WEARING: CADIEUX PARIS DRESS | VVA IVY CALF GREEN POUCH HANDBAG
THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY CADIEUX PARIS & VVA HANDBAGS.
Happy Monday loves! I've come down with a cold. I felt it coming on this weekend and I tried to fight it but unfortunately, the lil' bugger has gotten comfy and wants to stay a while longer. Nothing major but it has me sluggish, don't you hate that feeling when everything seems to take forever - as if you're moving in slow motion all day? My sinuses are killing me, but I continue to work because there's no other way to get it done. As many of you know I am the creative director, stylist, hair and makeup artist, and editor when it comes to all our fashion shoots here on MaQ + Suz. Every outfit post is carefully thought through and in the recent months, I've become extremely passionate again with fashion & style.
FUN FACT: When I was a little girl, around the age of 6 or 7 years old, I was completely obsessed with my mother's Korean fashion magazines. She didn't read the U.S. versions as Korean was her first language and anyone that knew my mother can attest to her eclectic style. She had very good taste and knew the difference between high quality and the rest of the bullshit that's put out there. I even used to be amazed at her estimation skills when we used to watch 'The Price is Right' together. She was peculiarly accurate and knew what everything cost. I really miss shopping with her where strangers used to constantly hit on her, even asking if we were sisters (which she LOVED since that meant she still looked like a teenager... thanks to those Korean genes, though, really! Ha ha!) We'd always make a pit stop to Mrs. Fields for their soft chocolate chip cookies afterward. It was one of our shopping rituals like all of us girls share with each other...
I looked up to my mom's personal style. So much so, and with the help of all those Korean fashion magazines, I started my own fashion magazine where I'd draw the models in a notebook and then label everything that they were wearing including the price on the side. I was just a kid when I did this but my parents found it to be so neat they had kept it through the years, but I lost it in a fire from my childhood home later on in my late teens. (Sounds brutal I know but it's not like the house completely burnt down or something worse like losing someone I love) But long story, I'm so happy to be where I am right now, here doing what I'm doing.. it just feels right.
When I saw this dress by Cadieux at the Manhattan Edité showroom, it immediately reminded me first, of course, Parisian flair, but secondly, my mother. I'm not sure why since it wasn't something either of us would wear on the regular, perhaps to a special occasion, yes, but for whatever reason ever since I spotted this beauty I've been thinking a lot about my mother. It's tough, even as a grown-ass woman, to not have your mother with you. (She passed away in 2005.) I can never describe how much I miss both of my parents, but my 'umma' has been on my mind. Instantly I wanted to style this dress just for her.
I do a lot of things in honor of my parents. Maybe it's because I'm still trying to prove something. Maybe I'm still trying to make them proud of me. But I don't care what the reason is. They drive me to be the crazy bad ass girl I know that I am (and not bad as in bad but bad as in good) and are a huge inspiration in my life. I inherited my mother's fiery passion and would be damned to burn that one out. I'm even starting to consider learning Korean because it's something my mother really wanted me to learn but as a youngster, I refused. I wish she didn't give me that decision but it's never too late, am I right?!
PHOTOS BY: GILLES DECAMPS
LOVE & XX'S,
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