The Style Roundup

Mid-year this year someone did ask if I wear different shirts every day to work? Well, why should I lie coz it's not something I can hide from the viewing public anyway, it's out there laid in the bare coz everyone can notice. So I answer yes. In fact I answered that I have a 4-months worth of shirts in my wardrobe, provided that I do wear different one every day. Four-months worth coz doing laundry is truly something that I hate doing. If I find that a shirt already had a weird smell... I can just wear a different one the next day and do laundry once in blue moon. Or once in 2-3 months to be exact. So, nak pengsan tak dengar tu...huhu!

The thing is, if I like a shirt I would buy it more than one. Like the +J white shirt, I got about 4 of them in the latest FW11 collection coz I just love the cutting and all. The others especially from Asos, I probably got two pairs for each type since I can do the same style the next week but wearing a different  pair of shirt, if you get what I mean.

So, what is the style roundup for last week. Nothing much, except the usual shirt + tie + blazer combo as what you've been fed of in this entire blog journey.

• Wednesday.

Last Wednesday is my annual performance review day. Nothing more formal than looking in the traditional, classic black and white ensemble. I paired the +J white shirt with the diagonal stripes tie from Tie Rack + the slimfit single-breasted blazer from Asos. 

Mentioning my performance in my workplace this year, there has been a mixed reviews. On one hand, my boss said my contribution to the company is outstanding. Mana tak nyer, dah jadi Chairman mesti la everyone knows who I am! Ha! My supervision is also above par, and the best part is the evaluation from the students by which I exceed the requirement - I got 6.6 out of 7, which to me is whoa! (Other people normally got around 5 only!) Yet on the other hand, I need to perk up my publications per se like writing up lots more journal papers and research publications. I think if those people read this blog, they would've put me on the outstanding category, kot... ngehahaha! :)

• Thursday

Another annual performance review day but from my another superior which is from the Head of my research cluster, since they gotta separate this research part. The leader said I am on the 'exceed requirements' coz I got many stuff on my plate. From the research grants and funding, to the patent thing - the logo that I've created for my research group that went for patent filing, those are beyond what is required I need to do this year. Not bad I guess.

For the day I went for deep green shirt from Zara + green tartan checks tie from Tie Rack + grey chambray blazer from Asos. One thing I hate about the shirt is that due to its slightly hi-sheen, when I iron it it leaves that 'shiny' mark which is intolerable. Anyway, whatever...

• Friday.

Usually, Friday is all about slightly looser fit since it was a Friday prayer day. But today I went for a uber-slim t2t as I slipped into the ultra-slim shadow checks suit from River Island (again) paired with the slimfit beige shirt from Zara + grey wool tartan tie from Uniqlo. The tie is a bit underwhelm to the whole ensemble given that it's slightly slimmer as compared to the collar and the tie bar. Again, it's a fashion faux pas... but with the blazer, it's almost a pass for the end of the weekday.

What's the best thing about that Friday? Someone emailed me mentioning how she missed my session in the class. Again? Awww..... shweeeeet...:) (have I left such an impact to those kids? Hmmm....)

* solat Jumaat at nearby mosque around my housing area, that's why easy to slip into my kurta, less 'skinny' visible! :)

The Grey Dilemma

Last Tuesday I had a dilemma on what to wear to the office. It was quite late when I woke up since I was still reeling with my exhaustion after spending time in KL for the PC Fair and the Ikea visit and what not. Too much walking made the whole body aching, desperately needing some rest.(thank God my Gucci boots are made for walking, huh? Ha!) That's why I took a day off on Monday to really unwind myself, taking all the rest that I need. So, the day after - probably still due to the weekend blues - it's a bit late as usual when I drove off to work. Late as in 7.45 am instead of the usual 7.30! But still on time, as always. ngeee...

