Thanksgiving sales today so......

I hear it's the Thanksgiving Sales in the States today. I am so jealous of the Americans, or anyone who is in the States today. It's SO sad here at London -a lot of sales don't start until very near Christmas, or even after Christmas.

I can't believe it's already the end of November. The signs of nearing the end of the school term are showing -I haven't talked or MSNed Barneys Girl for FOUR days! That's quite a long record for us. She just finished her mid-terms and I just handed in a long essay, so we've been rather busy this week. I don't know whether to be happy that the holidays are starting soon or not. Barneys Girl is probably happily shopping in San Francisco with her mum and aunt now, and I hear The OC Season 1 calling me, so I leave you with this Shopaholic quiz, (just open in new window.) The quiz is a bit too short to be perfect, but don't you think it's rather appropriate for today?

Link to Shopaholic quiz from ElleGirl. Do come back to let us know what you are! It's all good fun. *Muah*

Asian Models Update: Hye Park and Du Juan

Remember back in March when I wrote about Asian models? Looking back, I didn't realise it would cause so much controversy -there were a lot of supporting comments but also a few racist ones. I suppose that is to be expected since there are an awful lot of narrow-minded people out there.

I was inspired to write about them when I saw a few Asian models on the FW05 catwalks. And not suprisingly, in the recent SS06 catwalks, even more Asian models were seen. Why are designers suddenly using more Asian models? I'm sure everyone knows that Chinese consumers are aplenty, rich and LOVE designer brands. LVMH and other fashion houses' continuous profit growths are mostly thanks to China, (the Chinese do love their LV and Gucci monogram bags.) And with the recent launch of Chinese Vogue and the opening of Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong, designers need Asian models to show the Chinese (and other Asians) how their clothes can be adopted into their lifestyle.

I've narrowed down to two prominent Asian models here:
Hye Park -An obvious choice. This Korean girl is a favourite Asian model of the designers on the catwalks. And most importantly, she stars in FW05 Roberto Cavalli ad along with five other models. I think she's one of the only Asian model to be featured in designer ads.

The catwalks: Donna Karan and Peter Som SS06

The catwalks: Marc by Marc Jacobs SS06 and Miu Miu FW05

Roberto Cavalli FW05 campaign

Du Juan -In China, she's most famously known as Miss China 2003. To us, she's the beautiful Chinese girl who graced the first ever Chinese Vogue cover along with Gemma Ward. She was only seen on a few catwalks, but she's got great potential and she really is quite exquisite looking. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of her in next season's shows.

Vogue China Sept. cover -Du Juan is on the far left, (next to Gemma)

Vogue Paris Oct. cover -From the same photoshoot with Gemma

On the catwalk in Diane von Furstenburg SS06 -she looks so pretty here!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

No matter your age, style or whether you love or hate it, the latest Harry Potter movie is just something everyone must see. From all reviews, it is supposedly THE best Harry Potter movie so thus far-so I was psyched. Many lame movie trailers later, the movie finally began.

And I must say, it wasn't exactly as mind-shatteringly-good as everyone hyped it up to be. I found everything a bit abrupt. One minute they were at the Quidditch World Cup and the next the 2 schools participating in the Triwizard Tournament was arriving. How does that work? I understand that its hard to fit a 700 page book into a 2 hour movie, but it just didn't flow very well.

I also found that many things just didn't fit what I had in mind when reading the book. Take Fleur Delacour for example. She is supposed to be minding-stoppingly beautiful and gorgeous. But I'm sorry, does she look mind-stoppingly beautiful here to you? And what is with their entrance, where the group of girls did this really lame "sighing" thing as they walked into the hall???

Then there was Professor Dumbledore. He continues to not live up to my idea of Dumbledore. He's too skinny. Not stately enough. And well. . too ALIVE. Dumbledore (in my head anyway) is supposed to look like he should be dead, but because he's so amazing, isn't dead. And he's supposed to be calm and the answer to all problems. His anger, confusion and helplessness when Harry was chosen as one of the triwizards just did not work.

Then there was Hermione's transformation for the dance. She's supposed to be so transformed that no one even recognizes her! But obviously we all recognize her as the Hermione we know except with her hair up and in a dress. A dress which by the way is way too frilly. And isn't it weird that suddenly she's accepting a drink from Viktor and then she is screaming at Ron and Harry and crying? She's also not a very good actress. Some bits the expression just blatantly did not match the context. Like when she said, "Boys. . " Also note that her date, Viktor Krum her supposedly amazingly hot quidditch player date is not so hot. .

In fact, now that Oliver Wood has graduated, the only good looking guy on the show- Cedric Diggory- is not even that hot!He has like a weirdly blotchy complexion. AND he dies. So I guess we won't be seeing him again. . .

Other points of interest of a more fashion nature. Cho Chang actually looked really nice at the dance. Her outfit and whole look was very elegantly put together. A little reminscent of Ziyi Zhang.

And entirely random and out of context. This is not a very good picture. But if you've seen the movie, don't you think that the Madame Maxime portrayed in the movie looks like our ever so fashionable Anna Wintour?? Something to do with her bob and style.

Overall though, it was a very satisfying Harry Potter movie and totally worth the wait!

