The Learning Curve in Footwear Selection

I'm learning step by step to veer towards more 'tasteful' selection in footwear (read: less sporty, more dress up shoes).Although this may sound a little bit hypocritical considering the fact that I just posted my plimsolls pics (however, I consider them the least sporty of sneakers out there), allow me to say my taste in shoes have changed dramatically within the duration of one year - my initial inclination towards more sporty kicks since childhood have been replaced by the affinity of well-built leather footwear :loafers,driver shoes, oxfords etc.

My small collection of white sneakers. I know enough is enough!

Adidas Originals : Moscow

Yes, I will still keep and wear those sneakers partly due to their versatility and wearibility. Frankly speaking I simply can't afford to lose them though- as every clothing item of mine have a special place in my consumerist heart. Take for example a pair of Adidas Moscow trainers that I bought last year...I'm not planning to wear them, instead I'll be keeping them nicely as a memento of my SIX pleasant/shitty years spent in Russia.

But I digress.

Lately "proper" shoes have been my latest obsession du jour (oh while we're at it let's make an obsession d'annee). I've been drooling over the images of shoes on the net, and yet again it's another blog-worthy images from AnOther Man e-magazine that wins my heart over. The champions which can easily rip off my imaginary thick wallet are these Lanvin two-tone brogues and colourful tasseled loafers from Gucci, bien sur! (the first two pics respectively)

Lanvin two-tone brogues

Gucci colourful leather loafers

I don't want to try to express my sentiment for these shoes since I obviously lack the writing skills to do so. Petty as it may sound, not to mention ridiculous - how can a person have an affection for non-living objects like shoes?... let the following images help me convey my feelings for these little accessories that can really make an outfit!

all photos from AnOther Man Magazine

Well these shoes are certainly the ones that I can't afford just yet. Meanwhile let me prance about in my heavily discounted Zara lace-ups!

The Games, Peter Jensen Multipocketed tee

This weekend Volgograd has been filled with Malaysian students from all over Russia to participate in the annual inter varsity games. Don't ask me which event do I take part in...as I'm not a very sporty person obviously! But that didn't deter my spirit of games and friendship - yesterday I DID come to see the opening ceremony and some of the events, but looked very out of place with no Adidas / Nike written all over my clothes, ehem.

But I did wear my Lacoste plimsolls though...I guess that's the most athletic item I wore that day?

Cubus flimsy sweater, Peter Jensen for Topman tee, H&M jeans, Lacoste plimsolls, random socks

Closeup of the Peter Jensen for Topman muti-pocketed tee
The great thing about this simple tee is it's a great conversation-starter piece. People just love inserting their hands into the many pockets HAHA

The two-tone plimsolls up close

Oh yes I got this doctor bag from my mum's closet last summer. She was surprised when I asked her for this bag, saying what the hell do I need the bag for? (I just said I like it) But too bad I left it in Malaysia because the risk of excess baggage. So my dad had to ship it... (oops! spoiled brat much?) But it turns out to be another fine example of how unique accessories will get people talking! One girlfriend of mine even wanted to buy the bag from me, whoa~!

The faux alligator embossed print is kwl!

And the most exciting part is the 'Grand Dinner' tonight! Can't wait to see what interesting outfits will those peeps wear...

Hitler's Birthday,WWII films, the Pants

The Fuhrer on his birthday

Yesterday was Hitler's birthday (yes, the guy with that cute trimmed moustache and the iconic salute sign). Guess what's his age if he made it till today? 120 years old!!! Long live Hitler! NO just kidding! Okay, that was scary what am I thinking? Honestly I'm so grateful that nothing tragic happened yesterday, you know, the usual bash-and-wallop-every-foreigner-you-see affair by the Russian neo-Nazis. Well I'm fortunate that such event rarely occurs in Volgograd. This is not the case in big cities like Moscow - every year the Fuhrer's anniversary are likely to cause a stir among the Muscovites, locals and foreigners alike.

Not bearing the fact of this event in my mind I incidentally wore a 'Nazi' pants the day before the event. Yes my state of oblivion sometimes annoys me too, but as usual I got lucky, nothing bad happened alhamdulillah! About the pants: don't laugh, that's how I like to call the pants, well at least that's what I saw German armies in WWII movies like Schindler's List and Valkyrie wear. Confession: haven't watched Valkyrie yet- some people say that the history-laden plot just turns off the entertainment value altogether, Tom Cruise or not.

