Long Live Fashion!

We live on a planet of indefinite resources and renewable energy. There is no usage meter to tell us when it'll run out. Nothing is endless or is it? They say that prevention is better than cure. Environmentalists have forever warned us that scarce resources for everyday living will eventually run out. H&M has taken into account this premonition to assist in conservation of the Earth. Striving towards a more sustainable fashion label, the Conscious Collection was born. They are currently the biggest user of organic cotton in the world. That's some really awesome statistic.

I've long been a supporter of organic cotton as I'm a bit of a greenie myself. Recycling, saying no to plastic bags and being involved with H&M's vision is enough to make a difference, even the slightest is well worth the effort, in my opinion. So bag any unwanted old clothes, rags or anything material and discard it in the bin at your local participating store. I obviously prepared for this before I left Sydney. Pat on the back. OK so obviously there was a little catch to encourage the fashionistas to do the good deeds. The reward? A 10% discount voucher to use on one item. I managed to recycle a mere 6 bags! If this project is brought to Sydney in 2014, I'll be sure to pack more bags. Yikes.

Read more about the Conscious Collection here.
xxx

Watch the bird

Top from a boutqiue in China. Givenchy Birds Of Paradise Print Pouch (Joanne). Cartier Watch (Sonia). H&M Necklace.

High tea at Island Shangri-La Lobster Bar and Grill. They normally serve just that but when they don't, tea and scones it is on a late Sunday arvo. Pinkies down!

Simple Straps

Feels like falling in love again. Saint Laurent Classic Leather Jane Sandal.

Sweet dreams

After dinner last night at Tsuen Wan with the sis and family, the mall across the road had a UNIQLO store tucked away inside. It was opened until 11pm which meant there was time for a 30 minute stroll. UNIQLO is a Japanese label that caters for all age groups providing high quality casual wear. Spotted right at the entrance was a collaboration of the infamous Parisian luxury pastry and cake brand, Ladurée. If you could make dreams sweeter then this is it. Besides indulging in them, you can now wear it! Into the clothing basket also were lounge pants to compliment the shirts. Other collections included Andy Warhol and Green Gate Copenhagen. The Green Gate collection was beautiful as well, detailing antique French florals married with warm English flower prints. I'll consider bagging a few of these collectors item shirts and maybe have a cuppa tea snuggled up in bed to brighten up the blasé chilly season back home.

Seoul Photobook

Finally found some time to get a post up. Back to Hong Kong from a short trip to South Korea. The trip to Seoul was an impromptu decision as my sister decided to spoil me with a ticket earlier this year. So thanks to my absolutely awesome sister Sonia!!

Days prior to Kim and my departure, we were anxiously checking and reading the news on the possible launch of the missile by the North Korean leader. An unreal but scary feeling. We conducted verbal polls in deciding whether to cancel the trip or not. Growing up in Sydney, I hardly suffered from any kind of life threatening situations really, so flying right into trouble felt quite unreal just like in a blockbuster hit. It appeared that most Hong Kong and South Korean people were far from being fearful as it was supposedly just another threat to the nation. "The whole of South Korea would've been deserted otherwise" as quoted by Jessica, Kim's friend who currently resides there.

Seoul was still bustling with waves of people continuing with their daily routine. To and from school, work, shops and play. Loads of tourists climbed in and out of buses. It was like as though the media's norm of blowing everything out of proportion barely made an impact at all.

Putting that aside, it was a unique experience where English, like Japan, was a limited language. At times it was hard to communicate so resorting to slow broken Asian English along with hand gestures was the only method. Visiting with a mindset it being similar to Japan, it was not. Expecting all individuals to be over-the-top friendly and polite was a total fail for us. Don't get me wrong, we did come across some exceptionally wonderful people who wanted to lend more than a hand. The hotel doorman provided an umbrella each as we checked out on our last day when the sky turned dark grey to farewell us, and extra dumplings from an elderly man selling street food from a food cart with a roof.

All in all, it was a enjoyable roller coaster experience. Places visited includes: Myeongdong for the hyper makeup and beauty buys, Garosugil within the Gangnam (pronounced as gung-num) district where all the cool, trendy, funky, young, upbeat local fashionists hang, Hongik being the cheaper version of Garosugil, Itaewon for the foreigners and U.S expats, Gyeongbok Palace, Cheonggyecheon stream, Insadong for all the foodies. The best lunch was the tourist popular ginseng chicken soup stuffed with rice and sprinkled with seeds at Tosokchon. Top dinner was at Maple Tree House (당풍나무집) for delicious Korean BBQ. Maple Tree House was recommended on a food blog that Kim found. Would definitely be back there next time I have some serious cravings for authentic Seoul food!