How To Wear Skinny Jeans

So a week or so ago, anonymous brought up the interesting question of how should one wear skinny jeans.Skinny jeans are quite "the" thing this season. I myself have bought a pair of skinny jeans a couple months ago. They are by Joe's, entitled the "cigarette leg" and comes with a delightful little necklace with "cigarette leg" emblazoned on it. Can't quite find a picture of them, but they are at the stores.

As to how to wear them, well there is the typical way of wearing them-tucked into your boots. I mean, the design of them does make it amazingly easy to tuck into boots. Flared jeans are such a pain to tuck. When it comes to tucked into boots, I think Miss Sixty does quite a good job of it in their latest campaign. Is it the denim, or does that model on the right really DOES have such skinny thighs?

Then of course, you can wear your skinny jeans as it is with heels. They effect can be fabulously slimming-like this model on the right wearing Dolce and Gabanna. This effect is also can be seen on the mannequin wearing the skinny jeans from the Stella Macartney for H&M collection. The heels don't need to be pointy, this sandal with skinny jeans look from the D Squared runway works very well too.

In fact they don't even need to be heels. They could be flats! The key is that it is slimming in itself. Like these pointy flats above by Franklin Elman. And remember, no chunky sneakers please! Ok, now that we've established the basics-time for some fun!

For that, we look towards the catwalk of the two most fashion forward names in the industry- Alexander MacQueen and Marc by Marc Jacobs. Roll up those skinny jeans-neatly to show off your funky footwear (although this one IS a bit extreme. . ) or -not-so-neatly to achieve a casually thrown together chic.

Bag Trend Fall/Winter 2005 I: Tassles

Every season, there are trends that come in as quickly as they go out. Though not exactly what one would call timeless, they ARE however always a lot of fun to mix and match with. This season, the "passing" by bag trend are tassles add ons!

First up: tassles. They are absolutely EVERYWHERE. Most adorably brought to us by the trendsetter himself, Marc by Marc Jacobs. There is a whole collection of these tassled-up Marc by MJ bags out there.

Like poms poms to a cheerleader, these tassles is a really cute addition. Added to a simple clutch, like this one from Ted Baker, it just adds life and well. . cheerfulness to the whole bag. So now we have tassles on bags as decorations, tassles on zips

And then there are tassles on the ends of drawstring bags- by Juicy Couture (which is cute)and . .

By Anthropologie (which is not so cute). Its easy to see why this will only be a passing phase. Apart from reminding one of pom poms, it also brings up the image of curtain decorations, both as the rope holding the curtains up and the decorations hanging from the trims. Especially this one from Anthropologie, its looks like they had too much material left from the new curtains in their office and decided to use it to make bags. It really is a thin line between carrying extra curtain materials and a cute trendy bag. . .

Juicy Couture Accessories FW05

Usually I think Juicy bags are... well, ugly and poorly designed. Seriously, only very unstylish preppy kids carry those candy-colored bags. This season, Juicy is going way out to create new accessories. And the suprising thing is that some of these designs are actually stylish!

The bags and jewelry designs have been highly improved -I see bags without 'Juicy Couture' plastered all over them; I see jewelry that can be worn with non-preppy outfits; and most importantly, I see some great accessory designs that are youthful, casual yet still chic without being tacky.
This is such a cool, everyday bag. It reminds me of Kate Spade bags but in a more casual, trendy way.

OK, so this bag is pink. Very pink. But its perfect for a casual dinner out. The golden chains are much classier than typical Juicy stuff.

This Juicy clutch is actually elegant! It still says 'Juicy' on it but in a subtle manner. I can totally picture someone wearing a dress for a nice night out holding this clutch.

Dangly sparkly horseshoe earrings. (Horseshoes are just so trendy nowaday.) Perfect with the little black dress.

Love this ring. It's like a mini belt on your fingers! And the platinum-gold color is just perfect for next year's trend!

Hairstyle Trend Fall/Winter 2005 II

A few weeks ago, I talked about one of this season's trendy hairstyles -the 60s big volume hair. Today I'm going to talk about a hairstyle which is super causal. Actually it looks so casual you might not even realise it's actually considered a 'hairstyle'! This hairstyle is the single-sided ponytail.

You're thinking huh? That's right, the single-sided ponytail made an elegant appearance in the FW05 catwalks and it's legally fashionable to wear it now. I love this hairstlye because it is so great for everyday-wear. It gives off the effortlessly cool vibe when worn with the 'bum' look, (the big sweater with loose pants look when you laze around;) it also transforms into a graceful, chic hairstyle when worn with more intelligent-looking clothes.

The catwalk show that brought upon this trend: Miu Miu FW05

Seems amazingly effortless stylish right? Actually since it's on the catwalk, you can guess it's not so effortless. First, make sure your hair is straight and shiny. Side part the front half of your hair, and comb back the back half. Tie your hair loosely to the side with more hair. Spray a bit of hair spray onto the crown of your hair and backcomb to give it some volume. Lastly, organise the front side parting of your hair is nearly covering one of your eyes. (You might want to spray some hairspray here too.)

So how do you wear this seemingly simple ponytail in real life? See our always fashionable Marissa (The OC) here:

See how cool it is? Totally laid-back and pretty. For a variation, braid the ponytail: