Let me introduce you to Winter

I have indeed neglected my baby blog but with fresh inspiration and a new positive attitude I am back. Maybe at some point I'll write another post and touch on why I let my blog standstill for so long but for now let's talk about fashion, but more precisely, WINTER fashion!

That's right folks, I am sad to say that Summer is well and truly gone. At present I'm a Stylist at +AllSaints  and over the past month I have seen more and more customers in search of their winter wardrobe, a new winter coat/jacket is high up on that checklist. I have indeed got mine and I adore it. A beautifully chic over-sized coat with dropped shoulders, a shawl collar and made in a compact Italian Melton with an oxblood body and black sleeves. I have yet to wear it out of the house but it is probably the only thing making me feel better about the temperature getting lower! The picture to the right is the all black version which I must say I was very keen on but due to the simply fact size 4 was sold out everywhere, I warmed to the oxblood contrast version as seen to the left. With the compact Italian Melton the finish is just so clean and the design simple, it is the best winter coat investment that I have made to date. If you want one for yourself I sincerely suggest you go and buy it asap, but good luck finding your size!!

 

Not being biased, but if you can't get your hands on this coat named 'The Klein coat' there are many other beautiful, cool, edgy, high fashion coats and jackets to choose from. Here are some of my top picks from the latest All Saints collection.

The "Aphex Brass Coat"

Part of the All Saints heritage range, this coat is the perfect example of classic British design. Constructed using the finest British cloth from the 'Moon' mill, which includes a wool and cashmere yarn, it is luxurious to the touch. The relaxed silhouette gives an androgynous feel, this is coat is both stylish and practical. Double breasted with a low break it will keep you warm in the winter temperatures as well as looking sharp and stylish around the city. To emphasise its exquisite credentials, this essential coat is finished with signature branded brass buttons. For those who love a classic look, this is the one.

The "Vita Coat"

 For a feminine silhouette this coat fits the bill. A slim fitting, sculpted, single breasted coat. The Vita Coat is made in an Italian Melton with contrast pony skin panels and an Italian leather trim collar. Fully lined and featuring genuine horn buttons. Beautiful design and beautiful fabrics create this divine coat, it speaks sophisticated high fashion.

The "Yasemin coat"

 An off-centre front fastening coat with an asymmetric folded collar and contrast leather sleeves. The Yasemin Coat is made of fine Italian wool blend cloth, with soft lambskin nappa leather trims and contrasts. With heavy biker jacket influences, such as panelling and multi stitch details on the sleeves, lightweight quilted panels, and nappa leather trims at the hem and collar. This coat is perfect for the edgy lady who loves to contrast between soft femininity vs biker chick.

 If I could I would have them all, one to suit every occasion! But whichever one makes it to the top of your list you can be sure that you will be comfy and warm during the winter months, as well as confidently stylish all at the same time. What more could you ask for? So which will one will you invest in this winter? I'd love to see what others are going for this coming winter, so please feel free to comment :)

xoxo

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The Skater Dress

As we approach the end of April I feel it's safe to say that Spring has arrived, be it still slightly temperamental with a random spell of hailstones on what I thought was going to be a nice clear sunny day. No sign of those pretty blossoms but a fair few daffodils appearing with their happy yellow petals. It is a fact that the sunshine makes us feel happier and can add life to our complexions with its boost of vitamin D. So as the sunshine becomes more frequent (we hope!!) in the approach to Summer it is the perfect reason to inject some springtime colours into our wardrobes!

The skater dress is a great wardrobe staple that can see you through all the seasons. During the winter, add thick tights, or tights and over the knee socks, plus cardi, plus jacket, plus scarf, gloves, hat, earmuffs, basically all means to keep warm! But spring is the best time to show off your cute dress to its full glory, no hiding away pretty prints with a big coat and a scarf. Now your dress can be the focal point. As a self-confessed +ASOS addict, which I will add I know I am not alone ;), I have been eyeing some great options of skater dresses. The thing about the skater dress is that it works on pretty much any shape. If you have been blessed with an hourglass figure this is a certainly a flattering shape as it will enhance your natural curves. If, however, you were not Jessica Rabbit this style of dress it can help to create curves by nipping you in at the waist and a nicely flared out skirt will create the illusion of the hour glass shape you dream of! Depending on the dress you could even add an underskirt to give it extra volume.

Here are a few of my fave skater dresses that are available from ASOS at the moment...

These two are by Ted Baker. They are the same dress just in different colour ways. I love the contrast of the red floral lace on the neutral base colour as it gives a hint of colour. But for those who love bright I really like this spring yellow! It's a great reflection of happy sunshine, spring and summer. 

Floral prints go hand in hand with Spring. For those girly-girls out these will surely emulate your femininity. Click here and take a closer look at the dress on the left and here to check out he dress on the right.

