Self Defense

Us girls cannot always expect prince charming to come to our aid when we need it (he and his white horse might be stuck in traffic), we got to have a few tricks up our sleeves just in case (traffic is so unpredictable these days). Besides its the century for kick ass girl power right? Anyway, here are a few pointers I've gathered from kick boxing classes with a professional boxer and multiple self defense lectures:

• The first tip of course is to plan ahead, be aware and to run if necessary so as to avoid any situation where self defense is needed. That includes not listening to your ipod while walking alone in dark seedy areas and making lists in a car in the middle of nowhere by yourself (even if its locked!)-make your lists somewhere safe! Walking in threes is also a good idea. Statistically pairs are as likely to be attacked as singles, its when you get to 3 where safety really heightens.
• Appearance is everything (also true for situations beyond safety). Walk with a purpose-which means back straight and stare straight ahead (this also gives you better posture, making anything you wear look better). Muggers are more likely to pick an "easy" unaware unconfident victim. You might also trying to scream BACK OFF very fiercely at them. However this is harder done than said. I tried it last night and its hard to scream like a shrew when you're trained to be a lady.
• Then there is the funny walk. If you feel threaten you might consider doing a wacky funny walk. Muggers are less likely to attack a crazy loonie walking around the street. At least thats what they told me, but it may also be because they just wanted to see everyone in the room "practice" their crazy walks. . .
• Oh yes, when running away and calling for help, scream "FIRE". When someone screams help people tend to want to stay out of the way or hide in order to avoid trouble. But when someone screams FIRE, people are naturally curious and would come and take a look just in case it was their own property on fire. Yes, its a sad world we live in.
• And when mugged, just give them your valuables. Nothing is worth your life afterall. And chances are they're not out to kill you anyway. Throw your valuables on the floor and run in the opposite direction screaming fire!
• Ok, so those were common sense. Now for the action-but only when absolutely needed. Contrary to Miss Congeniality, the groin is actually very difficult to attack (They're the first area a guy protects when attacked). Instead aim or the eyes, throat, shins and any hoops or piercing they might happen to have-ripped skin is painful. For eyes, flick your fingers hard into it. 4 fingers are better than 2 when poking someone's eyes. For throat, grab the neck and squeeze hard, choking the air out. For shins, stomp really hard or graze down the calf with side of your shoes. Heels are especially effective!
• If you have a stick like weapon (like an umbrella or rolled up magazine) don't raise it over your head and try to hit. You can be easily disarmed in a battle of strengths. Instead give them a well aimed hard poke. And hold it with your hands on top of handle for a better grip and its that much harder to disarm you.
• When asked to put your hands up, don't put it up too high. Then you could try a disarming move where you clutch the wrist of the attack with weapon to your chest for dear life, side step and bend down sideways. This supposedly should dislocate their wrists. .
• Not that I recommend that move. When all else fails, run. An attacker only shoots their target 4 out of 100 times due to stress and tension. You could always be the lucky 96. Thats why police have training!

Wow that was quite an essay. Anyway, at the end of the day, use your common sense and stay safe and gorgeous. Remember- appearance is everything!

Stella McCartney for H&M

Rejoice! Today is possibly the most anticipated fashion day of the year -Stella McCartney's H&M fashion line is out!
Last year I was disappointed by Karl Lagerfeld's H&M collection -I spent an hour looking through the small collection but I didn't actually like anything. I thought the clothes were frumpy in an old lady sort of way. So this year, I decided not to get my hopes too high. But boy, was I suprised. Stella McCartney's H&M collection is Kate-Moss-stylish, trendy and m0st importantly, actually looks like it was designed by Stella.

Stella's signature look of effortless chic with a hint of rockstar glam.

I love this silk chiffon blouse. It's elegant, comfortable and versatile. I managed to buy this top when the second run of stock arrived at the Covent Garden store.

This gorgeous oversized trench is seriously oversized, but the volume it creates makes you feel like a supermodel on the FW05 runway. Alas, I think only tall people can wear this trench without looking like a potato sack.

To be fair, not everything was stylish. Like this long sleeved top, I thought looked cheap and too common.

These crystals bikinis were the most unpopular item from the collection -they were actually available in the stores! Not suprising though, since it is getting colder...

This bow jacket is great for the young, working woman. While it may look weird with jeans, it would look great with a skirt (as seen above) or with working pants. At first glance I didn't like how stuffy it looked, but I saw someone try it on and it looked great on the girl, so don't let first impressions stop you from trying on potentially fantastic clothes.

