Vintage Reclamation | CNY

Hey readers!

So whether or not you're living in my area of the world, I'm sure you'd have heard it's the Lunar New Year. Just saying, I'm perfectly happy to be chinese, although I do admit sometimes I forget that I'm chinese (I mean, speaking English pretty much 24/7 and having lost touch with the language since a year ago). Chinese New Year, or as I will affectionately term it, CNY, is one of the most awesome occasions/holidays ever, especially because of the food. Pineapple tarts, bak kwa, roasted cashews, salted egg butter cookies, tapioca chips etc. Oh drools. 

Anyway, this year I've done something different for my CNY; it's what I'd like to claim as vintage reclamation. So last year end I went for a short trip to Japan and had a haul of vintage stuff from the thrift store there, one of the pieces being a midi (or maxi for the uh petite ones) dress with a bishop raglan sleeve. I tried it on and it felt so old, both literally and in terms of the age at which someone might be seen wearing it, so when I brought it back I knew I wanted to edit it somehow cause after all I really liked the print and the colour. And not to mention, I have a terrible habit of not wanting to take a photo of the original piece whenever I do DIY-ing, so here are pictures to show the piece now at least :)

(Yes, photoshoot time.)

I particularly loved the styling for this outfit as it seemed to all just fall into place nicely, although it's probably ironic that for a CNY outfit I'm taking on a vintage style since people usually anticipate and love buying their new clothes just for the Lunar New Year. Doesn't matter to me really, DIY-ing makes my clothes re-newed + perfectly unique => fabulous, as summed up by my first picture.

Honestly, the most time consuming part of this DIY session was probably the beading. Now I know why embellished stuff are so expensive; it takes time (and bruised fingers).

To describe my styling for this outfit, it's definitely be along the lines of my own take on vintage. The trendy halter neck style dress meets the bold prints that function both on the vintage side and the modern. The complementary blue-green and cool silver beads against the red of the dress add a different dynamic without clashing. Shoes were self-explanatory: cut-out brogues take a fresh spin on the vintage look too. Tortoise-shell sunglasses? Check. Ladies' bag? Check. And not to mention, the simple studs kept the look young, so no over dramatised accessorising to take the attention away from the beading. 

Decided that hair-wise I was always slacking off by just letting it down, so I tried to be vaguely more hardworking this time round. Nah, just kidding, a messy dutch braid was all it took to neaten the look. In terms of make up, I did my usual eyebrows and brown cat-eye, but this time round, I tried a darkish lip so as to balance out my face with the strong print of my dress. 

What I'm Wearing: Vintage DIY Dress, ASOS Marzie Leather Cut-Out Brogues, Metal Detail Bag from Hong Kong, Studs (own), Tortoiseshell Sunglasses from Japan, Estee Lauder Hot Kiss Shimmer Kipstick

Have a blessed CNY! :)

Much Love, 

Jubitai

Anniversary | Where it all started

This was where it all started: exactly one year ago. 

In the beginning, it all started from a single photoshoot which honestly was meant for filling up space on my AEP blog last year. Now, it's an avid hobby.

From being armed with an Olympus digital camera, cheesy overlay phone apps and Instagram, to now (to my relief), equipped with a DSLR and proper blog, doing photoshoots purposefully.

I'd say I've grown in my style, and from utter randomness to more randomness, from raw and unskilled to a little more skilled, from utter noob to less noob :) Still learning, still trying to grasp what I haven't/ 

Below are the stuff and photos I myself haven't seen in a long long long time, and a short visual diary of where it all began.

Oh, nostalgia.

Love, 

Jubitai 

P.S. sorry for the bad quality; changed my laptop since then and I took these off Facebook.

Hong Kong | Escapade

Hey readers! 

Can't decide how much I like Hong Kong. Haven't been back there in at least a decade, so let's just count this as my first time since I don't recall a single thing abut the HK from years back.

Anyway, just returned from HK and here is my visual diary; do enjoy!

We'll begin with some random shots:

Victoria Peak - from here you can observe how the spheres of 'man-made' and 'nature' collide. Mega windy. 

And by mega windy I seriously mean mega windy. That's my hair without even trying/

"Because the gate might be closed, but it's never locked; open it"

Highlight 1: Lai Chi Chong Geosite

After all, it was a Geography orientated trip, so above's a picture of one of the fault lines at a geosite (which we had to hike to btw). HK has such abundant and beautiful natural landforms. It was a little sickening, I admit, to keep hiking and looking a green, green more green, and tun rocks, stones and more rocks whilst hearing Sam (the old guy in the picture below) our tour guide explaining the geography behind all the landforms in semi-broken English punctuated with 'ah's and 'uh's. But then again, it was worthwhile and I'm really grateful to have had Sam for our tour guide. He was real friendly and you can tell he does know his stuff.  So yayers~ :)

Fool's gold. It's called fool's gold for a reason. Sam was explaining that this was because many people who stumbled across this shiny material used to think that they had stumbled upon real treasure, only to find out that as much as 'not all that glitters is gold', all they had discovered was cheap iron. 

And a class picture at the same geosite! Sadly I don't have any pictures of the full troupe of us who headed down to HK.

