The Interpreter

When I heard about this movie, I was really excited! I mean, it DOES have Nicole Kidman in it and the suspense story of eavesdropping on an assasination plan and then finding herself the target of assasination as well doesn't sounds too bad either. I know it came out in April, but I hadn't gotten around to watching it properly until recently-and boy was I disappointed. I didn't manage to finish the movie and finally stopped after 1 hour. And apparently I wasn't the only one who couldn't finish the movie-Harrods Girl couldn't accomplish the feat either and stopped after 5 minutes!! It was confusing and hard to follow, and after a while we just didn't know what was happening anymore. No wonder the DVD is already out!

The only saving grace was that Nicole Kidman is a fabulous actress and I just absolutely LOVE her dress sense. She just looks so chic whatever she wears. I can't wait to see Bewitched!

High Street Shops (US) Pick of the FW05 I: Bebe

Every time we flick through magazines like VOGUE, we think "wow this looks so gorgeous -oh my gosh, that costs $6900!" Then some of us will fall into the "there's-no-point-in-reading-such-fashion-magazines-because-I-can't-afford-it" phase. Admit it, there must have been some point in your magazine-reading time that you think what is the point of reading it. The point people, is to get inspiration and ideas.

This season is all about dark, elegant, new minimalism and good tailoring-you could see that from fashion magazines. But where could you find such clothing? After spending a LOT of time shopping in San Fransisco, I have selected a few high street shop 'picks' from the States, and the first one is Bebe.

A few years ago, I thought Bebe clothes looked slutty and cheap, so I usually don't bother going in. But I saw the Bebe ads in VOGUE and was utterly amazed by their FW collection this year. So I went and was completely bedazzled. The clothes are all very fashionable: from Balenciaga-style military outerwear to the elegant Victorian skirts and dresses -Bebe's got them all.

Here are some of my favourites:

Inspired by this season's Balenciaga iconic military jacket, this Bebe military wool coat is a great choice for those who are dying for a lookalike *coughmecough*.

And of course, velvet jackets and blazers are big this year, and so are Edwardian-style military jackets -mix the two trends up and you get this casual yet elegant velvet military jacket.

Another one of this season's iconic pieces, the Rochas' dress, is well transformed into this cool-looking skirt (the Bebe denim mazi skirt) -with the Edwardian twist.

Another great pick this season. The volume skirts are so this year, and the lace material of this bubble skirt adds a touch of Victorian ladylike feel to the normally slutty-looking mini.

I really LOVED this dress. If you have any functions to go to this coming fall, this is THE dress to get. This lux layer dress has got this year's very trending empire waist cutting and a few elegant, dark layers of light lacy fabric. At $198, although not considered a bargain, it's still pretty reasonable.

This rhinestone embellished lace boho bag goes well with this season's Russian trend. It's a beautiful yet not cheesy looking bag, and works great for both day and night use.

And finally, this gorgeous, divine mesh metallic pearl necklace completely stole my heart and I just had to buy it. It's got a combination of this season's jewelry trends -dark, opulent and chains. Irresistably elegant.

Finally...

Hurrah people! The editors of I am Fashion are proud to present you our brand new layout to celebrate the season of Fall/ Winter 2005. Taking inspiration from this season's trends (black, very dark, opulent and elegant,) we decided to only select such appropriate jewelry and change the background color to one of this season's main colors, grey.

On a very early Friday morning, Barneys Girl and a friend of ours -let's call her T for now -arrived at my room for the second editorial meeting I am Fashion has ever had. Minutes of the meeting:

• Concluded the fashion features of British Vogue are better than US Vogue.
• Cameras with only 3.2 mega-pixels are so not good enough, thus Barneys Girl will be buying a new camera with at least 5.0 mega-px v soon. (We used my handy 4.0 mega-px Canan iXus in the end.)
• T: OK, what purple do you want.
  HG: How about this one? *moves the mouse to a v dark purple*
  BG: That is not purple.
  HG: Yes it is but fine, let's find a more purply purple.
  T: How about this one?
  BG & HG: Not dark enough.
  And the selection of purple continued...
• T: You want the title in the center?
  BG & HG: Yes!
  HG: And shrink the title.
  BG: Shrink the quote. Oh, and the title is still one or two spaces off from the center.
  HG: Do the lines look too squished up?
  BG: Hmm...
  T sits and photoshops in pain.
• HG decides that happy, Japanese pop music makes the atmosphere more creative and art studio-like, and decides to play even more J-pop.
• T shifted the layout like, 5px many times upwards and downwards, until perfect.
• T saved html of test templates and republished on Blogger more than 27 times. (And let me tell you, it was a BIG pain.)
• At 1:15pm, BG, HG and T cannot believe the new background was finally done. T secretly sighed in relief while BG and HG did a happy wiggle. BG and T celebrated with lunch in a mall while HG went to do community service.

So here it is darling readers, the long-awaited and promised revamped site. (Err ya, sorry it took longer than expected.) Don't you all love it? Compliments are warmly welcomed and appreciated. (J/k) Barneys Girl and I thank our photoshop and html-knowledged friend, T for her help. And of course, we thank you all for continuing to read our blog! Love you all!

Ah, a few last words: jewelry in the background bought from Anna Sui, Bebe, Claire's, random Japanese accessories shops and Tiffany's.

Hottest Star of Summer 2005: Jessica Alba

Even though I don't approve of celebs getting too involved in the fashion industry, I always love a fashionable and well-dressed star. Sigh, summer really is coming to an end, *sniff sniff*. Anyways, so I decided to pick the most memorable star of this summer to talk about. It's not the newly evolved and skinny Nicole nor Lindsay; it's not the always trendy Mischa nor her cute OC co-star Rachel; I'm talking about Jessica. Not Simpson, like eww. Jessica as in Jessica Alba.