I haven't thought that much when picking up my outfit of the day. One thing for sure, I snatched the grey vertical stripes shirt by Mexx to go along with the black trousers. And I saw the grey mohair-wool slimfit jacket by River Island which I haven't wear that much before, so I snatched that one too from my wardrobe. But, there's a huge dilemma - which tie would I wear? I can't make up my mind as I got a lot of grey-based neckwear in my 'tie box' which somehow so hard to made decision. And what do I do to run against time for not being beyond late to clock in? If during my schooldays I used to bring along toys in my bag to school - now I'm bringing a bunch of ties in my SEED leather tote in case if one is not looking great, I can always switch to another. Boy, does it help?

Actually it does! At first I tried that horizontal stripes by Red Herring @ Debenhams. Hmmm... not good, coz too much patterns going on in one ensemble: vertical stripes, horizontal stripes, the texture of the mohair jacket... far too much, and very tacky and distracting too.

And then another tie from the same label, yet with micro vertical stripes which somehow tone thing down a bit. Still, it doesn't look right as I'm not feeling for the too much tone-on-tones happening here. So, scrap that out from being worn that day...

And after trying another two ties which is too tacky to be snapped the photo to be included in here, I finally found solemn to the last one: the crochet grey tie from Uniqlo. Solem, how? Suddenly I'm feeling that it brought things together quite well. The gradual toning down of the color - from darker grey of the mohair blazer, to slightly lighter striped shirt to much lighter tie. It's like drawing attention towards the inside which is quite 'streamline' in away. Unlike the previous two, which I think may 'confuse' the eyes - it's like 'where do i look? arrgh.. too much, to much distraction of pattern!'. But with this one I think it'll go like..awwwww...aman damai.

Plus, even without the the blazer both the tie and the shirt looks great together; though I prefer to still wear the blazer since the shirt is not really slimfit - it's a tailor-fit which is slightly 'oversized' to my usual 'slimming' standard. :) 

Monday Blues? No, It's Purple Monday!

Something I seldom do is to wear colors on Monday, except blue coz I love playing along with the 'Monday Blues' brouhahas. And today, instead of wearing blue I took on another hue in the color wheel - purple, to give a shot of fun to the otherwise plain start of the week. It seems that whenever I wear purple, my cliques always went 'ooh, purple!' here, 'wah, purple!' there, 'ooh, purple!' at the pantry, 'whoa, purple!' at the lift. Indeed it's one color that brought people eyes to really pop when they see me wearing one. (Ker mmg aku yg hot bila pakai purple ni? ngeee...)

But today, it looks like not only me who wear purple - quite a number of people in the office also did! Maybe pakat-pakat le tu kot...huhu. Whatever it is, it's really fun to wear this color sometimes as it liven things up. Oh, do you know that I was once kena tegur for wearing purple in a ceremony that I'm emceeing? It turned out that purple, together with yellow is the color for the royal. Yes, royal. Not Casino Royale, or Royale Bintang; but the Diraja like for the kings and queens. Hmmm... good tips there. No wonder I never see any crowd wearing it except the Raja themselves.

Btw, my shirt is from River Island, very slimming yet very prone to creases as it is quite cotton-ny. Paired it with the slim cotton tartan checks tie by Uniqlo, it was like marriage made in heaven. Except that the marriage is not that a perfect one. Why? Turn out that my tie is too slim compared to the high-neck collar of my shirt, plus the Lanvin tie bar went way over the width which made it looks so funny. Yet, to avoid all the mistakes without having to go home for a change, I just wore the slim black blazer over it to hide the 'flaw', and had to double-knot the tie to pump up its 'triangle'. Much safer, I guess. 

see the mistakes? No matter it's a Lanvin, the tie bar too wide compared to the width of the tie. Not good!

And the best part (or weird, which ever which you perceived!), the color of my tops really match the bougainvillea flower that I saw on my way to the cafe. Whoa, I'm very the Ipohngites la camni, coz bougainvillea IS Ipoh's official flower! What a coincidence...!

