Spoils from the East Coast

Now that parts of the North America trip were covered, let’s talk about the spoils of the trip. To be honest, the plan was not to really spend on too much shopping. But I did have my eyes set on some items – sneakers for gym to be specific but I ended up unsuccessful. Oh well.

Usually when I travel, I’m always in the lookout for H&M-like (cheap and trendy) shops abroad. New Look in Singapore works for me as well as markets like Bugis street or Jatujak of Bangkok. In the US, we went mostly to outlet stores and since H&M is already present in the country, one particular brand that of interest is J.Crew.

J. Crew’s catalog has always been in my inspo board and it’s all because of the amazing woman behind it – Jenna Lyons. According to Wikipedia, Jenna Lyons has been the creative director and president for J.Crew since 2008 and 2010, respectively. Nicknamed the "Woman Who Dresses America," Lyons' creative force and style have been called the reason that J.Crew has turned into a cult brand and has had profits more than triple in a ten-year span (2003–2013). Imagine that!

You don’t actually have to Wiki her to know the “force”. Check out how she steps out in her stylish ensembles and you’ll be a convert. Or leaf through their catalogs and see how she turns basic clothing from blah to BAM! Basically, I wanna be like her. But I don’t know how. Lol. Maybe the first step is to actually get a shirtdress from the store and style it creatively in so many ways. Yes, perfect! That's a good first step. Haha! 

Dress: J Crew Bag: Jatujak Market Shoes: Sirens

Of Whites and Weddings

It’s June! Can you believe it??? Five months of 2015 have passed!!! And as I do my reflection on this sixth month (a WEDDING month nonetheless!!!), I can’t help but have mixed feelings over the fact that two of my longest-running guy friends are getting married this year. Lol!

Since I don’t wanna delve on the current affairs of my heart (or the lack of affairs thereof, lol!), let me just babble about the exciting new chapters in my friends’ lives. The one happening this month is going to be in Canada so there’s gonna be some sort of a transatlantic reunion of friends which hopefully I can be a part of. And the other one is sort of promising because there’s some kind of unusualness to it.

It's unusual because they just met this year, got engaged two months after (the official proposal of which I became an accomplice in Seoul) and getting married by the end of the year. Whenever I tell this story to some guys, they all think he’s or they're crazy. But I’d like to believe that things like this happen and that I will have my own soon.

So while I am waiting for my time, let me just post this ensemble I concocted that has a kind of wedding-y feel to it. Because after all, what better way to represent a wedding month than all whites and laces? ;-) 

Blazer: Mango; Top: Mango; Skirt: Miss Selfridge

Sunnies: Mango; Necklace: Mango; Shoes: Miss Selfridge

And since I really have a backlog of outfit posts here, I have decided to add two more white on white looks using the same skirt as above. :)

Top: Folded & Hung; Skirt: Miss Selfridge; Shoes: Aldo

Necklace: Mango; Belt: Meg; Bag: Mango

Top: Cotton On; Skirt: Miss Selfridge; Shoes: Marks & Spencer

Sunnies: Ray Ban; Bag: Accessorize; Necklace: Zalora PH

Corporate Cool!

One of the things I learned in my styling workshop is the different areas that the stylists are working on. There’s TV, editorials, celebrities and so on. But I think there is something that is missing in that list – stylists should be hired or atleast have a “consultative role” in drafting the company policies too – in the dresscode department. :P

Let’s take a look for example, at the shorts. I don’t understand why shorts (I’m talking about the appropriate length here) shouldn’t be considered as wearable at work (for most companies) when there are different ways to make it look corporate-y enough.  I can pull off a hundred galleries of women who makes it work (first thing in mind: Olivia Palermo of course!). It’s the same thing for school policies too. I remember being “awarded” a violation slip for wearing sandals that are wedge-y enough to look formal for school but still not within the “should-have-straps-at-the-back “rule. :P Guess I’m really notorious for violating dress codes even back then, lol.

Having said this, I do know that there’s a lot of considerations that employers must make in instituting dress codes at work (public image, nature of work and the type of environment, etc). But stylists are exposed to different looks, materials, outfit combinations and what-not to cover atleast everything that should fit the company's general image but still giving enough leeway for the employees. And as for this shorts? For a casual Friday without the need for meeting up clients, this look should be appropriate enough. Come to think of it, the first half of this day was even spent doing the fire drill. Lol.

Fire drill. In that heels. I seriously didn’t get the memo. And let me just add that thankfully, we’re not in the 41^st floor anymore. Lol!

Blazer: Forever21; Buttondown: Lacoste; Shorts: Unbranded

Sunnies: Flea market in Osaka; Bag: Night market in Seoul; 

Shoes: Ezra by Zalora

Borrowed Button-down

For someone like me who regularly borrows a man’s button-down (my brother's), I should have noticed it already before. But as it is, I had to chance upon a Business Insider’s article (yes, a Business Insider! Haha!) to actually learn this trivia. And then it hit me that one time I think I stopped and got confused while buttoning up and then simply shrugged it off.

So, have you ever noticed why men’s and women’s shirt buttons are on different sides?   Okay, wives who styles their hubbies must know this already. As for girlfriends, go check your beau’s shirts. Lol! So, according to this,

Mens’ buttons are on the right side because men have always tended to dress themselves and most men (and women, for that matter) are right-handed.

