Finale Pt. 1

Well, yesterday was my last day of work–I’m no longer a fashion industry slave. Part of me is really sad that it’s over but another part of me is just really missing San Diego and everyone there! I didn’t have anything to do on the last day so I just spent a lot of time on the computer feeling bored and kind of sad at the same time.

Taiwan was typhooning all day today so I didn’t get to hang out with Vivian at Taipei 101. I’ll probably be seeing everyone in like, less than a week anyway, so whatever.

I still have like, 40ish more pictures to download from my camera, but I did manage to get these resized and ready for posting. They include the Bella Beauty Awards, my first outdoor photoshoot, another dinner with the Director, and a photoshoot with a beauty editor. (She ended up giving me a bottle of Benefit’s “You Clean Up Nice” facial wash and a compact with eyeshadow that is TOTALLY my palette. It was so nice of her to do so too… she really didn’t have any obligation to give me anything.)

Me looking foxy for the Bella Beauty Awards. As you can see, my hair is starting to straighten out.

The Bella Beauty Awards was held at a place called “Bando 8.” Sounds kind of ethnic, no? Maybe it’s just because it reminds me of banjo…

The award-winning make-ups and skincares.

The giftbags that I had to assemble. In the back, you have the giftbags for journalists. On the left, the giftbags for visitors/guests. They got different kinds of swag. The lucky journalists got my favorite Calvin Klein perfume.

Me at the podium!

They had little like, vanities for people to try the make-up. I didn’t get a chance to.

Booze. No wonder rich kids who go to a lot of functions get wasted young–it’s so accessible!

The display that showed all the winners.

I had to help set up the welcome table. Notice the business cards oriented in an artistic, staircase manner.

Everyone was starving by noon, and our caterer was late so someone else went down to buy food. Unfortunately, all the editors came in around that time and they were ravenous. Upon seeing numerous paper bags of food, skinny Asian girls pounced. It was kind of scary but really funny, as you can imagine. Luckily, I got a bowl of noodles before the frenzy began.

Schmoozing post-awards show.

Me and one of the beauty editors. She usually has really heavy eye make-up on. She recommended me a facial place.

The girl who sits next to me with the decked out desk. Her name is Nana.

Strawberry KitKat. It’s really not that good–in fact, it tastes kind of medicinal.

First outdoor photoshoot with Fashion Editor. It was RIDICULOUSLY hot and humid. I know it looks like a beautiful summer’s day, but it was probably like, 98 degrees.

The photographer, Armani. Hehe, his name really is Armani.

The model trying to balance on the giant birdcage housing a tree. In Taiwan, you only have to be really thin to model. There really are no other qualifications.

AIN’T SHE FIERCE?!

SO FIERCE.

After each change in outfit, the Fashion Editor looks at an uber-high quality polaroid that shows what the final pictures will look like.

My destiny as everyone’s bitch was fulfilled when I was instructed to haul bags of beverages from multiple locations to the photo studio. The only bright side was I got to pick what everyone drank. So everyone was stuck with water, orange juice/soda in really cute bottles, lemonade in really cute bottles, or tea.

There was a really gnarly photoshoot about shoes and there were boxes EVERYWHERE. EVERYWHERE. There was this really adorable pair of Marc Jacobs flats that I was sure I a took a picture of, but I guess not.

The EIC got a shipment of Fendi stuff, including shoes, boots, and bags. We got to walk around the studio holding the bags and I liked this one. The picture is kind of blurry but yeah. LOVE Fendi. Though sometimes they get a little crazy with the leopard print…

The Director took us to this weird place for lunch. It was very arty, as indicated by the building.

Mom and me and the crazy interior. It was kind of… cave-y.

They had weird statues with HUGE ginormous tatas.

Another day, another photoshoot. The model was tiny, but of course, she was thin.

She was getting her hair curled whilst on her cell phone. The make-up artist was this Japanese woman who lived in Taiwan. It was kind of weird hearing her speak Mandarin–she definitely had an accent, but it wasn’t necessarily “Japanese-sounding.” I have no idea how to describe it…

Photographer with his interns adjusting the lights and setting up for the next group of pictures.

The owner of this photo studio had the most adorable dog ever called Nono. I pet him once and he liked me so much he came up to me and hopped up on my leg. He was sooo cute and quiet and wasn’t scary. Awww…

Picturing Photoshoots, Press Conferences, and People

Yay, I finally bring you pictures. I was going to show you guys my awesome giftbags from agnès b and Ballys, but yesterday, mom packed everything in a paper box. :/ Lame.

