Me in a curio stall at the Gothenburg Antiques Fair. On the shelves, the Swedish ceramic artist and studio Tilgman’s ceramics, much defining Swedish homes from the 1950s.
Over the last week, Gothenburg held its annual antiques fair at Svenska Mässan, a large convention hall for just such events. We thought we’d spend some time there browsing the ins and outs of antiques. Continue reading “Annual Antiques Fair in Gothenburg”
This black skirt as a dress was a surprise to myself because I didn’t think it would work. It’s zippered up the side without any garter on the top for grip. But it worked out quite fine after zipping up and gave a wonderfully swishy dress that fell to the knees! The volume of the skirt / dress felt quite luxurious and fun to be in!
A black wool cloche hat with bow from Åhléns, 99 kr, currently in stores
It was in between errands that we had some time to spend window shopping in town the other day. One of my favourite things to do is to pop into the shops to have a look at what’s new and what’s in store. We did just that and popped into Åhléns (a major Swedish store chain that is comparable to Isetan in Singapore). Continue reading “Some new spoils and a spree about town”
Photo: Marcio Madeira
Wherever the girls went there was silence. Elly was completely blue: blue make-up, blue clothes, blue cap and blue curls. Eva was all green, Del all violet. Some girls were all in black… in their full regalia looking as if they had just left a Fellini set.’
– Barbara Hulanicki, describing the impact of the Biba look in ‘From A to Biba’.
Think Biba and the associations from the ’60s were mini-skirts, mini cars, the King’s Road, Big Biba (once deemed as ‘the most beautiful store in the world’ by the Sunday Times, UK) and various other London happenings that defined that decade as one that rocked. Continue reading “Saturday inspiration: the story of Biba”
It was only in Sweden that I’ve come to know and appreciate Wolford products. I’ve previously written about it here.
And here, you can find clearer pictures of the Biscay boots from DUO. The colour is simply delicious and as it turns out, these seem to be one of my most versatile knee high boots yet!
You’ll be seeing more of this blue and brown smocked skirt in variations of use. It’s a simple cotton skirt that I bought in Hong Kong about two years ago, at a store just round the corner where our hotel was located. You can’t see it from the picture above but the top of the skirt is gathered or smocked, for a versatile fit of waist or chest. Because it falls to the ankles when worn as a skirt, it goes very nicely as a knee-length strapless summer dress, with or without a belt, depending on the style you wish.
I’ll bring you the variations of this skirt in the following weeks to come. I’ve also hand sewn a sprinkling of black sequins onto some of the black ‘florals’ around this skirt, so that it catches the sunlight when I use it during the summer.
What attracted me to this skirt was the mix of colours, the smocked top and the border of florals at the hem. The prints reminded me of modern batik paintings (or free hand) and the border of florals hinted towards prints of the 70s era, bold and stylized.
The textures, prints and versatility of this skirt made what I thought was an interesting piece of clothing.
Due to the success of the late 1950s film and different stage adaptions of the novel ‘The World of Suzie Wong’, the Asian dress cheongsam, or qipao, has been associated with Asian women as being overly promiscuous or submissive.
I was graduating from college and had a prom to go to, with no dress. It didn’t occur to me to go find one in the stores, I thought evening wear and prom dresses were generally costly.
Continue reading “Friday Glam! A dress with a story”
Stoneware Pot, free form. Size: H 35cm X W 18cm. Glaze: Transparent with oxides staining. Method: Coil
The piece is asymmetrical with a slight twist and
change in direction from foot to rim. I am more
interested in form and texture for visual and tactile
stimulation. With its variation in textures,
a blind person should be able to appreciate this piece.– Adrian Cordeiro