Zara-licious

Continuing on my Zara splurge from last week, these are some wicked new duds I purchased online for £39. A little Acne / Isabel Marant-ish, no? You know I don't like posting iPhone photos but this is just how much I love you. You needed to see these bad boys for yourself and hopefully go out and cop a pair (attempt at being gangster = check!). Paired with a Jill Sander tank, Stella McCartney shoes, and a necklace from a Sardinian street market.

P.S. Pics taken in my somewhat refurbished bedroom! All things are on hold at the mo, because of the sad budgetary constraints, but I'll show you a few pics of the shelving unit in the next couple days! Holla atcha gurl. (check!)

Hair talk

A few weeks ago I permed my hair. The above photo depicts the result after a full nights sleep with no washing. I wanted a perm essentially for the volume and the messy, French, trying but not trying too hard look. Easy peasy right? I soon realised that perms require a whole lotta work. It dries out your hair like a mother frick fracker, and takes a good couple weeks to stop looking like the quintessential Annie. Today, it's a bit better. Curls have lessened, and an all around messiness ensues. (Are we really still talking about HAIR?!?! Yes, now get over it.)

When I was in my cool teens, I used to grow my hair super duper long...then in one huge arse snip, chop it all off. I've done this probably 3x now? Contemplated doing it again, but then there's a wedding blah blah blah. Instead, maybe I should pull a Nikki Minaj or a Gaga and get a wig?

Celebrity inspiration:

I have a love/hate relationship with all things Kardashian. I follow some of them (no, not Kim, I'm an anti-Kim like every other jealous girl) on Twitter but I do enjoy some of their spreads. Kim was doing a spread for Vogue Italia here.

Blogger inspiration:

Jane Alridge from Sea of Shoes looks frickin' awesome in one. And surprisingly really natural too?!

Okay, so it probably won't happen anytime soon, but nevertheless a great alternative to think about if you're ever in the mood for a change but can't get up the courage* to do it. Hair up there paired with some Zara trousers, Burberry trench, Balenciaga bag, Crockett & Jones men's velvet loafers, Alexander McQueen scarf.

*Like ME! in my 'I'm-so-cool-I'm-a-rocker' phase or 'I-want-to-be-Natalie-Imbruglia' phase.

26 / 05 / 2012

What I'm wearing today. I wore almost the exact same outfit yesterday but white shorts and a white tee sans wedges. Overly creative, did I hear you say? With my mind (& my money) set on on my nuptials, going forward will be a hefty task of making use of what I already own and lots of Zara shopping, i.e. this jacket. Stopped a girl in La Fayette wearing it and quickly found out from her broken english and my broken french that its from Zara and difficult to find. BUT NO FEAT IS TOO GREAT! All behold, the bargain hunter that is Lisa!! Found it, bought it, et voila! Perfect capetto to throw over a dress, shorts, peg legs, skirts...you name it. Adds that I'm cool, but not too cool look, yaaaa know? Paired with some old old jean shorts that I think I cut from a pair of jeans, Elizabeth and James tee, Stella McCartney wedges, Acne belt, earrings from a Sardinian beach, Tom Ford sunnies.

Easy peasy, if I can do it, you can too.

Paris Neon

Camera died pretty soon after we arrived in Paris on Wednesday morning. Never in my life did I think that iPhone photos would be able to be the sole focus of a blog post but c'est la vie. Didn't even instagram this shit because I thought my wicked phone skillz with a z was enough.

Classic mirror in hotel room photo to try to show off my new brogues from Fratelli Rossetti. Mass asked why I bought Italian in France...good question, no answer. The Euro has been in the shitter so that's why? Paired with J Crew cords, Acne belt, Giordano shirt, La Fayette brand sweater (bought that day because it was flippin' freezing out). All this photo craziness happened in the worst hotel ever, Kube hotel. Design hotel meets extreme disfunctionality. This pic was taken in the bathroom beside the open shower (where Jo was showering...just kidding).