Remember how I was complaining about packaging make-up and skin-care products into their right bags? Here is a little sample of all the packaging/sorting I had to do.

When we went to agnès b press conference, they had this woman do Henna on guests. This is the EIC of Cittá Bella getting her hand done. I didn’t because I don’t think my mom would’ve been too happy…

agnès b is a luxury travel brand. Here is some of the stuff you can buy when you go and brave hot sub-Saharan Africa.

And after your long trek, you can set up your own tent and pretend that you are Aladdin/Ali Baba and lounge on silken cushions drinking from decorated copper and bronze vessels that truly indicate your familiarity with foreign culture.

They also had two hookahs there, but I felt too sketched out to try a puff or two.

Here are the lights you are supposed to set up in the ceiling of your expansive teal tent.

Me listening to the sounds of Morocco on this cool vertical wall-mounted stereo with really comfy headphones.

Awkwardly enough, they had Taiwanese girls dancing like, Arabian dances (is that PC?) complete with swords and Aladdin-esque costumes. They also did a lot of ululating.

The hostess of the event asking them about their extraordinary dancing. (It was rather mediocre, in my opinion.)

On the weekend, we visited my uncle’s apartment a little bit outside of Taipei. His place is really pretty and they have an exercise room and an indoor pool as well as a movie theater all on the property.

That’s right, you heard them. NO BIRDS ALLOWED ON THE BUSES.

I went to the opening for Folli Follie’s new store near Taipei 101. Folli Follie specializes in watches and jewelery, but I think their clothes look really cheap. :/

British VIP talking about how awesome Folli Follie is.

Lots of people like Folli Follie apparently.

Folli Follie had REALLY cute waiters. One of them insisted that everyone take champagne because the photographers wanted a photo op of everyone raising their glasses to toast Folli Follie. 

Outside, they had this ice cream cart that gave out free ice cream. It was REALLY good ice cream. In the background, you can see a YSL bag that I LOVE. It’s the Fashion Editor’s and I have a smaller version of the same bag that is all pink. I’m totally saving up for the polka dotted version though.

Afterwards, we went to Taipei 101 to borrow clothes. Kookaï!

In my opinion, their clothes are very… prairie girl meets Ann Taylor.

The awesome Chloé finger food!

Blurry picture of people waiting for the show to start with their orange Chloé bags. *jealous*

I love their shoes this fall.

Except this pair. This model is wearing hooker/dominatrix shoes. :/

THESE shoes are cute. But probably ridiculously painful to walk in.

The Ballys show. They were seriously lacking places to sit which is POOR event planning.

Model.

All the models they used. The men are old. I feel like they are like, past-their-prime models.

The make-up artist’s gear at my first photoshoot with a model.

Some of the clothes I ironed.

Shoes. I actually didn’t set these up–the photographer’s interns did.

Model (on the left), make-up artist (background), and Senior Fashion Editor (right) discussing the metaphysics of the which handbag best suits the model’s outfit. These discussions last SO much longer than you can imagine.

Testing the light on the model. I’m a little shorter than the girl who’s testing the light, who is standing next to the model. Gives you some idea of scale.

Me and the EIC of Cittá Bella.

Me and the Designer

Me and the Fashion Director. Yes, this is Sean. He’s making a weird face, but I have some ninja photos that I *may* share discreetly that truly show his girlcrushworthiness.

Me with the Fashion Editor, also owner of fabulous Fendi and YSL bags.

Me with the Senior Fashion Editor.

And that concludes my picture post! My last day of work will be next Friday. I’m actually pretty sad about that…

I bring you: PICTURES GALORE + detailed commentary

You have no idea how big of a pain writing these long picture posts are… it takes such a long time to resize all the pictures on Photobucket and then copy and paste HTML… blah blah.

