Do-ing Bananas

A decade back, people couldn't get enough of Banana Rpublic.

"People" including myself and my sisters.

But as more and more brands came to MNL, particularly European brands, Banana Republic slowly faded into the background and was eclipsed by younger and more hip labels.

Looks like Banana Republic wants a piece of the "younger and more hop" market nowadays.

They're having a collaboration with Peter Do! Yup, the young, enigmatic designer known for his modern take on fashion . 

I'm interested to see how this collaboration will look like. The last time my excitement for Banana Republic was this high was when they had a collaboration with Roland Mouret

And I'm even more interested to know if they'll carry it in the Banana Republic store in Greenbelt 5.

Mouret of Light

Or, “Things you find when you’re not looking for it.”

Was rummaging one of my closets looking for one of my old backpacks. While carefully removing some items, a black, folded piece fell out. I didn’t know what it was initially. I just knew it was a folded piece of heavy, stretch wool fabric.

Curious to see what it was, I unfolded the item and was pleasantly surprised what it was!

It was a Roland Mouret x Banana Republic dress that I didn’t even know I had!

This was part of the 2014 capsule collection that he did for the American fast fashion brand. I wrote about it several times on my blog, but I didn’t know I had a piece from that collection. And it’s a piece that I wrote about as one of my favorites!

Surprise, surprise indeed! Now that I found it, I should give it to Ate so she can use it!

One skirt, two ways

When I saw this ivory colored ponte skirt from the Banana Republic website, I had the urge to check out the haunts in case they had some overruns of this item. Luckily, they had it as Surplus Shop, and I bought the skirts for the Ates.

It's a very versatile skirt that can easily transition from corporate to casual. That makes it a must have in my sisters' closets.

For the corporate look, I paired the skirt with a black, button down shirt from Uniqlo.

This combination is chic and classic, which makes for an awesome work ensemble.

For an easy, breezy weekend look, all you need to do is swap the black shirt with a white, lace trimmed crop top.

The white-on-white look makes it a great ensemble to wear to a Sunday brunch or a family gathering.

By the way, since this skirt is from Surplus Shop, I got it at an uber affordable price. Given how versatile it is, that amount is definitely a steal!

Milly's a beach!

The Milly x Kohl's collection is finally on-line, and I was interested to see how it differed from the Milly x Banana Republic collection from a few years back. And as it turns out, there's a big difference.

Her Kohl's collection is inspired by the island of Capri, so the clothes she created are very laid back and beach-ready. This is unlike her Banana Republic collection which was Milly in terms of fabric but Banana Republic in silhouette.

Being a tropical country, it's easy to see her Kohl's collection worn by people here in the Philippines. Which makes me wish you could actually buy on-line and send it here in Manila. Unfortunately, though, they don't ship here.

Then again, if there's a will, there's a way.

More Mouret!

Just when I thought the first 2 photos were smashing enough, here are 3 more reasons to anticipate the Roland Mouret collection at Banana Republic:

I really hope they'll bring this collection to their stores in Manila.

Hey, hey, Mouret!

Since news about the Roland Mouret and Banana Republic collaboration came out last April, I've been actively looking for the sneak peek and look book on-line. 

Month in and month out, I'd check on-line to see if someone published something already, and most often, there wasn't any news on it.

Finally, after months of patiently waiting, some of the look book images are up. And as expected, the dresses look smashing!

I hope they carry these in the Philippines.

Hip, hip, Mouret!

I think 2014 is fast becoming the year of the most exciting fast fashion collaborations.

From Peter Pilotto at Target, to Peter Som at Kohl's, and now, another brand is bringing out the big fashion guns!

Just when I thought that they couldn't outdo their Milly, Issa of London, and L' Wren Scott (+) collaborations, they recently announced that they're doing a capsule collection with Roland Mouret.

Yes! Roland Mouret! The man who makes those incredibly sculptural and architectural dresses! And judging by the preview image above, it's going to be a super chic collection.

Let the countdown begin.

Issa gonna be spectacular!

Nope, I'm not practicing my faux Italian accent.

I'm simply excited to read about the newest fast fashion collaboration between Banana Republic and Issa London!

Of course, Issa London is best known as the go-to brand of the Duchess of Cambridge. A brand known for its flattering silhouettes, vibrant prints and interesting details. After seeing the line-up of dresses in the collection, they made it a point to tick all the boxes. So, I'm sure women will be lining up for these dresses.

The most covetable dress of all would probably be the dress inspired by the engagement dress that then-Kate Middleton wore.

The collection will drop globally on August 5.

I'm wondering if they'll carry this collection here in the Philippines, though.

A fashionable bunch

One thing I've observed about "The Haunt" is that they have their off seasons as well. 

There are months when its slim pickings and you can't find a nice item no matter how hard you try. Then, there are months when they're simply flooded with all these wonderful pieces of clothing that it makes it so difficult to choose. (It's during this time when the mantra: "Don't choose, just get them all." comes in handy.)

The past month, it was more of the latter at The Haunt. They had a full rack of nice pieces from Banana Republic. Not only did they had a lot of options in terms of design, they had them in most sizes as well. It was no wonder that the mantra mentioned above suddenly came into play.

This bunch of ponte dresses in classic silhouettes and delicious colors were just too hard to resist. You can never go wrong with plain dresses with not-so-plain details.

