Bonjour Malaysia: 5 places to shop in Penang

With its rich history, vibrant cultural and artistic scene, and arguable the best street food in South East Asia, you would hardly need any more reasons to pack your bags and head to Penang for the weekend. But if you are as shopaholic as I am, you’d be glad to know that Georgetown is also home to some cool and unexpected shopping spots.

From local flea markets to antique shops and swanky boutiques, I was thrilled to find some hidden gems on my brief trip to this island city - especially that I had no expectations whatsoever. Not even a map in my hand!

What I mostly loved about it is that the experience itself was extremely random and eclectic – definitely one of the most unique shopping trips I’ve had.

So whether you have 5, 50 or 500 dollars to spend – here’s where you should be heading to burn off the extra calories from all the yummy Penang street food! Remember to leave some room in your suitcase :-)

Bonjour KL: My lunch date with THE one and only Jimmy Choo

My love for shoes is well-documented on this blog, and with over 100 pairs of heels neatly labeled, boxed and squeezed into my bedroom, it’s safe to say I am a little bit obsessed with foot candy.

If you would have asked me which designer I would love to meet one day it would always be a shoe designer. Whether an icon like Manolo Blahnik whose comfy and classic pumps I’ve been wearing for years, Nicholas Kirkwood who creates some beautiful well-constructed and quirky shoes or even Christian Louboutin whose red soles tempt me every time I’m in his Paris boutique and I end up with an empty wallet!

But with all due respect to the above designers, there is only one designer who stands out for me. His name is synonymous with shoes and his work has transcended generations. In short, he is probably the first real superstar shoe icon of our modern times: Mr Jimmy Choo.

A moment to treasure: Meeting up with shoe legend Mr Jimmy Choo! 

Audi Star Creation 2013: Introducing the 12 Finalists – Part 1

Almost a year ago I had the pleasure of doing what I love doing best on this blog. Namely, talking to 12 aspiring designers from around Asia as they made it to the finalists list of Audi Star Creation competition.

For a few weeks in a row, I ran interviews with each and every one of them, got to know more about their inspiration and approach and finally saw their creations come to life on the catwalk at Audi Fashion Festival (AFF).

Fast forward one year and here is another batch of talents for this year’s competition and while I won’t be interviewing them at this stage, I wanted to at least introduce these designers and some of their sketches and ideas as something to look forward to at AFF.

It’s worth noting that the 12 finalists who made it came from different parts of Asia including China, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and even Mongolia – and each has displayed some great potential which I leave for you to judge.

So here’s a little about the first 6 finalists and will be introducing the rest next Wednesday 17^th April so keep watching this space!!!

(For more about the competition and last year’s finalists and winners, click on this link)

A sketch from Malaysian finalist Jean Teoh

Bonjour KL: Young aspiring Malaysian designers steal the show at the country's International Shoe Festival

Shoes, shoes shoes… my recent (and maiden!) trip to Malaysia has turned out to be all about shoes!

And I don’t mean just shoe shopping! Although that was firmly on my list to do (check out my love for Malaysian shoe labels here), believe it or not, I got to do more interesting shoe-related stuff namely attending the annual Shoe Festival in Kuala Lumpur and meeting shoe legend Jimmy Choo for lunch!

I’ll discuss the latest in another post as I still need to get my head around the fact I was with the Godfather of glamorous shoes himself!!!! But today it’s going to be all about the talented students I met at the 4^th International Shoe Festival and the utterly inspiring shoes they displayed!

The Shoe Festival seemed more like a museum with showpieces like
this Dragon-inspired pump which just loved!

Another extravagant design on display at the Shoe Festival...

But while some went all out, others kept it more simple yet inspiring.
I especially loved these booties!!!

Love these shoes made from recycled material by promising student Soo Tzu Hoo!
I WANT!!! (check a lot more photos below)

From Couture to Read-to-Wear: Malaysian designer Jovian Mandagie for Zalora.sg

My Lebanese genes must have something to do with it but I just love couture!

In fact, there’s nothing that gets my heart pulsing quite as much as slipping into a custom-made couture creation which I have been lucky to have had on a few occasions.

But while couture can be the most sumptuous thing you could ever wear, sadly it almost always comes at a hefty price tag which not many people can afford, especially the young fashionistas.

However someone seems to be doing something about it, namely up-and-coming Malaysian designer Jovian Mandagie.

Love this look from Jovian's 'Femme' collection!

Lewre: Shoes fit for a Princess (or the Duchess of Cambridge)

In my last post, while admiring Kate’s choices of clothes in the Royals’ Singapore visit, I couldn’t help but notice her uninspiring choice of footwear.

