Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

A blue pinafore dress by Alice and Olivia in a royal blue that is close to, if not just a slight shade darker than the CHIJ (Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus) school uniform blue I grew up wearing.

Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson for CMC, 2009

As a student in Singapore, the days in the month of June are always long. It’s that month when most, if not all students in Singapore have their mid-year holidays, and I gather now that my days were pretty much filled with reading, the ocassional bowling session with friends, tennis or BBQ by the East Coast beach.

Red currants ripening, a fairly common sight in high summer in Sweden.

And though I spent a lot of time reading during the school holidays, the concept of ‘summer reading’ didn’t really hit home, partly because the seasons in Singapore were not distinguished as such, but rather with the monsoons, the summer monsoon and the winter monsoon. The summer monsoon brings with it warm rains, deliciously fat raindrops that drenches all in reach, quenches nature’s thirst, and the kind that ruins unsturdy shoes. The winter monsoon is what characterises the Christmas season in Singapore, with rains distinctly cooler than any other time of the year.

In my hand, my latest summer read entitled Shining Hero by Sara Banerji.

After having worn this particular shade of blue for ten years of my life, through primary and secondary school at CHIJ, it doesn’t take much to understand why I’ve refrained from having this particular shade of blue in my wardrobe, until now.

I thought it’d be fun to have this dress in my wardrobe because it was similar yet different enough from the CHIJ pinafore for keeps. The colour is reminescent, the pleats from the top of the dress are in place, but the dress is generally tulip shaped, its silky material ballooning from where you cinch the waist with a belt, parting like petals to the knees.

Draping at the sides, to the knees. The dress is belted by a columbia blue suede belt with silvertone ware. The outfit is paired with an intrecciato weave, chocolate brown Timberland flats.

A cobalt blue ribbon in the hair and turquoise stone dangling earrings.

This hairstyle is similar to what CHIJ girls would wear to school on a daily basis, back from my mother’s time till today. I’ve used in this outfit, a cobalt blue ribbon in the hair. This particular shade of blue for hair accessories as I recall however, was not permitted during my days at the convent. Navy blue, white or black were the preferred hair accessory colours and only one colour was permitted at a time for the accessories. So you couldn’t for example, have a braided black and white headband as that would be deemed too ‘fancy’ for the school uniform.

These red currants will be ready in a day or two, for red currant pie.

There were plenty of school rules to follow in the convent, one of which was that all girls should wear a pair of school shorts under their potentially billowing-in-the-wind pinafore skirts. I thought this school rule disastrous to follow for personal hygiene standards, the tropical heat alone would make the wearing of shorts under the skirt so uncomfortable that any concentrated effort at learning would be impossible. But shorts over underwear, under skirts were compulsory nonetheless and the students were spot-checked constantly for proper attire. The very act of spot-checking under skirts in the name of decency, would leave many a convent girl pondering the concept of virtue versus duty for the better part of their lives.

Reading, indoors.

Shining Hero by Sara Banerji proved a poignant read on livid lives both in high society and children of the streets of Calcutta, India. That so many of the themes in her book were also reflected in Slumdog Millionaire, 2008 was disturbing to me, never having visited India myself. I found Slumdog Millionaire to be much more genial and optimistic in its depiction of street children than Banerji’s work.

Dahlias in full bloom

Tod’s grained leather bag.
Photo © Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC, 2009

Tod’s is an Italian luxury label that offers a distinct laid back, understated style.

The Tod’s Group that owns brands such as Hogan, Fay and Roger Vivier (acquired in the mid 1990s) began in the late 1920s in Italy. Reminescent of Ingvar Kamprad’s story of humble sales beginnings right at home, Diego Della Valle, founder of Tod’s, began selling leather goods from his basement.

Today, Tod’s can be found in select outlets around the world, from Scandinavia to the USA and Asia. No doubt though, the most exciting place to visit for Tod’s products would be Italy’s factory outlets, where its friendly customer service personnel will take pride in showing you its range of products and where shoppers can get a Tod’s for a friendlier price.

