Changing styles

Jacket: H&M Woll dress: H&M Boots: Maud Frizon Lunch bag: Etsy

Personal style really is an extension of your lifestyle and over the past year my lifestyle has changed so radically that it's even affected my frocking.

Oh don't get me wrong  I still love my dresses but I now own more flats than heels (I own a pair of plimsole trainers, ME!) and most of the time I make do with a handbag the size of a paper bag (the Coach Mini Willis to be exact). I have even trimmed down my beauty routine so it's quicker and easier, I go for long walks, take a dance class and have even been known to hike.

What's cause all this? 

Well having an active and restless boyfriend who enjoys exploring and will walk up any hill he comes across.

Now we have a Vespa I think my pencil skirts may get culled too!

Ps. I wasn't sure when I bought it but that soft, furry, nude-coloured motorbike jacket is now indispensable and the most used jacket I own. It's light enough but warm enough, the colour and texture is feminine the cut of the jacket is tough. It goes with just about everything. LOVE!

Quick tip: Boots too big and heels too high?

Double upon the insoles!

I scored these Lara-Croftian (named by former colleagues) "combat" boots in a H&M blowout sale in Denmark 4 years or so ago, but have hardly ever worn them because they just haven't been that comfortable. But I mean come on, leather, DKK150 (GBP15 then), cute, how do you say no?

The heels and the fact that my feet were rattling around in there made them less than great for regular wear and while I have actually tried doubling up my insoles before, it seems I wasn't trying the right ones.

Ring

Remember these? 

Well this was the closest I could come and I'm already terribly in love with it.

ASOS Enamel Leaf Ring (GBP6 - bought with a 25 per cent discount code)

In the looking glass

I've been dashing around on work lately but things are finally settling down. Still here are a two fuzzy pics captured in hotel mirrors.

Evening outfit for a black tie event in Beijing. I'd forgotten to bring jewellery so the earrings are the result of a frantic dash to H&M and only cost RMB49. Got several compliments on them but alas, a few stones have already gone missing - you get what you pay for I guess. The dress is a bargainous find (GBP15?) on ASOS. How I love that store.

If you forget your red belt, and don't really think out your outfit before throwing it into your bag and dashing out the door.. you will end up dressing like a backup singer. I vow here and now.. never again!


Bolero: Paperdoll Boutique (RM70)
Dress: H&M London (GBP7 on sale)
Boots: Maud Frizon HK (HKD1,800 after 50% discount. Still a sin though for which I feel very guilty)

Frockspiration: Do you tote two bags to work?

Source: Street Peeper

I love it when fashion trends and practicality converge. Why it's taken women so long to acknowledge that you just CAN'T stuff all the books, planners, gadgets, makeup and shoes you need into one bag without crippling yourself is beyond me.

Living without a car has left me taking the MTR and hiking up Lan Kwai Fong with my usual beloved satchel bags slung around me and a Roo-Shopper bag with my lunch, flats (if I suspect my shoes aren't going to carry me through the day), umbrella and Kindle.

So far, I tell myself it works because pretty as the Roo-Shopper is, it's clearly "not a part of my outfit" since it looks like a grocery bag. But what if we were to acknowledge these poor second bags and make them a part of our look?

Since I'm never giving up my satchel's I'm on the lookout for a boxy square-ish tote (so it looks utilitarian and tidy). I want it to either be square or taller than it is wide and certainly not wider than my satchels I haven't decided yet if a fun print or a formal brown leather-look is called for - so perhaps both? =P

So do you girls tote two bags? And what's your favourite pairing?

Update: If the size is right, this is kinda what I'm looking for!

Giardino Giusti - Verona, Italy (or Layering for transitional weather)

Dressing for an autumnal Italy is a challenge. When you leave the house in the morning, it's about 13 degrees. During the day, the temperature climbs to about 22 before plunging back down again to 5 degrees at night.

The only way to get around it is to layer, layer, layer and always resign yourself to be slightly too cold or slightly too hot at a certain point during the day. As it gets warmer or colder you can add and remove layers. A classmate of mine once described it as the world's most frustrating public striptease.

DIY: Making over to create the perfect chunky sweater

Remember this shot by Garance Dore I was so captivated by in April? Well I've lusted after that gorgeous chunky aran-knit sweater ever since but just couldn't convince myself to spend RM300 (MNG) or HKD400 (H&M) on it. 

And the cravings got worse. It seems the darn things are a trend this season so they're everywhere. On the Sartorialist, on the runway, even on The Man Repeller which I find a great read but not exactly my style guru. I was being haunted by a frigging sweater!

But a perfect sweater would not also cost me an arm and a leg. So... here's how I bought a HKD30 sweater and modded it into my perfect sweater.