gw manis

Arriving in Singapore this Saturday 23rd April 2011

I might be buying my copies from Bras Brasah Complex because I may not wake up so early to queue...on a SATURDAY Morning.haiz....

Bathing Ape Kids Mook Supplement Bag seen missing at Kinokuniya Ngee Ann City

Ran out of words to describe this idiot + the fact that I saw a Fred Perry Mook with a missing bag also today at Kinokuniya Ngee Ann City.....so many missing bags seen missing in 1 day...on a "Good Friday" somemore!
Ain't gonna write so much as I am very tired today & I got to wake up early to go Kinokuniya Ngee Ann in the morning to buy my chinese magazines....hope I won't be too late....and then go to the Hokkaido Fair at Takashimaya to enjoy the food....hope that I won't be lugging to many magazines with freebies around hehe.....

philadelphia style: bernadette

welcome to the first installment of philadelphia style! i'll be featuring one stylish philadelphian per month, showcasing their personal style and sharing a short interview.

i've mentioned my good friend bernadette many times on tick tock vintage; she's an incredibly stylish, talented, and sweet girl who has years of experience of working in the fashion industry. bernadette has an amazing eye for pattern and texture, and is a layering master. in her interview, she chats about her internship at harper's bazaar, what she'll be wearing this summer, and sewing costumes for the musical CATS. yes, you read that right.

age & occupation: 24 yrs old, Assistant designer for knit tops and dresses at Anthropologie.

what experience do you have in the fashion industry? I went to school at Pratt Institute for Fashion Design. Pratt is located in Brooklyn. I think living and going to school in New York gave me a great advantage in obtaining a job after graduating. The city offered a multitude of internship opportunities in which I learned things that cannot be taught from a book. When starting fashion school I knew I wanted to make beautiful things and dreamed one day I would work for Anthropologie, but never thought it could or would ever be a possibility.
My first internship was at a small community theater one summer in which I , no-lie, sewed and created costumes for the musical CATS. This is not something I always like to admit, but it was quite a learning experience. I was knee deep in fake fur, and spandex in a 102 degree attic of a theater that is older than my grandmother. I was also surrounded by volunteer diva actors and actresses. That was the summer I decided I never wanted to do costume work ever-again. I did acquire the skill of airbrushing "cat" stripes onto spandex, and sewing fur onto spandex (a lot harder than in sounds).
After doing something so crafty I thought a more corporate atmosphere is want I wanted. My friend was working at a company in Manhattan called Li & Fung as an intern for the GO! line at Target (that is the designer line they have there). She got me an interview and soon after I was working as an intern for the Mossimo and Merona lines of Target helping the structured team. I mostly made copies, made layouts, helped set up presentations and sketched things on the computer all day. It was for the most part pretty slow moving. I wouldn't say it was not the most creative job, but I am now a pro at using illustrator. If you're a fashion designer this company looks great on your resume.
My third internship was at Harper's Bazaar Magazine. I was the intern to one of the assistants to the head editor of the magazine. have never been more terrified in my life. At the time I worked there the head editor had two assistants and two interns. Within the first 10 minutes of me entering the door I was told I had to get into a cab outside, go to her home, which was across from Central Park (which I still cannot fathom) and get something from the doorman, who knew I was coming. This about set the pace for how the internship the four months I was there. With this internship I learned Manhattan very fast. I did anything and everything: picked up dry cleaning, got coffee, got lunch, delivered gifts to celebrities agents, picked up gifts, wrote thank yous, read and respond to invites...I could go on and on. I got very good at thinking on my feet.
I eventually applied to Anthropologie and got an interview. I was hired on the spot, but as an "Intern-to-hire." This means I was a paid intern and when a position opened up I would be hired and given a real salary. I'm not going to lie - it was not easy moving from intern to a salary position in this company. I was definitely very grateful for such and opportunity and just happy to be working at a placed I had always dreamed of working at. After a couple of months as an intern, I was hired as a freelancer, and then hired as a design assistant. I was just promoted to Assistant Designer.

how does working at anthropologie affect your style? Working at Anthropologie definitely makes it hard to get dressed in the morning. Anthropologie's aesthetic to me is a great mix of vintage inspired with new and modern, as well as crafty with a clever twist. This is a very hard look to achieve every morning, but I think I make a good effort most days of the week.

how is philadelphia style is different that new york style? Speaking generally (because if i didn't, this response would be a page long), New York City's fashion is fast, edgy and clean. Philadelphia style is a little more relaxed, but still on trend. There are a ton of fashion-saavy Philadelphians who incorporate this practicality in their wardrobe and look effortlessly amazing everyday.

what will you be wearing this spring and summer? Stripes stripes stripes! High waisted shorts. White eyelet dresses. Oxfords and boat shoes. I'm looking out for 1930s, 1940s and 1950s vintage clothing as well.

Chinese Face Reading, Coming to a Spa Near You

At Browhaus, eyebrow specialists will shape your brows according to face-reading traits that traditionally represent good relationships and smooth career paths

Chinese Face Reading, Coming to a Spa Near You

In the world of Chinese superstition — that of astrology and zodiac signs — there’s also face reading, an ancient practice built on the belief that a person’s present and future is directly reflected in his face. It is widely performed in Hong Kong, where many of these fortune tellers hold court in temporary street stalls in the city’s dingier neighborhoods. It’s not the kind of service you’d expect to find in the glossy confines of Asia’s top spas and beauty shops.

Until now.

In early March, the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong brought face reader Eric Standop — from Germany, not from Hong Kong’s Temple Street — to read people’s fortunes for a week. The price: 1,500 Hong Kong dollars (about US$190).

