What makes a great summer outfit? Mine includes my Jamin Puech raffia bag.

What outfit makes you feel your best?  When does a glance in the mirror give you an instant boost of confidence?

I have never felt that while wearing a dress, bar one single evening about six years and eight kilos ago when I was in the best shape of my life after two years of intensive personal training.  We were on a boat for my friend Gabriella's birthday and the dress was Kate Spade, and that was the only time I ever loved wearing a dress.

My preferred summer outfit consists of jeans and an easy top (this one from Zara comes in four colors HERE) and one of the best things about moving to London is that jeans are a year-round option in England. 

The worst thing about London is that the apartments and houses I have looked at barely have any storage, so holding on to clothes I don't wear is not an option.  The dresses have got to go.

I highly recommend this little top.  Tucked into jeans it looks easy and cool and the polka dots bring a bit of the seasonal trends into your outfit.  Polka dots also mix beautifully with checks.

I'd wear a medium heel shoe with it, this Dior style touches on another summer trend, transparency, and I love to mix in something that clashes, in this case an old raffia bag by Jamin Puech, which I bought in Paris on a trip with my friend Chris.  It's fun to buy new fresh stuff and start a new season, but it's also lovely to carry a bag that's a reminder of friendship and a lovely moment in time.

I am adding a necklace that's a gift from my kids and a gorgeous bunch of Hong Kong friends (HERE), and suddenly I am feeling like a million bucks.  Summer can do that to a person.

Hope you are all having a beautiful day,

xxxxxx Dianne

I am trying to get off the It-bag bandwagon but failing miserably

Because I am not exactly courageous enough to properly get off.

What the hell is wrong with me and people?  Why have so many of us accepted that a top designer bag should cost $2,000?  And why are so many of us who should be saving money for rent prioritizing our finances for the benefit of buying such ridiculously priced handbags?

For those of you who have unlimited funds, I'd like to say please go ahead and spend your heart out.  Luxury designers employ people too, so they need to sell bags as much as a butcher needs to sell meat.

I don't want to disparage fashion companies or vilify them for charging such high prices for handbags, because clearly it's us, the consumers, who are letting them get away with it.  What bothers me is that all of us have bought into the idea that this simply is what high end bags cost.  If our butcher raised the prices of chicken this steeply every year, we would stop buying his meat.

What bothers me even more is that I myself often feel I need my designer bag with me in certain situations where I want people to take me more seriously.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I am happy to walk into a meeting in a Zara polyester jacket but somehow I feel my Chanel bag is going to telegraph just how worthy I really am.

If you are wondering what brought on this rant - I picked up this cool stripy bag at Zara the other day (HERE) for HKD 199 (about 20 Pounds or 25 US).  It's not leather, but it's the kind of material I would admire if the brand name was Stella McCartney.  It's well-designed with white accents on the inside flap and on the gussets.

But once I got the bag home I decided I should just return it.  It's interesting and I love stripes and I have a tonne of navy summer clothes that could use some brightening up.  Yet, I think I won't wear it.

Any psychologists reading this?

I would like to be the kind of person who would not need social affirmation from a possession - but thankfully I know there are many of you out there who feel the same way.

The handbag industry has done a real number on us.

And it's not just fashion obsessives like me.

My husband was telling me over the weekend that the brand Izod was the be-all-end-all of polo shirts when he was in high school.  In his rural school in New York only very few kids could afford these expensive shirts, so the cheaper JCPenny version which was called Le Tigre was considered cool as well and that's the only thing he wanted to wear to school.  I was blown away by that story because as long as I have known him he has not cared about brands the slightest bit.

I suppose clothes and accessories are an expression of our character, personality or aspirations, and they are a vital element of how we present ourselves to the world.  Miuccia Prada once said that if you want to reject fashion you still have to use your clothes to show it.  After all no one goes around naked, so there is simply no escaping the statement we make with our outfits.

Do let me know if any of this sounds familiar.  Do you too feel you need an expensive bag to complete your outfit?  Does an expensive bag give you additional confidence?  And if you think this is all rubbish, please do let me know as well.

Thank you very much for reading.

xx Dianne

Emma Hill's Question On The Viability of Blogs Has Got Me Rattled

Emma Hill is an extremely successful blogger with a large and very engaged following.  Since a year or so she has also become an effective and entertaining YouTuber and her Instagram is pretty great as well.

So when Emma questioned whether blogs are losing importance I took notice.  I have always written this blog because I liked it, and for a long time that was enough.  Now I wonder sometimes, when no great numbers of people have tuned in that day, what am I doing this for?

