Hope You’re Mine: One Year Wiser

What puts “happy” in birthday other than love and felicitations is lust! Lust from pinning and pining from the things I want, that is. Marking the milestone with friends and family, and a yummylicious cake is definitely the highlight of my birthday fete but the icing on the cake has got to be ringing in the celebration with gifts! Whether it’s gifted or self-purchased, no birthdays are complete without a little somethin’-somethin’.

Though sincerity is best felt when hand-picked but sometimes good faith comes in the form of nailing one’s heart’s desire too. As much as I appreciate the thoughtfulness that comes with every gift but loved ones being the people whom love me and I love would naturally want to buy something I adore as much.

Hence if you’re still searching high and low for the perfect gift (for me!), here are some suggestions to help you break out of the gifting rut, which I’ll be happy to be present-ed with!

birthday wish list

birthday wish list

Topshop Tall Lace Back Playsuit |  Tory Burch Careen Loafers with Contrast Sole | Aldo Laptop Bag | ASOS Floral Bug Necklace | YSL Lipstick in Lingerie Pink | Fabric for Fashion: The Swatch Book | Make Up For Ever HD Invisible Cover Foundation | Sigma Mrs Bunny Travel Kit

But of course, material things aside, the birthday gifts I truly want are those wishes I will be making eyes closed, hands clasped and wishing upon my birthday cake.

So may all my wishes come true…

What to Wear: Smokin’ Hot

I know it sounds silly for a tropical girl to whine about the blazing sun but do you know that not all summery days are equal?

There’re the beautiful balmy ones (a sweet treat these days); then there’re those that create an (unhealthy) obsession with ice-cream – not that I didn’t have one before the mercury spike but it’s easy to put the blame on the weather! Unfortunately for us, the tiny island dwellers, the latter seems to be showing unfair partiality to us at the moment.

Every time we step out, the sweltering sun threatens to turn us into walking charcoals. As if that’s not brutal enough, scorching summer days leave us sweating buckets, feeling muggy all over and having our clothes stuck to our skin. Totally not a pretty sight.

Since we’re all no longer flushed faced hyperactive kiddos, naturally the discomfort gets to us and make us wanna dress accordingly.

While it’s perfectly fine to turn to Cochella for fun summer inspirations but why not turn it up a notch when you’re ready to roll in more than just a muscle tank and denim cutoffs? So no matter the weather, we must always remember to dress up!

Here’s some ideas to cool ourselves while staying hot – not literally of course!

1. Strap ice packs to yourself. No, just kidding! (Though I admit there’re days when this option is crazily tempting!).

1. Be an airy fairy

One way to battle the heatwave is to wear airy clothes in lightweight material. Not only do they wick the sweat off, cool breeze can pass – à la Marilyn Monroe!

Get the look with these: 

Flip Side Cut-out Dress

 Sweet Like Candies Skater Dress

 2. Go tiny

Get naughty! I mean have on as little as possible! Well, that didn’t help either. Let’s try that once more I mean dress up in summer-friendly camis or cropped tops (which are all the rage) to keep cool. Now this sounds better!

Get the look with these:

It’s Electric 2 Piece Shorts Set

Wanderlust 2 Piece Set

 Peace and Love Cami

3. Look smokin’

Well, if all things fail, the best way to beat the heat is to be the heat. Raise temperatures further and turn heads by looking fantabulous.

Get the look with these:

 Sweeping Statement Maxi Dress

The Little Red Dress

All street style images via Pinterest.

Back with a Bang!

As the saying goes “Absence makes the heart fonder”, we know we’ve been missed! (At least we hope we were!)

We must apologise for the long break in updating this space.

It has been a crraaazzzzy few months here at Style Societal (ok, and maybe we are guilty of a little bit of indolence), but WE ARE BACK and we are beyond excited to continue sharing our thoughts with you.

But first, let us update you on what we have been getting our hands into:

We’d gone on a few sourcing trips within the past few months to suss out beautiful clothes to share with our loyal fashionistas. Here is some evidence of us hard at work!

Getting fuel

Recharging our souls

Mall hopping

Well…maybe not.

But in our defense, mall crawling is totally a part of our job! We’ve got to keep up with this capricious retail scene, don’t we?

Besides scouring fab garb, we’ve scored something spectacular ourselves.

