Black cat!

  Most of time I talked about art,history and other type of cultures in my blog, but actually I prefer dressing witty chic style during daily time. Generally my inspiration of outfits come from different eras or exotic cultures, but sometimes I could be inspired by just a tiny detail. For example like animals. Recently my boyfriend took pictures of our cat Stupsi for fun on the red sofa. The pictures came out really nice and outstanding.(Of course he is very adorable, but I mean the color contrast here:black, yellow and red) I thought why don't I dress outfit like Stupsi and stand in the red surrounding?  And then we just did it.

  Cats are always one of the greatest inspirations, especially for women's fashion. They are slim, charming, mysterious and adorable. They could be independent, could be fleeting in their relationship with other cats and people, could be wicked,could be jumpy...cats are the most feminine and artistic animal ever, don't you think so?  

Jumper by A.P.C

Belt by COS

Skirt by Balenciaga

Flats by Chanel

Brooch and bag from Vintage shop

Necklace by Origami from Boticca

Illustration by Nancy.Z

Photography by Dean

An Exotic explorer.

   Actually I didn't plan this outfit for shoots, it was just a daily outfit for going on the street to collect drawing inspirations. But I love this series of pictures, so that I didn't draw illustration this time, just share the pictures with you. Next time I will dress a real traditional Miao's style and talk about their culture properly.  

   Miao's costume design perhaps is one of the most incredible ethnic style in the world, well known by their embroidery pieces. it was funny when I wore this jacket, some people said it is Mexican style, some of them said it is Tibetan style, even some of them said it is African style...I guess exotic style does have many common elements: colorful textile, amazing handmade embroidery, passions of creativity...It doesn't matter where are you come from, 

we always have the common perceptions of beautiful things.

Head accessories by J.Crew

Miao handmade stitch textile jacket,bag,dress from Vintage

Flats by Fin

Photography by Dean

Books and memories.

  For me the love of collecting classing novels (and yes not just the joy of collecting but reading) is something that was imprinted unto me from my boyfriend and other people. In London he has so many books that he has collected and talks about them often as if missing a child. 

     The designs of these old books is so well thought out and elegant, so well done and stands out compared to the typical designs of paper back today. For me Penguin publishing is very important because of the interesting and unique designs it releases its books in the styles of. So this for me is a passion and for many others to collect vintage books with nice designs, something that is limited and special. And such books to me reminds me of when I was young, how many times do you read a book once to only forget it? It is nice then, to revisit the past in this fashion and experience the same thril and sense of advneture , to be swept away from books from the past. 

    This look was inspired by 60s colorful preppy style.Reading old literatures reminds me of my time as a student.

Jumper from Boutique

Shorts by Jil Sander

Heels by ASOS

Novel from Penguin threads 

Illustration by Nancy.Z

Photography by Dean.B

Penguin Thread series.

Style inspiration-"the umbrellas of cherbourg "

Style inspiration-"Paris,Texas"

Deco art of Black and white.

   Among my childhood memories,those black and white deco art books from my parents' shelves, they influenced a lot of my style for a very long time.( Remembered I only like drawing black ink works for many years).  It was incredibly popular during all of the last century,  but now you even couldn't find many of this type of deco art references( not the digital one) any more on internet but the libraries. It is such a shame because I do think it is such an elegant art style. Perhaps after hundred years, traditional line works will become real antique. Especially since digital technic developed so much, hand painted deco art became more and more precious. Generally I use a traditional way and digital way both to create my works, however, I will say no technic could replace hand-painting, it doesn't matter how advanced the digital technic can be, I will never give up drawing lines and shapes on the papers. 

Playsuit and Sandal are Vintage

Illustration by Nancy.Z

Photography by Dean

Le Garçon manqué.

    Sometimes a tiny detail could inspire me to paint. For example I have came across a mystery boutique recently, all their collections of this shop drove me crazy. From hundreds years old antique pieces to independent artist's avant sculptures, from accessories, wears, furnitures to paintings, this boutique seems more like a mini museum.  Especially those kid's antique wears gave me so much inspiration, so I painted this drawing, it calls"The Tomboy". What should I say? Oversized rocks!

   Also, I am still keep exploring lovely people on the street for my "Street impressions" project. It isn't only for drawing references, but also for a kind of memory. Hopefully I could put everyone's photo beside my painting in the next books. Recently I have met a "Tomboy" girl on the street, she looked so cute. She told me that she just cut her hair for interview in the afternoon, I said to her this new hairstyle is really suitable of her. I always respect the people who could take opportunity seriously. Actually luck all depends on people's attitude. 

