audrey fong fong

Last Thursday, I attended the Chinese New Years festivities at South Coast Plaza. This finally gave me a chance to wear the Ted Baker dress I got a few months ago. This red rose bouquet of Ted's is one of my favorite patterns that he's come out with. The color scheme reminds me of the "Mr. Brightside" music video and the long, sleek lower half of it makes me look taller than I actually am.

Dress: Ted Baker
Shoes: Barney's Co-Op

Shop: Ted Baker, The Kooples, Valentino, Maje, Sandro

Re-watching Clueless the other night reminded me just how much I love the 1990s fashion in this film. It was the antithesis to the grunge movement, creating this kind of pretty, kind of preppy  West Coast look. If nothing else, this movie just really supports my view that plaid mini-skirts are a must.
Cher Horowitz's enviable wardrobe of matching plaid skirts, mini skirts, and preppy meets SoCal layering pieces are the stuff dreams are made of and it doesn't hurt that Cher has a stylish BFF too, Dionne. Cher is also one of the few people out there who is able to pull off cute workout outfits and gym clothes are rarely cute. (Remember our baggy high school PE uniforms? The worst, right?) It makes you only wish that you had a chance to look that chic during high school.
For those of us who still want to cop Cher's super cool mix of school girl chic and 90s fun, here's my edit:

Skirt: Topshop
Tops: Ted Baker, Zara
Dress: Sandro
Socks: Boohoo, Target
Shoes: Prada

I went through this phase where I was really obsessed with everything Burberry. My obsession peaked around the George Craig-era of Burberry, or like the 2009/2010 time period. It was a pretty crazy time in which I decorated my binders and locker (Yeah, this happened during high school) with Burberry campaigns. I would save up my money just so that I could buy up Burberry items and always asked for Burberry items for my birthday/Christmas. I bought enough to even get myself invited to private Burberry parties (as a 16-year-old!).
My obsession has definitely calmed down in the last four years but I still like to break out the trench coat every chance I get - partly because it looks cool, partly because it makes me feel like a secret agent. Anyways, most of the time I just pair the trench coat with a head to toe black outfit because it just looks sleeker and makes me feel even more like a secret agent and that's what it's really all about, right?

Sunglasses: Dior
Trench: Burberry, similar here
Top: LOFT
Pants: LOFT, similar here
Purse: Marc Jacobs
Shoes: Barneys Co-Op, similar here

Finding lip colors that are flattering for Asian complexions can be hard when you live in the states. It's especially hard when all you want to do is find a red lip color so that you can feel like Keira Knightley or Gwen Stefani (I mean, who doesn't want that?). You could of course go to websites selling Asian beauty products like Takashima, but then you get stuck paying either shipping or the inflated prices that come with imported products.
Despite it being difficult to find lipsticks that go with my skin tone, lipsticks are still my favorite piece of makeup. I love the way it can change your whole look or make you look more dressed up/pulled together than you really are. It took a bit of trial and error, testing out beauty products at department stores, borrowing makeup from friends, and reading reviews online, but I have finally found 6 easy shades that have become my go-tos. The nice thing about all six of these colors is that they're available from easy-to-find American stores, so none of them should be hard to hunt down.

1. ChapStick Total Hyrdration 3 in Merlot Tinted Lip Balm - An easy, everyday color that gives your lip a subtle amount of color without any glitter, stickiness, etc. Nice and simple.
2. Revlon Colorburst Balm Stain, Honey – This color is perfect pink and looks natural enough you can wear it every day. Like all of the colors from this collection, it applies easily and moisturizes considerably more than the average lip color.
3. Chanel Envoutante – I’ve always been a fan of deep, berry colored lips and this color is fool proof. It applies pretty sheer to add a subtle amount of color, but builds up easily. I love the slight shimmer to this lipstick and have found this to be one of the moisturizing lipsticks I’ve ever tried.
4. Nars, Palais Royal – I’m a huge fan of lip crayons and this Nars one is great. Beautiful berry color, doesn’t smudge and is just a tad more subdued than Rock Steady. It’s a compromise between Rock Steady and Envoutante for those days you just can’t decide.
5. Gwen Stefani for Urban Decay, Rock Steady – This has become my favorite lipstick recently and I wear it all the time! This bright red packs a punch, but is much more wearable as a red lipstick due to its berry color. Highly recommend!
6. Chanel Gabriel – I spent years searching for the perfect fire engine red and tried everything from Revlon to Dior to Maybelline, etc. The biggest challenge for me was that most reds had orange undertones that washed out my skin. This is the most flattering bright red that I’ve found to date.

I've always liked melancholy things - sad songs, sad books, etc. I'm not sure why but I've always been drawn to conventionally sadder things like the novel Never Let Me Go over The Hunger Games and definitely slower ballads over peppy, pop songs. So it kind of makes sense that I would be drawn to the Museum of Broken Relationships and the stories housed in it.
The museum carried items from people's relationships - items too painful or sad to keep around - accompanied by a page or two that told you about the nature of the relationship. As interesting as it all was, it felt very repetitive as almost every item dealt strictly with a romantic type of relationship. It's just that broken relationships can deal with more than just romantic relationships. Many things can break your heart - friendships, shattered dreams, etc. - and the museum should've explored that too.
For my trip out to the museum, I pretty much based my whole outfit off of what I thought a female-Beck would wear - complete with the felted black hat. In case you don't know who Beck is, he's basically this super-cool musician who's been coming out with music since the 1990s. He also has great style and looks like a walking Kooples ad. In a weird way, he has mastered the "rock star x cowboy" look. If you don't know him, I highly recommend checking out the song "Wow" and "Dreams."

Hat: Target
Dress: LOFT
Shoes: Circus by Sam Edelman
Purse: Marc by Marc Jacobs, similar here