New blog!

Hey hey hey, I've got a new blog!

Go over to http://aldraws.com/ to check it out! I really love how it turned out, and it also looks super cute on mobile!

Thank you so much Agnes for helping me building it and setting it up! <3

xxx Al

A scent

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend asked me if he could buy me a new perfume for Christmas.
"Why?" I replied "I have so many of them already".
Note: I was already freaking out "OMG he doesn't like my smell does it mean he hated smelling my skin for 3 years and a half - TRAGEDY"
He said "Well, you change them constantly and I have the feeling none of them is really you. I was thinking about it when you were away for work last time: if you're away and I smell one of your dresses I would like to feel like you are there, but none of your perfumes now give me that feeling"
Note: that is so horribly cute I melted.

Half an hour later I was dragging him through the cosmetics floor of Tangs frantically looking for a new fragrance (I am sure he was already deeply regretting his proposal).
I went nuts testing all the Byredo, the Diptyque, the Annick Goutal (if he wants to buy it, it might as well be an expensive good one...) but none of them gave me the feeling I wanted to take a full bath in it and smell like that forever (that is my idea of THE perfume).

We passed to the more mainstream brands and we both liked this version of Chanel Chance: Eau Tendre.
But it still didn't really give me that "this is it!" feeling at that moment so we ended up buying nothing and leaving for our Christmas holidays in Europe empty handed.

On the plane I was wondering (plane trips, especially the long ones, are always an occasion for this very meaningful and profound type of contemplations): what is a signature scent? And, more importantly, how do you choose it?
You know, that type of smell that transcends the mere olfactory dimension and can actually tell something about the person who wears it.
I sometimes remember people and places thanks to their perfume and countless times I've met women whose perfume communicated to me an intimate part of their personality, contributing greatly to my first impression of them.
I've never really had a signature scent, but the idea of it has always intrigued me.

In the end, after a lot of pondering (ahhh all the free time you have on holidays to think about this kind of stuff...) and a fortuitous encounter with a Chanel cosmetics boutique in Florence, I decided to give Chance Eau Tendre a try and purchased the 35 mL version (I'm amazed at how cautious I am with some kind of purchases, considering how easily I spend on other things like make-up, skincare and clothes).

So will this finally be my signature scent? I don't know, but for now I can say that I'm hooked.
So much so that I wanted to draw it (and my tiny 35 mL bottle is already almost half-empty after only 2 weeks).
It has something in common with the perfumes I usually wear, quite fresh and delicate but at the same time it has components that are more unusual for me, more on the sweet and floral side and that makes it interesting for me to wear.

The final test will be next time I leave home on my own: if my boyfriend can smell one of my shirts and finally connect this scent with the memory of me then it means I've found the one... (perfume, not boyfriend :p).

And what about you? Do you have a signature scent and how did you find it?
I'm curious!

With this I leave my computer to end my lunch break with a walk in the green and hopefully some relief to my horrible jet-lag.
(Traveling between Europe and Asia is HELL: when I go to Italy or Belgium I'd like to go out with my friends but jet-lag strikes by 5 PM and when I come back here in Singapore I need to go to work but I'm basically asleep until 3 PM... I hate it...)

I wish you a great week ahead!

xxx Al

In my skin

I have been on a diet most of my life.

When I was a kid, because I was a bit chubby and my mom was trying to keep me healthy by keeping all sorts of snacks (the more unhealthy the more I loved them. Of course) out of the house to avoid I would reach for the Nutella jar while doing my homeworks.

When I was a teenager, because I was desperately trying to look like all my skinny, pimple-free friends.

When I moved to Belgium from Italy at 25, because being alone for the first time out of Mamma's home in a completely new environment led me to emotional eating and I gained a whopping 20 kg in just a few months.

If I look at it closely, what I have been doing most of my life wasn't only dieting: I was hating my body. 

I would never accept my boobs. My friends were jealous because they were as flat as a surfing board and they would kill for my bra size? Al doesn't care, Al wants to be flat too because that T-shirts looks soooo much better on them...

I couldn't stand the size of my butt. Did I ever notice that I actually had a very beautiful waist and soft, round hips that I could accentuate with a body-conscious dress? Of course not, Al was wearing sack-of-potato sweaters to hide everything as much as possible. 

