THE SPECIALS

this makes me want to get crunk and disorderly and slam about recklessly in a mosh pit in my spiffiest threads. these original rude boys needs to school all the young bloods on how to do it proper. imagine if they performed live during the dries van noten show. that would have been fucking epic!

YOUTH IN REVOLT

this collection makes me want to dig the crates and pull out the jam, and the specials records, get pissed off red stripe, and go mental with the bleach bottle. mods, and their eventual successors the skin heads have always been consistent points of references for my own taste. i admire how their sense of fashion intentionally antagonized the propriety of their parent's generation. even after decades it still hasn't lost its visual potency and the dress codes of the originals, and the music that helped inspire it, continues to find new life with today's young rebels. ergo, this collection made my sartorial glands sweat buckets! although my idol tim blanks criticized this collection for lacking the romanticism one always expects from dries, i would argue with "what could be more romantic than youthful rebellion".



photo: style.com

THESE NEW PURITANS

you know the world is in a right mess when yohji yamamoto is having financial problems. it vindicates my belief that ninety percent of the consumer population have rotten taste. who else can turn ichabod crane into the american equivalent of beu brummell? a pair of pilgrim shoes, a powdered wig, a loosely tied cravat, loads of black, and voila, magic! i don't really fancy american fashion, and the whole goth trend has bored me to bits, but i must say, i'm proper liking this mash of american gothic, puritan severity, japanese proportions, and a little of your grandmother's wallpaper prints thrown in to lighten things up a wee bit. well done mr. yamamoto!



photo: style.com

SO FRESH, SO CLEAN

you might remember me saying that one of the reasons why i love prada is because of how she brilliantly straddles the thin line between good and bad taste. well case in point, who else can make me want to raid my best mate's closet who happens to be a radiation therapist and borrow her medical scrubs and go to town with it. it takes an extremely intelligent person to elevate the humility associated with a piece of clothing and make its potential and pragmatism so embarrassingly obvious that it kinda makes me want to put my head down in shame. but i will draw the line with those wrap-around, hyper reflective sunglasses. it looks like something brainless american jocks would wear to an afterhours.



photo: style.com

EASY RIDER

christopher bailey is such a talented fellow. he's made me consider selling a lung for a quilted leather trench, a kidney for last season's shearling flight jackets, and now i'd be willing to part with half of my liver for one of next spring's buttery soft biker number. but i'd probably die since my drinking habits isn't really conducive to the well being of said organ. it would be pretty bad ass to be buried wearing one of those studded bad boys though.



photo: style.com

DEATH OF MARAT

jacques-louis david - death of marat (1793)

GOSFORD PARK

i love love love robert altman and even though "prêt-à-porter" is all about fashion and one would think that it should be my favorite, and it was for quite a long time. until a few days ago that is when i watched "gosford park". i loved the multi-story line that altman seamlessly connects together, the period costumes, the palatial manor, the dark humour, the who done it murder mystery, and maggie smith who is one of my absolute favorites. i also recently just finished reading "brideshead revisited" and ever since then i've been infatuated with the tension between social classes in england during the turn of the century because the gap that separated the rich and the poor back then is pretty much how its like in the philippines today.
in the philippines almost all the middle and upper classes still have servants. that's just how things are over there. when i was growing up my family also had maids and i even had the same nanny who took care of me since infancy till i came to canada. unlike england then, in the philippines they are very much a part of the family in most cases. its not unusual for a servant in the philippines to stay with their employers for decades. its actually quite natural and the notion of "upstairs/downstairs" is pretty much non-existent. they ate at the same table as us and they even slept in the same room as the children.
i would never dream of employing servants now because i've learned to fend for myself and my western upbringing would find it rather uncomfortable to be constantly waited upon. also i would judge my character poorly for paying someone to do the things i can do on my own. i can't however hold prejudices to people who do because that would make me sort of a hypocrite. and considering the fact that my room mates are two boys, i'm constantly having to scrub the bathtub and tiles, fix the shoes in the hallway, wipe bread crumbs off the kitchen counter, wash the dishes no one would own up to, take the garbage and recycling out when its overflowing and not just waiting for pick up day, plus sweeping and mopping the floors, i have the utmost empathy for maids. and i ain't even getting paid for it.

REVENGE OF THE NERDS

there are countless reasons why i love prada. one of the main reasons is how she brilliantly walks the thin line between good and bad taste. there are enough designers out there making pretty floral chiffon slip dresses and body hugging little black dresses, but not enough of them that constantly challenges our opinion on what is beautiful. ever since madame miuccia's "geek chic" collection for spring/summer 1996, being sexy wasn't just exclusive to the runways of versace and tom ford era gucci. the nerdy girl with the chunky mary janes and knee length skirt in seventies graphic print and boys in smart jackets and thick framed spectacles were suddenly fashion icons. but perhaps i'm biased. i have to admit that i have a soft spot for geeks. every time i see one i just want to run up to them and give them a cuddle.

KULTURA

ever since i went to the philippines last february i've been proper obsessed with traditional filipino culture. even though i was born there, i left when i was still so young i never really appreciated the things that are inherently part of me.
it's not as obvious now, especially in manila where like the rest of the world it looks like a caricature of american culture. but despite having a mcdonald's and a 7-11 at literally every corner, every now and then an old church or remnants of an old home breaks up the neon signs and it gives you a glimpse of how life would've been like many years ago and i get a feeling that it was so much more beautiful than how it looks like now. and without the worst traffic jams in the planet!

I WANNA BE ADORED

ian brown is cool as fuck. how many men in their late forties can still wear adidas trackies and cazal shades without looking like a total twat? when i was growing up i wanted to be ian brown. and now that i'm actually grown i still want to be like ian brown.

AUREL SCHMIDT

i'm quite keen on artists who explore the darker side of things. alexander mcqueen, egon schiele or alan moore for example. i like the certain truth that is revealed when we are confronted by things we absolutely have no affinity towards. i mean, i hate rodents. i absolutely loath them. scream like a little bitch if i even see something as harmless as a hamster. but i see it in aurel schmidt's work and i'm mesmerized by it. not that it would stop me from crossing to the other side of the street if i see a squirrel or anything.

THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND

rue mclanahan who played blanche on golden girls passed away today. out of the four only betty white is left and that kinda breaks my heart.

THE DARK AGES

if you're going to spend millions of dollars to promote your brand, do you really think a model standing in front of a solid background in a studio is the best way to do it? that shit is so boring. you only put out two campaigns each year why not go all out. i want drama people. loads and loads of drama. like versace's medieval wonderland autumn/winter 1998 campaign. it's fucking epic.