All week Jo and I had been digging the neon. Trying our luck to find the proper neon that was bright enough to blind. We made out somewhat successful from American Apparel nail varnish. These bad boys make appearances all over Paris. Pic taken at Les Cocottes. I literally go to the same restos in Paris time and time again. I'm damn loyal.

Met up 1/2 an hour late with friends for a 7 courser and proceeded to have the most interesting conversations about crime and Cordon Bleu in Paris. We love that everyone in Paris automatically thinks they're foodies. What is a foodie anyway? You love food? Don't we all love food? I mean I love to live and food keeps me alive...therefore I must be a foodie. Whatevs.

Told ya it wouldn't be the last. This time taken when food was done! Another fav of mine, Le Loir dans la Theiere. Seriously, saying that in french makes me sound like I'm not from Canada. And that I didn't take a WHOLE freaking year EXTRA of french then the mandatory OSSD requirement. I'm THAT good, yo.

What's Paris, without a little bit of tourism. *spirit fingers*

Yup, our hotel hallway. Didn't I tell you it was lame super rad?

Saving the best for last. I'm Chinese (in case you haven't noticed), with parents and family from HK and raised in Richmond Hill/Markham (which if you're from Toronto, you KNOW that's C-town central), and I thought Shang Palace at the Shangri-La was the most awesome-est deliciousness you will ever taste in your life. Convinced you of my credibility, didn't I? "She's from Richmond Hill, the equivalent of China!". Well don't take my word for it, just check it out. Party in my mouth, and everyone's invited (get your head outta the gutta).

Wedding Dresses

Vera Wang at Browns, London

Hiya! It's been awhile since we met. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of dresses, trips to Paris, and showing my bf my life here in London. During her time here, I tried on my first wedding dress.

I have been engaged for a little over 6 months now and have been extremely reluctant to try anything on. You see, over the years I have been to a number of weddings and all the dresses I have seen in person / online etc. have been absolutely gorgeous, but none of them had that 'me' factor. I was discussing dresses with a friend, Nasiba (please check out her amazing blog here, I literally want her entire wardrobe / life!) and she introduced me to my wedding dress designer, Emilia Wickstead. Of course, I was a little skeptical because designing a dress from scratch means not having a prototype to try on and amend to your liking. However, after meeting her and her amazingness at her London atelier, I was more than convinced.

Emilia's dress / wedding (she also got married last year in Tuscany!) was featured in Vogue UK last year in the fall. Absolutely beautiful...I might even try to copy her entire wedding flower by flower. :)

As a ode to how great she is, Kate Middleton wore one of her dresses from her latest collection to a Queen's Jubilee lunch this past weekend. Now there's another girl I love; pose, grace and class. All that said, I won't be trying to copy anything from her wedding ;)

Back to real life now...I have more guests this week / next. This time from Vancouver! Aren't I a lucky girl :)

Walking faster with Nike Free Run

The other day I decided to try a new coffee joint a friend recommended awhile back. I'm no coffee expert but Mass definitely is a close contender, so I brought him along to taste test it. We went to Ozone Coffee and while we were there, we grabbed a quick bite as well.

Took the opportunity, since Ozone was literally right around the corner, to wear my new awesome Nikes. This is my second pair of runners in the last...7 years? I have been wearing the exact same pair since 2005. I used to only wear them when going to the gym, but ever since I got these bad boys I've been wearing them almost daily. In fact, I'm currently thinking of a way to them tomorrow...

Back to Ozone: above decent coffee (says Mass) but a quaint reminder of a typical NY cafe. One of the best (and worst) things about East London, specifically Shoreditch, is the increasing number of cafes / casual diner types trying to be overly 'East End'. I think Ozone just misses that target.

Have yet to try more of the Shoreditch grinds but with these babies on my feet, who knows where it'll take me.

Paired the runners with some leather pants from Danier, Nico Didonna sweater stolen from Mass, Giordano linen shirt, Wilfred coat, and a Balenciaga bag.