If you’ve been following us on Facebook and Twitter, this would be news of yesteryear. But if you aren’t chummy with us on social media (why haven’t you?!); we’re pleased to announce that Style Societal is now stocked at First Day

Photo: First Day

So good news for you girls out there who prefer analog to digital, you can now shop the good ol’ fashion way (no pun intended)! We’re thrilled to ink the deal with First Day because we know nothing beats the excitement of feeling, touching and trying on beautiful clothes in a legit brick-and-motar setting. Head on down to First Day to try the clothes and ring the till while you’re at it!

Sadly, we’re still a plane ride away from our international customers. Well, unless you’re in town (my town, that is) come find us at First Day!

Lastly and lately, we’ve been a little more into the whole “A picture paints a thousand words” phrase kind of phase (looking rhyme-y there!). So other than Faceboook and Twitter, we’ve added Instagram to our keep-posted list too!

The snap app captures those behind-the-scene moments – from playing dress-up to the stuff on my dinner plate to the sights that filled me in awe – in other words, fun times.

Come stalk follow us on Instagram – and to those who haven’t join us on any social media platform, here’s your chance to redeem yourself! Just kidding! Our user name is stylesocietal and let us say “Cheese”!

First Day is located at:
Plaza Singapura
B1-19
680 Orchard Road
Opens daily from 10.30am to 10.00pm

Style Societal News: Our Brand New Look is Unveiled!

Ok, we’ll admit it….the website redesign took longer than expected. Trust us, it was never our intention to test your patience like that. Though I’ve got a hundred and one better ways of doing it. I’m kidding, of course!

Without going into details, I would only say that everything that can go wrong, went wrong. As a matter of fact, it went horribly, majorly wrong – except the design aspect becos’ my designer gets everything right on point. She’s like a mind reader!

Like all facelifts (the kind that involve a doctor and a scalpel included), a vision is always vital before a transformation – I mean isn’t it scary to go into surgery without a sense of the “after”?

Our website’s nip/tuck journey is no exception too! Except a) we’re in the good hands of my awesome designer, b) “after” shock doesn’t result in screams and tears and c) changes are totally reversible and painless.

To not even remotely bore you with a creative brief presentation (not that it’s boring), let’s cut to the chase behind the new design concept, shall we?

With a new branding direction in place, it’s without a doubt that our new site design took a 360 degree makeover to be collectively positioned to represent our brand in a more cohesive voice.

Our design concept conveys the soul of our brand where the spirit of individuality is subtly captured within a generous dash of glamour, a hint of eclecticism and a touch of theatricality.

Here’s the mood board that I gave my designer.

This overhaul is more than just a cosmetic makeover. New features are added too!

For one, we’ve made collecting Style Points easier and more fun!

In addition to purchasing, signing up as our member and referring your friends to us, you can now:

Wanna know more about Style Points? Click here to find out!

The techie upgrade continues to our payment gateway too. I understand some of you might not have access to credit cards or feel insecure about using your credit cards online. We heard your request so we’ve incorporated eNETS Direct debit - a secure and reliable method of payment – to our current selection. Local consumers can now shop without worries! 

As if these utterly wonderful changes/additions weren’t enough already, we’re tossing in a sale!

Yup, a sale! Enjoy 40% off all apparels except New Arrivals till the end of September! So hurry now, check out our newly revamped site and score some rad clothes while doing so!

Oh! Don’t forget to sign up as a member to enjoy all the fabulous benefits of Style Points! This membership is free and you can sign up without making any purchase.

You’ll never regret the membership. Pinky swear.

P.S. If you’re wondering what happened to the posts between July to present, they disappeared from the front end after a server migration. For some odd reasons they’re not showing up though the posts are all in our database (cPanel X). We just can’t seem to get them to appear! It’s simply frustrating!

What I Wore: Long Jump

Other than being fashion’s working-class hero and the de rigueur style (heck, it’s the only style) of the orange-is-so-not-your-colour prison garb, jumpsuits are actually pretty rad. They combine the full-service style of a dress and the functionality of a pair of pants that anyone could love – including anti-dress advocates who don’t have to fret over a 2-piece ensemble.

Jumpsuits are already killer pieces on their own so what can be more edgy than a long-sleeve jumpsuit?

Make it polka-dotted.

This jumpsuit totally hits the spot for me when I first spotted it. Daringly shaken up with generous sprinkles of bold statement circle print, I could easily envision the oodles of potential that the onesie has with the right accessories and a little creativity.

