Gone thrifting

My shopping principle has always been to only to buy things I particularly like because there's something special about them. Each item has to be like that. I trust that pieces loved in their own way can come together to form remarkable outfits.

I'm willing to spend a little more for such items, but if I really have to buy basics, I turn to thrift stores. As I have mentioned before, my trips to such shops began with the need to expand my office wardrobe.

But this time, thrift shopping has also provided me an opportunity to tread on relatively new territory. After stocking on skinny, horizontal tipped, and colorfully patterned ties in silk, wool, and cotton, finally, I find vests, a navy jacket, and yes, my very own cutaway.

I found most of these from a store that ships from Japan, so that even if there are no big-name labels, there is impeccable Japanese tailoring.

I suspect these vests were made by the same tailor. Now I have to decide if I want to send the navy one on the right to a tailor here so that the satin back can be replaced or if I want to keep the wear to let the piece have that lived-in character.

I love the cut of this pinstriped navy jacket. It is slim and the sleeves come right before my wrist.

If you remember the day I wore my tux jacket with drawstring pants, I was wishing for a cutaway jacket to make the outfit better. Well, here it is. The fit is likewise perfect. I am excited about all the combinations, both casual and spiffy, I can create from this formal piece.

Now it begins. These gold and bronze leaves baptize my wardrobe with its first brooches.

So here is the happy camper in the store where I bought most of the ties (not the jackets). In total I spent PhP1,700 (US$36).

I am still ticklish from the anticipation. Sending the clothes to the drycleaner right after I post this.


Elmo tee from Greenhills; open bonnet hat, 5cm; micro houndstoot pants, Custom Made; filigree belt, Brave Beltworks; leather sneakers; Converse; PVC bag; 5cm; gold watch, Omega Seamaster

Another Gustav Broström brooch

While Gustav has been sorely missed at Mode Man, his departure from the Swedish menswear blog doesn't mean he's lost his touch. Yvan again takes a snap of him on the French blogger's trip to Stockholm.

Who would have thought yarn would look so spiffy with a suit jacket? Previously, he used a giant safety pin, and it was Scott who photographed him.

I bet these are just some of his accessories from his treasure trove. Go see his new blog to find out exactly what these items are.

From brooch to coat fastener

Swedish fashion editor Gustav Broström reuses his enlarged safety pin brooch to close his coat.

Both shot by Scott Schuman. You can see the development in the style of photos from The Sartorialist. The bottom one was taken in August 2008 and the top one just recently.

Gray uniform with a stainless steel razor brooch

Took these pictures after watching the last full show of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean. Call this my interpretation of the Thom Browne look.




This is my first prototype for a Bosquejo brooch, all pinned to a cropped gray suit jacket. Made of stainless steel razors and nuts. No, you can't use them for shaving.




It's as big as the gigantic flowers sometimes worn by women as brooches. I was actually wearing just a white v-neck that afternoon but decided to change into something both sheer and striped (also reversible).





Plan on making a smaller, less monstrous version. Can you imagine a ring with razors?


Tee, cK Calvin Klein; trousers, Muji; jacket and Clarks laceups: both thrifted; electric typewriter case repurposed into a brief

At the center of things

Sometimes I wish I worked and lived in a city with parks or accessible suburbs, so I can have mood pictures for my outfit posts. Or even areas with abandoned buildings. But I suppose the random things and little suprises in the same tired streets of Manila's central business district will do — in the meantime at least.



At the center of my outfit yesterday is an animal claw pendant that I made into a brooch-cum-tie-pin, which fastens a temporary skinny scarf. I have posted this safey pin brooch before, after buying a bunch in different sizes.



Even if I may seem like an urban caged gorilla in my restricted city confine, inspiration always finds its way between the bars. But it may be time for a change of scene...


Tee, Polo by Ralph Lauren; tie and cardigan: both thrifted; jeans, Jil Sander; leather sneakers, Converse; pendant, American Boulevard

Photos by Patricia Suzara

Wear your bling on your sleeve

Or rather, on your jacket's bust, lapels, and shoulders. Here is an ingenious way of going military without resorting to epaulets.




For the women out there, you can use brooches instead of medals, shown exemplarily by Jane Aldridge.




As inspired by the Fall 2010 lookbook of J. Crew.

I don't think the possibilities stop here. Can you think of anything else you can pin on your jacket?


Top image from Stockholm Street Style

High and low, Up and up

Took this after we watched UP, which may not have been one of the best thought-out stories from Pixar, but the cute, crazy, and totally implausible bits made the movie endearing.