I love that comfort can be such a focal point of an outfit without letting go of an original style. Oh, and by original, I really meant it! If you look closely to my previous post, you'll see my iD inscribed, LLI 84. Colours were also designed by yours truly. If creating your own masterpiece fancies you, just hop on over to the Nike iD online shop and start designing away! I used all black except for neon green in the mid sole and under the mesh. It costs £85 with about £5 for shipping in the UK.

Happy colouring!

Nike Free Run iD

My wicked new kicks. Outfit post coming tomorrow.

Nike Free Runs iD

iPhone clippet from TO

As my resident photographer, aka Mass, he's not obliged to follow me around everywhere :P Therefore, one must find alternative methods to capturing their blog photos. Bring on...the mirror. I was in Toronto this time around on my own as Mass has been ridiculously busy with work (I barely have had more then 2 dinners with him in the last month!) so I made do at my parents place.

Quick shot of the hair! I think it's TO water, but my hair always has more volume there. If it looked like this 24/7, I wouldn't have gotten a perm yesterday! (photos to follow...)

Wearing heels is always so much easier at home. In / out of cars, no walking to tubes, then walking to a bus, then hopping in a cab because your feet hurt too much. I also wore these amazingly stylish pants that were my mom's in the 70's! My mom had a serious walk down memory lane when she saw me in them. She proceeded to find about a dozen other outfits for me in a matching silk blazer and shorts / skirts / trousers. Ahhhh the 70's. Paired with an Equipment silk shirt, Helmut Lang blazer, Kurt Geiger pumps, BCBG necklace

Long weekend here in the UK! Hope everyone's enjoying it. I'll be prepping the house / finishing up work in anticipation for my bf to come next week. What are you up to?

ADR for H&M

Eeeek! One of my favourite fashion icons is doing an accessories line with H&M, out October 4th. If you've ever seen Anna Della Russo on a red carpet / show, you know how brilliant this is! She's not a designer so that makes the collection even more unique. Excited!

New Collection AW 12/13- The Show

Kochani!

Z ogromną radością chciałbym zaprosić Was na pokaz mojej najnowszej kolekcji. Kolekcja pt Generation of  Now na sezon Autumn/Winter 2012-13 będzie premierowo zaprezentowana w ramach targów About Design 2012, w Gdańsku. Pokaz odbędzie się 12 maja o godz. 15.00.
Oprócz mojej kolekcji, będzie można również zobaczyć kolekcje takich projektantów jak: Wawak/Czajkowska, Nick-Nack oraz zaprezentowana zostanie kolekcja Studentów Gdańskiego ASP, która przygotowana została podczas warsztatów Projektowania Ubioru i Grafiki zorganizowanych przez firmę Lpp S.A. Cały pokaz jest inicjatywą firmy Lpp, która zakwalifikowała moją kolekcję do tej prezentacji.
Nie rozpisując się, serdecznie zapraszam na pokaz! :)

PS: zapraszam na moją facebook'ową stronkę ;)  zajaczkowski.design

XOXO- Bollo

Jen and Oli's wedding

Warning: Picture heavy post

Over the weekend I went back home to Toronto for the wedding of one of my very good friends, Jen. It was a fabulous evening with my gfs celebrating one of the best couples I know. Here are some photos from the evening.

Jen in Vera Wang, me in Missoni s/s '09

Bel the MOH, Winnie and myself. We have all been friends since HS so it was a truly special evening when the first amongst us gets married

Jo my date, Winnie, and the happy couple. Yes, we know, they're tall.

The partying begins

Lol, Jen's face. I love love love how the couple didn't care about maintaining etiquette and totally got drunk with the rest of us.

A photo of my girls...<3

I have so many photos of Bi's varying facial expressions

Vic and Jon

Haha, Rob

This photo is primarily for Winnie

Still a good pic, despite Bel sleeping

Vic and James

Jen, one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen...inside and out. Congratulations to Oli for snagging her up :)

And my absolute favourite part of the wedding: when Jen walked down the aisle to Oli serenading her with his guitar. Love.

Hope you had a great weekend too! (even though its almost the next weekend, haha)