1 Way To Tie A Sarong: Grecian Toga

Tags

Bali, batik print, Eat Pray Love, How to tie a sarong, sarong dress, sarong Grecian toga, Ubud

I decided to clear a shelf in my cupboard today – it was the undergarment/lingerie section. But when I took out everything, it looked like everything else besides lingerie had been stealing panty space:

It was then that I noticed this dark red sarong in the midst of the swimwear, military high-waisted shorts and kaftans.

Sarongs are particularly great when I need to hide my thunder thighs at the beach, besides doing its triple duty as a dress, skirt or beach mat. There are various ways to tie or wear a sarong be it a dress, skirt, top, scarf, bag or even a head bandanna.

One of my favourite looks of wearing a sarong would be the Grecian toga. I learned this style during my travels from one of the batik houses in Ubud, Bali in January. It’s simple, beautiful and sexy!

Here’s the simple How To:

Step 1: Hold the sarong on both ends. Pull the right corner over your left shoulder, and the left corner pulled to the right under your bust. This is to create the Grecian toga in your sarong.

Step 2: Twist the sarong on your right side (like in the picture) to create a ‘belt’ or ‘braid’ to be placed under your bust. You should notice your sarong starting to drape at the sides due to the twisting.

Final Step: This ‘belt’/’braid’ is now used across your back to tie to the other sarong corner on your left shoulder. Tying the two ends can be a bit tricky, so get someone to make it secure for you if you can! (This is for when your sarong is not very long)

Grecian toga using a sarong

…and you’re done! 😀 Pair your beautiful sarong dress with minimal accessories and some pretty flats or heels and you’re set to go!

Who knows…maybe Elizabeth Gilbert wore her sarong batik dress in the above style and caught the eye of her dashing Brazilian man in Bali 😉 (…and no, I’ve not read or watched ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ if you’re thinking “No she didn’t!”)

♥ P E A C H E S

Current Love: The Cambridge Satchel Company

Tags

14 inch vintage & navy satchel, Asos, Cambridge Satchel Company, embossing, espadrilles, review, summer dress, The Cambridge Satchel Company, Vintage & Navy

My current love, the satchel that has taken the fashion world by storm: The Cambridge Satchel Company satchels!

An Alexa bag is still top on my list but it’s too bloody expensive, and hard to comprehend (the price) to be buying it with my own bills 😦

However, I still wanted my first traditional satchel…

…then I discovered this British brand earlier this year while browsing some sites online (it was actually Asos!) and found out about these cute, fun & bright made-to-order 100% leather satchels! They come in a multitude of colours too; fluorescent, patent, metallic…the list goes on!

There is no CSC physical store, except for stockists around the world (Singapore & Philippines in the SEA region) and major online sites like Asos and Urban Outfitters.

To distinguish themselves as more than just a satchel bag, CSC collaborates with the likes of Comme Des Garçons, Urban Outfitters and Asos. These unisex bags were an overnight success with celebrities (even London designer Erdem!) donning them, it being featured on fashion weeks (Paris Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week, London Fashion Week) and gracing magazines such as Vogue, Grazia and Elle!

How’s that for a mother-daughter team who started this traditional satchel phenomenon back in 2008 because the daughter of the team (Julie Deane) couldn’t find a sturdy, perfect ‘Harry Potter-ish’ little satchel for her own little girl?

This is a 14” Vintage & Navy multicoloured batchel (‘batchel’ due to the top handle on the bag otherwise it is called a ‘satchel’) which I purchased from the website itself. It is a perfect size for me (I am 5’2”) when I am travelling but an 11” or a 13” would suit better as a day handbag.

This Vintage & Navy is actually from the racks of the collab between Urban Outfitters x CSC and exclusively sold in Urban Outfitters. However, the CSC site sells it, and has thrown in FREE embossing (Blind, Black, Gold or Silver) as well!

Each letter costs £5 but luckily I had it free! I’ve blurred out my embossing here but believe me, it’s beautiful and clean! Also, this will avoid theft… true!

I love the contrasting blue stitches on the traditional brown leather! The bag is very sturdy, and hard. Julie Deane emailed me saying the bag weighs less than 2kg, and I’m glad it feels lighter than 2!

It is not a clasp-on buckle, it’s the real deal! A little bit troublesome, but it’s traditional and authentic!

