A Stylish German Affair

Photography: D Meyer & H Günther

My dear friend Nadia tied the knot with her sweetheart, Niclas, last month with a small, intimate wedding in Braunschweig, Germany. As a designer, Nadia's career has given her opportunities to study, work, and live in Milan, Moscow, and Shanghai. I always admired her free spirt and sophisticated sense of style since meeting her. She also introduced me to that delicious seabuckthorn tea at Vogue Cafe in Moscow! So it's only natural that her choice in wedding gown would emanate her poise and elegance. I loved the subtle details in the sheer sleeves and even the discreet hair adornment was sublime. And well, a handsome groom perfectly completes the setting, too!

Photography: D Meyer & H Günther

The two lovebirds met while they were both living in Shanghai and will now call Berlin home. Best wishes and much happiness for the lovely couple.. xo

The Street Store.. and how you can host your own

Printable signs from http://thestreetstore.org

The first ever pop up charity "store" hit a street in Cape Town, South Africa this past Tuesday. The premise of this novel idea is to allow the neighbourhood homeless to browse donated clothing, pick out what they like.. all the while enjoying a retail experience without a cash transaction. There are assistants to help them and package up their "purchases". It dignifies the experience for the recipients rather than having clothes just thrown at them.

The beauty of of the idea is one does not need to be a small or large charitable organization to host a Street Store. So long as authorities are notified and permission granted to hang up posters, the "retail space" is rent-free. The founders of the concept, art director Max Pazak and copywriter Kayli Vee Levitan, opted to make the idea open sourced so that anybody anywhere in the world can print out their own cardboard "Street Store" posters and hang up their collection of donatable items and help someone stay warm and keep their feet dry.

I would encourage you to visit The Street Store to be further inspired!

DIY Project - Leather leggings

It has been a long time since I completed my last sewing project. This time I have my sights on reviving a couple of old old pair of leather pants that have been collecting dust in my closet. The going price for a good quality, genuine leather legging is anywhere between $500 - $2000 retail so buying a pair is out of the question. There are other wants higher on the wish list. The mustard/tan coloured one I picked up while backpacking in Italy many moons ago and the black ones I have sported, however they are too loose on my now. Unless you are wearing the hot-as-of-now leather jogging pants or if you prefer the western look, leather pants need to be ultra fitted and skinny otherwise.

Here are examples how they are supposed to look- on two very petite ladies, too!

 I was so close to throwing away the tan pair a while ago, but what a waste of leather. And the black ones I was going to sell... so here goes nothing, right? An update of the completed project may take a while or never at all if I should happen to snap a needle on my sewing machine and take out an eyeball! Hahaha

Get to know Khujo

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope everyone had a happy and joyous holiday season. It's a brisk and nippy start to 2014 where I live. We go through this every year so there is no use in complaining. If we can't beat the cold, we might as well bundle up and look good, right?

Before the holidays, my girlfriend was on a winter coat hunt. Who better to abet a coat obsession than yours truly? I still cocoon in my treasure-of-a-find Moncler S, even after three seasons (including one third trimester of pregnancy, mind you) and I still get lots of compliments on it. And, I am always eyeing up dream coats without fail!

We found a couple lovely navy houndstooth options from both Soïa and Kyo and Cinzia Rocca which were nice... However by chance, she stumbled across a one-off cream coloured single breasted 3/4 length one while browsing at Simons and it screamed "The One". It would have been love at first sight for me, too! It's by a brand I've never heard of before: Khujo. And there are no lacking in details with a  faux fur collar (removable), lace trimmings (removable), bow-tied belt (removable), inner jacket (removable) and cuffs (you guessed it, removable). Stylish and classic.. and you can personalize it! For less than $300, that's a fairly democratic price point for a decent, warm coat.

Here is the beautiful C modelling her awesome coat:

I am guessing the brand name must sound like the nick name of the NHL goalie, Curtis Joseph and despite having a maple leaf as an emblem, the brand is based in Germany. There's not much to read up on the company itself, but I found from a European online retailer that Khujo was established in 1997 in Hamburg, Germany. The designer, Tobias Schneider was inspired to do cool, vintage looking jackets from old movies. Well, we like it already and hope to see a bit more of their stuff around!

Photo: from Khujo's Facebook page