Eureka! Eureka! Eureka! in Taipei

I'm still working on getting my outfit-making mojo back. It's getting warmer in Taipei (finally!) and all I've wanted to do is wear t-shirt dresses and avoid thinking about another muggy, hot summer. In the meantime, I want to share one of my favorite Taipei-based fashion blogs, which is run by the owner of Eureka! Eureka! Eureka!, a cool boutique in Taipei.




The woman in all these photos is Sandy Wu, who opened Eureka! Eureka! Eureka! in her mid-twenties. I interviewed her a few months ago. She's very soft-spoken, a definite contrast to her outfits. I love her sense of color, proportion and fun. Also, her store recently started carrying those Les Queues de Sardines tights you've probably recently seen on a few fashion blogs and the only thing that is stopping me from running over and grabbing a pair is that we have an insane cat who is good at sensing when things are expensive and delicate. He caught him gnawing a pair of socks I'd knit the other day. Bad cat!

I'll be using Sandy's blog as inspiration for my own summer outfit planning. There's a definite art in dressing for weather that's extremely humid. I'm a big fan of just pulling on a sundress, but I realized while going through my wardrobe the other day that I don't actually own that many sundresses. I want to invest in more separates so I have some more variety, but I'm also not great at mixing and matching! Sigh. Anyway, for those of you who are looking forward (or not) to very hot summers, what are your wardrobe survival tips?

What I'm Sproutin': Paisley Me Be

Jacket: Modcloth, dress: Oh My God (store in Taipei, yes, it always confuses people when I tell them I'm going there), tights: night market, shoes: Aldo, bag: Hayden-Harnett for Target, headband: Accessorize

Today was another one of those days in Taipei where the sun put in an appearance for an hour or so in the late morning, and then disappeared. These photos are fuzzier than I'm happy with, but I wanted to post them because they show off my latest obsession -- gray tights. Gray: the perfect compromise between black and white! I got the idea to pair them with bone-colored shoes from Anja at Clever Nettle.

I love the paisley print on this dress. It's so loud. I would also like to point out that this is the second outfit in a row I've posted without any black in it! Wow! I'm on a roll here. When I was in high school and college, I was known as the girl in black and my Mom wondered why I always dressed in such somber colors. I told her I was in mourning for my lost youth. Well, now I'm 28 and over my lost youth. Time to embrace the rainbow!

What I'm Sproutin': School Spirit

Navy jacket: See's (a discount store in Taipei), blouse: BCBG sale, yellow skirt: same sale, shoes: Aldo, pendant: F-ck You Barbie, double-stranded choker: self-made, purse: Hayden-Harnett for Target, headband: Accessorize

Blue and gold reminds me of my elementary school, because those were our school colors. I remember being very sad when I realized that gold actually meant "bright yellow." I would have liked to break out the bling on school spirit days!

Then again, I've always been very literal when it comes to dressing up. Our middle school had school spirit weeks. Each day had a different theme; home rooms earned points based on how many students showed up in whatever the costume of the day was. I remember Eighties Day, Backwards Day and Pajama Day. On the latter, I came to school wearing my PJs, which were made out of a soft white jersey and had little pastel flowers on them. They looked like baggy long underwear. It wasn't until I saw my classmates parading around in crisp satin sets from Victoria's Secret and brand-new bunny slippers that I realized there was (is?) an unspoken rule among the student body that you don't wear your actual pajamas to Pajama Day. Whoops! I got funny looks, but then again I always got funny looks, so I didn't care.

I've had this skirt for a little while now. My Mom bought it for me at a BCBG sale when I was in California planning my wedding last year. It also came in navy blue and I debated for a bit until my Mom said I should pick the yellow because I already owned enough clothing in depressing hues. I agreed, but then had a hard time figuring out how to style the skirt until I picked up this structured hoodie. Yes, the jacket is navy blue, but I really like this color combo. When my yellow skirt was hanging unworn in my closet, I regretted not choosing the navy blue, but now I'm glad I have such a cheerful-looking item greeting me every time I get dressed.

