Makeup your look

I haven't stressed enough on how makeup is one of the most important aspect for creating a style. I will be sure to write more about different looks I like when the Fashion Week begins.

In the mean time I can share with you some of my all time favorite products:

• Priming: Neutrogena moisturizing mask (if you have a bit of time), if not, then just Neutrogena Soy based cleanser, toner, and Ingrid Millet Extreme Moisture 24H Cream
• Foundation: Giorgio Armani luminous silk foundation + matching Fluid Sheer
• Bronzer: Guerlain Terracotta Light Sheer Bronzing Powder
• Cheek: M.A.C. Blush called Ice (sad, because it has discontinued), I am still using my last bit...but if anyone knows a good one let me know
• Lips: M.A.C. Viva Glam V, YSL Golden Gloss, M.A.C. "oh baby" shimmering gloss, Kielh's lip balm
  
• Brows: Shisedo Brows powder kit, M.A.C. wax brow pencil, Bobbi Brown brow gel.
  
• Eyeliner: Mattese N.Y.C. in Starlight, Black and Dark Brown
• Mascara: Lancome, Max Factor, Benefit...I mix them. But I like the Bobbi Brown black curler
  
• Extras: Face's green shimmer as eye shadow, sometimes I use Bobbie Brown concealer under my eyes and red spots before applying foundation.
  

Getting ready for Fashion Week, its tomorrow!!

For those of you who will be in the Big Apple, heres a great tool for you to track the when, where, who.

Beautiful ensemble

I think this is the first time I am posting a celebrity style on my blog. I don't particularly like Tyra Banks, I did watch some episode of The Next Top Model but never follow closely (I rarely watch TV). But I found this picture of her on one of the most popular tabloid blog - A Socialite's Life. (This is embarassingly addictive, but it saves your bucks for Star, US, Life & Style, People...etc.) I love this look! This is a great inspiration for me since I bought the Rachel Roy high waist black skirt, it definitely looks so sensual and soft with the sheer short sleeves shirt and matching silk/satin cami. Add great bonus points with cute single piece necklace, clutch and high heels too!! Good Work Tyra!

Shoes Galore!

Pure Hotness...I am really feeling the T-straps, so solid, so strong, gives the full on sexiness a bit of an edge. They are good to wear with stockings or go bare.

Top to Bottom: Giuseppe Zanotti, Nine West, Nine West, BCBG Girls, Givenchy, Steven.

What is Fashion, What is Style?

Today, nothing fancy, just would like to share with you one great link that has different quotes about Fashion and Style.

When I first created this site Stylebrity in the Making, I knew that I was starting a never ending journey of defining my own style through writing and interpreting what I see and what I feel - then ultimately, to create it and wear it.

oh by the way (as you see I have a detachment problem with this blog), I am very interested in seeing Diane's project "You Wear It Well". It "is a fashion, beauty and style film festival curated by Diane Pernet and Dino DInco..." Also the fact that she mentioned my favorite Chinese actress Zhou Xun is also interested in submitting a film (for those of you who is not too familiar with her films, maybe you recognize her from the Prada ad?), I will be sure to keep track.

LibraStar's Journal: Easy battleground

I think shopping at least once per week gradually turned into some sort of a resolution for me this year. As I always say "I am just gonna go do some market research", even my gullible bf did not buy it. But hey, it is a sample sale!

Thanks to one of new york's worst kept secret, topbutton, I received an invitation to Warehouse Department Store 2 days sale (all sale items 60% off retail, plus 50% off on top of that with a printed coupon), and to my convenience, it is actually in Queens, Middle Neck. Which also means that it would be a much more "calm" and "peaceful" raiding experience.

