Winter escape –San Francisco was the first station of my winter escape. It was brightly sunny during the days I was visiting there, even though the weather was a bit chilly for a girl who just flew from sultry Hong Kong. For me winter means white snow, scarves and gloves, various styled hats, layered looks, and most importantly it means more hugs are needed. Hong Kong, however, never gives me a “proper” winter; therefore, a winter escape was in order, and North America called me for this time’s Christmas vacation, so I grasped my suitcase, jumped on a plane and started hopping in the U.S. from west to east coast for the remaining days of 2013 last month, and as expected – I had a blast!
Being a Painted Lady – it’s always a great chance for me to take more pictures while I’m travelling, and every time I must pick a different outfit for the city I’m visiting, something I guess all fashionistas do? The outfit I chose for San Francisco involves only two colours: Blue and white, which I think is perfectly marching the city’s soul which is all about the big blue sea, fisherman’s wharf and both the Golden Bridge and Bay Bridge, and also the Painted Ladies – of course.
Painted Ladies – our shooting location was Painted Ladies, which is one of the icons of San Francisco. I love the rows of Victorian and Edwardian houses, amazingly colourful and romantic, especially when we’re taking a stroll there on the gorgeous sunny afternoon and shooting for the day’s outfit in front of the houses, which makes me feel like myself as a painted lady cavorting in a lovely coastal city, which was just lovely!
I quite like this blue blouse sweater combo I got in a HK local Korean fashion store that is detailed with blue crochet laces and waves patterns, which makes the whole thing pretty elegant. Again, Zara shoes! Honestly I’ve so many Zara stuff and I’ve tried weaning myself off my Zaraphilia , but I’ve apparently failed miserably, as I’m just totally in love with Zara whatever. For the earrings, that was a beautiful encounter; I got them on my way to Painted Ladies just on the Haight Street Market, which was the end of my headache over not having brought enough accessories for the trip.
The girl –I just can’t explain why good things always come to me, just like this special girl who I was travelling with this time! I met her on my Christmas Europe trip several years ago when I was studying in London, and this girl is living and studying in the UK as well, so we soon became friends and later good friends. I still remember vividly the New Year’s Eve we counted down together in front of the London Eye and the Big Ben with some friends from New York, and the fireworks that year were spectacular and unforgettable.
At the time, we came up with an idea of travelling to New York together, but then after that we were both busy at our own things, and were never able to make it happen. Surprisingly, after several years we just hopped over from different corners of the globe (London & HK) to meet on the other side of the world. I will never forget the moment when you’re waving your hand outside the airport after you’ve collected our car and we ran to each other to give a big hug! That’s a miracle my dear!
I love San Francisco, it’s my most favourite city on the west coast, and an article about what we did in this lovely city will be coming up soon.
Photographer: Ying Lin / Location: Painted Ladies & Twin Peaks, San Francisco
I’m wearing – Blouse sweater combo: Korean brand/ Skirt & Shoes: Zara/ Sunglasses: Celine/ Rings: Topshop / Earrings: Bought in SFO