top to bottom

IMG_0104

It turns out that the best place in my flat for taking pictures of my outfit that aren't too grainy...is the laundry room. Figures, since the place with the best natural light goes to airing my laundry (it is still a crappy picture because I am using a crappy camera). In any case, I like this sweater so much that I wanted to show you guys what it looks like on. This is also pretty much my work uniform now, though I also wear ballet flats and loafers. Such a contrast from my uniform in January.

Anyway, No Signposts in the Sea has done a pair of great posts here and here on style narratives and blogging, and I highly recommend it. I've often been reluctant to do outfit posts because I'm lazy, and also in the past whenever I did them they don't feel right - I wasn't interested in sharing my thoughts on style in such a manner.

But I've come to enjoy it whenever bloggers do outfit posts - and not always in a slickly photographed, editorial-ish manner - ever since I've come to discover blogs with similar aesthetics and goals to mine. And I realise that I enjoy the narrative people want to share with the world.

I suppose I'm doing one of my own as a quid pro quo, hah. I don't see myself doing one every day (I'm lazy) but I think doing outfit posts from time to time is my contribution to expressing what I believe my style narrative to be, and to the overall coherence of what I'm trying to say about style and design with this blog.

Read the posts and share what you guys think?

Comments

Fleurette said…
Oh you look fantastic and i hope you will continue posting your outfits as i find this one really inspiring!! The top has a flattering cut. Haha, i have realized that all my favorite blogs only post headless outfit pics! Definitely going to check out the links!
Kate said…
You look lovely. I really like outfit photos - because many of the blogs I read share similar style and there are several reoccuring items, I like to see how different people wear them.
Anonymous said…
Love the outfit. Simple and beautiful! Keep it up ;-)
K. said…
Read the two posts just now (thank you for the links!) - I agree with the author wholeheartedly about how blogging (or facebook, or other social media on the internet nowadays) serve as an external narrative/projection about how you want to be perceived.

For some style bloggers blogging may be about snapping everything they wear every day, things they got from their sponsors, places that they have been etc., but I definitely enjoy reading blogs like yours and Fleurette's and the like, which actually deliberately curate a certain, distinct style you have and how you go about maintaining the wardrobe. You all have to been a really great inspiration in helping me downsizing my wardrobe and sustaining a style that I truly love!

Haha, as you can see, I am more like a text person but would love to see your outfit posts though from time to time. Your photos are always lovely!
I'd love to see more outfit posts! I'm going to read the posts later because I'm in a hurry now. :)
Fleurette said…
I just read those posts, thanks so much for sharing them. I agree with the author even though I no longer feel like I have to wear blog-worthy outfits (not that I've been feeling like that as of late but when I was a teenager (oh, just few months left) every outfit of mine had to be new, kinda innovative and blog-worthy...).
I, for one, embrace wearing the same garments over and over again, that's why all the outfit images on my blog are just variations of the first outfit photo posted.
Anonymous said…
I have been reading your blog for some time now and have especially enjoyed your recent posts on summer style. The simplicity and consistency of your style is refreshing. I read the posts you linked to and found that they describe how I feel about style blogs and the confusion they can produce. I read a small number of blogs regularly, mostly of the minimal variety, but find that I need to take a break now and then. I feel the more I read about others style and preferences the less I dress for myself. Sometimes it is good to take a step back and just wear the clothes you are comfortable in.
miss sophie said…
i agree with everyone else - you should do an outfit post now and then! love seeing how you put your pieces together...and the cut of the sweater with your jeans (who makes them?) is perfect. :)

thanks for sharing the links - very insightful and provocative. i think there's a fine line between using a blog to instigate endless cycles of consumption in a never-ending effort to create 'the new'. for me, style blogging is meaningful when you use it as a way to self-reflect and create a sense of self through style and clothing. very much like that essay you posted a while ago from W.
Amanda said…
I've always wondered how many style bloggers can afford the amount of clothes it takes to look "refreshing" and how they have so much time to take these crazy editorial-esque photos. The posts on Signposts was interesting especially for the comments. I think when you reach a certain age, you discover that all you want to do is dress as quickly and comfortably as possible. Also, unless you're in a stable, high earning job, clothes take a backseat to other important things. And to me, blogs that show us how to juggle those things, mothers and wives who are overwhelmed with life and work and still manage to look stylish - those are the blogs that interest me and earn my respect.

BTW, my style narrative is: be prepared, be appropriate and be comfortable! That Giordano sweater is all kinds of lovely =)
Great read, thank you for posting the links. I too get caught up in "blog-worthy" dressing. When I started out on the now-defunct StyleDiary it was mostly for myself, to see what worked and didn't work in terms of fit, to experiment with outfits, and to keep an online record of the items in my closet. Sometimes I would forget about things until I saw a photo of them.

I migrated to a personal blog, which coincided with graduating college and (fortunately) earning more money each year; I did start to worry about not having enough new things to show on my blog and posting outfits that had no drama. I bought a lot of things I came to regret.

Recently I have been trying to get back to the shopping habits I had back when I was a broke student - looking at my closet now, the items that I love I purchased before my blogging days, when I only had myself to worry about and no other audience to please. It is still hard to resist temptation, but I am slowly getting better. Now I am also trying to dress for myself again and not the blog. I do love fashion, not just in the practical everyday aspect of it, but also in the art and spectacle of it. Although some of my favorite blogs preach the art of building a closet full of the ultimate basics, I know I will never be an ascetic when it comes to my own wardrobe. I love the forward-thinking designers as much as I do the "Parisian chic" ideal.

