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 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   

Fresh talk. Big update (aka what's new?)

Hello, you internet creatures, haven't seen you for a long time. I know that no one needs my explanation on why and where and when and what happened as when we last met I'm pretty sure the spring was on the calendar (maybe not) but what matters is that I'm here so let's have a talk.

No philosophical deep thoughts or crazy theories these time, just some news and things I've loved recently and hopefully something interesting for you.

Sooo ... let's go

I'll break it in parts starting with
cinematic news

First, Will's (aka Will Darbyshire) short series called Watercooler is out. Yay. So many amazing people (such as Adrian Bliss, Harry Hitchens, Arden Rose,  Ewan McIntosh, Olly Craig, Tom Rosenthal and others) worked on this project and it's truly a piece of art in it's peacefulness, veracity, philosophy and  craziness in a nutshell. I advise you to set off some time and go watch it

here's a trailer for you but beware the spoilers 

go watch the series on their channel called vanilla


Now, it woudn't be me without talking about Bertie Gilbert, right? Right you are. Despite the fact that  ya boy is now verified on twitter it's not the most important part of my report today but an upcoming movie that he directed is. It's called PLAYGROUND and if you follow Bert on any social media you probably know what kind of aesthetics to expect (needless to say Chris Kendall stars in it).

before I move on to the next topic, let's just take a moment to appreciate first: Bertie's new haircut and second, most important, how Savannah just slayed it with her fabulous look at buffer festival

Going back to mr. Chris Kendall who has a new series coming out now (like omfg)
I don't think it needs any comments, it's just a different type of humour out there

here, watch the pilot episode of WHIPPED (and yeah it's set in a sex shop ya all)

Dunno if that can be still called new but in case you missed or never heard of it or just maybe wanna rewatch it, here's a reminder of Pj's (aka kickthepj) last short film which is super hilarious and cool as per usual

Hair and Brimstone

full here

Also maybe check Ewan's short film RUBIX
let me just say, it has my heart so I strongly recommend it to anyone who has't seen it yet
 just watch the trailer and you'll understand

full film here


Btw, speaking of Dan Stokes (whom you've probably just seen in the trailer), he's got some deep and cool stuff too, like these

Following the philosophical artsy theme I offer to you a video that is so alluring and sexy and beautiful and all cool things in the world, that is Enter The Game by 

i-D 

I dunno how to explain it but I can't stop watching it because everything looks so perfect in it almost like a dream, something mystical and nearly out this world, something so smooth and tasty yet spiky and raw 

So, how is it? Can you relate to what I was saying earlier?
Well, anyways, sit down or maybe lay down as I'm going to present to you what I regard as one of the most motivational and brilliantly executed videos that I've ever seen
You may object saying something along the lines of "how can I relate to a skating video when I can't even ollie/ have no skateboard/ think skateboarding is stupid and so on..." Stop right there because that's not the point of this video (although let's admit his pro skating gives my life every time I watch it 'cause it's really freaking cool, damn son, it just is) the important thing is the message and that is to follow you dream and do what you love
from one of my fav humans Chris Chann a motivational video "The DREAM"

"if you don't have a deadline you have no excuse but to succeed"



Finally, now when you're inspired to get up and do something there's a short series just for you where Camille Rowe (read my little post about her here) explores wellness (aka how to make your life better) so you have a starting point

What on Earth is wellness ft Camille Rowe (trailer)

 full series on vogue's channel



Yo, there is definitely a lot more that I want to tell you about and I will, soon, but for now go enjoy your life and just relax
Pursue your dream because you can

until next time

XoXo