Easy Does It :: Camel Coat and Sneakers

Saturday, February 27, 2016 Simone - Your Style Architect 9 Comments

Happy Saturday everyone.

What a week...weather was gloomy, back to routine after the Chinese New Year holidays and husband was travelling.... all sort of dampened my spirits.

Been researching more on how to take better pictures for my blog and was particularly inspired by a fellow blogger who had written a great post on self-taken pictures. Do check out Liz Morrow's post on her blog : Delightfully-tacky.com Will probably take me awhile to perfect my pictures as Liz has done hers. Slowly but surely I am sure I will get there.

Before the weather starts warming up again - here's a quick take on my favourite colour " Camel" and this coat which arrived in the mail from Shein.com.( Thank you!) Bought a couple of things recently from them too and will showcase them shortly in another Haul Video.




For those of you who know me well, I had never really been a sneakers person. But lately I decided to (again) break out of my comfort zone of ballet flats and decided to try trending sneakers. Seriously, even Victoria Beckham in her latest Fall 2016 show ( check it out here) is now trending sneakers and given up heels altogether. There must be something subtly sexy about sneakers.


Back to this versatile camel coat from Shein.com, I decided to put together 3 looks in trending this coat. The first being over the shoulder but not worn ( very celebrity / fashion blogger style). Second, pairing it with leopard print accessories which is sooo me. I love my animal prints. Third, belting it up for a different look. This particular coat is a little " box-ier" in cut ( if there is such a term to describe it) and so tends to fall a little square on the body. Therefore by belting it up, it creates a little more figure and again a more feminine touch to an otherwise masculine style coat. And finally, just simply worn on it's own!




Not forgetting mini bags  are the next " IN" bag style to own and so my beautiful Fendi Peek-A-Boo has been pulled out to complete this cute outfit.


If you were to google online, many bloggers have styled camel coats with mostly black accessories and clothing items. However, I wanted to keep this light and more in line with a Spring/ Summer colour palette than a Winter palette. So paired it with a white clothing items and accessories.


Ha ha found the ladder on the rooftop and why not? Decided to add this as a prop to my pictures - starting to think a little out of the box now... you see it, you see it....Thanks Liz for great tips!





Women's Camel Coat, White Cardigan, White Leggings, White Leather Slip-on Sneakers on Lookastic: Camel Coat, White Cardigan, White Leggings, White Leather Slip-on Sneakers

VIDEO :: Shopping Haul at ZARA and Maple

Tuesday, February 16, 2016 Simone - Your Style Architect 10 Comments

Hi everyone and a good Tuesday to you!

Whilst everyone here in Asia are slowly crawling back to school and work after much festivities of the Lunar New Year, I took the extra time off to just do a quick cleanup of my blog posts/ videos / work and lo and behold....found some previously taken videos that I had taken, RAW and sitting in my PC still unpublished or worked on. Thought I had better get this one out before it's too late.

This was a video done a while back in Fall 2015 ( as you can see from the sleeveless top I am wearing) but I guess a Shopping Haul video will still stand since most of the items covered are still available in the shops or even better on sale now, and still trending for Winter 2015 to Spring 2016.


( Click HERE if you are unable to view the video above).

Happy New Year of the Monkey 2016 !

Wednesday, February 10, 2016 Simone - Your Style Architect 29 Comments

Kung Hei Fatt Choy to all my lovely readers and supporters!

The Year of the Monkey is finally here bringing much anticipation of a great year ahead for all of us. I did not head back to Singapore this year for festivities with the family so to kick off celebrations this year (making the best of it here in Hong Kong) we had a spread of the traditional Hotpot with " Lo Hei"!


My lovely neighbours and I had this wonderful " Lo Hei" which is a traditional toss salad widely popular especially during the Lunar New Year. Although it is not a Chinese tradition per se, but more of that of a Singapore / Malaysia tradition, yet it is catching on. I even saw a pre-packed version now available in our Hong Kong supermarkets. With every ingredient in the salad resembling some auspicious meaning for good luck and wealth in the family, it was a great delight to share with friends and family at this time of the year.


