't happy about was that the transparent, bias-cut dress that Tanya D was wearing is still not hanging in my wardrobe and wall after 2 years. I mean the whole collection was so good, I wouldn't mind if it was a museum showpiece or a couture outfit I would love and die to have. And I need the headpieces, the sleigh-shoes, and the one Sasha was wearing, and the one Kasia was wearing and......I'm such a greedy hoarder.
This is basically not a post about fashion or anything related to that. This is a post on feminism, and yes, there's nothing wrong with a man being a feminist standing for the rights of woman. In fact, there's a quote I got from twitter that says, "If a person is not a feminist, then they are sexist. It's a fact." I couldn't agree more.
Honestly, if you were to ask me what feminism was a month ago, I would have known nuts about it nor would I think I would actually care about it. I never really believed that gender inequality was that prevalent in our society. It could be because I'm still in school and have never experienced nor seen anything that puts women down and because it's an all-boys school I'm in, there are practically no outlets, or in this case, women/girls/ladies for them to "showcase" their superiority.
However, after the Terry Richardson incident (which I wouldn't be touching on today because there are pretty good commentaries out there on this issue, Tavi for example) and some of my favourite bloggers touching on this issue, I've never felt so strong about something that had no direct relations to me. (But well, that was a month ago and now, I'm very much related to feminism.) The incident today, made me even more bitter and convinced me that there are definitely men who have the mindset that they are of the superior sex. It has led me to write this piece of commentary.
I have often realised that many people have the misunderstanding of what feminism is. It saddens me and makes me angry that many men associate fellow men who strongly advocate feminism as gay, sissy or subservient to women. And feminism is about being feminine and gay, which is just so far-fetched from the actual fact. And that women alike, have this mindset that feminists are just a bunch of stubborn, bitter ladies who will do anything to get their way, which is SO wrong. Feminism in short is all about gender equality. Men are not superior than women, and neither is women superior than men. MEN and WOMEN are EQUAL. Like, EQUAL! And so I woudl like to talk about the random but related events that had happened today.
During our social studies class today, our teacher brought out one of the points that basically, one of the UN goals by 2015 is for that of gender equality. However, she mentioned that none of these goals including that of gender equality has been reached especially since there's only 5 years left to this promise. It really saddens me that even as our society and the world is advancing into a really modern age, that the mindset of the alpha male is still very much prevalent. How is that, that after a hundred years or so, our minds are still rooted to the traditional mindset that women should be seen and not heard, and that women should just be kept at home and look after the family and that how men will and still be superior than women no matter what the circumstances are? How and why are we still having the mindsets of ancient chinese (or just about any culture)? How? I just don't get it. Is this history we are studying and applying in the context of our own life? Well apparently, hasn't history taught us that gender inequality should just be kept and lock in the archives of the past, because it has done no one any good.
A similar thing happened later in the day. My friends and I were discussing about rapes, and I brought about the fact that because it is because of how many men think themselves to be better than the other sex and how they saw women merely as a tool or even a toy that rapes occur. I was shocked to hear that many of them said that it was because of how these victims dress: short skirts, stilettos, tight tops, that was to be blamed for these rapes. Basically, they meant that the victims were asking to be raped as soon as they chose to apply make-up and blah blah blah! How is it that these men are lured into raping them when many of these victims have expressed their will to not be with them or many of these rapes are against their will? Do such men even know what the two letter word, "NO" actually means? It means, "go away", or "I'm not comfortable with you around" or just a simple but a definite "NO!!!". It's that simple. Such men just don't know how to respect a woman's body! And sexual assaulting them is not a compliment for how nice their body looks, if that's how some men think.
Even though I'm a man, I feel totally comfortable and only right to be critical of the alpha male and misogynists. The act of someone just proclaiming their achievements over a woman or the boasting of your many sexual 'conquers' are just plain absurd. How are we suppose to believe that men do love their women, when they see them as another tool to show-off to to their male counterparts. Maybe they just don't. Is it really that difficult for men to see women as equal?
I remember once there was a molest and a flasher case going on in my neighborhood and my mother was so worried about my sister, she sent my maid to accompany my sister whenever she had to go to school. It is because of how men think that they are so much more powerful and stronger than women that such cases of "show-offs", also known as rapes and molests, occur. As quoted from this site, "There are so many other beautiful, fascinating and lovely thoughts that might fill the space that we are forced to reserve for violence prevention. Men do not have to negotiate the constant threat of violence in the same way as women; their minds are unburdened by how to prevent attacks — and prove that such attacks were not their own fault."
Yes, it is true that many men do get away with rapes. They blame it on a plethora of reasons, "alcohol, consensual sex", and a million of other rubbish and utter nonsense that it is quite appalling to believe that many of these excuses have managed to get them acquitted. There's one case (from Arabelle's video below, which is really really good and I've re-watched it again and again) about an Australian court passing the verdict that it was because of the skinny jeans that the woman had, that it was impossible for just one man to remove it. The court actually believed that it was then the victim who had helped in the removal of her own jeans, proving it was consensual sex. Right, very true, I do actually believe this story. Hello??? Aren't you people at the court educated enough to realise that this is utter bullshit. It just angers me that there are so many rapists out there getting away scot-free for the heinous crimes they have committed. And no one is doing anything about it!!!
