I look like an exchange student

who matches her blazer to her Converse sneakers (not pictured).



I just wanted to wear my lilac pettipants...

and get my hands on Mr. Mayer...
Hrrrmmm!pervertedmoment!

Made in Australia

I'm officially shattering the promise I made earlier about halting the magazine oriented posts for a week. C'mon, you know I could never keep to a promise like that.

I've been slightly enamoured by mens magazines since reading ancient issues of GQ and Mens Style out of sheer boredom at the hairdressers. I quite like the humour in them; it's the 'male' type of humour that encompasses everything from jokes about the personal style of famous males in history to snarky captions underneath celebrity quotes. I suppose once you skip past the naked ladies and profiles on Megan Fox there are some golden nuggets to be found (e.g "the evolution of a waistcoat").

Today, since I no longer have access to my brothers magazine stash and wasn't willing to trek into the rain for a GQ, I turned to the internet.
Academy For Men is a slick online magazine with a focus on Australian fashion and thankfully devoid of scantily clad ladies. It has a refined yet progressive aesthetic and a matching gentlemanly sense of humour. I don't know what men want from fashion magazines but I certainly enjoyed the article in AFM about facial hair. I find reading into facial hair amusing...and I always enjoy a reference to Ned Flanders. Here's an excerpt from the article: "the moustachioed men of history all had one thing in common. They wore their mo and the mo didn't wear them. You can't rule a country if you can't rule your face. Okely Dokely".

Also in the current issue are articles which celebrate 'fair dinkum' components of Aussie culture (shearers and truckies! lol) as well as a guide on the perfect steak. I wasn't so interested in those but there were plenty of lovely images to keep me occupied. Everything was shot in Melbourne and Sydney so it was fun to spot the Melbourne locations. All in all, a nice and charming read, even if you are aren't a man.




Love these images of a moustachioed man in a top hat. Top hat! Shapely moustache! Love it.


Hi Flinders st subway...


The Shrine?





Mens fashion illustrations! Pretty illustrated men are a nice break from pretty illustrated girls.

Strangers + the sky + 'water colours in a weekend' book= my ideal weekend

I saw a girl wearing clogs in the most tacky way but it strangely enough made me want to wear clogs in an equally gruesome way.

Baby shoes, baby steps

I doubt anyone will remember when I first mentioned my love for platforms wedges in the 'things i want: illustrated on post it notes' (or something along those lines) post. It was a long time ago, when I realised that I was reasonably coordinated enough to walk with my feet a few cm above the ground. Then I started the 'I should really start to wear heels but can't find any to my liking' chronicles and for some strange reason, exempted platform wedges from the 'heels' category. Well 'sucks to' my fickle self (first day back to school and the Lord Of The Flies quotes are already creeping in...)- I say platform wedges DO count as heels. And thanks to a few frenzied moments on ebay, I have scored my first pair; all for a neat $33.70 [inc postage]. Woo!

Being completely obsessed with the sheeny Calvin Kleins, Phong Chi Lai's wooden wedges and Akira's colourful wedges (which I have just found out were also created by Phong Chi Lai!) I was very happy to bid on these Country Road babies which are sadly not as extreme or close to the 'pokkuri' style of the aforementioned but nice nonetheless. And walking in them is exactly like walking in real geta's and pokkuri too! Well from what I can recall about walking in them a few years ago...I remember the geta's specifically positioned 'spikes' forced me to speed walk. These have the exact same effect!

Calvin Klein//Phong Chi Lai//Akira



Geta//Pokkuri


My Country Roads

Magazines again?! YES.

This has been a very magazine ranty oriented week of posting for me. I promise this is the last mag related post for a while...
Obviously when it comes to magazines, keeping it short and sweet is not my forte.


reasons why i must buy this issue of rolling stone.
-john mayer
-john mayer shirtless
-i am superficial
-john mayer's interview supposedly further proves his 'douche-y ness' but the optimist in me likes to believe he's just being frank.


reasons why i must buy this issue of V magazine.
-to see if this token size issue is more than just a gimmick
-to see if it's contradictory/hypocritical in any way
-to find out how they propose to or if they even propose to tackle this body image issue

The Reason Why I Buy Japanese Magazines

I spent my last few hours in Kuala Lumpur binging on magazines in Kinokuniya. Ah if only Melbourne had a branch...then I could divide my weekend time equally between there, Metropolis, Borders (okay so turns out I can't physically give up spending at least half an hour in Borders) and Magnation.
Anyway, I bought Soup, Fruits and Fudge from KL. I also bought an early 2009 copy of ElleGirl Korea whilst in HongKong. It must have been gathering dust on the shelf because the price had been marked down 50%. I wonder how ElleGirl Korea even ended up there- I thought Korea didn't export their mags?!
Okay, back to Japanese magazines. There are __ reasons why I love my small collection of Japanese fashion magazines very much.