If prints don't take your fancy, going plain never fails and in a variety of neck lines, skirt volume and skirt lengths you will be spoilt for choice. Here are my fave plain and simple choices which I would be delighted to have all in my wardrobe. The blue ballet wrap style to the left would be a great casual daytime choice. The middle coral coloured dress has a more dressed up feel, perfect for a spring party. To the right this citrus yellow dress by Motel is my top pick just for the off the shoulder neck line <3 

The skater dress has become a must have wardrobe staple. This dress is so easy to transition not only through the seasons but from a daytime look to evening. Just pick your accessories carefully and you'll be able to take your daytime outing into your evening party without worrying about carrying a complete change of clothes. There is something for everyone! But which one takes your fancy? Although don't take too long to decide, before you know it you'll be covering up for winter again haha who knows with this hormonal British weather! ;p

Happy Sunday Evening! ^_^ xoxo

The spring in my step!...

...is not so springy! Hopefully by now everyone has winded their clocks an hour forward and aren't living in the wrong time zone ;)

As time has sprung forward I can't say the same for the weather! It's hard to believe that it was around 20 degrees this time last year!! At this point I seriously feel like summer is never coming :'( and this certainly isn't the way spring should feel! No sign of pretty blossoms on these sorry looking bare branches...

The bare branches of my back garden >_<

I have indeed enjoyed wearing my cute cosy knits and switching up my coats and jackets but I am so ready to ditch the winter wardrobe in exchange for spring/summer 2013!! I took the below picture last summer and it seems like it was more than a year ago!!! I cannot wait for the delicate blossoms to cover the trees in pretty pink and give me back the spring in my step.

I miss you Summer 2012! xoxo

So much to do, so little time

It's taken me ages to do a third post! Suddenly just got so busy I haven't had enough time to write a thoughtful post. I'm going to attempt to summarise the last month and more in a series of images and text...here it goes...

I'm not in the habit (yet) of taking outfit shots but I had this one saved on my trusty sidekick, my iphone of course!! Just an everyday outfit, comfy and practical for work. My favourite shiny American Apparel leggings, long-line denim shirt from +H&M , cute XOXO jumper from +ASOS and boots by Carvela.

I thought I'd show you the close up of my phone case since I was really pleased with how it turned out! I was finding it hard to find a nice case for my iphone 5. I wanted something cute but also a case that didn't add bulk or hide the sleek design of the phone. So I decided to order a simple clear snap on case and then add my own touch to it to make it unique and cute!

As you can see my inspiration came from my love for this strangely cute Japanese character  Domo-kun ^_^ What do you think?

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Paloma Faith at the BAFTAs

Paloma Faith opened the BAFTA's! As well as helping with prep for her red carpet appearance I also had the pleasure of getting together Paloma's performance outfit (although it was slightly stressful, frantically trying to locate that glorious headdress from Pebble London). But of course it was worth it as she looked fabulous didn't she!! If you're a keen follower of her style you'd probably know that Karl Willett is the main man behind it, and if you're even more observant you might have noticed that yes he was in fact on stage in the choir that accompanied Paloma's performance. Indeed a man of many talents, fashion stylist meets founder and director of Urban Voices Collective, to whom I have the delight to work with.

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Chinese New Year!!! Of course I celebrated CNY with my family and friends who are practically family!....So I was so distracted with my red hair I forgot to take a picture of the outfit I wore...but you can see it was definitely red ;)...Perhaps that will be my thing, come back next year and I'll put on this years CNY outfit, then you can find out what it was!

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GOT TO DANCE 4

Got to Dance series 4, the first live show happened. Karl has styled Ashley Banjo for Got to Dance since the very first series and I was ever so lucky to be on duty for the first live show of series 4 to make sure Ashley was looking sharp!

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And then there was Valentines day <3 

Did me some red matte nails to suit the theme...but I felt like something was missing so the next day I added a glossy tip which you can see here.

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The Brit Awards 2013

What an amazing experience getting to work at the Brits!! The earlier parts of that day included getting Paloma Faith ready for the Brits red carpet, she wore a beautiful dress by Dolce & Gabbana. The rest of the day entailed dressing Muse's orchestra ready to open the show! It was such a great night at this star studded event. 

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Black & Blue

5.30am on the alarm, 7.30am call time, a long day on set assisting Karl for Paloma Faith's latest video for her single Black & Blue. Check it out here! That's my delicious lunch on the left, gotta keep those energy levels up to combat the early wake up call ;). On the right a gorgeous still shot of the glamorous Paloma Faith wearing a sequin Diane Von Furstenburg gown.

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Birthday fun!

I celebrated my birthday at Play Boy club on Old Park Lane with my God brother and my dear friends who I met during university. Although I was suffering from a cough and a cold I managed to enjoy myself at the same time, the live entertainment was good fun but the best part was really just getting to see my girlie's!