And I personally believe that it is perfectly ok to be a lipstick feminist. Who says feminists have to be aggressive and can't dress up in heels and make-up? It is perfectly deserving for woman to have the right to dress up as they wish and not have constant cat-calls from men or suggestive requests/sexual harassment/sexual assaults from men. It is perfectly normal for a feminist to be strong and powerful in her makeup, heels and skirt.
And another incident brought out of the discussion was that on that topic of the Walmart incident of their female workers being lesser paid than their male counterparts even as they have the same job responsibilities. It is known that for every one dollar that a man earns for the same job, a women earns seventy cents. If that isn't gender discrimination, I don't know what it is then? However, what my friend brought up as a defense was that a man was far more powerful, influential and stronger than a woman and deserved the extra sum of money. After all, he said that if you were to look back at history, it was always men who held important leadership positions, became famous scientists and whatever not. With the more money they had, men are able to invest and give back and contribute more to the economy and society, and so they have a considerably much superior role than woman.
I couldn't help but disagree, that it was because of the mindset of many societies: that men was of the superior gender and that because this mindset was forced on anyone who lived in that society, that we often see women being oppressed, and not gaining the recognition they deserve. It is because of this shallow mindset that women are not given a chance, hence the need for the call for feminism. And isn't his way of saying that he is "far more powerful, influential and stronger" a blatant show of gender discrimination or him having the mindset of superiority over women. And is the investment argument logical, I don't think so. Money comes before investment, not the other way round, but that's not the point. The point is that throughout history, women have and are constantly put down even before they have an opportunity to excel, they are seen as weak when they are not, they are seen as creatures of flaws and imperfections just because many think they are. And should they always be at the beck and call of men, NO! But such mindsets still exists in today's world and that's the PROBLEM! Are we expected to go into our tiny little shell and pretend that such a problem do not exist? It just pisses me off that there are so many people that are doing so little or nothing for feminism.
The thing is that after I've stated my point about feminism and the need for gender equality, the many names I get called is seriously quite scary. "Socialist, Communist, Nazi Hippie, Gay, Go get a life, Are you serious" I get it quite often. But I guess it seriously shows that we should, all the more, advocate gender equality and I feel that there's a need to clear doubts over feminism. And this just makes me an even stronger feminist.
I hope my article has shed some light on feminism and has encouraged you to do something RIGHT NOW in school, at work.....And there's nothing wrong for a men to be a feminist. 'Nuff said.
Well I do know that this may not be anything very insightful but I guess letting my thoughts all out is just such a wonderful feeling.
Pictures are via tulletulle.tumblr.com. I would like to thank Tavi and Arabelle for being such a motivation and inspiration.
I guess once in a while, when you realise what you're doing and what you've been doing before and how it all got here, it really makes a good interesting story to tell. This blog may be quite young and is still developing and honestly I'm not sure what I'm going to make out of this. I don't think I want to be constantly in the media spotlight nor do I think I would like the attention, for good or for bad. To be true, I've made a lot of mistakes coming to where I am, but I've cut off anything that may are hampering me, nor that will make me falter again, and I am here to stay. That's it, I've said it. And I will say it again, I'm here to stay.
Back to the main topic, I've been thinking about my childhood years this few months and am really trying to piece back whatever is fuzzy and blurry in that corner of my mind. I've been laughing (creeping people out especially) or smiling to myself when reminiscing about all the happy memories I've ever had as a kid. You know, being wrong and no one will blame you, playing with sand and your mom getting all fussed up, no worries whatsoever about what will happen the next day. I guess what they say is true, your best part of your life is your childhood. And so, I've been constantly thinking how I actually got into fashion, everyone does have a 'starting' story right, especially when it comes to fashion? It's either you're interested in it or you're not, I guess it's in the blood. Something like how someone can be a genius in maths and someone who practically fails in algebra, it's either you have it or you don't and that's what so special about fashion.
My new favourite past-time is looking at baby photos of myself. And going "awwww, so cute. who's that, I wonder?" "Oh it's me. No wonder the baby is so adorable". Just joking, narcissism should be kept private.
I remember my first encounter with fashion was with "The Devil Wears Prada", around 2004/2005, after the exams. My sister brought home the pirated version of the movie that her friend had lent her, and naturally, I was interested. Not in the fashion aspect, because then I didn't care or even know anything about that, but more so on the movie just being movie. And perhaps Anne Hathaway too, one of the very first Hollywood actresses I knew by name. I blame it on my mom and sister who brought me to watch The Princess Diaries. Honestly, I don't remember what my first impression of the TDWP was, except for the really bad subtitling and unmatched voice-overs. Nothing about fashion, maybe just the part when Miranda kept calling for Demarchelier, and even then I didn't knew who or what "Demarchelier" was. And maybe except for the closet section and the part where Andy underwent her million outfit changes. Even then, I really didn't knew that I was going to be so-called, "in" fashion. Come to think of it, me being obsessed about how Andy looks like it could be a foreshadow of the future. I like how God plays with life like how a detective novel unfolds.
