fit is fin!

Happy February, everyone! January just flew by. Sorry for the slow updates last month. I think there was a week that I didn't post at all. As soon as all my applications and tests are over, I'll bounce back on track with posts for sure. My FIT portfolio has been turned in, so I will post some designs or things I sewed in the next few days.

Sweater from Salvation Army, Scarf from Taiwan, pin from Harajuku Hearts store in San Francisco, skirt from J Daheck, Floral Docs.

I like to wear pins and brooches with everything. The thing is, I have a number of black ones that I'd like to wear, but I always end up wearing black, and black on black doesn't show.

I received a package today in the mail. It's been a while since my last online order! Getting things in the mail is so exciting.
Hahah more florals, indeed. Can't get enough of them. It's totally gorgeous, but the elastic isn't very stretchy and the minimum waist size is pretty darn small. Being a lover of comfortable and oversized clothing, I can't imagine I'll be wearing this all too often.

Also received one of those "sorry we missed you!" notes from the mailman. I can't imagine what I could have missed, since I don't recall buying anything as of lately. Interesting. I guess I'll just have to see.

Love, Kai

hard at work.

These past few weeks have been dedicated mostly to my FIT portfolio. I guess I've posted bits and pieces of my work, but since it hasn't been much, I'm making this post to showcase a few of my favorites.

Yesterday wasn't the best day. I caught a stomach bug early in the day and rested for three class periods. Then after school, I went to look for fabrics to cut into swatches. I chose out $30 worth of fabric in 0.5 yard increments. But at the cutting counter, and the computers and price scanners were out of order so the lady at the counter had to hand-write all of the fabrics and prices. She did her math wrong while calculating prices and it made it really difficult to make the purchase at the counter. Also, I was supposed to call my mom after I was done shopping, but I accidentally grabbed my iPod instead of my cell phone, and couldn't make the call, and ended up waiting for her to realize I couldn't get home.

The ones I like are mostly the later ones; it took me a while to start getting the hang of it. At first, I was planning on not drawing faces, but after coloring everything in, I thought no faces looked weird, so I drew them in afterwards. Bad move. I'll have to photoshop those faces out.
I think this one was the last one I finished. Tiered dress and bubble vest with a floral print hood.

Here's one that I didn't like very much originally. I had designed it to be a white deconstructed sleeveless dress, but then I found some mesh in my room, and decided to make it black instead.


For this one, I wanted to use nylon for the fabric. But I couldn't afford to get the nylon at the fabric store, and opted for cotton instead. Boring. But half the price. Features a zip up galaxy print hood and fastenable cowl neck.


Right now, I'm working on the sewing portion. I started sewing in 6th grade, but haven't improved at all since then. I busted out my sewing machine for the first time in years this week. Fabric is expensive, especially nice materials. So I used the cloth from old pieces of clothing to sew. I sewed a pair of pants out of an old oversized skirt.
Droopy butt pants yayy. My favorite.
Depending on what else I come up with, I might show more designs and pieces in later posts.

Today I went to Barnes and Nobles to use my coupon. Magazines are never included in sales, though I wish they would be. Some magazines are much more expensive than books are. I wanted to buy the Spring/Summer 2011 runway report, but the issues were all bent up and cost $40, which is more than is in my pocket. I opted out for Vogue Italia, which included a Fashion Show report.
I regret getting it, a bit. This report left out several designers that I wanted to see, including Alexander Wang and Tao Kurihara. Just a bit disappointing, for $17.

Since I couldn't use a coupon on the magazine, I got THIS.
It's Colors for Modern Fashion by Nancy Riegelman. I wanted to get 9 Heads some time ago, but hadn't had any luck with finding a copy, so I decided on getting the second best option. The coupon was 50% off, so this became $34.40. It would have helped if I had a guide before I started my designs.

Back to work.

Love, Kai

vivaglam gaga is back.

Another thing for me to look forward to next month! The first thing I'm looking forward to is finishing the last of my college apps.
The first Vivaglam Gaga lipstick for MAC was released about a year ago alongside Vivaglam Cyndi. I'd never bought a lipstick before, and the light pink isn't quite the type of color I would wear. Nude colored lipstick is the only color I'm willing to use.
But you know. If it's Gaga lipstick, I had to get it. Here's a picture I took of the first Vivaglam Gaga from last February.

