This Just Screams Artistry. Doesn't It?

Crocodile pump with grosgrain tie and rhinestone heel by Lanvin.

Mr. Alber Elbaz, you are a cruel, cruel man.

7 Days

If these look fake it's because they are. Haha.
(Well, not completely, but they're not exactly real, either.)
Got these 7 semi-precious stones from Greenhills Tiangge last week for 700 bucks ($14.50). Not bad, right?

The colors in the photo look more stark, but in actuality, the stones are more pastel-ish.

I'm planning on making them into 7-Day Gold Bangles.
I think I'm over the White Gold Jewelry phase..
Gold seems more regal now, no? Oh actually, it always has been. Tumatanda na ata ako that's why my tastes are changing. Ack. o_O

Well I'm off to Binondo tomorrow afternoon to visit a jeweller. I'll post photos of the bangles once they're done.
Let's see if they can pass off as genuine. Haha.

Summer Brights

What gets me excited during Summertime (apart from the melting hot weather, thank you) are the Spring-Summer fashion collections (clothes, bags, shoes, accessories, etc.) that feature flashy, attention-getting colors that would make even a 7-colored Rainbow jealous.


I visited Zara last month trying to look for a red dress/top for my dad's surprise party. I don't usually like to spend a huge amount of money on clothes, I like to say I'd rather spend my money on music, on good food, and on a great piece of art or furniture.
Unfortunately, that whole credo of mine was thrown out the window as soon as I detected those bright yellow sleeves peeking through an array of hung tops.

Walk walk walk. Stop. Back-up. My feet automatically turning to the right, like an army man would.

Paint the town yellow.

My favorite color is yellow and my favorite shade of yellow is pastel. This is an exception, though. I literally gasped when this jacket caught my eye. The shade was perfect. Bright yet still flattering. When I look at it I envision myself wearing the jacket with a different bright-colored bag/shoes, my accessories gold, and my makeup a soft peachy-pink blush with berry stained lips roaming around New York.

Hmm, let's see:

It's yellow. Pro.

I don't live in New York. Con.

The color complements my skin tone. Pro.

It's never (or very rarely) chilly here. Con.

It's fairly cheap considering it's Zara. Pro.

It's not red. Con.

There'll never be another jacket of this exact same shade again. I think. Or if ever there will be, I'd have to wait 4 seasons long before I'd see another brightly-hued piece of clothing on store racks. Pro. Definitely a Pro.

How To Know When Summer Is Officially Starting

(Especially here, where it's scorching hot 90% of the time.)

Cue Jack Johnson music. Or Beach Boys.

~Everywhere you look seems like an overexposed photograph.

~US Blockbusters start invading local movie theaters.

~Window displays become less bland.

~You no longer care for your heater.

~(Even though you're a grown man/woman,) Inflatable kiddie pools become so inviting.

~And you feel the urge to buy whale-shaped pool floats.

~You start craving for ice cream again. On second thought, everyone's love for ice cream knows no season.

~Your facial cleanser changes viscosity. (And in extreme cases, it turns to mush.)

~Havaianas flipflops become ubiquitous. Again.

~(Summer or not, I've always been a fan of mixing bright colors in my outfit i.e. fuchsia and turquoise, fuchsia and coral, fuchsia and yellow, etc.-- you get the drill- but) Somewhat disapproving (I assume) stares from strangers become more friendly and morph into smiles paired with slight nods.

You can go crazy with colors and still get away with it.

~Yes. Rainbow is the new Black.

~(And finally,) Fashion collections start making you salivate even more. (Please see Fig. 1)

Fig. 1 Christian Louboutin Petal Sandals

Lin: and these are to die for!!!

Shatan: OMG OMG!!!

A Short Video For Shoe Addicts

From The New York Times website.
09.13.08

VIDEO: On The Street With Bill Cunningham

Haha.
Everyone's a masochist to a certain degree.

Case in point:
My nude satin peep-toe booties. 4" heels.

We have a love-hate relationship. ♥

LANVIN Spring-Summer '08

The collection that would inspire even more collections.

Premiered last October 2007.

No other fashion label has ever given me this much goosebumps.

Lanvin's Spring-Summer line is truly breathtaking; the artistry, the colors, the fabric choices, the fluidity of the garments, and the overall Parisian feel.



I remember on first day of fashion school our teacher asked us to look for one fashion designer or a fashion label that would serve to be the foundation, the inspiration of what kind of fashion designers we would come to be.
"Choose one, read up on it, and study the designs. Learn as much as you can about the designer/label," he said. That was almost two years ago.

I think I finally found mine.



Mr. Alber Elbaz, thank you.

Polyvore.com

Fun fun fun! Playing dress up sans the doll, online.

Today I discovered the site Polyvore while Facebook-ing and spent a great deal of the afternoon styling 3 different outfits.

This is one of the two reasons why I dream of working in Fashion magazines. (The other one being Fashion Photography.)

Move over, Rachel Zoe. Har har I wish.

Check out the site if you don't have anything else to do. Caution, though, it's highly addictive!

A Shutterbug's Passion for Fashion

Back in Grade School, my friends and I would always head out to Virramall and/or Shoppesville to unwind and spend what little time we had before having to face another homework-filled night. Once the bell rings, as if on cue, students would start huddling to plan where in Virramall or Shoppesville they would meet up.
Everyone called it their third home.

Our Virramall/Shoppesville itinerary usually looked something like this:
National Bookstore
Tiangge
stopover for some snacks (if we’re hungry)
Tiangge
Gift Gate
Regina’s
Tickles
That small magazine stall near Giordano
Giordano
And maybe a few more Tiangge

That third to the last trip is probably the one I enjoyed most. I ♥ magazines. Fashion ones, to be exact. When I was younger, I would always borrow my sister’s magazines (YM, Teen, Dolly, Girlfriend, et al. And yes, I went through a Teen Beat/ BOP phase as well, shamefully) and read them until I fall asleep.
I remember stumbling upon my first ever issue of InStyle back in 7th Grade when I was contemplating on spending my money on a fashion magazine I’ve never read before (and had Matthew Perry on its cover) or buying another issue of a teeny-bopper magazine whose contents were beginning to feel a little too monotonous for me.

I was debating with a friend on why I think InStyle was a much better buy than Seventeen. She wanted to see Sarah Michelle Gellar/Alicia Silverstone but this new, more mature fashion magazine really got me interested. I decided to satisfy my curiosity and was glad to know that it was, in fact, a good buy.
I have never missed an issue since then.

I added 2 more to my Must Buy List: Teen Vogue and Lucky.

It would be a dream of mine to work in a fashion magazine, and an even bigger dream to work in Teen Vogue. It’s one of my faves because I like how they photograph clothes and their models. There’s nothing blah about their photo spreads. There always is a story.

Photography. I ♥ photography. Every time we would go abroad my family would tease me about wasting film (or file space) on sceneries rather than on people. So I guess this is where 2 of my passions merge.
And thanks to Norman Jean Roy, one of my favorite photographers who I discovered while admiring an amazingly shot photo from a page of Teen Vogue, my passion for fashion photography was born.

Here are some of my N. J. Roy favorites. With the perfect angle, focus, lighting, exposure, and mixture of colors, he can capture the carefreeness and the sensuality of a woman. Of a fashionably clad woman, rather.

“I started taking pictures at a very early age. I think I was six when I first started. I never thought of it as anything more than taking pictures for fun. But that's when I got addicted to the idea of freezing a moment; there was something about that concept I thought was cool, to just go click, click, click and know that you're stopping moments in time.”

- N. J. Roy