Bean Up to... Fashionary, a new kind of sketchbook

Sketches of outfits I've worn, including my wedding dress

One of my favorite things to do as a young girl was draw outfits in sketchpads my Mom stapled together from scratch paper. A friend of mine taught me how to draw a human figure during theater camp (yes, I was a drama geek). It involved a horizontal oval, inverted triangle, another horizontal oval, six circles and some lines. It worked, but each drawing took a relatively long time. I recently began sketching again and thought about making some sort of template so I wouldn't have to keep making the same figure over and over again. And then I discovered Fashionary via What I Wore. I was so taken with the idea that I ordered one right away (well, I waited a week, but you get my point).

The first part of the book, which was created by Hong Kong designer Penter Yip, includes useful information for fashion designers, such as technical drawings of different pieces of clothing, pattern templates, a schedule of major fashion events in different countries and samples of presentation boards. Most of Fashionary consists of pages with "blending figures," however, or female figures in very faint, dotted outlines. You can sketch an outfit over them and it saves you a lot of time and hassle. If you want to work on your fashion illustration skills, as I do, Fashionary lets you skip the irksome process of drawing a body and skip directly to sketching the outfit itself.

The dress on the far left is a practice sketch I copied from a drawing on Fashionary.org. The others are all sketches of clothing I own. It's like seeing myself stretched out!

My drawings aren't perfect by any means, but I'm looking forward to improving them, especially in terms of being able to capture fabric textures more realistically. I'm not a designer, but sketching is a great form of stress release and Fashionary makes it even more fun. I highly recommend it. The sketchbook is US$16 and you can order it online from Etsy. If you don't feel like buying it right away, you can download sample blending figure templates from the Web site.

Also, if any of you have tips on good online resources for fashion illustration techniques, please let me know!

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.

Borrowed memories of a time long ago

I recently discovered a couple shops here in Taipei that sell vintage found photos. This topic really deserves a longer blog entry (and hopefully I'll have time to write one soon), but I find it very moving to see people who look like me doing normal things in time periods that I enjoy from a historical and aesthetic standpoint.

It's a rare thing. For example, I only recall Asian Americans being featured three times on as many seasons of "Mad Men": the "Oriental family" in Pete's office when he returned from his honeymoon, the waitress in a tight qipao and the (off-screen) Chinese driver that made Sally giggle. The series is one of my favorite TV shows, but it also reminds me that Asian Americans were marginalized (or worse) during the era it depicts. And, of course, depictions of Asians and Asian Americans in actual vintage US films are also problematic, to say the least.

I often find myself feeling very conflicted about my interest in vintage style. How can I enjoy things from an era when Asian Americans were repressed, socially and legally (as with the Japanese internment camps and the Chinese Exclusion Act), and when many Asian countries suffered sociopolitical violence that traumatized millions of people, including members of my family? But secondhand and vintage items have had an emotional resonance for me since I was very young and, though it's hard to explain, I can't imagine my life without them. This is more than a hobby for me -- it's part of my identity.

Perhaps it is a bit trivial, but when I see photos like these or watch a movie like "Stardust," it feels like a relief, or validation of a sort. I don't have access to a lot of my own family's old photos for various reasons, so these pictures are almost like an emotional surrogate for me. Here is something I can enjoy wholeheartedly and relate to on a more intimate level. I have a lot more of these photos and I am looking forward to sharing them here.

I love living in Taiwan, p.1: Jos Designs wooden hair sticks

One of my favorite things to do in Taipei is visit artist and designer markets and pick up things I'd never be able to find back in the United States. Take Jos Designs wooden hair sticks, for example. Each one is carved out of hardwood and inspired by motifs in traditional Chinese art:

I have two carved from blue sandalwood and they smell wonderful.

Long time, no hear

I started this blog with such high hopes about regular posting, but I've been awfully negligent. This month has been particularly busy -- my fiance and I are getting married next month in California, my grandmother is in Taiwan staying with my relatives in Kaohsiung and I'm trying to find time in between work to see her. Ah! I feel like my brain is going to melt.

I did manage to find the gorgeous celluloid medallion above on Etsy, however. It's from seller All Wild Jewels. I looked up celluloid jewelry after buying a lovely ivory-colored brooch from a vintage jewelry dealer in Shida night market here in Taipei. Her name is Tiffany and she is an interpreter who sources vintage jewelry on her business trips to the US. It is harder to find vintage jewelry in Taiwan than it is in the US (at least vintage jewelry that doesn't cost a ton), so I was thrilled to find her. Well, I was thrilled. My wallet wasn't. Tee-hee.

The most amazing blouse -- ever.

I am in love with this gorgeous black 30s blouse from Dewberry Vintage on Etsy.


The black crepe fabric looks like it would feel absolutely amazing, the covered buttons add a luxe touch, the gathered bodice softens the look of the garment without making it too precious and the little ribbon ties mark this particularly piece as being a gift from the gods. Obviously.

I would wear this with a pair of wide-legged dark denim trousers and a saucy grin.

I highly recommend Dewberry Vintage by the way. A dress and pair of gloves I purchased arrived in less than 8 days -- and I live in Taiwan. I bought the gloves because as an intrepid reporter I spent a good deal of my time on various forms of Taipei public transport, grabbing onto things for support. I don't always get a chance to wash my hands afterwards and I don't totally trust antibacterial gels like Purell, so my genius idea is to wear the gloves when I go out so my own paws stay relatively pure and uncontaminated. Now if only someone would dig up a vintage crochet SARS mask, too.

From the "I can't believe this hasn't sold yet" annals

I absolutely love this vintage black lace dress from Dusty Rose Vintage on Etsy. If it weren't too small for me, I would have snapped it up already. The item description says that "if you missed out on the Comme des Garcons for H&M line, this might satiate you. A little." I agree and think that it does look like a gossamer version of the US$349 dress from the line that generated a bit of online buzz when previews for the line first came out. It has the same deconstructed Edwardian vibe:


If I wore the dress, I would probably style it with a pair of opaque black tights and low black leather wedges so as not to distract from the dress itself and (in an homage to the COMMES des GARCONS H&M ad) a chunky white beret. Alternately, if you want to lean a bit more towards Lydia from "Beetlejuice," you can layer it with some black lace stockings and bright red accessories.

Here is a close up of the incredible lace bib...


... and the sexy low back.

Migration Shift by emilyryan @ etsy.com

I was perusing Etsy.com for indie designers when I discovered the Migration Shift by emilyryan. I nearly fell over. I'm amazed at the way she incorporated stuffed applique and shaping into the dress and the stark simplicity of the birds as they soar towards the sculpted neckline (yay for alliteration!).


In my perfect world, this dress would be worn by a bride carrying a bouquet of ice-white rice paper cut-out flowers. It would like one of those wedding dresses of yore that became the bride's best dress afterwards. If I owned it, I would wear it as often as possible and spend all that time navel-gazing, literally, at the amazing sculpted birds.

Emily's profile says that she is inspired by "1920's couture, science fiction, and Japanese fashions" and her influences come through quite clearly in her work. Other standouts from her collection include the Honeycomb and A-Line Criss Cross dress. I love Emily's use of gray fabric. I wear a lot of black, but have been moving away from it recently because black conceals all the small details in clothing and is actually not as flattering as people seem to think it is. Shadows are obscured, so if you wear something that's even slighly loose, you end up looking like a big, dark blob. Grey offers the comfort and sleekness of black, but is more interesting and lets dressmaker details shine forth.