Plus, I took advantage of the geosite to be a ballerina project wannabe. Well, but an asian version in an asian country. 

To sum things up, I genuinely enjoyed the geosite for all its beauty and vastness. Besides, amazing isn't it? It doesn't need to stand the test of time, it's perfectly natural and it's a reflection of the passing of time.

Highlight 2: Li Po Chun UWC HK

 I didn't manage to get a good snapshot within the UWC campus grounds, but the principal of the school, after allowing us a great time of interacting with students from the school kindly brought us down to a beach near the school. 

Before moving on, allow me to just introduce you to Arzu, one of the students from the class who literally just turned 18 the day we went to visit the school! She and a few other students were bringing my classmates and I to tour the school and they're all really amiable and open people; they are after all the make up of the school, and they really did create a contrasting environment from that of my own school. As we came to learn, all of them had to earn their spot in the school in the first place, going through numerous rounds of tests through written test, interactive camps as well as interviews. I guess that's also what made the environment they created so different. They genuinely wanted to attend UWC and make a difference even as they were in their school. Furthermore, one of the things that came up very strongly was that of 'family'. Being homesick may not be a choice, but the way that fellow schoolmates chose to react to those who were homesick was an active choice: Arzu was relaying to us about how she had been homesick, but her roommates, upon finding out, decided to make some hot chocolate throw a slumber party for her. Surely those were such simple acts, but they carried the spirit of something deeper than just an act of kindness. They not only felt 'family' in their school, they created it for themselves despite the diverse backgrounds (come on, over a 100 nationalities in a small cohort of a few hundred). I can only say that I was impressed. It was all so subtle, but their attitudes definitely made a difference; perhaps it is a chasm that I myself may never be able to observe in full extent being immersed in the environment I'm in, but there is something worth learning from them. 

Okay, now just on to the next part where we headed down to the beach. Not going to spam so much wording for now. Honestly though, I was more interested in the overgrown plants than the beach itself.

The above was taken by Siew (Y)/

Highlight 3: High Island Reservoir

Mega windy. Again.

Plus the threat of falling rocks.

Highlight 4: Ocean Park 

Aka my chance to stalk random people since I was helping to take care of the DSLR while the other went to take the roller coaster.

 There they are, off to ride Arctic Blast while I people-watch.

Aside from just observing their clothes, I was observing their feet as well. I was really intrigued when I started to capture shots in which two pairs of legs were synchronised. From there I was starting to explore the idea of feet telling a story instead of the idea of using the face to do so (my usual comfort zone in photography).

The concept was basically: What if feet could tell your relationships for you?

Couple.

Style Sisters.

Friends.

Mother and Son.

Sorry, shark headbands are only for the trendy.  

Highlight 5: Stephen Hui Geological Museum

Had the idea of playing with the projection on the screen. No worries, I looked through the exhibits before playing :)

Seriously though, I liked the idea. 

Anyway to end off, I really have too many pictures to show you guys but if you're a reader and you're friends with me on FB, I'll be uploading it there, scan through if you're interested!

Here's to a less narcissistic ending but an equally happy shot:

Say hi to Kaps offering chocolate graham biscuits, which I probably will go scavenge for after I recover. 

Much love,

Jubitai

DIY | Kimono Kraze

Hey readers!

I guess I caught on to the Kimono craze, and I DIYed my own Kimono Outerwear. Materials weren't that cheap at Arab Street with the printed cloth going at $10/m and the inner lining material at $5/m, but I guess still better than heading to spotlight. I took around 5 hours just to piece the entire kimono together from scratch, with inner lining and all; need to practice to work faster. If you guys are curious on how I did the kimono, do refer to Elle Apparel's tutorial as a reference model --- really useful!

Moving on to the exciting part: the shoot!

By the way, I was looking through the photos and I just couldn't help but laugh. I just looked like such a tree hugger in some of the photos.

What I'm Wearing: Handmade Black Floral Kimono Jacket, Black Leotard, H&M Basic Black Skater Skirt, ASOS Grey Creepers, ASOS Jewelled Hand Harness

(Btw I've posted this look on Lookbook, do help to support! It'll be much appreciated ^^)

I'd say this DIY project was definitely a success because it was the first time I bothered with inner lining and stuff, thus it was presentable before a camera. Yayers!

Other than that, I've also made a skirt out of the same material, which I may post later if I do a shoot with it or feel like it. Meanwhile, let me just flood this following part with some happiness and randomness.

i) Today was a beautiful day.

 (probably already developing some treehugger instincts huh)

ii) So many girls hope to be more beautiful in one way or another. (myself included)

ESPECIALLY the whole thigh gap thing nowadays.

So unless you want to be a tripod, stop worrying! (okay this sounds nonsensical but let me explain)

You want to show more leg?

Sure, a tripod's got three.

You want longer, bronzier, skinnier legs?

Yeah, that all falls under 'tripod' too.

I'm so bad at telling jokes that only sounds funny in my head.

iii) The light hit the crystals beautifully. No editing needed. 

Sorry for the weird format of posting today cause it's all a messy mix. Nonetheless, ending off with more happiness ^_^

<<<<<<< Happy holidays! >>>>>>

Much love, 

Jubitai