“The spa and wellness world has often found exotic cultures alluring and a treasure trove for new ideas,” says Cathy Chon, founder of life and style consultancy CatchOn in Hong Kong. There was a time, she adds, when Chinese medicine treatments such as acupuncture and cupping were viewed by many as hokey. These days, such services are common in spas, and celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow are fans.

Other spas around the region are touting some version of face-reading treatments. Come summer, the Karma Kandara resort spa in Bali will welcome Japan-born face reader Fumi Yamamoto. And at the day spa Browhaus in Shanghai, eyebrow specialists will shape your brows according to face-reading traits that traditionally represent good relationships and smooth career paths.

But in the spa translation of face reading, specialists also provide remedies to improve your face, and ostensibly your fortune. For instance, Ms. Yamamoto claims she can make your face look decades younger in a single treatment that goes for US$200, by performing a series of light tapping with her fingertips – “like acupuncture without the needles,” she says.

It sounds like hocus-pocus, but faithful client Sarah Kate Tammer, a make-up artist, says that post-treatment, she found “more contour on the cheekbones, eyes lifted, the texture of the skin is finer, no more dark circles or saggy jaws.”

At Browhaus Shanghai, the “face reading” is more about brow shaping. For example, two fingers’ width of separation between the eyebrows makes a person more open-minded, according to this belief, the area between your eye lids and brows should be free of loose hairs for a smooth career; and the tail end of your brows should be filled and not broken to ensure romance in your life.

“Not everyone believes in face fortune,” says Casper Fung, the marketing director for Browhaus Shanghai. “We don’t want to make this about fortune telling. It’s just something fun and sometimes it rings a bell with Chinese people, because face reading is part of our culture.”

Will spa-goers buy into face fortune? Or is this just another gimmick?

We decided to put two face readers to the test, one from a face reader in Hong Kong’s Temple Street district, and one from the city’s upscale Mandarin Oriental hotel. Would they say the same thing?

First stop: the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong spa

Mr. Standop, who has studied face-fortune telling for 10 years, spent 90 minutes reading my face: It started with 10 minutes of sketching, another 10 minutes for Mr. Standop to gather his thoughts, and finally an hour-long discussion. This included a nutritional plan — “The visible vertical lines across your nails indicate some issues with metabolism,” said Mr. Standop — and some career-and-life counseling, too: “Your communication line is incomplete so it’s your life’s work to communicate more with the world,” he added. He recommended some possible career paths — journalism (!),entertainment and teaching — and suggested I cut down my intake of unhealthy foods.

Accurate? Yes, actually. Weeks later at my annual physical, my primary physician recently told me I had high cholesterol. But Mr. Standop’s “guess” about my career path was easy — he’d seen my business card, which says I’m a reporter. The reading wasn’t wrong, but it was anticlimactic.

Second stop: Temple Street

It’s Friday night in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district, and the face reader sitting across me, who says his name is Mr. Lau, starts almost immediately to describe my fortune. “A great year for money, a bad year for children,” he says. Then I’m given investment advice: “Never buy a factory in China.” I asked if I had any health issues, and was told I’d suffer a few bouts of the flu this season (I was sporting an obvious cough), but nothing serious. No mention of fingernails (Mr. Standop said they are a telltale sign of good — and bad — health) my high cholesterol or a nutrition plan. At the end, I asked him what career I should pursue. His answer: “Working with people,” which pretty much describes most jobs.

The bill for the 15-minute chat: HK$100, which I bargained down from HK$300 and had to pay upfront.

Japanese Mook Tocca comes with a Free Tote Bag + Charm

Please note that any pre-orders for Mooks are for online only & NO CALL IN pre-orders are allowed!
For online book web enquires please note the below details
E-mail: sims@kinokuniya.com | Tel: +65 6276 5558
Operation Hours: 9.00am - 6.00pm
(Monday to Friday, except Public Holidays)
http://www.kinokuniya.com/sg/

Japanese Mook Lest Rose 2011 comes with a free Bag (got zip) + Charm coming to Books Kinokuniya SG

MONO Live in Hong Kong 2011

Hallelujah! MONO are back for another show in Hong Kong!! I can't tell you how fucking excited I am about this, kids. DL and I caught their show the last time, and it was such an amazing experience. Their performance was so powerful and just brilliant, I cried. And they have the coolest (chick) bassist! They're technically postrock, but their music can't be contained by one genre.

The details are:

Date: May 3, 2011
Time: 19:30 (Door Open)
Venue: 3/F Auditorium, KITEC, Kowloon Bay
…Tickets: HKD 350 (*Early Bird) / 380 (#Advanced) / 450 (Walk-in)

It’s a good news to us that members of MONO are all safe.
Though, it’s a painful experience to Japan.
It’s time to show our love and help Japan.

MONO is coming to HK on May 3, playing music by heart, giving thanks to all of you who support Japan so much.
Let’s enjoy the night and help the victims in Japan by buying the tickets.

Parts of income will be donated to help the victims in the earthquake and tsunami of Japan.

***EARLY BIRD TICKETS***
In order to say thanks to fans of MONO, you can purchase the first 100 tickets at a special price at HKD350.

Send us email as you did for the past shows, don’t forget to leave your name and contact number, of course, the number of tickets you want to reserve as well.

Grab the chance as fast as you can!
Don’t hesistate to send us email!

email: info@chopxticks.com

###ADVANCED TICKETS###
Don’t worry if you are unable to purchase the early bird tickets, advanced will be available at WHITE NOISE RECORDS starting from April 15 (Friday).

Address: Room 1901, 19/F, Workingview Commercial Building, 21 Yiu Wah Street,Causeway Bay
Enquiry: 2591 0499

Help as much as we can, support Japan in different ways, appreciate their music, give them strength to recover.
It’s time to show our LOVE!