Womens’ buttons are on the left side because years ago (say, during the Victorian Era), the women that could afford fancy clothing with a bunch of buttons would rely on maids to help dress them. So, if a servant (most of whom, naturally, would be right-handed) is going to routinely buttoning up a shirt/dress for someone else, that servant is going to prefer to have the buttons on their right side (which would be the left side of the garment).

Ooh, I love trivias like this. Haha! So, for this post's gallery, I'm featuring this pale blue buttondown that I usually borrow from my brother and how I've styled it in the past so far. 

Blazer: Mango

Buttondown: Lacoste

Skirt: Topshop

Shoes: Dorothy Perkins

Bag: Marks & Spencer

Sunnies: Unbranded

Buttondown: Lacoste

Dress: Dorothy Perkins

Shoes: Dorothy Perkins

Buttondown: Lacoste

Top: Aeropostale

Jeans: Mango

Shoes: Dorothy Perkins

Roooaaarrr!!!

"I've never met a leopard print I didn't like."

One of the outdated fashion rule is to never mix print on print. I believe it was created before for some aesthetic reason but as we all know, rules are meant to be broken.

As quoted above, I love myself a leopard print. But a leopard on leopard? That's just double the fierceness if I dare say. I was really excited when I first visualized this look in my head but hesitated when I first tried it on a regular "dress rehearsal" that I had to abandon the idea completely. It was just too strong for my eyes then.

I gave it another try the week after and, in the words of my fashion styling instructor (yes!!! breaking news, I'm studying :D), "for some supernatural reasons, it worked." Lol! I just had to keep everything else minimal (aka stick to black).

I guess this just proves another point I knew all along. Leopard is a neutral. I've seen it worked on numerous occasions and in different pairings. I guess this is what our ancestors were thinking when they decided to use animal hides for cover (well, practical reasons aside of course!) Aaah, too many takeaways from my styling class. Expect more of that in my future posts. Tata! =)

Dress: H&M

Skirt: Apartment8 Clothing

Shoes: Marks & Spencer

Bag: Charles & Keith

Sunnies: Flea market in Osaka

Them Thigh Highs

Late news but as a style/fashion blogger I feel a bit compelled to write something about this fashion giant and its recent opening in our country (their 55th!) – H&M.

I had my first experience about 5 years ago. I was in HK and much eager to see this retail brand that one of my favorite lifestyle bloggers is raving about. It was January, end of season sale and let’s just say it didn’t take minutes for me to love the shop upon entering. Lol! My very first treasured purchase is a pair of snakeskin cutout booties for just 100 HKD. I call them my “hooker shoes” and I wore ‘em to an event here.

I had my hesitations when this Swedish company announced their opening here. H&M visit is always a highlight of my travel abroad (lol!). I cherish those spring in my steps when I finally reach a mall that has their store. And them opening a branch in the mall where I go to during weekends would only mean bankruptcy for me. Lol.

But I guess all that changed when I found these thigh highs in the shop last month. I’ve been ogling these babies since late of 2013 and could only ooh and aah over the style mavens wearing them. As a shoelover, I was completely hopeless that I’d find anything like this here in our country but there they were displayed in my size at H&M Makati. Yay! What can I say? It was definitely meant to be. Lol.

I’ve worn it a couple of times and even performed a Latin track in them. Oh my. Click here. Dress over pants trend is the new louche layering for 2015 and this is somehow a preview of that look. Not sure if I’ll completely try it though. We’ll see.

Top: Unbranded

Skirt: Maldita

Shoes: H&M

Watch: Guess

Necklace: Zara

2in1: Monday Blues

“If Monday were shoes, they’d be crocs.”

I’m so happy that Olivia Palermo and I share the same view about crocs. She said she wouldn’t try it. “It’s never going to happen” . Oh I can just feel the shudder at that last sentence.  You see this is the reason why she is my style icon. It’s not like I have to emulate her POV or something. These things just come out to "us" naturally. :P But I’m not here to talk about crocs. Rather, it’s about sharing how bad I feel for Monday and all its ugly quotes. It’s not Monday’s fault isn’t it?

A lot has been said about Mondays and about needing a day between the two-day weekend. But I feel that if this thought would escape the hypothetical realm, meaning that we’d have a 3-day weekend, I don’t think we’d give up the thought of TGIFs (since we love it so much) that the governments would have to arrange for the third day to be Monday isn’t it? So what’s my point? Nothing. Hahaha!

I’m not here to preach about finding a work you love and all that jazz but I just want to share my tricks when it comes to Mondays. What I do is think of a really pulled together outfit for the start of the workweek and that alone sort of motivates me already. In fact, I feel like I’m always best dressed on the first day and the other days can just be blah. Haha. Well you can adapt the same thinking too and see how it goes? After all, nothing can make us more motivated and focused when we’re dressed up smartly and sharply for work. There was an actual study about this case and it is called “enclothed cognition”. Click here if interested.

"Clothes may not make the man but they do hold a strange power over their wearers."

So to literally translate those Monday blues, here’s a gallery of my recent blue-inspired corporate styles. Enjoy. J

Sunnies: Ray Ban

Blazer: Mango

Top: Dorothy Perkins

Skirt: Miss Selfridge

Shoes: Dorothy Perkins

Watch: Mango

Sunnies: Ray Ban

Top: Penshoppe

Skirt: Dorothy Perkins

Bag; Unbranded

Shoes: Dorothy Perkins