I'm a Super Jock. How in the world....??!?!? With my partner in-crime.
"By all means move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me."
Over the years, I have had many encounters with fashion, mostly small and I don't remember much of. Some were really stupid and I don't really want to remember those awful memories. But none really did make a big impact on me, nor could any of them make me make fashion a part of my daily life.
Well, maybe the turning point when I was 12 or 13, I don't remember the details but I did remember I started to be really mindful of my dressing. You can call it teenage adolescence or a growing phase of puberty that I would probably outgrow, but that interest just didn't left, it became permanent. I remember clearly this time that it was me going to the now defunct men.style.com, the brother site of style.com that got me into this whole frenzy. Then came style.com, and I became more interested in women's fashion more so than men's. In fact, I stopped going to men.style.com once I knew of style.com.
The only reason I live. And one of the most influential websites, I would say.
I remember then watching The Devil Wears Prada again. Previously, I had no clue whatsoever who or what were the names that kept spewing out of Nigel's mouth. "Narciso" (Rodriguez), "Demarchelier (Patrick)" "Michael Kors" didn't meant a thing to me previously and didn't meant a thing to me then too. Wikipedia probably paved the important way of me tracking down information and for much research work. I was strangely fascinated by Anna Wintour, the name that was brought up by the wikipedia page of The Devil Wears Prada. Either because of how wikipedia wrote of her that made her seem so "elusive" and "untouchable" or maybe because it was of her impeccable bob (which was the craze at that time, started by a certain Victoria Beckham). The next name I tried hard to remember was that of Agyness Deyn (The reference to this was 8day, a local entertainment magazine). The thing was that I tried real hard to remember all the names of people in fashion, that I mostly read on wikipedia, and because of Aggy's wiki page, there came a whole slew of top models that I tried to google and remember how they actually looked like. And by then, I realised that the designers featured in the Devil Wears Prada, were not that amazing (at least to me, Patricia Field likes Zac Posen, I don't).
The page and the specific part that played quite an important role that got me interested in models and fashion in general. Click to enlarge.
The first fashion show I saw was that of Chanel Spring 2009. To me it was a pretty good show to start off what would become a daily routine of incessant video watching on youtube and endless clicking of images on style.com. The next show that I was really blown away by was Lanvin SS09, more so than the Chanel, I would probably say. The style.com app on the iPhone made fashion even more accessible. Before I knew it, come every fashion week, would be a period of me checking for updates of show pictures.
And could I add another small little insignificant story that consisted of a really insignificant me and a really important person. There was this time in school when it was "Be Yourself Day" and we could dress up in anyway we wanted. No uniform, no rules. And we could be all cool and funky and hipster, you know. Well, I kinda saw this classmate of mine, who was wearing this Louis Vuitton polo tee. Not that I kinda cared, nor was I inspired by it, but I was just 12 so I was kinda immature and jealous. I wanted to be better than him, I guess and it kinda fueled my interest in fashion, it made me have this desire to dress even better than him. Wow, that I think was a pretty good waste of your 3 minutes.
Well, I may have left out some important details. The story may be a bore to some of you but I think it's a pretty good way of documenting how I started and how I became where I am today. Furthermore, I actually did realise something that I hadn't before: technology and media played a really big part in my interest in fashion. All the wikipedia and The Devil Wears Prada and the googling madness (it was of no surprise that I would open a million of tabs and pages just because of me googling who's who in fashion). It was even the style.com iPhone app that introduced me to Tavi and I couldn't thank Apple enough for that.
Over the 2 years, I guess, I've learnt many new things in fashion like the names of designers, past collections, the history of houses, the materials. Some people do respond by telling/rebuking me that I sometimes act as if I know a lot, and I apologize for that. It was totally unknowingly. And I honestly think I don't. I'm still on this journey of learning more about this thing they call "fashion" that I just happened to be really interested in and obsessed with. I'm working towards the day when I can whip out references like a jar of peanut butter and jelly on bread. I'm enjoying this journey and I think I will stay on this road I've taken. I guess I had chosen the road I would want to and only take, ever since I've decided to clung onto the train of the Prada coat that belongs to "The Devil". I won't let go. And I'm proud to say that I now do know who and what Emily were referring to when they said "I'm sorry, do you have some prior commitment? Some hideous skirt convention you have to go to?" It's me. (Me trying to be funny, but not really so.)
The juxtaposition of the cheap, wrinkled fabrics in the background against the couture handicrafts of Hussein Chalayan and Alexander McQueen in the foreground sets the tone for a Vogue US editorial. "No Rules Britannia" as the title reads, is as literal as it gets. The history of the English is captured through each image, from the Elizabethan era to the Vikings, to the modern monarchy to the British trench coat. And not surprisingly the designers featured are also from London: Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, Hussein, McQueen, Burberry. Well, after all, this is the story told by Grace Coddington (who is English by the way), and not forgetting the other powerful English lady, Anna Wintour.
P.S. Strangely, I think that there's a Fred Perry logo on the dress to the right, worn by Lily Donaldson in the 4th photo. And I realised that even the models are English. Talk about fashion patriotism.
