The Most Instagrammable Spots in Victoria

When visiting any city, I'm immediately on the hunt for the most Instagram worthy spots. It's the trend, what can I say.

That's not to say that that's my sole point for travelling - any traveller worth his or her salt knows you travel for the sake of traveling, not for the sake of the gram. But sometimes we just want a beautiful memory, and the beautiful shot to prove it. They say those of us obsessed with taking photographs are everything are really just afraid of losing those moments to time.

Seoul Fashion Week S/S 2017 - Backstage Moments with Gayeon Lee

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show does not show how hectic backstage is at a fashion show is. I mean it does, but it's a whole 'nother beast in person.

Statement Sleeves

Fall trends abound, but statement sleeves are my favourite. Wide sleeves were all the rage during fashion week/month back in September, and I was lucky enough to be in London at the time. And with London comes... finding new places to shop at! My favourite was of course & Other Stories on Oxford Street, along with all the department stores, and the giant Topshop... and the giant H&M.... Yea, Oxford Street is definitely my favourite.

I was actually really lucky to find & Other Stories in London. I originally saw this shirt dress on a random shopping widget from a European blogger, and was immediately lusting over it. Too bad they don't ship to Canada, right? Oh, and this shirt dress was sold out of course. So when I saw the store in London while exploring, I immediately went in... and couldn't find any magical statement sleeves. It wasn't until I tried something else on and was leaving the changing room that I saw this dress... and in my size! And then of course, I was indecisive... did I really need another shirt dress? Let alone one where the slits were so high wearing it was a dress was almost infeasible? So I left it and walked back to my hostel. And immediately regretted that decision. Cue the next morning when I had plans to meet my friend at Buckingham Palace and go to afternoon tea. All of that was put off so I could walk back to Oxford (I don't know why I didn't take the subway since I bought an Oyster card) before the store opened, and get my hands on that dress. Thankfully there was one left in my size and I left London without any shopping regrets. (Jk, I regret not buying a fur jacket from Whistles. You can't even find it online anymore.)

Dress: & Other Stories
Top: Zara
Boots: Call It Spring
Purse: Zara (similar here)
Earrings: & Other Stories

All that's gold...

Finally back at it. Ie. I have a remote again. I really do miss my friends that used to take my pictures... things went so much fast having someone to take my photos compared to a tripod and remote setup. Thank you everyone, I miss you. 

On another note, how gorgeous is this dress from Zaful? I originally saw it on Pinterest, and immediately wanted it. At first, I didn't really trust the the quality of the dress – I had never heard of Zaful before and the prices were quite cheap, especially for something with so much detail. So I decided not to buy it. A few weeks later, they emailed me offering to let me try one of their garments for free. Of course I immediately searched for this dress, and luckily it was still in stock, and on sale. Whoo! 

The quality is surprisingly good – I don't feel like the sequinned details with fall off, and I can see this standing up to relatively frequent use (I mean, I don't have that many coffee or brunch dates that warrant such a dress, but this will last a good while given that I wear it two to four times a month). Nor was it sheer. You can see a black bra (and probably panties too!) through this, but you don't need to worry about it if you're wearing nude undies. My only complaint was that it needs a bit of altering, or a slip. The front splits right up the waist, so you'll either need to be really careful walking and sitting, or wear a mini skirt underneath (what I do). When I don't feel so lazy, I'll take this to the sewing machine and just sew the middle of the underlayer together so I won't need to worry about wearing another skirt underneath. There's enough fabric so it won't affect the movement at all, and you'll be able to twirl away without a worry.

Dress: Zaful

Boots: Zara (lusting over these statement sock boots, and this velvet version)

Linked up with - Fashion Should Be Fun - Fabulous Friday -

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All photos by Stephanie Ling

Three weeks of travelling the world and another two of travelling around my own city to visit friends and family, and I'm finally back to blogging. Happy Thanksgiving by the way! My family decided to visit my grandparents and aunts in Winnipeg... where you can order an entire roast pig for dinner. Needless to say we did. And we'll be eating leftovers for the next couple of months. Such is Thanksgiving, right? I don't know what's more interesting – roast pork or a week spent in London and Paris?

So London was amazing... -ly cold. When I packed my bags in Korea, Europe was having a heatwave... Vietnam was having a heatwave... Korea was having a heatwave. So I packed two pairs of pants (because my menopausal mom is the only one who doesn't always freeze on long haul flights), and a lot of skirts, dresses, and my favourite off the shoulder blouses. And two days before I left Korea, winter decided it was going to come. And I froze. And had to buy a sweater. The European heatwave died the day I arrived in Paris, and I froze, despite said new sweater. I'm actually really surprised I didn't end up with more than a sore throat upon arriving back home... because it's freezing here! Where is the beautiful fall weather I remember?! Winter is coming, and probably earlier than I'd like.