While it’s easy to feel overwhelm in a silhouette and print like this, thankfully the deep-V front detail polish the look perfectly.

Indeed, this is one graphic dot piece that doesn’t suggest juvenile associations of Minnie Mouse.

To make my look more cocktail party friendly (I wore this ultra-modern dress substitute to a friend’s wedding reception!), I worked this heavily-dotted jumpsuit with black, grey and gold accents – including a smoke-out eye makeup paired with the quintessential nude lips.

With respect to the aforementioned “oodles of potential”, here’s what I did to unleash its hidden potentiality to sharpen the look.

1. A gold hardware accented belt 

This is certainly a turning point for the getup. It cinches the waistline to add a definition and gives it more of that oomph factor.

2. Cuffed Sleeves

Since I’m not blessed with supermodel genes (why! oh why!), a full-sleeve jumpsuit can easily swallow me up so I cuffed the sleeves to bare a little more skin for a well-balanced proportion.

Hype this look on LookBook.nu and Chictopia.com.

What’s Hot: Arm Party Riot

Girly union begins with the swapping of DIY friendship bracelets. That was the customary childhood thing to do - I braid it for you and you plait one for me. However for my friends and I, this act of gifting and trading alone was not enough to pledge our friendship (#hardtoplease). The defining moment for our status to blossom from friends to BFFs happened only when we layer all of our adorable handmade bands. Thus our arm party was born out of the unity of our bond. Sweet, isn’t it?

Now that we’ve all grown up, DIY trinkets (the ones you make; not those made by Dannijo) are a lost art and the sentiment of the arm soiree is nothing more than just a fashion statement. BUT the deed of stacking wrist baubles is still as fun! Some things never change – BFFs included.

Just like the mismatched friendship bracelets we sported on our wrists as a child, the grown-up version of the arm party also invites an array of characters – who are way more contrasting – that might look like they have nothing in common at first glance but when they come together, it’s a riot! Since they jazz up a plain Plain Jane ensemble quite splendidly. It’s no wonder two’s company, three’s a crowd and anything more is an awesome arm party!

While throwing this kind of rave is a pretty stress-free event since there’re no fixed rules for a successful arm fiesta, having a methodical way of invitation ensures a coordinated clash. The rule of thumb (at least to me) is to have the chunkiest cuff twice the size of the remaining bracelets and bangles for a well-balanced look.

Some ideas to get the (arm) party started.

1. Pre-styled bracelet stacks

For the newbie host, this is a great way to start your party. It takes the guess work out of the coordination.

| Forever 21 Zigzag Patterned Bangle Set | Dannijo Ice Queen | Chan Lulu Friendship Bracelets | Dannijo Man Repeller’s Creme de la Creme | Ashley Pittman Horn and Bronze Bangles | Forever 21 Rhinestoned Beaded Cuff |

2. Get into a theme

Another easy method to put together a well-balanced look. Go for a colour theme, decide on a style or pick wrist candies that are of the similar textures or material.

Image: 1,2&3/4/5/6

3. Mix it up

A total mix and match for a gathering of antithesis. The crazier the mix, the merrier the party!

 Image: 1/2/3/4/5/6

Mood Board Sunday: Icing on the Cake

Someone’s turning 93 soon! Yep, the matriarch of my family is going to blow the candles on her next milestone come early August. Though it may seem like it’s a little too early to plan for a b-day bash but with an excited birthday girl in the house, her enthusiasm can be (endearingly) infectious. Well, we can’t blame her for her over zealous excitement, after all raking up a whopping 93 candles on the cake is a pretty swell achievement itself, right? 

So my sis and I are all set to prep, party-mode. Since our precious nonagenarian is a sweet-treat lover hence the first thing that pops into our minds is the birthday cake! A fancy-pants one no less. While we know we want some really rad designs – the kind that put a literal meaning to the phrase “too pretty to eat” - but our inner Cake Boss is kinda struggling to come up with the right words to describe the pretty pictures in our heads. As a result, I’ve turn to Pinterest (duh!) and other cute confectionary sites (1/2/3) to assist us in translating our fab ideas – with a tweak or two or maybe even more – to the patisserie.

By the way, Mood Board Friday is now Mood Board Sunday as back-to-back posts can be a little too overwhelming! :)