For those who don't know, I'm ABC, American Born Chinese. Pretty typical, first generation Chinese. I can speak enough to get by (ie, ordering food, asking where the bathroom is) and I read a little (hello, 4 years of Mandarin in high school) but I am by no means fluent in the language. But my parents came off the boat a few years before I as born, got arranged to date and decided to marry. And popped out bb Teresa.
Anyways, the reason for that little back story is that I've always grown up thinking that pale is beautiful. When a child is born, the family's definition of healthy is 非非白白 which means "pale and pudgy". Often it is noted that Asian parents want their child to have porcelain skin. At least this was true for me. My mom would always tell me to stay away from the sun and make sure I wear a hat at all times.
Now I've been pretty diligent in this respect. I took up gaming and programming so I was always in an artificially lit room away from those evil UV rays that darken up my skin. But this summer, I decided to stay in sunny Davis rather than heading home to foggy San Francisco and it's too hard to avoid the flaming ball of heat. And I got tan. OH NOES!
Yes, tan. Actually, I asked my friends and I'm not even that tan. I'm just tanner than my usual pale. But when I first got darker, I started to get a little sad because I thought I was getting uglier (silly, I know) and it took me a while to get used to the darker shade.
Most of my friends think I look better tan than pale. So, I'll ask you, what do you think looks better? Have you ever been told that you'd look better either pale or tan? Does it even matter?
Monday, August 2, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Ramblings
It's 10:55AM right now and I'm sitting outside waiting for the Davis-Berkeley shuttle to start letting people in so I'm not freezing in Cal weather. But it's 30 minutes before the shuttle is due to leave and the bus driver is ignoring all requests to let us in. So I figured I would jot down a blog entry while I'm waiting.
Oh, he just got out. I guess that was somewhat anticlimatic. But I'll still write down the entry. I can wait outside.
I've been shopping too much. It's becoming a bad habit. It's not even all clothes or anything, it's just me randomly spending money on things I probably don't need, but want. But you guys probably don't wanna hear about my money issues.
I recently bought a scarf from Forever 21 that I'm wearing right now. In fact, I think I bought it yesterday. It's a pretty white scarf that I've been wanting for a while. I try to avoid white clothing because I am a klutz. A serious klutz. I'm always falling over or toppling over things, it's amazing that I've never broken any bones. I do wake up with occasional scratches and bruises though.
Anyways, back to the scarf. (I ramble too much..) It's a nice lightweight scarf. It's not something that would keep me warm in the winter, but it's a nice piece for fall. It's also a nice piece for spring, but spring has passed and I'm not about to wait for next year before I can wear things.
It's scrunched up on one of the edges so that the scarf falls down into a point instead flat across. It's a nice effect and really works with the dainty look of the scarf.
The bad thing is, I already snagged it. T_T I was taking out my sunglasses and it pulled on fabric and made this little hole. :( Definitely not very durable. But I got it for 8 bucks so I'm not gonna complain. Love the look of it.
Anyways, people are starting to board, so I'll end this here.
Oh, he just got out. I guess that was somewhat anticlimatic. But I'll still write down the entry. I can wait outside.
I've been shopping too much. It's becoming a bad habit. It's not even all clothes or anything, it's just me randomly spending money on things I probably don't need, but want. But you guys probably don't wanna hear about my money issues.
I recently bought a scarf from Forever 21 that I'm wearing right now. In fact, I think I bought it yesterday. It's a pretty white scarf that I've been wanting for a while. I try to avoid white clothing because I am a klutz. A serious klutz. I'm always falling over or toppling over things, it's amazing that I've never broken any bones. I do wake up with occasional scratches and bruises though.
Anyways, back to the scarf. (I ramble too much..) It's a nice lightweight scarf. It's not something that would keep me warm in the winter, but it's a nice piece for fall. It's also a nice piece for spring, but spring has passed and I'm not about to wait for next year before I can wear things.
It's scrunched up on one of the edges so that the scarf falls down into a point instead flat across. It's a nice effect and really works with the dainty look of the scarf.
The bad thing is, I already snagged it. T_T I was taking out my sunglasses and it pulled on fabric and made this little hole. :( Definitely not very durable. But I got it for 8 bucks so I'm not gonna complain. Love the look of it.