I somehow got there at around 10am, just to be on the safe side. I was pleasantly surprised that there are actually quite a few nice boutique stores around that area. And the Warehouse Department Store, unlike my initial thought of it being some sort of a basement with racks and piles of clothes laying out - it is spacious, nicely decorated, and full of designer clothes, bags and shoes! Also it wasn't crowded at all, quite therapeutic. I spotted some lovely Sass and Bide white jersey top and black lace top with leather trimming on the neckline, many foxy Valentino flocks, chic and cool M Missoni spring clothes, Badgley Mischka tube dress, gorgeous Marchesa gown...etc. It was all candy to my eyes, however they were like ~1K at retail price so you can imagine this is not gonna be a crazy grab and buy event (at least for me).

I finally made it out of the store with two fabulous items - M Missoni light blue off shoulder knit top and Kay Unger long flowy number. The top just look so effortlessly chic and the dress really elongates my petite frame and definitely look cool and more casual with leggings underneath to tone it down a bit. I am all set to flaunt it this summer!

Jeans search continues...new found love

So finally I got to a boutique today to try on some high waist jeans. I tried on a pair of blue Anlo which I talked about on my previous post and a pair of Grey Ant dark grey jeans braided detail at waist line - final verdict is that Grey Ant is far far farrr better. It really hugs your curves and creates a very flattering streamline shape of your tummy area all the way down to your buttocks. The only thing is that since this is such an unusual cut you need to find out what to wear on top, which should usually be something that you could tuck in. So something hip like a cute puffed long/short sleeve jersey (like Rachel Roy's), or something glam like the gem color satin shirt (like Prada's).

Kenzo S/S 07 show

Antonio Marras, Artistic Director of Kenzo did an amazing show for the spring 07 - it's such a beautiful setting for runway, which captured the romantic scene of trolling through the desert at sunset wearing beautiful, rainbow-tastic flowy flocks. (not that it happens in reality) Watch it and feel it...

Jeans: high, low, skinny, wide...

Once you got your first perfect denim, you will inevitably start your journey of denim obsession. It is like a relationship, because with your favorite pair of jeans you went thru so much of your life with, you will remember them better than your grade school best friends.

My preference is always more towards low raise, with a little stretchy, a slimming effect, and making me seem taller. I remember my love for the low-raise, slim thigh, extra flair leg (with chunky platform shoes underneath) blue jeans that I have from Miss Sixty, I also liked Killah (the secondary brand of Miss Sixty) dark gray, stretchy, slightly flair leg jeans as well. In my early college year, I got my Jill Stuart dark denim capri jeans and the straight leg light wash jeans. I thought I was so chic. I wore that straight leg jeans with stilettos to the local bar with colleagues so much that I was beating it till its so out of shape.

When I started my first job I got myself a pair of medium wash juicy jeans, with the cute quilted packets on the back and really nice fit up to my ankles. I wore that all summer and was also wearing it during the winter with boots. But it was slowly loosing the original color and started to look too faded out.

I did a bit of research when I got my first pair of skinny. Online and also spending hours in the fitting room in Barney's. Then I got my Siwy Hannah Jeans with the cute signature quilted pockets, it instantly became my favorite jeans among all. I later on also got a pair of black J Brand, it was a elegant replacement for the legging look but I only like it with long tunic covering my bottom.

This time around I am looking for other fit to try. The two fits that caught my eyes are the one I saw in topshop, the high raise skinny pants and the Anlo low raise wide leg pants.

There is a great possibility that one of them will steal my from skinny siwy.

Edit: Doesn't this all sound like a journey of romance? Notice that I only have one great love at different period of time, although there will be anonymous flings in between but I only take my greatest love to the important events. Though there will probably be no settling down with jeans I don't think - I just don't see myself wearing a pair of jeans chilling in my backyard with grand kids in my 70s.

Rachel Roy's S/S 07

Here are some of my favorites.