1) Styling. Nice mix of high and low.

2) They have actual fashion editorials that actually involve clothing. I'm tired of 'fashion' editorials that are composed of naked models, in say, 1 piece of clothing. This is something that's been getting on my nerve lately. Nudity is edgy and effective when used sparingly. I'm not particularly prudish, I don't mind the occasional nude shot inserted for effect/story line and really couldn't care less about sheer tops and nipple bearing either. However, shot after shot of a naked girl with the same pair of boots on does not constitute a fashion editorial. I understand that the focus is supposed to be on the boots yet it seems her boobs are the point of this shoot...And what annoys me is that these type of fashion editorials have become increasingly prevalent in fashion magazines to the point where it simply feels attention seeking and a cheap shot at being 'arty'/'edgy'. Where did the STYLING go?

3) Street style. For me, nothing beats Japanese street style. Fruits is always awesome...Fudge also dedicated an extensive amount of pages to international street style too- London, Paris, New York...











4) Okay so this is more of a "reason why I love asian magazines (because they feature pop idols)" thing... Pop idols are styled a lot more adventurously in comparison to western mags. Asian pop idols just dress on a whole other level actually. One word: FLASHY! Westerners would probably call it intensely metrosexual but eh, they like their glitter... I like it. The issue of ElleGirl Korea I bought isn't the best example of this point...

...since SHINee were still in their cute phase...

So click here, here, and here to see what I mean.
The links were to Korean bands Big Bang, Big Bang and Shinee respectively.

Sweet editorial from my issue of ElleGirl Korea.

The Reason Why I Buy Print Magazines and Will Continue To Do So

Today I consumed an apricot danish for breakfast and birthday cake, sour cream and chilli chips, rice crisps and a 10% coffee, 90% sugar caramel frappuccino from Starbucks for lunch. By 4.30pm I was having an existential melt down as well as an awkward, angsty, self loathing conversation with myself. I wanted to run away to sulk in the deepest, darket corner of a deep and dark library; ideally Hogwart’s library. Since such a place only exists in my mind I went to Magnation to buy a few magazines. Magnation is an excuse for me to be a social recluse. Magazines are joy. Summing up, I seem to buy magazines when I have emotional issues (which may or may not be induced by shit food).

I digress- A friend of mine couldn't believe that I was willing to drop $30 on a magazine- "I didn't even know magazines could cost that much!"- and it got me wondering whether I could live without print mags and survive soley on free online ones...


Online mags vs Print mags.
Online magazines appear to be the way into the future and print magazines are trying hard to keep up with the growing demands of an online audience ladidadida. But every time I walk into Magnation, Borders or any newsagency or bookstore for that matter, my feelings for the continuation and thriving of print media grows. Yes, everybody is questioning the relevance of print magazines when the internet offers "everything" mags do and what’s more, it’s free, up to date and capable of reaching a broader audience. However, I think there are things online magazines will never be able to replicate.

There are way too many online magazines out there to name but really, I think in regards to fashion, only Mykro mag uses the online medium perfectly. I believe fashion magazines have to work differently online- the focus definitely has to be on the visual aspect much more than the written content (although that is important too). Personally, I have neither the patience nor time to read long winded articles in which I am forced to zoom in to see the text. What I like about Mykro mag is that it features succinct articles, is visually pleasing and is well, micro (in regards to number of pages). I’ll tell you that I am not a fan of ebooks (however handy they may be), and I generally can’t read hundreds of pages of text on a laptop- I couldn’t even get through an online manga series! This may also be because staring at a computer screen for extended periods of time exhausts my eyes. But you know, I think there is a general consensus that no one wants to spend hours staring at a monitor unless forced to.