I WANT this satin blouson! It looks so amazingly casual yet not trashy. I can totally imagine wearing this with well, almost everything: from jeans to work pants and skirts. I am definitely going back to H&M to check if they have this in stock before I go to Geneva tomorrow!

If for some odd reason you still haven't gone to H&M yet today, go before it's too late!

Double Breasted Coats

The other day I tried on THE most adorable double breast coat on sale for $300+ (it used to be $500+). I know-ouch! Here's a picture (the one on the left):

By Rebecca Taylor, it is THE most romantic, girly and gorgeous coat I've tried on this season yet. This picture doesn't really do it justice. The back is expertly slimming. And the buttons on the coat are actually gobs of pretty crytal things. And the collar is velvet. Its perfect for the romantic victorian look of this season!The coat on the right also by Rebecca Taylor, is also very adorable, completely made of velvet with a slightly more military edge to it. I highly recommend looking at all of Rebecca Taylor's Fall 05 collection for more romantic victorian inspired clothes.

Then I was suddenly seeing double breasted coats everywhere. On the next rack was this charming mint colored double breasted coat from Marc by Marc Jacobs.While not as detailed as the Rebecca Taylor, the bright mint color and delightful flare gives it a very baby doll girly feel.

Now that I was caught on with this whole double breasted coat trend, naturally when I got home I went online and looked for more! Because if you think about it, the double breasted coat really is a very classical piece that gives off the very well put together and and ladylike vibe. And this well fitted black one from Top Shop is definitely classical.

But if you want something not quite so classical, this brown double breasted jacket from Zara is perfect. It even has a extra flap on the left shoulder to give it a more "military" touch this season and a more "burberry" touch on the long run.

Unfortunately there is one downside with double breasted coats- you must wear it all buttoned up. Otherwise, you just lose the pulled-together-ness of the design and just doesn't look so good.

Britain's Next Top Model

The cult of America's Next Top Model seems to be ever growing. A simple search online for "top models" yields results for Australia, Britain, Thailand and probably a lot more if I keep on searching. I recently managed to get my hands on a few episodes of Britain's Next Top Model, and I must say, they must not be very well funded! I was quite disappointed. Where to start. . .

YES, houses! While America's Next Top Model gets to live in a house in Beverly Hills, especially designed for them to resemble a department store with themed bedrooms. .

Britain's Next Top Model gets to live in a spacious and very simply but chic-ly designed apartment with one room as living quarters filled with metal bunk beds. Not exactly up to the ANTM's standards. Although I do understand the London is very cramped and all, I'd like to point out that when it was held in New York they stilled lived in very awesome places with funky designs and more rooms. Maybe its the British stlye, who knows?

The photoshoots didn't seem very well equipped either, with very cramped make shift work space and well. . utter chaos. Not quite the well organised chaos we are used to seeing on ANTM.

The photos itself were not very impressive either. The models usually all have a very united theme, wearing very similar clothes and posed behind very simple backgrounds. Not very exciting at all- as you can see from this model's expression.

This one has waaay too much intensity. She just looks downright mean. And I'm must say, this outfit does not look very flattering on her. She's definitely not doing anything for me. *yawns*

This is actually one of the most interesting photos they have. And the judges actually said it was good! For me, so used the ANTM, this photo lacks intensity and connection with the audience. Still not tempted to buy that outfit.

Speaking of which, the judges themselves are pretty dull as well. Their comments were repetitive, dull and so not funny. They need to find a balance between serious and fun. Otherwise, its just boring. As if the show itself was not dragging enough, they add another 40 minutes afterwards devoted to the evictee! And if that is still not enough to put you to sleep, they have another 20 minutes devoted to confessions.That ought to do the work. Although personally I've not needed to watch the confessions in order to fall asleep. The evictee story really does the trick ;).

It makes me wonder what the quality of the show in the other countries are like.

Billion Dollar Babes in London

Last Saturday, I woke up bright and early at *gasps* 7am to go to Billion Dollar Babes. To those of you who don't know what Billion Dollar Babes is, it's a sample sale. Now normally, I'm not one to go get crushed by a mad crowd of crazy bargain shopping hopefuls, but since the Vogue website kept on mentioning it, I decided to check out the Babes website and was very impressed. The list of brands the sample sale carried was quite alluring -Catherine Malandrino, Diane Von Furstenberg, Cacherel, Joes Jeans, Missoni handbags and Philip Tracey, just to name a few.