Anyways, people are starting to board, so I'll end this here.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Retail Therapy + F21's Love Nerd Collection
Sorry for not updating lately. I've just been kind of swamped with work. Actually, that's a lie. I have a really bad habit of abandoning my blogs after a few entries and this wasn't immune to it. But I'm back and I'm writing another entry.
I was kind of bummed out today because I didn't pass my behind the wheel test (I am still angry over it) and when I got home, there wasn't anything more therapeutic than turning on my computer and shopping online. I wasn't really feeling up to leaving the house so I booted up my trusty little computer and began to shop.
Pretty much instantly, I calmed down while looking at pages upon pages of clothing. You see, when I do this, I usually only shop at places that I can afford stuff, mostly Forever 21. Yeah, I can hear the arguments about how Forever 21 has really bad quality items and stuff, but in my experience, I go through so many different styles that buying cheap, but trendy clothes is the way to go. After all, I don't have to dress up for work or anything. Just let me have my cute cheap clothes before I have to change it out. :3
Anyways, I stumbled upon F21's Love Nerd collection and fell in love with most of the items. Very rarely do I like the Forever 21 collections because most of the time, I think it's very tacky or not wearable. But I guess I just have a nerdy style. Here are some of my favorites:
First off, I LAHVE LAHVE this sweater. When I first looked at it, the little patch on the left reminded me of Harajuku Lovers and their cute little anime mascots (are they mascots? :x). Also, I really liked the pop of red on the blue. I'm a big fan of buttons and the brighter/bigger/cuter they are, the more prone I am to wearing it. And just when I thought I couldn't love this sweater more, I saw the back detailing. So cute and unexpected! The stripes reminded me of Beetlejuice/Tim Burton. Just a bold print on the back that's neither flattering nor unflattering. Love it! It's definitely not boring, but it's also not too over the top. I also really liked how it was styled. The knee-high socks with the oxfords make this look so chic. I'm so glad that I'm still young enough to pull off this look. (Yes, you CAN be too old to wear something like this. Dress your age and you will be beautiful.)
The thing I love about this bowtie sweater is the fact that it could have been a disaster, but was executed well enough that it doesn't look tacky. Normally, I don't really like to wear red things because they tend to bring out the redness in my face (which is from ezcema) so I try to avoid it whenever possible. But I just can't resist this sweater. I love little bowties and since I can't actually tie a bowtie, why not just get one printed on! :D I also like this because it's only printed at the top. A lot of F21's stuff is really over the top and there's just a lot going on, but even with this bold color, this sweater isn't too in your face. Since it doesn't have any crazy designs, pairing it up with the skort that the model is wearing is perfect. I actually really like that bottom, but I haven't found it on the site yet.
I don't know why, but I'm kind of in love with this button skirt. I think I really do have a button fetish, but the different colors really make this dress pop. Also, the structure of the skirt is pretty interesting. It's kind of like a bubble skirt that doesn't flare out. I'm not quite sure if it'll fit my body type, but I always try on bottoms in the store because I need to make sure it's not too short. Skirts that hang just pass my butt do not make me look classy at all.
Honorable Mention:
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this jacket. As I said, I try to avoid wearing a lot of red and while I made an exception for the red bowtie sweater, I'm not quite sure if I could pull this off. First of all, it's red. Second, the jacket doesn't look very structured on the model and unstructured jackets are kind of a no-no on my body type since it can make me look fat. But, I think I would have to try this on to see if I really like it. When I'm shopping online, it's hard to tell if something would look good on me. I have a general idea of what kind of cuts/prints would work on me, but sometimes I have to try it on to really see if I should buy it. Good thing there's a F21 that's reachable from my location.
When I first saw this jacket, I thought it was really neat. I really dig the kind of military/peacoat combination, but as I zoomed in, I couldn't tell if I like the material. It looks like knit and knit isn't really very warm. It's weird because this jacket looks like it would be very fitting for winter and colder weather, but I don't know if it could hold up to that. The description says there's a houndstooth lining which is very chic, but I'm disappointed that they don't show it in the pictures online. Would have to see it in the store.
Also, they have a cute Lookbook on this style. Check it out. :D
Overall
I really like this collection since a lot of it is wearable, but it reminds me that school is coming back into session. The styles and colors are very private school-esque. I guess summer is finally coming to a close and it's time to buckle down and start gearing up for fall. It looks like a lot of reds coupled with neutrals are coming in with this collection and I wonder if other designers/retailers will follow the trend. But, ngl, I'm excited to start wearing tights and my knee highs again. :)
I was kind of bummed out today because I didn't pass my behind the wheel test (I am still angry over it) and when I got home, there wasn't anything more therapeutic than turning on my computer and shopping online. I wasn't really feeling up to leaving the house so I booted up my trusty little computer and began to shop.
