Prints Perfect

As a huge fan of prints, it's virtually impossible for me to not stop and browse whenever I see an interesting one.

And when the print is really, super duper, uber guber pretty and interesting, that browsing usually turns to buying. Which was the case when I got my sisters these 3 dresses with perfectly pretty prints. (Aye, an alliteration!)

First up, this silk jersey dress with an oriental-inspired print.

It has this very chinois-inspired lotus print, set against a bold palette of black, green, red and coral. The simple silhouette balances out the complexity of the fabric design.

Second, a dress that's part-Mary Quant and part-Suzie Wong.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of blue and white, ming vase inspired prints. And this one is all that!

Third, and the most perfect one of yet, this photographic floral print that's very Mary Katrantzou!

The attention to detail is impressive. They made it a point to center the print, and seam the dress in a way that the pattern isn't disrupted.

 Yup, you can put it on print - these dresses are perfect.

This is Love

There's no better way to spend your birthday than to be surrounded by people you love the most.

It's such a blessing to be around family who watched you grow-up, and friends who watched you grow as a person.

That makes tonight's birthday celebration the best one yet.

Material world

Lelis has now gotten used to my sisters' physiques, judging by the perfect fit of the last few dresses she made. With this development, it was time to revisit the fabric archive and having them made into clothes.

While digging through the pile, I found these 3 particular printed pieces that I felt would make great materials for dresses.

First is a silk jersey fabric with cenefa. The print was repeated on two halves of the fabric in a crosswise orientation. When I looked at it again, I thought that it would look so much better if it's sewn with the print in a horizontal orientation. This gives it a digital mirror print effect that would look smashing as a maxi-dress.

Second, I found this silky fabric with a vibrant tropical leaf print that's rendered in royal blue. It somehow reminds me of Dolce & Gabbana's chili prints, mixed with Stella McCartney's fruit motifs. This fabric will look great as a vintage-style dress.

Finally, another silk jersey dress with a sunny color and print. This will look great as a blouse, or a knee length dress.

Now that the fabrics are all here, it's time to send these to the dressmaker and make her use her magic to turn these materials into something magnificent.

(Play)suit up!

One of my fashion friends had this funny quote about playsuits:

"Wearing a playsuit is nice. Then you realize, you need to go to the bathroom."

Imagine, you need to remove everything - from the top-down - each time you need to go pee. Tedious indeed. 

Now, Ate Bullet loves playsuits. In fact, I've seen her rocking the black Plains and Prints playsuit I bought her a few years back. But like most women, I'm sure she dreads the thought of going to the bathroom.

Unless you come up with a fashionable solution. Like this:

This is what I call the "non-playsuit playsuit." It's a pretty and dainty floral concoction that brings together all the nice qualities of the playsuit. It has a continuous print, short and easy to move around in, and has a non-chalant vibe to it.

The reason why it's a "non-playsuit" is this:

They're actually separates! It's a combination I found at SM Department Store, and they weren't sold as a set. In fact, the top was in one part of the store, while the shorts were in another. But when I saw both, I knew this was going to be a winning combination.

When I gave this to Ate Bullet, she was thrilled! So thrilled that she fit the ensemble and walked around the house wearing it while telling me the occasions when she plans to use it.

Yes, I think she'll have a grand time playing with this look.

We will Roksanda you!

When I found out that Roksanda Ilincic's capsule collection for Debenhams was available in the Philippines, I knew that I had to snag a piece or two. After all, I'm a big fan of her work. Her aesthetic is very feminine, but it always has a hardness to it that makes each piece of clothing very interesting.

If the information from the web is correct, this collection in-store is her last collection for Debenhams. Luckily, I was able to get 2 pieces before they were taken off the shelves.

The first piece is a LBD with a twist. Make that twists.

It's a sheath silhouette made of heavy wool crepe, but the frilled hem is in white, adding a swish of texture to the dress. Plus, it has a neon green grossgrain belt that's sure to catch the eye and make the waist look slimmer.