The lack of engagement on blogs, as opposed to Instagram, causes a lot of bloggers to throw in the towel and maybe I will at some point follow suit.  So far though, I love that this blog has become a record of my years in Hong Kong, and I think I am always going to love (and often cringe) looking back at that.

Aside from that serious stuff I am currently also totally obsessed with cutting out images and pasting them on new backgrounds.  They always look a bit haphazard and amateurish because I don't have photoshop but I rather like it that way; art therapy for failed conflicted bloggers.  So that could easily keep me going another seven years.  And it's keeping me away from watching American political programs which is much better for my health.

There, I've already answered my own question. What am I doing this for?  So that I don't have to see that orange numbskull running his hamburger breath trap on TV.

I'm in the clouds

I often promise I will never try to sell you anything and I am not doing so again today.  But I love this jacket so much I do highly recommend it, should you be in the market for a stripy blazer.  It's perfectly casual and cool but dressy at the same time.  My most loved item so far this spring.  I also posted it HERE.

dianne, right next to the bread basket - yessss

Beautiful Monica from 852West hosted a lovely lunch for Stuart Weitzman today.  I bought some modern mules, kind of like clogs but with a pretty heel.  I am so going to miss these kinds of events when I am in London...  I love how small Hong Kong is and how you always know everyone wherever you go.

prettiest table flowers

my mules - but on Gigi's legs

I may be rattled but I am just going to keep on making these slightly incoherent posts and not looking at my stats.  Hope you all are having a great week.

xxxx Dianne

Where did the J Brand Suvi jeans go?

The cropped Suvi from J Brand is a great pair to wear with slingbacks or kitten heels.

I love the button detail on the leg.  But the only one I could find now is this white version HERE.  I usually leave the bottom two buttons open, and they look really nice over ankle boots too.

I pulled out this extremely old western belt after seeing a burly Canadian rugby player wear a similar style at an early Rugby Sevens event yesterday.  I like getting hit with inspiration in unexpected places.  Before I leave for London I must replace the belt's strap at the little leather shop at the Mandarin Oriental.  Those are the things I will miss so much: you can pretty much have anything custom made here in Hong Kong.

Stripy T-shirt from Kule via my friend's shop HERE.

Gianvito Rossi shoes - a pretty pink version HERE.

Chanel bag, similar HERE.

Have a lovely Thursday everyone!

Lots of love,

Dianne

I wonder if Emmanuelle Alt has held on to this Isabel Marant chambray shirt as long as I have?

Like I said the other day, with a move to London in the near future I have to drastically downsize my wardrobe. 

Looking at all these clothes I once thought to be timeless classics I am starting to rethink everything I have ever known for sure about fashion.

Take this Isabel Marant cargo shirt for instance.

When Emmanuelle Alt started wearing some variety of this shirt in every photo around 2012-ish I was convinced this shirt would make my life perfect forever.  I would never need to shop for a chambray shirt again, because if only I'd own this one, I would already have the most perfect version ever designed.

Hhhmmmmmmm.

I wonder if Emmanuelle Alt still has her many Isabel Marant cargo shirts.  Today, in April 2018, they don't really feel like timeless classics at all.  They just feel like a moment in fashion that's moved on.

Having done some closet clear-out for a few weeks now, this shirt has been sitting in a bin bag for a while, ready to go to the church charity shop.  When I found it in my wardrobe my first reaction was throw.  Then yesterday I passed a Calvin Klein store where denim shirts with huge pockets are the latest newest, so I took it out of the bin bag again.

While in the past I imagined I was building an everlasting classic wardrobe with every new purchase

I now think all that planning was entirely in vain.  Even classics get tweaked and change subtly all the time, until suddenly your fitted white shirt looks anything but classic and you start craving an oversized version with enough fabric to tuck it into your jeans.

My cargo shirt is made of soft and washed chambray very different from the pared down and stiff Calvin Klein version (HERE). It's a shirt with big pockets, but the effect is fiercely different.

I now always ask myself while shopping if this is a buy-now-wear-now piece or if it would likely be stored in the closet for some day in the future.  Anything I can't wear right now stays in the shop.

I wore this Isabel Marant cargo shirt probably about twenty times.  Not nearly enough to justify the price.  It's out of the bin bag and I am wearing it today in line with my other new fashion rule: you bought it now you better wear it.  Even if it looks so 2012.

Vintage Chanel bag (similar HERE)

Isabel Marant Étoile shirt (similar HERE)

Goldsign skirt (HERE)

Malone Souliers shoes (HERE)

Hope you are enjoying your Easter holidays!  

Our pool has just opened today, and I am about to take a dip.

xx Dianne