Party, we did!

Everyone dressed up to the nines and we had so much fun. Haha... reminded me of our Uni days in NTU! I love my friends!

Theme Parties!

My group of friends from the university is really into theme parties and all of us, for the past occasions had put in tons of effort to out-dress each other!

Some of the theme parties that we had:

- Pyjamas X’mas 2006
- Cartoon Characters 2007
- Green Party at QH’s housewarming (can’t rem the date)
- Retro Party 2008

And tomorrow will be “Shanghai Chic” at China Club! Looking really forward to tomorrow’s theme party since the last one was in 2008. I really appreciate the time and effort that my friends had put in to organize a party for 16 pax!

All of us, already in our 30s are still making a fool of ourselves but seriously, without this group of friends, I believe my life will be dull as hell.

Above are some pictures from … yes, the Retro party. It was so so so fun and we spent a good 30 mins just laughing and taking pictures of each other. Kudos to my Hub, who was the key organizer for the Retro Party; he managed to rah-rah a few retro items from fellow friends and relatives, and also took the trouble to rent a few rarer items from a cute, little retro shop at FarEast Plaza. It was really hilarious to pretend that we were our parents in the 1970s…

I hope tomorrow’s party will be a blast!

Which part of Black-Tie do you not understand?

Ok, now that the so-called blacktie event was over, my conclusion: Ladies in Singapore do not understand dress-codes…

99.5% of the gentlemen came in their tuxedos, shiny black leather shoes and cute little bow-ties. I counted only 3 men out of a total of around 50 gentlemen, who came in their business suits and of course, they stuck out like sore thumbs.

As for the ladies… horror of all horror, some came in PANTS, some wore dresses that I would wear to office instead of a black-tie event. I would say, about 50% of the ladies did not adhere to the dress code.

Of course, the organizers were decked out to the nines, where the ladies wore beautiful gowns, expensive jewellery, carried exquisite beaded clutches and did their hair and make-up. But, they were the minority…

It turned out that I was one of the better dressed! Geez…

Sure, this wasn’t one of those gala charity dinners or some award ceremonies, but seriously… pants??!!

The organizers took the effort to book a swanky, exclusive dinning venue, brought in some good labels from 1982 Bordeaux, paired the food with the wines and wanted to have a glamorous event to celebrate our nation’s 45th birthday and yet, some ladies didn’t even make the effort to wear a decent long dress…

Where do these people come from?!?!

What if another lady wears the same dress as me?

As the black-tie event draws nearer, I start to wonder whether I’ll be caught in a situation where another lady wears the exact same dress as me!

There is such a possibility since I only bought the dress rather recently and it was an off-the-rack item. Not to mention that the dress was very affordable, despite the fact that it looked rather grand and good enough for a black-tie event. Well, in my humble opinion, of course.

So… I’m betting that all the other ladies, who will be attending the event aren’t the cheap-skate-types. I hope that all of them will be wearing Prada, Valentino or TanYoong and the equivalents, and not my cheapo-po-but-still-presentable gown (I think!) from a local store…

OMG, what if someone really wears the same gown as me?

I have thought of bringing a scarf/drape along, but I cannot find anything matching from my pathetic collection of scarves!

*panic*

My very first Black-Tie event

I have never been to any galas or charity dinners or formal, corporate functions that require a Black Tie dress code. Not ever in my 30 years of life.

And suddenly, Hub received an invitation to attend a formal dinner on National Day and the dress code is Black-Tie.

W.O.A.H

Hub already has a tux, as well as, different types of bowties and cummberbunds to choose from. He has the traditional bowtie and silk cummberbund for the true, blue traditional black tie function ala James Bond. He also has something that is more stylish, a thin, black silk ribbon for e bowtie, or even a grayish polka dot bowtie with matching cummberband that shouts FUN and yet still formal enough for a black tie event.

Yup, that’s my Hub for you.

As for me, to my horror, I realized that I do NOT own a formal, long gown. Damn… I should have bought my evening wedding gown 2 years ago instead of renting it. Argh… I REALLY loved my gown then. Unfortunately, my bridal studio had closed shop for good, so I can’t go back and buy back the gown; and I also seriously wonder whether I can still fit into that gown in the first place.

I do have a few pretty, flirty cocktail dresses and some formal but knee-length dresses. None deem fit for a black-tie function.