The bags are not lined so I was expecting some fur, but to my delight the interior is smoothed out so much that it nearly feels like the exterior of the bag!

The back of the bag

Genuine and authentic CSC satchels have this logo stamped behind the bag. Make sure you buy from the right CSC website or its legitimate stockists!

I am wearing:

• Vintage & Navy 14” batchel – Cambridge Satchel Company
• Summer Dress – thrifted, Bangkok
• Nude espadrilles – thrifted, Bangkok
• Dual bird-sun necklace – Asos
• Ring – thrifted, Xativa Spain
• Wooden bracelet – thrifted, Borneo

As these CSC satchels are made-to-order, a 30-day wait is the norm. Their communication is still slightly lacking but they are definitely working on it (call them, as they answer very quickly!). Julie Deane even apologised for the delay in replying emails and was very witty about it!

I had my bag sent to the man in the UK (I also saved on shipping as to Borneo it’s a crazy £20 charge!), as I figured that having the bag sent locally would be quicker. I waited more or less a month for it and now it’s finally in my hands as the man’s here for the Summer!

p.s: You don’t know this…but my man wore my bag out a few times! Now that’s a very stylish manbag 😉

If you already have a CSC satchel, do let me know how you feel about it! 🙂

♥ P E A C H E S

Vintage from the 70’s: Mum’s Closet

Tags

70's, accessories, beaded necklaces, fun, Mum's closet, nailpolish, Orly nailpolish, playsuit, rings, romper, skinny belt, vintage

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you – Lao Tzu

Mum has been de-cluttering the house as of late and even held a ‘Take-Away event’ a while back. She’s now at an age that throwing out things is okay, and that it’s perfectly fine. 

“Less is more”, she says.

I on the other hand, won’t throw things that I feel will bring me some use in the future.

Mum probably guessed my predicament because she’s now handing me down bags of vintage clothing and belts (so far) to see if there’s anything I’d like before it gets donated. Many of the clothes are from the 70’s and 80’s and definitely not my style.

However, I’ve found some fun in parading in my choices of mum’s vintage garb and decided to give it a 2nd appreciation through a mini photoshoot before it goes to a lovely new owner, or possibly made into a new piece.

Here’s the vintage for today: Pale pink romper from mum’s college/university days in Australia back in the 70’s.

I can’t believe how unbelievably mini this romper is. Mum must have been quite the flashy one 😉

Simply put, it’s a tube with its pant flossing my bum. You’ll see:

It’s a criminal romper, that’s what it is. Except that it’s pink.

It rides up reaaal high. With obvious thighs and hips like mine (dad’s genes ugh), this would definitely make it into the local Fashion Police record for everything indecent.

I have accompanied mum’s vintage romper with:

• Beaded necklaces – treasures found from Mum’s accessory drawers
• Bracelets – thrifted from markets, Malaysia
• Skinny belt (comes together in 3 colours) – thrifted in Madrid, Spain
• Jewelled rings – thrifted from UK
• Gold-wired star ring – thrifted from Thailand
• Different Nail Colours – Orly SWEET Colour Collection

Is this romper a keeper? Let me know what you think!

I’ll post more vintage finds from mum’s closet in the future, it’s going to be a-may-zing!

I don’t know why I spelt that wrong. I guess it sounded cool.

…right.

♥ P E A C H E S

The Variety of Online Fashion Shops = more savings!

Tags

Bangkok, Chatuchak Market, honeysuckle, necklaces, Platinum Mall, salmon coloured, Thailand, www.asos.com, www.octoberorigin.com, www.thepoplook.com

While studying overseas I learned a new way of shopping: Online Shopping.

Asos (UK’s largest online fashion shopping portal and it even ships worldwide FREE!), among other online shopping sites quickly became my weekly retail retreat especially on days I did not feel like getting out of bed into the infamous British cold just to get a certain type of dress/hairdryer from the mall. Why waste time and energy when I can do it from the comforts of home?

Almost everyone I knew (while in the UK) have shopped online at some point in their lives, but back in my homeland of Malaysia the debit card system was still very new (only started 2 or 3 years ago) and thus the online shopping trend is only starting to pick up.