To make my outfit a little less preppy (not that there is anything wrong with preppy), I added my anatomically-correct heart pendant from a Taipei-based indie design team called F-ck You Barbie. They also made my beloved brain pendant. The weather's been awful recently in Taipei -- gray, wet and chilly. The lack of sun has made me feel both blue and mentally foggy. Maybe I should wear both my pendants together for good luck. Goodness knows, my brain and heart could use some extra help right now!

What I'm Sproutin': Aughty Go-Bye Nautties

Dress: Macy's, cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft, scarf: Oasis, gloves: Modcloth, boots: Breeze Center (威風廣場), beret: Muji

Whenever I upload outfit photos to iPhoto, I put them in a folder and give them a name. Well, these photos were taken about two weeks ago and I have no idea what the heck I meant by "aughty go-bye nautties." But I am keeping the name, because it cracks me up (yes, I am one of those people who laughs at her own jokes. Or in this case, non-jokes).

I remember being really obsessed with nautical-themed outfits when I was in sixth grade. I had a white sailor shirt, which I wore with white shorts; that same year, I wore a really awesome navy blue dress in what was perhaps my most unflattering school photo. I wish I still fit into it! As it is, I'm still looking for my perfect sailor dress. Andrea from A Cat of Impossible Colour showcased a really awesome one recently. It's a vintage Laura Ashley dress that's been hemmed. I saw a similar one on eBay right before I moved to Taiwan. I still can't believe I didn't buy it!

If you've been curious about the random boards that have been showing up above my head in the past couple of outfits posts, wonder no more! It's a giant dragonfly!

It's part of an advertisement for this year's Taiwan International Floral Exposition. That reminds me of the time my parents, aunt and cousin went to a orchid expo in San Franciso. I was back home for spring break from college and told them to just drop me off on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley so I could do some thrift shopping. That was a ruse; what I really did was go into a body piercing salon and get an industrial. My Mom was all like "we leave you alone for three hours and you get a steel bar punched through the top of your ear!?!" I really loved my piercing, but unfortunately it developed a keloid after a couple of years and I had to take it out. Boo-hoo-hoo.

Vintage Taiwan No. 3: Friends (and some thoughts)

I love this because the girl on the left is wearing a western-style sundress and her companion has on a traditional qipao

Here are a few more vintage photos I bought from an antique store in Taipei -- including one in color! The stone formation is called the Queen's Head (女王頭), a very famous landmark in Yehliu on the north coast of Taiwan. It's slowly eroding, so I bet tourists aren't allowed to casually lean against it anymore.

After I posted my first series of vintage Taiwan photographs, Threadbared included my blog post in a collection of writings by different bloggers on vintage fashion, race and politics. That entry was re-posted on Racialicious and picked up by Jezebel (Fashion for Writers' Jenny also wrote her own insightful and moving post on the subject).

I was surprised by some of the comments on Racialicious (which I am a fan of) and Jezebel -- many were dismissive of the issues that the other bloggers and I raised. Many commenters basically said, "what's the big deal?" or "I like vintage because it's pretty and I don't think it's worth politicizing."

I feel those responses missed the point of our posts (Julia at à l'allure garçonnière wrote a very thoughtful response). The main reason I enjoy vintage clothing is because it is pretty and different from what I can find in mainstream stores. It's not like race and identity politics are foremost on my mind when I go vintage shopping. But being able to take pleasure in the lush folds of a 1950s dress or a shimmery 1960s evening sheath doesn't mean I can't also devote brain space to thinking about the more difficult issues vintage collecting brings up. The two aren't mutually exclusive. In my case, I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to be mindful about the injustices dealt to Asian Americans and other minorities in the US during the last century, as well the more difficult aspects of Taiwan's social and political history.

I am absolutely not saying vintage enthusiasts who don't think about those issues are shallow; my passion for vintage fashion and design just happens to intersect with my interest in social history. I'm grateful for that because it makes the past come alive in a very immediate way.

