Like most girls, I played with Barbies in my younger years.  I vividly remember living my pink- filled fantasy life vicariously through her.  Except my Barbie’s life was not nearly as fab as it should have been. (Parents refused to buy me the pink mansion, Cadillac and other necessary accroutrements).  So my homeless Barbie had to sleep in a makeshift bed made from my shoebox and my mom’s Stayfree maxipad (I was a creative kid).  And during the day, she played with my brother’s G.I.J.O.E.s because there was no Ken and there was no Skipper. But in my eyes, Barbie was beautiful with or without all the fancy stuff that my friends’ Barbie’s had.  I loved her long silky blonde hair and the bright blue eyes.  Little did I know back then how impossible her hip to waist ratio was nor did I understand the feminist backlash against Barbie.  I only yearned to be and look like her (tough feat for an Asian girl like me!)

But this Russian beauty, Valeria Lukyanov seems to have taken her Barbie obsession to an extreme!  Like the song goes, “I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world…I’m a blond bimbo girl, in the fantasy world dress me up, make it tight, I’m your dolly” she has dressed up and become a Barbie girl in her own little Barbie world!

There has been a lot of recent debate about whether she is real or not given her exaggerated measurements,and possibly airbrushed and plastic look so I did a little investigation and found the below video of miss Barbie revealing one of her transformations, okay this was not the traditional Barbie look but it was the only before and after makeover video available online.  Check out this fascinating make-up tutorial.  I don’t know if it was the mystical music but I found this video quite mesmerizing.

I actually picked up a trick and will have to try out her nose contouring tip.  Through the ever-handy Youtube, I found another Barbie wanabe, this time a young Asian girl!  Turns out you CAN be Asian and still look like Barbie!  Watch this!
And below is quite possibly the most life-like doll face.  This 15 year old named, “Venus Angelic” reveals her magical makeover and achieves an anime-like doll face below.   What do you think of all this?

You Barbie fans should read my earlier article on Barbie’s closet, found at NY Fashion week or Barbie’s Vegas hotel room found here.

Out of these two stunning pageant winners, can you guess which one was born a male?

Jenna Talackova, the blond beauty on the right, reins as Miss Canada but was born a male.  Explaining that she has known she was a female since she was four years old, she began hormone therapy at 14 and had sex reassignment surgery in 2010.

Looking at this picture above, I’m also left wondering about her race.  Does she look Asian to anyone else?  Standing next to Miss Korea, they look like Asian plastic surgery partners in crime.

Now that Donald Trump has casted his final judgement and allowed Jenna Talackova into the Miss Universe pageant, I’m even more excited to watch all the drama unfold.  Here is Jenna’s bathing suit photo.  What do you think?

Hot or not?

I’m  a big pageant fan and have been religiously watching them since I was little.   One of my favorite memories in recent years was getting to watch the Miss USA Pageant LIVE with some friends in Vegas.  Right before my wedding, my friend Ly invited me out for a girly weekend getaway, luring me in with these tickets and after party passes. 

How could I resist getting to watch the live pageant with a real-life pageant winner herself (she was Miss Wisconsin and also Miss Asian-America in her past)!

As you can imagine, pageant winners and their fans mobbed the area with a whirlwind of sequin, glitter and feathers.

Of course, we had to make our rounds and meet some of the pageant cuties ourselves.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much pink and glitter in one room!

This is who I was rooting for, Miss Alabama, pictured above.

My friend Tala (in purple) posed with one of the pageant contestants above but given she didn’t wear her badge, I forget who she was.

My pageant outfit consisted of bright colors, a shiny palaitte purse and bright yellow Louboutins.

All of us girls, must have been thinking along the same lines because together, we were sort of a rainbow explosion!

To read further about another pretty boy, click here and check out Andrej Pejic’s  fashion photos!

Who else misses “The Hills” and “The City?”  Was anyone else a Whitney Port fan?  She was the beauty that gave good advice, and somehow avoided the easy transformation into a  fashion diva prototype.    I thought she was beautiful inside and out.  And her style was always effortless.  Here are some of my favorite Whitney Port looks.

What do you think?

For more of my favorite looks, view and follow my pinterest labelled “my style”, here!

