Dogs and Fashion

Happy National Dog Day (Aug 26)! If there’s one thing that Elle Woods iconic picture tells, it is that pooches are still the cutest fashion accessory don’t you think? How many times have we seen a Vogue spread up the "awwww" factor with models and their four-legged animals? =)  Make no bones about it, dogs belong to the fashion world too. Hihi.

Here in the gallery below, let me showcase the three instances when I decided to accessorize with my favorite babies. After all, my clothes can’t make me a champion but I’m pretty sure my dogs albeit camera-shy can catch the viewer’s eyes. Woof! =)

Gallery 1. Meet our frequent guest pom Poi. He comes around when my friend needs to hide him because of condo rules. Seriously? I hate these condos. Why should they be banned??? Hmp.

Jacket: Mango; Top: Penshoppe; Skirt: Zalora

Necklace: Mango; Sandals: Mango

Gallery 2. Again, originally not ours but our bebe was given to us when she was 1-yr old because of the same "no-dogs-allowed" condo issues.

Dress: Apartment8 Clothing (same here); Skirt: Apartment8 Clothing; Shoes: Marks & Spencer

Gallery 3. I think it's a bit hard to fit him in my #ootds. But I equally love him as well. Meet our Akita husky Dmitri Vladimir. Please like his Facebook page. Haha.

Top: Unbranded; Skirt: The Ramp Crossings; Necklace: Unbranded

Provincetown, Cape Cod

What happens when you let yourself be dragged on a trip to Boston? You get culture-shocked once you arrive at your destination.

After the wedding in Toronto, I agreed to my friend’s plan to come with him to Boston to see his sister. It has its benefits – we get free accommodation and tours on the side. Plus, I also trust not only his travel experience but his instincts. He’s one of the best travel buddies.

But, it turns out he also didn’t expect what we saw in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Haha! At Logan airport, we rented a car and drove to the peninsula for about five hours with the aim of reaching the lowest part of the cape – Provincetown. Of course, we were under the initial impression that the place is a popular summer destination what with the different bays and canals surrounding it and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. But what we didn’t expect is Provincetown being a major gay and lesbian resort destination – apparently one of the largest in the US.

But boy was the place beautiful? It certainly was. What's supposed to be a day trip only left us spending the night there and luckily we found a place – owned and a managed by a very nice gay couple. And what’s another great thing about Boston? The seafood. It was just too bad that my tummy acted up right after the wedding. Haha!

Top: H&M (seen here); Shorts: Topshop; Sandals: Mango

Bag & Sunnies: Unbranded

Celebrity-Inspired: Tuxedo Dress

Vanity Fair has released their Best Dressed Women of 2015 in the World (here) and I’m happy to see my favorite Hollywood actress Emma Stone make it in the coveted list. :) You see not only does the A-lister have a funny character, she and Andrew are simply the most adorable couple on Earth (believe me, I almost lost my trust in “forever” when rumors spread that they split) and best of all she is always the coolest girl on the red carpet. I know, too much fangirling here so let's just quickly move to her fashion choices.

In these days, the trend seems to be boyfriend-anything and Emma Stone made a nod to that when she showed up in something tuxedo-inspired during the SAG awards early this year. Because seriously, why not turn a tuxedo into a dress? I.SIMPLY.CANNOT.UNPOST it in my other blog for wishlist as seen here. The tuxedo jacket dress is layered over a sheer, sweeping fishtail skirt and is by Dior couture. It is just too edgy, empowering and iconic at the same time. I love, love, love this dress. I'd also love to use the word "innovative" on that. 

And to prove just how unforgettable this dress is, months after without quite meaning to, I was able to dug items in my closet to recreate that look. Believe me, it all sort of fell into my hands. It only took three different pieces to reproduce it and I was too satisfied, too pleased with myself on this. Who would’ve thought I could recreate something couture – and a Dior one at that? ;-) Seriously, this should be my best couture styling of the year award and yes I am bestowing it upon myself. Hahaha!!! :)

Blazer Dress: Zalora; Lace Dress: Warehoues; Sheer Dress/Cover-up: H&M (seen here)

Sandals: H&M; Earrings: H&M; Bag: Accessorize

A Fashion Exhibit

Came out last Thursday night to support my stylist friends/ SoFA classmates in the Devouring Vivaldi exhibit held at House Manila bar in Resorts World. The Selfless Minds featured the video exhibit of Christina Zabat and photo exhibit of the headshot master Niccolo Cosme. The girls styled some of the images in the exhibit. Of course our styling instructor Mr. Levenson Rodriguez was there. While it was also a reunion of sorts with the girls, it was also a good opportunity to meet some of the respected fashion designers of the country as represented by FADAL Manila. Check out the other pics in my other blog here.

