queengilda.com

first of all, i wanna say thank you to all of you who took part in the hammer pants contest! i had a blast looking at everyone’s entries. have you guys checked them all out? they are pretty amazing! and kudos to those of you who made videos!!! i will be going through the entries again and picking the winners pretty soon. stay tuned!

also, remember how i talked about meeting danielle from final fashion, who sketched me while i stuffed my face with a burger? (ok i think i left out the burger part.) but yeah she drew a sketch of me, and it was crazy good! she also made me look a lot cute and skinnier. phew! haha! i just kept peeking over as her hands flew over her sketchbook. ok that woman is super fast. i can’t draw half as fast, plus, i need an eraser when i draw. that’s what separates me from the pros. haha! thanks danielle!

sketch by danielle meder

in other exciting news, it was gala’s birthday on saturday and nubby’s on sunday. so the two of them held a joint birthday party at central park to celebrate. yahoo! i love birthday parties! i hadn’t slept that much in the 3 days before that because i had been so darn tired from school, and i had stayed up all night before the party, doing some work! i went to bed at 10 am (yes, you read that right, 10 am on saturday morning), and woke up at about 1:30pm just before the party. it was the best sleep i have had in a few days… and when i woke up i could hardly move. hahaha! really! i was like, “i don’t wanna get out of my beautiful beddddd!!!!” *whine whine whine*

but i did crawl out! i mean, i reached the party super late, at 3 pm-ish. i think because i had been feeling so sluggish, my body was just a piece of waste and i couldn’t move around as fast as i wanted to. but i’m glad i got there! it was colour haven. i didn’t really get dressed up much for it, unfortunately. in the end, i decided to wear the dress that i had sewn the night before! it was actually meant to be a design for one of my classes, and i didn’t intend to wear it, but i liked how it turned out (well i’d BETTER like it, i stayed up making it!) so i just threw it on and went to the party.

here are the photos! thank god for my nikon camera. it was a muddy and grey day but with some nice camera settings (good work, me!) my pictures turned out pretty bright!

i feel like a stupid ass for forgetting this girl’s name!! (but i liked her dress)
me + xenia, who’s looking major colourful! love! she’s starting her own make-up line. ain’t she fab?

this guy was so cute. he made the funniest faces while taking pictures! and i love it when people wear bowties.

two tie-dyed heads. renee is quite the artist!

why am i so short?
me + star + gala

marie is so se-xay.
i also realise that silly me forgot to take an outfit photo of the day! so this back view is the closest full-body shot i have of myself. that’s mister evil heart starin’ at ya. yes, i wore my tshirt back to front! aren’t i a genius? ha!

a photo with another amazing artist, cynthia!

nubby looking perfect as always!

how can anyone not love marie? she’s so cheeky!

love. marie takes the most amazing photos. you have to check out her pictures!

we couldn’t get a cab and took the fucking subway, yo!

nubby is tired.

marie’s polaroids of the day!

we’d all seen marie’s crazy corn costume on her flickr page before, and that crazy woman had packed it into her suitcase and brought it across america to new york! hahahahaha! check out this video. the person you hear laughing like a hyena is me. hohohoho! she is so damn funny!!! you can’t get more fabulous than that!

the corn and nubby the rockstar, jumping on the bed

nubby decided to be corn. so cuuuute!

gala and nubby were too tired to go out and party, so when star and marie decided they wanted to go out for some drinks, i thought i’d go along. we ended up in this little bar, and took some crazy photos! i’m glad i decided to go. star and marie are two pretty darn awesome ladies, with interesting stories and amazing jobs! i love listening and talking to people who have such passion for life.

3 monkeys. we really are.

back at the hotel, nubby had fallen asleep. she must have been so tired, poor thing. xenia didn’t come at night, and we were stupid enough not to take photos at the park during the day when she was there and we were all fresh! so that night at 1:30-ish am, we took this photo in the hotel. here are the lady bloggers, minus one! well, minus one and a half. because nubby is there in person and not there in spirit. hahahaha!!!!

lady bloggerzzzzz minus 1 & 1/2!

this was such an amazing day! i got to meet all these people whose blogs i have been reading for a while now. star, marie and poochie had all flown into new york just for this day! (by the way if you’re a shoe maniac, you have to check out her blog. i am intending to rob her house and steal her shoe closet. or at least one louboutin.) in the short time that i was at the park, i also got to talk to some cute girls who go to school like me, one who teaches (gasp!) and one who works at in tv production and has her own youtube show going on! everyone was really so spread out and it was hard to talk to people and make friends. i half-wish we had a round table! hee hee!

but it was good, all good! plus, after wearing my dress all day, i really like how it turned out. so i’m glad i spent those 5 hours draping and sewing it! yayyy! hopefully it will score me some extra brownie points for my next project, which was what i actually made it for.

ps: today (tuesday, sep 16th), nubby, gala and i took a trip to the colette x gap store hoping to be wowed and wanting to buy a ton of things. in 3 minutes, we left. disappointed and underwhelmed. boo, colette! i expected much more from you!

on sunday night, i had the luxury of attending the destination style show, by patricia field and designer david dalrymple. i just want to say, amazing amazing amazing, and i don’t know who came up with the initial idea of the set, but it was fantabulous and that person is a genius!