Who else here is a super fan of Sophia Grace and Hype Girl, Rosie Grace McClelland?  I wish I could adopt these two! How freakin adorable are they?? Check them out.

I’ve watched all their videos 3xeach and I can’t seem to get enough! Somehow each viewing makes me even giddier with girly happiness.  They’re absolutely my favorite Ellen guests and mark my words.  These little internet sensations will soon gain international stardom.  What a duo!  I’m loving the Toys R Us shopping spree fantasy scene and the tiara+ ruffly white dress + white rapper scene in the last video – what an unexpected mash-up.  I just subscribed to their channel and am dying to see more!

Once upon a time, in a land far far away was a beautiful princess-to-be with a fairly boring but passable fashion sense.  And during the 5month engagement the world was abuzz with predictions, speculations and designer drawings of what the princess bride would wear.  My personal prediction was that she would play it safe with something traditional and classic.  And knowing the grand cathedral that she was to be wed in, I envisioned her in something grand, something with covered shoulders, something with a little lace and definitely something with a long train.  I just prayed it wouldn’t be as ridiculously long as Princess Diana’s train.

So when I got to work this morning, the first thing I did was to anxiously play the video of Kate Middleton taking that famous ride towards Westminster Abbey.  No I wasn’t one of the millions of Americans who set their alarms at 5am or stayed up all night partying at a viewing event.  A girl has got to work!  Excitedly though, I was happy to have been right about the wedding dress predictions and stunned to see the similarities between Kate Middleton’s dress and Grace Kelly.  It immediately brought me back to the day my best friend emailed me that same Grace Kelly photo that has been floating around the web .  She actually suggested to me that I wear something similar to Grace Kelly’s dress for my very own wedding!  What timing!  For it seems Kate already stole the idea with the help of Sarah Burton from Alexander McQueen.

For a full slideshow of Kate’s dress click here

Did anyone else find the dress a bit anti-climatic?

You’ve seen my photo with Olivia at New York’s Fashion Week.   Now see her daily outfits this month at Vogue’s UK site!

photo from Vogue.com (topshop skirt N shoes, ann taylor necklace, mulberry bag)

photo from Vogue.com (vintage skirt, comptoir des cottoniers top, kurt geiger shoes)

photo from Vogue (altered dress markus lupfer leather pants from daryl k converse shoes, Hermes purse, vintage scarf)

photo from Vogue (jacket jeans adn shoes from topshop and Rebecca taylor tshirt, hermes bag, rolex watch)

I’ve always admired Olivia Palermo’s fashion sense and personal style as I think she dresses in a classy, fashionable manner – kind of sophisticated for her age too.  So it was interesting and refreshing to see how she mixes the high and low on a daily basis (something I try to do daily).  It seems she has a penchant for designer purses i.e. Hermes, and Chloe, and effortlessly mixes in vintage finds with Ann Taylor and Zara!  Here are a couple of my other favorite looks from Olivia.

Thanks to the fashion spot, we’ve got a couple examples on how anyone can copy her look for less.

photo from fashion spot.BROWN BLAZER, $42 at Yoox SCOOP-NECK SLIP, $38 at Yesstyle BIB NECKLACE, $21.44 at Kohl's BUMBLE BEE STUDS, $15 at Topshop TWEED TROUSERS, $25 at Spiegel CLASSIC RED POLISH, $7.49 at Walgreens

NAVY BLAZER, $27 at Forever 21 GOLD SQUARE NECKLACE, $100 at Anthropologie SILK TWIST-SLEEVE SLIP, $55 at Bluefly GEM STONE BELT, $37.61 at Asos JACQUARD PENCIL SKIRT, $112 at Anne Klein T-STRAP PLATFORMS, $50 at DSW OVERSIZED CLUTCH, $36 at Zara

And if you’d like more inspiration from Olivia Palermo’s wardrobe, you can actually search her name in Polyvore.com and find sets inspired by her outfits then learn where to buy each piece!

Olivia Palermo by ♥meℓ featuring Charlotte Russe shoes

olivia by wasting love (busy) featuring Halston coats

She has since moved out of her Tribeca 1bedroom but this is the only available picture of Olivia Palermo’s closet which was 63 sq. ft and made with Elfa shelves.  You know how I love the sneak peek into celebrity closets!  Here are two other recent entries about celebrity closets if you want to see more. 1. 2.

