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Sophisticated Sophistix

A while ago, the lovely people over at Sophistix, an online boutique based in South-East Asia, sent me some lovely summer time items. I, the lazy blogger, have not been lovely because I have yet to do a review - until now. I guess I live in a world where time does not matter. Maybe that explains why I'm always late to class.

I wore many of the items they sent me over summer. They were wonderful for my humid, sweaty China adventures as well as my Mediterranean-Climate California adventures.

My favorite item they sent was this Bethany One Shoulder Top. It's super comfortable for the summer. Especially how it kept me temperature-sane during China. What I love about the top was that it was cute and yet was functional for the weather. The material is made of a woven cotton so it didn't stick to my greasy body (ew, the sight I had just made me vomit a little). Better yet, it's under $20! You know how I love my cheap things.


The clothes at Sophistix are a mix of trendy and classic. Perhaps trendy + classic = sophisticated? Fashion and math should merge someday and then I can be the ultimate fashion nerd. I went back to the site to look at some of their newer merchandise. Not everything on the site is particularly my style but I sifting through the images I've found delightful number of pieces that would be a great addition to my (your) wardrobe. Actually, lets stick with your wardrobe because my wardrobe is like a damaged liver to an alcoholic. Too much clothes reside in my wardrobe at the moment that I finally have to admit that I, Lala, do indeed have a shopping problem.

Camille Blouse - $17.14
Although summer time isn't quite here yet (the weather in socal right now however likes to trick us into thinking it is), this top would be such a lovely addition to match things with - tucked in with a skirt or paired with some denim shorts and a nice floppy hat. Take me to the beach now!!!

Zip-Front Tulip Dress - $27.85
I also love this dress because a) I like zippers and b) I like animal prints. The silhouette is very cute and this dress can is very versatile for all seasons.

So check out this cute little online store and you may just find a hidden gem for your own wardrobe!

Style of the Day: I paid 25 cents to pee.

photographs courtesy of stina

• t-shirt dress: $6, LF Warehouse sale
• thick sock tights: 2 euros, Milan
• green pea coat: mom didn't want it.
• my new favorite boots: $35, LF warehouse sale
• Pashmina: 5 euros, Milan
• Belt: funk master-t's mom didn't want it.
• Bag: friend didn't want it.
• Floral ears: $3, F21
• Blue eyes: 300 RMB, Dalian-China
• Going to the bathroom: 25 cents.

The stress of growing up...
like putting on a pair of heels while standing up.

I'm Alive. with eyes as blue as the ocean.

Look into my blue eyes and not my fugged up face.

A Random Style of a Day:

and presenting... MISS FANTASY 2009!! Ohhhh yah.

Past Week & Weekend.

So I have officially turned into a bee. A busy bee that is.

Lame intro? Yeah. Lame is where it's at this season.

We're only on the second week of school and I feel that so much has happened and so many adventures/(mis)adventures have been journeyed upon. But to recap the fashion of me, since we all know that's why you're here. Take a look. I feel a lot more inspired these days. I think the gianormous walk in closet my apartment gives me is partially the reason for that.

TUESDAY:

• PANDA SHIRT: DIY t-shirt reconstruct. I love me some pandas.
• Bandage skirt: I have succumbed to trends! too bad they're like a season old. This always happens to me. Time is not on my side. $3 F21 outlet.
• Leopard Flats: my dedicated babies from Target
• Blue Cropped Vintage Jacket: $2 thrift
• Necklace: $11 for love
• Headband: $3 F21

So the day I wore this outfit, I went to buy a course reader. While walking up to the counter, I was greeted by the cashier with a warm, "You look very pretty."

A bit creepy I must say, but I'll take a compliment where I can get it. I'm desperate like that.

So then he just shoots down the compliment and turns it into a backhanded compliment: "Well, I think you're pretty anyways." What, so I'm like so horribly weird that I can't be considered pretty.

"Are you in a play or something?"

"No."

In a way, I succeeded because my outfit seemed so out of place that it must have been a costume for a play. Nice one Lala.

WEDNESDAY:

• My PHOENIX maxidress: $15 buffalo exchange. Once again, late on the bandwagon, but I've recently discovered the joys of maxi-dresses. I feel like a goddess. HAHA
• Zipper necklace: $1 venice beach, i love this thing too bad you can't see it.

So I was randomly at Venice Beach walking around in this and one of the street artists yelled at me. "Girl in the fire dress!" I turn around to see a semi-clean bum/artist. "I like you're dress! It looks like my paintings. Come look!" I give him a thumbs up. I like encouraging artists to do what they're passionate about.

This pass weekend has been simply awesome. Starting Thursday, it not only meant the beginning of a weekend but I got to meet Joyce Azria and Lubov Azria the creative directors of BCBGeneration and BCBG! Super exciting. I got free dresses while I was at it and snapped by thecobrasnake.