(i wonder if it’s my manager at work. he’s fierce!)

it’s been a while since i’ve been to the fashion shows. i attended quite a few when i was in tokyo, (mind you, tokyo fashion week is so damn exciting because the clothing is all art!) but since i moved to new york a year ago, i haven’t had the chance to see how it’s like here. i was supposed to attend a couple more shows this year, but alas, those that i was interested in all clashed with my classes at school.

this is the sad fact of life of a “responsible” (yeah right) full-time student. bah. two absences and we fail the bloody course! damn you, parsons!

so anyway!!! it was a disgusting day in manhattan! it rained all day because of the hurricanes, it was hot and humid, and utterly vile. i wanted to carry a cute little bag from femme sud but settled for a much bigger one so i could put my brolly in it.

i actually recorded the entire show on my camera… although i don’t think i’m allowed to do that. i just really want that soundtrack! i need to get a copy from someone. the staff from the store all got there pretty early. there weren’t a lot of seats and of course only the very important people sat down, so we had standing tickets. we were there way before the show started, and before the bulk of the crowd started trickling in, so we went up to the 2nd floor to hang around and realized we could see everything much better from there, so we stayed put!

there was supposed to be a huge turnout. apparently about 900 people rsvped for a space for 400 people, but i’m sure the rain stopped a lot of people from coming. it still was packed though, and so many personalities were in the house! club kids, queens and hot trannies. oh, and some celebs too. the only ones i recognized immediate were vanessa williams and jack from project runway, but there were a few more that the press went crazy over, and none of us knew who they were! hahahahah!

we were like, “who’s that girl there? the one the cameras are fussing over? wow she’s really posing and giving it to them. who’s she? you don’t know either? well ok let’s just take a photo of her, in case!”

hee hee hee!

so are you ready? pictures galore!

little gift bags

moto + i

one of the earliest celebs to arrive. but who?

this woman who worked for bloomingdales wanted our photo (this is what she took). then she asked, “patricia field. she’s the one who styled for sex and the city right? she’s really amazing, isn’t she?” i had no answer for her. what was she doing there?

lady bunny, patrick mcmullen and andre j

pat with ? and ?. i don’t watch ugly betty so i have no clue. 2 hours later we learn that she plays america’s sister in ugly betty? she was certainly working those photographers though!

lady bunny getting into all the action with vanessa williams. trick question of the day: how many illegal immigrants, and from which country, is she hiding in her hair? your 5 seconds begins now.

naoko + moto + omar + lyndsay + moi

jack from project runway in first row!!! oh i love him. when he had to leave project runway, he made me cry! and whozzat blond chick next to him? the photogs were after her too. but all of us were clueless! haha!

omar + me

here’s what i was wearing:
hat from patricia field (can you just tell that i am officially obsessed with military stuff?)
tailcoat by me
yellow doll made by my friend (see below!)
white tshirt by undercover
pink tulle cupcake dress by nadine zlotogora
swirly checked tights from patricia field
don’t mess with me boots by junya watanabe

the best part of the show for me, were the mannequins!!! they were fuckin’ wicked!!! i helped to prepare them and get them out of their boxes, and if you saw my video, you’ll know that i was part of the clean-up team who had to put them back in their coffins after the show ended. but i’m not being biased - they were wickedddddddd!

the mannequins were placed in different groups on stage. there were the black widows, who faked tears after the rich husband died and you know they want his money, then there were the racer chicks, and then there were the somewhat erm, lesbian girls who were crawling over the floor, and then there were the ladies who lunch! the mannequins were placed in those situations all over the stage, and basically, after the model comes out and walks down the runway, they would go and stand amongst the mannequins, and further act those scenes out! some models cried fake tears over the dead man, one raced a car with wind blowing in her hair, another went to sit with the ladies for tea… it was just awesome with a capitol AAA!

two of the biker chics. and omar posing with amazing bone structure! haha!

i think these mannequins were lesbian. and the girl on the right was sprawled all over the floor. hot!

one of the ladies who lunch! complete with real mini cakes that were so cute and yummy!

the black widows and the dead husband. going to destination heaven. a bit corny! haha! you can see part of a huge dollar sign (made of roses) in the corner there.

moto + ayumi climbing on stage to steal cake

how cute are they! haha! love them.

after the show, the photogs were surrounding pat. then she escapes… and we find her having some peace and quiet, and a piece of cake, with the ladies at lunch. i thought it was hilarious!

i got photographed by quite a few people, two of whom were bloggers (but of course i was stupid enough not to ask for their namecards and i can’t remember their blog urls!). one was from bloomingdales, and she wanted our photo, god knows why! maybe i’ll appear in a window as a mannequin soon. HAHAHAHA wouldn’t that be hilarious? the funny thing was, as i mentioned above, she hardly knew who pat was! i was flabbergasted. lady, if you work for bloomingdales and you live in new york and watched sex and the city and don’t know who pat field is and you come and watch her show and you don’t know who pat field is and you work for bloomingdales and you don’t know who pat field is (deep breath), then what are you doing at her show!!!!!

anyway, i also got hit by some papparazzi woman who came and shoved her camera in all our faces, very rude of her. then i also got photographed by two girls from the guardian from the uk. i went to visit their website at theguardian.co.uk though? and who cares about me, but i can’t find anything on pat at all. haha!

