White Collar: Sharp characters, sharper clothes

I think I'm in love.

On the advice of a friend, I recently started watching White Collar. It wasn't a terribly difficult choice to make, given my not-so-secret thing for Matthew Bomer ever since his Bryce Larkin days. But the bonus of watching the show? The clothes worn by Bomer. Hot damn, does the man make a good clotheshorse!

With castmate Tim DeKay.

Drool.

The JT, but done better.

Yep, the man loves his fedoras.

The show's costume designer Stephanie Maslansky is particularly skilled at using clothes to highlight the psychological differences between the two lead characters: Bomer's con artist character Neal Caffrey and Tim DeKay's character FBI Agent Peter Burke. Where Caffrey is suave and appears to possess a highly developed intellect (despite being a high school dropout), Burke is straightforward and by-the-book. Caffrey adores the old-school glamour of The Rat Pack; Burke is thoroughly conventional in dress and mannerism.

In an interview she did last year with NiceGirlsTV.com, Maslansky explained that the characters' costume selection process stemmed from a collaboration between herself and the show's actors:

"We both have different ways of thinking about the character but in the long run, both the actor and I think about the character’s history, where he comes from. There may be some valid information that the writers have come up with in terms of the actors’ history, but often times, a lot of it has to be made up by the actor and myself. I come with various ideas, the actor comes with various ideas and the first time we meet, we discuss these and we, sort of, feed off of one another. We actually wind up giving each other great ideas about the history of the particular character. That’s how we start to build or create closets, which would then be believable, based on the history of the character."

So what kind of labels does she use for Bomer's character?

"As far as Neal is concerned, we’ve been wonderfully fortunate to be working with, in particular, John Varvatos, Paul Smith and Calvin Klein. We’ve used a little bit of Theory and...Thomas Pink has been a wonderful vendor for us."

(For the full article, click here.)

If my dogs could talk...

...This is probably what they'd say. Image courtesy of Tisha Lea-Wilkins and TheTwitterpatedToad.

Non-traditional wedding bands, anyone?

Sterling silver wedding set personalized stacking rings

I adore handmade jewellery. And this design by Etsy shop tinahdee literally took my breath away. I love the idea of customising a set of stackable wedding rings - in this case, a sterling pebble ring as an engagement ring; a hammered and oxidized wedding band; and a special bonus promise ring that can be inscribed.

From this...

To this.

The back-story to this ring is pretty interesting. According to the shop's owner and jewellery designer Tina, this customer-requested design was actually inspired by the the practice of bird banding (attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to a bird's leg or wing for research purposes). The name of your spouse goes up top, the place you were "banded" goes in the middle, and the date rounds it off.

If you love these designs and would like to see more, click here to check out tinahdee's Etsy site. Prices are anywhere between RM27.00 to well over RM2,000.00, so be sure to get your currency conversions out of the way before ordering!

Cheap therapy

Whenever I'm down in the dumps, nothing cheers me up faster than looking at dresses online.

Ivanka dress (black), RM65.00

Mave dress (red), RM65.00

My former addiction to online shopping has really mellowed out these days, so much so that I am perfectly content to see-but-not-buy. Call it a cheap form of therapy, if you'd like.

Rhena dress (pink), RM68.00

Natalie dress (grey), RM65.00

(Go to Blissfully Beautiful for more information on these dresses.)

Peep for Men

Local online shop Peep recently launched its menswear offshoot, aptly named Peep for Men.

While this fledgling label has an awful lot to live up to vis-à-vis its more established predecessor, it certainly looks like Peep for Men has what it takes to endear itself to its target audience.

Curious? Check out their site here.

Baby gift buying problem solved!

A friend of mine recently announced that his wife (who is well into her third trimester) will be delivering soon. Really soon. Like, "I have less than 3 weeks to look for an appropriate offering that makes it look like I actually put some thought into this!" soon. Ordinarily, I wouldn't bother looking beyond Mothercare or its brethren. This time around though, my quest will be made difficult by one tiny detail: the parents-to-be are notoriously choosy about gifts. Obviously, grabbing the first thing I see off a random shelf is not going to cut it.

So it was to my great relief that I came across a picture of this:

You're probably squinting at the screen right about now, wondering what the heck this futuristic gizmo is supposed to be. Behold:

Say hello to the Iiamo Go self-heating baby bottle. Designed by Karim Rashid, the bottle warms up milk without the use of electricity or batteries. Instead, the device is powered by salt and water-based organic cartridges. Here's how it works:

Made in Scandinavia, the bottles are available in three colors (orange/purple, green/blue, and white/pink) and are priced at approximately RM146.00 each.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Holy guacamole! Those things are frikkin' awesome! I'm bound to have at least one friend who'll need this!" Hold your horses, though. According to the company website, new stock will only be arriving later this month (obviously, no one expected this device to be such a hit with the parenting crowd). Check out Iiamo's website for more information (click here).

Feminine preppiness

Another visual treat from my hero.

Holy guacamole! Love the shoes! And I dig the contrast of the Somerset Bay-esque shirt and the distinctly preppy vibe of her rolled up chinos and camel coloured cardigan. Simple, but well put together.