Fifty and Fabulous!

The iconic DVF wrap dress is 50 years old?

Whowouldathunk?

Further proof that classic fashion is timeless.

Double take

In one of my trips abroad, I chanced upon this pretty dress by Diane Von Furstenberg.

The dress was a new take on her iconic wrap dress. It played on color blocking and a bit of proportion. And it made the dress interesting.

A few months after, this dress from Plains and Prints came out.

It made me do a double take because there are similar elements to the DVF dress. The Plains and Prints version was shorter, though, which makes it more wearable for everyday. And of course, the price point is much better.

Ate Bullet already has the Plains and Prints one. Who knows, the DVF one might find itself on the Lane Crawford outlet rack in HKG, and we can make it a double.

I've been robed!

A few weeks ago, I dropped by one of my haunts and noticed a peculiar pile of clothes.

It was under a sign that said "bathrobes."

From afar, the prints were so vibrant that I had to approach the pile. When I finally reached it, I took the dresses, examined them one by one and thought: "These aren't bathrobes!" And the truth was, I knew what they really were.

So, I sorted through everything, and found out that these "bathrobes" came in 5 different prints.

These "bathrobes" were actually dresses from the DVF x Gap Kids collaboration which dropped a few years ago!

Once again, I'm amazed at the things I find in my haunts.

Because DVF is known for the wrap

Last week, one of my former students - Jizu - sent me an email and asked why I didn't post my Christmas wrapping theme for 2012. After all, I've been posting my wrapper themes since 2006.

That's when I realized that I was supposed to write about it, but because I couldn't upload photos, I wasn't able to. Then, it just slipped my mind.

Now that I've been reminded, my theme for 2012 was inspired by fashion. Just like the Etro-inspired gift wrapping of 2009. 

It all started when I found these wrappers at National Bookstore. It had a very interesting print, and it came in 4 colors. Suddenly, I thought of Diane Von Furstenburg. She also likes to mix prints, but instead of clashing prints, she usually mixes the same print in different colors.

So, I thought of combining two colors of the wrapper into one, and create a more cohesive, yet chic, print-on-print look. Just like DVF. And in keeping with that spirit, I also chose two ribbons, but in different shades of green. This is to match the green on the print.

Seeing them all together, I thought, it's easy being green.

With all these elements in place, this was the final product!

It actually took a bit of time to wrap each present. After all, I had to split the wrapper, then combine them, before I could start wrapping. Imagine doing that for about 100 presents!

But then again, that's the fun part of the holidays.

Designer weekend

This weekend, Dexter's participated in a bridal exhibit at Marriott Hotel, and Ate Bullet was there during the weekend to man (or woman) their booth.

Since the cakes they were displaying were all chic and glam, Ate thought it best to follow the theme and glam it up as well. And she did, thanks to these cute designer dresses that she found in her closet.

The first is a snakeskin print Diane Von Furstenberg. 

This dress is actually part of a stash that I bought 5-years ago during a raid at the Lane Crawford outlet in Ap Lei Chau. 

The second dress was one that Mark bought in and Mona brought home from Tokyo. It's a Verasce x H&M dress that fits her like second skin.

After the exhibit, Ate happily reported that a lot of people were impressed. Not just by the cakes, but by her outfits. It made an impact as much as the exquisite cakes that surrounded her that weekend.

How's that for designer dressed for success?

Printed Matter

Last week, when I ran into Kin, Sonee and Jayson in Megamall, we started talking about designer collaborations and this brought us to the subject of DVF x Gap. The queen of prints - Diane Von Furstenberg - is designing a capsule collection for Gap kids. And Sonee was thrilled and was planning to get some pieces for her daughter.

Curious as to how the collection looked like, I went on-line to check it out. After seeing some of the pieces, I immediately saw DVF's aesthetic. There were a lot of wrap dresses in vibrant prints. And the only difference is, the dresses were pint sized.

One particular piece that caught my attention was this swimsuit with a spherical print.



I wondered why it looked familiar. And after giving it some thought, I found the answer.

Actually, I found it in the fabric "archive" at home. (Archive meaning a heap of different types of cloth.)



This is an old bolt of fabric that I got in 2008 at a fabric store in Makati. It was purchased the same time as that Oscar dela Renta-esque fabric in tiered prints that Ate Lissa wore to Ia's wedding. That's why I remember that it was in 2008.



It's been buried underneath other cuts of cloth, and I've almost forgotten about it. Thanks to this DVF x Gap swimsuit, the fabric has been resurrected and is out of the pile.

Question now is, what to do with it?

P.S.

This one's for Arnie.


Oftentimes, we'd talk about the young, dynamic duo of American fashion - Proenza Schouler. When they launched their capsule collection for Target this year, Arnie was in New York and bought a few key pieces. I told her that she was lucky for being able to. It turns out that today, i'd be the lucky one.

I was just supposed to accompany Ovvian and Mona to one of my favorite shopping haunts. In fact, I told them that I left my credit card at home to discourage me from spending. As they were going crazy over the shoes, I decided to do some browsing on my own. And this is where I saw this Proenza Schouler tweed dress.


It has one of the signature looks of the duo - the cup-like bustier. Their early collections were identified by this trademark, and i'm glad that this dress had it.


The best part of this dress is that I got it for about 80% off! It was the last on the rack, and I reckon Lane Crawford just wanted to dispose of it, ergo the price. It was tucked in a very remote part of the store, but still, I found it.

Yes, I broke my promise yet again. Not only did I buy that, I also ended up with 3 more designer pieces.

An Alberta Ferretti dress in distressed chiffon and jersey.


A Diane Von Furstenburg "Olivier" dress which fuses together snakeskin prints with black lace. It sounds like an odd combination, but you can trust DVF to make it work.




Lastly, a Max Azria dress that was a steal.


I let the Narciso Rodriguez dress pass today. But i'll go back next week, and if it's still there - it's definitely a sign!