Louis Vuitton's Home

While I was in Paris during fashion week, I traveled off to Asnières-sur-Seine (around 40 minutes from Central Paris) to visit the Louis Vuitton special order workshop as well as the actual home Mr. Louis Vuitton and his family lived in between 1880 and the 70s. It felt slightly surreal to be walking amongst the homely grounds of the first modern trunk maker, where ideas of waterproofing the canvas or coming up with the Damier print manifested from. The interior furniture was a mixture of pieces from the art nouveau and deco period. Floral motif-ed decors, mint colored walls and ceilings, oriental desks, deco tea sets, and endearing photos of Mr. Louis Vuitton and his friends and family. The home was cozy, warm, and tastefully filled with remnants from Vuitton's many voyages. Then came the archives of different types of trunks that were designed for high profiled clienteles that specifically carried items like mini-closets, sport equipments, cigars, wine bottles, or in one odd 'case' a portable bed. I could go on the list out the fun facts about the special ordered trunks, but since those information can be found elsewhere on the internet, I'd just end this by stating that even a slight anti-monogram person like myself (blame it on being raised in Hong Kong seeing knock-offs on a daily basis), it's hard not to possess a growing appreciation of the process and meticulousness involved in making a trunk. I'm highly tempted to put in a special order one of these days...

jumper TOPSHOP UNIQUE, trousers H&M, bag 3.1 PHILLIP LIM

Shawshank Re-Denim

How can something so simple not cross my mind earlier? Denim on denim on denim is simply the cornerstone of any fashion-loving individual. Recently, the buried 'residents' in the depth of my closet (riddled with once-loved and now-forgotten garments) managed to revive themselves and surface like zombies. Amongst them, I spotted my denim dungaree shorts, worn only twice after snatching it for a tenner at Rokit on Brick Lane. It seemed inappropriate to just wear nothing but dungarees for lunch, so as to not proceed with offensive sartorial choices, I opted for the same textures on both the top and bottom. If you haven't sampled this triple-denim combo before, I urge you to channel your inner country farmer even just for a day. Come on, who doesn't love dungarees? I mean talk about multi-pocketed practicality. To be honest, I don't think I needed a bag for the shoot, there were over nine separated pockets just in the dungarees alone.

sunglasses KENZO, shirt & dungaree VINTAGE, trousers UNIQLO, shoes STELLA MCCARTNEY, bag 3.1 PHILLIP LIM, rings ASOS

Handy

Perhaps we've simply grown weary in adorning traditional limbs that we must shift from the mainstream zones of jewelry placements, which honestly doesn't leave us with that many options (there are a finite amount of regions one can bedazzle bling upon). So I shall allow myself to move from the knuckle joints and go upwards to the forefinger frontier; and to dial it up a notch, my pinky shall receive a fingernail coating ring that exemplifies the literal limit of how 'far' I can place jewelry on that still pertains to my body. Sure, I possess the ability to carry out the obvious act of stacking bracelets around my ankle, instagram it, and hashtag #anklet (ankle + bracelet, duh), or coin some random terms around toe rings, but the truth is, we're honestly running out of ways to truly and originally personalize a look via jewelry. True, there's still the issue of piercings and tattoos that (admittedly) does add some uniqueness to one's appearance; but in a time where 'anything goes', we're pretty desperate to strive for originality.

blazer PUSH BUTTON, top & sunglasses BOUTIQUE, leather shorts VINTAGE, socks H&M, shoes JEFFREY CAMPBELL, studded leather bracelet BALENCIAGA, gold ID chain bracelet ASOS, crystal-eyed friendship bracelet OTTOMAN HANDS, forefinger gold rings ASOS, rose gold textured ring WHISTLES, gold hand chain ASOS, fingernail ring ASOS

Free Fraying

Let's try giving the term 'props to you' a whole other meaning. Since posing up against a white wall does fall under the bland zone; and while not letting my newly arranged mini boutique of spring fleurs go to waste, using them as props has sufficiently immortalized these short-lived organic beings in print blog. I once had a serious aversion to any clothing with unfinished edges but looked as if they were not purposely ripped or torn, so garments pertaining to the exposed threads variety really hit my OCD hard, hence the closet full of overlocked and bound hems (overly proper if you asked me). Yet it was circa 2011, was I able to relax and appreciate the subtle beauty of a fraying fabric. So yes! I am fully aware of the frays around the armholes of this leather and silk fused top which were intentionally imbedded before purchase. Have I inadvertently cured or at least mitigated the overwhelming taunt my OCD's grip had on me since birth? About effing time someone freed me...

top, sunglasses & trousers CÉLINE, loafers MIU MIU