I love personal style blogs and continue to be inspired by them which is why I take the trouble to maintain my own. I just need to find my own voice again and have my blog be a reflection of that, rather than letting my blog dictate what I wear.

And this has been way too long a response now, so I will stop. Lol.
Ginta said…
Thank you for the links! Very interesting read. :) And I hope to see more of your outfit posts in future.

I started to blog to decrease my shopping actually. It didn't work in the beginning but posting my outfits regularly helped me to understand what works for me, what I'm lacking. I was very chaotic shopper pre-blog times, so I had pretty much material to work with. So, now I've purged my closet and try to work with what I got. My aim is to recycle & remix as much as possible. Will see how it works. :)
yanqin said…
Fleurette: Thanks, I know what you mean by the cut; not all boxy tops work! I'm glad you enjoyed the linked posts, they're just too well-written not to share and I enjoyed the comments too. And I like my privacy too much - Singapore is a small place!

Kate: Thanks. I like seeing recurring items too - it's fun to see people interpret things.

Susanna: Thank you!

K: Thank you, I find your blog and tumblr plenty inspiring too. I blog to try a "curate" a style of my own, and I'm glad it makes sense to other people!

heart in a cage: Thank you! I will try and do more when I feel inspired.

Anon: Thanks! I know the feeling of too much influence; I used to be very keen on the sort of clothes found on Oak NYC because of the blogs I read and it took a while to get used to the idea that it wasn't "me".

Miss Sophie: Thank you! The jeans are G-star, and this particular fit is one of their two skinny styles - I like that it sits just above the hips.

Agree abt what you said about personal style; I think you do very well in wearing your fave items over and over again in ways that seem new, but still very "you".
yanqin said…
Amanda: I like your style narrative so much that I will steal it as a personal mantra: being prepared and appropriate is so important when you have to juggle all kinds of daily tasks, as you said. And like you, I find bloggers that share this sort of thing more interesting too. It's inspiring to see people lead real lives with grace.

koko: No need to apologise for a wordy comment; I'm not exactly succinct myself. When I first did outfit posts it was meant to be a visual record too - I forced myself to post even if I wasn't fond of my outfit. I soon realised which outfits I liked best and exemplified the ideal I carried in my head the most - so the visual record definitely helped. I think from now on, I will only post if it's something that feels particularly revelatory for the day. I see your appreciation for design in your posts and I really enjoy seeing how you bring an extraordinary piece of design to life (your original Helmut Langs!).

Ginta: I was the same! Once I figured out my uniform, I actually felt less motivated to do outfit posts, haha.
Jennifer said…
you have such style discipline, or is it devotion, that i think this and your earlier uniform post are quite similar. the silhouette is the same.

i could relate to much of what no signposts wrote as far as starting to view clothing as props for the blog, instead of genuinely chronicling her personal style. what i have noticed is that readers really respond to personal pictures. they love it, and encourage it. it is, after all, what is missing from magazines - that human element. then bloggers get themselves crazy and try to mimic the slickness of magazines. ironic.
i always go back and forth on this issue for myself, to post or not to post personal pictures.
yanqin said…
Pret a Porter: "I have to have the proper frame of reference for it, I don't like posting outfits just for the sake of posting outfits" -- that's always been my favourite thing about your outfit posts; I love the inspiration behind them!

I think quality photos are a bonus but I'd rather see a grainy pict of a truly inspired outfit than a series of clear but indifferent ones.

What's disturbs me abt my photo is how orange my skin looks! Not sure what was going on there.

editor: I like the idea of being devoted to a style :) I agree about responding to the human element; even on jak and jil where the subjects are clearly not everyday people, it's still a joy to see some fantastic from Céline being rocked by someone who isn't a model. It makes something more than just a "thing".
Angie said…
I found the posts inspiring and they formed the sparkle for my latest post.I'd love to have outfit pictures from you whenever you feel like.I like the aura of your blog and it's more personal if I can relate the posts to a person.
Alexandra said…
Great choice. I love the top, it's very flattering on you.
I'd love to see more outfits posts, I think it's something I'll have to start exploring on my blog also.

http://herribbonsandherbows.blogspot.com/
S said…
I love the ease of your outfit! As suspected this sweater looks much more amazing on the body. I wanted to thank you for linking to that blog. I'm still digesting the posts (and am busy reading all her previous posts now), but it is so easy to get caught up in the whole style blogging trap of feeling like you have to present something new. I was emailing with Garderoben before about how sometimes I'd like to just have a private blog with just a few friends, bc somehow that might make me feel more at liberty to post everyday "boring" things. But the reason I opened my blog in the first place was to serve as a venue to have a conversation with people, and I think you attract similar minded people when you blog as a personal reflection of your own thoughts vs trying to make some kind of statement that isn't truly representative of yourself. Anyway, I hope you continue to post your everyday outfits, as sometimes I find these types of looks more inspiring that highly stylized street style photos!
yanqin said…
If Jane, Angie, Alexandra: Thank you! I will look to posting more whenever it seems relevant.

S: Thanks for the encouragement. I actually used to put up outfit posts more often, but I think after a while I lost interest in the exercise. I think it's something I will endeavour to pick up again, if it seems like the relevant thing to do. And after all, my friends and I enjoy showing off our fave outfits to each other when we meet, so I suppose this isn't any different!

Popular Posts