One is with Jimmy Choo

Another is with Joseph

Have to admit that both companies are with that sharp, sexy and strong feminine styles and Amber is just so perfect for that sort of look. And this signature look of hers has barely changed since 90s. Here’re a couple of images from my early memory about Valletta. She looks clean and gentle in those classic Chanel Resorts.

There’re 2 Gu Yi restaurants in Shanghai and the one I’ve been to is on FuMin road.

Our appetizer dish – sliced rice noodle with sour & chilli sauce. Sour and spice are 2 key elements for HuNan Cuisine as the main flavouring chilli is normally pickled in salt and garlic with a hint of sourness after.

another simple appetizer, crispy deep-fried peanuts with lake salt.

It’s a very popular restaurant not only for local chinese, but lots of foreigners too. We were sitting at back of restaurant next to their mirror wall. With chandeliers hanging off the ceiling the place looks rather homey and cosy like a boudior.

Looking from outside..

Unlike other big Chinese restaurant, this one has only one floor, however, their out-door area makes up a lot.

Rice dish with fresh herbs and HuNan style smoked ham.

Steamed frog legs in bamboo tube

Steamed frog legs in bamboo tube…it was highly recommend dish of the restaurant…the sauce was amazing when mixed with rice!

dive in...dive in!!

They have 2 pages of list of ‘Hot Pot’ selections. Not same like the northern Chinese’s ‘Hot Pot’ dish with boiling water, Hot Pot in HuNan Cuisine is with a small iron wok with lit fired underneath serving directly on the table. The food is kept sizzling and soaking in the sauce with longer time and more flavour while eating. Sound effect is also exciting simultaneously.

Crispy bamboo prawn...

It doesn’t mark out the level of spiciness on the menu with numbers of chillie, but I think it’s definitely the way to try out your ability and the originality of HuNan Cuisine. Full address is Ground Floor, JuFu Building, No87 Fumin Road, +86 (0)21 – 6247 0758

Louis Vuitton flagship store is under construction and it strikes about a 10 story height…

More pictures from Louis Vuitton, Loewe, Miu Miu and Tom Ford after the jump.

…’Object’ theme is continued at Loewe store here too with simple black and white poster and a standing lamp focusing on their key product…

…new Loewe tote is kind of a bit similar to Celine tote…

…from here you can see how tall the LV case is…

Dolce & Gabbana window is really boring…kind of quite cheap…and isn’t it ’super yesterday’ with Madanna holding a young male model’s arm in their campaign? She really should say no to that idea.

Miu Miu store is located right next to 5 star hotel Ritz & Carlton…looks like a fruit jelly sitting there…

also Tom Ford has opened his menswear shop around the area…

In the middle of sourcing among all the car horns, human noises, walked pass a man and I loved his back pack so much that I had to run after him to take this shaky photo. His double denim also looks very spot on. Guys who want to try ‘double-denim’ take note here – boxy waistcoat and roll-up above-knee denim shorts is such a good combo by avoid looking too much denim on you !!

On the other side, I often believe shopping is like a fate, for if you are supposed to meet ’something’, then voila !… you meant to belong to each other! In this post I will present to you that one special dress, the one I thought would be impossible to find. To get it, however, I had to go on quite a journey.

asymmetric shoulder with one side like a vest, the other side with a cup sleeve

I first spotted ‘That Dress’ at London Liberty at the end of June, but didn’t get around to purchasing it.Three weeks later I went back to Liberty, on a mission to get the dress. However, I had to return home empty-handed and went into a great depression. The sort of depression you get when you can’t stop thinking about something and you’re kicking yourself for letting the chance pass when you had it. It might sound like an exaggeration, but trust me, it’s not – I felt like my heart was stabbed when the sales assistant told me that dress had sold out. The same night I searched for it online like a maniac and realised it had instantly sold out in most shops around the world. Then I somehow got stopped by the first glance of Liberty on-line website and found 1 in Medium left. I couldn’t believe my luck. Without a single hesitation I clicked and paid. And remember this was all happened on a Monday evening.

asymmetric shoulder detail self rouching on one side because the dress is a curved banana shape when laid flat

Then my patience of waiting was completely sabotaged until Thursday lunch time. ‘Where is my parcel?’ I repeated this question a thousand times in my head as my previous experience with Net-a-Porter was always with a fast delivery within 2 working days. (same as ASOS and Urban Outfitters on-line) I called Liberty on-line Web team but only repeated the same failure of finding someone at the other end of phone. Eventually I had to make a connection with a completely different department with Liberty customer service and asked the staff to physically find someone from Web Team. My next furious conversation with Liberty on-line team was about to begin …

‘Hello, Liberty web team, how can I help you?’

