My favorite look: Preppy, school girl-chic

Tags

black mini skirt, blair, contrast trim blazer, emblem blazer, gossip girl, mary janes, menswear, menswear inspired, preppy look, red headband, school girl chic, serena, striped button down, tie, white pattern tights

I have loved this preppy, school girl-chic look for as long as I can remember.
I think it exemplifies my style very well: innocent but sexy, casual but put together, youthful but grown up.

I have to admit no one does it better than Gossip Girl’s character, Blair Waldorf.
Here is my favorite outfit/picture of her in the show. Also check out my Pinterest collage Preppy + Chic for inspirational photos.

Blair’s school girl outfit 

 

I’m a graduate

Graduation announcement

The undergraduate commencement at California Lutheran University took place a week ago. Now I’m just waiting on the final grades from Hunter College (hope they’re sent out by June 15). I’m proud to be a CLU alumna. Now on to the challenge called “finding a job in the real world.”

CLU alumna banner

My website/portfolio

Tags

css, design portfolio, html, personal portfolio, portfolio design, web design, writing portfolio

I spent a lot of time working on my personal portfolio to practice my HTML/CSS coding. It’s finally up and running so check it out.

Home page

Portfolio list

Interest collage

Kiss to benefit H&M Fashion Against AIDS campaign

Tags

AIDS awareness, charity, colorful bandaids, donate, ethnic inspired, fashion against aids, green wedged sandals, h&m, kissing, metal cuff, punk beach towel, royal blue pants, striped bustier

Nessa & Pierce

I was browsing my blog subscription today when I came across Anuschka’s (Into Mind) post about H&M Fashion Against AIDS campaign. For every smooching picture you post, H&M will donate $1 as part of the campaign. I was so excited I posted this one of my bf and I when we traveled to Vegas last December.

H&M will also be launching an exclusive collection from April 26, and 25% of the  proceeds will go directly to international youth awareness projects. The clothes and accessories carry ethnic influences from around the globe.

So what are you waiting for? Post your picture here and check out the collection.

H&M Fashion Against AIDS by vannessanguyen on polyvore.com

Amazon revamps its clothing section

Tags

amazon dress shop

Since its foundation in 1994, Amazon has spanned from being an online bookstore to selling pretty much everything else, from electronics to baby diapers. It doesn’t seem like this widely successful company is going to stop expanding any time soon.

Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of attractive billboards and public posters advertising the Amazon Dress Shop. Understandably, it features a variety of good brands and manage to put on a stylish look. But are they really going to be able to make dress shopping on Amazon cool?

My spring wishlist

Spring is here, and I have quite a few of items on my must-have list.

1. I’m in love with the sheer sleeveless blouse trend at the moment, and it seems that every store I’ve gone to has something along this line. My most favorite color is white/ivory (pictured here in a royal blue). Here’s a bonus picture of me in a white one at South Moon Under boutique in Rehoboth, DE.

2. I also made a resolution to be wearing more lady-like blouses instead of cotton tank tops like I usually do. I got the inspiration from someone I know at work, and I would really like to copy her with a tie collar blouse.

3. While browsing the Express store yesterday, tried on these shorts with two rows of buttons. Size 00 fitted me really well but they were still pricey. I would have to get something like that since I haven’t bought shorts in a while and retired several pairs during the move. Also adorable from Express were these smooth colorful satin flats. The only problem was that they had pointy toes, which were a little uncomfortable. But the colors were so vivid – orange, kelly green,  royal blue and ivory.

4. I have been and I’m still very much obsessed with lace, especially white lace. My co-worker was wearing this super cute and classy white lace dress with black peasant collar from Forever 21 the other day. It looked rather fitted on her (styled with a skinny tan belt), not boxy like on the model, because she is quite curvaceous. Both wear it well, and I just can’t resist it. While browsing Forever21.com looking for that dress, I also found this lovely navy ruffle neck dress. The ruffles work very well on my figure because I am rather flat-chested.

Nessa’s spring wishlist

5. Brandy Melville, one of my favorite stores, recently launched its online store in the US. I was able to find this asymmetrical low-front skirt I’ve been lusting after in the SoHo store. I’ve tried it on twice without buying because I’m not sure about the front length yet. It also has a wide variety of sexy, breezy cotton tank tops, so wide that it’s hard to pick one.

6. I have been interning for Philippe Matignon hosiery for a little more than a month now. The job is very interesting and involves looking at a lot of beautiful, sexy hosiery. Thus, I’ve become obsessed with the House of Holland suspender tights, which have been worn by many celebrities including Paris Hilton, Selena Gomez and Pixie Lott. I think my friend is getting me a similar pair for my birthday so I’m SUPER excited!!

7. Last but not least on my wishlist is a small tan messenger bag. This product pictured here from Fossil is way out of my price range.  But the ideal bag is similar – large enough for my lunchbox/water bottle and has strap long enough to hang around my waist.

Hopefully I  will find one or more of these items soon on my future shopping spree. So tell me, what’s on your spring wishlist?

Looking for a guilty pleasure read? ’50 Shades of Grey’ is the latest hot pick for you

The Fifty Shades trilogy (“Fifty Shades of Grey,” ”Fifty Shades Freed” and “Fifty Shades Darker”), aka ‘Twilight’ fan fiction, is written by E. L. James, a female British author and former TV executive. According to People, the books is about a virginal 21-year-old college student Anastasia Steele and a charming, 27-year-old millionaire Christian Grey. The catch is that Christian is a sexual deviant who only engages in dominant-submissive relationships with women. Despite her inexperience, Ana agrees to enter the unconventional relationship and falls for him in the process.

