Gimmicks that Don't work

Christmas is coming! Unfortunately, good sales only come after X'mas!

London celebrates the festive arrival by closing off the whole of Oxford Street area to traffic. Once again, the streets are packed with people. And you'd already guess that I'm not a fan of the crowds!

So anyways... I was passing this boutique Smet and was treated to a on-location project runway-esque kinda scene. The designer was "designing" the top the model was wearing. I wouldn't really call it designing as much as cutting up the teeshirt, twisting the fabric here and there.

Obviously, this gimmick did nothing for sales because no one actually went in, but just stared, or glanced and walked by. Well sorry huns, if that's what it took to make your tops... no one's really gonna buy it. It's like so 6th grade (no offence to 6th graders though =P) arts and crafts...

But anyways, the entertainment on the streets were pretty fun... until it started raining, no, no... i mean pouring. Lucky enough for me, I was stuck at work... and when I finished, the rain had stopped. Phew!

Waiting for X'mas sale

After work, I headed to Selfridges to do some harmless window shopping and was pleasantly surprised by Ted Baker's current collection. There were many whimsical yet sophiscated chic pieces, which shockingly enough, were very flattering on me.

However... the price... was surprising too... surprisingly awful. I know Ted Baker is slightly... ever so slightly of a higher end of the high street fashion, but the quality of the items weren't what you'd expect to be paying for. I know you might say we're paying for the design, but what happened to quality as well. It's like the same quality as Topshop items, but... just... with the Ted Baker Label shamelessly slobbered on.

The dress: 120 GBP. Skirt: 75 GBP. Shirt: 75 GBP.

I love them all...

but I'm waiting to see if Topshop will be able to do something 1/3 of that price. Then what would be a bargain worth paying for!

Secrets in the Garden

New up! My final piece for the month of November is the Secret Garden bracelet! As you can see it's got frogs on lilypads, garden spades, keys, locks, butterflies and roses. This is also limited to ONE piece.

Item has been sold!

I will be returning to Singapore for the month of December and will be coming back to London in early January. So for my girls in Singapore who is interested in getting anything, please let me know before the weekend so I can bring it back with me! For my fashionistas in the UK, do look forward to many more yummy pieces which I will be bringing back with me!!

xoxoxoxoxoxo
Sarah

Christmas in Paris

Hey everyone, I have just made a new bracelet. This is a limited to ONE piece Christmas special! Entitled: Paris in Winter, its a tribute to express my love for Paris which can be shared with many of you out there. The strap is made of braided royal blue suede. I apologize that the colour is not captured here... and it just looks black but I assure you its a lush royal blue. The charms included musical notes, snowflakes, umbrellas, high-heeled sandals, "made with love" and most importantly the EIFFEL TOWER. It is extremely pretty!

And if you're wondering why I'm not keeping it for myself... I already have too many accessories! But I assure you, I don't have one of this version for myself so there's definitely only one! =)

So hurry and get one for yourself or your loved one for Christmas!

Item has been sold!

It's just crazy!

I am very sorry for the lack of updates. Have been crazy with college, part-time work and working on my creations. The lack of updates also equals to the lack of sleep I've been suffering. Third year of college is much more hectic than I believed it to be, been getting abit more work time this past week at the Jewellery concession, plus been running round the habedashery, beads and cloth stores to collect more material to create more yummies. My eyes are hardly open at this point of time, but I have so many things I wanna make and show everyone as soon as possible, my brain can't seem to shut down! I promise to update more often starting from tomorrow! There's always something new everyday and I'll tell you all about it if I can actually remember to put it down in writing.

Xoxo.
Sarah

Shops&Bonds

Last night, New Bond Street London celebrated Bond Night. I'm still not sure what exactly Bond Night is about, but basically all the boutiques were opened till the "un-bondstreet" time of 8pm. There was singing, music and overhead blessings of fake snow everywhere. The streets were closed off to traffic and obviously people were everywhere.