Hmm maybe I should get those knee-high boots no? Look so sleek!

Oh speaking about Schindler's list I LOVE Ralph Fiennes' acting. He always got the villain role don't you think? Beside SL he played the mean character in Harry Potter, Red Dragon, The Duchess, among others.

Dear Mr. Fiennes, great take on Amon Goth character, bravo!

And of course, my own (pathetic) take on the wool army pants:

Nazi pants from Amsterdam, New Yorker faux leather biker jacket, Topman shirt, H&M braces, thrifted boots

photog: Ezzra
Anyhow, I looked into my folder and found this pic: the guy in this Sartorialist shot wore the pants best, hands down! I adore his bravery and creativity for donning such an androgynous look:

One of the factors: THOSE legs!

Last Spring Ever, in GINGHAM!

As Helmi reminded me that this week's weather will be warm my heart leaps with joy considering the fact that it's an opportunity to wear relevant spring-associated colors. Of course, the experience of wearing specific hues in a specific way is relatively new to me considering that I discovered fashion a little bit more than a year ago. The pieces in the following images are bought separately somewhen last year, when I did not even have a clue to pair them together for a total spring look. Hence the combination of stripes and blue gingham shirt and red pants (that I featured ages ago) finished off with penny loafers is refreshing, if you ask me.


On an unrelated note, the word gingham actually derives from a MALAY word! This is what I got from Oxford Dictionary :

gingham /"gIN@m/
· n. lightweight plain-woven cotton cloth, typically checked.
– ORIGIN C17: from Du. gingang, from Malay genggang (orig. an adj. meaning ‘striped’).

It still amuses me that people on the street tend too gawk whenever I wear those flaming red trousers. I think this is not the case if I was in Italy...people oh people!

thrifted C&A shirt, H&M vest, H&M pants, Gucci penny loafers, random socks

photog: Ezzra

Oh, please excuse me for being deluded for a while. What fashion discovery? What genius combination? What fantasy in Italy?...feel free to drop constructive criticisms on ways to improve my style/ how to achieve a great spring look, or even drop comments a la Go Fug Yourself !

Ensemble in five days

A fellow blogger Dinie Rahman from One Sixty Notepad urged his blogger friends (including moi, which makes me quite thrilled, honestly) to post a collection of images of what we would wear in a five-day work week.

I must say it's not an easy feat as my inspiration usually wanders around various style sites and fashion blogs. The worst thing is most of the ideas that I like are not meticulously saved in specific folders... some pics can be in the desktop, some in one thumb drive, and the rest will be in the external hard disk, which went kaput these few days. So you get the idea of how unorganized I am, good!

Despite all that the scope of the outfit inspiration is quite extensive, thanks for this following little note...
*excludes consideration for weather, climate, gender, nose-bleeding price-tags, wearability etc ...(taken from Vogueite >> must read this blog, his unique androgynous style is amazing!)
... which certainly helped me to diversify the 'fantasy' styles as much that I could...

I named this file as layered delish.. you can see why!

the optimal dose of nonchalant styling: the laid back appearance makes me want to scratch the back of my throat (in a good way)
Junya Watanabe SS09

tweed blazer + furry top = wild chap

the ruching details are perfection, coveting the floppy straw hat (I smell DIY!)
Lanvin SS09

leather jacket, denim shirt, scoop neck underneath, chunky boots - my ideal punky/rocker look

photo credits: the Face Hunter, men style, the Sartorialist, Jak and Jil
PS: The images above are not necessarily my favorite styles, as my inspiration or rather, imagination, can be as far fetched and ridiculous one could imagine, but these are the most realistic outfits that I'd definitely love to wear one day (excluding consideration for weather, climate, gender, nose-bleeding price-tags, wearability, that is)

Being indecisive and earth tones

Have you ever felt like you don't know what to wear despite a wardrobe bursting with clothes? I know, I know, a person does not need a lot of clothing items to get by, but I just can't get enough of what's in my cupboard at present. Call me greedy or ungrateful, call me narcissistic or complicated... it still, however, drives me nuts to wear the same outfit combination if I wore it recently - this is the worst problem that I'm facing for the time being. Every morning is a dramatic woe as I get panicked by the ticking clock, yet I spend a lot of time to choose my outfit for one particular day.


