Theme review: Month of the IDOLs

What a great month! We had the entire October sharing about our fashion idols, Coco Chanel and Biba and got so inspired by them all over again. Our readers left very sweet comments which totally made our day. Through ftashion, we met many awesome bloggers and found many fantastic blogs. To top it all off, we were given the Kreativ Blogger award by lovely Lara.

Check out our posts from the Idol October theme!
Outfits
Boy Chanel
Mademoiselle
Biba: High fashion for every girl


Makeup
The Biba doll
Chanel fall-winter inspired makeup


DIYs
Pearly whites and blacks
Take a bow
How I made my pussy bow


Inspiration from our idols
Coco
Biba - An inspiration

We also had lots of fun doing the tiger-kitty and garden fairy looks for our Halloween special! Be sure to check them out too! 

Grawwwrrrlloooweeen!

Flowers and butterflies

Hope everyone is having a blasting good time at some halloween parties! We are off to prepare for our November GLEE theme. If you wish to participate and contribute a guest post, go to here. Lastly, thank you all for dropping by, leaving comments and following us! We feel so loved!


xoxo,
Ash & Ft

Coco

“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
― Coco Chanel

I believe many would agree with me that Coco Chanel is one of the most influential designers. For me, it is more than just her designs. It's the spirit that she has, the passion towards fashion and her determination and pursuit towards her love of passion.

Chanel had no formal fashion training and mastered her skills in sewing during her days in the orphanage. Despite her difficult younger years it did not stop her from pursuing her dreams. Her hard work, her eye for details and her superb sense of style got people to notice her work. Unlike many designers, she never drew sketches but worked directly on models for long hours.

This incredulous lady of style chased her passion and worked on even till the last of her years. What she left behind was a legacy of style and a fiery passion to inspire and ignite others.

“My life didn't please me, so I created my life.”
― Coco Chanel

Besides her passionate life, here are a few of favourites of Coco style (in no order...cause I love em all!!!)

Tweed Suits/Jackets

Colours of Black and White

Women think of all colors except the absence of color. I have said that black has it all. White too. Their beauty is absolute. It is the perfect harmony.” Coco Chanel

Fashion accessories (especially pearls)

Chanel 2.55 

So what are your love of Chanels?

Ash :o)

Biba - An inspiration

(Photo from Barbara Hulanicki)

Biba, to me is a fashion legend. Barbara Hulanicki and her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon started Biba as a humble home-based mail order business in 1964. It was dramatic how Biba developed and transformed into a worldwide fashion phenomenon in a decade. Never mind that there wasn’t a happy ending - the whole Biba empire collapsed into bankruptcy in mid-seventies. This true rag to riches story is still very inspiring to me.

(Photo from malevagotica)

And when you thought that Biba clothing range was a huge success, her cosmetics range was an even bigger phenomenon. Biba cosmetics range was launched in 1970 and by 1973, they were selling in over 30 countries like USA, Italy and Japan. The Biba palettes were dramatically different from the normal makeup colours and they totally transformed what people perceived as acceptable colours on the face.

(Photos from Barbara Hulanicki)

“The cosmetics by now included blue, green, purple and black lipstick, with matching eyeshadows and contour powder for the cheeks. 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, looking like Dracula.”

Quoted from: From A to Biba, The Autobiography of Barbara Hulanicki

(Screenshot photo from video by Lisa Eldridge)

I’m sure these Biba girls would stop me right in my paths too. All blue, all green and all violet? The Biba colours are unimaginable! I would love to see photos of these ladies who must have caused a huge public sensation. I couldn’t find any photos online but this fantastic makeup video by Lisa Eldridge (she’s my idol too!) would give you a glimpse of how intense and dramatic the Biba colours are.

I want to share two more quotes from Barbara Hulanicki’s book that I find very motivating.

“If you want something badly enough for long enough your wish will come true – often just as you have given up hoping. We had many wild dreams. … You can accomplish the impossible when you don’t look back and stop to think twice about what you are on the point of tackling.”

“One morning I woke up and decided to take the plunge. From now on all of me would go into this business monster. It had to be all or nothing. It wasn’t ambition, it was a desire to learn and see how large it would grow. The baby Biba was insatiable.”

(Photo from Barbara Hulanicki)

Barbara Hulanicki not only inspires me with her exceptional eye for beauty, creativity and style but also with her strong drive and will.

Don’t you daydream sometimes that you could be zapped back to the 60s for just a day and see Biba at her peak? I do.


