Our latest episode was released yesterday afternoon while i was concussed (exhausting friday of classes, rehearsals, and the rocky horror show, crazy Saturday early morning singing for Jon and Amber’s wedding). I really like this episode- it was crazy fun to shoot! A lot of you guys have been requesting a big night out episode so we scheduled a styling session with Topshop; a bit like being Cinderella except with a hotter fairy godmother.

In any case i thought it’d be interesting to do a BTS post of the full filming process from our perspective, so here goes!

Stayed over at Drea’s place the night before browsing magazines in excitement because our hair call time was 8am and i do not understand 8ams. I do not understand anything before 1pms in general. On the other hand, drea is a fantastic alarm clock. Still, when i woke up at 6am the next morning and walked out of the door and right into her brother i sleepily mumbled oh look it’s spiderman before heading to brush my teeth. You see what i mean about mornings.


Bright and early jetting off to Marina Bay Sands to get our hair done by our new hair sponsor, Urban Hair! Also, snapping photos of the flyer like a tourist you all.


My hair is naturally pretty straight (if i bother to comb it, otherwise it’s slightly wavy and messy) so i requested curls because i’ve always wanted curls that stay, forever looking on at other people’s curls in deep set envy. Whenever i try to curl em myself they just go straight again in fifteen minutes, it’s frustrating.

Totally working the taitai lifestyle.

Drea was going for a very Kristin Stewart inspired grecian bun, the kind of look i can never really pull off because my face will look like a fishball without all the hair around it.

It really helps to show your stylist a picture of what you want- also, be realistic, search for styles in your own hair color. For example i’d always run a search for blake lively and other blondes’ hair styles, and drea focuses on dark haired celebs like kristin stewart. Have to say that Eugene and Daryl from Urban Hair did an amazing job with our hair- to create volume, they did a standard salon blow out then set the inside of my hair in curlers, crimping it in layers, before tonging the outside in shifts to create movement and layers where there were previously none. I LOVED IT.

Left: Freshly done curls
Right: LIKE A MILLION HOURS LATER AFTER OUR SHOOT. Not exactly as tight as before, but it melted into pretty waves that i loved anyway, something i’ve never been able to achieve alone.

I’m so glad because judging from the comments, it seems like the rest of the viewers love it too, and my hair has been a MAJOR point of discussion for all previous eps ie. they hate it.

Drea’s before and after-

Left: morning hair
Right: the most intricate grecian bun ever.. !!

Eugene was deftly doing all sorts of things with her hair, tucking and braiding and so on- when she told me she wanted a grecian bun at first i was like lady i love you but you aint got enough hair on your head to have a solid bunch of braids up there but WHO KNEW. Eugene (boss of urban hair) is also the coolest hairstylist i’ve ever seen, he goes overseas to perform in hair shows onstage and all that like in a taiwanese drama, i hadn’t known those things existed outside showbiz. Urban hair also does hair for magazine cover girls like GLAM and BAZAAR, as well as for editorial shoots, print ads, and celebrity hairdos for their award shows and things like that.

The two of us with our stylists from Urban Hair- Eugene and Daryl. Thank you so much for everything you two!!! x

Urban Hair
Web: http://www.urbanhair.com.sg/
2 Bayfront Avenue,
#B1-02/03/04
Marina Bay Sands,
Singapore 018956. Mon to Sun : 10am – 11pm T : +65 6688 7766
F : +65 6688 7755
E : marina@urbanhair.com.sg

After we had our hair done (took about 1-2 hours), we headed down to Topshop Knightsbridge for filming! This consists setting up of the camera crew and equipment done by Vera and Daniel from Clicknetwork, getting miked up so we can be heard clearly, and reading through our notes, which is basic stuff like the name of our guest, details to include like the bit about a free gift when you make a booking, and stuff like that. Most of the shoot is pretty freeform and unscripted though.

Getting ready.

Drea’s top is from missypixie, pants from editor’s market. My top is from editor’s market, skirt from h&m.

Really loving the curls.


Browsing the racks before we shoot to have a feel of what’s been pulled for us. They dont show it in the ep, but there are two amazing dressing rooms aside from the main room we’re shooting in. It’s got this white plush high leather royal looking chair and a full mirror, and racks of clothes and shoes just sitting there looking like something out of a DREAM. When you walk in they offer you a drink and you can sit there browsing fashion magazines if you’re there with a friend and have time to spare, and the entire thing reminds me incredibly of the personal shopping experience in Barneys New York from the Shopaholic novel series.

Drea’s first outfit. Baby white cropped tee, black fringe bustier and diamante pencil skirt. The fringe was intriguing, and it’s something i expect to see in other variations popping up everywhere soon, bags, tassels, skirts, and so on. I know it’s already out there, but if topshop is stocking it you can bet the rest of the shops/blogshops are going to up their game. The thing about fringe tops/anything is that the fringe really has to be done up properly in a heavy kind of thick thread or it risks looking tacky, and this one really takes the cake for well sewn fringe apparel.

Outfit #2. Blue peplum skirt and black bustier.

As much as i love how this look works on her, i’ve got to say this: peplum is a silly word. It sounds like someone sneezed while trying to say something else.
Ok, great, i finally got that out of my system. That said, love the color, and love the way the gold zip matches the necklace. Also it is becoming increasingly clear that pencil skirts of the knee length variety are a wardrobe classic essential for looking flatteringly feminine without passing off as a teeny bopper.