Just in case it's too plain for your liking, the proper accessories will take the dress to the proverbial "next level." In this case, a statement neckpiece will add oomph to the dress. A statement neckpiece like this electric blue, Lanvin-inspired necklace from Forever New. (Better known as Ever New in Manila.)

It's an ensemble that works, as proven by Ate Bullet who wore the middle ensemble during our Family reunion a few weeks ago.

If The Haunt continues to come up with great items like these, i'll definitely be back there to get another bunch.

Lime Time

Lime, as a fruit, has a tendency to be sour. But when you see lime in the context of fashion, it tends to be quite the opposite. Lime can be very sweet to the eye, especially with the right mix of colors, an interesting pattern, and a classic cut.

Just like this lime dress from the Banana Republic x Milly collection. The play of colors and the chevron stripe make it a perfect summer dress.

Echoing the color of the dress is a pair of neon green sandals from Stradivarius. Actually, the color is more neon lime, echoing the dominant color of the dress.

Add these two items together, and you've got a party ready lime ensemble that's as zesty and tangy as the fruit it's named after.

Quick change artist

The concept of "Day to Night" fashion is quite popular in American magazines. In fact, they usually have this feature every quarter. I've also seen different permutations of the subject. One of my favorites is InStyle's "Wear Now, Wear Later."

In the Philippines, this concept isn't as prevalent or popular. It's probably because we don't have that habit of changing outfits. Whenever people go out after work, they still wear their work clothes and that's perfectly fine. 

That said, I like "Day to Night" as a concept. I think it's always good to put some more effort into looking good. When I was in HKG, my colleagues used to do that whenever we'd go out for drinks after work. It could be as simple as changing shoes or subtracting a layer - and the result would be so chic.

It's actually quite simple to do. It takes just one major piece, and two minor pieces and you can get the look. Take for example this orange shift dress from Banana Republic. The cut and construction is very classic, but the color gives it punch. Orange punch, in fact.

During the day, adding a belt in a contrasting color gives it a point of interest and takes it out of plain-land.

For this particular dress, I thought of a lemon yellow belt to create that bright and happy feeling.

At night, lose the belt and exchange it with a chunky necklace. It takes the dress out of the corporate world and takes it to a more chic place.

The necklace is in bronze tones, which again play nicely against orange.

And as simple as that, it looks like you have two outfits in one day. Doing a day-to-night is a simple, fuss-free way of changing things up and putting fun back into dressing.

Besides, as Sheryl Crowe once sang: A change will do you good.

White hot

The summer season is just about to begin in the US, and white dresses are popping up along with maxi dresses and floral prints. Banana Republic has added a lot of both in their line-up. And when it's in the Banana Republic website, you can expect it to end up at the "haunt."

The first thing I saw was this white and floral watercolor print shift. The real one has a matching floral belt, but the tan leather belt adds a bit of character to the look.



Next is this white shift with a pleated neck detail. It looks much better in person than it does on photos. The fabric is interesting as well - it's almost like parka, but softer.



Other than Banana Republic, other American brands are also putting a lot of white in their collections. Proof that it's one of the hot "non-colors" this season.

So who says white is only for Labor Day?

Finding Hard-to-Finds

One of the reasons why I prefer shopping in HKG and MNL over BKK and SG is the fact that I can find a lot of gems in hidden back alleys of these two countries. Sometimes, I find a random item in Wan Chai, only to find out that it's a coveted piece in the US. Countless times, the stuff I buy eventually end up in InStyle and Lucky, which is enough to make any shopper - including myself - smile.

In last month's copy of InStyle, they featured this black and white plaid polo and listed it as one of the must-haves for the season. It also said that it was fast flying off the shelves.



The funny thing was, I found a similar item a few days before seeing it in the magazine.



There was this nice dress on the BR Monogram website which was fast flying off the site. In fact, a day after I checked out the item, it was already out of stock on the web.



But when I went to one of my favorite Makati haunts, I found the exact same thing. Yes, there's a secret stash of Banana Republic here in Manila.



The dress has excellent detailing aside from the flattering material. It's designed to look like separates, but it's actually just one piece.



Then there's this button detailing at the back. These are faux buttons, though, which is good. At least the wearer doesn't need to spend 15 minutes buttoning up each one.



As I was telling D' Frendz, it's really amazing what you can find when you're not looking for anything. So maybe I should go "not looking" some more this week. What I'll find just might shock me.

Going Banana

It was during one of those "Christmas gift hunts" that I found this awesome piece of clothing in the most unexpected of places. Every bit of this dress spells out "elegant holidays," and since this is the holiday season, and my sister is elegant, I decided to get it for her.

The piece is a metallic shift in heavy silk. The dress is peppered with details that make it wonderful to look at.



First, there's an asymmetrical slit in front, which is high enough to make a statement but low enough to not be skanky.



The bodice has diagonal folds that are "origami-esque." Although I've already had origami overload (largely because ALL of the clothes in the region now have a touch of origami somewhere), I found this interesting and novel.





The back was low, but in an elegant way.



Saw this dress on the Banana Republic website, and it's still part of their current stock. (Along with the other dresses I saw in that hole-in-the-wall shop in Makati.) The great thing about it is the Philippine price is about 80% less of the web price. And that alone is a good reason to go ape over this Banana Republic dress.