The second piece is another stunning sheath, but this time in a checkered pattern.

Two details that make this dress a WOW dress. First is the flutter sleeve that drapes down to the bodice. I can imagine how flattering this detail will look when worn.

Second is the back zipper. It runs the entire length of the dress, and it can be adjusted to lower the back or raise the slit. Or both!

There were other dresses on the rack that caught my attention. Unfortunately, they didn't have the right size anymore.

Despite that, I'm glad that I was able to get these 2 Roksanda Ilincic dresses. And I'm sure Ate will rock them both.

It couldn't have come any Suno

Aside from bringing yummy snacks and chocolates, Mark also brought home something deliciously fashionable from Tokyo. In particular, he brought home some dresses from the Suno x Uniqlo collaboration!

As expected, the prints were fantastic and the fabrics were beautiful. Trust Uniqlo to use only the best cotton in making their garments, and it's so easy to feel the difference.

I gave these to my sisters yesterday, and I'm sure they'll be using Suno very soon.

Wonder from down under

In my opinion, one of the most underrated shoe brands in the country is this quiet brand called Australian. No, it's not an Australian brand. In fact, it's very Pinoy.

It's a brand that's been around for decades. In fact, as early as the 90s, I would buy Australian shoes for my sisters at Robinson's Department Store. The shoe section was still on the 2nd floor back then, and Australian was at the left end of the store. Even back then, they had very nice designs and my sisters found their shoes very comfortable.

More than 20 years after, Australian still makes awesome shoes. Their designs are very updated and they're always on-trend. When spikes were in fashion, they came out with a whole slew of spiked shoes. When neon flats were in vogue, they came out with neon shoes in every shade imaginable. They had cork wedges, stacked platforms - you name it, they had it.

On a recent visit to The Landmark, I chanced upon these smoking slippers at Australian. Knowing that the smoking slipper trend isn't slowing down anytime soon, I found myself getting these 2 pairs.

What makes it different is the uncommon range of colors that were available. Their pinks weren't the usual pink but a combination of salmon and coral. The orange was a combination of mandarin and sunset. Then, there's this blue which is a cross between cerulean and spanish blue. The yellow, on the other hand, is like marigold meets maize.

As a final touch, it has an embroidered seal in front. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it looks like a royal crest of some sort. Which is very old school cool.

The best part is that these shoes were uber cheap. To begin with, Australian shoes are so affordable. Then, The Landmark was on sale, so these were sold at 50% off. So, who can resist?

As usual, Ate Bullet loved the shoes so much that she wore them immediately. Once again, she swore by how comfortable they were and how chic they looked.

With so much going for the brand, I wonder how Australian can still be under the radar after all these years. It sometimes feel like only a select few know of the merits of this brand.

Then again, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

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.

Dynasty Dressing

Lola Dita used to have a huge cabinet filled with Fine China. She was very proud of her collection of "vajillas," and I was always interested in the colors and patterns that filled the cabinet. 

Among those patterns was the classic blue and white china pattern which dates back to the Ming Dynasty. I was already fascinated with it as a child, and it was a fascination that was further fueled by my almost 4 years of living in HKG and SHG.

There's something about the rich blue and white pattern - it's almost like there's a story embedded in the intricate designs for each pattern.

When Roberto Cavalli came out with a Ming gown, I was in awe. The translation of the pattern from a vase to a piece of garment was truly spectacular. It was after seeing this gown that I began looking out for interesting fabrics with the Ming motif.

Recently, I found one. It was a beautifully intricate blue and white china pattern with touches of purple. It was artfully done and beautifully executed.

That pattern was from a line of clothes from Apartment 8. They had it in a dress (which I bought for Ate Lissa), and recently, they came out with the same pattern on pants! Needless to say, these pants automatically became part of my "must-buy" list.

As previously mentioned in earlier musings on patterned pants, the key here is finding the right top to go with the pants. Since the pattern of the pants were already very busy, it was important to find something that would act as a counterpoint. That way, the look will be balanced out.