Judging from the setup of the novel, you may also guess that it involves a lot of BDSM erotica. It is surprising to many people that it has become a big hit among American women, so popular that it has been dubbed “mommy porn” or “S&M for Dummies.” Frank Santo, who reviewed the book for the Daily News, tries to explain why women don’t find Ana’s submission offensive and off-putting:

 Just as the majority of men who watch pornography do not actually think of their significant others as lascivious, orange-skinned, clearly-faking-it sexual acrobats, I seriously doubt that most women would prefer their men like Christian Grey: domineering, stalking, devoid of any humor or personality whatsoever. They are all kind of silly, these fantasies of ours, and were they to come true, we’d just want something else. Pornography is fundamentally absurd, but will endure regardless.

He also admitted:

For me, being a straight, white male of rather vanilla sexual inclinations, the experience of reading E. L. James’ “50 Shades of Grey” on the subway was enough to make me feel like a complete psychopath.

Published by a small independent press in Australia and an “obscure” author (New York Times), Fifty Shades of Grey enjoys most of its success in digital release. According to the NY Times, e-book downloads propelled “Fifty Shades of Grey” to No. 1 on the New York Times e-book fiction best-seller list (March 3, 2012) and No. 3 position on Amazon’s best-seller list. This is a great illustration of how tremendously the erotica genre has benefited from e-readers, devices that give people freedom to read discreetly.

Because the novel has become such a hit, the logical next step is to make it into a movie. Universal Studios and Focus Features have reportedly won the bid (EW), and E. L. James must be smiling wide at her big fat $5 million check. The concern is that, considering how hard-core the porn is, it would be difficult to make the book into an R-rated movie. Fifty Shades has also been compared to the Millennium trilogy in this aspect.

I don’t know if I will have time to try read Fifty Shades, but I’m naturally intrigued by it. Will you ever read this? Do you think this novel is worth all the buzz around it?

My first HTML website!

Tags

css zen garden, fashion district, simple html site

Fashion District homepage

I have admittedly been busy reuniting with a certain someone Besides interning almost full-time (4 days a week) and taking 3 classes, I’ve mostly been working on my Web production assignments. Here is my FIRST html site, quite a simple one, on my beloved Fashion District. Check it out.

The second challenge was to alter the CSS of the Zen Garden project. This is my interpretation, modeled after the Nasty Gal site. It’s quite challenging when you can’t change any part of the html and are unfamiliar with it in the first place. But I figured SOME stuff out …

The next project is going to be building my whole site complete with HTML and CSS, potentially simple Javascript too. I have some ambitious thoughts in mind. Stay tuned!

Need tips for a cool Mother’s Day gift?

Mother’s day this year falls on my parents’ 23rd wedding anniversary. They’re only 2 years shy from celebrating their silver anniversary. I’m happy for them, and there’s more reason to make this day special for my mum. Luckily, Gizoo has thought up some worthy gift packages, as well as novel, humorous items for this occasion. 

Real-looking faux candles

Relaxation Day is a more expensive option but can really take away the stress as it includes a facial and upper body massage. The great experience, rather than any material gift, will be the best present for mums. If you’re too broke to get her these luxurious treatments, you can try to help her re-create a spa environment at home with these faux bath jelly, vanilla candles and massaging bath pillows. My former roommate actually owns similar candles. They work great as decor and are safe for furniture, kids and yourself (!)I find the Pamper Experience and Relaxation Day packages legit. In the first one, mums can choose either a makeover (hair treatment/styling and makeup by a professional), a makeup lesson OR a beauty treatment (aromatherapy massage, mani or pedi). My mum is a hair person and doesn’t do a lot of makeup, so I’d definitely recommend her the first choice. 

I also come across this fabulous brown “paper” lunch bag. My mum usually packs her lunch, and this would work perfectly for her. I love the paper-bag appearance of this container so much that I’m tempted to get one for myself. As an environmentally conscious person, I’m even more excited about the fact that this reusable bag will significantly reduce the use of paper bags and save trees.

An environmentally-friendly take on the classic brown paper bag

Be sure to check out Gizoo for more cute mugs, aprons and other mum-friendly gadgets. Happy gift hunting!

If you knew me, you would know that I hate rain

Tags

flood, kate spade, new york city, rain, rain boots, sad, seasonal affective disorder

Today was an especially tough day to get over because it was gloomy and rainy. I couldn’t get myself out of bed until 11 am. How can it be annoyingly sunny one day and deprived of sun light the next? I don’t understand. Rainy weather has that depressing effect on me, creeping into my every tissue and making the muscles ache.

I complain every time it rains, which makes it become a chore. But I cannot get through the day sane without venting out the frustration, sometimes bordering desperation. As a Psychology minor, I often self-diagnose with SAD to try to make sense of this overwhelming irritation and unwillingness to do anything but curl up in my bed eating M&M. Yep, rainy days are “that time of the month” for me.

Rain is the reason I dislike spring so much, and I’ve never been able to escape it. I used to live in a very humid Vietnam. Then I moved to Southern California to go to school because it was warm and sunny (There’s a rainy season in California too, sometimes rendering the campus flooded.) Now I’ve moved to New York to pursue fashion. But I know I could NEVER EVER bring myself to live in Seattle, as my best friend is right now.

Two or three years ago, I got sick of getting my shoes wet in the rain. So I finally hunted down and bought a pair of leopard rain boots on Wet Seal for very cheap. I JUST realize they might have been knock-offs of these Kate Spade rain boots.

There is still chance of rain tomorrow and rain in the next few days. But hopefully I would be so occupied with work and hustling that it would take my mind off the hellish weather. After all, sunshine can come from within!