For the Love of Frivolity

Dreamy as Puberty

yummy hats and fascinators on women at the recent Royal Ascot 09.

this black crochet lace hat won at the inaugural ‘Who Wants To Be A Millin-aire.’ Roman is a professional milliner from London.

there’s just nothing you cannot put on a hat

I’d love to do something like this, Karl Lagerfeld designed ballet costumes for the English National Ballet’s tribute season to the legendary French ballet company the Ballets Russes. (L-R: Dying Swan costume, ballet dancer Elena in Chanel haute couture seen in Harper’s Bazaar June issue.)

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pretty although the feathers around the neck is a bit awkward and i don’t LOVE how the bodice makes her look thick and ungraceful.

The Guardian’s Judith Mackrell called the tutu “the one fake note” of the opening night. It was, she said, “conceived with cavalier disregard for the ballerina’s working body – the line of the neck broken by an egregious, fluffy ruff, the waistline broken by a too-high skirt.

I agree….

local divers dressed as mermaids in a tank at the Manila Ocean Park

The first perfume by Van Cleef & Arpels, Feerie. How dreamy is this bottle, with the fairy on a twig. It smells wonderful, too. If I were to be a perfume, this scent would come nearest. I heard the first whif was a bit too sweet for some, but I love it like it is, it gives way to a more woody smell after a while and the trail is just pure fantasy.. The real bottle doesn’t look as good as I expected it to be though, the metal-looking twig is just plastic. But I got to take home a tester and a discount card for it at the Fabric anniversay, and speaking of which, the entry and photos for that will come soon.. Just collecting the good pictures! =)

Never stop dreaming…

Crazy Cupcake Fairy

Photos of the cupcake-inspired dress I made for my Pattern III class a few terms ago. I did this photoshoot for my portfolio. You can look at my new online portfolio here. I always update it with the better things I’ve done related to fashion.

My model is my sister and two of our dogs Natassja and Santi! I was going for a fun, nostalgic, childhood dream-like mood with a bit of noir twist. Whatever that is! haha but these are the photos that came out of all the nonsense. I basically told my sister to go nuts around the house. Some of the photos we had to do while mom wasn’t watching *cough, when she was climbing tables and chairs, cough*

cupcake fairy meets garden fairy

wanna see a cupcake do a cartwheel?

cupcake + water don’t really mix.. maybe a strawberry shake instead.

climbing not just walls

Santi licks the cupcake fairy

DENR Eco Night

This was made for the Department of Environment and Natural Resource’s Night – Eco Fashion Show for the Environment. The fashion show is part of the 5th Eco-Products International Fair

We were tasked to create wearable fashion out of sustainable resources, recyclable materials and indigenous products.

I used plastic, melted and sculpted and some left over fabric.

Photos of other creations: stylebible.ph article
Full story: article on DENR.gov website

Project Runway Philippines Finale

We saw the Project Runway Philippines Finale last week (thanks Sir Lev=) ) and I really appreciate the effort that the final 3 designers put into their collections. There was a bit of ‘cheese’ before the actual show, which I guess I should have expected, seeing as how everything in the country from politics to fashion is mixed in with the local kind of showbiz. Anyway, it opened with Philip Tamus, who sent a swimwear look down the runway first. He knows the female form which is seen from his clothes- lots of women would be able to wear them and look and feel great. I really liked how he can pile on the details on a bodice without losing the beautiful womanly shape. Then again, the color palette did nothing for me and I felt like I’ve seen them before. Nothing really new but he did a great job using his strengths and coming up with flattering gowns despite the fact that they’re in the most difficult color for a woman to wear- quite a feat.

Veejay Floresca went next and the Linkin Park track really got me excited to see what he’ll show. And I guess that was why I got so disappointed. You know how certain kinds of music makes you visualize a certain look/color/mood? It was like Jerome Lorico’s last season’s show, when his choice of music sort of gave me a preview to his collection. I was stunned then, I wasn’t with Veejay’s. The first few notes got me thinking of black and new metal and edgy models with attitude. Suffice to say I wasn’t expecting at all the colorless minimalist outfits trickling down the runway. I started wondering why he has almost the same colour palette as Philip, and I thought maybe they were prescribed to use eco-fabrics like in one episode of Project Runway (US) or something like that. And while I was thinking about that, the designs all started melting into each other and my eyes just glazed over.. I thought he even sent a dress walking twice. The fit wasn’t that good either. I felt really bad because I wanted him to do well since he has a lot of heart and I know all about the different sacrifices and pains that goes into producing outfits like that. I think about it now and the clothes (which reminded me of the desert area Luke Skywalker grew up in at Tatooine and Queen Amidala’s fighting outfit), considered individually, are actually really great but during the show, I guess they just didn’t make an impact at all. I myself am only starting to learn that it’s better to “wow” in a show and create toned down, more wearable versions of the showpieces later than to be too safe. But I’m not worried for him, he’s young, is learning and there are more shows to come his way.