♥ Ft

Take a bow

The idea to make this bow was to complete my androgenous look for my outfit.

To complete this bow different black ribbons were used: velvet, mesh, satin and of various sizes.

Chanel's iconic camellia is actually a button bought from Chinatown. The ribbons are placed together and the camellia added.

Do you like my little Chanel Bow? :)

Ash :o)

Pearly Whites and Blacks

Pearls often play a huge part ro Chanel's looks. Coco Chanel was often pictured wearing layers of pearls.

"Chanel loved creating jewelry with artificial pearls. In her younger years pearls had been one of the most precious stones, and the privilege of aristocracy. In her designs Coco Chanel made her costume jewelry pearls emphatically bigger and in other colors than natural. Her pearl jewelry consisting of rows of pearls arranged in chokers, brooches and pendants, became a classics. " http://www.famous-women-and-beauty.com/coco-chanel-jewelry.html

 So this inspired my pearl necklace DIY. I do not want a plain pearl necklace, so I found a "centre-piece" and worked from there. As you can see, I stay close to my colour theme of black and white.

Threading them all together ... and voila! My necklace is done. Does it remind you of Chanel? :)

Ash :o)

How I made the Pussy Bow

Ha probably some of you have realized that I'm trying to pull a fast one with my Biba DIY project. Not that this pussy bow has anything to do with Biba fashion but I was at my wits end with coming up with something Biba-ish to make. 

I keep a box of old garments and they really come in handy when I need some fabric for my DIY projects. This blouse with stripes pattern I'm using was relegated when it didn't fit well after several wash. 

Step 1: Cut out two long rectangular pieces of cloths, each 10cm by 60cm.

Step 2: Sew the two short ends together to get one long rectangular cloth.

Step 3: Fold the long rectangular cloth into half, with the wrong side facing out. Iron the fold flat so that it will be easier to sew the edges later. 

Step 4: Pin the open side to keep the folded cloth in place during sewing.

Step 5: Cut diagonally across the two short ends of the cloth.

Step 6: Sew along the edges of the long folded strip of cloth but leave one short end open.

Step 7: Reach into the opening and pull the cloth out. The right side of the cloth should be outside now.

Step 8: Seal the opening with fabric glue. I think this is playing cheat. Hee, can any sewing guru please enlighten me? How do I close such opening the right way?

Last step: Tie a ribbon with the sash you made and stuck it on any outfit with a pin.

Don't fasten the pin to the ribbon and you could use this sash as a belt or hairband. Thanx for checking out this post!

♥ Ft

Chanel fall-winter inspired make- up

There are so many variations to dark eye make-up. This Chanel fall- winter make- up got me interested due to the different textured finish at the edges of this modified cat- eye.

Chanel runway photos taken from:

http://talkingmakeup.com/beauty/featured/chanel-fallwinter-2010-2011-makeup/

When the beautiful models open their deep- set eyes, you cannot really see the metalic coloured eye shadow. However, mine is only an adaptaion to the original make up. I brought the shadow higher than my sockets so that the metalic colours are still visible after I open my eyes, to give it more drama for my smaller Asian eyes.  

I would totally wear this look for clubbing. Think I'd really stand out. Would you wear this look?

Ash :o)

The Biba Doll

(Vintage Biba photos from Barbara Hulanicki)

Barbara Hulanicki described the Biba girl in her fantasy as one being young and fresh with a dolly face, heavy lids, rosy cheeks and dark lips. 

In his book Making Faces, Kevyn Aucoin did the makeup and styled Kate Moss as a Biba girl. I really like Kevyn Aucoin’s interpretation of the Biba look and ever since I saw this photo, this look would spring to my mind when I thought of a Biba girl. For my Biba inspired makeup post, I attempted to copy this look. 

My personal take on my look: I think the black eyeshadow and dark lips could be more intense though this was the most I could achieved without a black cream shadow and deep plum lipstick. And I guess to stay true to the Biba look, my eyebrows would need some serious trimming (gasp!) or concealing. 

And for my Biba inspired outfit post, I replicated a milder version by using a nude colour on my lips and smaller cloud of dark colour around my eyes. To emphasize the huge dolly eyes, I put on false lashes on both my upper and lower lids.

Honestly, on normal days, I probably won’t wear this look out, even the toned down version. Hopefully the peaceful folks at my neighbourhood would forget about the whole incident of an Asian lady with crazy eye makeup, baring her legs in the cold and taking photographs of herself on the streets. lol. How about you? Would you wear this look out? 

xoxo,

Ft