On clothes

Was inspired after a conversation with my girlfriends to start blogging about trends I read up on, so let's see how this goes.

Yesterday I was browsing through the racks of the huge MBS Zara store (which I hadn't stepped into for a long time) and discovered a couple of cute pieces. However, I didn't want to spend any more money for that morning I had already carted out close to a hundred bucks on clothes. Regardless, it was enjoyable to just look around for cute pieces, especially when my then-accomplice has an eye for what I might fancy. Is it just me, or do I have a consistent style? Many of my friends would take one look at an apparel I picked out and comment on how it's really me/"I can see you wearing that".

Once upon a time, I was rather clueless on what to wear. My mother would put together outfits for me, and even when we would go shopping, I would be humming and hawing my way through. Deciding what to wear was such a burden for me. I didn't care, as long as my parents approved of my outfit and it wasn't anything I despised with a passion (how I dreaded those days when I kept a short ugly bob at the strong suggestion of my mother because apparently the younger me was too lazy to upkeep long hair). Then came a time when I would simply follow what my peers were wearing. I was always confused, and found it hard to make good sense of what matched and what didn't. My wardrobe was disjointed. Chaotic. Colors were everywhere. I'd purchase whatever caught my eye, but utterly fail to consider if it could go with anything else existing in my room. So there were super frilly lace dresses, a pair of 3/4 pants in emerald green and another in dark grey with too many pockets, and those vintage washed T-shirts with Little Miss characters (on my wish-list but never got around to buying), among other oddities I'm grateful that I cannot remember.

Fast forward to the present day, after an era where I was hardcore obsessing over the Japanese gyaru/lolita/mori-girl style and even diving into cosplay for a brief period, I think I've finally found who I want to be (cue enlightening crescendo). Think living in Japan for five months helped a lot. Being surrounded by stylish people who look like they're polished all the time, even though sometimes it felt like they were wearing uniforms, really helped to drive home the importance of being consistent.

Anyway, back to yesterday's discoveries at Zara.

First up was this embroidery + frills sleeveless tunic which really reminds me of the girly boho style

This babydoll blouse is so Jap-ish. The pinstripes, pale blue, and black ribbons at the sides all come together to make it cute. But I don't like how they styled the model with grungey-looking jeans. It doesn't make the cute girly look pop.

Now this blouse looks normal in front, but wait till she turns around...

Ribbons adorning the back! How cute is that.

There was also a pretty pair of pink trousers with ruffles at the hem but I couldn't locate a picture of it on the website. Now, if you've been paying attention to the world of sneakers, you would have read news of Puma suing Forever 21 for copying the Fenty sliders design. Know which other major fashion retailer has been copying stuff? Zara. They've been ripping off Adidas's designs such as the Stan Smiths and the sock collar of the R1 PKs. Wonder when it will be their turn to get sued. But it's really funny because Asics is also coming up with designs very similar to the NMD R1s.