Surrounded By Sales... Off to BKK!

Navigating Orchard Road these days is quite the minefield when you're trying to save cash for the odd vacation (read: vacation shopping). Every dollar I save on the island is one I can spend with abandon overseas.

Physical stores aside (Lanvin @ 50% off, I'm looking at you), don't even get me started on the online sales - Complexgeometries for 40% off! Sigh - just when I'd scored a small handful of amazing deals from The Outnet's latest crop...

Whilst I wait for my See by Chloe wool-blend skirt (GBP28! Please fit!!), I'm headed to Bangkok until Sunday for a quick getaway - posts and purchase pics when I return! xx

Why Are You Not (Already) Mine

My shoe shopping list is becoming interminable. The prospect of crippling myself is real - financially and physically (from hauling back the goodies). This preview of Rupert Sanderson's Resort 2011 collection is not. helping.

Dream heels aside, is that a new toe shape I spy for his elegantly reliable pumps? Dare I proclaim my credit card ready in hand? Sign me up!

(pc: hautecouturista)

More Retail Decision Pains

My bag-like list is becoming interminable, which really doesn't bode well for my European holiday plans.

At this moment, I am quite taken with the new range from Proenza Schouler... though reason may prevail and snap me out of putting hard-earned money down on a partially CANVAS bag. Quirky, cute, but ultimately seasonal. Of course if someone *hello out there Club 21* were to gift me one, that's another matter...

Incidentally, more-than-honourable mention should be made of this divine monochromatic mixed print jacket (below). I want it for the office - stat - and am itching for the PS wear to hit the local Club 21 store this season.

(pc: Club 21 Facebook)

The Cover: Jon Hamm & Rebecca Hall on W

This certainly woke me up this morning... I can't fathom how The Town co-stars Rebecca Hall and Jon Hamm aren't as pedestaled and constantly headlining movies - they are simply gorgeous and dashing. This lighthandedly-touched W cover (which some magazines should take a note from) is an exaltation to raw, natural beauty.

I'm taking a small pleasure in the fact that my personal fave foundation - Chanel Teint Innocence - was credited for Hall's glow. Now off to the store for the Quadra Eye Shadow in Smoky Eyes and Rouge Coco lipstick (Chintz) to complete to look. That Hall is only a gentle 28 is slightly nauseating but I do rather relish her nonchalant, intellectual beauty.

Superlatives aside, I'll leave you on this Sunday to gaze at debonair Hamm, who pours out such Don Draper-worthy charmers as 'To be able to read and talk about complicated things is sexy. It’s not just having a pair of bolt-on-tits' and 'Part of being an adult is treating women like women.'

*swoon*

Wish Fulfillment: Big & Black

Yes, it's one of those weeks when I was grateful I even made it into the office on Tuesday. But this means more daydreaming about the European Shop-a-thon!! I'm attempting to rationalise and strategise my way to a complete wardrobe of classics, which leads me to my first roadblock: I want a larger, horizontal black leather bag. The Mulberry A4 tote sits portrait on my shoulder whereas my Dautore is all curves. I want room for my gear. And I don't want to bankrupt myself. So just your average criteria ;)

Rachel Bilson's nonchalantly slung Chanel is my current obsession, but it'll mean shaving off a chunk off my holiday budget. Then again, OAK NYC have just listed a wallet-friendly option which might just do the trick:

PROs: It's cheap(er) - US$272, leather, handmade in Europe (Yes, I'm pretending it's part of the European trip...) and looks mountains like Mulberry's Elkington briefcase!

CONs: It's definitely a briefcase/messenger. A briefcase is a briefcase is a briefcase. And it's not as interesting as the Chanel.

*Sigh*

Bottega Veneta: True Bug

It could have gone very Addams Family, but the metallic green tone on this sterling silver scarab ring from Bottega Veneta's Fall/Winter is just the perfect amount of whimsy and weird - and absolutely made to be worn during the week with the trusty all-black dress, then piled on with the rest of my silverware for the weekend run into town.

