Solve The Shopping Dilemma

Bag the best buys with a simple mental checklist
By Mavis Ang
Photos by www.polyvore.com

AMONGST the dangerously tempting prices during major sales, it’s easy to end up over spending on items you thought were simply too cheap to not buy. A good habit to maintain during sales, or any shopping trip for that matter, is to run the item through a mental checklist – it might just save your wallet.

Read more on solve the shopping dilemma.

How To Dress For A Shopping Day Out

Look great, feel comfortable, and shop with ease
By Mavis Ang
Photos by www.polyvore.com

SHOPPING in Singapore is very much like a sport. One needs to be mentally prepared mentally (for the kiasu aunties, irritable yuppies, and incredible customer service), and have the right gears and outfit to participate. Your shopping trip can easily turn into troublesome and frustrating with the wrong attire, so here’s some useful tips and ideas for the best hassle-free and fashionable outfits.

Read more on how to dress for a shopping day out.

Zouk’s Fashionable Flea & Easy

Caution: The cheap buys featured below may cause extreme jealousy
by Mavis Ang

Zouk’s quarterly flea market “Flea & Easy” took a different spin last Sunday with a fashion elite edition (along with Singapore Fashion Festival ‘08), where all the stall vendors belonged to the fashion industry. Amongst which are stalls owned by Cleo, Harper’s Bazaar, Channel 8 actor Chen Han Wei, modelactress Jade Seah, and radio DJs Shan Wee and Rosalyn Lee.

Within an hour, Zouk was packed with usually glamourous fashionistas jostling and squeezing their way through the crowd. A small queue gradually formed at the entrance as people stopped to look at stalls, holding up traffic behind them. After straining our necks and grumbling, my companion and I managed to step into the flea market, only to be stunned by the sight before us.

Read more about Zouk's Fashionable Flea & Easy.

Click and Shop

Now you can do all the shopping without the walking. Just some clicking will suffice.
By Ronald Wan

The malls are increasing and the shops and boutiques are endless. There’s a plethora of choices to satisfy your fashion needs. You want a pair of skinny jeans; you can get it at Gap. You want a loud striped shirt; you can get it at Paul Smith. You want nice lingerie, you can get it at La Senza. So, what else is left?

For some people, they just can’t find what they want at the malls. You would be surprised. At the malls are big label boutiques that churn out stuff in bulks that probably someone else is wearing it too. If you want to be different and unique, we probably won’t find you in a mall. You should be hunting for good buys at one of the shops at Haji Lane, Amoy Street or you guessed it right – online websites.

The last we checked, many people are burning their credit card online, shopping at any imaginable site, from obscure blogs and websites to Amazon. What’s the real deal here? Are the products safe and usable? If we can’t feel it, should we buy it? Is it safe to give credit card details online? Put these questions and shop at your own risk. There’s where the fun is. You click. You buy. It’s a free world out there, even on the Internet highway. We feature three local sites where girls are flocking to for their irresistible buys.

La Piccola Donna
La Piccola Donna means The Little Woman in Italian, but it isn’t a hot Italian woman behind the site. Darn. Instead, we have Aileen Yang, a local Singaporean girl setting up the site to sell vintage accessories and contemporary dresses. The clothes are brought in from a local supplier and the accessories from the States. The dresses are especially feminine, with floral prints a main feature and perhaps to celebrate the little woman spirit. Accessories include the vintage necklaces, which are the bestseller. For those with a taste for something girly, like a little woman as the name suggests, do check out this site (includes mailing list).

Bonito Chico
The dresses here are sold like hotcakes on a Sunday morning. One gets the impression that most of the dresses sold here are party dresses you will wear to a Saturday’s night out. It’s popular with the young working girls (the site name means pretty girl) and especially those with extra credit to burn, because there are even designer shoes (Stuart Weitzman) and shades (Marc Jacobs) sold here. Set up by three girls, Vel, Rach and Lin, the site is conveniently equipped with a mailing list. And for boys hoping for some eye candy on the site, the models used here are faceless, so in other words, forget about it.

Glamz Style
We suspect the duo (Juliana & Weixing) behind the site are students studying in a business faculty or are in some marketing job, because they dangle carrots like 10% discount and shopping sprees (read: massive sales) for her customers. Very entrepreneurial indeed. The clothes here are from Taiwan and Korea, a variety of babydoll dresses, ruffles tops, cropped shorts and the likes of leggings and what’s hot in those Taiwanese magazines.