*blurry, blurry photo. Blame the iPhone 4! :P

Retrospective: The BigFat Archive

Thanks to my new hangers from Ikea, now I can really hang all the clothes instead of keeping it folded in the wardrobe. I'm not a big fan of folding clothes coz: 1) it can't be aired in the open, so the mold tend to build up quicker which may damage the fabrics even more. 2) I hate to see the 'folding line' on the clothes due to being in the wrap for far too long. 3) c'mon, who doesn't like to see the look of the clothes hanging on the rail coz it reminds me more to the ambience in a shop really! =)

Anyway. While taking out the clothes to hang, I found some old jackets that I used to wear it so many times during my stay in the UK. The jackets that had their own glory days then, which happened to be slipped into during the cold seasons to keep me warm and cosy. As usual - as I'm the King of Highstreet (mengaku la plak yer) - the jackets are none other than from the highstreet brand themselves.

• Jersey baseball jacket by McKenzie.

I remember during the time when baseball jacket made a strong presence and big trend back in late 2009. When I browsed the net, I stumbled upon this dark grey baseball jacket from McKenzie, sold at JD Sports online. Since there're lots of JD stores in London, I went for a quest to find the exact pair - at Westfield and Oxford Street, but none to be seen. Yet, the quest is a success when I found it at Whiteleys in Bayswater - the only one left - which happen to be in a perfect fit for me. I think the reason it sold out (both in-store and online) is not only because everyone wanna be looking 'following the trend', but the price is slashed from £30 to £9.99. What not to grab, aite? 

cropped jogger - Voi Jeans, black vest - H&M; cuff - Burton;

dumbell - York

•  Black pleather hooded jacket by H&M.

The moment I saw it on the ad in Metro, I straight away went to High Street Kensington to find one, since in the store there I normally found new stuff before other H&Ms in London did stock theirs. Unfortunately,  I'm way too early coz this one which is part of a new Spring/Summer collection was yet to arrive. But thankfully I don't have to wait that long as a couple of days later when I went to H&M flagship store at Regent Street, this jacket is in store - so as others as well.

A lot of my friends are deceived by its look coz they said it is expensive. The truth is, this hooded pleather jacket cost only £20 - but I'm paying just £16 after using the 20% discount voucher from H&M newsletter. What I love about it is its symmetricality, and the fact that it's a hoodie which is a 'good friend' during drizzling weather when I'm not carrying any umbrella. Also some features like the perforated top part that add to some edge to this jacket. 

And the funny thing is, I saw someone wear the exact jacket on the red carpet a couple of days later. Cheap, maybe but who cares when it looks great. Hmmm... think i got an eye for a red carpet material myself too, huh?

black vest - H&M; raw indigo denim - Topman

cuff - Burton; laptop case - Gucci

• Neo-leather hooded jacket in tan by Uniqlo.

The Japanese always got it early coz Uniqlo is originated from there anyway - Japan. But that doesn't hampered my wish to own some of their neo-leather jackets in the Autumn/Winter 2009 collection that I saw @ Uniqlo Japan online. When they finally made it across the world, it was at Uniqlo flagship store at Oxford Street I found this beauty. 

I was drawn to its color and the whole buttery soft neo-leather (aka pleather) material of this jacket. Since it's a hoodie with some faux fur lining on its back, I think it's one perfect hot jacket to wear during the Big Freeze that London experiencing then. Wearing it is so cosy since the jacket is slightly padded to give that extra warmth. This one is not cheap, but having the advantage of getting student discount, I just snap it without thinking too much (opportunity never knock twice, people!).

Again, I think I got an eye for cool stuff coz not only to me that this jacket look awesome (in real it is awesome anyway), but this is the exact one that cause me to be the subject of study at London College of Fashion. I dunno what those students are really thinking, maybe diorg blur kot time tu..huhu - they snap my photo, interview me and said I'll be part of their case study - including the part they said I look great and very 'stylish', which I think is a bit "meh, yer ker?" (stylish ker? hmmm, stylish la sangat...erkks!). Tapi apepepun, aku rasa jaket ni santekk.. so apa aku kesah org nak kata apa, kan?

black jeans - Uniqlo; black vest - H&M

fingerless glove - Marc Jacobs; bag - SEED