The Workshop

I think I've posted the look of my workshop here before but anyhoot I'm posting it again.

These two racks contain the initial samples of the collection I'm working at the moment. It contains all the finished designs for my capsule collection for Philippine Fashion Week Holiday 09 as well as some pieces of the same collection but for the store.

For someone who loves minimalist designs I'm pretty much disorganized and messy when I'm designing. I like that all the components, fabrics and whatnots in my working table. I can work on several designs all at one time transferring from one idea to the next. It may all not go into production, and only one piece might be made of a particular design, but it's a necessary process I love doing because it's very important for me to experiment.

Here's my accessory board. I hang some of the pieces I designed for the fall/winter 09 collection. I know it's all black! I usually work initially with just black and then diversify to other colors. Honestly, I'm not a big color fan but I put myself away from my rigid color requirement simply because not all my customers respond to just black or darker palettes. That's why recently I've been pushing myself to try working with prints, colors and less 'dark' stuff.

Near my working table is another rack with vintage clothes, designer pieces and sample fabrics. I collect old stuff designed by my fave designers like Martin Margiela, Helmut Lang, Comme des Garcons, Ann Demeulemeester, etc for technical references. Depending on my mood it gets updated and rotated with my more extensive collection in another cabinet. On the side which you can partially see is another accessories board I haven't used that much so we moved it to Poetry.

Portraits of Me

One of the most exciting gift one could receive is a portrait of yourself. I like collecting art especially of emerging artists that I like. There was phase when I just wanted nude artworks from artists not doing nude pieces. There was also a time when I just wanted drawings. Always in the artist's particular style. Of course, I left all those artwork pieces behind in the Philippines. My collection has started recently when Tevy Ouer surprised me with a portrait she has done of me. It's done in her dark, surrealistic and almost cubist style.

Then E.M. Riem also did a portrait of me in his popular 'Toul Sleung genocide prison pics' portrait. It's acryllic done on burlap sack. I think I'm the first one he's done something like a proper portrait of the style. I'm so happy and greatly touched by his generosity when I received this. I thought it's amazing.

Then for my birthday present, a very belated one, Loven surprised me with an Absolut portrait style. It's totally pop art! It has been his style for the longest time and actually it's the second Absolut 'piece' he's given me. The first one was an 'art book' he concocted with funny 'spoofs' of people and stuff that are connected with me. You have to see it to understand what I mean. Of course, this one is an Absolut bottle in polka dots (my love for Comme des Garcons), fuchsia peeking under (my fave color) and the zipper (Helmut Lang, Ann Demeulemeester, punk, etc). A portrait about the stuff I love, love, love!

Prints

'Bird' print

'Owl' print

AHA art wall

After closing Khchao Touch's exhibit in the Arts Lounge, my brilliant and genius boss (he reads my blog so I gotta ham it up, no?hehehe) decided that it would fit the wall of AHA. Our first featured art there were the 'ice photo' pieces by Loeum Lorn.

Installing the art. It really changes the mood of the place.

Lorn's 'ice' photos.

The lamps were also done by one of our featured artist, E.M. Riem. I think it's a fantastic idea and I love how the architecture (also done by French Khmer archi firm) melds quite nicely with all these Cambodian art pieces.

Don Protasio : Phil. Fashion Week Holiday 09

Guys, I would like to invite you for the presentation of my capsule collection for Philippine Fashion Week Holiday 2009. I'm joining the group show under the Vision & Trends category on May 28, 2009. Doors will be opened 5:30pm and the show will be at 6pm. Also, after that I'm part of the Barbie fashion show, 7pm. It celebrates the 50th year of the iconic doll and we're asked to create a special piece just for her. I'm actually more excited about this one. So guys I'll see you there. Everybody is welcome to watch.

Yummy Salad

I can't remember posting a recipe here in my blog so this will be a first. Not everyone knows this but I cook. And I think I cook well since I haven't had complains yet and no one died on me after my cooked meal...yet. And I know how to bake, too. And make chorizo, tapa, tocino - stuff I don't eat anymore.

Anyhoot, one simple thing you can 'cook' is make a salad. I don't know if it's hard to make a nasty salad, hmmm, I mean it's just like making halo-halo.

I've been eating this Smoked Salmon salad lately. What you should do is tear up a couple of lettuce leaves for the green base. Toss some of those purple ones, too. Chop some cucumber, carrots, and tomatoes. If you have sun dried tomatoes then it's much more decadent and sosyal that way. It's more chic if you sun-dried it yourself. Hard boil an egg and chop some smoked salmon. Toss those in the lot. You can add capers, some black olives and cubed cheddar cheese, too. Hmmm what else? Oh, the dressing. In an empty wide mouth bottle put a cup of olive oil, a spoonful of mustard, some honey and a squeeze of lemon. Cover the bottle and shake, shake, shake until it mixes. Put the dressing as desired on the salad. Voila! A delicious and healthy meal.

Or if you're too lazy you can order that in Cafe de la Paix here in SR.

Adidas Arrow

Talk about not buying. Ha! The moment I saw the Adidas Arrow sneaks I know I'l be reaching for my wallet (except I don't use a wallet, hehehe) and hand out the cash.