it was cool that i wore what i wore. because a lot of people asked me where i got my coat from, and what the heck it was that was pinned onto it! hahaha! it’s a good feeling telling people that i made the jacket myself. and then they asked about that yellow doll, and i said it’s a doll my good friend made, and it looks exactly like my old teacher at school!!! seriously! i even blogged about it way back when i first started blogging.

well, i say it like i’ve been blogging for super long. nope, i wrote about the doll just last year in may actually! here’s an excerpt of what i wrote back then:

my friend, pero, made me a doll thingy… of our ex-teacher!!!

pero with kano with said doll!

all of us kept screaming and laughing when he pulled it out of his bag, because i can’t explain to you HOW much the doll’s face looked like my teacher!

it was sooooo weird!

seriously! this is creepy stuff!

i’d feel bad if i put up a whole picture of her in high-res and without blocking her eyes, so i had to block it out. but come on, you know it still looks exactly like her. i love it and brought it here in new york with me. i have never had any use for it, i mean, it’s not like i loved her and she wasn’t even my favorite teacher or anything, but we had the best of laughs imitating her back in school. so when i saw that doll just before the party, (it usually sits on top of my dresser, along with photos of my friends in japan), it make me laugh and i thought i just HAD to add it to my outfit!!

so now i’m gonna send those pictures from the show, back to my friends in tokyo. i’m sure they will have a fit! haha!!!

i have a lot of favorite designers from tokyo fashion week and their pictures just rocked my world. i’ll have to post some of my favorites for you guys to see. also can’t wait to see what my idols like rei kawakubo, tao, junya watanabe (all of comme des garcons), jun takahashi of undercover, john galliano, alexander mcqueen, bernhard willhelm, maison martin margiela and rick owens come up with!

what about you guys? have you been keeping up with the shows? is new york week exciting? or is it blah? i’m usually more excited about paris, london, and tokyo fashion week. and couture week obviously. what are your favorite shows so far and what are you looking forward to?

lemme know! hopefully one of you will like some amazing designer i haven’t heard of before and i can learn more about him/her through you! haha! (yes, i AM just making use of you.)

a quick outfit post before i go to bed. it’s 5:55am and i’m wide awake. am i crazy?? i need to sleep! i have to get up and go to work by 11! ugh! but before my head hits my pillow and i knock out, i wanted to post this up before it becomes yesterday’s news. what am i talking about… this was an outfit from the 27th, so it’s already a day old! old = stale = no good. haha!

anyway. oops, i did it again. i went overboard with dressing myself in the morning. i think i have a defective gene in my system that screams at me whenever i look in my closet each morning after my shower. it says, “gilda!!! go on! do it! you know you want to! you know you want to overdress!”

dammit. but well, this is what i wore for the 2nd time i worked on the floor at pat field’s. i’m not exactly sure how much i sold, because my name isn’t in the system (since i’m not technically an actual salesperson there). but i’m pretty sure i sold quite a bit and i was so happy. wheee!!

soft like silk tshirt by undercover
crazy denim skirt with tulle by apollo braun
glitter stockings by betsey johnson
chain necklace by mercibeaucoup;
cute flats by mercibeaucoup;
ugly hair by two months of no hair-cuts

i love my new stockings

aren’t they darling? i got them at century 21 (discount store yeah yeah yeah!) for like, 10 bucks. it’s a gorgeous turquoise colour and has these bright blue glittery lines running down the length of it. you probably don’t see that much of the turquoise color in the photos because it’s all stretched out by my fat legs hahahaha. but who cares i love ‘em! if it wasn’t disgusting to re-wear stockings, i’d wear them for the entire week, but alas, i have some sense of hygiene and have put it in my laundry basket with a sigh.

and yes yes you don’t have to tell me that my hair is disgustingly overgrown. i really hate it. it’s reddish-purple now with purple ends, but my roots are horrific and i obviously need a haircut. i’ve preached before about cutting one’s hair when it’s about time to get a haircut, but this is the first time i think i’ll admit that i have to eat my own words. my own post. literally. swallow it down.

the simple fact that i’m fucking broke overrides any other material or vain needs. i typically get a haircut every month because my hair strands are really thin (the only skinny thing about me and i hate it! HAHAHAHAAH!) and they are flatter than i ever want them to be, so i usually try to get a cut every month or at least 6 weeks, to bring some life to them. my hair does grow really fast, so not cutting it often means it gets really heavy and weighed down. it’s been more than 8 weeks since my last hair cut. oh my god i think i last cut my hair when school ended in mid may! that’s 10-11 weeks. it’s terrible and i hate that it looks so untidy! it’s a mess when i get up each morning and a pain to try and style.

i’ve been trying to keep it long and resisted cutting it for as long as i could. then just when i couldn’t take it any longer and badly wanted ayumi (my stylist) to work her magic on my hair, i went broke. then my cousin came to new york last week and going out to dinner everyday made me officially bankrupt.

did you hear me? i’m broke. broke broke broke!!! even my hello kitty piggy bank, i mean kitty bank, is shaking its head at me. it’s terrible. please send me a kfc coupon. or better yet, a peter luger’s gift certificate. pfft just kidding.

