Sunday, August 28, 2011

System For Hanging Art

We deliberately decided to have no window dressing for our windows in the living room. These windows open into the common corridor and we don't usually open them for privacy reasons although I do like to keep the door open for circulation and neighbours invariably look in (and sometimes gawk) as they walk by. Besides we tell ourselves the mid-Century style room has no window dressing and we are keeping in line.

Anyway today I picked up 3 little abstract paintings of oil on linen by Singaporean artist, Tay Lay Leng and had a brainwave that I could actually use the window grills as a display system, using S-hooks and hooking the artworks on them. They could be easily moved around and changed. Bigger, heavier pieces could also be hung this way. Now why didn't I think of this earlier?!

Labels: , , , , ,

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Mum's Vintage Hoarding


My mum is a hoarder. Hence I was exposed to a lot of vintage stuff (they were just old when I was a child as they hadn't passed the 30 year mark of qualifying as vintage then) since I was a child. I remember playing dress-up with a very flouncy, layered petticoat, pretending that I was a Moulin Rouge showgirl doing the can-can dance. I also remember playing with this wire box-purse and had quite forgotten about its existence till I saw a similar bag online and asked mum if she still had hers (why wouldn't she?). But I was really happy and grateful when she found it, and easily too.

Mum kept my first swim suit, a faded green suit with black geometric prints, I remember wearing that to swim at Yan Kit swimming pool, the first swimming pool in Singapore. Now when I hold the little doll-like suit in my hands, I feel how different the material is compared to the softer, smoother fabric they use nowadays.

She also kept a few of her 1960s mini dresses, I love her drop waist green and black dress and her orange scooter dress. She also kept the spangley vest she made herself and she also made me a little dress in the same fabric. I am sure I remember that dress to be too prickly and pokey to be comfortable, but I wish I had that little dress now. Mum's mini dresses were so short I don't know how women those times kept their modesty. Perhaps they walked very daintily and didn't raise their hands and sat with their legs crossed all the time.

All I have been wishing is that she finds my very first watch. It was a Mickey Mouse watch with a red strap, Mickey's hands were the hands of the watch and she bought it for me when I started Primary One. I love that watch and I am sure being the hoarder she is, she would have kept it but that it has been misplaced somewhere and will pop up one day...

Labels: , , , ,

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Dress Me Up

I had been eyeing the Desigual long jacket for a while. Originally had my eye on a greenish-blue one which G had protested against as it was too ... flamboyant I guess is what he thought. And for $500, he figured I wouldn't get much wear out of it because everyone in the office would gasp at me if I should wear it to work, and I wouldn't get past the front doors of any Central Bank I needed to enter for external meetings. His words for wisdom for me was not to dress "too individualistically" for work. That to me, is tantamount to waving a red flag in front of a bull. What? Me conform to the madding crowd and wear a suit? Puhleeze. Besides, now I have an actual official reason to dress "differently". I work for a Silicon Valley tech company (or rather a financial services company which still persists in calling itself a tech company) and Silicon Valley companies are well-known for their "different" dressing. I guess their idea of "different" generally refers to jeans, polo shirt, bermudas and occasionally slippers. But hey, I am interpreting "different" according to my own creative way which is highly encouraged in these types of companies.

In any case, I ended up with this jacket which has Japanese-inspired style motifs and I actually like this one better since I have a soft spot for Japanese fabrics. And burgundy is my colour as well. Getting it at 50% off was a super bonus.

So I am looking forward to inaugurating this jacket. I might wear it as a dress even!

Labels: , , ,