The weekend was even more exciting as my roomies and I went off to Las Vegas to celebrate the the baby roomie's 21st birthday!

The clubs were so nice even though expensive. I realize the advantages of being a girl now. I'm not so sure if I really want to be a man anymore. I'm way too cheap to go that route. Which is a shame because I'm sure I would make a terrific man.

I got to wear my fancy dresses and dazzle (hehe, just for you dazzle!) it up with sparkly makeup. The thing I love about Vegas is that you can really go all out when dressing up because seriously, people don't really care.

I did gamble. I lost $2 and I was very heartbroken. I could have found a neatest vintage dress with that 2 bucks but now it's gone forever in the money pits of Caesar's Palace.

It's surreal to be back. In general, vegas is such a surreal place. I've been to Paris, Rome, New York all in one night. Plus an igloo as I felt myself being the real life Eskimo at the Icebar.

So it's back to school. Lately I've been loving big hair. Witness my moments of self-obsession with these webcam pics. So MySpace no?















I recently got really into Japanese Fashion magazines thanks to my dazzle and I saw this super awesome hairstyle that I just loved loved loved on Tomotomo that I had to try copying it. Basically I want to be like Hermione Granger to the extreme and asian. I've been trying to curl my hair and then tease it to get the poof but it never lasts the way I want it to look past five minutes. How sad.






I should read now. So distracted by online shopping and misadventures.

Chapter Four: Part 1

• Geometric top: $0.50 thrift and reconstructed.
• Yellow shorts: thrift
• Black Blazer: $1 buffalo exchange
• Puma flats that gave me blisters.

Yea. I'm gross. Deal with it.

lol.

Channeling My Inner Whore Turned Beauty at the Rose Bowl Flea Market

Some girls dream of dressing like a princess in the gowns that seem to be poofed to perfection as if it were all just one giant balloon. (Balloons are so in this summer. Like in Up! That movie seriously caters to my every desires - old people and fat things.) Others dream of dressing like Celebs that can afford a $10,000 + Birkin bag. I finally figured out how much those babies cost thanks to the Asiana airline's supply of "World's Most Expensive" episodes. But I, the wanderer of the weird, have always admired my darling, the Pretty Woman, aka Julia Roberts as a whore. It's not so much her clothing as it is her transformation. It's like the underdog movie where prostitutes are just not to par with normal classy folk up in Beverly Hills. I like myself a good blond bobbed wig and tight snake-skin printed, spandex microminis as much as the next girl But that also doesn't mean I can't like a sassy hat for the derby.

Oh wait, you aren't into the snake-print spandex microminis? Oops, my bad. I get it. It's about the leopard print this season not the snake skin. What have I been smoking.

In the movie she wears this nice long brown polka dotted dress with this cute little straw hat and on top of that she wears a pair of white gloves like a sunday with a cherry on top. Ever since then, I've had a soft spot for dressing like a sophisticated, uber rich snob, older lady. You know the ones who wear those ridiculous hats with like some out of date white suit and skirt combo and their overly botoxed face? In my twisted way of thinking, I love the look because it reminds me of the derby and derby reminds me of grass and grass reminds me of blue skies and blue skies make me happy. I'm a real simple minded fellow. It doesn't take much to make me happy.

My of all things ridiculous lead me to a huge jackpot in my latest thrift-venture. A hat jackpot I might add because I ended up walking away with 5 hats that afternoon. I tell myself it's worth it because I'm starting a hat museum..someday. So I found this awesomely awesome pink and lavender floppy hat with a giant sculpture-like-thing with feathers stuck on top of it. It reminded me of my Pretty Woman and Barbie and I just loved it. Sure, it's not quite the style of the moment, not quite in-season, not that "edgy" but I was never one to give a flying duck about those sorts of things. (shoot. I'm totally going to fail in the fashion industry)

Like all my purchases, I usually have difficulties coming up with places to wear them because to me I like a little show and tell. I like to go out and be seen in my wackiness because if I look like a clown and act like a clown, then the people around me will benefit from the happiness the clown brings. I don't really understand much of what I just said, but then again... I never do.

Thankfully, last Sunday was the perfect occasion to wear my hat. I called up my pimp mama-

"Yo. Pimp mama, what up?"

"Not much. Not much. Hows you doin?"

"Alrite. Look G. I got some bomb news that the Rose Bowl Flea Market is this Sunday. Ya down fo it homie?"

"AH Shooot. Fo sho yo! Fo Sho!"

"Look we gotta go all out and dress up for this. You down?!"

"I'm always down! what you talkin about!"

(conversation has been slightly modified)

So pimp mama and I drove up to Pasadena last Sunday to what we agree to be the best shopping experience ever because if you're a junk junkie like us, this place is filled with endless, endless stalls of junk. But one man's junk is another man's treasure.