So that nobody could see. So that I couldn't see.

I have been "working" so much on hating my body that now I need the help of a psychologist (literally) to help me recover my confidence and the wonder that every woman should feel every single time she looks in the mirror.

I am thinking about this now because I am at the end of two wonderful weeks in Italy and Belgium, spent with family and friends, and I am noticing the price of all the Christmas parties, drinks and aperitivo on my waist. 

I should be thinking about all the wonderful memories I collected in these days but no, the only thing I can think about is how many kilos I gained because of too many slices of pandoro and the abnormal (and joyful) amount of Duvel beers.

I looked at the scale with terror last night for a good 10 minutes while getting ready after my shower (nope, didn't find the courage to actually jump on it. Yet). 

I know that when I'm back to Singapore in two days I'll get back on my 5:2 diet (which totally changed my life, I'll have to write a post on this one) and my usual eating habits that will make me lose the extra kilo(s) quite quickly.

So why am I so scared? Why I am avoiding the mirror so much ?
(Believe me, getting your make-up ready can be quite a challenge when you don't want to look at the reflection in front of you).

Because everything is about my weight. Everything is about our weight. 

If I lose weight, everyone is telling me "Wow you look great! What have you been eating? You should give me your diet!".

If I gain weight, there is always an annoying aunt remarking I'm getting "a little chubby".

Magazines are featuring curvy women because let's be proud of our bodies.

Feminist websites are telling you every other post to stop dieting because you're beautiful as you are (and, on a side note, they make me feel freaking guilty because my brain then goes in stupid loops like "wait I'm a feminist. So I shouldn't care about my weight. But I do care about my weight... So am I not feminist enough??? WHAT AM I").

Brands tell you that you should indeed lose those extra 5 kg because their sizes are getting smaller and smaller.

And so on and so on... Our days are full of crap that reminds us that our weight and shape is a very important matter. Even if the message aims to be a positive one ("let's love our bodies the way they are") in the end, the emphasis on body weight is always the same. And it's always there to hunt me.

I wish one day I will be able to diet to look good for myself and for my boyfriend and some feminist article I stumbled upon on Facebook won't make me feel guilty for it.

I wish one day featuring curvy models or superskinny models won't be a topic of debate anymore (or pride "hey look I'm VOGUE but I'm still publishing an editorial with curvy models now give me an applause") because nobody would care if they are size 0 or size 14.

I wish nobody is going to point out if I lost weight or if I gained it.

Like, for a change, why not asking me who's my hairdresser 'cause my haircut looks great?
(that is why I love the Korean lady at my usual food centre in Singapore, she always gives me the cutest remarks on my style. And her kimchi jigae is great BTW).

Just feel good in my skin for once, and looking in the mirror will be the most normal thing in the world.

And do my 5:2 diet because it makes me feel good and not because I want to look like someone else thinks I should look like.

And go on the scale and losing 500 g won't be a reason for tears of joy. 

And gaining a few pounds would be "pffff what the hell, who cares, I had a good party time. I'll just lose them when I get back to my regular life".

And browse a fashion magazine and finally focus on the clothes and the photos, not if curvy models are featured or not.

I know this is utopia, but I still hope one day I'll be the girl who looks in the mirror and won't think she has to lose a couple of kilos to be perfect. And I wish I won't be the girl who has to repeat to herself "I am beautiful as I am" to be really convinced she is.

I hope I'll be the girl who looks in the mirror and just doesn't care, because in the end it's not that important.

xxx Al

(By the way, happy New Year ;) )

(The illustration is my second digital experiment! Tell me tell me, do you like it?)

Digital experiments

Just a random post to announce to the WWW my overwhelming excitement for Santa's gift: a graphic tablet (Wacom Intuos Art, to be precise).

I have been coveting it for like 7 years (don't ask me why I never bought one, it's like that scanner thing, sometimes my brain goes short-circuit) but I very soon discovered it's much less easy to use than I thought.

I suddenly felt again like a 10 year-old kid trying to use Microsoft Paint with a mouse in Windows 3. 

So in full all-or-nothing Al style I stayed up until 2:30 AM last night to finish this drawing (note: I started it at like 10 PM).

But hey, I made it!

