Fashion and Style Inspiration: Korean Culture, Fashion, Trends

Yo, kiddos, I'm here yet again with my fav style and fashion inspiration post. 

I'm gonna start this one with saying the Korean Wave is real and I'm so in. Maybe I'm really late on this train but I definitely am enjoying it a lot. I think most of you are familiar with such terms as K-pop (music band), Dorama (korean series), KCon (huge korea related convention held every year in a lot of countries all across the world) and other Korea related stuff. 

Let's start with a general outlook of K-style. I feels to me that Korea is always on of the trend game and a lot of brands and mass market change frequently enough to provide the most up-to-date clothes to people. Maybe not all people in Korea are dressed like fashion bloggers but they definitely look better than your average man in any other country, simply because it's just hard to buy "bad" clothes there. Also, skincare and makeup is one of my fav things about k-wave because with it coming to my country I finally got a proper foundation with spf and it actually matches pale ass face (note: no foundation have done that before even the lightest shade of Nars Sheer Glow is a lil too dark for me) but that's a whole other talk.

Anyways, one thing that is especially close to my personal preference in clothes is that K-style is pretty simple and basic, yet always trendy. They seem to have found the golden middle between femininity and oversized manly harsh kinda look. I mean, I don't how sometimes they are dressed so basic but look absolutely stunning and effortlessly cool. 

Now, after my short ramble, let's get to the source. Where can you get inspiration from? So, there are several other options rather then just street style and Instagrams of influencers. I'm going to talk about three main ones (or at least I think so):

• K-pop
• Dorama
• Korean Brands 

1. K-pop

If you are not familiar with k-pop yet (like what) it's a music genre originating in South Korea that is characterised by a wide variety of audiovisual elements and doesn't have only one particular genre of music. Because in k-pop a lot of attention is paid not only to their music but also their performances, dances, music videos, conversation with viewers and so on, k-pop idols as highly public figures need to be dressed according to latest trends. First k-pop band I ever heard about was probably Girls' Generation + it was like 4-5 years ago and they fast became my main source of inspiration. Actually, if you look some k-pop videos from a couple of years ago you'll see how much their style evolved to match current trends in fashion. Nowadays, there hundreds of k-pop bands and idols to find your inspo from. There is so much diversity starting from hyper feminine and ending in literally genderless  style. The best thing about it all is that you can just watch the latest video of your fav band and catch up on trends as well as get some major ootd inspo and this applies to both girl and boy bands.

For real, last year most of my outfit inspo came from NCT, Big Bang, SHINee and EXO and they are boy bands.

So girls and boys do your research on youtube and find bands that appeal to you

Me recommendations: 

NCT (any of them), EXO, BTS, Astro, GOT7, Red Velvet, F(x) + Luna and Amber from f(x), Especially Recommend Amber Liu (I'm totally writing a Persona post about her this Friday) 

2. Dorama/ K-drama

I'm still quite new to this whole korean series world but have watched some of them and I have a few favourites. Good thing about doramas is that they are really light and easy to watch and everyone is dressed and looking overwhelmingly cool. I literally cried a bunch because of how well-dressed they were. Moreover, they at least a couple of sites that'll provide you with total outfit description and details from every single episode so you can literally shop the look of any character and any episode. That also helps you discover new brands, not all of which are necessarily Korean. 

Currently I have too top fav k-dramas: Goblin (aka Tokkaebi) and Entourage.

Through them I discovered a lot of new great brands as well as enjoyed a good series. 

3. Korean Brands

Remember when I was talking about Korean brands being on top of the game and also experimenting a lot? It is true and also they are very well connected with all types of social media and overall everything happening around them. Usually on their site you'll be able to find a separate section (or special marks) with clothes that has been worn by idols, any other public figures, have been shown on tv or k-dramas. Most of these ship internationally and have a free shipping depending your purchase.

There are some main stream brands like: style nanda or mixmix that are totally cool.