i’m sorry if you’re vegetarian and i hope i don’t piss you off, but in all honesty, every time i go broke, the only thing on my mind is a nice juicy steak. i think it’s because i try to cut down on all indulgences, my mind goes a little crazy and i just want fatty meat.

i know a lot of you think i have such a fun and fabulous life filled with dress up parties. well, it’s true! haha no i’m just kidding. the truth is that i am sitting in my oversized tshirt and shorts as i’m typing this in my living room, because i don’t have an air conditioner besides the one in my own bedroom. yes, you heard me. i’m living in an oven.

the other truth is, that my last week was really filled with fun events. it was the independence day weekend here in america, and i also attended sushi’s birthday party (he’s one of my bosses). so of course it was an opportunity for me to dress up and be a little more costume-y than i normally am (as if i don’t already overdress all the time, right? heh heh.)

so i received the above invitation in my inbox. i was so excited. i mean, i haven’t been on any boat or ferry since i got here in new york. and here we were, going to take one to some place called william wall. i had no idea where that was, but i didn’t care. all i could think about was: sailor, nautical, sailor, nautical, i have no costume!!!

i popped down to the shop the day before the party, to pass something to one of my bosses, and they reminded me of the party. i told them i’ll be looking for something to wear, and that i’ll meet them at the shop to go together. because obviously i didn’t want to get lost.

i looked at our own shop first, of course. i mean, it is after all, patricia field! and i know they used to stock sailor-ish items, and my manager wears the sailor cap all the time. but i guess, i was fresh out of luck and they were fresh out of stock. so i walked over to screaming mimi’s at lafayette street and told them i had a costume party to attend. they were sooo nice and gave me 3 options to pick from!

with my costume all set, i had nothing else to worry about. i didn’t know if anyone else was buying sushi a present. i’ve only been working there about 2 months and his party was the first one i attended, so i had no idea what the “office policy” was, and i decided buying one was better than not!! so i got him a bottle of veuve clicquot from the union square wine and spirits shop.

the day of the party, i went and got my make up done by regan at mac in the flatiron building. he’s so cute and such a whiz. obviously. i mean, my make up was perfect. PERFECT.

40’s make up by regan! well, excuse the shitty hair.

on the way to the shop

(pssst!! i’ve just been told that the photo above was featured on bits and bobbins!! i’m so excited!! thank you so much, tricia!)

my roommate, mark, came with me and we arrived at the shop at about 7pm. to my horror, NO ONE was in costume. i was like, “HEY!!! why’s everyone not dressed up!!!” apparently, they all got lazy. what?!! &(*#!@^!(@*#&!(@*$^@$#^!!!!!

(did i forget to warn you guys that this is going to be such a photo fest?)

dai was playing a little game, with folded paper. i have no idea what the game is called but i used to play it when i was younger too. i didn’t know it was such a…. such an international game. hee hee!

photos by julie

so ANYWAY, we finally made our way to get to the boat. holy moly, i never knew such things were possible in new york! or that i could ever afford it! i mean, we only had to pay $10 bucks for a return trip! everyone else there at the piers were all these dressed up investment banker types who turned their noses up at us. i hoped some worm would crawl up their nostrils. we saw all these exciting huge-ass yachts and of course got ourselves all excited! i wanted to get onto the moet boat

then of course, reality bit us in our butts and reminded us that we weren’t so fabulous, when we were ushered by this lady onto a small speed boat. haha. she was from the yacht club and already a little drunk. and wouldn’t stop talking. tony wasn’t very pleased with her because she wouldn’t stop talking. just kidding. i mean he wasn’t annoyed. but she really didn’t stop talking.

floats - my best accessory

the view from the barge

we arrived at william wall, which was actually a barge in the middle of the hudson. it was so beautiful. then the most terrible thing happened. it started to rain the moment we got to the barge. it wasn’t just rain. i mean, it was fucking pouring! like a huge thunderstorm! the sky was black and the wind was howling. people started screaming and the barge was shaking. honestly, i was quite scared. it was like the titanic!! there was hardly any shelter on the deck, and the plastic chairs started flying. it got really crazy when people were actually starting to push each other to get to safety! good grief!

we got drenched and everyone was running to the lower deck. it was terrible! you know those dance steps from madonna’s vogue? yeah i was kinda doing that. to protect my make up from the thunderstorm!!

we were stuck in the lower deck for at least half an hour. then tobell comes up from nowhere, wearing a life vest! AHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH i tell you, i honestly lost it. and she very nonchalantly said, “i can’t swim.” oh my god pffffft!!!

tobell is accessorising

anyway. the storm cleared up after a long while and we finally got to go back up on the deck. it was really pretty and we could see manhattan’s skyline. we could even see the statue of liberty from where we were. miss liberty was kinda far away and even though we wanted to take her picture, she refused to turn her head towards us. so obnoxious. the sky was still a little foggy, but just being there was fabulous. the sound of the waters, the fresh air… life is beautiful when you take some time to appreciate everything around you. and friends! nothing’s better than that!

the gorgeous people i work with

the birthday boy and me

the city as my backdrop

isn’t tony such a gem?