Let me confess: I am easily inspired, or rather, distracted by the visual imagery of styles that I keep on seeing on the Internet, magazines, or people on the street. Wait. Did I just pinpoint my main cause of the problem? The question is, do I want to acknowledge the source and be determined to find the solution? Does that mean that I need to stop gawking at the kaleidoscopic colors and mysterious fabrics? Do I need to shun the ubiquitous style sites and stop flipping through glossy magazines altogether?

Well, the answer is NO... thus I'm afraid to say that I don't, or won't have a single style that I will stick to indefinitely. I'd love the thought of being able to experiment various garments and styles, how different fabrics work together or how colors from the opposite ends of spectrum clash. But let's say this is just me. Have I mentioned that I still have the dreaded job as a trainee doctor to bear in mind? Nevertheless, until that moment comes by, I want to have all the luxury of time and idleness to play with fashion and diverse styles.

EARTH TONES GALORE-->Scarf: gift from Helmi, EXTRA jacket, ZARA polyester top, Cheap Monday jeans, vintage Camel Adventure shoes

Bottega Veneta much?


Well, that being said,my questions are: how do you feel about this? Do you experience the same issue like me or it never even crossed your mind? Do you stick to one definitive style, or love to be a chameleon?

Same setting, different time

As Russia, or to be more accurate Volgograd is not predominantly inhabited by the Muslims, the place of worship i.e mosque is scarce (one vast region with approximately 2 mosques only). Fridays are the quintessential day for worshipers to flock the Linkoranskaya Mosque where local Muslims, immigrants and international students alike congregate for the weekly khutbah and Friday prayers.

During this time, on the way home I always take some opportunity to capture the neighborhood around the mosque area. You may say this is how a typical Russian rural looks like, with cute brick/wooden domiks (literally small houses) dotting the area.

I wonder who's being carried away to the hospital...

A quiet ally

The pics here show two same areas with two different atmosphere - one with the snow still heavy (slosh alert!) on the ground and another when the latter melts and reveals quite decent pavements. Oh yes, not to mention I took the chance of the brightly-lit alley for some outfit posts for the blog. Even my prehistoric Sony Cybershot worked exceptionally well under the bright sunshine!

Scarf: Hanif's present from Egypt (merci beaucoup mon chou!), Mexx faux suede cardigan, Margiela mohair? tee, H&M marble-y effect jean, thrifted boots, Stella McCartney for Adidas bag. H&M specs

Photog: malchic

Towering accessories

This might be stale news on fashyonnn blogosphere but I've been amazed by AnOther Man SS09 issue (it's equally rivaled by its archetypal sister journal AnOther Magazine with the wonderful Tilda Swinton editorials). Well if it was not because of the freebie online edition I would not even notice that such a quality magazine existed! Apparently it's under the umbrella publishing company Dazed Group - they publish Dazed and Confused (yeah you guess it right).

The content is carefully thought after without too much 'commercial labels' ad getting in the way (re: more editorials, less shitty articles ehem, Conde Nast publications). I love most of the editorials especially the TOWERS - okay, I don't know if this counts as an editorial if it's a showcase of a handful of accessories, upside down. At the risk of sounding like a 10 year old, I want to say HOW COOL IS THAT? Thanks to my non-observant eyes, I've been scratching my head for a few minutes or so to figure out how they did the special effect....

When it's just good ol' masking tape on action.

CLICK CLICK FOR DEETS!

Can you see the white tapes on the shoes?

My never ending obsession with shoes/bags just got fueled further by pics like these!

P/S: These past few days instead of studying AND blogging I've been spending way much time on Helmi's shiny Xbox 360 (bought during his trip to UK ehem). First there's Guitar Hero Special Edition (Aerosmith) - I don't even like rock THAT much but playing for 3-4 hours non stop kind of unearthed the inner guitarist in me :).... Then there's the addictive Lips where I sang loads of unfamiliar songs that I subconsciously managed to catch the melody from hours and hours of off-tune screaming (not singing, mind you).

Thank you Helmi, Yat and Mozac for the perpetual hospitality. I think I should come again tomorrow, no?