The Perry Amber Story

Look Ma, it's me!

White dress with pearl embroidery from Perry Amber

Some friends never grow old

The making of Perry Amber...

Stay tuned...

Hair & Makeup by: Gena

Photography by: Aylwin Lek

O hail Shanghai Tang

It's no secret that I like Shanghai, with its colonial architecture, self-absorbed haughtiness and larger than life people. The way the city is evolving never fails to fascinate me, and I find myself looking forward to visit the place every time.

But I'd be the first to scrunch my face when it comes to chinese inspired clothings, or outfits with "a touch of the orient". Mandarin collars, silk screen fans and butterfly embroidery are not something that you'd see on a fashionista. When you see someone wearing a silk blouse with chinese buttons, the person either works at a hotels, a Chinese restuarant, or he stole the ensemble from the Chinatown masseuse.

But the latest ad-campaign from Shanghai Tang - the unlikeliest of brands, took my breath away.

This season, Shanghai Tang place presents a contemporary collection with accents, embellishments and colours from the Miao culture. The Miao people are an ethnic minority living in the hills around south China.

Juxtaposing antiquity and modernity, the intricacy of Miao elements dovetails beautifully with clean fluid lines to create visuals that redefines Chinese beauty.

The placement of sleek models against the majestic mountains is both romantic and bold; and the use of jade on navy star embellished silk blouse is just crazy beautiful.

Gone are the days when the notion of Chinese beauty is identifiable only by the iconic red lips and thigh high slits. O hail!

New year, new look

New Year. Time to present to the world with a better version of me -

New hair, new clothes and a renewed resolve to conquer the world in my 5 inch heels, among other things. Hee

You know how the Chinese always pray for a good year ahead, failing which they will spend the year quivering in fear avoiding water, marriage, and women with surnames beginning with "P" or "L" or "C".

But I choose to believe that life is given to those who take it.

I had a hell of a 2010 defined by memories of me beating incredible odds, meeting incredible people, learning incredible things, finding incredible luck, feeling incredibly dejected, behaving like an incredible asshole and getting incredibly drunk.

And such is life.

So come 2011, who knows what I'll learn, which new places I'll visit and what opportunities might come knocking on my door. But whatever it is, 2011, I am coming straight at you.

And perhaps, just perhaps, this year, I will take a leap of faith.

Square-necked "Audrey Dress" in Grey from Sophisticate @ 51 Telok Ayer Street #01-05 Singapore.

CNY promotion at Sophisticate boutique from now till CNY. 10% off 2nd item, 15% off 3rd item. Exclusively manufacture, limited pieces available (only 2 - 3 per size, per design).

Blue is the colour of Good Taste

Ariel: Have you ever seen anything so beautiful in your entire life?
Flounder: Wow, but umm what is it?

Ariel: I don't know
Scuttle: It's a dinglehopper!

(excerpt from Walt Disney's The Little Mermaid)

Who said that money cannot buy happiness doesn't know where to shop.

Some styles are timeless; some colours become legendary.

Nothing sings pretty like a lil' something from the trademark blue box.

But nothing excites me more than a thoughtful gift that captures the pulse of my personal and professional life.

Mr Robin Egg Blue is a passport holder

(Although The Little mermaid and her silly little friends wouldn't know what it is)

And the prettiest one I've ever seen.

Besides what better way to brighten the day of overworked immigration officers at airports

than a dash of colour and a bit of stylish inspiration from NY's Fifth Avenue.

Bangkok - The land of unexpected adventures

Thailand is a land of smiles for tourists, and they say that if you know how to exercise your tourist rights, you'll never be bored or alone. Whether you are revelling in the company of with a bewitchingly beautiful woman with a strangely deep voice, or feasting on authentic Tom Yam Gung, more often than not, a traveller would stumble upon an adventure that wasn't quite planned.

Now, there is no better way to experience Bangkok than to take its mass transit system or the BTS. In fact, it is the best way about Bangkok, because one would have to be living in Siberia for the past decade to not have heard of the famed rush hour traffic jam that makes double boiling chinese soup seem like fast food.