only half of sushi’s party was there because of the storm. they didn’t let anymore people take the boat over to meet us, so a lot of the people from the shop couldn’t come over to the barge. i think pat was supposed to come too but ahh well, nature wouldn’t have it. a boat came to ferry some of the other people away (there were other strangers on the barge) and told us they’ll be back to pick the rest of us soon.

so we sat around and took pictures and got drinks and had a laugh. it was hilarious. we waited for the boat for another like, hour or two!! wtf! it was getting a little cold and i had only had one drink although i’m pretty sure some of us got quite drunk!

they turned off the lights on us when we got onto the boat, so it was hard to film, but we all started singing sushi a birthday song and it was so darn funny. you can hear me giggling a few times in that video. i think people were too high to realise that they sung sushi a birthday song, twice! hahaha!

two different sailor hats from the costume store
sailor dress (there’s actually the teeniest skirt attached to it!) by screaming mimi’s
white crinoline skirt
black tights
pink watch by toy watch
studded boots by junya watanabe

i love this sailor look. i’ve never tried it before, but now that i have, i can’t stop thinking about it. i love the sailor hat, and the captain’s cap. and my new “want” is a real captain’s cap. not the cheapo one that i bought from the costume shop for $13. but a real one. anyone knows where i can buy one? heh heh. i’ll live with the cheapo one till i find a nicer one. ahh! it’s great. i love it!!

so that tops off my amazing week! i had so much fun but it’s now back to reality. boo.

more reading for the nosey parkers:
how to be a little social butterfly

after 3 slightly crazy days over the july 4th weekend, i really wanted to go out to brooklyn to meet loulou, who was in town all the way from faraway lands! she had been in town all week and the bows and knickers she makes are so cute, i wanted to meet the woman who makes them! then, when i went with gala and nubby to the dances of vice event, i learned that nubby wanted to go meet her too, so we decided to meet up the next day (sunday) and hop over to brooklyn together.

photo by nubby

so we ventured out on the L train and found loulou at the artists and fleas market. loulou was so cute with her red hair! and there were some crazy similarities between nubby and loulou. for one thing, no one looks better in red lipstick than those two cuties. and, they both had the same nameplate necklaces from helpless romantic. the necklaces were so cute, i went back home and promptly ordered my own. can’t wait for it to arrive!!

photo by loulou

we also purchased pretty bows from loulou in loving support. nubby got one in red that is so perfect for her, and i bought a black gingham one! woohoo! i’ve actually made bows before but never one this big!

after meeting loulou, nubby and i headed to lunch and we found this really amazing surf bar. it had sand all over the floor! where did they get it from! the food was excellent too. i had a lobster bisque that was just delish.

dress by tsumori chisato
heart lego brooch by dee and ricky (big love!)
h&m bag
shoes by undercover
umbrella from beacon’s closet

and the funniest part of the day, was meeting these 2 guys who were dancing around this cross-street in brooklyn. i mean, they were kinda whack!! it was really funny and they were dancing to cher, who was singing so loudly from her cassette tape! hahahahaha! they noticed us filming them and came over to talk to us but it started getting slightly harassing and scary! ah!

nubby and i had a really nice and relaxing, kinda low-key day together. we had a great talk over lunch, sharing our dreams and goals. i loved it! it was so great talking to an artist and designer whose work i’ve always loved (awesome mixed media and collages!). it was such an inspiring day. i felt so empowered!!

the day ended with us laughing just ever-so-slightly hysterically, over disgusting toilet mishaps. ahahaah! can’t wait to see you on your birthday, dear nubby!

oh gosh. what a crazy weekend! where do i even start?!?!?! i have all these pictures i want to upload, it’s gonna be a mighty long-ass post if i squeeze it all together!! like a MAJOR photo fest. so i’m gonna try and do separate the posts out. hope you’re ready for it!!

july 5th, 2008

gala told me about this amazing costume event held by dances of vice in brooklyn. i wasn’t that keen on traveling so far and spending money but i heard the word “costume” and perked up. any chance to dress up, i’m there! although i’m really broke and should actually be confined to my room. thank god i already had the outfit i needed, beckoning at me in my closet. so the only thing i spent on was taxi fares and entrance fees!

i knew immediately what i wanted to wear (although of course i did fret over two dresses), but i was more concerned about hair and make up. hair and make up!!! that was so important for the 1920s era!!! after some research on the internet that only showed me some boring pictures, i remembered that the fashion god, mr galliano himself, had done a flapper inspired collection for his fall 2007 collection, and after looking at style.com, i got my perfect inspiration images.

oh yeah, baby. i’m not a make-up pro, nor will i ever achieve anything as amazing as that, but boy was i going to try. and i had about 20 minutes to do it. my eyes took about 10 and all i did was smudge a heck lot of black liner and shadow on it, put in some major white highlight under my brow bone, then i tried to conceal up my brow hairs and drew a really thin, and super long line in its place.

i looked like a drag queen but oh my god i loved it!!! and of course, i don’t own no lip pencil and the last time i ever lined my lips was about 3 years ago. so i tried to get my lips done just by drawing it on with the pointy edge of my lipstick. not very easy, but whatever! i looked like i was ready for halloween and that made me happy! i know so many people were staring at me on the street like i was some insane psycho, but i couldn’t care less. i was so excited! if i had more make-up brushes and color options than my ridiculously pitiful pile, i honestly would have loaded it on more, like how galliano did it.