For Ate Bullet, I found an oversized, boyfriend shirt from Zara. The boxy silhouette plays well against the slim cut of the pants. Plus, the color of the shirt echoes the Ming print.

For Ate Lissa, I went with a slimmer shirt which skims rather than hugs the figure. It was an organic cotton shirt from Zara which had a nice, slub texture that is the opposite of the fine quality of the print.

I sure hope this trend of Ming dynasty prints will pick-up and show up in more fast fashion brands soon. Paraphrasing Tom Jones' classic ditty: "You got to wear Dynasty to have an attitude."

SM's Sunshine State

For the past month or so, things have been looking bright for The SM Store. One reason is the presence of a lot of refreshing, sunshine yellow dresses on their racks. And among the lot, these two caught my attention.

First is this yellow long gown which is simple, sophisticated and classic. It's a column gown with tiers of ruffles in front. It reminds me of Lanvin, which makes it a winner.

The second item is a dress from Max and Cleo, which you can find at The Fashion Forum. This one has a bit more detail to it - from ruching to draping.

Like the first Studio dress, this also has a cascade or ruffles. But instead of concentrating it on top, this one lets the ruffle fall all the way down to the hem of the gown.

To keep the gown from looking to heavy and weighed down, there's a knee-high slit to show off a bit of skin.

Because of the cuts and color, these gowns give out this feel good vibe. It's something that'll easily translate to the wearer, and I'm sure my sister will feel good after wearing these.

Linear Thinking

It's no secret that I've always been interested in graphic design and visuals - despite the fact that I'm a writer by nature. Thus, my eye has always gravitated towards strong prints, contrasting colors, and clean lines.

That's why when I saw this fabric at Fabric Warehouse, I immediately had to get a few yards.

It had these Prada-esque stripes in various colors including orange, pink, charcoal gray, light gray and beige. The distribution of the stripes were equal across the fabric, so it would be a pity to cut up the fabric and destroy the beauty of the lines.

Thus, when I talked to the dressmaker about the design, my main instruction was "make sure the stripes are intact - from top to bottom."

And this is what we came up with:

It's a maxi-dress with a fitted top and a flared hem. The dressmaker was able to utilize the entire length of the fabric, and the distribution of the colors was awesome. I think the colors fell in exactly the right part of the body.

Finally, to add a touch of interest on the garment, I decided to cut out a triangle at the back. That way, there's still a bit of skin to break the pattern.

Ate Bullet tried the dress out and it was perfect on her.

I'm sure this will be in line for the next event she'll be attending.

Stripes over flowers

It's no secret that I'm a fan of unusual pairings. Whether it's print or print or clashing colors, I think that putting two odd elements together makes for a nice visual treat.

Pretty much like this pair from The Surplus Shop that I whipped up for my sister:

The first piece I bought was this pair of floral print jeans in dark fatigue. The fit is relaxed, which goes well with the overall vibe of the jeans.

Instead of going the usual route and pairing it with a plain t-shirt (much like I did for the other printed pants,) I thought of going a bit off kilter and paired it with a blue pin-striped shirt. Initially, I wasn't sure if it would work. But after seeing them together, I thought: "Not bad. Not bad at all.)

Even up close, you can see how the two seemingly disjointed items can actually come together nicely.

Yes, Virginia, I really like playing with prints.

The height of coolness

As this blog can attest, I've always been a big fan of Oxfords. There's something old school cool about them.

I have a couple of pairs, and I've bought my sisters a lot of oxfords as well.

And just as I thought it couldn't get any cooler, I find this pair at CMG!

From the top, it looks like Oxfords with a twist - which it is. The twist is that unlike the usual oxfords that are flat, this one has height. A lot of it.

They're cork wedge oxfords. Isn't that cool? And to add to the cool factor, it has tasseled lace and a cut-out top.

You can't get cooler than that.