My first encounter with a Tod’s product was when a girlfriend of mine showed me her latest bag purchase. It was a pristine quality Tod’s bag, large enough for her daily needs, in the right colour palette to suit her wardrobe and her fair skin, and one that I thought was stunningly bland for a luxury item.

But after a passionate affair with Louis Vuitton monograms and Chanel quilts, where such bags are immediately recognizable on the streets, I’m now discovering with interest and delight, the subtlety of a Tod’s make.

Tod’s is hardly bland. In fact, its magnetism for Tod’s fans is precisely the Zen and simplicity in their designs. Continue reading “Tod’s, understated luxury” →

Chanel Travel Line flap bag
Photo © Cheryl Marie Cordeiro for CMC, 2009

Chanel Travel Line bags first appeared in 2002, a range of bags that are made in lightweight material for the purposes of light travel.
Continue reading “Chanel East West travel line flap bag” →

A sapphire blue dress with tribal collar motif by Love Label. Large wooden buttons with beads line the collar of this dress, and calls to mind a large wooden bead necklace hung around the neck.
Photo © Jan-Erik Nilsson for CMC 2009

The safari theme, like the nautical theme, comes up almost every summer. And with the jewel toned dresses of autumn of 2007 and 2008, it was a delight to come across this dress from Love Label in a design that juxtaposed the two themes – jewel tone and tribal. An odd combination of themes, but something I found intriguing and don’t mind wearing.

The dress is cut like a shift, almost straight down the sides, with a slight swing out on the hips. I’m using the dress with an aubergine-brown patent leather belt that I purchased in Singapore during my last trip back there. There were gold tone accents in the fabric of the collar of the dress that I picked up and emphasized with a vintage silvery gold cuff bracelet.

One of my favourite things to do at the moment is to pile on similar colours of clothing and accessories, in varying hues, shades and tones. So here, I’ve paired a medium sized Tod’s cornflower blue, grained leather bag with the outfit.

Blue on blue. A cornflower blue Tod’s bag to complement the outfit.

Love Label is a fairly inexpensive brand of clothing that caters to a younger crowd. You can check out the team behind the brand at their blog, where they’ve just launched their sassy new collection. If you’re in the UK, but can’t find your way to a shop, you can try purchasing Love Label clothing online at Additions Direct or Littlewoods.

La Agrade cerise canvas flats from Lacoste.
Photo for CMC: Cheryl Marie Cordeiro © 2009

White canvas shoes from Bata designed in a similar fashion to the ones shown above, were a staple in the school uniform when I was growing up. Admittedly not as elegant or sleek as the ones above from Lacoste, the canvas shoes from Bata twenty to thirty years ago were heavier soled and came in an all white canvas top that we had blancoed every weekend to get them pristine looking again for the following week at school. The front of the white canvas school shoes were also cut deeper and were known as ‘boat shoes’ because of their shape. I appreciated those shoes for their design because of how I could easily slip into them in a hurry – a practical detail for the days when I just could not get out of bed early enough for school.

Pink shoes albeit in canvas, are still not part of the Singapore school uniform code today, where white canvas shoes are preferred.

I’ve been through many pairs of shoes through the years, both casual and formal in function and many of them for everyday office wear. And if I had to pick out the more comfortable types of shoes to wear, I would have to say that flat canvas shoes rank high on that list of shoes that are kind to your feet.

I once read that the idea of ‘breaking in’ to a pair of new shoes is a myth – the shoes either fit you and are comfortable from the moment you put them on, or they blister your feet and will continue to do so even after several occasions of use. These pink canvas flats from Lacoste were perfect first time around!

Leaf patterns on the inner soles are reflected embossed on the outside and on the soles of the shoes.

What I’m loving about the twist on these canvas shoes from Lacoste is not just the pop of colour they add to your outfit when you wear them, but its details – the white leaf pattern imprint runs on the insoles and is reflected embossed on the front and undersides of the shoes.

These shoes give a perfect spring / summer holiday feel, with the knowledge that school days are long gone and you can well go ahead and buy whatever canvas shoes you like, in whatever rainbow colour you prefer.