However I'm going to give you a list of my personal favourites that may not be that popular but are definitely worth checking out: Rocket x Lunch, O!Oi, Supecomma B,  Peaceminusone, Freiknock, Low Classic and Ader Error

Stay stylish, shine bright like a diamond

XoXo

 Ivana

30 DAY SELF-CARE CHALLENGE

Following up my Philosophical Life series I present to you a Self-Care Challenge that I created to help us start the cleansing process, relax and enjoy the small peaceful moments in our life. Of course, there are a lot of different challenges out there similar to this one but I tried to concentrate on all aspects of our being. Every 5 days is a so-to-say cycle of different activities targeted towards our thoughts, mind, body, habit and the Cleanse. 

Day 1: Write down 3 things you’re grateful for

Day 2: Take a relaxing bath/shower

Day 3: Sit down at the table for breakfast every morning

Day 4: Give yourself a daily facial

Day 5: Write a letter to your future self 

Day 6: Write down one thing each day you love about yourself

Day 7: Clean out your social media

Day 8: Drink green tea

Day 9: Solo Dance Parties

Day 10: Write down negative thoughts and cross them out

Day 11: Take a walk rain or shine

Day 12: Do your laundry, fold it, and put it away

Day 13: Take 10 deep breaths in and out in the morning and before bed

Day 14: Use lotion on your hands

Day 15: Morning affirmations

Day 16: Write down a quote or something powerful you heard

Day 17: Shred and dispose of papers you no longer need

Day 18: Eat meals without your phone or TV  + Take a walk without your phone

Day 19: Do an exercise activity that you enjoy, or find a new one

Day 20: Cuddle with a pet

Day 21: Make a list of everything you’ve accomplished so far

Day 22: Clean a room in your house (Organize an area, sweep/vacuum the floor, put things away)

Day 23: Light incense or a candle when you get home

Day 24: Eat something healthy

Day 25: Catch up on a show you enjoy, or watch a movie or video you’ve been meaning to watch

Day 26: Plan something to look forward to

Day 27: Talk to someone about your feelings or write about in a journal 

Day 28: Visit a new coffee shop/store/area of your town

Day 29: Wear anything that makes you feel good about yourself.

Day 30: Reflect on what happened and what helped you the most

Be yourself, love yourself, put yourself first 

XoXo

Ivana

30 Days to Better You | Philosophical Life

Here I am, interrupting your Saturday afternoon with possibly a life changing post.

A couple of months ago an idea was born in my head while I was dreaming about cool artsy boys. There are so many great people in this world but I'm especially attracted to the I-am-super-arsty-and-cool-and-deep-and-also-do-a-lot-of-shit-at-such-a-young-age type, a good example would be Bertie Gilbert or Cole Sprouse or Charlie Heaton or Sergei Polunin etc. And a question arises, why aren't I friends with such people? After pointless attempts of moving to London or attending artsy youth parties, I realised that I'm too broke and introverted for this kinda life so the only logical way out would be becoming as cool as these people (whom I adore) are. Yeah, great, read ten books a week, start drawing and filming, writing poetry and also learn five languages two of which are dead. Of course, great decision but not really possible when your life is a mess and your body can't make it up 3 floors of stairs. That's why the first Volume of my (or our) journey to becoming a true philosopher will be dedicated to body and soul.

Volume I

"Mens sana in corpore sano"

Body

Healthy food

Before starting on any exercise I feel that we need to prepare and cleanse our body from all the toxins and having a healthy diet is the way to go. I do understand that it may sound a bit unrealistic because you can't suddenly give up all your bad habits that's why we are just gonna concentrate on some points to start our journey with. The guidelines are:

• oatmeal for breakfast (literally the best decision in my life. You can always add some fresh fruits or honey for flavour)
• drink more water (like 2-3 litters per day)
• more tea, less coffee 
• fresh/baked/dried fruits as snack 
• dark chocolate (I'm talking 75% and up) rather than milky (it will also help your brains)
• say no to alcohol because we ain't fancy enough yet for a glass of good wine in the evening or an expensive whiskey (not yet guys, not yet) (okay, maybe a glass of decent wine once in a while but no cocktails)