Either way, I forwent the sweaters in London while my friend and I grabbed afternoon tea and wandered around Soho and Covent Garden. I opted for this heavy knit halter and widelegged pants, which were surprisingly warm while walking around. And the colours are pretty visible when you haven't seen each other in a year, are in the crowd of people snapping the palace guards, and have no way to communicate once you leave your hostels. All the carbs from tea may have also helped keep me warm. The resulting sweaty mess I become is my excuse for eating more, because obviously you sweat when you work out and are burning calories, therefore, by eating carbs and sweating, eating carbs must burn calories. Does anyone else get carb sweats instead of meat sweats? Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, Chloe is definitely cheaper in Paris than Canada, hence the new arm candy.

Top: Aritzia (similar here)

Pants: Aritzia (similar here)

Shoes: Zara (similar here)

Purse: Chloe

Rings: Seoul's gold markets (similar here)

R. Shemiste Runway Review - Seoul Fashion Week F/W2016

This fall runway season was all about the 90's, and R. Shemiste made sure to include that theme in their signature grungy aesthetic. 

Known for it's oversized sweatshirts and sukajans, R. Shemiste included wide-legged denim, bohemian silhouettes and some amazing colours in their fall collection to bring a cohesive collection onto the runway. The show was inspired by 19th century anarchist, Emma Goldman, a perfect muse for the show's distressed and layered looks. While I'm not a big fan of grunge (I'll leave the plaid at home, thanks), I loved the amount of layering going on at R. Shemiste. My favourite look? A distressed slip camisole over a ruched sleeve blouse. A trendy wrap skirt gave the illusion of a jacket or shirt layered and wrapped around the waist to add to the illusion of multiple layers. The idea of layering a loose camisole over a shirt has been very popular in Korea this winter – I've seen oversized, v-neck camis everywhere – and while most have been in suede (last seasons textile of choice), I have a feeling R. Shemiste's take on the trend will be making it's way to storefronts soon.

Why won't I be in Korea by the time this jacket comes out?!

Cozy Cuddles

Photos by Joseph Wood

I am an infinitely lazy person. Weekends are do nothing days for me. I lounge around, and if I really feel energetic, I go for brunch at the local cafe (honey, camembert and olive paninis are amazing) to get some social interaction and hopefully get some reading and work done. Normally, I also make my friends take the blog photos after, so I have a reason to get dressed (it's cold, and getting out of my fuzzy pajamas isn't exactly high on my list on priorities).

Now, being the lazy person I am, and having most of my brunch crew out of town, last weekend, I decided the best thing to do was change out of my pajamas, into some not quite pajamas. 

I wasn't planning on taking photos this week and decided comfort and warmth were my main brunch priorities. While this week has been exceedingly nice weather wise (yay, 5-10 degree days!), I'm starting to think I have Raynaud's disease, and have been taking extra measures to stay cozy. Suddenly having a toe turn white is not the most comforting thing in the world to see, so what better way to stay warm than to cuddle up in a fuzzy sweater and my favourite joggers?

Sweater: Forever21
Joggers: Greylin
Shoes: Charles Philip Shanghai (similar here)
Necklace: DIY (similar here)

Layer up

I've discovered the secret to keeping warm in Korea. 

Layer up, and layer lots (more than you think!). Seriously though, I end up wearing four layers (not including a jacket) if I really want to stay warm (bonus, four layers means I don't even really need a jacket). Light layers is the way to go so that nothing is bulky - everything underneath my sweater is super thin cotton or viscose. Looser clothing also works better at retaining the heat. A cotton tank, viscose blouse, long vest and a sweater to top it all off. On colder days, tights or leggings underneath jeans is a must as well. 

While, I've had to wear leggings under jeans before in Canada, I've never really used more than two layers on my upper body. I recently had an open class though, and in the midst of  my "I need to dress professionally but my school is an icebox" dilemma at 6 am, I decided to freeze and throw on my go-to business outfit with a tank underneath, as the blouse is a bit low-cut for Korean standards. Given the 0 degree mornings, I decided a could easily throw on my favourite sweater and just take it off when the time came for open class. At least I'd be a little warmer. And you know what, I wasn't a little warmer. I was a lot warmer. Like, no jacket needed in the icebox warm.

The combination only seems to work with the added blazer - I don't stay warm with just a blouse and sweater. The great thing is, the blazer just peaks out of my sweater to give a nice bit of colour. Longer vests or even chiffon trenches are also great to layer underneath sweaters as I'm finding out. They look great, and go with the loose, flowing aesthetic I seem to love so much. Now, to pick some up in every colour.

Sweater: Zara (similar here)

Vest: Forever21

Boyfriend Jeans: Gap

Purse: Botkier

Shoes: Enzo Angiolini (old, similar here)