60 Second Style: Chris Pine

Edit: Star Trek. It's out on DVD and Blu-Ray now!
Alright, it's starting to get real chilly, and Mr. Pine's outfit could hardly stand 50-degree days. So I made cold-weather swaps.

Coat from Reiss ($520)
Shoes from Converse ($65)
Jeans from H&M ($39.95)
Heat-Tech long-sleeved tee from Uniqlo ($15.50). Can I just say that I have one of this and that it's awesome?
Sunglasses from Mosley Tribes ($220)
I Am Not a Coffee Cup ceramic coffee cup from DCI/Target ($18.99)

Chris Pine's image from contactmusic.com

60-Second Style: Kellan Lutz and Taylor Lautner

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past year, you'll recognize who these two guys are. Oh, you have? Here's a quick refresher: Kellan Lutz (left) and Taylor Lautner are stars of the mega-tween-hit vampire flick Twilight. The sequel to the first movie that came out last year, New Moon, gets released to your local movie house on Thanksgiving week. Mr. Lutz plays Emmett Cullen, one of the members of the vampire family; while Mr. Lautner is Jacob Black, on the side of the lycans. And you probably know by now, vampires and werewolves don't like each other.
 

Jackets:
Quilted jacket by H&M (no price), brown leather jacket by Homini Emerito by Mango ($339), hooded faux leather jacket by Heritage 1981 ($42.90)

Henleys:
Gray henley by All Saints ($75), black henley by Topman ($20)

Boots:
Chelsea motorcycle boots by Frye ($302), motorcycle boots by GBX ($72)

Jeans by Uniqlo ($39.50), belt by J. Crew ($55)

Kellan Lutz's image from kellanlutzonline.com, Taylor Lautner's image from People.com

Free Stuff Alert: Dunkin Donuts Coffee

Not a big coffee drinker, matter of fact, I've only drank may 2 cups of coffee this entire year, and previous years probably the same amount. I never needed the caffeine jolt.

Click here to order a free sample of DD coffee.

Image from the Dunkin' Donuts website

How Much Attention Do You Need?

One of the reasons I never seem to enjoy shopping for clothes is the fact that Sales Associates can never get the type of service I need. You see, I'm the type of guy who prefers to be left alone when buying clothes. I'm aware of my (so-called) fashion sense, so I rarely need anyone's help zeroing in on whatever it is I need. The only time I seem to need help from anyone is when I want to check if there are sizes for something still, or if I can't find the dressing room.

For many mass-market stores like American Eagle Outfitters, PacSun, Express (though truthfully, I rarely buy things here), I have to say, "No thanks, just looking around" so many times that by the time I'm done browsing the racks, I can't wait to leave fasterthanIcantypethis. For cheap-chic stores like H&M or Zara, either the sales associates are busy filing their nails or don't really care. When I go to designer stores (yes—I go to designer stores! Either I go for kicks or the piece of clothing I'm looking for is so specific that money isn't an object), the associates give off that "Uh, do you even have money to buy our stuff? Go away" vibe that just irritates me. (For the record, I could buy their stuff. But I wouldn't buy it just because it's designer. I have to freaking like it.)

Have I found a store that has the right mix of attentive and leave-you-alone sales associates? Nope. But that isn't stopping me from going to every store I care to visit just to window shop.

Image by boyonabike/SXC.hu

60-Second Style: Zac Efron

Mr. Efron's been in quite a few magazine covers this year, and heed: many of them aren't teenybopper rags! I guess either these publications are trying to reach to the horde of screaming girls that will no doubt pick up a copy of anything with his face on it; or Mr. Efron is trying to "grow" as an actor by taking on projects that don't conjure up images of him as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical series.

Minus objectionable hairstyling choices, Mr. Efron's quite a good clothes hanger.

Cardigan ($58) from The Gap. Like the elbow patches.
Blue shirt ($18.90) from Heritage 1981. The key to making the tops work is to make sure you don't try and match their shades. The cardigan has a hint of purple, while the shirt's just petrol blue.
Jeans ($39.50) from Uniqlo. Mr. Efron's wearing slim-to-skinny jeans in the photo. I hardly think many of the guys could pull off skinny jeans, so I picked slim jeans instead.
Studded belt ($30) from Topman. The belt in the shoot looks so boring. A few studs near the buckle adds some interest.
Sneakers ($80) from Jack Purcell / Converse. Zac Efron's barefoot in the shoot, so unless you practice barefoot running or you just plain like going barefoot and can do so where you live, add a nice pair of leather trainers as a finish.

(From now on, Dude, the Bargain Shopper will be a part of 60-Second Style. No use having multiple labels for style tips.

Image from zacefron.us, scanned from a USA Weekend article

Back Soon

I promise I'm not abandoning this blog (again!). Just got inundated with a million and one things over the end of summer (i.e. last-minute summer parties) and the beginning of fall.

More fashion, more food, and more spitfire-worthy stories coming real soon!

Calvin and Hobbes

I always go back to this strip by Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes. This was the strip that ran when the series ended many years ago. While it feels quite precious in the exchange between the two, the far more endearing aspect of this strip is its optimisim—and this is what everyone should have every single day of their lives. (In fact, my General Psychology final project ended with this same strip as a metaphor to how my life in college—essentially, my schooling life—is going to end with me looking forward to even greater and brighter things. And this, despite the fact I won't have the comfort—or safety blanket—of a new semester once summer was over.)

Look forward to the day being fantastic, look forward to great things, look forward to learning something new everyday. If the day turned out to be a dud, then there's always the next day to make things better. Once you lose this enthusiasm, well, you've lost the battle of life.