Lady in red

Based on a vintage-inspired editorial from an old issue of Preview, this lady in red has been my watercolor project for the whole month of February. I had been feeling largely uninspired by the usual landscapes that we do in class, and recalling how much I enjoyed doing my first fashion illustration, I decided to try another fashion-influenced project. 

At the end of each class, I would take a photo of the day's work. It helped me see what I needed to fix and improve before moving on. For example, looking at this photo of the initial sketch helped me shift her features from fully Pinay to more Chinese, and fix the proportions of the body before getting the paint in.

Getting the sketch right and painting in the underlayers was slow work, but it all took off when I laid in that brilliant red in week three. Now that was fun...

Marni for H&M madness

If you're interested in fashion, you will know that the Marni for H&M collection hit stores today. I've never been the type to camp out for hours for any kind of retail launch (like the iPhone launches in Singapore), but I did have my eye on a few cute things from the collection. So I thought I would pop by the big H&M store on Dam Square at lunchtime, after my Thursday morning sewing class. 

Standing there with other, equally disbelieving female shoppers, I learned how to say "That's it?!" in half a dozen different languages. We all circled these two racks like confuzzled chickens until it finally sunk in: This was it. 

Tangerine tango

Pantone has announced that its Color of the Year for 2012 is Tangerine Tango. I don't know how they decide these things, but consider me on board!

I never liked orange, but my attitude towards the color was transformed with the acquisition of my beloved Balenciaga Arena Covered City bag a few months before I left Singapore in 2010. I've come to realize how many tangerine accessories I've picked up since then. I acquired most of my orange faves last year, making tangerine something of a personal Color of the Year for 2011.  

Clockwise from top left: big plastic beads from Les Puces de St-Ouen in Paris; leather cuff from the Ortakoy Sunday market in Istanbul; T'boli tribal beaded necklace, a find of my Mom's from the Salcedo market in Makati; and of course, my beloved Balenciaga bag (which has since met an unfortunate accident at the evil black end of a Sharpie. Oh, my heart!).

Not quite tangerine, but somewhere in the neighboring vicinity (mandarin, perhaps?), is one of my more... adventurous accessories. I give you the detachable collar, as seen on Man Repeller. 

Between tangerine and mandarin, collar and cuff, bag and beads, I guess this makes me pretty much covered for 2012!

Just a girl

Now that I'm done with Cappadocia, I can move on to blogging about Istanbul! But before that, I thought I'd take a breather to put up the fashion illustration I finished last week in watercolor class.

Penny has been pushing me to let to go of my nitty-gritty details and learn a faster, looser style that uses more brushwork than drawing. One of the ways to do that is to copy a work done in that style. I chose this piece to study because I've always been interested in fashion illustration, and I was getting a little bored with landscapes.

I had lots of fun with this girl, and she taught me a lot! I learned simply by looking at this piece and analyzing how it's done (how the colors are mixed and how layers are built up), before attempting it myself. She didn't take too much time at all, and I felt very relaxed and free painting her. I'm looking forward to doing more of her kind, and applying the style to my own original illustrations. 

Little red sparkling hood

The color red seems to be everywhere these days. It's taking over buildings and apartments...

... and popping out of bushes. I didn't realize so many of the trees and plants I see around me everyday would suddenly produce these bright red berries come fall. Yes, I'm a fall newbie.

All this red percolating in my subconscious came to a boil one afternoon after watercolor class. As I was walking through the centre of Haarlem, I was drawn to another jolt of red—this time in the form of a big SALE sign at WE, a local high street chain. Inside, I found this red dress with a skinny belt and promptly realized: I don't own a single article of red clothing!

With 50% off everything in the store, it was easy to remedy the situation. So now I have a red dress.

I remember reading somewhere that red and leopard print go together, so it seems my leopard print flats have found a new playmate. But so far my favorite way to wear bright red has been with gray. I've worn it with my gray wool blazer from Uniqlo (above) to go to my weekly ladies' lunch, and with a gray fluffy angora cardigan for a Sunday visit to the zoo. 

I've also found a new use for the bronze beaded fascinator I like to wear with this dress. It turns out a headband is perfect for keeping the hood of my rain jacket in place when it's too windy for an umbrella. 

I got a few odd looks on the street, but I shrugged them off. Sparkling in the rain is worth it!

Fall uniform

If I hadn't moved to Amsterdam, I would never have realized that I had a raincoat-shaped hole in my wardrobe. After getting soaked in the rain one stormy August night and getting sick the week following that, I decided that "summer" was as good a time as any to buy a rain jacket. 

The most important criteria: it had to have a hood, be waterproof, and cover my legs at least partially. It took a couple of afternoons combing the shops, I found this navy blue McG rain jacket at De Bijenkorf. I chose it for the semi-tailored preppy feel, as well as for the soft jersey lining and the cute little grosgrain belt that ties in a bow at my waist. I spent more on it than I had hoped to, but I felt better forking over the moolah knowing I'd get lots of wear out of this jacket. 