So it all started with me losing my way after I alighted at the Chidlom BTS Station.

I must have looked really sweaty and lost in my 4 inch spikes and black Karen Millen dress after walking for about 300 meters in the Bangkok humidity, when a guy stopped me in my tracks with a smile playing at the corner of his lips. He is clearly not local.

"Hey beautiful, whatcha doin? Are you lost? Where you from?" he asked with a thick accent that I couldn't quite place.

I stared at him dumfounded. English-speaking people are really rare in this country and when you see one, the last thing you want to do is to say something dumb and fuck up your chance of ever finding your way around.

"Yes I'm a bit lost. can you please point me to Ploenchit Road?"

"Yes, I'm lost, can you point me to Ploenchit Road?" he mimicked.

"I'm sorry? Do you or do you not know?" I quizzed, my annoyance slightly rising. There I was, late, lost and alone with this dude who was obviously trying to be funny.

"I'm sorry? Do you or do you not know?" he mimicked again.

Annoyed, I threw my hands up in annoyance and tried to turn my heels to walk off, but he blocked my way and pressed on, "Hey beautiful, follow me I know the place that you want to go, follow me. Cmon, follow me. Are you going for a meeting? Can I sit beside you and watch you?"

"I want to follow you wherever it is - this place that you are going to", he urged.

This time, I was completely creeped out.

If it wasn't because he look like he is well-versed in tribal warfare and could probably outrun an Olympic runner, I might have unleashed my unfiled fingernails on his face or sprinted off in my 4 inch heels. But no, he looked like he could out-wrestled me even in a clown suit.

So being brilliant at figuring out situations like this, I did what any intelligent woman would do when faced with a confrontational man: I pretended to have period cramps and demanded that he help me to purchase a pack of sanitary pad from the nearest convenience stall.

So there I was standing in the middle of the road doubled over, clutching my lower abdomen in mock pain and shouting, "Quick, go get the Kotex pads with wings! I can't move, it's too painful!"

Needless to say, he was not amused. Barely a minute into my acting, he muttered a "dumb bitch!" and strode away, as if the episode never happened.

The moment he turned his heels, I straightened up, finger-combed my sweat streaked hair and sashayed towards the nearest building to get guidance to my destination.

This reminds me of you

Just the other day, a friend sent me an email with Anna Zakuslyo for Anteprima (above) and said, "This reminds me of you...on so many levels!"

I am not sure what he was doing browsing a women's fashion catalogue, nor am I sure what he meant by that, although he clarified later that he meant the overall zeitgeist of the image.

But I felt beautiful.

Thank you.

A sunday kind of wonderful

Is there really a better way to conclude a busy, fulfiling week than waking up smiling on an early Sunday morning, reading the papers in bed and sipping coffee in a pink Victoria's Secret pyjamas?

Well yes...rolling out of bed on Sunday, just before noon. Breakfast is past lunch time, and it comes with truffle sandwiches, burgundy wine, a dresscode and good company.

While I'm not usually a fan of having dainty bites al fresco right in the middle of Singapore's heatwave, but I love themed tea parties.

And nothing befits tea parties during good times more than a candy-floss coloured sundress with a frivolous full-skirted silhouette that has a great emphasis on the narrowness of the waist. The look is a simple one that is influenced by the 1950s - a time when feminine fashion for women returned with a vengeance after the auterity of the 1940s.

While wide-brimmed hats and lacey gloves were the accessories of choice back then, keep the look modern and not overdo it, or you'll look like you've lost your way to a fancy dress contest. After all, the true beauty of the sundress is its ability to stand on its own without much adornment.

Dress on Isabelle: Pastel blue poplin dress from Sophisticate (52 Telok Ayer Street #01-05)

My name is Isabelle and I have a compulsive addiction to heels

To a compulsive shoe addict like me, sometimes heaven comes in the form of tiny, shiny, 5-inch spikes with a $15 price tag.