Soul

Law of Attraction (new thought)

Now let's talk about spiritual stuff. For starters we need to deal with our (mine) constant depression and positive thinking is what will help us. I won't go too deep into explaining the Law of Attraction but basically if you think positively and visualise your goals all of it will be more likely to happen and you'll live a great life. Our thoughts produce an aura around us and depending their charge we attract the same aura (positive or negative) from the rest of the world forming our future in certain way. So, for this 30 days our goal is to try thinking more positive and also maybe create a mood board. 

The Connection

Yoga

Okay, now when we established some work on both body and soul we need to bring it all together and connect the ends to stabilize ourselves as humans and what can better than Yoga the ultimate training for both of out sides. Of course, if you wanna be boogie you can go take yoga lessons at your local fitness club but I ain't got money for dat so we are going to start with some home workouts. The easiest and best way is just to search "yoga for beginners on youtube" and you'll tones of tutorials. as for me, personally, I really like Yoga with Adriene and probs I'm gonna the 30 days of yoga thing. 

Rounding up, our goal is to ease into doing a lil bit of yoga now and then. We're going to go deeper on this matter in our next 30 days enhancing our abilities and workouts.

Finally, a few words about the concept behind it. 

I'm going to post every month bringing something new each time.  

I'll pay more attention to previous topics as well as add some new ones.

I may also post some semi-posts during the month and maybe explain 

more about each topic or catch you up on my progress

and how I'm feeling.

If you still here and want to start this journey with me comment  and post using #30daysofphilosophicallife

Peace out 

XoXo 

Ivana   

Plan with me #1

Yearly and January spreads.

Hello, kiddos. 

Welcome to my new series where I attempt to plan and make you feel better about yourself  'cause I'm lazy and I don't know what to do so you can do better than me. 

Let's get started. I'm using my old notebook from 2016 because it has lots of blank pages left and I don't want to waste them. That's why it has some of my favourite quotes on it. However, I put it in a new cover where I store all kinds of useful (and not so) things. 

Now, first of all, here's my first two pages of 2017. Yeah, they don't look very artsy and cool but it works for me. On the left you can see a table to witch I'll come every month and colour in "points" with which I'm satisfied that month. My goal is to reach 10 in every point and that would (really) be great. On the right I attempted to make a "first try" NY resolutions list but as you can tell, I altered it a lot, mainly because I wrote 4 pages of detailed description of each goal and what should be done to reach it. If you want to take a look at it, I'll leave a link for the post where I talk about it all.

Also there are some yearly spreads now, yay, more things to remember, hahaha.  

The first one is, as I said, 4 pages of detailed breakdown of my goals for the year.

Second is for keeping in touch with my friends because I really struggle with it all the time. Sometimes I won't see a friend for over a year which is stupidly awful so, you know, gotta up those social skills.

Third is for the cultural and spiritual side so I finally get to remember what I've read, watched and got inspired by for the whole year. Honestly, by now I've watched so many series and anime that I can't sometimes remember if I've seen some other ones or not. I also have a tendency of starting and never finishing books as I pick up new exciting books and start reading them simultaneously and consequently forget to end one of them.

Fourth is my "future log" which I created to keep up with some future events and appointments and plan in advance. First three months are detailed but I'm starting to feel like it's not really working for me.

Finally, monthly spread. It's quite simple and minimal. Colourful stickers for dates do really make it look better but let me tell you a secret, I only did this because I messed up the original dates, yay to me. I left out some space on the left for notes and on the bottom for goals. Ah, see that light green sticker in the right top conner? That's where I write down my indicators for some things I do so I can later draw it in calendar on the day I did it and keep track of stuff.

Rather simple trackers here so nothing needs to be explained.

<3 <3 

Ivana

New Year Resolutions | 2017

Happy New Year, Babes.

Love

<3 <3

Ivana