Outfit of the Day: Corporate Salander

It's been a while since I last posted an OOTD! This is actually from a Little Tokyo date I had with a very good friend I had about two months ago. My hair looks a lot longer than this already. Haha.

I love leatherette things A LOT. But what I like better is mixing it with rough or coarse textures such as lace or knit sweaters. Also, I love how versatile leatherette clothing is. I was really into punk rock when I was a kid and that really influenced my fashion choices. As I grew up, I decided to become more adventurous by trying out different looks and I'm glad that leatherette exists. With it, I can go for a Dragon Tattoo/ Nana look or I can totally look like a contemporary company boss. Haha.

After lunch, we went to Kinokuniya, just to look around. I ended up buying a Persona 4 Golden Animation charm blind box though. I'm usually bad at these things but I got Naoto's arcana card this time! That's already so much better than what I was expecting! 

Because I'm cheap, I always prefer validating for parking instead of paying the fee. The fee for this certain plaza in Little Tokyo can go up to $8(?). That's like 3 packs of Japanese snacks! So whenever I go to that plaza, I prefer shopping for $15 worth of groceries to avail the 2-hr. parking validation. I have no problem paying for food.

So here's one of those situations. My friend and I went in with the goal of spending enough to get the validation. Me, the person without any control at all, ended up spening $30. On just snacks. #bye

Outfit of the Day: Procrastinator

I have a big project due tomorrow and instead of working on that, I decided that I should post this up.

Sweater (Forever21)

Chiffon Button-up Top (FULL TILT)

Plaid Shorts (Forever 21)

Wedge Sneakers (MIA)

Tights (HUE)

Q's mom gave me a Forever21 gift card for Christmas and I used that to purchase the sweater and shorts. I got them both in January when Forever21 was having their winter sale. Later on, they put their clearance section up with a 50% off discount and I kind of regretted not waiting for that but at least I had these items earlier and I was already wearing them before they put it up for cheaper.

I really wanted to crop the photo to hide our unmaintained backyard but I really wanted to show the tights and shoes. I love HUE tights because the fit is fantastic. Also, the material is very comfortable and doesn't collect dust or lint. I also like how some of my skin color show through the tights. I had the shoes for a while but I haven't really worn them till this day. They're comfortable but still not recommended for extended use. By extended use, I mean about two hours of walking and five hours of sitting on a coffee shop high chair that's not made for short people like me. By the end of the day, my feet and legs hurt so bad that I ended up passing out.

Anyways, it's really time for me to be working on some school stuff.

Outfit of the Day: Silver Bear

My bed is hardly cozy but yesterday morning, I woke up wanting to sleep some more. I know it's because I haven't been getting enough sleep now that school is back up but at the same time, it's because it had this very comforting warmth. I didn't want to go to school but I know I have to so I dragged myself out and got ready. I wanted to feel like I'm still wrapped with my fluffy sheets but I'm never the kind to head over to class in my PJs so I slipped on the new H&M sweater that I got from the clearance section with an additional half off at an in-store sale in Hollywood. Used the gift card that Q's dad gave me for Christmas too so I didn't even have to pay for anything!

A girl in class loved my pants and asked me where I got it but I honestly can't remember. I knew that I got it from one of those Asian fashion sites but it looked so much better in the photos that when I received it, I wasn't so happy with what I got. That's probably why I chose to forgot about that online store entirely. I tend to give second chances if I remember to give one. Haha.

Anyways, I succeeded in feeling comfortable without looking like I just fell off of my bed. If this is your definition of looking "nice", it's not so hard after all!

Outfit of the Day: Raspberry Mocha

Contrary to my last OOTD post, I attempted for some color in this outfit. I put this together last year as well, around the time that the semester was ending and we were wrapping up by finishing our final project for Typography class. I was redesigning the Pop-Tarts packaging from childish to environment-friendly and modern so my project consisted of neutrals and splashes of color to indicate the flavor. I would link it here but I'm working more to improve it and I rather show it off once I'm happy with it. 

Anyways, I found myself unconsciously putting together earthy colors accented with a lively color.

Again, I worked with my friend Ray for these photos. He would tell jokes or tolerate silence at the right moments to encourage natural poses and expressions. I totally did not know what I was doing but he totally knows how to work with my awkwardness. Hahaha. 

I really wish I could wear these boots a lot more. I'm in-love with how they look and I had them for a while now but I feel really self-conscious wearing them. The tongue doesn't stay in place very well (as you can see in the picture above where the tongue of my right boot slid to the side). On top of that, the material is still pretty stiff and it makes this squeaky sound when I walk. Hahaha. I thought it'll loosen up after a few days of usage but they didn't. I'll keep trying though. Maybe wear them some place where it's loud and no one has to know that they make weird noises. Hahaha.