Vivaglam Gaga II will be released in the US on February 17th. I'm particularly excited to buy it this time around because Vivaglam Gaga II will be a nude color!
I'll be running off to the mall just for this next month, no doubt. Information courtesy of Temptalia.

Love, Kai

an award for me?

I've been given the Stylish Blogger Award by Marlena of Self Constructed Freak! She has been supportive since day one, my first post. She's also got mad style, so I've been a fan of her since I started blogging.
I'm to share seven things about myself, so here we go!

1. I need my sleep. If I don't get at least nine hours of sleep (10 would be ideal), I would be dozing off for the rest of the day. That's why my bedtime is set at 9pm.

2. I prefer cold water over any beverage. When I was little, I loved to drink juice, before my mom told me it wasn't healthy. And then she said the same thing for soda. And coffee. And milk. So I've gotten in the habit on not drinking anything besides water.

3. I am a Pokemon master! In the games, I've collected all 493 Pokemon, before the new generation was released. The only thing I have left to do in my game is to get 100 consecutive wins at the battle tower, which I don't have the patience for.

4. I went to the same preschool as Jason Wu. Yes, the Jason Wu. Not at the same time, because he's older than me. But we had the same principal, and it was that principal who encouraged him to pursue fashion and move out of Taiwan and study in a foreign country. Honestly, she's the coolest principal in the world.

5. My sport of choice is DDR! I'm not pro by any means, but I'm not bad either. My brother, though, is pretty good. He memorizes steps and then does them backwards and dances on all fours. Yeah, no. I can't do that.

6. I love birds! I love all animals (insects excluded, I'm sorry! I tried hard to like them, but they still freak me out), but I love birds in particular. My intended major when I was a freshman and sophomore in high school was ornithology, the study of birds. My 10th grade chemistry teacher convinced me that I'm the art school type.

7. I collect vintage items. I have a ton of old books with pretty details that I'm afraid to touch because I think they'll break if I open it. I also collect teacups even though I don't really drink tea. And also vintage Avon bottles. I love collecting them because it is a fairly inexpensive hobby. A lot of elder people used to collect them in their youth, and sell them off now at garage sales for about a buck each. I would collect modern perfume, but I can't afford that stuff.

I pass this award on to the following seven people!

1. Coco from Muffin Top Baby
2. Britney of Flow Disruption
3. Savannah from A Witch's Style
4. Kar-Yan's Dear Kar-Yan
5. Holly of Covetous Creatures
6. Sophia of Maroon Sparrow
7. Julie of SmileySquid

I got my class sweater this week, completed with my name personalized on it. Oh, here's a bonus trivia, just for kicks. My middle name is E. Just E. Because my parents didn't think about it beforehand, and thought of placing a filler middle name until they decide on one. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to get a name change. I'm changing my middle name to Kaiami eventually.

I got zero hours of sleep last night and was knocked out as soon as I got home. I just woke up a while ago from a 6 hour nap. I probably would have slept till tomorrow if my mom didn't wake me up to do homework.

Love, Kai

just your average garden gnome speciman.

Wearing a hood makes me feel like a garden gnome. I've never in my life seen a garden gnome before, not including ones from cartoon television shows from my childhood.

It has been particularly sunny these past few days. Or week. And so I opted for outdoor pictures today. Picture quality is so much better outside compared to inside.
I wanted to wear that military jacket I have, but it's a bit too small to wear with my sweater. If there's anything I learned from having a swacket, it would be that snaps are extremely useful. I noticed several snaps on the jacket and put them together to make it a slingy cape thing.

Sechuna cat sweater dress from Savers, Military jacket received as a gift, hooded T-shirt from Miramar in Taiwan, grey HUE ribbed sweater tights, Victorian Flowers Doc Martens from asos.com

It's been kind of a really long while since I've worn these tights. Sweater tights are nice for the winter, but way too warm for any other season.

I'm five hours short on sleep from staying up to work on my FIT portfolio. Somehow, I spend more hours deciding on what color to make things rather than actually drawing or coloring.

Love, Kai