Kelly Wearstler, gorgeous model-like, mother-of-two / famed interior designer and reality TV show judge is one of my favorite style icons.

Her interior designs are stunning (some of my favs include her work at the Santa Monica Viceroy hotel, Maison 140 hotel and BG at Bergdorf Goodman) and in my fantasy world, my entire home would be decorated with her help.

It’s no wonder that I’m a collector of her coffee table books.  She’s got endless style.  And I can’t get enough of her designs.

Since I’m interested in celebrity closets, I of course, had to do a little research on Kelly’s closet.  It’s as enviable as I imagined.  Just take a look.

photo from Canadian House & Home

photo from Canadian House & Home

photo from Canadian House & Home

photo from Canadian House & Home

Who are your favorite style icons?

To see more celebrity closets (as well as a peek into my shoe closet) click here for my earlier post.

photo from nymag.com

photo from nymag.com

I love the Oscars, not ‘cuz I’m a movie buff but because of the 1hr fashion parade that solidifies the season’s trends.  In line with spring trend colors,  blushes, and Gr-eige (all forms of grey and beige), many celebrities showed off pretty pales.  The following dresses from the Oscar fashion parade were on my favorites list:

photo from nymag.com

photo from nymag.com

photo from nymag.com

photo from nymag.com

photo from nymag.com

photo from nymag.com

photo from nymag.com

photo from nymag.com

You can see below that the ‘gr-eige” trend with blush tones were prominent at the Golden Globes awards too.

photos from style.com

photos from style.com

Last year, this Korean beauty was named Korea’s most favored, most-in-demand ad endorser and Forbes Korea named her top Korean celebrity (based on earnings).  The Korea Times reported, “(Yu Na) Kim led the pack appearing in 15 commercial films over the past year. Currently, Yu Na is modeling for Hyundai Motor, Maeil Dairies, Samsung Electronics and others.”  Surely now that she has broken the world record for best figure skating score she will continue to rake in the sponsorships, ads and media attention.  I’m eagerly awaiting fashion editorial spreads featuring Kim Yu Na and can’t wait to see her in non-skating fashions.  

photo from cl2425.com

If you want to learn how to achieve Yu Na Kim’s dramatic eye makeup shown above click here

Apparently, her body is perfectly proportioned and primed for modeling (as a petite model).   The following excerpt from chosun.com has the perfect proportions boiled down to a near science.

“Kim’s body proportion is often said to be the perfect golden ratio. The Chosun Ilbo has obtained her measurements from uniform maker INS 102, which measured Kim at a hotel in Seoul in December.

Standing 164 cm tall and weighing 47 kg, Kim’s lower body from waist to the ankle bone measures 96 cm, almost double the length of her torso, which is 50 cm. Fashion stylist Kim Seong-il said, “With normal people, if the ratio of the upper and the lower body is 4.5:5.5, we consider them long-legged. Because of her long legs, Kim’s jumps look bigger and more elegant.”

Her long and slender arms, which measure 68 cm, also help boost her expression grade. Dr Chung Jae-young at Jelim Plastic Surgery Clinic said, “Normally, the length of your arms stretched out matches your height. But for Kim, the length of both arms plus her shoulder width, which is 46cm, is almost 180 cm. Her arms are very long.” That makes small arm movements look softer and more fluid.

Muscles developed throughout her body also help her movements look well balanced, whereas over development of muscles in certain parts of the body such as upper arms or thighs can make movements look stiff.

Fashion stylist Han Hye-yeon said, “Unlike many other athletes, Kim has a slender, flexible body, so she has the natural ‘S’ curve when she’s performing.” Kim So-yeon, an executive at a modeling agency, said, “She has perfect body proportions for a fashion model.”

Victoria Beckham. Whether you love her or love to hate her, you’ve got to give props to mommy Posh for consistently looking as if she just walked off the pages of a fashion magazine.  She celebrates her rockin’ post-pregnancy body with stylish outfits that are sexy while remaining ..well posh.  Here are a few favored examples:

photo from fabsugar.com

photo from purseblog.com

photo from marieclaire.co.uk

photo from rerochick.co.uk

One can only hope to look this fit and fabulous after having kids!