Aries Lagat showed his collection last and although I wasn’t crazy about his palette, I was just happy that he used colour at all. I loved the sparkling hoodie look for men and the floating lapels and the backs that looked as good as the front. Everything was incredibly well-made and fit the models so well. It was great how the audience clapped when one model went out in one outfit, got unzipped by two other models and turned her one outfit into three new looks for all of them. He’s so good with pattern making, I like how he thinks and he has great showmanship. I think Aries might win, just for showing something new, clothes that got people excited.

My friend told me about a badly written article about this in one of the local newspapers and I have to agree. Someone who would write “a striking bald model (for the theatrical factor)” theatrical factor??! in parentheses no less! after “shift dresses” and “flowing gowns” when talking about what went down the runway is disappointingly getting it wrong in fashion as with the written word. Reading further I came upon the proclamation that according to the author regarding Aries’ clothes and choice of print: “difficult to judge if these pieces would still work when worn in the streets.” Huh. Makes me wonder if the author has actually been out walking in the streets here and the billions of streets in the world, observing what people are actually capable of wearing. I guess that’s why Manila unlike Harajuku and elsewhere has no ’street fashion’. Too many people are too scared to dare wear whatever they like because too many people are too judgmental. And anyway, whether the outfits can be worn in the streets shouldn’t even be a concern anyway, they’re certainly great for parties and special events. But yknow what, maybe an ‘author’ who says “achitechtural” shouldn’t be taken too seriously anyway.

YoU mag launch, among other things

I promise myself I will update more frequently. I have such a long backlog of entries that won’t make sense to post now so my past few (super late) entries have been about the more important bits of my ‘fashion life’. This one will be not different but it will be the last of these late posts. Promise!

Two Saturdays ago was the launch of YoU magazine and along with four of my schoolmates, I showed two punk rock inspired outfits at their show. I shall have proper photos taken as soon as I get them back, right now I only have a not-so-detailed runway shot of one of them.

So yea, it looks like a puff of pink because I did make a puff of pink.. a hot pink tutu. I’m especially happy about the back of the bustier, where the zipper is attached tot he bodice using rows of safety pins, but as I said, I’ll just post detail photos here next time. It was a nicely done show all-in-all, the place was really packed. So full, in fact, that I got stuck in the middle of it trying to get out for around 10 minutes without getting one inch closer to the exit. But it was all nice, really. The other schools who showed outfits were Colege of St. Benilde, SOFA and FIP. None of them went up the stage when they were called though.. wonder why. So I don’t know them.. if they were students of faculty.

Okay have to go, Pattern III class is about to start.. and kacci and gloomy apparently have some pressing chika to tell. Haha.

Un Nuit Au Maroc

Thursday last week, Amanda Agnes and Sari Lazaro organized a fashion show for their production class. It was one night of fashion in Morocco. Designer students from our school, LaSalle College International, showed their stuff: Athena Tandoc, Finela Gregorio, Engie Garcia, Marge Regala, Kristine Bautista, Miki Hahn, Sari Lazaro and me. It was a great show, thanks to Amanda and Sari.

