Gypsy Queen



Paying tribute to my romanian (gypsy) heritage is the least I can do as I tend to exclude the eastern european portion of my blood in conversation, generally concentrating on my chinese and british ancestry. For years I simply omitted Romanian as part of my nationality as it seemed to be the most foreign in my life. Plus being raised by a chinese mother (even if she only remains half) appeared full chinese in my eyes because 1) To this day she continues to constantly mix her "he's" and "she's" even though she is well into her thirty years of being a Canadian citizen. 2) She'll mistaken me for one of her friends on the phone and will shout in cantonese before I can squeeze in a word. 3) She knows best when it comes to school and jobs or so she believes. 4) Her once fading chinese accent is resurfacing as she gets older. Furthermore as my family celebrates almost every chinese holiday and attend dimsum outings at least twice a week, my siblings and I have no other choice than to take part in this eastern European denial.

Almost always people have trouble processing the notion of my chinese heritage and instantaneously reject the cold truth. As per usual I repeat myself at least a couple of times before they say "ohhh okay, that's odd". Uhhhh sure. Who am I kidding? If it were me I would feel equally if not more troubled with the idea of a white girl having asian blood. With my potent eastern european features, strangers appear at ease once they shake the missing piece of the puzzle out of me. Everything seems to make all the sense in the world now. "So then you are only a little chinese". A little part in me dies every single time somebody makes that remark.

Sequin Blowse- Vintage

Silk Trousers- Club Monaco

Sneakers- Topshop

Tote- Pleats Please

Casually chic

It's only a matter of time before one feels burnt out after years of assembling moderately acceptable outfits for almost every single errand ever completed, including visits to the grocery store and doctor's office. I wish I could say "Fooled you! I actually wear sweatpants everywhere I go because I like the way they feel against my skin." but I just can't, unless we're talking about a marvellous pair of Helmut Lang or Alexander Wang sweats that stand out in a crowd of conventionally no name sweats. You will not be frowned upon if you choose to slip on a very simply styled and basic outfit. It doesn't make your outfit any less special. It just means you are more comfortable with blending into a crowd of people. You don't need a print, or a deconstructed Margiela sweater (though it would be a great piece to have for every other day of the week). All of the ingredients to a minimalistic outfit include; a shirt, pair of jeans and good pair of shoes. It's that simple. Oh, and maybe a belt or string or extension cord or combination of anything of the three to keep your baggy jeans in line with your waist.  

An elegantly dazzling pair of shoes can enhance an outfit by this much (holding my hands apart to about 1 metre), though it's important to calculate how long your feet are needed for particular errands. If you have a lot of running around to do, it's suggested to wear more comfortably fitted walking shoes as oppose to 5 inch heels like I did down below. I'm a lady of leisure, what can I say?

As for my baggy Levis jeans (discovered in the mens section of course), the general public didn't seem to take a liking to my choice in bottoms as I did a small but accurately assessed analysis of the visual and verbal yays and nays disclosed by random civilians who attended last week's Grove fest. The results of the analysis includes oddly distinguishable interpretations of how I appeared, being an oompa loompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factor or a yearning female rapper who chants about on Gucci, Fendi and Prada (In that order specifically). I guess when one's haircut somewhat resembles a bowl/lego doll/Amelie (At one point in time multiple people have made these comparisons) and willingly dresses in baggy parachute jeans, the chances of someone "liking" the entire ensemble is very slim. But then again Ms Poulain is more of a compliment than anything else. That being said if it feels right, wear it and if it feels right but apparently looks "wrong", still wear it. I'm going to give these pants the freedom to do what they will because there's no point meddling with something wonderful. Don't you agree?

Baseball Tee- American Apparel

Jeans- Levis

Sequin Heels- Zara (Old)

Belt- Hermes

Bone Cuff- Tiffany & co

An actual OVO salutation

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, frogs and dogs, I did it. I have made it through my very first OVO experience with a lengthy plaid kilt by my side. Accompanying my sister to the musical event seemed trivial. 24 hours before the show resulted in some pre-show butterfly jitters where I had numerous concerns running through my mind all at once. What does one wear to an event like this? A few weeks ago when I realized I was about to attend the most anticipated show in the city, I was instantaneously driven to escort my beloved Scottish kilt, as she herself allegedly claims to be a big fan of rap and hip-hop. Accurately predicting most girls WILL appear in extremely short shorts of some sort, I thought, how bad could it be if I wore an extremely long Scottish kilt? It seemed like one of my brightest ideas; forecasts predicted weather conditions to be cooler than usual and one wearing a pure wool kilt will have the last laugh while majority in denim underwear and mini skirts regret not assembling an outfit with more material and insulation.

Believe me when I say a long kilt is not something one wears to these types of concerts. Based on the accumulation of stares and perplexity beaming off innocent bystanders, it was too late to turn back at this point in time as I was already within the Molson Amphiteatre gate. Even with streams of sweat pouring down my face and back primarily out of embarrassment, I still managed to prepare for the worse. How, you say? I brought forth a neutralizing item I believe that most certainly won over the approval of the majority or at least to those who were genuinely convinced I stumbled into the wrong concert venue or country or era and was indeed in need of assistance. I like many others was beaming with OVO pride with an all black leather varsity jacket, even if I was lacking knowledge of almost half of the rappers in the lineup. As one of the special guest arose to the stage, everybody in the standing crowd repeatedly shouted "ASAP ROCKKY!", so I did what I had to do, I followed the crowd and shouted his name as they did when in turn the only thing I knew about him was the designer shirt he had on. 

On the other hand when TLC, Puff Daddy, Ma$e and yeah, Kanye West appeared on stage shortly after, it was like Christmas morning on this very special monday night. I became one with the vivacious crowd. A yearning Pink Lady from Grease impersonator standing on her seat while energetically boogying down and singing to the entire Ma$e's "Feel So Good" somewhat blended into the crowd that night. It was special.  

Kilt- Thrift

Varsity Jacket- October's very Own

Shirt- Vintage

Gladiator Mid Heel- Aldo