Phuket

After exploring Bali, my friends and I passed by Phuket for more vacation time under the sun.

Just in case, ya know ;)

Yumminess!

Pad Thai for me just because I'm back in Thai soil. Street food in Thailand is amazing!

We stayed in the cutest boutique hotel called The Album.

Love the toilet.

It's so quirky and kawaii!

It has a rooftop pool with a nice view of Phuket.

I would stay there again because the location is just perfect. Near the shopping area, restaurants and just 5 minutes walk to Patong beach. ;)

Thrifting Shoes

Went thrifting the other day and focused more on finding shoes. Sadly, I didn't buy anything. Here's a few that I liked:

This fitted me and it felt great but I don't know if I'd get to wear it often because of the color. If it was black I would have bought it. The zipper detail, distressed leather and hardware makes the shoe cool.

This one I like, too. I love the belt details.

Two Tsumori Chisato Walk. I really like the patent leather and style of the second one.

Then some Yves Saint Laurents.

The shoes go for around $10 or less. And not that badly worn out, actually.

PAID

Back when I was starting to make clothes I often used old clothing as base materials for my designs. This was in highschool and I'm living in Sigma, Capiz, which is as far from fashion between Pluto and Bruno Mars. My only portal was CNN's Style with Elsa Klench every Sunday afternoon. I was so happy to realize that what I'm doing of using recycled materials can be called fashion. Junya Watanabe, Martin Margiela, Jessica Ogden were some of the designers that opened the possibilities of style that is based on recuperation and reappropriation. Later on I also got to know about Xuly Bet and Christopher Nemeth. The latter two became the chief inspiration for this new label I started recently called PAID. The hand-made label, above, all done by me!

Basically, I decided to separate my deconstructed pieces with my own name label just to make it more cohesive. I used to mix the two especially in my collection for fall/winter 2008. With PAID now I can freely just deconstruct and make pieces without the burden of a concept. I wanted PAID to be more haphazard and relaxed hence the tatters and exposed threads. Got that from Margiela and Xuly Bet.

Here's a few of my faves:

This was an oversized sweater with an ugly print so I scaled it down and covered the print with the sleeves cut into a square.

This one is a reworked cotton jersey dress with a sleeve detail on the neck.

This dress has mixed colored cotton with exposed seams and hand written details on one panel.

This jacket uses the lining in shades of green, pink and brown cut up from different sources.

The patch is from an old t-shirt.

What do you think?

F Magazine Covers

In Cambodia, the BEST fashion magazine is F. And I'm lucky to have been given the chance to be part of it and contribute my designs in their pages. I did some styling and some shoot with them. So far I have two covers for them with my clothes.

Chea Keven wearing my cropped jacket in the October - November 2009 issue. This is the 2nd issue of their run.

Lek Leng and Duch Lida in the February 2011 cover. Lida is wearing my printed chiffon 'Easy Dress', my best seller design in Poetry.

Thank you so much F for always supporting me and loving my designs ;)

Fave Restaurants in Bali

Admittedly, there's so much more to explore in Bali and I'm sure when I go back I'll have a new fave discovery. But this two restaurants stand out for me in terms of service, food and ambiance.

The Junction is cool in my book.

Designed by Nobuyuki Narabayashi, it's Muji-esque with white washed wood all over.

There's wonderful light and shadow enveloping the space.

I just love the kawaii dolls on the wall.

And hundreds of jars containing thingamagigs.

It's my kind of hang-out place.

The food is delish!

In the evening it changes mood.

We really liked the wall stacked with toilet paper in the toilet.

The Chandi is considered number two best restaurant in the Seminyak area. Or what is Bali?

And it really lived up to its reputation. We showed up without reservations and got almost turned down because it's full. But I was so happy we got a table because I really wanted to try it. And I was impressed!

The food was beautifully presented and really yummy. I've thrown out my manners and tasted everyones food. Hahahaha! The baramundi I ordered was sublime. According to the waiter it was their best seller.

Do check out the two restaurants if you're in Bali because I'm sure you will enjoy both.