it was an itsy bitsy teeny weeny. . .

Chinese New Year was traditionally that one time of the year when people of my parents' generation would have new clothes, being financially-impoverished. My parents recount many stories of how they would look forward to more food on the table, their yearly treat of soft drinks and everything a child would love. Today we have much more to the point of excessiveness; nevertheless, new clothes are still purchased (some even make sure they have brand new undergarments and socks!), whether to mark a new year or as an excuse for more. As for me, CNY is a time of togetherness and tapping into my roots, and a time of gratitude. The obsessiveness with excuses for new clothes that I used to have is no longer around. This was the only new piece I bought for the occasion, because I decided to stop getting caught up with reasons and excuses. I saw this dress on massive sale at the Oasis website, and purchased it. Upon confirming my tickets home, I decided this would be for the New Year. My mother fell in love with the dress, so I left it back in Singapore for her :)

It was an itsy-bitsy teeny weeny yellow-polkadot bikini. Gosh, I can still remember myself dancing around as I blasted the tape on the cassette recorder and sang that song (a little of a tongue-twister that liner is, isn't it!) as a wee toddler, and then my brother doing that six years later with the same tape. These yellow-and-white polka dotted shoes always make me think of that song and those memories. . . and of course I love the silver heels :)

I realise that in Singapore do I hardly ever use lip colour. It's only upon being in winter climes and looking at pallid complexion do I do that. And possibly how I started really falling in love with red lipstick and discovering my Showgirl side ;)

These photographs were taken in my back garden-- do I miss that jungle so much! Over the months as I dig out old shots of Singapore will you probably see loads of it too. .

Oasis dress; Pleaser shoes; YSL clutch; Diva leopard cuff; Diva ring; m)phosis belt.

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Whilst I was in Singapore, my mother informed me that two pieces had been rendered unwearable. Which is really saddening. I was telling her my fantasies of wearing a particular top with a certain skirt, and she was laughing at me for having my wardrobe planned out in my mind already, but that's how you don't overpack! Here's some memories of They Who Have Since Died. . . as well as some snippets of Singapore across the past few years. Looking at these also make me realise how much my style has changed. . .

roll on your red socks & rock your mini

The thing about women is that we invariably tend to link outfits with occasions in our memory-- e.g. "Oh! THAT event, I remember now, you were wearing (insert shoes) and (insert dress)"-- or worse still, have an extremely acute recollection of the last time we wore some item. This condition is particularly accentuated when you have enough pieces to last you at least three years if you wore a different look every day without buying anything new. I know how I tell my mother or D that I have worn something before "three times!" triumphantly, and they'd go "Oh, great achievement huh?". Well, there are people with loads of clothes sitting in their wardrobes still with the tag on from five years ago-- clothes they bought but do not dare to wear out because they have some mental lookbook in their head following the diktats of Latest Trends Everybody Wears, which really defeats the purpose of even buying anything. I maintain that my ethos is still much healthier. Hey, at least the clothes get worn! And as long as I remain the same size (fingers crossed!) it should all be alright. One danger of having too many clothes, though, is that if you suddenly pluck something out and wear it, you'd get questioned "Is that new? I have never seen it before" and a big smile lights up your face whilst you recall how happy you were to discover that piece in some boutique or jumble sale or the oohing and ahhing your best friend and you did over that, whilst doing mental sums and jumping up in semi-fright at how time has passed by.

"No! It was six years ago! I got it for Christmas during the Mango sales, and I picked it up from this branch in__ and. . ." was my latest retort. I was telling the truth. Well, I'll be honest, sometimes I still wear clothes I bought at 12 (err. . they look good still!), which was a bone-chilling twelve years ago. I figured that if Wear History all the time with vintage clothes and pieces from my grandmother and mother, why not old pieces by me. I have a confession to make. Half the time I walk around with no idea what the latest trends are (not that I really care), it is only when I see enough people in a certain Look that it starts to dawn upon me. By which I am even less bothered after being visually desensitised. After all, Latest Faux-En-Vogue (let's face it, loads of them are really ugly and a dime a dozen and often quite boring) always has prices jacked up ridiculously and everybody wears the same thing, the last time I remember wearing uniforms was when I did my ALevels in junior college. Plus I also am attracted to odd stuff-- shiny things, ostentatious decadent looks, curtain prints (yay for wearing curtains!), and humongous jewelry-- way before anyone will start telling me "How are you gonna wear that? It's too __" a.k.a. nobodywearsthem. Well sometimes I am too glad I don't have this StyleDiktatGhoul whispering into my ears as auto-reflex and thus putting the brake on me buying odd stuff. After all, another amazing thing about odd stuff is that if nobody buys them, you'll be guaranteed great bargains during the sales! Well I could write an entire treatise on that.  I also have no idea what goes on during the various Fashion Weeks save for the blogs I surf around-- hail blogosphere education!-- and, well, enough confessions for now. Inspired by the lovely stylish Collette of Statements in Fashion's upcoming RE-Style section where she discusses re-wearing clothes bought eons ago and even charmingly labels their ages in a photograph, I thought, why not!  I trawled up old photographs of the other times I wore certain pieces-- a way to examine how you've evolved or revisit ways of styling something. My first attempt-- a colourful printed mini I wore recently; and then back in July 2008. Well, actually the only two times I've worn it.