I am not the sort who likes jostling with people anywhere, but was subjected to making my way through the masses on New Bond Street to get to work. I work at Fenwick as a jewellery designer on the first floor. There's only one jewellery concession on that floor so look for the chinese girl with extremely short hair and that's moi. =) I don't suggest you come to buy anything unless you are prepared to spend at least 19 pounds on a pair of earrings. (Note: we do on-the-spot jewellery design/restringing and retail of semi-precious stones.)
Anyways going back to the main point... Some boutiques decided to do something special for the night. Well technically it isn't a night cause it gets dark at 4pm... So for example, Emporio Armani decided to put "real" people on display. (The usage of the inverted commas come from the common comments that models aren't real people...Yes, I too am in denial.) But it seemed to me the models were more into each other than actually into their jobs. Who can blame them though, you're wearing head to toe skii gear in a boutique where everyone is wearing half that amount of insulation and you have to look like that really doesn't bother you. Plus it is pretty boring being stuck in a small space with thousands of people walking pass you, sometimes giving the evil eye.
D&G have changed their window display. They do this ever so often and I always do like it. It's not over the top and aesthetically wow, but it does "smell" like D&G. And it actually promotes that split second illusion where I think... "I would look good in that dress," then snap back into reality... "No, I would look like a whale-and-a-half in it." Haha... I laugh now, but it really wasn't that funny in my head. Le Sigh. *****

French Cosplay

I've always love lace... frills and all those pretty stuff. Especially lace on those tiny little French Maid outfits.

So I made my version of feminine cuffs. It's like a bracelet where you can wear it on its own or it goes really nicely when its wore with a blazer or just really anything long sleeved. Makes a very sweet detail.

I know it does look a little Cosplay-ish. But I think its very adorable and a just a tinge sexy! Hope you like it too!

Alice In Wonderland

Inspired by Alice in Wonderland! A magical key that is hung on a royal blue velvet ribbon with a clasp attached on one end and a chain on the other. This way you can adjust the length to suit you. Note the pearl and Made with Love charm attached at the end of the chain. My personal favourite because it looks so yummy!

Item has been sold!

Petit Camp D'oiseau

Petit camp d'oiseau Necklace

Vintage bird cage that originally came from a doll house. It was a pretty find at Portebello market. It has pearls attached to the top as well as a Made with Love charm.

And there's even a bird in the cage!!

Here it is on ebay!

Le Secret Garden

New Secret Garden Necklace. It has a little bird hanging in the centre, with a cute little pearl and Made with Love charm attached to the chain.

Ebay listing.

Bracelets Galore!!

New stuff is up! More Disney Couture inspired bracelets.

First up is the new and improved Pirate bracelet that can be twirled around your wrist four times. Its strap is made of black braided leather and has more charms than the last. It has pirate skulls, crosses, 2 different types of seashells, starfishes and a Made with Love charm!

Due to popularity of this bracelet, it's best to email me if you'd like it made! =D








New up is a Pocahontas inspired bracelet. It has got dragonflies, acorns, leaves, feathers, sandals and a Made with Love charm! The acorn charm is my personal favourite! The strap is dark green, braided and suede! This can be twirled round your wrist five times!

Item has been sold!

Snaps!

What an eventful day! Today I helped out with a fashion photoshoot that my friend Kevin was doing... It was uber fun! I was the stylist/starbucks girl/did everything no one else wanted to do girl.

These photos are just two that I took for the fun of it. Love taking behind the scenes snaps!
Isn't our model purdy!

Will upload the professional ones when I get them from Kevin soon!

Model's dress: Yuki—Topshop

And here's the crew excluding me (duh!) cause I took the pic.

Tech Bling

Featured in the Autumn issue of Plastique... this is one Swarovski goody I must have!

Retailed at a good 105GBP in the Active Crystals collection on its UK website, it's a 1GB thumb drive adorned with pretty Swarvoski crystals (duh!)

Then again, I'm good at losing such delicate stuff... Shall wait till my dad goes to Paris so I can get it for cheaper plus there's tax refund! Or maybe I should head down to Paris myself, sometime soon again, though my mum will ask why I have to go there for the third time! Because IT'S PARIS!! *dramatic swoon*

Hey I'm not trying to be an EL CHEAPO, just saving some good money for one or two good meals! =D

Well... this is a very good option for Christmas if you're girlfriend is a gadget girl! (those who own a PSP, 2 laptops, PS2, Xbox, Ipod just like me!) Or well girls you can just get it for yourself... Common... it's too pretty to pass up!!

*****

Will be updating, hopefully, next Monday.
with new goodies I'll be busy with that weekend.
More pirates, tees and a preview of my Domestic Goddess collection.
xoxo!

Tears of Hearts

I bought the November issue of French Numero because of this particular photoshoot which graced its cover.