Outfit 3.

White dress from the Topshop unique collection. I’m honestly torn about this piece, on one hand i think it looks great on drea, on the other im 90% sure if i wear it i’ll look like a giant penguin with flaky skin. Either that or a birthday cake, pick whatever rocks your boat. It takes a certain kind of look to pull this dress off, a look that can be most easily identified by the word Andrea. I’m loving the back details, and confused over how to feel about the fact that you cant wear a bra with that. It’s an interesting feeling to have.

Me standing there looking daft while Melanie chooses outfits for me.

My first look- oxblood embellished sweater, and leather trimmed skater skirt. It’s a pity we didnt get to talk about the shoes in the video, i really liked them, you cant tell but the heels are a fuzzy leopard print wonder and the ankle strap makes you feel like someone is very gently holding on to your ankle in a hi im prince charming let me help you wear that shoe kind of way. Now that we’ve established that im a delusional psycho, lets talk about the clothes.

I fell in love with the sweater- it’s really comfortable and not too thick for the singaporean weather, and the only reason that i didnt buy it after wraps was because it’s also over a hundred dollars and i had already blown another hundred on a pair of black wedges, the ones you see drea wearing in the video. I’ve got a bad weakness for knits with other colors weaved into them- this one has snatches of grey and black in it, yum. Love the texture contrast on the skater skirt and i adore how the sweater pulls together so well with the skirt, but the skirt would have been perfect a bit less puffy i think.

Also the bracelet made me feel like Charlie Theron from Snow White and the Huntsman with her badass claw thing she uses to rip out the hearts of young girls while she EATS THEM AND DRINKS THEIR BLOOD. yes.

Outfit 2 for me is just nothing but an incredible amount of love and envy, envy directed mainly at a future jemma five years from now who wouldnt think twice about dropping a credit card on a get up like that. It made me wish i had a formal event to attend (excuse) so i could buy this. I’ve already got a huge thing for blazers in a i just want to bury my face in them all day kind of way. Now you know.

And i’ve been contemplating the sequins trend for the longest time ever now, trying to figure out how to integrate it into an outfit and still be taken seriously. Why hadn’t i ever thought of matte sequins? These sequins aren’t glittery in the way normal ones are and are very much more understated and muted, but they still twinkle whenever you move. A bit like a wink, but in dress form. How much were they- i dont know, and i didn’t dare ask, but what i did ask was why dont i have more money??? which, if you think about it, applies to any situation- why dont i have more money so i can buy a car/house/have a pony/be a princess? Such is life.

Outfit 3- a leather paneled dress. Once again, the contrast in texture comes into play, and LBDs are so much of a wardrobe essential they’ve even become a type of book series the last i’ve heard. I’m not so sure about the sleeveless bit, and it’s form fitting so it’s pretty much designed to make you feel either really sexy or self conscious. Then again, the difference between the two is little more than advertising. People who have been glaring disapprovingly at my penchant for very high heels should check out these badass booties. They look like they could cause some serious damage in dark alleys with those spikes. Such a great form of defense. Who needs a black belt in karate anyway.


A few more BTS shots (photos in this post were either taken by Vera with clicknetwork’s 5D Mark III or drea’s nikon).



Drea and I with Melanie. She was nothing but hospitable, and incredibly easygoing! Chatting with her in between takes was so fun and relaxed- really a pity she had another booking after our shoot and couldn’t hang out for awhile longer. Anyway, if you book a personal shopping session (free, no minimum purchase required, no obligation to buy) at Knightsbridge you’ll probably get to meet her! Theyve got a bunch of different types of sessions, from the SPOIL ME birthday booking to the Newer than Now session for trendsetters, to the Mother and Daughter booking, which sounds like a great afternoon out with your mum! You can even get tea or brunch opposite, at Mandarin Gallery. Decadent, yes, but it’s one of those once in awhile things, and the entire experience of a personal shopping service is just amazing- you just feel so pampered, which is, ive got to be honest, quite lovely.

You can read more about the service/make a booking here.

Drea snapped this while we were shopping, and i’m seriously just checking myself out in the mirror. How vain. It’s also my new facebook cover pic because of Reasons.

We went to grab lunch at this lime branch of thai express at Paragon after that. It doesn’t seem it, but filming always makes us incredibly tired and hungry, a bit like swimming. It also sounds a bit bimbotic because all you do is smile and talk to the camera right, but it’s actually really tiring. I’ve tried figuring out why since on a normal basis people generally smile and talk nonstop too and i’ve concluded that it’s the lights they shine on your face while filming. Those things just suck out all your energy. Or soul. But it makes the photos and film turn out great, so.

Drea’s bun still steadily intact. My curls were also still doing pretty well as seen from one of the photos above.

Ok right after this it started raining like crazy and we were stuck in paragon and had to run across the road with our bags over our heads while in heels and i swear i thought i was going to fall and die so i was screaming the whole way to the horror of all passerby’s. The worst part is, i cant even pretend it’s not me if a reader/viewer spots me and STOMPS me under “Noisy Stupid Girl Crossing The Road” because the hair is so recognizable.

Ah well. There you have it- our full behind the scenes filming experience! This ep was a joy to shoot, and i hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we did! x

x
♥jem