i met gala at her apartment, fucking late because i lost my id and was turning my entire apartment upsde-down looking for it. with her was nubby twiglet, a designer whose work i have admired since i first forayed into this blogging world!

i was just amazed when we got to the montauk club. literally, my eyes opened so wide and i was stunned. the place was amazing, everyone was so dressed up (except for a few people who were in singlets and bermudas and should have been kicked out). i’ve never seen anything quite like it. i wanted to talk to everyone but i was just so shocked, i forgot my english. so i basically just stood around and people-watched. it was amazing. so darn amazing!!!

the moment we go there, gala spotted molly crabapple, who looked fantastic in her corset. i got to know of molly and her work soon after i first came to new york in late august 2007. she is the founder of dr. sketchy’s anti-art school. since i first heard about it, i’ve been always dying, dying to go, but no one would go with me and i’m too chicken to turn up myself. she offered to sketch us. ok i know she is a pro and all that, and i’m just a miserable fashion student, but wow, that girl was working it in her corset. she was fast!!! i think she got us down in like, 5, 10 minutes. gala and nubby were chatting with her. i was too busy looking at her markers flying all over the page! new found respect, and now i really need to drag someone with me to dr. sketchy’s!

i think gala and nubby didn’t really enjoy themselves, because the event wasn’t really what they had expected. they sat on a couch for a while, chatting. nubby’s friend, voltaire, came over to sit and talk too. i loved what he was wearing but the music was loud and there was no space on the couch for me to sit and join in. besides, i was having way too much fun looking at everyone!! unlike gala and nubby, i went there with absolutely no expectations. in fact, it exceeded my “expectations”, because almost everyone was dressed to the nines!!

the band was playing, people were dancing, and i was looking at clothes. oh my god i tell you, i was having the time of my life.

don’t they look absolutely amazing?

i’m so glad i went. i mean, i really love dressing up but it has been a while since i actually wore THIS much make up.

click*click to view close-up!

ruffled cape by betsey johnson
dress by chloe
queen alice ring by tarina tarantino
lace-up shoes by irregular choice

do i look flapperish enough? i wish i knew how to do my hair, but i didn’t, so i just left it as it was. isn’t it crazy that i got this look from my regular closet? i’m a little proud of myself. haha!! the only thing i added were the fake pearls that gala generously bought for me from some costume store, because i only owned two little strands of pearls. ooh!!! and i also brought along my femme sud clutch!!! i loved it!

i had an amazing night. the worst thing that happened? i had never worn those shoes before this night and although i have like 5 pairs of irregular choice shoes and love them and they have never given me problems, for some stupid reason this pair was a little too large! so my feet kept slipping out and it was so hard to walk. so my toes were kinda all curled up inside trying to keep my shoes in. i’m sure you girls have had such experiences before!! you’d know what i mean. it was terrible and i tried not to complain about it, but after a while it got way too much for me to handle and i started keeping really quiet because i was biting down on my lip and wincing a little. i mean, i kept my cool on the outside, but on the inside i was like… messed up.

so you know how i talked about nubby’s friend, voltaire? i didn’t have the chance to talk much to him because i had no seat to sit, and the music was a little too loud for me to hear anything anyway. i mean, i did try! honest to god. i sort of (very unladylike, but then i’m no lady) squatted down to get to eye-level with all 3 of them, but although i squatted down 3 times (i wish someone got a picture of me doing this) to try to talk, it was just impossible and i couldn’t hear anything so i just gave up each time. but as the event was ending and we were leaving, voltaire asked where i was from and i said “singapore.” and he was like, “i knew it! i know that accent from anywhere!”

and of course, i was rolling my eyes and going, “yeah right!!!” i mean, a few weeks ago i posted up my ethnic collection called singapura, and i mentioned that some people had never heard of singapore before. and here was this guy telling me he knew exactly where i was from! from my accent! i was like, “ok you’re just bullshitting me, because NO ONE would think of singapore! it’s so random right?” i mean most people would say hong kong or taiwan or something!

and then you know what he did? he started singing one of singapore’s old songs!!! i mean, this is a song that every singaporean will know. and it’s something a little embarrassing that other people shouldn’t hear of. it’s called “one people, one nation, one singapore.” we’ve all learnt it in school, we sing it every national day… i mean we don’t all sing it but you know what i mean. it’s something that is sung every national day, and i don’t know how voltaire knew that song but he did and i was stunned! flabbergasted! speechless! my mouth dropped open and i was going “ohmygodohmygod!!!” seriously, click on that link and watch the “music video” on youtube, and then press play below to hear him sing the rock version.

i am so in awe of voltaire now, you have no idea. i showed my roommate the video of him and my roommate, who is from malaysia (which is RIGHT next to singapore), hadn’t even heard of the song before! i had to search youtube to let him hear the original song! he made my night. and then gala and nubby told me who he was, like what he did, and that kinda stunned me even more.

oh gosh. what a crazy weekend! where do i even start?!?!?! i have all these pictures i want to upload, it’s gonna be a mighty long-ass post if i squeeze it all together!! like a MAJOR photo fest. so i’m gonna try and do separate the posts out. hope you’re ready for it!!