Last-minute D.I.Y. Scary Costumes

You don’t think of Halloween costumes as investment dressing, but still dying to wear something at the last minute? Here are some sure-hit great ideas. Boo!
By Mavis Ang

SINCE Singaporeans don’t practice trick or treating here in our cramped HDB flats, it’s not worth the effort renting or making an outfit from scratch. So here’s a list of eight practical DIY outfits you can don for some Halloween night clubbing!

The Bum
a) Gather a few torn pajamas or unwanted clothes
b) Patch them up haphazardly and crumple them up
c) Mess up your hair. Hold up a bunch of your hair and tangle it by repeatedly brushing it in a reverse-combing motion.
d) Apply some darker-than-your-skin-tone makeup foundation on your face to make it look unwashed.
e) Hold a wooden bowl with a few coins in it, and rattle it as you walk.

Result: You might even end up a few dollars richer by night’s end!

The Sexy Secretary
a) Tuck a formal looking shirt into a tight pencil skirt with the top three buttons opened
b) Add thick black-framed spectacles (to be tilted slightly down your nose so that you can look up teasingly)
c) Tie your hair up to a bun and apply scarlet lipstick.
d) Hold a clipboard and chew on a pen seductively.

Advice: Do it only if you’re super hot. Actually, you can still do it as a joke if you’re neither slim nor sexy. It’s called irony, darling.

The Traffic Light
Guys
a) Red shirt
b) Orange belt
c) Green pants

Girls
a) Red top
b) Orange skirt
c) Green stockings

Advantage: Easy to put together, and definitely noticeable with such bold colours!

The Tampon
a) Pick an entirely white outfit
b) Paint your face and spray your hair white as well for maximum effect
c) Attach a long white string from the top of your head
d) Lastly, make a band to wear around your waist, which reads: “Tampax”

Caveat: This outfit is more effective for guys, since you would be able to execute a million cheesy pick up lines for the night in this costume.

The Fashionable Student
a) Bring out your former school uniform
b) Tie your hair up and add as many bright multi-coloured pins in your hair
c) Colourful earrings in multiple ear piercings
d) Loads friendship bands around your wrists
e) A Roxy bag over your shoulder
f) Finally, sport shoes with ankle socks

Accessorise: Braces and a nice tan would be a nice touch to the outfit too.

The Angsty Teenager
a) A black band T-shirt, black pants or skirt, black sneakers
b) Black nails and eyeliner
c) Draw a few thin lines across your wrists with red lipstick.

Don’t forget: The I-hate-the-entire-world look in your eyes.

The Celebrity
Olsen Twins
a) Big sunglasses
b) A long baggy top with footless leggings
c) Unkempt looking hair
d) The most important accessory: a takeaway Starbucks in hand

Paris Hilton
a) Pink from head to toe (Hello Kitty preferred)
b) Oh, and leave your brains behind, too

Rihanna
a) Black corset matched with a black mini skirt
b) Fishnet stockings
c) A black umbrella

Team work: Talk a bunch of friends into playing the roles of paparazzis so that you can make a grand exit out of the taxi.

A Couple Outfit: The Romance Novel Book Cover
Guys
a) White shirt with as many buttons opened, exposing (hopefully) tanned rippling chest muscles.
b) Tight, tight, tight leather pants
c) Boots

Girls
a) Put on a sheer Greek goddess-like dress, in white or skin-coloured.
b) Blow your hair to get Farah Fawcett’s flippy look.

Must-do: Arrive in a passionate embrace with wind in your hair.

Wardrobe Must-Have for Guys

Ever wished that there was one definitive list of clothes that you should have in your wardrobe for all occasions? Ever wondered how to put together a wardrobe that just works? How does that other guy always look so good? How did he manage to always look so put together, when he earns about the same as you? What kind of umbrellas should a man use?

If fashion has always been a big puzzle for you, fret no more. You are now in the possession of a very powerful list that will teach you how to assemble the pieces required for all occasions. After setting up this wardrobe, you should never have to worry about what to wear, and even how to match your clothes.

Read. Print. Tick off your list. Dress well, and be confident. Anywhere, anytime.

