In honour of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland opening today, I thought I’ll showcase some Alice in Wonderland paraphernalia that’s been floating around the web from makeup, bracelets, pendants to nail polish.

Tom Binns Smashing Time bracelet


OPI Alice in Wonderland colours which are called Off With Her Red! Absolutley Alice Mad As A Hatter and Thanks So Muchness!


Stella McCartney charm bracelet


Swarovski's Red Queen, Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat pendants



Urban Decay’s Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows

Most bloggers and other netizens took a well-deserved break this holiday season, leaving my RSS reader quite lonely. What did your resourceful little ShoeGeek do? I took to my Style.com app and starting surfing really old collections. And then I discovered that it's true when they say what goes around comes around. Style.com's couture documentation started in with Spring 2001, and the first collection featured in the alphabetical list was Balmain. Whoa, was 2001 a different time. Forget the disco dresses and rugged sequined confections that have brought Balmania to hysteric levels in the past couple of years -- this was Balmain under the luxe hand of Oscar de la Renta. It was definitely a different era.

Or.... was it? As I flipped through the images, I began getting that feeling of deja vu, like these archival pieces weren't so much relics of the past, but instead historical references that today's designers are using as inspiration... or perhaps just downright copying. I'm watching Project Runway season 6 right now, and I'm up to the episode wear Althea complains that Logan "stole" her zipper collar idea, and then Irena tells the judges that Althea "borrowed" her oversized sweater idea. The theory is brought up that influences can be conscious or unconscious, but where do we draw the line between "inspired by" and "a copy of"?

You have to admit, in many cases, the resemblance is pretty uncanny...

So they're a little bit old, but does that stop you from swooning over Stella's killer platform ankle boots? Animal-friendly, too. And budget friendly -- they're on sale now at the Outnet. Still not that cheap, but that's the price you pay for fashion.

It's telling when a 40% sale notice warrants a reaction to say that it's not enough. Must be all the other 90% sales we have been getting. For those interested though. 

My first jumpsuit purchase came from those "outlet" shops in Causeway Bay opposite Mitsukoshi -- it was at the height of J.Lo's popularity, in black velour with a white racing stripe down the side, with a hood. The garment kind of scarred me, because I wore it once to work on a casual Friday, thinking that I wouldn't be seeing anyone important, only to find out upon arriving at the office that I had just been promoted (yay!), would be interviewing my own assistant editor (yay!) and that the first candidate would be coming in that afternoon (uh-oh). The girl who came in was six years my senior, and I figured that she would never be able to respect/work for someone who interviewed her in a velour jumpsuit, so by default she was not hired. Oh well.