The Silk Shirt

One of my clothing staples has to be the silk shirt. According to some eczema sites, silk isn't the best material as it requires hand-washing, which means you can't kill off any build up of skin residue with hot water washes. This site also informs us that silk production contains sericin, which is apparently a known irritant. However, although I do obsessively check labels of clothing for that all important tagline '100% cotton', I prefer to wear silk clothing when dressing up a little, as it is a nicer material to wear in the evenings. 

Enter the silk shirt. The smoothness of silk doesn't irritate my skin, like viscose or polyester, and hangs so well on the body. Teamed with black jeans and heels or boots, the silk shirt is my go to outfit for when I need to adhere to the tricky boundaries of 'smart-casual'.

Although not within my budget quite yet, I obsess over the Equipment silk shirts. Love this orange pop of colour! They can be found on the Net-a-porter site, with the block colour shirts starting from £230. 

I am also lusting over this pyjama set as well. Sadly, it is quite far out of my budget, although one can always dream!

However, a great affordable option is Massimo Dutti, my new favourite brand. It mixes high-street prices with good quality materials such as silk and cotton, a must for any eczema sufferer! The website currently has a sale on, so get over there before it all sells out. I love the caramel tone of this one, and at £29.95 it's the fraction of the price. 

Perfect for the warm summer evenings....

Fashion Show

© Sophia Chan 2012

Here are some fashion illustrations I did for the Castle Fashion Show programme. Being rather out of practice with fashion illustrations I did a lot of experimentation with pencil, ink, pen and watercolour, but finally settled on using just watercolour. I had to illustrate figures based on the type of clothes that would be modelled on the catwalk - it is definitely a lot trickier drawing figures from the imagination as opposed to copying from a photograph.

© Sophia Chan 2012

I found myself having to rely heavily on the influence of David Downton's work, especially in this drawing of the red ball gown. However, hopefully with more illustrations I can begin to develop more of my own identity. To see a rough layout of the full programme, head over to my talented friend's blog Miyake Design.

I am now working on my entry for Castle Arts Week Exhibition - first prize wins 100 pounds. Wish me luck!