OK it's not perfect and honestly it looks like a lot of other fashion illustrations you can find around Pinterest and Instagram but I'm kinda happy of the result of my first attempt.

So I'll be exercising a bit more from now on and will show here the results, which hopefully will show a little improvement with time.

Oh by the way, I drew glasses because I just got struck by one of my monomanias! 

I bought new spectacles (they don't look like the ones in this drawing though) and I'm so addicted to them that I draw them, dream of them, stare at them and EVEN wear them (seriously, have been wearing contacts non-stop for like 10 years, I used to wear my old and ruined glasses only to get up in the morning and go to bed in the evening).

And the monomania is even bigger because because my lovely boyfriend was forced to buy me bought me the sunglasses from the same brand for Christmas.

Totally have to draw these two in one of my next post.

OK, I'm off to draw a little bit (with my hands, on paper).

I'm at my parents in Italy and drawing in the kitchen while my mom makes lunch, foggy cold weather outside and Christmas lights on is the BEST.THING.EVER.

Hope you're having wonderful holidays!

xxx Al

(It's good to be back in Winter! I missed it!)

The first New Year's resolution

Can you believe I've never ever made New Year's resolutions?

I don't know why.
Probably because I usually spend the first days of the year in a food/hangover coma and in general in a partial lobotomy condition on my couch, surely not thinking about productivity goals.

No but seriously, I would really like to know how many of you use the first days of the year to think about sparkling wishful plans that will bring you to a better bikini body/job/mind peace/etc by Summer holidays time.
Ah! I can see you all in your pajamas on January 2nd, day-3 hair, snacking on calorie-bomb leftovers trying to remember amidst the fog of a 2 day-long hangover (3 days if you're 30+ years old) who the hell was that guy you kissed at the New Year's Eve party.
Those girls who spend the 1st of January making lists of goals and the 2nd of January exercising in the gym and juicing to start the year with a healthy green detox exist only on the pages of glossy magazines. Or at least, if they're real, I've never met them.
If you're one of these mythological creatures please explain me how you manage to do this, because to me you're a big mystery.

(Actually I just realized I don't usually make New Year's resolutions simply because I'm lazy).

So this year I am apparently skipping my No New Year Resolution (NNYR) habit. And as a good Taurus, breaking my routines makes me feel nervous but I kinda feel good about it this time.
(and OK, technically it's not New Year yet, but 2017 is just a couple of weeks away and we're all already thinking what to wear for New Year's Eve anyway).

(in full Al style I just wrote like 300 words without saying anything yet, or better without saying what this resolution is all about. Sometimes I amaze myself with my own logorrhoea, really).

So my resolution is: in 2017 I'm going to BLOG A LOT. And DRAW A LOT.
That's it.

So what is the reason of this SHOCKING revelation, and what makes it so different from the other 2567 times I made such a statement? (I guess you can find at least 3 of these times in the limited amount of posts of this blog if you scroll behind)

Well to begin with, I really really miss writing and drawing.
I've tried meditation, I've tried being more social with strangers, I've tried to stop smoking and cut down carbs and telling myself I'm beautiful in front of the mirror every morning (I think my new therapist - who is amazing BTW - is making me become a bit of a hippie) but I still miss what would really make me happy and healthy.
I miss writing and drawing. A lot.
There is just nothing that makes me as happy as drawing does and there is nothing that gives me more feeling of completeness than rounding a drawing with a post full of random ramblings.

Secondly, I'm sooooo boooored.
I spend way too much time at work and the rest of my time doing primary biological functions such as sleeping and eating.
So what is Al's idea to counteract infinite boredom? Do something completely different.
Something that would project me into an imaginary world of colors and beauty.
Something like drawing.
(Fashion drawing, that is)

Three, I am so freaking lonely that it's even difficult to explain how lonely I am.
I'm not talking about general loneliness. I mean. I'm pretty happy with my boyfriend and my cats.
But you know, sometimes I would need to talk about those girly, frivolous little things that I used to share with my girlfriends back in Belgium in front of a bottle or three of Cava.
Since I just moved to a new city/country/continent I have just one friend here (Mari I love you <3) and my boyfriend and my cats couldn't care less (and rightfully so) about stuff like my new favourite mascara or how my diet is doing wonders...
I just need to express that light, maybe a bit shallow side of me, like I would have done in front of those that bottles of Cava.
Even if nobody will read me, I just need to tell.