Big Easy (Kings Road, London)
A birthday wouldn't be a birthday without a birthday feast with parents as well as my cousin, his cutie wifey and my aunty. And what a feast it was!! 

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After my birthday in the following couple of weeks work got absolutely manic, so much so that sadly I don't actually have any photos to document it! But you may have seen; Paloma Faith performed on 'Give it up for Comic relief' and 'The big chat with Graham Norton'. Whilst preparing for these we also had to prep for an array of outfits for her USA trip (which she is on right now!). This was then followed by the massive task of prepping for a Britain & Ireland's Next Top model shoot and at the same time for Ashley Banjo for the Got to Dance Live final. 

And...that's a wrap...for now! It's so nice to have some down time which has allowed me to do this lengthy post, hope it's been fun to read!! Until the next time....;) xoxo

365 days ago...

Having shared a glimpse of 2012 in an array of images I thought I'd share some of those memories in words as well as visuals! This time last year I had been in Hong Kong for 2 weeks already. Chinese New Year (CNY) had just passed and a lot of food was consumed because that's what we do! :D I ate a lot of the traditional CNY foods such as 'Loh Pak Koh' (Cantonese pronunciation) which in English is radish cake. Here's a recipe I came across from a food blogger 'The Little Teachew': http://www.thelittleteochew.com

Breakfast is served ;) My aunty cooking up her homemade Loh Pak Koh.

Of course I also went to eat dim sum during my time in Hong Kong. Here's a fine selection from 'Yue' a michelin star restaurant in City Garden Hotel, HK.

When it comes down to what to wear on CNY, my outfit is sure to feature the colour red. Traditionally the reason being that red is a sign of prosperity and good luck. Keeping it smart casual I decided on a raspberry red silk blouse with comfy skinny jeans. Comfort was key here since CNY in Hong Kong is guaranteed to have you stuffing your face! Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture at the time (most likely too busy eating :P) so I've thrown it on now instead...

*Unwillingly changes out of comfy onesie*...*snapsnap*...*changed back into comfy onesie* - There's always a truth behind a picture ;)

As you can see I am also holding a few red envelopes ('lai see' in Cantonese). It is an ancient Chinese tradition that these are handed out to younger generations, by their parents, grandparents, relatives and close family friends during CNY. To show your respect you must receive a lai see with two hands and greet the giver appropriately. There are various things you can say but being a bbc I am awfully shy with speaking Cantonese.  But I can confidentely say "Gong hei fat choi" which essentially means Happy & Prosperous New Year.

Being in Hong Kong I wanted to try and wear something red throughout the CNY holidays. However I don't own a whole lot of red clothing so I made sure I packed my very red handbag to feature in all my outfits throughout the CNY festive period.

Exploring Hong Kong Park, Central

It was such a nice walk, definitely worth a visit :)

 Yay! ^_^

Now it's 2013 and the year of the snake is upon us and I am so looking forward to spending time with family and friends to celebrate Chinese New Year. It's a wonderful time to catch up with loved ones and honour our culture. How will you spend your CNY and what will you wear? Whatever you do don't forget, something red! xoxo

Sunday Start

It's the beginning of a new year but the end of January is quickly approaching and before you know it Christmas decorations are back on shop shelves and you wonder where the year has gone! So on this rather chilly Sunday I finally decided to get down to business and start writing a blog. I'd been toying with the idea for ages but just like going to the gym it's one of those things I've just kept putting off.

I've been working as a stylist assistant for just over a year now and I've just come to the realisation that I miss writing, putting my thoughts and new insights into words. It is simply great therapy; writing something down, sharing an experience and savouring moments. It could just be as basic as a moment that I felt great in the outfit I wore one particular day, so when I look back I have something to give me an instant flashback into the past and the journey that I've travelled. 

I'm guessing that most people's thoughts, if they come across my blog for the first time, is why 'Fashion Dim Sum'. Well in all honesty I found it difficult thinking of a name for this blog. Fashion is most likely to be the main focus but I know that I want to write about all sorts, from food to relationships to essentially anything that holds an interest to me. So 'Fashion' to state the obvious and 'Dim Sum' relating somewhat to me, being a BBC (British born Chinese) I just felt it was quite appropriate. Basically I'm Chinese and two of my great loves are fashion and food. But more than that, looking into the meaning of 'Dim Sum' you'll discover that it translates to 'touch the heart' or 'point to the heart' so this is my intention, to write about things that in some way 'touch' my heart :)

Here's a quick glimpse of "Fashion Dim Sum" moments of 2012:

Who's knows what's in-store for the moments of 2013, but please come back and find out! ;)

Thanks so much for reading! 

xxx