Standing before a dry fountain in this photo, but since it was raining while we watched the film, the streets were wet. Big mistake to wear espadrilles in uncooperative weather. Rope stays wet for quite a while.

cK Jeans shirt, vest, tie, agnes b. leather and canvas messenger: all thrifted; jeans, Jil Sander; belt (not seen), APC; espadrilles from Davao



But who cares, the movie just finished and squishy soles did not dampen my enthusiasm for what we just watched. In terms of fashion and literary devices, I really liked the part when the passing of time was shown by Ellie tightening Carl's many colorful ties.



Incidentally, my temporary high was enough to inspire me to snap pictures for my photo blog, Draft of Shadows, which I have just decided to reformat. Here are three scenes I passed by while I was walking back to Ayala Avenue.



Like in the case of Disney's Lilo & Stitch, I firmly believe the writer was on crack when he was crafting some of the hilarious sequences.



If only we can fly away from it all — work, traffic, flooding. But then again, how long can you manage not updating your blog?



I just noticed that for most of the movie Carl was wearing a bowtie, probably even in silk. Remember his well-coordinated ensembles (suit complete with vest) each time he and Ellie would climb their little hill?



How peaceful their life must have been...



Carl's outfits were surely no competition against this "prehistoric" bird's plummage, but have you met a more stylish balloon salesman ?


Outift photo by Patricia Suzara

Kimono robe and shorts

I haven't really talked about the patterns on this blue kimono robe I thrifted months ago and wore with a tank top and sheer sweater back in June.

As you can see below, the top part has an alternate stitching pattern. It is not clear here (maybe in another post), but the lower part of the robe shifts to cross-hatching.



Here are the steel beads once again, but worn on a thin stainless chain, paired with the smallest of my sheep brooches.



The robe is interesting enough for me to keep the accessories small, and I Iove how they go well with my DIY denim cut-offs. (I still have a stack of sentenced jeans and pants).



Finishing today's outift are these loafers that are so worn that they are almost as comfortable as sneakers. Who says leather shoes are only for work days?


Robe and Lee denim, both thrifted; tee, Public Enemy; accessories, DIY; loafers, Dexter

Safety pin brooches: A story

Finally found the gigantic safety pins at Divisoria. Here they are laid out with smaller cousins.



My first impulse was to place pendants to create brooches, together with some beads.



But then I thought why not dispense with the pendants altogether and just join the differently sized safety pins? Which coincidentally look like sheep.



Here is a family of three grazing on peaceful pastureland under benevolent clouds.



And here is a dysfunctional group with a vain and selfish parent and wily lamb children.

That warm, furry fuzzy feeling

There are things that look different in a different light.




Like my rose and leaf patterned hair and suede slippers I wore for work yesterday, which appear shiny under the sun.




Like myself, in this latest attempt to look older and more sophisticated by wearing glasses. Though it's more the rest of the world that looks different, more in a blur.




What do you think? If ever I do wear "vanity" spectacles, I guess they would have to be in this shape, since the big, okay-don't-I-look-geeky frames would only swallow up my angle-less face.




The slippers look different as well during the afternoon, and at night, when they assume a more feline character. Brooding enough to be worn as opera flats.




I'm sure I'll find the perfect glasses (perspective?) one day.




Have you noticed what's pinned on my shirt?




It's a button made of wood that I have redone as a brooch. (You can also see here that my shirt buttons come in doubles.)

These past few days, there has been something/someone similarly pinned at this particular place, which/who has subtly changed how I look at things. Suddenly, it's not just about appearances.


Shirt, jeans, slippers, and satchel: all thirsted; belt from a market in Italy; purple pullover, French Connection; brooch, DIY

Knit picking

Let me just tell you how crazy last night was. To put the long story short: I left my laptop in a cab the other night, another passenger got it but asked for ransom, I refused and called the police for a sting operation. It was successful but the whole event seemed too complicated to leave me unscathed: my energy was zapped.

This was what I was wearing yesterday morning, all peaceful and serene, before the whole thing transpired.



Finally, I have been able to wear my largest safety pin as a brooch. Come to think of it, the size, bulk, and fit of this knit cardigan almost make it look like a jacket.



Here is the pattern up close. Initially, I have been wary of using the gigantic safety pin because of the holes it would leave in clothes — a problem big knits do not have.


Knit cardigan, Izzue shirt, silk tie, Two Percent jeans: all thrifted; leather sneakers, Converse; safety pin from Divisoria

Pictures by Patricia Suzara