Socialite Designer - Rachel Roy

Nowadays designers are more like celebrities. Before they are alot more low key, if you are only a fashion magazine reader and rarely watch fashion shows, you probably never know what the designer looks like. But now you see designer's face (even on tabloids) more than you see their design. For Rachel Roy, she is already the star among socialites - when I google her I found that she currently ranked no.1 on Socialite Ranking! This is a popular blog about all the socialites in town, and regularly the 12 judges on the blog will rank socialites based on 4 categories:

1. Personal styles and designer relations (1-20 pts)
2. Press coverage in major publications and gossip columns (10 pts)
3. Appearances and commitment to events (10pts)
4. Hot factor- what makes each of the individuals sizzle with personality (10 pts)

Ok, back to fashion. (I just can't help explaining because I found this site pretty fascinating) To start off, I really like her line of design and her sense of style. She design is really classy, sophisticated, and incredibly chic with the playful volume.

I spotted a friend wearing her short black cape jacket this winter (pic below) and was absolutely adorable. Her design always make women look taller and bigger (in a good way) than they are. And another piece that I think she really did a great job with (and I think it will become the classic piece in her design like DVF's wrap dress and Alvin Valley's dress pant) is the pencil skirt. (and I shared my love of the pencil skirt on "Spring Look") She is always rocking it at parties and shows (pics below) with some gorgeous gem color satin/silk skirt.

To my luck I found her black high waist pencil skirt on sale! I was a little worried that the high waist might not look good on a petite frame, but I figure I could always return the item (good thing it was not on final sale). When the product arrived, I tried it on and it was so chic and stylish - the high waist was more subtle than I thought and the tie on the waist really have an amazing slimming effect. And then all the sudden I remember the image in my photo clipping library - the queen of style Paris Vogue Editor-in-Chief Carine Roitfeld was rocking it. (Please correct me if I am wrong but it looks 99% like the RR one) Now I just have to make mine an inch and a half shorter to fit my proportion and I will be rocking mine as well.

Haute couture - necessary definition

On my previous post about how I think of couture as "all about concept, and showcasing craftsmanship from the designer's atelier and most of all go wild with it," and on how the term "wearable" might not be a flattering word in the couture world. It was a hasty comment and I must refine it through google.

And this is what I found on wikipedia:

"Haute couture (French for "high sewing" or "high dressmaking") refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted fashions. It originally referred to French fashion and in France, is a "protected name" that can be used only by firms that meet certain well-defined standards. However, the term is also used loosely to comprise all high-fashion custom-fitted clothing, whether it is produced in Paris or in other fashion capitals such as New York, London, and Milan.

Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques." from wikipedia.com

Haute couture is a highly technical art form. For pieces that are really conceptual and "unwearable" a lot of times they are for the riches who collects them, like fine arts and jewelries. But of course some of the highly wearable ones like Elie Saab and Armani Prive they are for the exclusives to look absolutely out of this world.

Couture continues...

Ones that I picked out last night, Ai's Vivienne Tam's ad and the rest are by Elie Saab.

Couture Couture!

No...not talking about Juicy Couture's "Couture" collection. Its the 2007 Spring Couture that I am raving about. What I found interesting is that as I thought that the real couture stuff are all about concept, and showcasing craftsmanship from the designer's atelier and most of all go wild with it, a lot of the dresses I see are really "wearable" (which might not be a flattering word in the couture world). Like the red carpet ready collection by Elie Saab, elegant and classic silhouettes by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, and even Christian Lacroix's colorful and flowery collection for the stylish socialites. The most unwearable couture collection is of course by John Galliano for Christian Dior, while the romantic and more serious pieces (in terms of mood and use of color) by Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy comes in a close second.

Although Tisci designed my favorite piece of all (first pic), I can't say I like his overall collection the best. He also picked Irina Lazareanu to wear that stunning yellow gown which I thought was such a stand out (I do have a record of liking models with an exotic face - Devon Aoki for example).

Maybe because I am Asian and have been exposed to Japanese craze for decades, I am not so stunned by Galliano's Geisha/Rurouni(Wanderer) inspiration. However, I think this collection has such flawless executions with the origami-like foldings, splendorous structures, and refreshing colors...I love the look of Shalom Harlow in the origami wedding gown.