On a semi-related topic -- I post these photos because they are novel to me. I rarely see photos of Asian people from before the 1980s doing "everyday" things (i.e. not posing with a dragon or giant pair of chopsticks in an advertisement or something). My family's old photographs are scattered among various relatives, so even those are hard for me to get ahold of. Whenever I stumble upon photos like the ones above, I feel a certain sense of glee -- and relief -- that's hard to put into words.

But I am also cognizant of idealizing the people in the photos. I try to remind myself that they were more than just the cute clothes they are wearing (that I want in my own closet). I know nothing about these people, just that for one moment they posed for a photo that somehow ended up in my hands. I'm planning to re-read "On Photography" by Susan Sontag and "Camera Lucida" by Roland Barthes so I can better articulate my feelings on this issue.

Any thoughts on either of these topics (vintage clothing and politics/race or collecting vintage photographs)? I'd love to hear your feedback.

What I've Bean Sproutin': Feeling Dotty. A Bit Squirrely, Too.

Cardigan: H&M, top: Cartoon House (卡通工房), skirt: Modcloth, tights: the depths of my tights box, boots: Sogo Fuxing, headband: Shida night market, necklace: Haoshi

This has got to be one of the weirdest photos of me ever taken! I totally don't look like myself! I think that's what having a combination of pale skin and small features does to you -- gray light totally washes you out! Boo. Anyway, my outfit here is yet another attempt to mix up prints, only in this case there were two things with polka dots, so I guess that doesn't really count as mixing. I do like how the size of the dots and the spacing differ, however!

I've realized that I can mix a lot of black/white/red/gray outfits with the stuff in my closet. I don't know why. I like red, but it's not my favorite color. I do, however, own a lot of black clothing. Maybe buying more and more red stuff is my subconscious way of brightening up my dreary wardrobe. I used to wear all black, until one day I realized I bored myself to death every time I looked in a mirror. Also, it drives me crazy when two black items of clothing don't match EXACTLY. I'm kind of weird that way. I do, however, still buy a lot of gray clothing, or gray and black pieces with interesting patterns, details or shapes, like this skirt.

My squirrel pendant is from a Taiwanese indie design team called Haoshi. Their Web site is in English and Chinese and has the cutest little back stories for their resin animal pendants. The one for the squirrel is: "I move in the forest. Every direction or signature, they all lead me to hope." I love that! I think it's a good mantra for life. I've made some major decisions in the past few years (well, all twentysomethings do, I guess), including moving to a new country and getting married. Not all of them were easy choices (well, getting married was a pretty easy choice, especially since there was a huge chocolate toffee cake involved, heh heh), but all have indeed led me to hope.

Say hey to Booday

If you've been following The Renegade Bean for a little bit, then you'll know that Booday (蘑菇) is one of my favorite brands in Taiwan. The Booday team started as a graphic design firm with a small magazine they launched as a creative outlet; today, they are a lifestyle brand with a line of t-shirts (now made exclusively in organic cotton), canvas bags and home accessories. Booday's Taipei store also has a cafe on its second floor, where they host art exhibits, talks, music performances, readings and classes. I recently took a cyanotype class there, which I'll write more about later. For more about Booday and their address, check out the article I wrote about them a couple months ago.

Here is a sampling of Booday's items from their online store.

My current favorites include:

A t-shirt with drawings of paper airplanes made from international mail envelopes (this resonates with me because I'm an expat and though I love living in Taiwan, sometimes I wish visiting home were as easy as folding a paper airplane!).


A pencil bag shaped like an eggplant.


This neat noggin bag.

I know they ship internationally to some Asian countries. Here is a list of stores that carry their items; if something catches your fancy and you can't read Chinese, try shooting them a note. Several staff members are fluent in English. If you can read Chinese, check out their adorable blog.

Have you have a nice Booday!

12.7.2009 Bricky Dandy

Dress, cardigan and tights: Shida night market (師大夜市), tatted choker: Totus Mel, necklace: Eric at Booday (蘑菇), headband: Accessorize, shoes: Aldo

Happy New Year everyone! I wonder if I should stop putting dates on my outfit posts -- these photos were taken almost a month ago! I try to take outfit photos whenever it is not raining and there is a reasonable amount of sun outside. Those days have been rare lately, so I've been spreading these posts out week by week. At this rate, I'll still be posting winter outfits by summer. Ha!

