Music: I'm going through a phase....

and it's called TV on the Radio. :)

The New York music scene is what made me fall in love with NY (I'm more Paris

when it comes to fashion). Along with YYY's, The Strokes, Santigold, MGMT etc.,

TV on the Radio was high up on my list even though I do find their sound a little too

gritty for my effed up sunshine and rainbows and butterflies type of aesthetic. I just

like them because they're original and their experimental which I somehow can relate too.

I've known them since their "Staring at the Sun" days (still my favourite from them).

There are two version of this song. The other one doesn't have the people talking and the humming at the start... which I personally think completes the song.

This is a remake of YYY's "Modern Romance".... they get lots of brownie points from me for this one- it's just love!

Very nice fan made video btw.

They came out with a new album last April called, "Nine Types of Light", which I absoeffinlutely love!

I like that it's more pop than Dear Science... I'm such a huge fan of quality pop but quality pop

is becoming more and more an endangered specie. So thank you TV on the Radio being one of the last vestiges of good pop.

Here are some of my favourites from the album (I have at least 5 that I seriously want to post but I'm narrowing it down to 3 which I find extremely hard):

This is similar- ish to their previous sound in Dear Science. The video is love- it kinda

reminds me of Regina Spektors' *gasp* Samson video (the one with tons of paper art).

This is my second fave song from the album. The melancholy yet hopeful vibe

sounded like it was made for their then dying band member, Gerard Smith (RIP).

"Sunshine I saw you through the hanging vine

All memory of what was mine fading away
And as night heals the ground
And the moonlight steals the sound
I could leave suddenly unafraid"

This inched "Killer Crane" as my favourite of the whole album.

Only because I'm a sucker for songs about love lost and found and I love the video... it's deceptively normal... Plus I think that top the girl is wearing is from the Alexander Wang line. haha

"I'm gonna keep your whole heart

I'm gonna keep your whole heart

If the world falls apart,

Stil, I'm gonna keep your whole heart"

Travel: Fashion: Migrant

In a few hours, I won't be around the city and married to the laptop for a good number of days. :)

I'm leaving you guys with another piece from my 2009 'Migrant' collection.

The premise for the exhibit where 'Migrant' was included was to showcase both Filipino young blood and Filipino indigenous textile to the very international audience of New York City.

Taking a modernist, practical and what was then relatively new approach, I mixed local textiles and weaves like pinya and jute with leather, wool and knit; and making clothes that will undoubtedly be considered as daywear. (The exhibit was staged September, so I was thinking Fall/ Winter ;plus ironically, despite coming from a tropical country, I excel more in designing outerwear and leatherwear.)

I expressly chose the theme 'Migrant' both for its topical relevance in the Philippine and American setting; and on a more practical level, its relevance to travel and wash friendly clothing. Easy to wear clothing you can throw in your luggage and wear in different occasions- which is my usual train of thought when making my clothes as I love repeating my clothes and largely frown upon disposable trendy things.

About the outfit: Cocoon jacket made of leather and jute. Cotton double head tank top. Pinya and wool pencil bubble skirt with steel zipper fastening.

Fashion: Migrant

Digging through my archives as of the moment. This dress was done way back in 2009 for my exhibit in New York City. Inspired by the yearly emigration of jellyfishes to the banks of Bantayan Island, Cebu during the month of May where I used to spend my childhood summers and the parallelism of this phenomenon with the Filipino diaspora ('nomadism').

About the dress:

Dress is made of (very expensive for 3rd world/ developing country standards) pure linen and sating bias strips the lining is very delicate impossible to work with charmeuse.

Fashion: Cutting Edge

in this video, you get to see a video tour of isabel toledo's exhibit held last 2009. what caught my attention are those snippets with pictures of black colored odd basic looking shapes on white paper. those are the flat patterns... the blue print of how those dresses are made. i belong to the school of fashion design where i tend to concentrate more on the ergonomics,engineering and hard science that goes into creating/recreating certain forms. i find the most satisfaction in being able to mathematically compute form and to be able to translate 3-D form into flat 2-D pieces. even more satisfaction in being able to minimize seams (some seams integral to contouring the shape of the body) in order to minimize fabric usage.

right now, i can think of what i believe is the very different thought process involved in drafting shapes/ forms and eventually flat pattern pieces vs draping; and the fact that i have very very very short patience for embellishing as to the why of my fascination and obsession.