july 4th, 2008

it was my first time experiencing independence day ever!! i mean, that was pretty exciting, considering that the only “independence day” that i have experienced so far, was will smith’s amazing movie. (can that guy do no wrong?)

and of course, i spent it working! haha. well, honestly, what was i supposed to do anyway. i’m not american and i have no reason to celebrate! as the intern at pat field’s, my job is to also help out with party preparations. although i don’t think that’s the official job description. but who cares?? and when you love your job, it never feels like work. i love preparing for a party. actually, i didn’t have to do much because julie and tobell had already gotten almost everything ready. all i had to do was to help cut vegetables, wrap them up in foil, and then i was in charge of the skewers!! tobell and julie were amazing. oh my god tobell was amazing. that girl can cook! she was fierce! she made this hickory bbq sauce that smelled so divine and when i ate those chicken wings and pork chops…. really it was so good.

food, drinks and mingling at the backyard

aren’t they all so gorgeous?

the crowd started trickling in and at the last minute i called my good friend, tony, to come keep me company. tony was my classmate last semester at parsons and i love him to death. he comes up with the funniest trend word that cracks me up. i knew he would enjoy himself at the party. i mean, there were so many good-looking people, more than enough for him to ogle at. hee hee! i wanted him to come to the last payless party as my date but after a lot of tralala, gala came as my plus one.

tony was the drink mix-master. he got me pretty high.

it was a really laid-back, casual little barbeque. tony was a bad boy at the bar. he made all our drinks and if i appeared drunk, it was all his fault. by the end of the night we were both a little smashed like we were pathetic high school kids! how embarrassing! also, i had spent the day skewering prawns and smelled a little shrimpy, so i was glad i brought wipes along and also a change of clothes!! i’d stayed up the night before sewing a pair of sequinned sarouel pants to wear to the party. oh my god i’m so glad i did.

i got SO many compliments that night!! i didn’t know 99% of all the people that were at the party, but so many of them came up to say that they loved my pants! and of course it was the best compliment ever and i was like, “oh thank you!!! i made them last night!!!”

seriously!! it is a wannabe designer’s (me, duh.) equivalent of an orgasm or something!! i have a few orders to make these pants. i’m so excited, i’m sweating just thinking about it.

clickety*click for bigger views!

skull tshirt by alexander mcqueen
sequinned sarouel pants by me
toy necklace by mercibeaucoup
rubber beach flipflops by havaianas

you know, call me what you want, a fashion snob if you will, but as far as i’m concerned, i was taught that these pants were called sarouel pants, not harem pants. well, at least that was what was printed in my textbook when i studied in japan, and that’s what everyone, all the magazines included, called it too. and while the world is catching on with this trend only now, the japanese were wearing these years and years ago. rei kawakubo and junya watanabe of comme des garcons were making sarouel pants from like, god knows when. my first sarouel pants were purchased in tokyo 5 years ago, and they were vintage comme des garcons from the 90s. i think they are widely called harem pants now, but if you know your fashion vocabulary, harem pants are supposed to be loose and baggy all over and then fit with a cuff, just like a puff sleeve would.

anyway!

the party was over at about 11 and after helping to clean up, i was home at midnight. with no sleep from the night before, hardly any food to eat (i was so busy talking i only nibbled a little!), and at least 15 cocktails, the alcohol basically hit exactly where they needed to hit. i wasn’t drunk, but i was certainly quite high, and when i got home i took a shower and hit the sheets. it’s been a long time since i fell asleep so fast

oh gosh. what a crazy weekend! where do i even start?!?!?! i have all these pictures i want to upload, it’s gonna be a mighty long-ass post if i squeeze it all together!! like a MAJOR photo fest. so i’m gonna try and do separate the posts out. hope you’re ready for it!!

july 3rd, 2008

i had a date with gala to go to this event that i had heard of. it was held by glamdammitnyc and from what i heard, it was a warhol factory tribute event. according to going.com’s editor, “twig the wonderkid, michael t and company give partygoers their warhol’s worth. check it for some cabaret, glam makeovers, go-go dancers and live performances by the hunt and the rats.” they were going to “salute the warhol factory with iconic artwork and visuals.”

sounds good right? yeah i thought so too.

when gala and got there, there was no one. zilch. ok maybe there were… 25 people. there were all these grown-ups dressing like punk kids, some really bad rock band playing which reminded me of 15 year old kids playing in their basement studio, and well, that was about it. gala and i walked in and right at the back wall, there were these 3 andy warhol works that look like someone had printed from his printer at home onto letter-sized paper, and just stuck them up. i think we stood there for 5 minutes, very speechless, and then we gave each other weird looks and said, “huh?”

it was soooooo not what we expected!!! after about 10 minutes but what felt a lot longer, we decided this place was nonsense and turned to leave. i told the guy at the door that the event was so not what i thought it was going to be. and he said, “oh yeah the go-go dancers and all that will be here much later at night!”

well, it was almost midnight then and the crowd was pathetic. in number and in quality. so we decided to walk quite a little distance away (well that entire area was just dead.) and went to this little spot in the west village called the cubby hole.

it’s been quite a little while since i’ve been to a lesbian bar, and this one was packed. a little intimidating. and very, very colorful. literally!! i mean, there might have been beautiful girls in there, but i’m not gay, and i was more interested in the ceiling. it was gorgeous!!! love it.

