Nothing Quite Like Neon

This post is for you baghags and art & fashion lovers out there!

I've been assigned by my On The Radar editor, Cecile Van Straten, to write about Rock on Mars, the retrospective exhibition on the work of Stephen Sprouse, the downtown Manhattan fashion designer and artist best known for his punk, rock and grafitti splattered creations. Oh, and should I even mention, the now collectible collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton in 2001? I'm sure that body of work you remember very well!

So yesterday, a Friday, I made a trip to SoHo to Deitch Projects to check out the exhibit. But not before dropping by the LV store on Greene Street to get the Pink Neverfull GM for CVS!

When I got there at 11 am, I was greeted by the bright orange graffiti outside the store! I was super pleased there was no line, after all the store just opened. But as I opened the door, a guard asked me if I was invited. "Invited to what?" I asked. "The private event" he said. Ooooh, that explains the limos and Town Cars parked outside I thought. He told me to come back at 2 PM, when the store would be open for business. Drat!



I looked forlornly at the display window. Much like this lady in the photo...


...who was already clutching a Louis Vuitton paper bag. She told me she had just come from the Fifth Ave store and got herself the Rose Speedy. But she thought of getting the wallet, and the graffiti line was sold exclusively here at the SoHo store. "Which of the Speedies do you like better?" she asked me. And I assured her, I liked her pick.

Since I had time to kill, I walked around Broadway, ducked into Uniqlo, H&M and Mango to check out their sales and avoided APC, Miu Miu and Y-3 like the plague (hey no high end shopping, scratch that, no shopping allowed for me! Just letting time pass you know!). With still a lot of time on my hands, I headed out to a friend's place on Broadway, and snacked on chocolate chip cookies as they happily ate their lunch, wrapping fresh sushi, rice, cucumbers and avocado on nori wrappers and dunking it into wasabi spiced Kikkoman. They told me to join in on the fun, but I'm not allowed to eat raw food and had to decline. Drat again!

By 1:30 PM, I told them I should go back to the LV store in case there was a line out. And true enough, this was what greeted me this time!



So I stood in line, in the freezing cold, and struck up a conversation with the girl in front of me, who just told me she was sick but just had to go and get her bag, and the elderly man behind us, who drove from New Jersey so that he could get the Pink Speedy for his wife's 70th birthday (cue collective "Awww!" from us girls here)! So we chatted for a good hour or so, and talked about everything under the sun, until it felt like we were friends forever. Finally, the doors opened at 2:30ish and I was able to get what I came for!



Which brought tears to Cecile's eyes, awww again!

With the more important mission accomplished (haha!) I then walked a couple of blocks to Wooster Street and got permission to take photos (with prior clearance from the powers that be of Deitch Projects) for my article coming out next Sunday! Read all about it On The Radar in the Philippine Star next week ok!

In the meantime, enjoy some of the pictures I took with my Canon point and shoot!











Of course, the limited edition bags were there as well, chained together like prisoners from Guantanamo Bay (ok I may be exaggerating here!)









The Keepalls by the way, are out of stock in the SoHo store, sold out on the first couple of hours upon release!

Oh and wouldn't you want this in your living room?



I'd be scared to sit on this though, the paint might rub off?



Wear or Wall?

Mommy Dearest

I was talking to my Mom this morning and if there's one thing moms can't help but do even if they are thousands of miles away, that has got to be their need to give "words of advice", to put it lightly! Haha! Jeez, I'm 32, about to have a kid of my own, an ocean away, and I still feel like I'm 12 and caught red-handed doing something naughty!

See, my mom reads my blog. And while she was amused at how my belly has grown, she said she was embarrassed by my lack of sensitivity in posting a picture of my winter boots! She says I have too many, and that I should only be satisfied with one. That many people are suffering and I go out there and post photos of shoes. She was concerned, I may come across as shallow. Sigh. Are 4 pairs of winter boots too many? That's all I have really.

My mom thinks I have a shoe addiction, but of course, moms tend to exaggerate their children's behavior (for better or worse)...