The location nearly ruined everything but it still was a great show, thanks to Amanda and Sari, everyone who helped and the designers. The place, and I mention this only once, was Warehouse 135. It was such a bad experience I shall never come back there again of my own accord, but the YoU Magazine launch this Saturday (in which I will be showing some punk rock clothes) will be held there so that will be the last time. First, they had to be told to turn the a/c on while we were setting everything up. And there was no help or any kind of assistance from them at all. When we arrived there late afternoon, the place, looking all dilapidated under the unforgiving lights was dirty, with cigarettes butts everywhere, probably from whatever went on the night before. The toilet had a lot of cockroaches. The backstage was upstairs and I was always scared to leave our things without someone we know because this dodgy crook-like man was always hovering nearby. He won’t even fetch water for my friend who needed to take some medicine. And while the models were undressing, the crook-guy and another goon were stealing looks! Athena had to tell him to give us a bit of privacy and he took one step back. We had to compensate and hide from them when they should be helping make things better. While the show is on-going, I was watching from the balcony backstage, waiting for my turn, and one guy came up to me and had the gall to tell me to tell everyone else to not nudge the stupid tables because the club’s power breaker thingy whatever will explode. What?! That totally doesn’t make sense. And it isn’t even my problem if they have some hacked-up electrical wiring that could cause major accidents with a single nudge of a table. It’s their problem and they either fix it or someone ought to investigate that. They were really gross and rude and unprofessional. I don’t know where the people who work there come from or how they were trained (if there was any training at all) but since they represent that “club,” everything about it was revealed to me in very poor, but clear light.

So next time you think about going there, don’t be fooled by the sparkling lights that hide all the ugly reality and stay near the exits because someone just might nudge a table and cause an explosion: you are in a warehouse that declares the fact in cheap tarp in front and that’s all it really is.

Thanks to:
stylebible.ph
Flip TV
Konrad Ong
LCI photography students
everyone who made it a nice event.

In stylebible and You Magazine

Grab a copy of You magazine, Sep/Oct issue =) You magazine is fashion + music.

It’s Sonja Lehmann.. not sonJa haha.

Sonja Lehmann, Shermaine Katindig, Steffi Go and Kristine Bautista are my schoolmates at La Salle College International =)

I saw a couple of my old classmates from diff. schools in that issue.. weird.

Speaking of old classmates, I’m realising that keeping in touch is much easier said than done. Even in this age of mobiles, cars and Facebook, months, and even years in some cases, would go by without seeing friends who I used to be with day in and out. Just recently, it took a few days and dozens of messages just to confirm a lunch with some of my old friends for next week. It’d be great to see them again but I’m well prepared for last minute cancellations as more pressing matters have the habit of coming up these days.

Some things can’t be helped but in the end, I think it’s worth the effort.. specially when plans push through =)

Our Fabric fashion show is on stylebible.ph Stylebible.ph is Preview magazine online.

My penguin/emo collection.. Proper photos of them, soon.

See it here: stylebible.ph
Thanks Renee and JR!

Fabric Fashion Show @ Embassy Fly

We had a show about two weeks ago. Myself, and my friends Kristine, Karl and Charmagne with the theme Emotionally Hardcore in Saving Mother Earth. We thank(?) Sir Lev for coming up with that idea. It is Emo + Eco/Global Warming fashion in one, essentially. Both inspired by some lesson topics we had discussed in class. Why emo and global warming? Emo because it is a fashion phenomenon that’s spreading so much it cannot be ignored. Since the emo culture is honestly quite a selfish way of life, it’d be interesting to relate being emo for a completely selfless reason: saving the earth. And global warming for the simple fact that it affects everyone, whether you choose to notice it or not. How we relate the two different inspirations together was up to us.

My collection is all about penguins with an emo twist. One of the effects of global warming is the melting of polar ice caps, home of the penguins. So they are affected first and worst. In the popular series Heroes’ world, it’s ‘Save the cheerleader, Save the world’ but in reality, it’s ‘Save the penguins, Save the world’.

That’s the idea. And ideas are always easier on paper. Haha..

A lot of the cautionary lessons I was told before were affirmed and there were a lot of new lessons learned. A fashion designers’ world isn’t as glamorous as it seems. It really isn’t. It involves a lot of work, you can’t do everything on your own and since it involves a lot of people, you run into characters ranging from midly annoying to frighteningly offending. It’s easy to overlook many of the little details involved along the way. And it really does pay to be nice. Nice, not gullible.

Needless to say, the whole thing was an experience that was totally different from anything I’ve ever known. The preparation was neverending, the wait was nerve racking and the actual show was intense but over in an eye blink. It was all both very real and surreal. And I’d be so lucky to keep doing this as long as I can.

More photos in a coming post. Backstage photos in my Multiply.

Special thanks to:
Imagine
Manila Bulletin
Manual
Inquirer.net
Fudge
Gadgets
Mtv
Fashion TV
Sugar Sugar
stylebible.ph

And thanks Sir Lev. =)

Me and friends on Probe TV

Kristine.. lol.

Tin’s garbage creation

Wrong spelling..

adie in my receipt corset

watch the segment on probe tv online: