The Fashion Nation Girls

We write predominantly on Fashion Nation, so if you like our outfits we suggest you check it out for more of our fashion ramblings.

Bag, dress - Australia
Shoes - Substance



T-shirt - Threadless
Skirt - Topshop
Heels - Pedder Red
Bag - Vintage
Belt - from some other dress

A couple of days ago, it came to my attention that my style was being flamed. I wasn't as 'cool' as a fashion blogger should be. Of all horrors, I was parading around in inferior shoes from Charles & Keith.

Apparently Charles & Keith shoes are travesties of fashion - affordable, yes, suitable for the average shopper, enough to actually buy one pair of shoes from there every single day. It's fine to own a pair, but never, never blog about it! That is absolutely fashion suicide, it seems, for a fashion blogger.

Along with the derogatory comments, we even were treated to this lovely picture:


Of course this isn't personal, it is just because I have really bad style. Especially since I wear Charles & Keith shoes.

Now, for those not in the know, Charles & Keith is a local shoe label. They started out with one store, and ultimately multiplied it into a gazillion stores infiltrating the malls such that there's one in almost every shopping centre in Singapore.

I don't care about that. I just happen to like shoes, and I am willing to buy from everywhere and anywhere. Salvation Army, flea stalls, departmental stores, Ferragamo, Chanel, even the shoes this blogger is selling. Except I stop and wonder - what is so horribly wrong with wearing Charles & Keith shoes?

I've always seen fashion as a spectrum. There is definitely going to be these amazing gods and goddesses who are forever effortlessly cool, always spot on in their sartorial choices. There is always those who do not care, who will put on whatever's clean in their closet and walk around in troll shoes. Then there are those who are in between - some interested in fashion, some not. Just all out to work within the available budget they have to create something interesting and comfortable, which perhaps, just perhaps, may give you that bit of thrill when you walk out the door to face the world.

I'm one of these in-betweeners (or you may of course tell me that I am the scum of the spectrum). I start from the runways, the media, the forums, the mags. Plaid shirts, velvet, triple-strap mary-janes, studded boots, the gladiator shoes I still can't find. The look is created in my mind, and sometimes along the way I see beacons in the dark, such as Queen Michelle with her self-made gladiator straps and Selina with her dyed stockings.

I'm not one of these mega fashion bloggers who go with a blazing trail, I'm really more of a person, who instead of watching the telly and vegging out on the bed, spend her personal hours clicking through fashion sites and have a damn lot of fun just absorbing the creativity of fashion design.

There is then the question of the identity of a fashion blogger - so, if I write about fashion instead of what I did today and what I ate for lunch, I must dress fabulously and trot in footwear from luxury brands? What is the fun in that, when I can poke around the local stores and see what's the best I can find with forty bucks?

I think that is much more of a thrill for me, rather than pretending that I wear only shoes made by the French and never, never write about my five pairs of Charles & Keith shoes, which ought to be my dirty little secret - as suggested by this flamer who owns a shoe store... except pray tell, if you are a store owner, why the high horse and narrow-mindedness in fashion? It is a form of expression - an art. I may not have perfected it, but really I do not see what is so wrong with my style, or my choice to purchase shoes from a local label to warrant being flamed this way.

I never did have anything against you and your blog, in fact I enjoy the fearless take you have on fashion. I look forward to patronising your stall at the Zouk Flea and Easy on Sunday, perhaps even buying a pair of lovely shoes from you. I'll be in something from my Charles & Keith shoes, probably, and so would perhaps a quarter of the ladies in the venue.

There you can tell me in my face that you hate my style, and I will be more than happy to hold a conversation with you on how so I should improve my bad style, since you are of course more superior in the style hierarchy in your Irregular Choice shoes than me in my C&Ks.

Stephie

Hello! Dottie's officially fled Singapore to shop her heart out in Australia, so I will hold the fort here at Fashion Nation.

The Girls and I usually meet on Tuesday - today we avoid the town centre and escape to Serangoon Gardens- a quaint, quiet place filled with little cafes and eateries - for dinner and a game of Scrabble.

- Vest: Little shop off Raffles Place
- Long-sleeved top: Mango
- Skirt: Topshop
- Belt: Mango
- Bag: Prada (previously written about here)
- Shoes: Charles & Keith

 

Found a bow-tie hair ribbon in one of the shops in Far East Plaza, this really doesn't cost much so I was happy with the find.

A close-up of the belt as it didn't quite show on the picture.

x
Chilled-out Stephie

We had some tickets to The Spiderwick Chronicles movie, which suited me just fine due to my obsession with children's literature. With time to kill, we did our usual magazine-worshipping ritual in Borders.

- Jeans: Miss Sixty
- Purple Velvet Jacket: Tangs
- Gold booties: Zara
- Pearls: DIY gift from a friend
- Watch: Tag Heuer
- Skull Scarf as headband: Topshop
- Heart-shaped gold bag: Zara
- Cocktail Ring: Chinatown

a

 

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The Fashion Nation Girls

• Tank-top: From the Mothership's Closet
• Pearls: thrifted from a bazaar
• Skirt: Soon Lee
• Shoes: Bianca

• Jacket - Zara
  
• Tank-top: G2000
• Skirt - GG<5 (happily snatched from the sale at less than SGD20)
• Shoes - Substance

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Dottie & Stephie

Tuesday Night - We're in the mood for French dessert (it being Paris Fashion Week and such!), so we met up with The Girls over dinner, tea, and dessert.

If you're wondering where this restaurant is, it's located at the basement of Raffles City and has a great selection of cake.

It's Thursday. Before the weekend hits us full on, we met up for the usual with our girlfriends - magazine flipping, dinner, shoe-gazing, then carry out our "Must-Do-On-Thursday" activity, which is to read the Straits Times Urban. We love Urban - Stephie cannot not read for one week, and she especially loves the voyeuristic Bag Page.

One of us is feeling the color clash while the other is musing about Prada's lace obsession!

• Orange Dress: Sense


• Shoes: Thrifted

 

• Lace top: Mango


• Skirt: Topshop


• Bracelet: Tiffany & Co.


• Lace-ups: Pedder Red


• Clutch: Mango

P.S. Shame about the soiled soles - we'll try not to capture those from now on!

caffeine-coated love!
Dottie & Stephie

This was us on Wednesday, where we attended the Preview of Furla's Spring/Summer 2008 Collection. Flushed from too much champagne, followed by a late dinner with some of Dottie's friends.

• Jacket: Far East Plaza


• Dress: Isetan


• Necklace: Topshop


• Shoes: Bianca (which we've written before here)

• Shirt dress: GG<5


• Cardigan: Esprit


• Belt: Esprit


• Grey Lace-ups: Pedder Red


• Bag: Chanel 2.55