Outfit of a Day: Salander

Found myself wearing pants this whole week which reminded me of this outfit that I put together last year! If anyone goes to my school, you're most likely to catch me in something like this as I feel most comfortable being a stressed out college kid in this ensemble.

Some might say that this might have been Lisbeth Salander-inspired and I will definitely take that as a compliment. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one of my favorite movies and Lisbeth Salander is one of my life goals. Hahaha. I'm more than honored to have my outfit reflect her style.

I have my good friend Ray to thank for these photos. He really knew how to make me look good! Hahaha. I've never been more comfortable staging and getting some photos taken. I'm looking forward to working with him a lot more!

9/26/14 Outfit of the Day: McLaren Executive

I have lots of grays and reds but whenever I wear them together, Q tells me that it reminds him of McLaren. I always take it as a compliment.

9/8/14 Outfit of the Day: Do I Look Like a B*tch?

I find it really hard to look good in this heat. California is being swept away by a heat wave and as a sweater-weather fan, I barely have the clothes for it. Good thing I scored this department store Pulp Fiction shirt during my trip in the Philippines.

It was actually a men's shirt but I cut the sleeves off and voila! Instant muscle tee! I always find myself in the men's section wishing that the designs available to them can be found in the women's too but nope. But! If you don't mind grabbing a pair of scissors and customizing some shirts, there's a ton of really soft men's graphic tees at Target that only cost $12 or so that you can do fun things with.

I like crop tops too but I don't like them with low-waisted shorts. That's why I didn't really mess with the length of the shirt anymore. That way, I can tuck them in high-waisted shorts or leave them be when I'm wearing regular or low-waisted shorts.

The shirt-shorts combo is pretty desaturated so to liven it up a bit, I wore the Wet N' Wild Bordeaux Balm Stain again and partnered it with my red Keds Rookie Loop-de-Loop sneakers. I could have debuted my red Doc Martens with this outfit too but the heat was too intense. I don't think my feet would have appreciated getting shoved into some patent lamper leather in 100-degree heat.

And for more attitude, I wore my metal-accented cateye sunglasses. I was really hesitant to get cateye sunglasses since they tend to be round. (Tip: If you have a round face and you want to reduce the fullness, go for angular frames! The straightness of the shape should offset the curves.) But I gave no effs and went for it.

A friend told me that these sunnies have so much attitude that it makes me look cattish (Well, they are...CATeye sunnies.) than I already do and that I should wear it when I don't want people to approach me at all. But really though.

I hope not.

9/7/14 Outfit of the Day: Casual Sun-date

I left for the Philippines on July 10th and stayed there for five weeks. That trip was the epitome of "spontaneity". I only had a few clothes in my luggage and the rest were gifts for my family. On my second day of stay, my grandma took me to the market.

Markets in the Philippines consist of two parts: the wet and the dry. The wet market is where the fresh goods are including fish and meat. The dry market is where you'll find everything else: phone cases, trash cans, socks, pirated DVDs--you name it! 

Since I didn't bring any house clothes, my grandma led the way to the dry market after doing some groceries so we could pick up some cheap shirts that I can wear at home during my stay. 

And then I found this dress. For PHP 385 ($8.95).

Please excuse the hard lighting. #californiaweather

The dress became everyone's darling. My friends said that it's really flattering. I have to say that it's one of the most well-fitting dresses I own, almost as if it was made specifically to my measurements; the armholes aren't too loose, the shoulders aren't too wide, the elastic for the hip isn't too tight nor too loose. I have dresses which elastics are one way or the other. When it's too tight, it causes the dress to ride up, causing weird shapes that I'm not very happy about. When it's too loose, it doesn't serve any purpose. I love the length too. The struggle is real when it comes to skirt length since I'm pretty short. I want my dresses short enough to show off my legs and make myself look taller but not too short that I'll have to worry about what might be showing underneath.

Sometimes I wish I could be like those girls who could comfortably pull off wearing all these cute accessories and jewelry but no. I'm fine with cuffs and necklaces but when something's hanging loose on my body and I can feel it move and hear it jingle around, I just cannot. Hahaha. So to accessorize, I topped it off with some Cat Eye Clubmaster sunnies I recently got.

Tried really hard to look sweet in every photo. I'm really bad at that though.

9/4/14 Outfit of the Day: The Patriot

I originally bought the top to wear on the 4^th of July. But I ended up wearing something else since I spent my July 4^th behind my artist table at AX. I hope it was still relevant that I wore it on September... the fourth.

I thought the top was already too bold like the rest of my wardrobe but my friends and I went to the mall after and guess what we found.

#Muricanintensityintensifies

I wish I had taken a photo of the aviators up close because it also has the American flag on it. Since I didn't, here’s another embarrassing photo to compensate for that.

Watch me regret that I unleashed this in the intarwebs.