Anyway, I’ve come back from Hong Kong, as most of you know and I’m continuing my internship at Marie Claire and Cittá Bella. So far, it’s been a lot more interesting than the first couple of weeks. I’ve been going to a lot more press conferences and photoshoots. I forgot to bring my camera yesterday so I didn’t get to take pictures of the awesome VIP Presentation of a Taiwanese designer named Shiatzy Chen’s Fall/Winter ‘07 collection. I do have the press kit that they gave out at the presentation, so I’ll take pictures of that (and the Prada/Miu Miu ones I got) when I’m not so lazy. The Shiatzy Chen thing was pretty cool. His store is in between Gucci and Louis Vuitton, so it’s definitely rather well-known and high-end. He’s not a big deal in the US (he only has boutiques in Paris, Shanghai, and Taipei) but apparently, a lot of Asian politicians’ wives and important businesspeople like to wear his stuff because it’s largely Asian-inspired and has some great detailing in both the embroidery and the fabrics. I got to watch a fashion show with around 14-15 models wearing Shiatzy Chen’s stuff and it was quite an experience. Going to all these fashion thingies makes me really not want to be a model. (Not that I could be one of course, my body type is entirely insufficient.) One of the models was wearing high heeled shoes that were much too small for her. Not only are heels inherently painful, when they don’t fit right, you are basically setting yourself up for a really attractive faceplant. Before the show though, I got to go with the Editor in Chief of Cittá Bella, who took me to this whole thing, to the VIP room. The VIP room has black painted walls, dimmed lights with several dark-toned candles throughout the room. There are Zen-like black stone of various sizes to give you that ambiance of luxury, inner peace, and like, perfect chi or something. There was also the very excessive sprinkling of tiny Swarvoski crystals all around the candles and and rocks. (They made it clear that the crystals were Swarvoski because they had little signs that told you who put together the interior and with what materials.) On the black tables, they had square ceramic plates (also in dark colors) with perfect little desserts. There was this tiny crème brûlée that I wanted to try, but I didn’t get the chance. There was some other stuff, but I didn’t get a good look… I’m sure I saw tiny crackers with caviar though. These little desserts were like, less than an inch in diameter and arranged in perfect 4×4 squares on the square plates. In the center of the room, there was a big wooden birdcage with 4 fat and tiny fluttering birds that were SO CUTE. People sat around in clusters on rather low dark wood benches that were backed in poofy dark green or purple pillows. Every other person had a Louis Vuitton bag. It was kind of revolting. Anyway, I got a tiny bottle of mineral water (everything’s tiny at these functions, it’s kind of lame… but I guess that’s why everyone in the industry is waifish. They serve food to satisfy Tom Thumb…) before we had to go to the fashion show.

Okay, onto the pictures.

LeSportsac’s tokidoki Fall/Winter ‘07 Bag/Anniversary Party

Apparently, the beach pattern is “new” this year. Last season was notable for the heaven/hell pattern.

Some of the less flamboyant bags… but they are clearly still quite flamboyant.

LeSportsac tokidoki schmoozing action.

More of the display…

Thin, tan, and sparkly model numero uno.

The really tan male model who shows you that men can proudly carry tokidoki bags too!

Models showing how cool you can be with a tokidoki bag!

OMG LOOK HOW CLOSE I AM TO THE MALE MODEL. *swoon*

The flower in her hand was later given rather flirtatiously to some old European guys who showed up and were probably VIPs/important donor or Board of Directors people…

Male model expounding the merits of LeSportsac and tokidoki.

Prada and Miu Miu Fall/Winter ‘07 Press Conference

The male model at this thing was CUTE. I wish I had the audacity to take a picture but he looked kind of angsty and I wasn’t sure if cameras were allowed. I’m posting the pictures now because some of this stuff is already in stores, so it’s not like I’m leaking information. I must say though, Prada’s shoes for men are quite sexy. If you guys have like, 600 dollars to spend on a pair of patent leather shoes, definitely go the Prada route.

Miu Miu’s bags this year. Apparently, the theme is “the new old bag.” So basically, they were last season’s bags only they went through considerable hand damage. As in, there were people actually paid to mar and stain the leather and beat it soft. So, if you have any dilapidated-looking leather bags, they’re in this fall.

The Prada fashion show that was played on a loop.

Miscellaneous Pictures from Magazine Outings and Hong Kong

This is where the first photoshoot I went to took place.

The shoes I had to take out of the boxes and set out in rows. I also had to make sure there was one shoe that was clearly visible in each box. Doesn’t sound too hard, but I was pretty freaked out that I would do something wrong. This was my first task of that day.

Testing the light…

The second time I went to pick up clothes, I went to Mango. This is apparently their Fall/Winter stuff…

Some of the clothes that the Senior Fashion Editor picked…

We went to pick up some hats…

… and I spotted a Lacoste!