‘Thank bloody god, there’s finally someone from your team to pick up the phone?’ I nearly cried.

‘Well, our team member need to physically go around the store to hand pick up the orders. I’m sorry Ma’m.’ Wow…so that’s how their on-line team works?

‘So…I wonder…emm, where is my order please?’

‘Oh Ma’m, we’re fully aware of your order, however, it’s out of stock at the moment.’ The other voice still remained quite cold and calm.

‘But you guys need to inform me on that, shouldn’t you?!’ I was gobsmacked. How could they leave their customers just hanging there, waiting and dreaming for a never-coming-parcel?

The male ‘other voice’ reacted quickly on the other side of phone, ‘We have been contacting the Buying Department to see if any more stocks are coming, Ma’m.’

‘Shouldn’t you guys inform me ASAP too?!’

you can also roll up the 'cup sleeve' side, twist it and create an even more asymmetrical look

By that point, I was more upset with the fact that I had to find out all of these malarky by myself. I always love the authenticity and vintages of Liberty London, but just couldn’t believe from which decade of their on-line system and service is. And this was still the Thursday afternoon, I had to start searching like a maniac all over internet again. However, it didn’t seem to take me long this time before locating another one at Harvey Nichols on-line. After procedures of payment and confirmation email were all done, I couldn’t help but wonder, could I finish this nightmare of craving for this dress by physically popping into Harvey Nichols myself for the pick-up collection they offer? So I picked up the phone again and a lovely voice the other side sounded rather soothing answered…

‘Sorry Miss, we simply could not find your order on line.’ OMG !!! My heart sunk again.

‘But here is my order number, please double check!’

You can fold & rouch back up & create lots of amazing pleats and change it into a LBD. Because the fabric is ribbed jersey with 4% spandex, with its super stretchiness it will stay up without falling down.

All of my trying seemed pointless, naturally I turned my hands to Browns on-line where they have 1 left though one size smaller. And just before my departure to Browns I somehow found 1 of this dress on a Canadian on-line shopping website and quickly put through an order without thinking. Taking all the bad luck I had experienced with this dress, who knew whether this order would ever turn up?

The rest part of story was far too dramatic to believe. I arrived at Browns and tried the size small. I couldn’t get the size medium out of my head though – “everything needs to be perfect for this dress!”

Just as I was in the fitting room, my phone rang. It was the lovely voice from Harvey Nichols again, and believe it or not, they had not only found my order, they had also set aside the dress for me in size medium. I rushed to the London Tube at the speed of light. I got my dress from Harvey Nichols and was over the moon. Finally! And please remember, this all happened on the same Thursday afternoon.

A few days later, on the following Monday, a parcel from Canada arrived on my desk. Do you still remember the fate theory of shopping I mentioned earlier? I think I might just be twice as lucky with this designer…called ‘Alexander Wang’.

You can keep playing the length, from mini to midi and of course to its original length full maxi... This dress is just so versatile !

]]> http://fadeto.c5c5c5.com/2010/08/21/journey-to-that-dress/feed/ 1 http://fadeto.c5c5c5.com/2010/08/17/editorialista-perfume/ http://fadeto.c5c5c5.com/2010/08/17/editorialista-perfume/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:13:17 +0000 Qing http://fadeto.c5c5c5.com/?p=1960 It is beyond your imagaination that not only movie stars and singers got their own perfumes out, but the editor at large is actually becoming Laaaaarge! Anna Dello Russo, editor at large for Vogue Nippon, is rumored (or possibly even confirmed) to launch her own perfume before Christmas 2010.

With bottle shaped as a golden heel, some critics point out the bottle design is a little tacky and put doubt towards the campaign which is featuring a blurry black and white image of the editor. I think it’s a very fashion insider’s thing.