So I'm curious. And here are two questions I hope you can help me out with. I would love to know:

1. How many is too many?

2. How many pairs of shoes do you own?


Spill it!

(Photo above is Mariah Carey's shoe closet from instyle.com)

Sharing My Outfit Day: Buttons A Poppin!

I have errands to run today. So no excuses not to go out! Need to get to the SK-II counter at Saks and get beauty supplies among other pressing matters. Yeah, I haven't really been putting anything on my face except moisturizing sunblock and I think my skin is just getting drier and flakier by the minute. I've run out of the facial treatment lotion and am in desperate need of face powder, which I figured I'll just buy after I give birth. But as my friend Ivy and I agreed, it seems we look older in pictures, and we were lamenting the fact that we don't look as "fresh" anymore! Hahaha! So our mantra for the year is "Ibalik ang Glow!" (Bring back the Glow!) Besides, I've read that SK-II is safe for pregnant women, Cate Blanchett used it while she was pregnant and didn't her skin look great at the time?

So anway, here's another drab neutral outfit composed of old stuff from my closet! See, I scrimp on clothes but splurge on skin care!


Sweater: Mango
Painter Smock Top: H&M
Shorts: Topshop
Leggings: Old Navy
Tights: Target
Boots: Lanvin

Here's the view from the top! I can still see my shoes! Pushing on 17 weeks!


But yeah, buttons are a poppin'!

A Spoolful of Thread Social

I guess a little online shopping was all it took to get me started on looking at dresses again. I just love dresses. Not that I wear them a lot these days, but soon soon when the weather is warmer! I can't wait!

So I headed off to net-a-porter, only my favorite spot for fashion inspiration. And gosh golly wow, did I see a lot of cute dresses! Most of my favorites are from a relatively new line launched in Spring 2006 called Thread Social.

Thread Social is the ready-to-wear line of Thread, an elegant and stylish bridesmaid line designed by Beth Blake - a former Chanel public relations coordinator and Vogue Fashion Editor and Melissa Akey - a former intern turned personal shopper at Barneys. Their backgrounds, combined together, just oozes loads of style and sophistication don't you think?





Wear these dresses and it's practically a guarantee that you'll steal the spotlight!

Wouldn't It Be Loverly?

So I finally gave in and bought maternity clothes. I've delayed buying maternity clothes for the longest time because I figured, I'd keep on using my old clothes (I have lots of loose tops and empire style tops and dresses anyway) to save on money. Besides, my jeans still fit as long as I keep them unbuttoned.

What also keeps me from buying maternity clothes is that fact that I avoid going to the shops, even go online shopping, because horror of horrors! I feel like puking every time I see clothes and shoes! Seriously. I hate shopping these days. Dear Hubby says getting me pregnant turned out to be the solution for "shopaholicism" or at least my penchant for perpetual window shopping. So for the first trimester, I didn't buy anything at all, save for the Lanvin boots that my friend Mary Anne convinced me to buy, and which she bought for me anyway, with no effort on my part!

But then, I had to face reality when I realized that I needed maternity leggings and tights. Everything I had was digging into my hips or squeezing my belly, and I didn't want to subject Little One to a tight spot. So I went online, straight to Topshop Maternity to get me some leggings and tights. While looking around, I added a basic white tank to my list. And decided to throw in a nice striped tunic for good measure.



I'm a very conscientious shopper, really. I hardly buy stuff unless it's necessary or unless I am absolutely in love with it and just feel I have to have it. I think things over most of the time. And I am very careful with getting pieces that fit well and in my right size. But it's true what they say, that being pregnant makes you scatterbrained at times. I knew that the Topshop US site listed US sizes, I read that more than 5 times I swear.



But what do I do? I go ahead and order the leggings and tunic in a US Size 6! Knowing full well that I am a UK 6. My oh my! And now my order is on its way to me, and I am afraid I might end up with baggy leggings and a tunic top 2 sizes too big!


If that's the case, then I'd have to send it back and spend $15 on shipping! Jeez! Oh wouldn't it be loverly if everything I ordered miraculously fits? I'm crossing my fingers!!!