From the LK Bennet nude pumps which are too plain and dated (she even wore them to meet Jimmy Choo himself!!) to her navy blue wedges… I mean wedges, come on Kate???

The good news is that someone else - the Malaysian royals - has also noticed, and decided to do something about it. For amongst the lavish gifts exchanged on landing in Kuala Lumpur was a pair of custom-made Lewre shoes.

I've expressed my love for Malaysia's best fashion export - shoes - on this blog before. And after seeing kate's gift – an exquisite and delicate pair of black lace peep toe heels– I could not be more convinced.

The gorgeous Lewre pair of heels and clutch which the Duchess of Cambridge got as a
present from the Malaysian Royals!

Stingray arm candy from Malaysian label KLutched

If you thought my penchant for eel skin bags was a tad unusual, wait until you know my ultimate leather of choice when it comes to bags… drum roll… Stingray skin!

Yup, again it’s a marine creature that produces the toughest and most durable leather you can ever find which also happens to be so chic, understated and probably the least underrated of all kinds.

Ever since my first encounter with this beautiful textured leather, I fell in love and was curious if I could find any Asian designer using it in their products. On my first visit to Bali I did at one of the coolest boutiques on the island (will be blogging about it after my second visit in a couple of weeks!) but sadly the clutches I wanted were all sold out and I ended up buying my husband a stingray wallet instead.

But I kept looking and finally my search is over! Malaysian handbag label KLutched seems to have read my mind and I think I finally found my perfect stingray leather bags, just across the border!

No kind of leather, in my opinion, comes close to how chic yet understated
Stingray skin is. This KLucthed miniaudiere and iphone cover demonstrate that!

Jimmy Choo who? Four Malaysian Shoe Labels You Should Know About

Like most girls out there, shoes are my guilty pleasure! I can spend hours and hours browsing the internet for shoe inspirations and day dreaming about those stilettos that look like pieces of art – yet are not really functional.

Since moving to Asia, I wanted to discover more South East Asian shoe brands and to my surprise - or not really – most of the cool shoe labels came from Malaysia. It might be the Jimmy Choo effect but again the styles are hardly similar to the shoe legends designs and vary widely from elegant and simple to edgy and avant-garde.

There is definitely something for everyone and even better, they all come at an affordable price point and are available online for those who don’t reside in the country.

So here are the Malaysian shoe labels you should know about – and stock in your closet:

CHIYO is one of the new labels proving that Mayalsia might as well be the
shoe capital of the region!

How elegant is this pair from rising shoe designer Benson Chen?

Adding a Splash of Colour to Quainthood’s Post-Modern chic

While prints are all the hype this summer, there’s always one style which won’t go out of fashion. That is the plain basics.

Mixing and matching prints is certainly fun but sometimes they are not as versatile and can be hard to accessorize and pull off for people who are looking for style on the go. Something like interesting basics comes in handy as it can be dressed up or down, accessorized or left understated depending on the occasion and the person. They are definitely the easiest and most useful items any woman needs in her closet.

But plain doesn’t have to be boring especially not when you’re talking about Quainthood’s interesting cuts and twists on mundane items like a simple white shirt or an LBD.

The 30 Singapore designers you need to know about: Part 3

Here is it. The third and final part of the 30@30, where to celebrate my 30^th birthday I picked the 30 Singapore labels that you should be exploring if you want to go on a discovery mission in the little red dot.

The truth is – and this may surprise some people who don’t follow the fashion scene - I found it hard to compile a list of just 30 because more labels deserve the mention. It’s especially hard as this isn’t a competitive list, there is no particular order and there are far more than 30 talented designers plying their trade in Singapore.

In the end I included those which I think have found their identity and although everyone still has a room to grow, they’ve done so far so good. A lot more labels are doing great job and maybe all they need is a little push to get them there! Maybe in the next list 31@31 ;-)

Anyway, back to the point. Here are the final 10 brands that kick serious ass in Singapore and deserve much more success than they get in their home market. You can read part one of the 30 Singapore designers you need to know about here and the second 10 in the Singapore designers list here.

Use the comments section to let me know what you like in the list, who you think I missed out, and if you were inspired to go local by the talent on offer. 

Love the simplicity of Armoire's Engineered Dress series which come
in many beautiful shades and fits perfectly!

AUDI STAR CREATION 2012: Q&A with the 12th finalist Vincent Wong from Malaysia

Perhaps unusual but Malaysian finalist Vincent Wong draws inspiration for his collection from religion. Entitled ‘Confession of Sins’, the collection is entirely in white and reflects the 21-year old’s reflection on concepts like purity and cleanliness. Read to find out more about his inspiration below.