   

Illustration and photo by Nancy.Z

References pictures from my Instagram (Xiaoxi_Nancy_Zhang)

Little black dress.

  As a shade, black has so many possibilities to be. It could be elegant, could be negative, could be mystery or could be unknown, unlimited or any other neutral feeling. So does white, people usually said white is a new black, actually these 2 contrast shades include the meaning of whole universe, they are nothing, they are anything.  

   Modern women love wearing black outfits because they are suitable of any type of event. Especially little black dress solved a lot of problems of dressing , also it make women look very chic and suave. It is unbelievable that black dress used to be the special outfit of funeral or widow during Victorian era, but now it became an daily essential style already. As you know that Coco Chanel made this avant modification in 1920s. LBD didn't only create a eternal trend for fashion industry, but also it was a big progress of modern women's culture histories. So the theme of this time is "the beginning of LBD style". Actually Coco's style has been featured in my blog by many times, but I couldn't avoid her name when I talk about golden age. What influenced 1920s culture? As I said before: Expressionism and Surrealism, silent film and jazz perform, Art Deco and Coco.

    Gabrielle (Coco) Bonheur Chanel, born 19th August,1883.

Hat by Shilla

Flapper silk dress from 1920s vintage

Blazer from Boutique

Ballet Flats by Chanel

Evening bag by Salvatore Ferragamo

Illustration by Nancy.Z

Photography by Dean

Style inspiration: movie"Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky", Anna is perfect for this role.

As the best Costume Design of César Award, every outfit design is reasonable and delicate.

LBD drawing, design and Coco Chanel, references pictures from Vogue Paris.

1920s LBD trend.

A riverside romance.

   However flapper dress and flats won't show women's body shape properly, it still gives  us relaxing and confident image. For example usually I went out for collecting drawing references, I won't wear high heels to torture myself. But it doesn't mean dressing up is unnecessary, currently how to feel comfortable but look elegant is the important things for me.  Also that's the reason I started a daily look column in my instagram, no painting, no inspiration, just to capture some more practical and casual look for our daily life in open air randomly. Anyway this column separates from the proper fashion dairies. 

  The theme of this time is"causal black", this outfit was inspired by 1920s women casual wears, flapper dress with cardigan together is the most comfortable and chic combination! (hand knit cardigan was quite popular during that age).  But...don't you think whole black is too serious? Then why don't we mix with colorful accessories!  

   By the way, summer is the best season to spend time outside!

Cardigan from Boutique

Flapper black dress from 20s vintage

Pop polka scarf from 60s vintage

Flats by Chanel

Illustration by Nancy.Z

Photography by Dean

In the mood for Retro style.

   Have talked a lot about ancient traditional Chinese inspirations, some of my readers gave me suggestions,"Nancy, why don't you dress something like Cheongsam? It is the most typical Chinese ethnic outfit." I agree to half of it, cheongsam is one of the most famous and traditional outfit for these 300 years, especially in last century cheongsam had a big development. The cheongsam we saw now actually was base on the 50s-60s modification : shorter，slimmer cut，satin fabric makes women look sexy but elegant. The most famous and popular representation of modern cheongsam from the movie " In the mood for love" by Wang Kar Wai,  it was very impressive that Maggie Zhang wore more than 25 different types of  60s cheongsams in the film. The other very good cheongsam reference is the movie " Lust caution" by Ang Lee, Tang Wei wore 27 antique 1930s outfits, every piece is truly amazing. But you may also noticed cheongsam looks a little different in these two eras. The progress histories of cheongsam is about the aesthetic integration processes between eastern and western.   

    In the early of Republic of China cheongsam still inherit Qing traditional two pieces style with big sleeves and loose shapes. In 1930s, Shanghai which was influenced by western culture the most in the beginning of last century,  people modified the outfit to the real cheongsam dress, it showed a women's slim body shape. This maxi dress, which is the most well known as "Shanghai cheongsam", spread to the whole China and even the western part after 1940s, however, European and American designer adjusted again and influenced back to HongKong and Taiwan. The outfit I wore was more inspired by 1960s HongKong cheongsam style, shorter, slimmer, pop patterns. Hopefully I have chance to show 30s style in future!       

Vintage Cheongsam from 50s vintage

Pop pattern Scarf from 60s vintage

Ballet flats by Antonio Marras   

Shoots in HTW Berlin

Illustration by Nancy.Z

Photography by Dean