The brick wall I am standing in front of used to be the supporting wall for a two-story house (as you can see by the remains of the roof in the top photo). In Taipei, a lot of property owners have torn down old houses and used the land for paid parking lots instead (I guess it's cheaper than building a new apartment building).

My cardigan is from Shida night market. I usually just buy accessories because a lot of the clothing sold in the night market is geared towards the junior's market: trendy, cheap and not particularly well made. Cleaning out my closet before I moved to Taiwan was a complete nightmare (so much of my stuff from "fast fashion" stores like Forever 21 and H&M were so worn out I didn't even want to donate them). As a result, I became a big fan of buying less but buying quality, even if it means spending more on a single item. I loved the lace trim on this cardigan so much, however, that I decided to go for it and just keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't fall apart at the seams or dissolve in the washing machine. My dress is also from the night market, and remixed from this outfit.

It's probably the combination of black and lace, but this outfit reminds me of late 18th and early 19th century English dandies. Isn't that random? I should read up more on the great dandies, like Beau Brummell. I love how they used fashion and outrageous conspicuous consumption as a way of giving a well-manicured finger to social convention.

More found photos of life in Taiwan, back in the day

I hope everyone is enjoying the end of the year! The last week was a busy one for me... and I just came down with a cold (boo), so this is just a quick post of more vintage photos found here in Taipei.

Taiwan Best Blog Awards results!

Cross-posted from Shu Flies (舒飛)

wink, wink

The results of the Taiwan Best Blog Awards are in at Taiwanderful! Shu Flies (舒飛) won the overall popular vote and tied in the peer-judged award for best personal blog with The New Hampshire Bushman. The overall popular vote is pretty mind-blowing (my parents have only one IP address between them) and sharing the peer-judged award with a long established and popular blog like The New Hampshire Bushman is truly humbling. A huge thank you from Taroko George and me to the Taiwan Best Blog Awards judges and everyone who voted for this blog (if you did, please let me know so I can thank you personally), and congratulations to the other winners!

謝謝大家的投票！！！這對我來說是一個非常大的鼓勵.

12.2.2009 The Dyes of Our Lives

Dress: Oasis, cardigan: Thakoon for Target, tights: H&M, necklace: H&M, scarf: Muji, shoes: Sogo Zhongxiao

Fashion for me is all about safety nets: my trusty black cardigan, my go-with-everything cream pumps, my beloved wood grain headbands. I haven't tried out a lot of trends, including mixed prints, because they stray too far from my beaten path. Part of it is insecurity; part of it is sheer confusion. How the heck do you mix prints???

For my first attempt, I made sure my two main pieces were in a similar color family, and that one print was larger than the other so the two fabrics didn't blend together. I then "weighed" everything down with a gray scarf, black leggings and basic black pumps. I think this outfit was successful because I felt comfortable in it and not at all self-conscious.

My necklace and leggings are both by H&M. One of the interesting things about living in Taiwan is seeing H&M items marketed as luxuries. There are H&M's in Hong Kong and China, but none in this country. Importers bring items over and sell them in boutiques or pop-up stores for hugely inflated prices (I saw a flimsy cotton madras blouse selling for the equivalent of US$75).

I'm trying to figure out what dyeing techniques the prints on my dress and cardigan are trying to mimic. My best guess is that the dress is supposed to look like ikkat, or some other form of resist dyeing. I love my Thakoon for Target cardigan -- I thought it was hideous when I first saw it, but the funny sand dollar-ish pattern grew on me and I knew I couldn't return to Taipei from California without it. Have you ever had that experience with clothing -- something looks so unattractive at first sight that you end up becoming totally obsessed with it?

By the way, please remember to vote for my blog about life in Taiwan, Shu Flies (舒飛), once every 24 hours in the Taiwan Best Blog Awards if you are so inclined. Thank you!