That means that I HAVE THE PREFECT REASON TO BUY A BEAUTIFUL GOWN!

I am secretly very excited!!! Of course, I showed my pained expression to Hub when he told me about the event last night and I was grumbling how I have to waste money buying a gown just for this event, but seriously, I WAS JUMPING FOR JOY AND EXCITEMENT once I was alone in the bedroom.

It is also stated on the invitation that “national dress” will also be acceptable since it will be National Day after all. So…. Does that mean that I can wear a Sari? A Cheongsum? A Sarong Kabaya?

Hmmm…. How about a Cheongsum gown? I have about a month to find a gown… which means that I have to get it off the rack instead of tailor-making one as the timeline is too tight.

Shopping time!

p/s: The orange gown on Michelle Yeoh is absolutely divine! But I don’t think orange will look good on me… but it’s such a beautiful gown isn’t it?

Je suis chic

Instead of going to the gym, I was out shopping during lunch just now. I felt utterly, totally and definitely ugly when I came into office this morning.

I was running out of clothes to wear, partly because most of my clothes are currently in the “to-be-ironed” pile (and ever increasing), and seriously, life is so much more than ironing. Unless I’m on the verge of going to work naked the next day, then I’ll dutifully be a good wife and iron my own clothes.

Anyway, I wana talk about my shopping spree and not about the tragic wife who has to iron her own clothes…

So, this morning was one of those days where I came dangerously close to going to work naked, out of desperation, I pulled out a top that I’ve bought around 10 years ago. TEN FREAKING YEARS AGO?!

Can you believe that?!

The good part of this episode was that… well, I could still fit into clothes that I’ve bought 10 years ago. (Nevermind that the material was actually stretchable)

The horrible part was that I looked so dated… that I could almost blend into our office’s pantry.

ARGH….. and it really doesn’t help that I am constantly surrounded by beautiful female colleagues who dresses so well to work… …that it hurts.

So during lunch, I ran to the nearest Zara, bought 3 pieces of items and immediately changed into one.

There, I felt better already. Wearing a happy shade of yellow definitely makes me happy and feel a tad more confident about myself.

Je suis chic.

Pretty Woman

Feeling ugly today. Urgh. Even the new intern dresses better than me.

It is such a hassle to be a woman. Gotta watch my hair, face, figure, nails, legs… Argh, I’m going crazy already!

I think most girls find doing girly things fun. Facial, shopping for new clothes & shoes, going for pedicure, shopping for make-up … … etc.

For me, I’m doing the bare minimum just to look presentable. I’ve never been trendy to start with. I just make sure that I look okay so that I do not embarrass my friends or my hubby when we walk together.

For special occasions, I will make an effort to dress up. Got to at least show some respect to the hosts of the gala dinners or weddings or parties, and since I do not attend such events often, it can be rather fun to play “dress-up” once a while.

But normal day-to-day… I can be rather nonchalant. Come’on, my brain cannot function at 7 am in the morning, the act of mix-and-match is beyond me. I just grab what-ever has been ironed. And I only iron my clothes once every few years…

But, today… it hit me that I really gotta watch my dressing. I look really STUMPY today. Urgh… like an auntie.

Time to go shopping during lunch.

Dressing Up

I don’t have super dress sense. Unlike BF, who always manages to look good and that’s because he really puts in a lot of effort to choose his shirts, shoes, specs, ties, cufflinks. Almost everything matches… maybe except his underwear! Ha.

I believe that there aren’t ugly girls in this world, only lazy ones. With make-up, clothes, fake eyelashes, hair extensions…. How ugly can a girl be if she really puts in effort to dress well and be well-groomed?

Anyway, once a while, I also like to play dress up and try to create a “look”. I will usually start with creating an image, for example Sexy Kitten? Tai-Tai? Mod? And after that, I will then look for the dress, accessories and think of the make-up and hairdo to go with the “look”.

For a friend’s recent wedding, I came up with a “Cleopatra” idea. Took me a few months to put together the look as I bought the dress quite a while back, but I had to look for suitable shoes and only managed to get a pair just the night b4!

Tried to do the china-doll hairstyle, which turned out to be a disaster. Out of desperation, I just combed everything back and tied a ponytail. Ta-dah! That actually worked out quite well. Haha.