The weather amazingly started to slightly warm up during the day here in Hong Kong and then dropping to a cooler 7 - 9 degrees in the evening, I was so lucky to be able to put on this chinese dress, otherwise known as a " cheongsam" that was sleeveless, even during Hong Kong's Winter. This was in fact one of those outfits from Foster Bay ( my previous online clothing store) which we had sold over Chinese New Year a few years back and it's nice to have it out again for old times sake! Miss running that business though... it was fun!


Wanted to stick to a more traditional route this year so nails were a bright red and gold, and jade jewelry came out of the safe, to bring back the old Shanghai feel.



Even whilst in the midst of this photoshoot, the weather significantly got colder, so I threw on this faux fur peachy pink coat to keep warm and it was the first time ever I had to match a fur coat to my cheongsams! Always celebrated Chinese New Year back in Singapore with hot, humid weather and everyone was going for sleeveless dresses or tops - so to throw on a fur coat over my cheongsam for the first time, it felt weird yet fun!


These really old pair of Burgundy Mary Janes was whipped out of the closet for that perfect heel height match to a busy evening. Love how that tone of red just stands out instead of a bright chilli red.


Here's one for the old " vintage" look for the album!







Here's wishing one and all a Happy, Prosperous and Healthy Year of the Monkey!! For a little fun trivia before I sign off, do have fun checking out your horoscope for the Year of the Monkey based on your Chinese Zodiac sign. You may wish to click on this link to read your horoscope for the Year of the Monkey!

Love,
Simone xoxo Women's Pink Fur Jacket, Burgundy Shift Dress, Burgundy Leather Pumps on Lookastic: Pink Fur Jacket, Burgundy Shift Dress, Burgundy Leather Pumps

Cape Town :: Burgundy Cape + Hat

Saturday, February 06, 2016 Simone - Your Style Architect 9 Comments

"Hello from the outside" .... ( ha ha... sorry I just couldn't help it! Just been hearing that Adele song over and over again on most radio stations.)

With just 2 days to go before the Lunar New Year holidays, here is a look one can style for those colder days out visiting friends and family for the celebrations.

As always, Red is the auspicious colour of the new year, but try deviating a little and go for a richer Burgundy tone to your outfit. Always wanted to style capes, so this was a perfect item I found recently and matched it with a nice Burgundy hat to add that finishing touch.


As forecasted here in Hong Kong, it will be a pretty cold 10 degrees for the start of the New Year. My hands are always the first to get real cold and so good old leather gloves came out of the wardrobe to add to the final touches of this outfit. Can you believe it I had these gloves for a good 17 - 17 years now. Amazing and they still are in such good condition.

If you haven't noticed, I do not particularly like looking directly into the camera for most of my blog post but this time it was more unintentional than intentional. There was loud rustling coming from the trees and from higher ground. Hence I was literally searching for the souce of those sounds whilst the camera clicked away. Guess what I found?


Yes... MONKEYS!!! A good omen perhaps? They are probably out hunting for food in this cold weather and was jumping from branches to branches. Coincidentally 2016 is the Year of the Monkey so I hope my rare spotting of these monkeys will bring me good luck!



Having styled this first cape outfit of mine - am loving the way this clothing item falls and the look it creates. If you haven't tried " caping" this would be the best time to trend them. Layering seems to be the best way to deal with the cold weather.


Here are my wishlist for different cape styles for this Winter. " Getting The Look For Less" I decided to head back to my favourite online store - Shein.com to showcase some of their lovely and most affordable capes which you can add to your wardrobe.

These capes are going from 30 - 60% off with prices starting US$ 25 and with 24 hrs shipping this is such a perfect deal!

Camel Removable Fur Hooded Double Breasted Cape  ( US$68.67)

Black Hooded Loose Cape ( US$25.92)

Grey Notch Lapel Cape Coat ( US$ 29.99)

Navy Hooded Double Breasted Pockets Cape ( US$33.48)

Khaki Round Neck Loose Woollen Cape ( US$ 27.90)

Wishing all of you a Happy & Prosperous Year of the Monkey and may you achieve all your dreams and goals this year!


Love,
Simone xoxo