BRENTON // $100 VOUCHER GIVEAWAY

"When in doubt, wear stripes" : That's the slogan I've been living off for the past month. You're probably wondering that you haven't seen any stripes running across my pages BUT the thing is that many of my outfits don't get uploaded on the blog (..I also think that my visitors will vanish if I over upload those lined patterned attires as I can't imagine myself opening a blog and seeing the same thing within a page.)
This Uniqlo dress is a good case study for the slogan above. I've only had it for a month and I've worn this no less than 5 times. It's perfectly cut, great color combo, and can be easily dressed up or down.. What's not to love? I did some pattern mixing with a dash of neon for today's post. and maybe if you're not bored, I'll try to snap a dressed up version of it for next time..

BUCKLE UP

Been searching for the perfect classic black belt for ages and I still have no luck! (or maybe I haven't really put in my efforts to properly search due to my crazy schedule) Ever since I saw Elin Kling's vintage belt, I've always wanted to replace my trusty overused Topshop brown one with something similar.. As I scrolled through bloglovin the other night, it came to me that I desperately need the perfect black belt now..

SUMMER SAMBA

I have a couple of peplum tops but I keep going back to this one for no reason. I guess it's because that it's white and white feels right for most of the time here.. Instead of doing a neutral colored look like last time, I used the white piece as a blank canvas for bright add ons.. The bag was one of my birthday gifts and I haven't stop carrying it since. It's locally made with satin-ny fabric and it's huge enough to fit it my canon 5D..

CRYSTAL DREAMS

I love sparkles. Let it be diamonds (duh...), glitter, or just some faux gemstones. But more precisely, I like sparkly things when they are used appropriately. I remember when Swarovski encrusted accessories started to take a storm awhile back but I wasn't convinced to get one because I thought that they all looked tacky especially when the gems are poorly designed..
When I found out about Cubic Bling, I fell in love with their Swarovski loaded pieces. From cellphone cases, fashion accessories and even earphone buds.. they were all simple, elegant, and yet still statement making. They were also open to new customization ideas. And that... Is how I came up with the idea of bedazzling my bow flats.

readerREQUEST : FOOD-TOGRAPHY

As most of your know, photography and food are second to fashion when it comes to my 'Interest' list.. That said, I often post my culinary tours both on the blog and my latest favorite social media, Instagram. I am steering away from my usual fashion posts because I do feel that a breath of new topic is a need once every blue days.
No I am not making a food guide for Jakarta (that would be too much work for me to collect the images all over this traffic damned city). Instead, I will be sharing some food photography tips! Part of my new year resolution was to try to cater to YOUR posting wants.. A couple of readers have asked me to do a food photography tutorial and here it is !

before you start, I'd recommend on understanding the terms : aperture, white balance, and shutter speed (google !) also, keep in mind that these tips are pretty basic. Therefore, they can be applied to other photography categories such as fashion portraits, product or even your everyday shots!

SQUARE CUT

found this 'cool' spot (cool as in less hot, not groovy cool) as I was driving around in bright daylight with Christy. Decided to park and take some photos while there were no cars or motorbikes around, or at least until they started appearing.

TIERS OF RUFFLES

I have always loved juxtaposing when it comes to fashion. Dresses with boots, sweats with stilettos, or sweaters with a ball gown in this case. This was actually a last minute idea that I thought of in the morning.. I got this dress for one of my prewed photos and it's been sitting with the dust mites in my closet. Took it out, put on a bit of winged eyeliner and set up a little photo session with Christy. Hope you enjoy these photos :)

TWO ZERO

Okay I was planning on posting my birthday post tonight but I got stuck in between work and appointments and I didn't have any time to edit the photos. So yes, another 365 days (or however many days there were in this leap year) went by and I have gained another age ! So happy that after my tiring day, my dear assistant surprised me with a hello kitty cake :D Now my fridge is pretty much cake-loaded...

