Retro Weekend : Embroidered Kimono and Jeans

Tuesday, April 30, 2019 Simone - Your Style Architect 4 Comments

The Maker's Market

Sin Po Po Brand

Hi everyone and trust you are enjoying your weekend break.

Recently whilst out and about showing my guests around Singapore, we ended up stumbling upon many a vintage boutiques, cafe and stores which made me feel the urge to style an outfit that was somewhat retro to go with the present state of mind I am in.

I love kimonos as they are such a comfortable style of outerwear that one can easily throw in the bag and yet have it handy and ready for cooler temperature places e.g in malls or restaurants that suddenly drop their indoor temperature to at least  5-10 degrees lower than the outside temperature as it is so humid and blazing hot outside. One can never be ready for this sudden change, that's why I like to always carry a shawl or a kimono in my bag for such situations.

This beautiful embroidered piece from ZARA which I got some time back on a sale is so intricate and I love the tassels at the end which adds that extra retro vintage feel to a mass produced item. What better way then to emphasise the whole intricacies of embroidery with this pair of jeans, also from Zara. This was perhaps a piece from couple of years ago but I love how the floral embroidery adds that little bit of femininity and character to a rather boyish, run of the mill pair of jeans.

So pairing these 2 retro inspired items together, I headed off on my scout for cool retro backgrounds to do my photoshoot.

I have always loved Tiong Bahru backstreets and estate for its quaint and vintage vibe and so back to Tiong Bahru I went. First stop was Tian Kee & Co otherwise known as The Maker's Market which was hidden in one of the back alleys but I was so drawn to it's retro styled tables. These metal trays with their flower designs were converted into table tops. These trays were something of days gone by when grandma I recalled used to use them for sunning her dried sambal belachan ( prawn paste cubes) to make her home made chilli sauce or even to sun dry fishes. Well at least that's what I recall her using them for, but I bet many of you would have your own childhood stories of how your grandparents or great grandparents had used these trays for. The ice cream flavours were divine in this cafe and certainly the whole ambience of this cafe definitely felt very retro. The staff was extremely kind to give us many a tasting of ice cream before we even decided to sit down.

Next, I had to head back to my favourite house which I just love the play of black against white in their front entrance. The owners have most certainly restyled the home bearing in mind the preservation of history of the buildings but adding their own modern contemporary twist to their main entrance. I just love it!!

Of course the horse shoe staircases were a must if that does not automatically scream out " Tiong Bahru" to anyone who knows Singapore well enough. And finally on my way home, a drop by to a retro styled cafe called Sin Po Po cafe in Joo Chiat / Katong for some much deserved coffee and cake before heading home.

Hope you enjoyed this retro style weekend post!


Love,
Simone xoxo

Full Bloom Floral Swing Dress

Tuesday, April 23, 2019 Simone - Your Style Architect 3 Comments

Hi everyone.

Hope you had a good long Easter weekend break.

To kick off the week, this was my take on what would be an ideal Easter outfit. A sign of rebirth, new life, I was immediately drawn to this dress calling out my name on the racks of ZARA when I was out recently.

A beautiful 1950s swing dress style, I love the full circle skirt which is so flattering and the V cut front certainly flatters one's décolletage. If you are daring enough to wear this dress loud and proud, bring the collar up to create an even more sexy and dramatic feel to this dress. The cinching of the waist with the black belt that comes with the dress, creates the perfect silhouette of the hour glass figure.

I wanted to keep the look fresh pairing it with nude accessories e.g nude wedges and a statement straw bag. However you can most certainly also up the ante with a black quilted top handle bag or perhaps a cross body or clutch bag as well as black stiletto heels.

Of course with such a loud dress, best to keep one's accessories simple and so keeping with the floral theme, I have styled this look with a simple black flower cocktail ring and black beaded earrings keeping the look toned down and with the main focus on the dress with subtle statement accessories.

I hope you enjoy this look and as this dress is fresh out of Zara's oven - you can still find it in the stores now!

Love,
Simone xoxo

5 Ways To Wear The Trench Trend

Sunday, April 14, 2019 Simone - Your Style Architect 3 Comments

Hi everyone. This week, I would like to highlight the trench style which I personally love and which is so perfect for Spring / Summer 2019. If you have been following my blog, I recently styled this trench dress in this post ( check it out here) and to be honest since then, I started gravitating more and more towards this style.

I for one love styling trench coats during the autumn or spring months when a lighter outerwear would be nice to give some warmth but yet also to keep oneself dry from those occasional rain. However in Asia, we do not often have the chance to style trenches as much as I would love to, therefore one other way to chic up this look in a summer wardrobe is to play it with various items of your clothing.

Marissa Webb Trench Dress

Check out my blog post on this look here

Monographaphie One Shoulder Trench Top

Shop these skirts on Rakuten.com

Shop this look on Formationboutique.com

Photo courtesy of glowsly.com

Nasty Gal Crop Trench Jacket

Lavish Alice Trench Jumpsuit

Chic Trench Jumpsuit

Sand Coloured Bib Midi Dress For Spring 2019

Sunday, April 07, 2019 Simone - Your Style Architect 4 Comments

Plain, simple with clean lines were never really my cup of tea when it comes to my fashion sense. If you have been following me for awhile, you will realise I am a person who loves textures, patterns, non structured lines  and more so colours. and unique touches to an outfit. It had to be something that stood out on its own. However as I always preach, Fashion is all about experimenting and sometimes diverging away from our set and comfortable sense of style. To try a new trend, to work a new style...

And so this time, having what I would deem as a demure Japanese style where clothing items are often subdued, clean and pretty earthly in terms of colour, I got myself a couple of pieces from The Editor's Market  whose shopping catalogue is pretty much in line with this type of style. I wanted to try something different and the outfits ( majority of them anyways) look very comfortable for me to knock around in on a regular school day running between errands, school, walking the dogs, grocery shopping and perhaps sneaking in a quick cuppa with a girlfriend. To be honest I was getting sick of the t-shirt and jeans / culottes / shorts combo.

I love this comfortable Ilisa Bib Dress and I particularly chose a light and easy to match colour this time to see how I can work this simplified look. It was not really me - not loud enough, not flamboyant enough and certainly not " outstanding" enough in my terms but I tried to bring this outfit up a notch with my hat and kept the look a little fun  with my animal print slides - all keeping within the earthy tone of this outfit. Of course the model online paired it with ankle boots which was a nice funky touch but certainly not for me in a 35 degree heat!

I must say it was very very comfortable and perhaps having ordered from them online for the first time, I  was not too sure on their sizing and so perhaps a size smaller in future would be more fitting however donning a tank top underneath to maintain my modesty ( "clearing throat....") it was a nice touch to keep it casual. I intentionally did not want to add a belt in order to keep the look real, wide and comfortable as it should be but perhaps seeing its in a size up for my liking, I would certainly style this dress in a different way soon the next time I put it on ( so watch this space).

Overall, my take on this new style of mine is free and easy and certainly a nice Spring outfit to trend.
Hope you enjoyed this look and post.

Love,
Simone xoxo