Over the Rainbow

As I'm sure you've noticed by now, street style in Chiang Mai isn't just about locals. Tourism in the city is thriving and while individual tourists come and go, the ever present stream of visitors in areas like Nimmanhaemin and the old city plays a huge role in defining Chiang Mai street style.

Luckily for us, these foreign fashionistas usually are happy to pause for a photo and speak excellent English. Except sometimes they don't. Which means Julia and I need to work on honing our communicating-with-gestures skillz.

This colorful bunch did not seem to get my pantomiming (like seriously, how could they NOT get that my pointing at the girl's shoes and pretending to type means fashion blog??) and seemed highly skeptical when I pulled out the camera.

But then all of a sudden they decided that it was hilarious and could not. stop. laughing.

There was one more guy in the group who had neon mint pants that I really wanted to photograph, but he mysteriously disappeared when I pulled out the camera. Which is totally fair. But THEN he reappeared once I was finished so that he could take a bunch of pictures of me. I mean, I guess that's fair too.

Fashion Mensa

So we've talked about fashion genius and those days when you just know someone is going to want to take your picture. But what about those people for whom fashion genius is no fleeting thing, like, actual fashion geniuses? You know, people who aren't just trying to sound modest when they say, "What this old thing? I threw this on while rushing out the door this morning. I mean, I'm just glad I didn't put it on inside out!" (Yes, totally guilty of saying this. And no, it has never been true). But the maddening thing about real fashion geniuses is how freaking awesome they look even on their "off days."

When I asked this woman for her photograph she just looked at me blankly: "This outfit? No, no, no, this outfit is no good!"

I just stared at her back: "But, but your skirt! Your hat! YOUR PHONE CASE MATCHES YOUR SHOES!!!!!"

So eventually she took pity on me and was all like, "Well if you must..."

And now while she goes off to her fashion Mensa meeting I'm going to go home and wallow in a pile of my ugly, ugly clothes. WHY CAN'T I BE LIKE HER????

Burmese Daze

We're gettin traditional on ya'll ova here!

Chiang Mai is home not only to wild stylish creatures, and fashion fans but also to a vibrant and hardworking  Burmese community. Photographed here is a friend wearing a hybrid of traditional Burmese dress.The hybrid part being the collard shirt, the traditional part being the wrapped, frabric longyi and  flip flops. Now for a lil bit of Burmese Fashion 101: the longyi is a tubular piece of fabric commonly worn by both men and women through out Burma. Men tie the longyi in a loose knot at the center of their waist (photo here) and women fold and wrap the fabric like a sarong and tuck it in at their waist (no photo available).  It is super comfortable and airy, which is perfect for living in a country where itissohotIwouldbecoolersittinginafurnace.

The longyi is an essential part of Burmese traditional dress; however, it is very popular as casual wear as well. When I was visiting Burma I was surprised and thrilled to see so many men and women strutting the longyi. The fabric comes in all sorts of crazy cool and beautiful patterns and each ethnic group has their own distinctive look.

My personal favourite part of the Burmese traditionalbutoftenwornascasual dress are the gadibas which are velvet flip flops, that's right velvet flip flops. Burma has been hiding this secret for too long (to be fair they have been a pariah state for several decades) but now that is opening up, people gotta know, gadibas are the coolestchicestcomfortableist to slip your feet it AND they have the nicest sounding name because it almost rhymes with godiva..

Funny story about gadibas though: When I was in Burma and was introduced to these magical slippers I headed to the first stores I could find to buy myself a pair. Now women's and men's gadibas are different. The strap part for men is thicker and the soles are wider while the women's version is slimmer, with thinner and often decorated straps. After visiting the first gadiba store I realized that my feet were too big for the largest female size #whitegirlproblemsinasia so I was like "no problem I will just buy the boys version, because no one will notice and I will totally fit it". Wrong, oh my I was sososo wrong. As I walked to my office it was just repeated takes of people looking at my feet, looking at my face, looking at my feet and then scrunching up their face, I swear if I had wheels for feet people would have been less confused and offended. I quickly returned to the office, coming milliseconds away from breaking the world record for speed walking, and swore not to wear my beloved men's gadibas until I returned to a country were the offensive rate wasn't 10/10.

Continuing into the wild

Lions and tigers and zebras oh my Chiang Mai! 

Ugh sorry, I'm the worst.

But apparently spring is bringing out people's wild side in Chiang Mai! And apparently locals are immune to the hot hot heat we've started to have here. At least that's good blog news; while Julia and I melt into puddles of sweat there will still be plenty of people sporting fashionable scarves and cute jeans for us to photograph. Phew. Now just to get them to come to us in our air conditioned apartments so that we don't actually have to go outside anymore...

Take a step on the wild side

The zebra (subgenuses Hippotigri sand Dolichohippus) is an majestic animal characterized by its black and white stripes. No two zebras have the same pattern of stripes making their unique coat a an emblem of individuality. These wild and wonderful herbivores are native to the wild savanna of Africa but can also be spotted in an escape to Madagascar aided by penguins or trotting the streets of Chiang Mai's hippest neighborhood.

Their fierce style and confidence are to be admired by other creatures of the animal kingdom, particularly the zebra's close relative, the donkey.

We can observe here how the Chiang Mai zebra blends into its Thailand environment by using the Thai tradition of adorning things with gold.

Markings of a true individual

Why Not?

Why not.... wear a rainbow scarf?

put on a denim skirt?

slip into some mesh shoes?

So in love with the people of Chiang Mai rocking their own styles.

Also just to be clear, these captions are totally meant to be read to the tune of Hilary Duff's most awesome song ever, after which this post is (obviously) titled. Not that anyone could possibly need a refresher, but you know, the song that's all like:

You think you're going nowhere
when you're walking down the street
Acting like you just don't care
when life could be so sweet
So why you wanna be like that,
This is nothing new
You're not foolin no one
you're not even foolin you

So walk a little slower
and open up your eyes
sometimes its so hard to see
the good things pass you by
There may never be a sign
no flashing neon light
tellin you to make your move
or when the time is right (so)

why not (Why not)
take crazy chance
why not (Why not)
do a crazy dance
if you lose the moment
you might lose a lot
so why not why not

(why not take a crazy chance, why not take a crazy chance)

Hilary continues with a reminder that you always dress in yellow, when you wanna dress in gold (how did she KNOW??) and warning that you'll never get to heaven, or EVEN TO LA, if you don't believe there's a waaaaay. Like seriously, so thankful to have had this wisdom shared with me as a teenager. I really hope kids these days are getting similar support from Miley Cyrus  Selena Gomez  Demi Lovato .... wait, you guys, who IS the reigning Disney Channel queen these days??? 

Okay, now go and youtube all of Hilary Duff's old music videos, we know you want to (but maybe don't read the comments because they will make you feel SO OLD). 

Trendy Fridays: Hats and Glasses

Often used by celebrities to conceal their identity, hats and glasses tend to look better when they showcase one's individuality and personal style.. although they do make for a fun quiz game! http://travel.aol.co.uk/2012/10/02/celebrities-airport-hiding-quiz-heathrow/

right on

punchedyaindaface

These girls bring memories of another post from this week about fashionable friends and calls forth question 4: Do they know they look the same?