CHRISTMAS

I love Christmas at Damansara ever since I moved here more than a year ago. The season’s decorations at the nearest malls are whitey fanciful and filled with joyous spirits. Pardon me, though because I don’t exactly venture out to the more eclectic city of Kuala Lumpur; the plusher malls might have brighter and more gargantuan Christmas trees.

The people of my native are generally fond of Jesus’ birthday more so than the Americans, as far as I could see. During my precious college years in the States, Christmas had been nothing but a passive celebration in my eyes. But oh, I do miss the delectable marriage between the big fat American-bred turkey and cranberry sauce.

This year, the number of thrift stalls in The Street’s flea market area has risen and there are an abundance of colorful for one’s eyes to feast upon. I was hunting down some marshmallow santas and gingerbreadmen but look what I found instead.

At only MYR 49, this baby is definitely a steal. The flower details managed to enthral every bit of me. I’m a lover of all things ye olde and English. I haven’t had a blue handbag in my collection, what more of a vintage-y design. My heart is telling me that it will go well with my other floral dresses, particularly the yellow-based, summer-y Work of Art piece.

A wonderful-est Christmas find indeed.

SAUVAGE

I was fortunate— the viral had left my body and I was up and running at work. I also went to get my friend Waz this shirt from my favorite 100% Malaysian graphic tee store Radioactive. I heard his parents are strictly against non-collared shirts, which made my shopping absurdly harder. I felt a slight wickedness in me the moment I was informed that the shirt costs only MYR 20 instead of its original price. For solely ‘practical’ reasons, I’m passionate about buying shirts for my guy friends. So you can imagine how many shirts I’ve wrapped in bundles of love for my significant other.

Beret, Deeper n' Harder; Blouse, Shibuya at Apee; Dress, Unknown; Tights, Soxworld; Boots, Vincci

Regarding these photographs, they’re a rather shameful testimony to my own denial. I did mention how I want to be super-thrifty as I’m nearing December but a recent window-shopping trip to Vincci murdered the mission. I hunted down three Vincci stores in three different malls before I found these gray beauties from the Fall collection in my size. I surprised myself— the drive in me was very animalistic. I felt no exhaustion while doing it. And speaking of such untamed animal drive, featuring my ferret Russel’s tail together with my new purchase illustrates it perfectly. Russel seemed to love the boots too— he kept on smelling the faux leather and burrowing his head into them.

(Well, possibly to bite my ankles more than anything else).

CHAMBRE

I finally got back my Cats Whiskers pink dress all wonderfully altered by Liz from Little Chamber. I found this little gem a few weeks ago by happenstance— and it’s officially one of my favourite standalone boutiques so far within the 'fashion avenue' of Dataran Sunway.

Upon climbing the stairs to this little hideaway, I couldn’t help but to notice the sweet almond-painted walls covered partly in flower-patterned wallpapers. The first thing that greeted me from across the entrance door was an antique headdress with the most beautiful cinched dress in burgundy. The vintage vibe was almost instant. The whole tiny space had the appearance of a little Anglo cottage hidden in a cocoon.

Thumbing through the clothes from one rack to another was like traversing in a quiet forest. Most are a mixed of greens, rusts and toasts with a hint of pale roses in between. Notably, Little Chamber has a significant theme to its items; they are brand new but with a distinct feel of archaicness. Or rather, they’re a bunch of vintage remakes. I bought two dresses, all of which appear like what those impish British young girls would wear while playing hopscotch at the schoolyard. As the Belinda, the owner put it, the clothes were “simply English.” Ironically, she brought over the clothes from the Orient.

On a side note, the clothes are generally large. In fact, most of them remind me of the vintage stores that I visited while I was vacationing in old Hollywood. But thankfully, Little Chamber has its Liz— the resident seamstress who will alter the clothes to fit. For me, a boutique with an in-house seamstress is wonderful because it saves me plenty of precious time. I’ve never really had the time to teach myself proper sewing (although I know I should)!

AUBERGINE

Once upon a time, I was admiring these Bamboo Palm shoes from a distance. I even printed about it a few weeks ago and dreamt about walking on the clouds in them. And today, I finally strip a portion of my pay check on them and I have never been this gratified. I have worn Clarks before but they were bought by my mother. Buying your own gives you a completely different feeling altogether about ownership. So you can say that these are my very first pair of Clarks— they are these beautifully rich and blackish aubergine-colored that are light in mass, comfortable and in short, splendid. The craftsmanship of Clarks has always been meticulous in comfort, judging from the three pairs that I’ve been hoofing around previously. And the brand certainly churns our great-looking Mary Janes, which just pleasures my heart completely. I’m officially a fan.

DICHOTOMIE

Here is a glimpse of the fabrics belonging to a pair of my new dresses. They were calling for me, and I had to make them my own. The afternoon skies were pouring quite heavily, but I had errands to run at the neighboring township of Uptown. There were a number of independent boutiques scattered all across the landscape, seducing the impish shopper in me. And of all the boutiques, I saw Little Black Book— a charming one with a huge selection of extra-chunky belts of delicious colors and dresses of the floral, sand-beachy kind. Each garment was available in very few numbers, making them all together unique. But of all the big, flowery genus, I fell in love with the golden circusesque dress. It has a tamed collection of diagonal lines, which really made my nerves quiver.

As for the blue polka-dot beauty, I met her at Cats Whiskers. I’ve always wanted a figure-licking polka-dot dress in cornflower blue and white to go with some sheer tights to spend the night out. And Cats Whiskers has always been the kind of boutique that has everything that you can think of in its stomach. So voila, the blue dress was in store for the day! I shall scribble more on this practical little gem someday (it’s really worth getting to know the Catty establishment!). But for now, I’m thinking that some days are just fated to be great days to find a lucky match in your shopping list. No matter how well-stocked a store is, you might need a little luck for the day.