Not a big fan of clowns... In fact I have thorough fear of them! (after sitting through fifteen minutes of IT)

These series of photos were so cute and candilicious that I couldn't wait to cut them out and blu-tac them on my wall. It's even my desktop wallpaper right now! I especially love the hearts under the eyes... sighs.

This has just inspired one of my next accessory projects...!

Thank you Numero!

Pirates Ahoy!

Inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean series that Disney Couture had done, I made my own version of a pirate bracelet...Yohoho =D

Made with braided leather, it has pirate skulls, shells, keys and cross charms hung on it. At the end of the bracelet there's a clasp and a chain with a black swarvoski bead.

It looks abit like the Alice in Wonderland bracelet worn by Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan.

If anyone is interested in getting one done, let me know!

Blazers, Brooches, Buttons

I have a Zara blazer that I got in Barcelona, but never wore it after the trip cause I thought it was boring... But cause I needed a blazer for my work, I decided to spruce it up!






















I removed the big black buttons
and replaced them with small brown buttons. Got inspiration from this other jacket that I saw in Fenwick, which I thought looked very french.

I attached a brooch I had made to the collar. Ain't it very cute... =D


And tah-dah! It goes lovely with my Ceci Tokyo dress!
Can I say that stockings are in and tights are out for the winter season!
I personally have an obsession with 110 denier stockings in different colours...

Hurry Mr Postman

Just finished my I LOVE ROYAL MAIL tee-shirt! 2nd attempt at silkscreen printing, 1st attempt at doing text based cut-outs. And it is seriously tedious, my eyes hurt and it took a very long time to scrub all the paint off my hands and out under my fingernails.

If you're wondering why I did this — Karma is the word. About 2 weeks ago, the UK postal service went on strike for 4 days and if add the weekend, then it's 6. And after 2 weeks, they are suffering backlog, with millions, or even billions of letters, still piled up, waiting to be sorted out and delivered.

Because I'm waiting for some very important mail, I felt it important to show some sort of love and support for the ROYAL MAIL workers, so that they might* (just might) feel encouraged on some universal level to bring me my mail as soon as possible.

It's all to do with KARMA, show some love and you get some love!!























The process was pretty experimental... I was armed with all the silkscreening materials and more importantly, my trusty bottle of Dettol. I have this obsession with wiping everything with Dettol lately, it reminds me of the clinic and though that freaks most people out, I very much like it!

First I printed out the text on an A3 sheet, place the acetate ontop of it and taped it down with masking tape so it wouldn't move around so much as I cut.

Then I just placed the acetate on the gauze, tapped up any holes that might allow the fabric paint to seep in, and wah-la...

Just pour paint and there you go. Ermmm... not that simple...after strunggling for an hour or so...I decided to take a sponge and just dabbed the pain onto it to give a stamped-on look to it. And ta-dah. It isn't exactly perfect or anything like I thought it would be... but I like it... No, LOVE IT!

I love the experimental process cause alot of nice images were produced on the gauze and on the pieces of paper I tested on, after all, I am a Graphic Design student... Gotta notice such things!!

Gonna wear this tomorrow to the Hilary Alexander talk at LCF!

xoxo to all!

My First Post-it

Hi everyone!

Ever since I started working at the jewellery design company on
a more regular basis, I've been inspired to be more intouch with
my fashion side. One reason being I've been able to improve my jewellery design skills in terms of technicality and creativity, so this has started an urge to get back into designing my own stuff.

Also, working at Fenwick, you get to admire alot of fashionistas roaming the departmental store in their Christian Louboutins, carrying their Prada, Chanel, Gucci, Hermes etc bags. On one hand it's infuriating because you are in total envy, on the other you can't help but be inspired by their head to toe ensembles! Obviously this has inspired me to be less lazy about my daily ensembles as well. And lately it has paid off with compliments from customers about my choice of boots and the jewellery (I made myself) that I adorn!

So look forward to viewing the stuff I designed, reinventing little trinkets I find in fleamarkets, reinventing much of my mouldy wadrobe and just my personal view on what I see and hear about the fashion world!

Sometimes thinking about it, being based in London is awesome! Everyone here admires each other when it comes to their creative fashion choices. I wish I could one day say the same of Singapore... =D

Picture Inset: Mary Kate Olsen: My favourite bag lady! (Harpers Bazaar photoshoot)