Thrifted Halloween

This is the first time I'm dressing up for the event, since I have to cover a goth-themed ball. I got a gray blazer (above) embroidered with flowers for only PhP50, or a little over a dollar.

Below is the design of the silk black obi I purchased from the same store at PhP20, or less than half a buck.



From another vintage chest, I bought a black lace dress with ruffles to be worn as a scarf. PhP192.5 (US$4).



From the same store: agnes b. riding boots for PhP144, or almost three dollars.



Purchases total PhP406 or US$8. Only had to pull out jeans and a shirt. This is how it all comes together.

Men's lace

Pop magazine's 80's Excess Issue featuring Prada lace on its iconoclastic covers is out this September.



Only realized recently that the main pattern the collection uses is paisley.



Of all the patterns usually used for lace, I think this is the most masculine.



It gives designers and fabric manufacturers license to employ thicker embroidery for outlines. Flower appliques with the same fabric do not seem amiss. The webbing appears almost like pentagons.



The embroidery is as prominent as the lace. This fusion allows the fabric to be transposed from its traditions.



Surprisingly, the lace that Yohji Yamamoto used for his Spring 2009 collection was finer than Prada's.

Strong, revitalized lace for women and delicate fabric for men: the same medium to show female strength and male vulnerability.

I wonder how we'll see Yamamoto's lace in editorials.



These are two images from "New Big Prinz", an editorial from Arena Homme Plus #25: Post Pop, 2006.



Strangely, this type of finery lends an additional shadow to masculinity.



Now Givenchy. What I noticed more than the leather was the sheer fabrics, printed lace (or is it embroidered), the lace shirts, and the tattoos.





The rendering of lace in fuchsia, the hue of next season, seems to be another reversal: taking the fabric out of context to serve another purpose.

Admittedly, it looks good with cream.



Monochromatic statements aside, the collection presents a keen juxtaposition: tattoos under lace. As if to allay worries and assert that it is still a man under the fine weaving. But both are quite similar, though apparently opposite.



Both are forms of writing: one delicate and the other garish. Both are worn: one indelible on bare skin and the other a naked layer.



Can we all don both, just one, neither? Whichever, it depends how comfortable we are in our own skin.

Photos from The Fashion Spot, The Sartorialist, Face Hunter, and men.style.com

Lace dress for Halloween

It's amazing how things come full circle. I remember wearing this thrifted lace dress as a scarf for a goth Halloween ball last year, and a picture of that outfit, which was primarily composed of thrifted items, was part of my very first cameo post on this blog.

Now I am wearing the skirt on top of a shirt and have instead worn a cardigan as my scarf.




I like the way the lace is only obvious at the sleeves and over my bum, and the way it is cut — which makes me think more of pirates than drag queens.




I suppose this is the casual variation of my goth outfit, even if I am actually wearing the lace dress.

See, it can't be that hard.


Tee, cK by Calvin Klein; jeans, Two Percent; sheer double-breasted cardigan worn as a scarf, Zara; filigree belt, Brave Beltworks; agnès b riding boots and lace dress: both thrifted; necklace, Qeelin

Carin Wester's lace for men

It was only in 2008 that I seriously started collecting magazines, since it was also the year I started this blog. Part of that batch was Pop's iconoclastic covers depicting nuns in Prada lace. Then Yohji Yamamoto and Givenchy used lace for their Spring 2009 men's collections. Before you know it, Dolce & Gabbana re-issued its own take on the fabric for Spring 2010, but of course modernized and taking into account a different audience. That is as far as my fashion memory goes. Before that there was only my grandmother, frilly doilies, veils, and table tops.




Then comes Carin Wester with a simplified and rather innocent lace pattern for her men's Spring 2011 collection. Sorry to magnify the pictures, but this may be the only way for you to see the lace properly.

This blue robe/coat is worn with shorts and a tangle of found objects joined into jewelry, perhaps to suggest that lace can be worn when you have been shipwrecked, or who knows, when you have been captured by old-world pirates. But then again, I don't find it hard to imagine this piece buttoned-up, with nothing underneath, and worn with slim pants for a summer evening.




Even as a sash belt, the lace works. Like a bandana or a scarf with inviolable history, instead of mere frippery. How can it not make you think of breezes and the beach — even without the help of feathers.




Well, maybe not this, since it's too literal. Could be worn over an elongated shirt.




Lace thickly embroidered and not so flowery can look masculine.




The sash belt looks even better with modern fabrics.




It is as nonchalant as this floor-length scarf.




And looks just as soft.






With shirts without buttons, you can see that the sash belt is feasible. Just make sure you get the colors right.




But just in case you decide that lace, in no matter what form, will never suit you, there is this suit-shorts combo perfect for a summer romp.

treasury tuesday...

This weeks treasury is inspired by romance & lace. I think it is really pretty & I hope you do too!

Check out the live version here....

Enjoy...xo