With this idea in my head for quite some time now, a series like this one I'm about to share with you is long overdue. I'm calling this my 'Fall Refresh' series, but really, it's more of a recycling set of posts on how I'm restyling some of my favorite pieces again for this fall.

In the recent months, I've been spending more time reading up on sustainable fashion and reflecting a lot on the differences between sustainability in the various methods that have been advocated with the fashion industry. For me, 100% sustainability is just not realistic or possible at the moment, and it has been something that was really hard to come to terms with. However, I've also figured out that while I can't commit to sustainability fully, I can at least contribute.

One of the ways in which I can support sustainability is by choosing more quality clothing and buying less to avoid getting caught up in fast fashion and creating extra waste when it comes to garments and clothing. Quality clothing is quite subjective and can mean a variety of different things to different people - but for me, quality clothing depends on two factors. One, how much wear I can get out of it and two, how timeless is the piece.

If you caught my #OOTD 101 post earlier this year, you're already familiar with how this works. You'll also know that I've been working really hard at this for the past few years. It's simple. I invest in really quality pieces or pieces that I really like and make sure that I'm able to wear them often to fulfill either or both of the standards in 'quality' clothing that I've set for myself.

For the fall season, I couldn't think of a better piece to kick off this series than with a knit that I got through a collaboration with a sustainable fashion brand, Gudrun & Gudrun. I thought it would be a good starting point, as this was a sweater that I wore at the beginning of this year while I was visiting Kyoto in the cold.

When it comes to sweaters, it can be quite tempting to have as many as possible. I totally get it. They're soft, cozy and comfortable. But for me, I've learned over the years, that no matter how many sweaters I own, there are just a few that I tend to wear over and over again. Keeping this in mind, I'm constantly turning myself away from another black or grey sweaters, and even camel as of late. The trick is to find a really unique one so that it stays fresh and does not collide with trends and easily go out of style. Most importantly, go for a sweater that you just feel good wearing and one that you wouldn't mind wearing over pants, skirts, and any kinds of denim.

I'm a sucker for monochromatic creams and beige when it comes to knitwear in the colder months, so this look is pretty much my first outfit, but for a warmer fall day.

The whole point of this series is basically to show you something that the fashion industry really doesn't highlight on because it could possibly hurt the business aspect of fashion. There aren't many fashion 'bloggers' out there, that I've seen, happily flaunting something that they wore more than once. But I think personal style is different. There are already so many walking mannequins out there that instead of trying to get the latest designer items or the trendiest pieces, it's more important to add value to the money you spend and the time you invest into fashion if you care even just a little.

You can catch this sweater I'm wearing here in a previous post from Kyoto earlier January this year.

Knit: GUÐRUN & GUÐRUN
Skirt: Aritzia
Shoes: Common Projects
Bag: Givenchy

Photos by Christina L.

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Paris, France

A day in Paris somehow felt like 2, or even 3. It’s no wonder why there are cafes at every corner for that 2nd or 3rd nap you’ve just woken up from. It’s dinner time, usually 8 pm in Paris, but the sun hasn’t even begun setting. I didn’t find myself in Paris because I had intended to. In a way, Paris was calling for me. Maybe it’s because I’m Vietnamese and grew up with parents whose drinking sessions were drowned over with Paris By Night re-runs, this city wasn’t one that was as magical and romantic as many others have come to know it as, for me.

So, this is probably not anything typical for someone visiting Paris for the first time - but if you find yourself in Paris somehow without trying to, maybe you’ll end up doing some of the things I did too. Despite what you might have assumed from these photos, I was in Paris for pretty much 48 hours. I landed in Paris the first day around 2 pm, and Shun's flight was delayed so I waited at CDG for like 4 hours. Our first day was already somehow shortened, but after checking into our hotel, we found ourselves at Ober Mamma, an Italian place with an oak wood tree in the middle of the restaurant that served a mean truffled pasta dish and left me feeling so satisfied with their special lemon tiramisu. Somehow our 9 pm was just perfectly in sync with the Parisians, and the rounds of drinks and wine put us to sleep really well that night.