I am so tempted to get this just for the prospect of my boss doing a double-take whilst I'm banging out advices. Get it at Net-A-Porter before your size runs out!

Return to Sender: Balenciaga Messenger

I very much want to continue to like Balenciaga, but bags like this make it rather excruciating to. I'm even grasping to find a derisive but witty way to convey how underwhelmed I feel about their attempt at a messenger. Perhaps a memo fell on the design teams' lap demanding they apply the motorcycle style to a satchel/messenger to meet the Alexa effect? Oh I give up - I think the word is 'MEH'. Available at Farfetch.

A Gossip Girl in Paris (part deux)

I'm feeling somewhat ambivalent about Blake Lively making yet another issue of Vogue (that girl has some PR team working for her) but let's celebrate Blair's return to sartorial form on Gossip Girl, shall we? Too long as she been swathed in granny hats and coats! The blue floral ensemble (below) is season 1 Blair - i.e. the bygone days before Eric Damon starting pimping Lively as the showhorse.

I'm equally thrilled with the addition of the real IT-girl Clemence Poesy *swooning at her understated style*

{tfs}

Oprah's On: Repetto BB Promotion

Did you manage to grab your red Repetto BB ballerina flats at US$133 (usual US$265)? Apparently not many people subscribe to La Garconne's newsletter or Oprah's O magazine because it's been more than 12 hours into the 1-day only promotion and all sizes are still available.

For anyone in Singapore looking to score in extra time (yes... I'm still shaking off World Cup fever), key in "Oprah" until 11:59 P.M. July 13, 2010 (that's 12:59 pm at lunchtime today for us)

Back In A Bit: Football Fatigue

I haven't gone anywhere; I've just been hijacked by the South African timezone and am suffering the aftermath now. Rest assured, the shopping hasn't stopped (much to M's dismay I'm sure) - will resume proper posts this week, including holiday wear from the Net-A-Porter sale *cheer*

A Gossip Girl in Paris (part une)

Paris awaits and from the look of these production stills, the fashion ante has skyrocketed! Blake Lively - bless her, and her inhuman decolletage - actually has got me coveting *gulp* a Fendi - something I didn't think I'd utter since the Spy rapidly disappeared from my radar in the early 2000s). In fact, Blake's exact Fendi woven raffia shopper (seen below, Blake in green) is available from Net-A-Porter right now. At 40% off.

I guess the big question is: Will Gossip Girl's Parisian episodes be the sartorial tour de force that was Sex and the City's An American Girl in Paris double-bill? I'm marking my diaries and keeping my wallet wide open. In the meanwhile, I'm off to plot ways to coax my mother's vintage fuscia Baguette onto my shoulder.

{pc: tfs}

J'adore Vintage

Reminiscent of a Dries van Norton / Pucci lovechild.

Vintage never fails to turn up amazing pieces!

{pc: stockholmstreetstyle}

Further Reductions (on my resolve)

Net-A-Porter is doing further discounts!! Is it wrong that I want to get these two Marni pieces just to keep them for the appropriate (ahem) bridal occasion? I've been lusting for them since they debuted November last year!

If I Were A Boy: Gap Sale

Has Gap reconfigured their sizing? I spent a tidy time attempting to make their women's range fit - to almost no avail - but found a plethora of charming styles in Gap Kids sale section.

It was an open secret that students in the UK used to stalk the Kids range to avoid VAT (myself included) but this move was primarily a financially motivated one. Who would have thought that I'd be doing the same a decade on? Thank goodness for Stella McCartney, who'll keep me hitting these sale racks for decades to come!

Stella McCartney x Gap Kids, Boys cotton sweater, XL - S$57.50 (after less 50%)

Pierre Hardy x Gap denim wedges - S$84.50 (after less 50%)

Okay, this isn't the Kids' range but it's actually still listed as a full priced item at Gap's online store!

Stella McCartney x Gap Kids, Boys breton top, XL - S$19.50 (after less 50%)