When Sabrina and I decided to spend a boring Saturday afternoon milling aimlessly around Far East Plaza, it was largely motivated by the idea of saving an afternoon's aircon bill, stuffing our face with oily junk food, and laughing at whales with too much make-up trying to fit themselves into frilly floral dresses that even Hello Kitty wouldn't be caught dead in.

Also, depending on which one of us you're asking, we were also tasked to uncover local fashion talents for SauceINK's upcoming issue.

Then, as if destiny decide to intervene in order to prevent Sabrina from getting bad karma because she was intending to buy ugy muscle T-shirts to distribute around her office, a shoe shop miraculously appeared in front of us with a sign that reads "SALE - All heels at $15".

I don't know about you, but at the moment, we understood exactly how Carrie Bradshaw felt like when she went to Abu Dhabi and realise that embroidered sandals were sold at US$20 a pair - considering the fact that she is an ang mo, she probably got ripped off already , that's why the uncle kept her passport for her.

With bated breath, we surrendered to what I thought was a wet dream come true, and between the 2 of us, we almost cleared out the sale with more pairs of shoes than my grandfather will ever own in his lifetime...

Check it out!

Conventional wisdom has it that women with inexplicable affection for heels have issues.

But $15 for months of happy hours from the sense of empowerment that you get from being 5-inches taller than you really are, I tell you, the feeling is priceless.

And plus don't you think they're just lovely? Awwww....

Hi my name is Isabelle and I have an addiction to heels. My entire blog is peppered shamelessly with indications of it. In fact, you can also read about it here and here.

Outfit on Isabelle: FCUK inspired romper from BonitoChico

Look who's been misbehaving!

Rarely am I ever denied entry into clubs without an ID for looking underaged.

But when the door bitch of a certain popular club in town decidedly accused one of us for being a jailbait, we hiked up our already-too-short Herve Leger and BCBGMAXAZRIA dresses, slung on our lambskin Chanel 2.55 purses and brought our perfected mega-watt smiles to St James Powerhouse.




Then we proceeded to paint the already scarlett-coloured mega-club red.

We first popped into Powerhouse. Now, there isn't much to complain about Powerhouse. There was awesome R&B music, the people were less posey and more dancey, and there were not many whales who would attempt to do a somersault on the podium after one too many apple vodka. In fact, it was perfect, until someone came up to us:


[Guy] Hey it's my friend's 21st birthday and we are breaking a bottle to celebrate. Thought you ladies might like to join us?

I've never felt more like a cougar in my life.

But at the brink of inebriation, anything and everything seemed like a valid reason for us to clink our wine glasses together in celebration. And so I fibbed, telling the guy that we got kicked out of the other club for being underaged, a story which he readily lapped it up.

After about 4 hours and 2 bottles of champagnes, I was still left with a lot of mileage to party. But then the fluorescent lights came on, and I was left with the choice adjourning to Dragonfly for some cheesy CantoPop, or risk looking like a mime performer basking in Orchard if I didn't get off the podium.

Clearly I chose neither...Siao!

So here's to my awesome friends, who gamely allowed me to post some of our photos on my blog. We were many things that night, but above all, we had fun.

But to the door bitch at the first club: If I had a cheaper Chanel bag, I'd swing it into your oily face and bloody your pug nose. May we look younger than you forever.

Happy Easter Ya'll

I spent the Easter Holiday in exactly the same way I'd spend celebrating Deepavali.

But to all of you, whom the holiday meant something more, Happy Easter to ya'll!

Dress from Sophisticate: A dash of colour for a cheerful occassion.

Latest Fashion Trend in Hong Kong

If intelligence is a determinant of one's sex appeal, then there is no clearer indication of one's brain size than the size of one's glasses.

While I am not a big fashion experimenter on a daily basis, sticking to slim-cut basics and 4-inch heels, the same way Tiger Woods stick to blond women, every once in a while, I go overboard experimenting with new looks.

A while ago it was the Blair Waldorf look, for which I bought a headband that came with plumes of feather and a ribbon so huge that it will put the headgear of a Qing Dynasty princess to shame. Even then, I only enacted scenes from the Case of the Siao Overaged Teenager within the confines of my own room.