Name of designer: Vincent Wong (Malaysia)
Age: 21
Name of Collection: Confession of Sins

1. What made you participate in the Audi Star Creation? How did you hear about it?

I first heard about Audi Star Creation two years ago, when fellow Malaysian Daniel Ngoo took one of the three top spots and the Audi Young Designer Award. Seeing Daniel’s success made me feel that the competition is an excellent opportunity for young designers to stand on the international stage.

AUDI STAR CREATION 2012: Q&A with the eighth finalist Ling Siu Gin from Malaysia

Today’s Q&A is with finalist Ling Siu Gin from Malaysia whose collection ‘Manimal’ drew inspiration from two music videos, ‘Lions in Cages’ by Wolf Gang and “Paradise’ by Coldplay. Read on to find out how her fantasy-like collection came together.

Finalist Ling Sui Gin from Malaysia

Name of designer: Ling Siu Gin (Malaysia)
Age: 21
Name of Collection: Manimal

1. What made you participate in the Audi Star Creation? How did you hear about it?

I heard about Audi Star Creation from my lecturer, Ronney Henry, from Raffles Design Institute (Kuala Lumpur). As we were designing our graduation collection, he encouraged me to give the competition a try. I saw it as a chance for me to gain experience, to find out where my design abilities stand and how far I can go.

The Society of Black Sheep: Bringing a real edge to Singapore's fashion scene

I love edgy fashion. In fact I admire people who wear it so confidently and pull it off so easily. Maybe you don’t see so much in Singapore but if there was anyone to dare, they wouldn’t find a better place to get those cutting edge pieces than The Society of Black Sheep boutique in MBS.

It is the last place you'd expect to find edgy fashion. The kind of boutique that wouldn't look out of place in Notting Hill or Greenwich Village and here it is, next door to the Gucci and Prada superstores in The Shoppes at MBS.

While I am really not edgy by nature, I’m rather adventurous in my sense of style and always up for experimenting and trying different styles on. Boring is definitely not an option here!

Weekend Want: Edgy and colouful platforms from Malaysian label Chic Yamada

Over a lunch conversation last week, I realized that for the past 5 months I have been on a shoe diet! Yup, as shoeholic as I am, I have successfully managed to avoid adding a single pair of shoes to my collection!

Although I always see cool stuff here and there, I have decided that unless it is something different from anything I have, cooler or bolder I’m not buying it.

With my avant-garde heelless Marc Jacobs, blinding neon yellow platforms and edgy (and practically un-wearable) McQueens, I doubted I would find a pair which is any bolder – that is until I stumbled over these Moccasin platforms from Malaysian-based label Chic Yamada. Foot candy at its best!

These Yamada platforms would fit perfectly in my eclectic shoe collection!

Can't decide which colour combination is best...

Girls Generation of style: Armoire, Jooix.com and Bonjour Singapore collaborate

Normally when 3 girls meet on a Sunday morning, they talk about fashion. But when Evon (the designer of Malaysian label Armoire), Angelina (the lady behind the Singapore-based super stylish jooix.com) and me (a fashion loving stylist/blogger and a major shoe-holic) met this Sunday, we DID fashion!

With the beautiful chic dresses of Armoire (who is participating in this year's Blueprint) and the unique statement accessories from jooix.com, I couldn’t help but see how each brand complemented the other to perfection and brought it to life – and we looked in each other’s eyes and cried COLLABORATION.

Evon from Armoire on my left and Angelina from jooix.com on my right.

Ok, what I brought to the party was the vision to see how these two brands could look together, with some help of my styling skills, my shoes collection and of course my now well-known modeling for your amusement :-)

So here’s how our Sunday morning went, read on to see the magic brought to life and learn a few tips on how to wear these gorgeous pieces and transform them from day to night:

P.S. I will be co-hosting and sharing some styling tips at the official launch of Jooix.com this Wednesday (March 14) from 1:30pm till 9pm. The first 30 guests will get vouchers worth S$200 of styling services with me :-) Make sure you RSVP for the event here  and see you there!

GlamRockChic Shoes: From Malaysia with Love in time for Valentines Day

The best thing about Valentine’s Day falling just after Chinese New Year is that if you have already bought a red dress, you can wear it again, and if you haven't then you can grab one on sale now :-)

However, although nice, red dresses are overrated for this occasion and instead of wearing red head to toe for your date next week, there is something more sexy and less ‘in your face’ to wear. And no I’m not talking about red lingerie; it is shoes I’m talking about!

As a shoeholic, I 100% believe that a great pair of shoes makes an outfit shine especially if you’re talking about statement shoes, my absolute favourites!

Let this Heart & Soul shootie from Malaysian label GlamRockChic will
do all the talking this Valentine's Day!