Music: Origin of Love

From the "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" OST.

My friend posted this on her FB page. I instantly fell in love with it!

Released way back in 2001, it begs the question how the hell did I miss this. :)

These lines are just way too beautiful:

"Last time I saw you
We had just split in two.
You were looking at me.
I was looking at you.
You had a way so familiar,
But I could not recognize,
Cause you had blood on your face;
I had blood in my eyes.
But I could swear by your expression
That the pain down in your soul
Was the same as the one down in mine.
THAT'S THE PAIN,
CUTS A STRAIGHT LINE
DOWN THROUGH THE HEART;
WE CALLED IT LOVE."

The longing is plastered against this song in all red caps. You can feel it oozing. Just love this to bits!

It's really great jogging music too btw. :)

Fashion: Swan Song

Swan Song.

A folk myth about the first and last song a mute swan sings before it dies.

Also, an idiom referring to a final great 'act' before one death an interesting factor one has to consider is that the 'actor' has to know he's going to die.

An ironic name for a dress I consider my #0 or my first dress but I can't help associating the mood of the fabric to the said idiom. Plus it's a very very good reminder that a designer is only as good as his last dress...

Dress.

This dress is from my archives. Done way back in December 2008.

Dress is made of blue silk (most likely synthetic) with pleather detailing

and black wool base. All by Mara Chua. Leggings also by Mara Chua.

Shoes are store bought.

To contact:

chua.mara@gmail.com

Fashion: Black Cloud

My client, Lyan wanted a vintage themed tutu dress,
What makes this project so unique is the time element...
I had less than a week for this one.

Time.

Pressed for time, my best option was to utilise fabrics that were readily available in the studio. I used dupioni for the bodice. Obviously, a tutu dress isn't a tutu dress without the tulle skirt. Also, old lace and some leather that I cut into swallows for the embellishing.

Vintage.

I avoid doing or at least calling this a period piece as I feel like I'm disrespecting a certain era of fashion by not really capturing the substance but merely the form (plus it's very easy to go way over the top with period pieces and end up with a dress looking too costume-y so I guess my bit of reluctance is 'healthy'), With that in mind, I exercised a bit liberalism in the details to balance out that 'old world glamour' with something more current and unique and fun like steel zipper for closure and leather swallows.

Ultimately, my aim was for this to be a subtle but firm statement of who I am as a designer (as always, but I only seem to have articulated who I am and what I want to be as a designer a few days ago). And that is sensible but still clearly bespoke and one of a kind clothing.

For contact:

chua.mara@gmail.com

Fashion: Smaller and smaller Circles

Circle.

This headdress was made entirely of circle shapes of varying sizes.

Circle is prolly the most used shape in garment industry.

The way circle makes for the most perfect bias (championed by Madeline Vionnet, bias is a general term for items/clothes cut on the 45 degree angle of the cloth. Bias is loved by many as it lends much needed 'give' and allows fabric to fall more gracefully as opposed to the stiff hemlines landing on the cross-grain [the width of the cloth]); and it being the shape most flattering to the body- as circle has a natural tendency to follow the curves of our body; makes circle such a subject of exploration and experimentation by a lot of designers as circle seemingly promises myriads of possibilities and applications... from clothes (the best example I can give is the NYC avant garde collective of threeASFOUR) to drapes to embellishments (most ruffles start their lives as circles) which is the case in this blog entry.

Bespoke headdress made of dupioni and net circles.

By yours truly for my client Nicky who's attending a vintage themed party.

To contact.

Email: chua.mara@gmail.com

Food: Urameshi-ya

Ghost House.

That I believe is the literal translation of urameshi- ya... well, that is what I remember from the article I read that they pasted on the wall.

Located inside the most unassuming corner of 'Little Tokyo', a collective of Japanese restaurants and food stores beside Makati Cinema Square along Pasong Tamo Avenue. We, me and my travel buddy who shall be from this post on be named, Grumpy, discovered the place by accident (The reason why we don't have great pics too. We just went there to eat not pretend to be foodies on the prowl for something to place on their blogs, that job is covered by too many already. This place just deserves the special mention).

Tired of the usual mall fare, I wanted to try something new. It was my first time in Little Tokyo... and Little Tokyo can be pretty daunting for a first timer especially at the thick of dinner hour where all tables are placed so closed to each other at the courtyard it's almost impossible to maneuver you way from point A-B. Being first timers, we opted to just look around and then we stumbled upon Urameshi-ya a tiny yakiniku (grill) place at the far end of the court yard almost hidden behind a nice ish sushi bar.

What caught my eye is the pretty cool decor of the place. Shelves of Manga and Sake bottles reminds of that underground sake bar in East Village, NYC my ex tried to get me into but alas I was 19 and underaged then. :) Back to my current story, I was reluctant to eat there at first. My aim was to showcase the best of Manila to Grumpy, who is visiting Manila for the first time, I wanted to take him to good Japanese that in my book means 'good sushi' and there really isn't any sushi on their menu so warned the waitress in the cutest kimono uniform I've seen but well, I dunno what happened but we just decided to eat there. It was one hell of a good decision...

Plate after plate of thinly perfectly sliced perfect beef meant only to be grilled lightly then dipped in light soy and then eaten with the fluffiest Japanese rice. I'm afraid of committing the sin of being too poetic if I go on. Let's just leave it at: 'It's the best yakiniku I've ever had', is a statement that will never give justice to the amazingness of Urameshi-ya.

Urameshi-ya ain't cheap by the way. Their thrust is quality, near perfection top quality. And the difference is just so obvious when those strips of beef starts melting in your mouth. :)

I believe we had the Tarafuku set. The nice waitress (wonderful service by the place btw) will be there to help you out with the Japanese only menu. I did manage to decipher the drinks section which was mostly in katakana... I just had to brag. :D

This ended up to be Grumpy's favourite meal of the entire trip. My second.

Travel: To Paradise and Back

My official photog is currently at the hospital treating his infected (hopefully, nothing serious) foot. Until he decides to upload and share pics, I'm posting a pic I lifted from the net (ownership of the said photo isn't specified plus the photo appeared on more than one site) to give everyone a clue as to where I disappeared these last 15 or so days. :)