Anna is a true celebrity within fashion industry and the name of her perfume ’Beyond’ even resembles very well to her own character. Her style is truly beyond, who has the balls to wear a ‘Wowzer’ cocktail dress at 9am in the morning during Fashion Weeks?!

Fashion photographer and blogger Tommy Ton from Jak & Jil has a long-term admiration to Anna and was even invited to her spectacular apartment in Milan.

If you have a look of Anna’s apartment, you would then realize the gold shoe bottle actually is a reflection of her true Italian Renaissance style. Editorialista is BEYOND the fashionistas!

All images are sourced from Style.com, Jak & Jil and The Satorialist.

]]> http://fadeto.c5c5c5.com/2010/08/17/editorialista-perfume/feed/ 1 http://fadeto.c5c5c5.com/2010/08/16/%e2%80%9ci-love-you-back%e2%80%9d-13-dark-angel-to-be-continue%e2%80%a6/ http://fadeto.c5c5c5.com/2010/08/16/%e2%80%9ci-love-you-back%e2%80%9d-13-dark-angel-to-be-continue%e2%80%a6/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:03:44 +0000 Qing http://fadeto.c5c5c5.com/?p=2044 This time the dark angel is blogger Susie Bubble. I’ve spotted her on the bus and was instantly drawn to her long line sheered shirt with long side splits. She played really well with different hem lengths by teaming the shirt with a pair of black cycling shorts. The black and navy colour blocking jacket was in a boxy shape, which is contrasted to the soft sheerness of the shirt. And to finish all a pair of chunky heel boots are essential additions! Gold studs and buckles were highlighted on the boots which gives a little touch of military. I tried very hard to hold myself back for not asking for a front shot.

Then back from very beginning of 2010 I came across with this blog called Fernandez & Leluu and was instantly drawn to the brilliant idea of home cook and private dinning. I have been willing to attend the event long enough and suddenly I clapped my hands – why not ask them to host my birthday dinner party?!

The result was brilliant! It was a hot July Saturday. With guest slowing filling up the living room,  which the couple turned into a little restaurant, the layout  looked so cosy and welcome. Music was playing on Spotify with my birthday play list I made a week ago. After weeks of emails back and forth with Uyen on discussing the menu, we had finalized with a massive 7 course dinner plan called ‘Upside Down & Inside Out’… love it!

read full post after this jump

First one arrived was the ‘Egyptian Beetroot Dip with Turkish Bread’ was refreshing! The vibrant colour already drew all of our attention and easily opened up our appetite. It had a hint of garlic along with the sweet and sour flavour of beetroot. Dipped with crunchy and fluffy egyptian bread, it was yum!

Came secondly was ‘Feta, Zucchini & Cucumber Salsa w/ Mint and Parsley’.

Third course was a real charmer! ‘Pea Soup With Parmesan & Ham’ made me constantly having more of the ‘Hmmmm’ noise…

Following course was Bacon Swirl & Vegetable Terrine and the bacon swirl was Simon’s old family recipe. It was too delicious and only by the time it was gone I realized there was no photos taken. (but you could view the recipe with clicking on the link.) I’ve always loved Vietnamese food and the next course (I have lost count of how many course by that time) ‘Cambodian Steak Salad w/ Sugar Snap Peas & Chips’ was just how I would dreamt. Crunchy, natural sweet of the Sugar Snap Peas mixed well with medium-rare steak, really helped on opening more appetite for later on.

Everyone was chatting, laughing, smoking in the garden or playing with dogs…and for a perfect timing came in the big main dish—’Rainbow Trout Soup With Glass Noodles, Pak Choi, Corriander & King Prawn’.

To finish it all was the ‘Upside Down Apple Pie w/ Rose Cream’. Again was too delicious to remember taking a photo.

To nowadays I’m still grateful for Uyen and Simon’s help on hosting my birthday party. Supper clubs like Fernandez & Leluu are the new trend for private dinners held in someone’s home, where you get to sit with other guests, just like at a friend’s dinner party. You get to enjoy the surprising dishes the host is cooking up, you bring your own wine and you make a donation towards the cost of the meal. You then hear and spread the words through friends, through blogs. With eating experiences evolved and people getting too used to eating out, this new trend is boosting every corner. We would want to enjoy dinner and make friends simultaneously, wouldn’t we? So come as you are.

more images after jump…