Billion Dollar Babes actually first started in America and became big in New York and LA. Then this June, Babes had its first overseas sale in London. I was busy in June so didn't manage to make it, but I was so glad I went to this one! When I arrived at eightish, it was already crazy packed. Shoppers were all frantically going through clothing racks, taking things to try on. There were also jewellery stalls such as funky jewellery brand Mawi and beautiful jewellery label Carolina Bucci for the accessories-lovers. Women around were all trying on shoes, jewellery, hats and bags.

Completely soaking up the fantastic shopping atmosphere around me, I got into my serious shopping mood and got to work. First I went through the racks of clothing and tried them on. The changing room is not like normal changing rooms in shops -it's simply one big room with mirrors in it. It's no time to be shy and find a hidden corner to change. But I actually quite liked it because you can actually ask the woman next to you what they think, or like when I helped the woman next to me pull up the zippers at the back of her dress. At the end, I decided to buy an Ella Moss long sleeve top (£35) and a beads-embellished Pink Soda halter top (£15). Definitely much cheaper than they would usually cost!

After the clothes, I walked around the accessories stalls and found a really pretty embellished pink scarf at the Pink Soda stall for £15. But my happiest moment there was when I found this pair of Georgina Goodman flats:

These Georgina Goodman shoes are called Kizzy. Originally £320, I got them for £62! They're actually made of snake skin and the bronze fabric really adds style to the flats. OK, so they're from the SS05 collection, but I figured I could totally wear them next summer too, esp with so much white seen in the SS06 catwalks. As the Georgina Goodman website describes them: "never out of season, always to be worn, forever young and utterly gorgeous"!

Before I left, I went to their refreshment stall to get a complimentary bottle of Perrier, (they also offered Diet Coke.) What an amazingly spirit lifting sample sale!

Detny by Shane & Shawn

So the other day randomly shopping, we can across one of those special ladies shopping nights at a department store and happily walked around with our gift bags, trying on shoes while sipping our mocktails. Then we came across the highlight of the shoe department: Detny by Shane and Shawn shoes.
I was first interested in these very classical looking kitten pumps called Jodi,thinking it would be perfect for everyday campus walking and they DO look comfortable. Imagine my delight when I tried them on and found that they actually ARE comfortable!

So I carried on looking and found that these sexy silver stilettos were actually comfortable too! Oh the delight for a girl to find heels that don't make her feet hurt. We can probably dance all night in them! They even had these awesome boots that are actually based on the design of these heels there. Like you can actually see the skeleton of these heels on those boots. Too bad I couldn't find a picture. They were cool.

And we have these two charming gentlemen to thank for-Shane and Shawn. Identical twin brothers. How cute is that? They were actually at the event that night as well. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to meet them since they were crowded by ladies vying for their attention, making it a little hard for me to approach. So I'll just have to take this chance to thank and commend two gentlemens for bring us great shoes that our feet love.

The Return of the OC

FINALLY. The OC is back on Thursday nights. Congratulations to the White Sox for such a timely win. I don't know what I would do on Thursday nights if they carried on playinf for any longer stopping the OC. I actually don't quite understand why they had to cancel the OC in favor of the world series. I know its a big thing in America and all, but remember that time last year when Bush made a public announcement during the OC timeslot and people complained so much he apologized for his ill timed announcement? They could also have rescheduled it at another time. I don't see why we would need to see another rerun of Seinfeld. Anywho, its over now. The OC successfully aired last night and as usual it was as awesome and fashion inspiring as always.

Summer and Marissa looking gorgeous in a pretty skirt and very cute dress both by Burning Torch. Note the thin gold belt Marissa is sporting to emphasize her waist, making it more ladylike.

Only Julie Cooper can carry off this spunky leopard dress from Nanette Lepore.

Taking charge very adorably in an Anthropologie dress. I am definitely getting one for Spring 06!

If only we all looked so effortlessly put together for school. Girly pretty on the left and more rocker chick on the right.

Oh and here's another brilliant idea for a school bag- a cute little Chanel!

Now THIS is being exiled in style. Anyway, going to go before this blog turns into another Mischa-Barton-can-wear-a-sack-gorgouesly-and-stylishly-post. Got to save that for next time right? ;)