Pretty much instantly, I calmed down while looking at pages upon pages of clothing. You see, when I do this, I usually only shop at places that I can afford stuff, mostly Forever 21. Yeah, I can hear the arguments about how Forever 21 has really bad quality items and stuff, but in my experience, I go through so many different styles that buying cheap, but trendy clothes is the way to go. After all, I don't have to dress up for work or anything. Just let me have my cute cheap clothes before I have to change it out. :3
Anyways, I stumbled upon F21's Love Nerd collection and fell in love with most of the items. Very rarely do I like the Forever 21 collections because most of the time, I think it's very tacky or not wearable. But I guess I just have a nerdy style. Here are some of my favorites:
First off, I LAHVE LAHVE this sweater. When I first looked at it, the little patch on the left reminded me of Harajuku Lovers and their cute little anime mascots (are they mascots? :x). Also, I really liked the pop of red on the blue. I'm a big fan of buttons and the brighter/bigger/cuter they are, the more prone I am to wearing it. And just when I thought I couldn't love this sweater more, I saw the back detailing. So cute and unexpected! The stripes reminded me of Beetlejuice/Tim Burton. Just a bold print on the back that's neither flattering nor unflattering. Love it! It's definitely not boring, but it's also not too over the top. I also really liked how it was styled. The knee-high socks with the oxfords make this look so chic. I'm so glad that I'm still young enough to pull off this look. (Yes, you CAN be too old to wear something like this. Dress your age and you will be beautiful.)
The thing I love about this bowtie sweater is the fact that it could have been a disaster, but was executed well enough that it doesn't look tacky. Normally, I don't really like to wear red things because they tend to bring out the redness in my face (which is from ezcema) so I try to avoid it whenever possible. But I just can't resist this sweater. I love little bowties and since I can't actually tie a bowtie, why not just get one printed on! :D I also like this because it's only printed at the top. A lot of F21's stuff is really over the top and there's just a lot going on, but even with this bold color, this sweater isn't too in your face. Since it doesn't have any crazy designs, pairing it up with the skort that the model is wearing is perfect. I actually really like that bottom, but I haven't found it on the site yet.
I don't know why, but I'm kind of in love with this button skirt. I think I really do have a button fetish, but the different colors really make this dress pop. Also, the structure of the skirt is pretty interesting. It's kind of like a bubble skirt that doesn't flare out. I'm not quite sure if it'll fit my body type, but I always try on bottoms in the store because I need to make sure it's not too short. Skirts that hang just pass my butt do not make me look classy at all.
Honorable Mention:
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this jacket. As I said, I try to avoid wearing a lot of red and while I made an exception for the red bowtie sweater, I'm not quite sure if I could pull this off. First of all, it's red. Second, the jacket doesn't look very structured on the model and unstructured jackets are kind of a no-no on my body type since it can make me look fat. But, I think I would have to try this on to see if I really like it. When I'm shopping online, it's hard to tell if something would look good on me. I have a general idea of what kind of cuts/prints would work on me, but sometimes I have to try it on to really see if I should buy it. Good thing there's a F21 that's reachable from my location.
When I first saw this jacket, I thought it was really neat. I really dig the kind of military/peacoat combination, but as I zoomed in, I couldn't tell if I like the material. It looks like knit and knit isn't really very warm. It's weird because this jacket looks like it would be very fitting for winter and colder weather, but I don't know if it could hold up to that. The description says there's a houndstooth lining which is very chic, but I'm disappointed that they don't show it in the pictures online. Would have to see it in the store.
Also, they have a cute Lookbook on this style. Check it out. :D
Overall
I really like this collection since a lot of it is wearable, but it reminds me that school is coming back into session. The styles and colors are very private school-esque. I guess summer is finally coming to a close and it's time to buckle down and start gearing up for fall. It looks like a lot of reds coupled with neutrals are coming in with this collection and I wonder if other designers/retailers will follow the trend. But, ngl, I'm excited to start wearing tights and my knee highs again. :)
Also, I love the styling choices! I love the high bun and glasses look. Sexy, yet smart.
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