ain’t that great? it’s filled with this rainbow of things and weird toys and trinkets. i’m sure it’s been amassed over the years, but i wonder if it was sparse and pathetic in the beginning!

some lady came over and insisted on taking a photo for us!

i mean, i honestly don’t think our own efforts (the bottom two photos), are that bad, right? we had some pretty strong $5 martinis, and sat there talking about random life statements. fun!!

i had work today as usual at the patricia field store. i’m currently interning and usually pop by 2 days a week or so, more if they need me there. it’s great because i’ve been there perhaps over a month now, and everyone’s super nice and friendly and even the scary manager is getting nicer. i’m really enjoying myself and would seriously work everyday, even if it meant doing all sorts of boring things. except of course, i’m so fucking broke i need a proper part-time job that might give me some cash. eek.

by the way i have major plans to start an etsy shop or some online business through my website and sell custom clothing that i have designed. if anyone’s interested or if you have suggestions etc, please leave comments or email me!

so. gala texted me in the early afternoon to ask if i wanted to join her for this cabaret thing-y. it’s been a while since i went to the cabaret, and she told me that the theme was alice in wonderland, which of course was a good bait. and a little funny considering how i just uploaded pictures of my accessories collection based on the queen of hearts!

i didn’t have time all day to think of an outfit and i had absolutely no idea where we were going to be honest, so there was no way i could really plan for it. i was so tired after work i basically just threw on my favorite comme des garcons tshirt that had a heart on it, and went to meet gala!

queen of hearts headpiece by me
evil heart tee by comme des garcons
uber-cute pink dress by nadine zlotogora
black skirt by junya watanabe for comme des garcons
black tights
super fantastic ribbon wristlet bag by femme sud (the other company i’m interning with)
4-finger gloves by patricia field
red and blue heels by irregular choice

upon reaching there i realized it wasn’t really cabaret and she tricked me (j/k hee hee!) because no one was really in a costume. most people were in work clothes! hahahahahah. OH WELL. i even made this super make-shift head piece that i fiddled with in the cab!! it was just basic tulle with some feathers and a queen of hearts trump card. i actually quite like it and even though it might fall apart at any moment (hey. i sewed it in the dark in a freaking nyc yellow cab! my workmanship is usually better haha!), i think i will save it for future usage!

there was some stand-up acts, some supposedly comic, but erm, overall it was just soooo peculiar. not weird, but, i was somewhat perplexed!

turns out it was dame darcy’s birthday and some people were in little alice in wonderland outfits that were veeery cute. it was definitely an eye-opening night and a side of new york i hadn’t seen before!

since the spring semester ended, i was thrown headfirst into my summer holidays and honestly, i felt really lost at the start. i have only been in new york for about 9 months, but parsons has kept me really busy and i have had not much of a social life at all, really. when school broke for the winter hols last december, i flew back home to singapore for christmas and new year, then went to tokyo for 5 days before returning to new york for school again. so really, this summer holiday will be the first time that i’ve really spent a long period in new york, without having to think about school!!! (that took a really long time to explain, but really it’s that sad.)

i mean i’ve had fun in between, and i’ve been to some great parties, but this was really a chance for me to breathe and take the city in, explore, and live it up like them social butterflies!!!

right?

then of course i decided to take a summer class and intern.

haha.

but you know, i’ve been so lucky with so many things, i honestly think god loves me. to cut the long story short, i got myself two internships with two very different, but so very great companies. the first is a very kitschy, whimsical bag line called femme sud. i am interning as the manufacturing and designing intern, assisting the designers with the brand. i loved it just looking at their website at their bags. they’re SO “me”!!! right? right? don’t you think so? it’s been a great learning experience so far and i’m looking forward to the opportunity of designing one of their fabulous ex libris book bags. seriously, it’s sooo cute. i love the date book, fame & fortune, the bible (especially the bible!!!), and also the brag book! they also have another line called grand prix and kill me now because i want all of ‘em ribbon bags! ooooooh!!!

anyway more about femme sud at a later date.

the OTHER internship i have, is with patricia field!!! those of you who’ve followed freebird since forever (i love you), you might remember i gushed about my fabulous haircut+color that i got there. yes, she has a little salon in the basement of her shop where she gets her flaming red hair colored too. so anyway i’ve become a regular customer there and get along really splendid with my hair stylist. 3 weeks ago, i went to get a haircut after an extremely disastrous impulse perm job that i got at a japanese salon near my house. (i promise i won’t start bitching about that. yet.) so basically i needed ayumi to save my life and save my hair.

3 minutes into reaching the salon, she tells me that they are having a party at the end of may and she knows i’ll love it and that i must attend! i write down my name and plus one on a fancy-pancy list, and she tells me she’ll email me to give me all the details!!!

40 minutes and a new, reborn, resurrected, totally saved head of hair later, she tells me that they are looking for a new intern at the store and do i want to work there?

like, hell yeah!?!?

she said, “ok don’t worry i’ll pop into the office right now and ask them. they’ll surely take you in and i’ll make sure they’ll take good care of you. they’ll listen to me since i’m the most senior staff here, and i’ll tell them they better be nice since you’re my important customer!” isn’t she the sweetest thing? i mean i’m sure it was a joke and i hope she didn’t actually say that to