And I was right. This jacket already feels like a uniform, with all the rain we've had here. Although I must say I felt slightly odd wearing it out for the first time. It just didn't seem very... well, very me. Even Marlon gave a thoughtful hmmm the first time he saw me in it. 

This is my template outfit these days. I've gotten used to the rain jacket; I figure feeling "slightly odd" is a million times better than feeling downright cold, wet and miserable. Now that the temperature is on a steady downward trend, I've replaced my usual black stretchy cotton leggings with fleece leggings from HEMA, which feel awesome—like my legs are getting a nice warm hug.

The other part of my fall uniform is these brogue-slash-granny boots I scored on my day trip to Maastricht. They reminded me of the brown granny boots I used to own, which my mom brought back from Europe in the heyday of grunge. Ah, the Nineties.

Except my old granny boots didn't have the brogue-ish look of this pair, nor did they have this combination of black, brown and gray leather. Now resisting a pair of boots is always hard for me. But boots that go with everything? Oh hell yes.

Besides, it's fall. Lots of rain, getting cold and all that. I'm just being practical. Right? 

Weekend haul

What a weekend we've had! About 6 hours of walking on Saturday, divided between the Albert Cuypmarkt and the Overtoom, a long, busy avenue in the west of the city that runs parallel to the Vondelpark. Then even more walking on Sunday—this time to Ikea for a few things for the guest bedroom, the last frontier of mess in this house. 

It's Monday afternoon already and I still feel exhausted. I remember that after our lemonade Saturday spent exploring the city, Marlon said: "It's like we're on vacation every weekend." True... because I only seem to get this tired on vacation! But it's a good kind of tired, one that comes from hurling yourself into a new home and a new life. I'm not complaining. 

On long, busy weekends like this you tend to pick up a few things along the way. Please agree with me! I can't be the only shopaholic around here. Some of my favorite finds from the weekend:

A brand spankin' new leather jacket! Since the sun has been coming out more these days, I've been hankering to put my heavy wool coat away and switch to something lighter. I was in love with this blush-colored leather jacket on Net-a-porter, but after shopping around a bit, I realized I could get four leather jackets for the price of this one!

 On Saturday morning I stepped into the leather shop at Albert Cuypmarkt and found this soft tan beauty, which not only looked great and fit perfectly, but was reasonably priced as well. I ditched my wool coat at home and changed into it for our afternoon outing at the Overtoom (more on that later). I love it!

Also from Albert Cuypmarkt, I found gray linen lampshades to replace the white lampshades we use in the living room. The lamps are actually ex-hotel lamps, and used to be in our bedroom. The white lampshades had started to look really grotty and we almost left the lamps in Singapore! It's a good thing we didn't; I guess all they needed were some new shades.

From a dirt-cheap thrift shop on the Overtoom, two huge old woven sacks that were once mailbags from Hungary. How random is that? I love that I can find stuff like that here! I still have to figure out what to do with them though: maybe new covers for the big pillows on the daybed, or even upholstery for a chair. 

Pantone box from Friday Next along the Overtoom, for my many files and papers. They had other colors in stock, but I liked this Honeysuckle one.

From Ikea, a small lamp with a clear glass base for the hallway. Marlon actually hated it... until we put it on top of the hallway cabinet and switched the light on. "I was wrong, you were right, it looks great," he admitted. Ah, victory. Maybe that was the best part of the weekend right there.

Made to Noorder

Speaking of avoidance, another thing I was doing my best to avoid was hitting the second-hand markets. That's because I know myself too well. After being deprived of a decent market scene for 3 years, it was all too easy to picture myself going wild. But since part of my DIY list includes a pair of seat cushions for our vintage dining chairs, I finally found a decent excuse to visit the fabric market at Westermarkt.

I took the tram to Marnixplein and trailed the crowd of women with large eco shopping bags to Westerstraat, which lies behind this lovely canal. Westerstraat is home to the Westermarkt, a Mondays-only street market that's mostly known for fabric and notions...

... but also carries everything else from clothes to cheese, from everyday household items to curious novelties. (Or an interesting combination thereof, such as these psychedelic palangganas from a stall manned by an African man.)

It seems all of Amsterdam comes to squeeze through this single narrow aisle in the middle of Westerstraat: the fur-clad doyennes of the Oud Zuid with their Gloria Swanson-esque turbans, gangly Turkish teenagers and pram-pushing Moroccan moms, the nerdy-chic hipsters of the Jordaan, and more.

Walking the entire length of the Westermarkt will lead you to the Noordermarkt, held on a small square fronting Noorderkerk. It's a farmer's market on Saturdays, and a second-hand clothing and antiques market on Mondays.

