Hat Stuff

If you like wearing hats but find difficulty in searching for the perfect hat for you, why not make your own? Its possible now because celebrity millinery designer Eugenia Kim has come out with SATURDAY NIGHT HAT. In this book, Kim teaches you to make thirty of her hottest designs, with patterns and instructions so easy you can start the project Saturday morning and wear it out on Saturday night! By the end of the book, you would have learned how to make a Beret, cloche, cocktail hat, Pillbox, Fedora, Newsboy and a Sun hat. According to a review by Jim Shi of Fashion Week Daily the book is “Peppered with witty illustrations, easy-to-follow diagrams, and photos of her to-die-for designs."

Check out some of Eugenia Kim's headpieces to get your creative juices flowing:








Now wouldn't it be great if you can make all these and more on your own? And from the milliner to the stars herself who so graciously shared her art and expertise! According to the Eugenia Kim website, this talented designer's success story is the stuff that modern fairy tales are made of:

One day, fresh out of a year-long stint at Allure magazine, Eugenia Kim was shopping in Soho. Eugenia had recently shaved her head because of a bad haircut, and was wearing a red guinea-feathered cloche she had made in her millinery class at the Parsons School of Design. She had designed the hand-feathered hat with the intention of resembling hair in some abstract way and to keep her bald head warm.

Several store owners immediately took notice. By the end of the day, the jobless Eugenia now had appointments with two of the stores to see her collection. She didn't have a collection, so she just made two cloche styles in many different colors. The next week, her hand-feathered cloches, in vibrant colors like lavender and electric blue, were in the windows of Bond 07 in Noho and Selima Optique in Soho. At the end of the month, Barneys New York had placed their first order.

After a grueling, year-long search, Eugenia soon found a live/work retail space and opened an eponymous retail store in the East Village in downtown New York, where she now sells her collection of women's and men's hats alongside her custom couture pieces and bridal headwear.

In 2004, Eugenia Kim launched a shoe line that doubled her business and won the CFDA Perry Ellis award for Accessories Design. Eugenia's hats can now be found at Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdales as well as over 100 specialty boutiques worldwide; her shoes can be found at Saks Fifth Avenue as well as 40 boutiques worldwide. She is a personal favorite of fashion editors and stylists, and counts Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Eve, and Nicole Kidman among her devotees.

Now here's the philosophy behind her designs:

"I believe that hats are the ultimate cosmetic as the right hat can instantaneously transform the shape of the wearer's face. I make hats that flatter a woman's face rather than overpower the woman. Each piece is meant to be like a sculpture, contoured to flow with the lines of the face to create a sensual effect. An asymmetrical brim emphasizes cheekbones, a large brim places a mysterious shadow over the eye, and a pink hat gives one's cheeks a rosy glow.

I believe the hat defines the look as the face is what one notices first. A flattering dress can make one appear slimmer, but the right hat can change one's entire look and outlook.

I work with simple shapes and subvert them to make them modern. Simplicity of form is key to balancing the extravagance of brilliant colors and decadent materials like feathers and fur. I believe in making everything by hand as much as possible; only in this way, can it remain a craft and an art form to me.

The woman who wears my designs is one who is confident and has a certain sense of humor. She is not afraid to be the center of attention! I create hats with the hope that the person wearing it out will be laughing or smiling more than usual and definitely having more fun!

I have always naturally gravitated towards the found object and the surrealistic aspects of trompe l'oeil as details in my work. You can take almost any minute object of daily life - candy, toy cars, dice - and put them on a hat. Like Elsa Schiaparelli (modernist fashion designer known for Surrealism in her work), with whom I am sometimes flatteringly compared, and who is an inspiration to me, I have the same enjoyment of the visual pun.

Almost every fortunate thing that's ever happened to me has occurred by accident, like starting my business (because of bad hair), opening my store (through eviction), and starting a shoe line (from cheesy pick-up line). Since I've been clumsy and accident-prone my entire life, improvising and thinking on the fly have become my best allies to fix many situations. I also soon discovered that hat design, because it involves spontaneous problem-solving and creative freedom, was the perfect medium for my innate tendencies. And if I spill diet coke on a white hat, I would dip the whole hat in diet coke so it looks antiqued."

I have yet to see an actual Eugenia Kim design with my own eyes, but I'm liking this girl and her hats already!!!

(Photos courtesy of amazon.com and eugeniakim.com)

Dresses by Delias

Trust delias.com to come up with these fun in the sun dresses for summer! I always always always check out this site for their select and surefire choices! Delias merchandise are always fresh and ripe for the season's picking!














TIP: A great thing about today's summer dresses is that they are very easy to make! If you know how to sew, you can make your own versions of these dresses. If not, then you can just go to Market Market (I'm a suki at Cotton Touch, the fabric store at the ground floor beside Carolina's. They have a fantastic selection of imported cottons. I once stumbled upon an authentic Lilly Pulitzer print there! I bought the whole bolt of fabric left! No joke!) or Tutuban, pick out a great cotton print that you like, and go to your favorite mananahi and have these dresses made. I'm sure you won't even spend Php1000 on fabric and labor combined!



The smocking would be difficult to execute on your own, but this is a feminine and flirty dress that will go well with either flip flops, flats or espadrille wedges
(Photos courtesy of delias.com)

Before and After

If there's one thing I do not regret spending on, its on teeth whitening!