I while ago, I noticed Dazed and Confused began uploading it’s back issues online. D&C is a substantially thick magazine in print (150 pages or so?) so going through it online was incredibly tiring for me. [edit. I received an email ages ago notifying me of back issues going online and I swear I viewed the entire issue with Kristen Stewart on the cover...I went to find a link a second ago and turns out you have to pay to view the online version of the mag, which makes sense...but it's weird that I viewed the whole K.Stewart issue online for free since you can't do that now...]The internet is great for short attention spans (and if I am correct, has attributed to our increasingly shortening attention spans) so uploading lengthy mags for online consumption doesn’t really make sense to me. Online mags need to be succinct.

I was thinking if say, Pop or Another were available online, would I read them? No, I wouldn’t. For one, it’s hard to find time to sit in front of a computer and devour all its contents especially when it comes to such content rich mags like that. I’d only flick to the images and that’s about it. Which brings me to the point of images: Images in print are a whole lot more special when you’re looking at it in your hands than on a monitor. It’s a bit like storing digital photos vs photo abums with printed photos. Images in print also have the intended colour resolution (and are so much more beautiful I think), whereas viewing images online, you may not get the full experience- everybody has a different colour res on their screens. I suppose it’s subtle but it’s important, in my opnion. Also, I’m a bit of a stickler for page texture too...I think the weight and width of a page certainly adds to the power/effect of the image.

I’m not completely old school though- if I was, I wouldn’t be blogging, I’d be zineing. With the speed and ease of digital, it easily makes things feel disposable. Something of which I believe magazines should NOT be. I’m very much one of those people who are anal about keeping magazines in good condition (aside from gossip magazines-really couldn’t give a shit about them. Sorry). I’m the sort of person who treasures her magazines well and view magazines as a documentation of a particular moment in time which I can refer back to in the future. Online media should be fun and give instantaneous hits of quick articles and images. But print mags (again, not counting gossip rags) are worthy enough to be treated like books. They’re more than just a quick fix.

The internet is amazing for magazines and has so many pros, but I think the speed of information...it’s almost...too fast?! To me, print magazines are symbolic of time and longevity. Online magazines can quickly get lost amongst the sea of other online mags and I feel the content standard is sometimes lower than that of print magazines. I guess this all boils down to me wanting Pocketto in print. There’s no way Pocketto would be what it is now without it starting and being available online, I know that, but I am tired of feeling like each issue is substandard after I upload it when I know it can be better. I think I’ve just approached online magazines in the wrong way...only now do I realise online mags and print mags have to be approached in an entirely different way... Not saying that print is the answer to my problems (in fact, it probably will cause more problems!), but it was my original intention for Pocky to be in print (and I think what Aimee and I have planned content wise is more suitable for print) since the start and I believe in print media enough to follow through. There's definitely a place for online magazines, I just hope to never see print mags diminish...

Sorry for writing a whole essay length post dudes. You know I don’t do this unless I really really really really care about a topic. Plus, I have an English essay due tomorrow and writing about this is much more fun :)

Please HONESTLY tell me what you think about print vs online magazines (someone should discuss price and environmental factors too...). I know I will continue to buy print mags for the rest of my life (or the existence of print mags) but sometimes I feel advancement of the online media and its subsequent rise/takeover is inevitable.

Stuff I bought #1

When we were in HongKong my head was saying yes to more shopping, but my suitcase was saying no.

Note: I hate denim leggings and their arse groping ways just as much as the next person but the Zara ones I bought don't even look like leggings although feel like it, which is the beauty of them of course.

Topshop leather jacket (Malaysia)// Ochirly penguin jumper (Shanghai)


Dress from Shenzhen ($7AUD!)// Close up of textured bit


Denim leggings from Zara in Shanghai// Leopard print jacket from Shenzhen


Carpet textured dress from Shenzhen


Ochirly dress from Shenzhen, Zara grey blazer from Shanghai//Friends box set from Beijing//Vincci shoes from Malaysia

I'm boring in summer

It is decided. I will now cease to piss away my time in Borders and do so in Metropolis instead. I'm not giving up magnation though. Never.


Wearing: LikkleG's dress, Wittner shoes and holding Zara blazer.

Delayed New Years Eve photos

I've nearly used up all my space for this month on flickr. I hate it when that happens. And no, I'm not going to update to pro. I'm much too cheap for that.

I feel like I'm running low on content to blog but in fact I have quite a number of things to blog about. I'm just so unmotivated to blog about it after 72 hours of homework. Holiday homework you are the bane of my existence.

These photos were taken on New Years Eve in Shanghai. I take it that they're pretty self explanatory so no captions needed. My only commentary would be that nothing beats Chinese fireworks.