Oh, Noordermarkt. You have become my new favorite way to zap the Monday blues (which I don't even have because I don't work anymore... but still). Second-hand shopping is my weakness, and declaring a shopping list to Marlon the night before wasn't as powerful to ward against it as I thought. Because though my list was composed of three simple things ("fabric for seat cushions, a vase and glasses"), here's what I actually ended up coming home with.

1) Fabric for seat cushions (yay!), a graphic floral-print canvas for €16/meter

2) Back-up fabric in case Marlon doesn't like the floral print, map-printed canvas at €18/meter

3) Back-up fabric #2, purple and yellow herringbone in case we decide we've had enough of maps, and since, hey, it's just €2/meter!

4) Scarves, 3 for €5! Scarves are like shoes, they know no fatness and are therefore irresistible. I got one in gray leopard print, one in an emerald green chunky cable knit (the type that you can wind into one of those huge neck braces), and another in colorful ikat-print cotton (because spring is now on my mind).

5) A faux fur vest for €5! Either I've been watching too much Rachel Zoe or reading too much Man Repeller, I love the fact that I can now wear faux fur without looking like a pretentious tool.

6) A gray leopard print beret to replace the one that I bought at Zara last Christmas and promptly lost without ever wearing, boo hoo. This one is a better deal because it's 60% rabbit fur for only €10!

Lilian once told me that cats love rabbit fur, and I know now that it's true. Rogue went for that hat like it was a long-lost lover.

7) Two vintage glass vases in hues of smoky purple. One is €25, one is €3; I'll leave you to guess which is which ;)

8) And my find of the day... an entire box of mounted antlers.

KIDDING! I'M JUST KIDDING!

I think it needs to be a long time (and a few freelance gigs) till my next visit to Noordermarkt. It will be my ruin, I tell you!

A case of the woollies

Literally.

The number of packed suitcases parked in Marlon's and my already cluttered bedroom speaks volumes about how our lives are going to go for the next few months. The aforementioned case of the woollies was the first to come into existence: we quite literally filled a suitcase with woolly, warm winter wear the weekend Marlon decided that he would take the job in Amsterdam. 

Buying winter wear was one of the things we were both so excited to do; we unleashed our pent-up consumer lust upon Timberland for boots, Uniqlo for unbelievably cheap but otherwise excellent quality cashmere, angora and wool tops, plus down jackets and Heattech innerwear, Zara and Winter Time for a few sweaters and a long coat for Marlon, and Muji for a few basics for me. 

One suitcase multiplied into two as we started dredging up all our existing cold-weather wear, although I am still in need of good woolen trousers, maybe a new pair of jeans, at least one more pair of closed flats and a coat. I just have to be careful that in my excitement to be fashionable (as Jonathan puts it, the "pang-mayaman" look), I buy things that will actually keep me warm.

The other suitcase is packed with clothes for an emergency trip home to Manila, which we hastily booked when we found out from the relocation agency (very, very late in the game—obviously they don't know what it's like to relocate Filipinos) about the requirements for our Dutch work permits. 

That suitcase holds grotty clothes for the day when Marlon and I have to line up to get our NSO-certified birth and marriage certificates authenticated at the Department of Foreign Affairs (I fault Singapore for many things, but the fact na pwede kang umoutfit habang naglalakad ng papeles is not one of them) and a nice dress for the day when we have to take those NSO-certified then DFA-authenticated papers to the Dutch embassy for legalization. Don't you just love being a Philippine passport holder?

Thank goodness we booked a beach getaway to Bantayan, Cebu over a month ago. That trip gives us something to do to decompress from the stress of engaging with all that bureaucracy, and while waiting for all the papers to be stamped, legalized, processed and whatever else. And that's what suitcase number four is for.

Paper pretties

as an adult, when was the last time you indulged in a childhood pastime?

there are things that we loved to do as kids. a few of my personal favorites, like making papak milo powder and licking ketchup off spoons, are easy to return to every now and then. many others, like playing in the rain, watering the garden while barefoot, or crawling into mom's bed for a dead-of-night cuddle (my patented bunso cure for insomnia or bad dreams), are things that have been permanently buried in the past.

which is why i was over the moon with my latest find at kinokuniya: the paper dolls that i used to have as a kid!

well, i didn't have these ones exactly. what i had was a book of forties fashions by the same paper doll artist. i very clearly remember buying them in goodwill bookstore in the old north mall (now glorietta). i LOVED those to death, and i always wished i could have kept them.

there's a whole line of them: italian designers, spanish designers, fashions by decade from the turn of the century all the way up to the present. and kinokuniya has them all! who needs $300 anti-ageing creams when just i can buy back my little-girlhood for just $11 a pop?