A little background for my chosen outfit, since it was a busy working day with gym activities squeezed in between (new instructor duties), I had to think of an easy way to switch outfits from work to night-out. I retained my favorite high-waist/ wide leg trousers and changed top from a turtleneck/ trench combo to this gilet/ boyfriend vest and tube top. I've always wanted to copy this runway look and I hope I was able to pull it off. ;)

Vest: Mango; Trousers: Mango; Sandals: H&M

Plain Gray Tee

Back in my engineering days at my campus, you’d never catch me dead in a plain tee. Seriously, haha. It’s just sooo not me. Not that I don’t like it, it’s just that it’s too plain Jane for me. My belief then is that you’d have to have a really nice figure to pull it off. Of course, a pair of well-suited jeans is part of that too.

Fast-forward to x years later, armed with more experience in dressing (and with more accumulated stuffs in my closet, lol!) I’ve come to terms with dressing up a shirt and a man’s one at that as seen here. It turns out, there is a fashion formula in dressing up staples like this. Engineering and formulas, they just go well together don’t they? Oooh, I love formulas.Haha!

According to this, for a basic statement such as a plain gray tee to stand out it should be:

Statement outfit = basic + interest pice + completer piece + standard accessories

1. Basic (a staple such as plain tee, jeans or a pencil skirt).

2. Interest Piece (statement-making pieces like color, patterns and textures)

3. Completer Piece (makes the outfit thought-out like jacket/ cardigan or an accessory)

4. Standard Accessories (purse, jewelry, shoes and sunglasses)

And voila! You’ve certainly added an oomph factor in your plain gray shirt (no perfect figure required, wink!)

I must admit, I hadn’t known of this formula before but had been unconsciously applying it many times now. It’s just like an arithmetic sequence or progression we used to work on in our Maths; the numbers just keep on going because there’s a rule behind it. In my case, the outfits just keep on being produced because of the guiding principle behind it. And now thanks to that article, formula has been identified! Isn’t it just sheer genius? ;-)

Outfit 1:

Shirt: Mango (basic); Vest: Mango (completer); Shoes: Zalora (standard) 

Pants: Topman/ Necklace: Mango (statement)

Outfit 2:

Shirt: Mango (basic); Jacket: Mango (completer) Skirt: Asos (standard)

Shoes: H&M (interest)

Rebel Pout

“She was the kind of girl who wore dark lipstick and didn't need to speak a word to seduce you.”  - Stephen F. Campbell

Again, it’s late but I feel compelled to write something about the National Lipstick Day that happened last week. Why? Here’s why.

Simply because I’m a lipstick girl. I know nothing about cosmetics in general (and honestly this thing called contouring all sounds like rocket science to me *smh) but at the same time, I also don’t know anything about lipstick. But the difference is, when it comes to the latter, I assure you I will buy one and put it on simply for the fun of it. There are people who care most about the eye make-up but I am happy for days when I can just pull-off a sunnies and lippy and I’m good to go. ;-)

In the past, I’ve worn shades that have got people, strangers even, asking me for the tones which is kind of flattering since I just stumble upon them in the mall, haha! But though I’ve started using bold colors way back in college (hello red lips!), I feel like my foray into the lipstick world is just beginning with the recent introduction to lip liners and primer. Blame it on Mac!

Speaking of which, I’m into my third shade (What? They’re pricey for 16USD a pop you know! And the tax in NYC gave me a mini heart attack, lol!) and it’s something that a MUA recommended to me a year ago. I took no notice of it until a friend of mine and I hit the shop recently and a recent fascination for dark lips. Rebel is a shade that people are terrified of in the bullet but it is such a bold color that is sometimes enough to make it a style statement. Yes, the whole point of this post is that, sometimes there’s nothing better than a dark lips to make the statement of your whole look. ;-) 

Vest: Mango; Top: Mango; Skirt: Forever21

Shoes: Unbranded

Fit and Fab

This post is nothing but a celebratory post for finally passing the training in the gym as a fitness instructor. Yey! The name of the group exercise class that I am teaching is called Retropop. As explained in my other blog, this is actually not a standard Les Mills class offered in Fitness First so you will not see this if say you try the club in other countries. This is proudly made in the Philippines. :P

Just a little background, this class is actually pioneered by some fitness instructors that made names as good choreographers in the showbiz industry. It was initially called Retro class which the name suggests, dances to the songs of the 70s/80s (Telephone, Fame, Vogue and the likes). This is really a HIT to fit and fab mommies in the gym who wanna showcase their dance prowess and unleash the inner dancing queen in them. Later on, it was changed to Retropop to include the very recent hits of Lady Gaga, Rihanna, JLo, Katy Perry and so on. :)

As a music lover of a wide genre, you can see why this class really appeals much to me. We do have  a very long list of songs that I still must study as an instructor (yay!) so for now let me quickly end this post with some outfits worn in the gym. Hehe. Congratulations to me!!! =)

Jacket: Cotton On; Top: Unbranded; Skirt: Nike; Shoes: Unbranded

Shirt: Terranova; Pants: Terranova; Shoes: Unbranded