Therefore shopping online meant you would need a credit card, paypal or manually bank in the money for your purchase at the ATM. What a hassle right?! Thank goodness for technological changing times!

When I came back to Borneo, I started searching for online fashion shops that would cater to a lower currency (yay!) and one of the great things you find with online shopping are similar/same things at DIFFERENT prices!

If you did not know by now, clothes at its raw price are not expensive. But sellers need to survive so clothes are typically marked up to at least 100% of the original price. Instead of it being RM25, it is marked up to at least RM50.

So when I was in Bangkok not so long ago, in this amazing mall called ‘Platinum’ which is basically a WHOLESALE mall, I realised that a lot of clothes I saw on Malaysian fashion sites (and even some international ones) were selling in Platinum!

To get wholesale price in Platinum (or almost everywhere in Bangkok), you need to buy a minimum of any 2 items from the shop. That’s a great saving of RM5, RM10, or even RM15.

Here’s some investigative evidence of the same top but in 4 different prices:

PRICE #1: http://www.sevendaysonline.com for RM89

Retailing at www.sevendaysonline.com for RM89.00!

PRICE #2: http://www.thepoplook.com for RM62

Retailing at thepoplook.com for RM62.00!

PRICE #3: http://www.octoberorigin.com for RM53

 Retailing at www.octoberorigin.com for RM53!

PRICE #4: Wholesale shopping in Platinum Mall, Bangkok at just RM15 a piece!

My 2 friends and I each bought this top in 3 different colours and so we got it at wholesale price of only 150 Baht each (retailing at 200 Baht without wholesale price)!

When we were walking around, browsing through the shops my eyes fell on this slouchy-yet-chic top (as it was familiar) and it looked really gorgeous (sadly wholesale shopping means you can’t try it on) so I persuaded the girls to buy them too hehe :p Here I am wearing the same top:

Same exact top! Same cutting, and is a salmon/honeysuckle colour. I teamed it with 2 necklaces I bought at the Chatuchak Market in Bangkok earlier in the day, adding some funk with knotting it up.

So I wore this on a night out in Bangkok to this really swanky chilled-out open air place that a family friend brought us to that looks like this:

With accompanying tapas (one of my favourite Spanish dishes sans the buffalo innards and testicles):

Hmm. Not my idea of typical authentic tapas but I guess molecular gastronomical food will do… since I threw up everything I ate that night anyway!! Apparently I caught the stomach flu virus 😦 (travelmate is a Medic) though I was quite sure it was the amount of coconut juice and coconut ice cream I had consumed earlier on in the day at the Chatuchak Market… *sigh*

But all’s well now, I still got a good bargain (ignore the travelling overseas) and if you didn’t know, you should know how much I love a good bargain!

Tip of the Day: Source around in the online fashion sphere before purchasing an item because similar pieces are often passed around but priced differently! Consumer power? Definitely! 😀

♥ P E A C H E S

Adding A Pop Of Colour

Tags

Aldo, Benefit, Dorothy Perkins, Havaianas, skinny jeans

In my wardrobe, close to 50% of my clothes are black. In all shades of black possible. In my mid-teens to early college years I only wore black because…well, just because it’s cool :p

Then when I went into college and university I discovered more colour and texture around me… so I’m proud to say that now I have more colour and prints in my wardrobe (although black is still my staple).

#1:

This thrifted top I got is absolutely gorgeous, comfortable (100% cotton) and rather…sheer (Mr. Bf would love it).

I am wearing:

• Thrifted berry top with slitted sleeves
• Beaded coral bib necklace from Thailand (a gift)
• Mint lace camisole
• Benefit Smokin’ Eyes kit
• Dorothy Perkins black skinny jeans
• Havaianas Slim in Dark Pink

#2

For a friend’s birthday on the weekend I decided to vamp up my black dress/tights/shoes combo with a splash of colour in this recently bought thrifted clutch which I managed to bag online at only RM43/£8.60!

I am wearing:

• Coral oversized clutch from October Origin
• Two-finger stud ring 
• Blueish/turquoise nail colour from Elianto
• Leather slingback heels from Aldo
• Thrifted black chiffon dress with cascading layers
• Black tights from Dorothy Perkins

So I’ve added the hues of pink into my wardrobe and it doesn’t look bad! Yay! 😀

Have a great start to the week, all!

♥ ρeaches