Formal / Semi Formals

• Four (4) long sleeved shirts in blue, black, white or with small prints
• Two (2) short-sleeved shirts in summery colours like white, green or pale blue. You can also choose a shirt with some prints but avoid anything too loud unless you are a well-sculptured male model posing for a beach wear ad
• A pair of chinos pants in khaki colour
• A pair of black pants with a flat front. Try to avoid pants that have a pleated front as a flat-front pant can give you a more cleaner and sharper look
• A pair of black and/or blue pants
• One (1) well-cut suit, if you can afford bespoke, all the better. Be sure to tailor two (2) pairs of pants with it because they tend to wear out faster. If you prefer, have one made half and inch wider around the waist for those days when you begin to grow a beer belly. If you are having a tuxedo made, make sure you have a bow tie, tuxedo shirt and cummerbund as well
• Four (4) neckties, have at least one black based, one blue based, one with a fun print or something you like and one with a flashier color or style for nights (and nights when for some reason you want to act gay or blend in with the crowd.)
• Two (2) belts - have at least one black belt and one brown belt. You will notice that I advocate separating brown and black. Black is a cold colour while brown is a warm colour and unless you look like a model, it is very difficult to pull off wearing the two colours together
• One (1) light coloured jacket in either cream, pale blue or light brown
• One (1) leather satchel for your business documents
• One (1) set of silver cufflinks to accompany your formal shirts
• One (1) good watch in stainless steel. Avoid gold
• A pair of dress shoes in good polished leather in a colour that matches your main suit. Try to choose those with a square or round toe. Avoid dress shoes with pointed toes. You are not a cowboy
• Allowable jewellery on weekdays – wear only a maximum of two at a time out of these five items: ring, bracelet, earring, chain and/or tattoo
  

Casual

• One (1) pair of extremely well-cut blue jeans that is not torn anywhere, have chains or any words attached/scribbled/stitched to it. Little frays at the hems are acceptable
• Two (2) polo shirts. One plain one and one that is striped
• Sportswear for the sports that you play - you need one set that makes you look good for each sport you play. Try to avoid wearing your sportswear all the time especially when you are not planning to play that day
• Soccer jersey for the team that you support
• Board shorts
• Three (3) short sleeved shirts. Choose shirts that are roomy but not too big. You are not 50Cent. Try to get at least one shirt that is made of quick-dry fabric
• One (1) long sleeved sweatshirt in grey, black or blue. Should be relatively simple, either in round neck or V-neck
• If you have nice arms, get a sleeveless tee shirt for the beach. If not, stick to short sleeved tee shirts
• Cool sunglasses
• One (1) waist pouch or messenger bag to keep your hands free (your preference)
• Swimming trunks in black, blue or brown. Avoid wearing swimming trunks in red, yellow, white, purple or pink. Never, unless you are a model on a fashion show and being paid to parade in them
• One (1) pair of sneakers, try and get those with shoelaces and not those with Velcro
• One (1) pair of leather sandals and/or Birkenstocks
• One (1) pair of comfortable flip flops
• White trainers or city walking shoes. They are very fashionable now, and will remain in fashion for some time, so any guy who wants to be fashion forward can consider getting them
• Allowable jewellery for weekends or nights – Wear only a maximum of three out of these 5 items: ring, bracelet, earring, chain or tattoo
  

All Weather / Travel Wear

• Sports jacket or windbreaker and accompanying pants
• A well-cut winter coat in black
• Autumn coat or leather jacket
• Dark coloured turtleneck
• Heavy scarf
• A nice pair of gloves
• Two (2) pieces of luggage – one large and one cabin-sized
• One (1) backpack
• Travel documents folder
• Shoe bag
• Travel toiletries kit preferably with a hook that you can hang – for some reason this feature is more masculine than for women
• One (1) overnight bag
• One (1) cap
• Dark and light coloured socks. Remember to wear dark coloured socks with your dark shoes and light coloured socks with your light shoes. For moccasins, no socks
• Always have a spare set of clean underwear in only two (2) allowable styles: briefs or boxers. Sarongs and G-strings do not count.
  

Other Small Items of Need

• One (1) good pen
• A condom case
• A PDA or any gadget that you fancy that you can bring around
• A professional-looking cardholder
• A nice key chain
• A flat and clean wallet. If your wallet is fat and peeling, you obviously need to buy a new one. Better still if you look gorgeous and can carry off a money clip, everyone finds it sexy
• And maybe even a nice big long umbrella. Avoid using a foldable umbrella. If you currently have one, throw away now.