And to put a very expensive solemn seal on this whole resolution thing, I bought a new Macbook Pro so at least I don't have the excuse of not having a dedicated computer to work with my art and blog and stuff (it might sound weird but I really used this a lot as an excuse lately to justify my artistic laziness to myself).

AND I also bought a scanner (can you believe I didn't have a scanner??) which allows me to scan my drawings in the comfort of my home or even my bed (yay couch potato mode, my favourite). I finally don't have to run through half city to find a decent print shop or use the scanner at my work (which honestly is quite shitty).

AND a private source told me in all secrecy that Santa is bringing me a graphic tablet for Christmas, and I really can't wait to explore digital painting (I have the big expectation of being able to paint kind of anywhere anytime thanks to this, even while I'm couch potato-ing at the end of a long day or on a plane flying somewhere for work, which is kind of hard to do with traditional watercolors, paints, papers and the whole messy shebang).

Alright wrote too much, gotta go find a nice drawing idea for this post, I'm off.

And while I am going to get that bottle of Cava tell me, what are your resolutions?
(Don't tell me go to the gym and eat healthy, because I don't believe you :p).

xxx Al

Ong Shunmugam - The Cheongsam collection 2017

Illustration inspired by the Ong Shunmugam Cheongsam 2017 collection

If you're interested in fashion and you happen to move to a new Country, you're likely to check out the local designers as soon as you land (actually I did already weeks before, while I was still packing my apartment in Belgium... I've always been a good student).

The brand Ong Shunmugam (by wonderwoman Priscilla Shunmugam) is the first I found out in my pre-move Google searches targeted at discovering Singapore fashion.
I was immediately smitten by one very peculiar thing of her collections: the ability of melting traditional Asian elements and fabrics into very modern silhouettes and shapes.
This was already very evident in her previous collections (I was inspired by one of them for this illustration), but with the 2017 collection, named "Cheongsam" after the traditional Chinese womenswear, she really brought this mix of tradition and modernity to another level.
The pastel colors and the fun details such as the flowerpower earrings and the custom-made Vans sneakers added a completely different modern and fresh glow to the collection and the runway presentation.

I was lucky to be able to attend the show and visit the backstage (that's my favorite part! Gotta love backstage sketching and chatting with the models and make-up artists) during Singapore Fashion Week last October and I completely fell in love with the atmosphere Priscilla wanted to convey with this collection.
These clothes have that kind of versatility that allows you to wear them to a Chinese New Year party as well as to a meeting at work, and I would totally splurge on them if I wasn't broke because I really can see them as a staple for a woman who lives in a country like Singapore, always on a very inspiring edge between Asian heritage and Western influences.

Enough said, I leave you with a few more pics from the runway and the backstage, taken by wonderful photographer and long time blog-friend Aggie (check out her website, her photos are so beautiful!)

In the backstage - Photo by Agnes Leong

On the runway - Photo by Agnes Leong

On the runway - Photo by Agnes Leong

Silhouettes from the @ongshunmugam runway show ✏️ quick sketches to bring back home and make proper illustrations of this beautiful collection! #aldraws #SGFW @singaporefashionweek

A photo posted by Alessia Landi (@aldraws_) on Oct 29, 2016 at 5:59am PDT

And very quick impressions from the runway, as seen on my Instagram

Hope you liked this collection as much as I did, stay tuned for more Singaporean fashion discoveries!

xxx Al

Random fashion illustration #4: Aquazzura shoes (reprise)

Aquazzura "Piña Colada" sandals

Because I can never stop drawing Aquazzura shoes, they're simply perfect in shape and design.

Because I'm still dreaming that one day I'll be able to afford one pair *hope springs eternal*

Because I was in a yellow period (in my illustration I often have color obsessions for a while... Like, this was from my yellow and blue period from a couple of weeks ago. Now I noticed I'm turning back to red a bit. That's so Picasso of me).

Because these shoes are simply a Summer bomb.

A photo posted by Alessia Landi (@aldraws_) on Jul 26, 2016 at 12:08am PDT

So expect more of these Aquazzura drawings :p

Have a fantastic weekend!

xxx Al