Starring in three summer movies -Sin City, Into the Blue and Fantastic Four -Alba is THE female star this summer. Err, right that wasn't the point. The point is, Alba has been looking AMAZING in all the events she attended recently -both fashion and makeup-wise. Here's a recap:

Alba with Cash Warren at the Westwood Sin City premiere -those ruffles are so nice and red actually looks great on her!

Alba at the Fantastic Four Mexico press conference -her clothes are so simple here and she looks so lovely with those pearls.

Alba at the New York Fantastic Four premiere -this is definately my fav Alba dress! I love the details (like beads) on the white part of the dress and the back is gorgeous. This shape of a dress is usually really hard to pull off, but she does it well!

Alba at the London Fantastic Four premiere -smart girl knows that A-line dresses are just so flattering to the body. Another simple yet fabulous choice.

Alba at the Spain Fantastic Four premiere -I usually dislike one-sided shoulder dresses, but I love this one, esp how the black fabric on one shoulder drapers past her whole arm.

Alba at the Secustro Express premiere -I simply love the tailoring of the dress, esp the tightened waist. Shows that a dress doesn't have to be lacy or made of satin to be beautiful!

Alba at the Teen Choice Awards just two weeks ago -a typical casual Alba look. I love this look -although maybe she should get those jeans cut just a tiny bit up.

That's all on Jessica Alba. Stay tune tomorrow for I am Fashion's fabulous, long-awaited makeover!

Say no to Jessica Simpson

Having just been to the States, it is really quite frightful of how... Jessica-Simpsony the country has become: on the covers of countless tabloids and magazines, her Dessert Beauty in Sephora and Claires, doing promotion for Proactiv skincare range, in the cinemas for Duke of Hazards, on the radio for her crappy songs, and of course, her fashion line.

Quoted from the Vogue website: 'Jessica Simpson has struck a $15 million deal with a licensing group this week that she hopes will expand her fashion and accessories brand.' Like EWW!! As if there's not enough Jessica Simpson around. And why why why does she have to overstep her celebrity boundary and enter the designer world, when she obviously has no such talents. What ever happened to that Jessica Simpson who used to be so real?

Vogue quote continues: 'Anna Wintour is unfazed by the threat of world Simpsonisation, however. "The customer who is really interested in fashion is sophisticated," the editor of US Vogue told The Wall Street Journal recently. "She will take a Marc Jacobs over a Jessica Simpson every time."'

Hip hip horray for Anna Wintour's excellent words. This is why I love Anna Wintour so much -she always comes up with such fabulous quotes. I cannot agree more with Wintour: If you have a true fashion soul, then you will most definately choose a REAL desginer over a celebrity designer anyday and everyday.

Sept launch: VOGUE China and Men's VOGUE

Ugh, I have to wake up at 7:30am from now on to do work experience again. Too early. Ugh.

Anyways, it seems like Anna Wintour and her fellow Conde Nast management team's plans for the expansion of Vogue is FINALLY happening. September this year is not only important because of the ever-so-thick Sept Fall fashion magazine issues, but also significant because of the very first issue of Vogue China and Men's VOGUE.

Fifty years from now, this will be seen as the iconic ever first cover of Vogue China. I was SO excited when I first realised Gemma Ward was going to be on this iconic cover. She really stands out here because she's the only Westerner. And the other Chinese models... some look great and others not too much. I esp love the first model on the left. Apparently one of these models is Miss China 2003 and another is a Shanghainese supermodel. All the models sport the Prada black headband look -people, take note!

On the right is Vogue China's editor-in-chief, Angelica Cheung at the Vogue China bash hosted by British Vogue's editor-in-chief, Alexandra Shulman a few weeks ago. Can't really say I like Cheung's dress much. Doesn't her bob remind you a bit of US Vogue's Anna Wintour's bob? What a coincedence!

While flicking through the latest issue of US Vogue, I saw this ad. Hmm, I must say, while I would much prefer a model on the cover, I suppose they really need a celebrity to pull the readers in, especially in a country where Vogue is seen as a female thing. And I suppose George Clooney is not too bad of a pick within the celebrity circle, but I really don't like this don't-I-look-cool-and-manly-look. I really can't comment much since I don't notice men's fashion much anyways, but I really hope it's a success because most of the guys I know dress terribly. So if you're a guy, remember to buy your Men's Vogue on Sept 6th!

Terrible ad of the season: LV and Uma Thurman

It's no secret that I am no big fan of celebrity having any direct contact with the fashion industry such as having their own fashion line or dominating fashion magazine covers. But I like to think myself as a reasonable and open-minded person, so I judge everything according to the situation.

Like you know how the new Miu Miu ads are featuring celebrities like Selma Blair? One would think I would dislike this Miu Miu campaign because of the celeb touch, but I actually think it was done well and love the artistic photographs (and the beautiful Miu Miu coat of course).

But LV and Uma Thurman? AGAIN? Yuck! My gosh, I can't believe people (esp oh-so-talented Marc Jacobs) aren't sick of seeing Uma posing with Vuitton bags. And seriously, the photographs aren't even artistically creative or visually stimulating -almost all the campaign shots so far feature Uma leaning on something (like a chair or whatever she's sitting/ lying on top of.)

Bleh! The theme is unexciting and Uma is mega-boring. First Jennifer Lopez, then Uma Thurman -how much longer are we going to suffer? It's not like Vuitton doesn't get enough press attention without celebs anyways.

Mr. Jacobs, perhaps next season you will use a real model instead of another celebrity.