STYLING 101

A lot of my readers ask questions regarding my day job and what I do on a day to day basis. and what exactly do I wear to work and do I wear my outfits that I post on the blog to work.. (sorry for pilling up the question into one fragment sentence) Well, one of my job is a stylist. On days where I am on set, I prefer wearing comfortable and functional (which translates to.. giant pockets and weather-friendly) clothes.. however, when I am at the office or meeting with other people, chances are I am wearing the stuff I post on the blog. Today I am sharing my on-set outfit.. It usually gets even more relaxed when it's an outdoor shoot..

VIOLETS ARE BLUE

Any close relative or friend of mine know that I am a die hard purple lover. Being a color that comes from red and blue, I find that purple has both warm and cool properties. To me, purple is my color of versatility. I find it easiest to dress down or dress up in purple. I also find it easy to mix purple things into my outfit.. and last but not least, purple seems like a good blend of feminism and edge in one shade. Glad that I finally managed to create my head to toe purple look now !

24:7 SHORTLIST

I was reading Silvia's blog last month when I first found out about Jimmy Choo's 24:7 Stylemakers contest. I had a cancelled skype meeting that night and I had already finished my to-do list, so I thought I'd upload a picture since the sign up process wasn't a pain in the butt. Didn't even read carefully that when I upload, I'm in the run for a 4000 pound worth of a complete Jimmy Choo wardrobe gift.
Little did I know, a month later, I found out (from Silvia again... thank you dear :) that I made it to the top ten list.. I would have never expected this to have happened.. and I don't have my high hopes to win the grand prize, but making it to the 10 ten list already boosts my mood. Thank you to the Choo 24:7 Stylemakers teams for choosing me.

WEATHER WOMAN

Sometimes I really wished that I could steer away from talking about the weather but I just can't because the weather is one of the biggest factors that affect in the way I dress on a daily basis. For example, for the past week, the clouds and sun have been funny. Showing up one day and hiding the next hour (yes next hour... not next day) and thanks to that, I tend to pick an outfit that can work for both situations. When it's dark outside, I like to take advantage and wear some tights while I can.. and if the sun came out again like it did, I have to option to go bare legged straight.. and what does all of this rambling mean? nothing really.. just felt like sharing ;) feel free to share YOUR way of putting together your outfit every morning on the comments section ! I would love to know !

BOOTCUT

I am glad that non-skinny jeans are making a comeback. Whether it's shredded, boyfriend, flared, patched, whatever variety there are out in the world.. It's refreshing to see new silhouettes and colors of the classic item. I find that boot cut jeans are actually very flattering for people of all shapes & sizes. However, since I usually wear a loose top, wearing another baggy bottom doesn't really fit the proportion math. Hence I wear skinny bottoms much more often. These Bettina Liano pairs are different though. They're nicely fitted on the top and they flare out nicely on the calves.. allowing me to wear my favorite loose blouses with them.

MOONLIGHT

As promised, the second part of the Didi Budiardjo photos. This time I slipped in some runway shots too. I didn't shoot much when Debussy's Claire de Lune started playing during the night as I simply wanted to sit back and enjoy the show.

CLAIRE DE LUNE #1

good to be clicking the 'blogger.com' button on my chrome's most visited front page today. Alot has happened this week and it seems that my weekend is looking more like an extra Tuesday and Wednesday (I didn't choose Monday because Mondays are somewhat more daunting). But I ain't going to ramble on that..
Instead, I'll be rambling on Didi Budiardjo's marvelous 'Claire de Lune' (moonlight in French) show for today. After battling the infamous 5pm Jakarta traffic, I arrived at the venue and headed backstage. I was awed by all of the marvelous pieces some still hanging on the racks and some worn by the models. The Javanese tradition inspired collection was dominated with white, black, red and gold colors. In contrast with the traditional aspects, Didi tossed in many futuristic attributes such as the accessories created by renowned Indonesian designer, Rinaldy A Yunardi. These include chained loaded headgears, intricate ear pieces, and last but not least my favorite clear acrylic (or whatever it's made of) coral reef-like masks/hats. I'll have to split this post into two because there were alot pictures..