so saturday afternoon was spent cutting out all these precious little chanel outfits. there are over two dozen outfits in each book. i couldn't believe i had the patience to snip, snip, snip all those out when i was a kid. (then again, i also had an extra pair of hands, care of my trusty yaya.)

i actually timed myself -- it takes roughly 5-10 minutes per outfit, which doesn't sound like a lot but feels like a lifetime. now that i'm grown up, i appreciate all the details that went into the artwork, so i was really careful with how i cut them out.

after all the painstaking cutting, i had to have a photo shoot!

lola coco herself in a suit that she wore to a fitting in 1963. i loved that the suit includes a pair of shears hanging around her neck.

the basic, "naked" dolls. the blue striped outfits are a design for a ballet or a play, i forget which.

very early chanel. ang taray ng paper doll diba, may aso. the green dress on the right is the first chanel outfit ever to appear in harper's bazaar, circa 1916.

chanel designs through the roaring twenties:

including a costume design for cocteau's adaptation of antigone (which also featured scenery by picasso). i put the goddess in the plantbox, hehehe.

lola coco got more glamorous in the thirties -- some of my favorites in the book are from this decade.

the skin tones don't match perfectly with some of the outfits, thus creating the dreaded "espasol face" phenomenon, but who cares? these five-inch fashionistas sure made my saturday!

Prints charming

while marlon was away on business, i promised marlon that i would rehabilitate the last remaining war zone in our home: the walk-in closet. it took me three sweltering afternoons, but i finally cleared out the foot-deep pile of clothes that literally carpeted the floor. the closet (or at least my half) now looks like this:


amazing! new things i found out about myself: i have nearly twenty skirts and two pairs of pants. yes, just two. technically, just one -- i retired the other pair after my honeymoon, when i saw all my pictures and saw that boot-cut flares were not doing anything for me anymore.

i was also shocked to see how many prints i own. i'm a sucker for paisley -- the three rightmost dresses (pink, red and black) are all paisley prints.


cute no? two-thirds of the prints in this picture are from vintage dresses picked up from various ukays. i've recently been inspired by agathe of stylebytes (the world's chic-est secretary) to revisit my closet and embrace my love for vintage and prints, instead of buying new stuff to keep up with how people dress around here.


i would totally flip out if i had a secretary who would walk into the office every day looking 152x more stylish than me! ang bongga niya no?

---
photo from stylebytes.

Project Runway Philippines

speaking of project runway, here's a funny coincidence. a bride from the weddings at work group just asked me to send her pictures of my wedding gown, saying that she was a huge fan of kate torralba but didn't think she could afford her. so i recommended the designer i would have chosen if kate and i hadn't agreed on a "friendly" rate -- veejay floresca.

in my email, i described veejay as "kind of like christian siriano from project runway" -- young (they're both 21, or least veejay was when i consulted with him early last year), super creative, extremely fast, and fun! they even kind of look alike. of course, christian ended up winning project runway.

the dutiful bride emailed me back to say that veejay would be tied up for the next two months with project runway philippines. hu-waaaa? project runway philippines?!?!?!?! may ganon?

apparently it started taping last week. all i know is that the local workspace (a.k.a. parsons) will be at the school of fashion and arts in makati. but who will tim gunn and heidi klum be? judges maraming puwede -- the greats like rajo laurel and inno sotto, even some of the fossils icons like ben farrales. i hope they do a great job on the show, not like the snoozefest that was philippines' next top model. we have so much fashion design talent, it truly deserves a well-planned and excellently produced show.

it will air on ETC... not that i'll get to see it. darn! i'm oddly happy for veejay -- i ran into him at gma after i decided to go with kate and he was most gracious about everything. he's great and i still want him to make me something someday :-)

best of luck, veejay (if you ever google yourself and come upon this blog). as the venerable tim gunn would say, "make it work!"

---
photo from veejay's multiply.

LBD love

i'm so proud of marlon! *tears*

despite all the inherent pitfalls of shopping for a picky wife, my husband bit the bullet with surprising aplomb. he completely bowled me over today with the little black dress he brought back from a business trip to guangzhou.

the mess is in HIS corner of the closet, not mine!

i love love love it. it fits perfectly and is super flattering! he pegged it on a drapey black dress i bought in malacca, which i think was a very smart thing for him to do. after all, don't we girls always fall for stuff that looks like stuff we already have? except that the malacca dress is office-appropriate -- this lbd is a strictly night-out version. i can already envision it with my gold stacked heels, or with purple tights or fishnets.

marlon recently shocked me into silence, then into gales of laughter, the first time he did a spot-on heidi klum impersonation; he has the bisected-sentence, nonchalant ice princess delivery down pat. he even has her script committed to memory: "we asked for avant-garde -- and all you gave us -- is a sad -- brown -- dress " and "your outfit looks cheap -- and poorly constructed." i suppose this dress is one of the less bizarre effects of having a husband patiently sit with you through that weekly dose of project runway.