On Elie Saab, have to say his dresses are very pretty and glam as always but just not very Couture-licious so to speak. But then again I have to throw in two pictures of my other all time favorite model Ai Tominaga. I loved her Vivienne Tam ad.

humm...realized how choosing the right model for their key pieces is such an important thing? This notion was also mentioned in "Fashion Babylon" (read it!!) except the designer was forced to pick a "hot" model to wear her key piece, which is rather sad.

Ok, was going to continue on but for some reason the blog image uploader is not working properly...so more pictures later! :)

Shoe dilemma

Somebody please tell me if these pair of boots worth $200...I am really loving the design, it looks soo soo soo delicious and I can't wait to experiment with them (wearing them with a flowy dress, with color stockings, with minis...). Sigh...I don't know how long I could hold out for but please somebody help!

LibraStar's Journal: Vintage Finds

It was one crazy cold winter day when I decided that it might be a good exercise to go to the chelsea flea market to snick and pick thru junk/treasures. Well, I got there and I thought I must be out of my mind to have thought of this activity (felt awfully sorry for my sweet bf).

It wasn't alot of people around, but I was still surprised that there were some seller with truck full of old stuff scattered all over big tables or on the floor. My fingers were numb by the metals of the jeweleries as I scrutinize them carefully, then for $3 a piece I quickly picked out 2 colorful gold metal necklaces, and one multi-color jewel brooches. The seller then gave me a $1 discount...awesome.

After about 20 mins at the flea market we decided to find a place indoor to save our life. We then went to the vintage market place just opposite of the flea market, which is a 3 stories vintage markets full of vintage jewelery/accessories shops, funiture shops, and some clothings. It was definitely alot of fun but at the same time these places are more organized, they usually have a carefully curated collections and prices are much much higher (I fell in love with a set of "hugh red gem" collection- ear rings, bracelet, necklace and a brooch at $800+). I am currently into big gem stones accessories which was very much inspired by Marni and Marc Jacobs accessory collection. Then I found this really great yellow belt with big clear gem in the front for $25, it was probably one of the cheaper thing in the store which I could afford, this nice old lady who owns the store was probably a socialite or debutante. She has such a great collection of accessories, some of them are custom made for her (such as the belt that I have purchased), and alot of them from European designers which are all very daring and unique. As she was packing up the yellow belt for me using this darling turquoise box with a bow she whispers, "you know, I see this as art." I immediately gained great respect for this old lady and my little cute belt because she put such care and passion into every single of the items she owns.

Despite the dreadful weather, this was all in all a great lesson for me, because this time I found new level of vintage shopping experience. I am definitely going to explore more next time around the area. stay tuned! :)

Spring look

I quite like this look from Prada. Sleek, fresh, and sultry. The classic 50s pencil skirt silhouette with flowery embellishments on the hemline. although it has a vintage silhouette the look is completely modern and fresh...love it!

Golden Globe Dresses

Some of my favorites, they all have one thing in common, which is the dress they are wearing really fits their character and body frame. Penélope just looks so pleasing and great with the beautiful black tulle dress. I especially love Cate Blanchett's dress, it's got such unique design and tailoring, glamorous and sexy, strong and sophisticated...love it x 3! Beyoncé is so divalicious and definitely "Dreamgirl" like, Elie Saab always got those great glitzy glam form fitting flock for her. Reese is always classy (sometimes gets to a point that is "boring"), but she strikes out with this sharp yellow dress that slims and elongates her body. Chloë is always so quirky, but I think she looks very beautiful and classy here, but I have to say I don't really like her platform strippy heels, too much distraction there, I think something much more simple and not platform in the front would be ideal.

- Penélope Cruz in Chanel Haute Couture
- Cate Blanchett in Alexander McQueen
- Beyoncé Knowles in Elie Saab
- Reese Witherspoon in Nina Ricci
- Chloë Sevigny in vintage Yves Saint Laurent.