I love it's emerald green color with the black siganture three stripes. The nylon upper is lightweight and breathable. The mix of suede with nylon gives it a matte and shiny vibe.

It has this vintage feel to it because it's a remake of the original 1978 version.

I'm so happy with this buy. It's so worth it. It's not that expensive, too.

I'm planning to buy the pink version also. It's that comfy and cute.

They also have a sky blue version. I checked the net and they also have it in lime green and orange. I want the lime green badly. hehehe

Can't wait to get the pink version.

More Adidas stuff

Stella McCartney for Adidas visor hat. Cute lang.

Adidas Originals camo print zip up jacket.

I convinced my friend Ladang to buy this bag and he did. It's a versatile and huge bag.

Stella McCartney for Adidas

One of my little joys is looking at the Stella McCartney line in the Adidas store here. Yes, we now have an Adidas store here in SR. Aside from Stella they pretty much have all the basic lines plus Respect Me by Missy Elliot and the Muhammad Ali range. No Y-3, though.

I love Stella. I'm eyeing to get that sleeveless windbreaker in a melange of muddy colors. The orange lining is a nice surprise.

This yellow tank is also yummy. Wish she designs for guys also.

The oversized style I can fit in though. Like this aircool jersey hoody jacket in a dusty rose color.

I love the details and the fabric. Quite affordable at $99.

Another piece I'd like to have is this slouchy tee in dusty pink jersey. We'll see. I'm holding off whim shopping for now since I'm going home to the Philippines. I'l stay in Manila, then go to Iloilo, Cebu and Boracay. Plenty of shopping moments I'm sure.

Gifts: Rick Owens, Number (N)ine

Eliz came back from her NY vacation slash trunk show bearing gifts for dear 'ol moi. Wonderful, wonderful gifts I love, love, love! A white Rick Owens tee in white with contrast 'dust' stripes. I love the slouchiness of the shirt. It's like wearing nothing at all because it's so soft.

Here's another Rick Owens 'dirt' oversized tee with diagonal seaming at the back. If I could only afford to wear one kind of tee Rick Owens is it. I'm just so ecstatic having all these!

She also gave me a Number (N)ine wood bead chain, one of her favest brand, which sadly has folded because of the bad economy. I only have a Number (N)ine tee and I'm wishing I could get a piece of jacket, perhaps, from their stellar last collection.

Party at Pierre's for Eliz part deux

I love Eliz'z sparkling spider on her hair. Behind her is Pierre, the ched du jour of the night.

Here's Eliz and her ciggie with Loven, Faith, Pierre and Kimberly. Kim owns Jade Tribe which sells stuff to Barney's, Lane Crawford, Joyce, etc. She sources it from artisanal lines like Wanderlust by Eliz, Spoolwork bags by Loven and lots more. Hope to also work with her. ;)

Pierre is heading CFI which is an NGO that helps develop business sources for Cambodian poor villages. One project is a weaving center and Eliz is involved with it. That's the s/s 10 inspiration board for the fabrics they are developing. I'm excited about this project!

Here's another inspiration board. I've seen initial samples from their Takeo set-up and it's so chica!

Moi, in the Dior Homme tank layered on top of a black Whereabouts sleeveless tee.

Party at Pierre's for Eliz

This is what greeted us for the birthday present dinner of Pierre for Eliz. Isn't it lovely?

Eliz art directed the tablescape. The table cloth was printed by Loven, the skull coasters from Tokyo and I adore the empty wine bottles turned candle holders. Isn't it so aristo-bohemian?

The skull printed coaster's so chic!

For starters we had greens with mango dressing. The mangoes they picked fresh from their own tree.

Yummy-ness! It has small dried shrimps which I really, really like because it gave the dressing a crunchy feel to it.

For our main we had this yummy grilled shrimp with rice, peas and that delish sauce. It's a classic country dish in the south of France but I can't remember where is it. Hmmm...superb dinner. Earlier we had some grilled cheese, which everyone devoured.

Tingting

Tingting Cojuangco was recently in SR. Loven and moi showed her around to some of our must-see places here in SR. At FCC she checked the clothes at Jasmine. She got interested in one of the silk circle skirt. It was chica on her.

We also checked out Eric Raisina's atelier. Love the silk lamps of Eric.

Tingting had her measurements taken because she plans to order one of Eric's silk scallop skirt. She tried a tattered shrug (I have a bag version and I'm planning to buy the cape version) and it looked great.

At Raffles she spent some time checking the jewels at Lotus Arts de Vivre. She was equally fascinated by the Buddha exhibit at on of the terrace of the hotels. The curator briefly talked about the different meanings of Buddha's hand gestures.

One hand with palm straight up like a 'stop' is 'be calm'. With both hands up 'stop' is 'be calm and absence of fear'. The reclining Buddha is his point of death and his departure to 'nirvana'. I forgot the other ones. We also checked out Hanuman for antiques and there she found a ring with turtle emblems. In olden times, turtles are symbol of strength.

I took a picture of her Louis Vuitton bag.

A picture with her.