We wore our snazzy attire. With the power of my hat and her hat we summoned the Gods of shopping and they were on our sides. Don't we look so cute?!

An outfit details list? Must you?! Yes. I must. Sorry folks.

• Snazziness on my head: $4 thrift
• Ruffly shirt: $10 mall
• Yellow shorts: $2 thrift
• Belt: $1
  
• Shoes: $25
• Those giant smiles on our faces?!: priceless

The Rose Bowl Flea Market comes every second Sunday of the month. The only down side to it is the $8 entrance fee (costs more if you go in earlier), but if you have nothing better to do, then just looking at all the cool things alone is worth it! It's like a museum and shopping all wrapped in one.

We arrived around 9 in the morning and left around 1:30 and we didn't even get through half of the market. We mostly stayed around the second-hand, antiques area because once you start there, you seriously can't go back. People there are super friendly and seriously they sell like everything there. If you are looking for a particular thing, I'm pretty sure you can find it somewhere.

Prices were actually not too bad. I was afraid that things were going to be expensive since the sellers know the value of their goods. If you look hard you can find some super cheap deals and some awesome finds! I personally was swooning with all the hats they have there. Most were on the pricier side but they were so fun to try on and look at. Pimp mama found two awesome fur hats her dream come true!

There is a whole area in the back that is filled with vintage clothing and lots and lots of boots. I got sidetracked by the American Vintage clothing stall because everything was five dollars. Oh am I a sucker for cheap things.

I ended up getting that dress in my hands up there (turning it into a skirt. It's awesome!) and this lavender dress that was like a confused dress because it didn't know if it wanted to be a good girl or a slut.

The thing about this place is that there are soooo many cool things that everything just sort of blends in. There were so many cool boots we saw but since there were so many we just sort of passed by them all and only looked at the ones that really stood out.

These were mens shoes and they were awesome but it was sadly $70 and too expensive for me.

So ladies and gents, what have we learned today?

That hats are cool and that you should definitely check out the Rose Bowl Flea Market if you ever get a chance.

Sorry my blog post just sort of declined in it's snazziness. So much to do. So little time.

Ciao all.

Shameless in the Night.

I am the blogger with no shame. ROAR.

I was going to just leave this post as is with these pictures but I feel that I should explain for the sake of my reputation.

A few hours ago I was talking to CB and randomly decided to dress up. Dress up I did. After weeks if not months of normalcy I think I finally exploded and churned up this tackalicious ensemble. I grabbed my sister and off we went to do an impromptu photoshoot at midnight - the most magical time of the day! Don't believe me? Just take a look as those first to pictures for proof. Magic I say. Zoolander would be proud.

By the end of our 30 minute shoot a grumpy daddy came out the hallway and all I did was ROFL. Literally. I was looking like this:

I was so happy with our shoot that I ran off to show CB and had another good hour of laughing. I will forever keep this in my LOL folder and title it Shameless in the Night, because you folks better believe that I got no shame.

As a fashion blogger, there are standards to uphold. There is an image that is kept. We like to be taken seriously and have people fawn over our impeccable style. We pose our cute, innocent, demure poses. We turn to the camera, and look over our shoulders with the expression Oh, a camera is there? and a seemingly perfect candid shot is created. We like to be stylish and edgy. Throw our head around a bit for our perfect hair to be captured by the click of a camera. Pose in awkward angular poses that mirrors the great fashion magazines. We contrast our photos to make it even more RAWR and edgy. We do it all with great pride and confidence.

But tonight I decided to change it up a bit - just a bit. Makeup free, ready for bed, an oily faced hot mess with a Miss Piggy-esque face and I love it. I ain't ashamed to let my ugly out.

Fashion should be fun and exciting. I wish the whole world one day would just dress up. For one day. I want to see tutus and feathered boas and sparkle. And it would be the happiest day in the world, without fighting, without violence, without pain. We would all come out in our most delish outfits. We would look at one another. Hug one another. And then start laughing at one another, because seriously I couldn't stop laughing when I wore this. It would most definitely be the happiest day ever.

Okay, granted I look like a costume store landed ontop of me during tornado season but you know what, I love this and California doens't have tornados so it's not possible. I have been stuck with t-shirts and shorts and flip flops too long this summer and finally my inspiration is back. I can't wait till fall rolls around. School better be ready because there is no viewer discretion is advised next time around.

P.S. Who would have know that Art Geek and Fashion Freak really emphasizes the freak in me.

P.P.S I ain't dissing fashion bloggers. I love them with all my heart.

• Cheap Monday Stud-alicious black pants: $5 urban outfitters
• Ruffle top: $1 jet rag
• SEQUINED JACKET.. aka God's gift to mankind: $4 thank you mart
• Oxford heels: $6 F21
• Feathered clip: 1 pound primark.