Check out my personal BEFORE AND AFTER!

BEFORE (Ugh! Gross! I can't believe I lived through life with these yellow bricks! But lets post it in a tiny frame just for the purpose of providing contrast)

AFTER (There! Much better don't you think? Note that this is still a work in progress! I'm not yet done with the full bleaching job)

My only regret was that I did not do it sooner! If I did, I would have had that picture perfect smile (haha! feeling!) in all my photos these past couple of years. You see, I planned on having my teeth whitened since way back, but I kept on procrastinating. After all, professional teeth whitening can cost quite a sum. But I ran out of excuses when my Hubby, fiance at the time, decided to do something wild for Spring break and excitedly told me that he was coming home so we could get civilly married over the holidays! Since we were spending on professional photos, my primary concern was that I wanted to make sure my smile was camera ready. Problem was, I only had 2 weeks to get my teeth in bright white condition!!!

Thank goodness for my friend Krissa who is a walking ad for teeth whitening! Their family dentist, Dra. Ichi Pagulayan, did a fabulous job on her that I knew she was the right dentist to go to if and when I decided to do it! Let's put it this way, she had a patient who was due for a VTR for a toothpaste commercial. After the bleaching job, her patient bagged a Close-up commercial! No kidding!

Although the dentist gave me the option of laser bleaching, since that would make my teeth instantly white in a flash, it would cost me about Php25,000. So I went for the Opalescence home bleaching kit, which was Krissa's tried and tested method, and much cheaper at Php15,000. I was willing to forego seeing overnight results, if that meant saving Php10,000! Patience indeed is a virtue!

During my first visit, Dra. Pagulayan made impressions of my teeth, so that a custom tray can be made for the procedure. On my next visit, she gave me the custom tray, which as it turned out, is thin and surprisingly comfortable that it fits in over the teeth, grooves and all!


She also gave me bleaching gels in a set of syringes. She explained and demonstrated how to apply the gel thinly into the tray each night, for me to wear before going to bed. She also reminded me not to put gel on the molars portion as salivary glands, which are located in that area, will only cause me to keep on producing saliva, which will reduce the efficacy of the bleaching process.



According to the Opalescence website, studies prove that the bleaching gel stays active for 8-10 hours during overnight bleaching. The sticky, viscous gel contains fluoride & patented micro potassium nitrate to reduce teeth sensitivity normally associated with teeth bleaching. It contains 20% water to help prevent dehydration and shade relapse. As teeth is being whitened, the Carbamide peroxide formula is broken down so that oxygen enters the enamel and dentin, bleaching out the discolored areas.

Opalescence is recommended for whitening discolored teeth prior to placement of composite, veneers, and/or crowns. It is also effective in removing some or all of the internal tooth discolorations due to congenital, systemic, pharmacologic, traumatic, etc., factors and aging. It has also shown great success with fluorosis and even tetracycline staining (which I apparently had!). Teeth whitened with Opalescence also remain lighter for years.

Depending on each person's "teeth profile", results can be seen in a week to 10 days. She however warned that there is a small percentage (about 2% if I remember right) of people whose teeth are resistant to bleaching! God forbid you belong to that minority! For a while I thought I belonged to that 2%, but as the bleaching process progressed, the stubborn stains on my incisors magically disappeared and my teeth are much lighter now, if not totally white (which in my opinion would look unnatural anyway). I still have about a couple of syringes to go so I presume my teeth will still go a few shades lighter!

Opalescence Custom Teeth Whitening Kit at Php15,000. Available here in Manila at Dra. Ichi Pagulayan's Makati clinic. For inquiries call 896-3478.

NOTE: It is NOT recommended to bleach your teeth if you're pregnant or nursing.

White Knight

I noticed I've been on a psychedelic bikini roll the past couple of weeks. I suppose its because its the closest thing I can get to an acid trip! Hahaha!

Anyway, lets set up a clean slate with these cool summer dresses, in this season's hottest non-color: WHITE!






Camilla Belle's 3.1 Phillip Lim dress above actually looks like this on the runway:

I must say though, Phillip Lim proved himself to be the fashionable woman's White Knight this spring and summer! Check out these floaty and dreamy whites from his collection!













Unfortunately not a lot of women can actually afford a Phillip Lim! Boohoo! Fortunately, I've seen plenty of pretty whites for mere mortals, thanks to Debbie Co, Plains & Prints, Bayo and Kamiseta! There really must be an angel watching over us!

(Photos courtesy of style.com)

Hola! Jocomomola!

If you love teeny tiny bikinis, then say Hola! to Jocomomola de Sybilla! These diminuto (tiny) psychedelic bikinis from Sybilla, one of Spain's well known designers, will make your abuelos say "Sirvenguenza!" and the muchachos go "Aye Caramba!"







Jocomomola , which roughly means "gosh how cool", is not all about bikinis alone. The line carries quirky yet feminine clothes that come in a myriad of colors for S/S 07: a range of greens, true fire-engine red, violet, terracotta, celeste blue/olive, champagne and black. Really bright and punchy colors guaranteed to make you stand out from the crowd!














Now go and tell Papa "Yo no tengo dinero!" so he can give you some shopping money for you to go loco!

(Bikinis available at shopbop.com, runway photos courtesy of vogue.es)