Afterwards, we had some cold desserts. Pictured is boba + do hua (which is tofu + sugar water with a faint almond taste). It tastes a lot better than it sounds. (This is a recurring pattern in Chinese food, I think.)

This is the second photoshoot I went to. Some of the clothes I had to iron and lay out for the photographer.

Testing the light again. Apparently, this needs to be done a lot.

Chinky desensitizing toothpaste. Beats Colgate, I bet.

Food we ate in Hong Kong. It was pretty good, but I’ve had better.

Mom and me at Hong Kong International Airport. We are kneeling because I don’t have a tripod and we were being skilled with the digital camera timer. We put it on a trashcan and it wasn’t tall enough…

Me in front of the Dior store on Canton Street. My mom bought a pretty cute handbag per my recommendation. It’s this classic pink and has the signature Dior Cannage pattern only in perforation. Totally new for the Fall but also totally timeless. I’m getting to be quite the bag expert.

Mom and me in front of Chanel. We were also using a timer but we got to stand because the street was lined with these metal poles that were a good height and my mom’s camera has an adjustable lens thingy that can tilt up.

If you are this height and below, you can ride the subway for free.

Really good typical Hong Kong/Cantonese cuisine. The braised pork with rice is divine.

Me holding my Lacoste and Burberry shopping bags standing in front of a rather large ad campaign featuring the awesome Elyse Sewell from ANTM Cycle 1.

I thought this was funny.

This entire post took 45 minutes to type. I don’t know how long it took to upload the pictures though… Internet here isn’t as speedy as my Internet at home. It’s not ridiculously slow, but yeah…

Anyway. Hope you enjoyed that. I come back on the 20th of August.

Oh my god I am going to cry.

I just spent like, 2 hours assembling a photo post and I screwed up somehow and now it’s lost forever. FUCK.

Every picture had commentary and it was awesomeeeee.

Well anyway. I’m now going to try again. I have pictures of my office, funny things from my trip to the grocery store, and my apartment.

Some of the magazines that I’ve been reading.

The Burberry Boba I’ve mentioned. The guy who owns the store is cute. He’s also in his mid-30s I think (like the Fashion Director). :/ I think he’s why I go to his store instead of the 24839482309 boba places nearby. That, and I love Burberry plaid. The entire store has Burberry accents.

Some models that are really really excited to be Città Bella covergirls.

Even the clocks on the wall are Swatch!

The girl who sits next to me has a really decked out desk. Note the computer monitor wearing some sort of stuffed sheep.

You can kind of see my desk.

The fashion posters on a cubicle wall nearby. This cubicle is the Fashion Director’s cubicle. Kate Moss for Calvin Klein and a Dior ad campaign.

The desk of the girl behind me. I don’t even know what her computer monitor is wearing.

This isn’t in the office, but I took it at the vegetarian buffet place from the dinner with the Director. I think we should use plz more on official labels. The SVP is quite chic.

Household items!

I’m not sure what a washtank is, but based on the Mandarin, they are probably referring to a washing machine. I think a bathtub can be considered a washtank though….

Yes, that’s right. Sopp.

One of the best things about Asian countries is the pre-scooped ice cream. Ice cream is better in Japan though.

They sell scented trashbags!! Brilliant. From left to right, we have lavender scented, rose scented, and orange scented.

I’ve always wanted a whitening shower.

YES, see, the crocodile is an emblem of quality. Lacoste for the win!!!

For emo people who suffer from dry air, here is your Emo Dehumidifying Cylinder.

Black people toothpaste. Hehe.

My Apartment:

The office area where I do my stuff.

The bathroom. :/ I’m not a huge fan of the bathroom because it’s ugly and like, I dunno. I miss my bathroom…

The Living Room.

Hello Kitty magnets on the kitchen fridge. So cute!!

The little stand where my mom and I hang some of our clothes and bags. No, I don’t have a closet. It sucks.

Sleeping area. It kind of looks like it’s on the ground, but it’s actually on a raised platform… think of Japanese tatami beds and futons…

This is what you see when you are sitting on my bed. I drink way too much boba here….

Sorry if the commentary was rather lackluster and uninspired. You have no idea how awesome my post (that is now lost somewhere in cyberspace) was.

More pictures coming of an anniversary event for LeSportsac celebrating the tokidoki Fall/Winter ‘07 line and my preview of Prada’s Fall/Winter ‘07 Line.