We got up relatively early the next morning and took a walk to Buvette, a cafe that I personally also really loved her in New York despite actually never gone with Shun. So, lucky for him, his first time was at their original location. On the way back we stopped by Musée Gustave Moreau, an art museum of works by the painter himself, in his personal apartment. Later that day we boarded a flight to Venice as you might have remembered from my previous photo diary. Paris is quite lovely, but I knew I wanted to see Venice again. At the end of our trip, we came back to Paris. This time a little more adjusted to the European clock. There were several restaurants on our list that we wanted to try, but many of them were closed for the summer. Grabbing lunch at Daroco gave us the opportunity to see the Louvre. It was pouring like crazy and no one was sitting around. After almost 6 years of dating Shun, I can finally tell you that he waited for me in the rain (while I set up the self-timer, HAHA). We napped after this of course. And woke up at Cafe De Flore. We walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower after and saw a lot of people picnicking (it's on my to-do list when I visit Paris again). We thought about waiting for the tower to light up but got hungry while deciding so we headed to Carbón. We arrived at Carbón at 8 pm and somehow ended up having dinner for 5 hours. We're definitely coming back here again, so that's a testament to how good that place is.

The next morning we got breakfast in bed because Hotel Panache's balcony was so hard to pass up despite my usual neglect to Parisian cliches.

Paris reminded me a lot of Barcelona somehow. Maybe it's the architecture and endless balconies. But, I still kind of prefer tapas a little over escargots. That said, I wouldn't mind going back at all though. There's a charm to Paris that overwhelms you when you're just strolling along the Sienne that's similar to how all the lights at Time Squares makes your heart beat a little faster when you get the chance to look up at night.

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Camera Gear Used: Nikon D750 (body only) with 50mm F1/4 and 24-85mm F3.5 lens.

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Cafe De Flore

It was August 19 but felt like November first. The air was crisp and the sun didn’t set until 9:55 pm.

One day in Paris felt like 2 long days, and that’s one of the reasons why this particular moment in front of Cafe De Flore still lingers.

There isn’t much to say these days. I’m just keeping busy with work until enough time passes and I get to have coffee with my favorite person again.

Sweatshirt: F.A.M.T x Colette from Colette
Pants: GRLFRND
Shoes: Common Projects
Bag: Proenza Schouler PS11
Accessories: Fendi Bag Bug

Photos by Shun S.

Crossing The Lines

You “crossed the line” versus, I “crossed the line”, versus ‘Crossing The Line’ all have different connotations to me. The first one usually means that I’m ready to cut you out of my life, and the second one means I really fucked up (since I usually don’t know when to stop and go overboard and rarely admit something’s my fault) - but crossing the line this time is just me trying to be a smartass about my laced up corset over striped shirt.

I’ve always been quite an underachiever that’s hard on myself (if that makes any sense). At the beginning of this year, I was out of a job and wasn’t quite sure how this year was going to unfold. I told myself I’d go easy on me for a while and let things happen. Pass forward to September and I had probably my most exciting NYFW so far with my work opportunity. If you’re an older reader of this space- you’ll probably know I like to refer back to old happenings quite often. I literally celebrate every small win because that’s just how I like to keep moving forward (I do it kind of quietly though, I think - I can’t help it, I’m a Leo). But I feel like, in the last few months, I’ve crossed some lines I’ve been dying to get through.

I’ll warn you now that there’ll probably be a lack of styling posts for a while as I’ve just been crazily working and preparing for a month long trip in Tokyo this coming October. Finding new ways to wear old things, like this corset top I last wore in Hong Kong, has been the only thing that's been keeping me trying to blog. Totally forgot about these studded Isabel Marant flats in their dustbags 'til now too. Besides, summer fashion has never been quite my forte, so I hope there’ll be some interesting things to put together for fall. 

Top: Fame and Partners shirt / Callipygian via Opening Ceremony
Pants: Oak + Fort (similar here)
Shoes: Isabel Marant (new season)
Bag: J.W Anderson Mini Pierce Velvet Bag

Photos by Ryan C.

Below are some of my photographs that I was able to capture at NYFW for SS18.

ZIMMERMANN SS18
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PUBLIC SCHOOL NEW YORK SS18
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TOME NEW YORK SS18
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JONATHAN SIMKHAI SS18
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