In Hong Kong, it was the studious, preppy look. The main ingredient of this look: huge, thick-rimmed vintage spectacles. Students wore it, the working class wore it, bankers walking towards the Central subway wore it. The trend was said to have started in London, then spread to Hong Kong, Korea and Japan. While the geeky-specs appeal got picked up in Singapore, the more conservative local dressers did not adopt it in a big way.

So I while in Hong Kong, I went all out, and treated myself to a giant pair of cow print spectacles. And in my understated geeky glamour that is both intense and uncontrived, I reigned the streets of Hong Kong, charming people into divulging their most well-kept dimsum enclaves.

After all, like all things related to sex appeal, the bigger the better, isn't it so?

Yours Mathematically, Best Boy Slave

Sometimes in life, mathematics theories are applied to the most unthinkable of situations, like gambling, picking up chicks, shoe shopping, and rush hours in the morning. Over an MSN conversation on Sunday, it was a proposition.

I have a weakness for well-arched, painfully skinny 4 inch heels in a way as if my intelligence depended on them. Inevitably, I have amassed legions of Foot-philes with a soft spot for my well-heeled appendages. And what do they say about shoe-philes; is that beneath the heel of every successful Shoe-phile is a dedicated Footphile.

A Footphile, like people with most forms of philism, are attracted to feet, in the same way some men are to big boobs, rebonded hair and plastic nails. I wouldn't call a Footphile a Fetishist, because then you'd conjure up the images of strange men with froth at the corner of their mouth, wear their pants at chest-level, and who overdosed on colgate and peanut shells as an infant.

No, in fact they are well-heeled, god-fearing and normal looking professionals who would make my obsession with stealing toilet papers from library toilets look dangerous and abnormal.

So on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I was having a normal serious conversation with a Footphile when it expectedly steered towards him volunteering to bring me shoe-shopping. My dwindling collection of kick-ass boots and 4-inch heels has to be replenished just so that he can polish them for me. Talk about taking boot-licking to a whole new level, which I basically interpreted as:

"Free fashion advice, new sinful heels. Oh and being unconditionally worshipped."

With that part of the conversation starting with "You are the enigma of Goddess Isabelle", I was pretty much sold on the idea.

Footphile: I want to be your BBS - Best Boy Slave. That is how it's meant to be. Damn, maybe it shld be BBSF.

Me: Huh? What is BBSF?

Footphile: You know, it's like BBF, Best Friends Forever.
Mathematically, B(BS)F, where F is substituted by BS, and the outside B and F remain constant.
So that makes me your Best Boy Slave Forever.

Spotted: Sophisticated Executive Fashion Boutique at China Square

Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl with the exquisite sense of style and a treasure trove of beautiful clothes will probably never have a case of "I've-got-nothing-nice-to-wear-for-work" (not that she has to work), but mere mortals like us with only a fraction of her clothing money would have lamented at the lack of non-mass executive wears available in the market at some point in time.

And chances are, at some point in time, we'd have experience the humiliation of turing up at work in the same blouse from G2000 as the office receptionist.

Sophisticate is a boutique tucked in a corner of the Raffles Place area that caters to the fashion needs of working fashion afficionados who loves to dress up in well-tailored non-mass dresses in rich fabrics.

Owner and designer of the label, Wendy, invited me to check out her new Spring 2010 collection, and I must say, that she has outdone herself again.

The tweed square necked dress that I was wearing in the photo above is one of my favourites in her new collection.

Exuding vintage glamour and feminine details, the dresses at Sophisticate are something that even Blair Waldorf would approve of.

You can check out part of her new collection on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#/album.php?aid=175467&id=785744851

From now till this Sunday, 17 Jan 2010, Sophisticate will have a booth in Isetan Parkway Parade. Isetan shoppers will be entitled to a 20% discount off the new collection, and a whopping 50% off Sophisticate's older collection.

PS: I had to sneak a photo of me in that dress in the dresser, so it's chopped off where my hand with the camera is. LOL.