Ordering from Japan

Obviously, I am a fan of Raf Simons. From his own label to his work under the labels Jil Sander and Dior: 

Raf Simons SS 2006

Jil Sander SS 2012

Raf Simons SS 2007

Yes, these are old pieces that I did not buy when I saw them in the stores. But, what do you know, I am quite good at finding pieces from all over the world. However, it is sometimes quite hard to get pieces from Japan (where a lot of rare Raf pieces can be found), but thank God for proxy buyers. The one I use is Sutocorp. I haven't had a bad experience with them yet, and they are quite fast with responding to emails and putting in my bids. 

So if ever you need help buying cool stuff from Japan, you can contact them at sutocorp.com or email them at buyingservice@sutocorp.com.

Posted by X2

White Out

Apartment hunting is boring and tiring. It's fun at first but it kind of gets sickening and very, very frustrating. Well, it's quite easy if you have lots of money to spend on rental. But if you're like me who doesn't really have gobs of cash to throw around, you really don't have a lot of choices and you have to look and look and look and make lots of phone calls.

Over drinks, I told one of my soon-to-be flatmates that I want my room (or the whole apartment) to have white walls and cement floors coated with clear varnish with bits of splashes of silver paint. Yes, I want it to look like a Margiela store.

White walls with printed wallpaper.

Clear acrylic, glass and white furniture and interesting shapes.

As much as I want to buy very interesting furniture, I can't really afford it. I've been going around Ikea and been very tempted to buy the funiture and lighting fixtures that I want but I don't even have a place to put everything yet.

Photos of La Hotel Maison Champs-Elysees by Maison Martin Margiela from framemag.com

Posted by X2

Maybe It's More Like I've Become Lazy, Not Really Busy

I can't really say that I've been sick of this. Really. I know because I still check it on a regular basis secretly hoping that everything I want to put out here has miraculously been written by me while I was asleep. But I don't know.

When I was working in fashion, styling at least three shows a week and being surrounded by clothes and thinking of clothes for more than 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, I never really felt like dressing up or looking at fashion rags. Some of the things I used to do for and used to think of as fun suddenly felt like a chore. Maybe it's the same. I got a job in publishing. I don't really write, except for those event/dining/what-have-you listings that never go beyond a hundred words. But I don't know. It still involves words and browsing through them and scanning them making sure everything is perfect. I have no idea, really. Maybe I'm just making up some excuse subconsciously.

It's already March 2011. We're coming closer and closer to the end of the world predicted by those ancient Peruvians. Hell, I really don't know and I really don't care.

It's been quite boring lately, the past couple of weeks. So the picture there, you see, is I think one of the highlights, for the lack of a better word. Ed McFarlane of Friendly Fires diving and jumping a couple of meters away from me.

I remember hearing one friend's friends saying during the concert that that Friendly Fires song, Paris, is one of the most depressing songs ever.

Posted by X2
Photo by X2

It's That Time of The Year

Yes, it is that time of the year again. Time to be cheery and be possessed by the Christmas spirit. And I think this year I'm feeling a bit materialistic. Well maybe not. Maybe I just know what I want this year. I know that a chunk of the stuff on my list is attainable but I also know that I ain't getting some stuff from the list anyway so what the hell. It wouldn't hurt to put it out there, would it?

I want to move to a new place. I'm sick of staying here in this rathole. I still would like to live in the East though. Even if it takes me an hour to get to work.

I want to start running but I don't have an outfit for it. Even shoes. Well I can't go running in bondage boots, can I? And the Nike X Undercover collaboration's looking good.

I've been salivating over this Preen circa 2004 sweater since I saw it on Yahoo Japan. After more than a year, it's still there.

I'm liking this Dries Van Noten top.

I don't wear accessories but this Rick Owens bangle, I would wear it everday.
Gareth Pugh boots from a few seasons ago. I've been trying to look for a really nice pair of shoes but I can't find one. Balenciaga messenger bag. I need a bag. Even my colleague told me to stop using the rag disguised as a tote I use everyday.
Rodarte Knit Cardigan. Yes, this belongs in the realm of the impossible with the US $ 2000 price tag. But hey, maybe someone with shitloads of money might want to do a good deed and get this for me.
A bit of Rick Owens would also be nice.

Aside from the house, it looks like almost everything is from the fashion department. But a new/better job (in terms of job scope and pay) wouldn't hurt. I know that I've been living like a hippie for a while now but I also wouldn't mind a bit of a windfall. And also new stamps in my passport. I need to shut up now. Or else, this would never end.

Photos from all over the internet
Posted by X2

My ______ Is Better Than Your ______

I don't know if I'm just getting bored of the stuff in my wardrobe. I end up wearing the same thing every time. And by that, I don't just mean I wear the same things over and over. Lately, I wear the same exact outfit on the same day of the week. I noticed that I do the faux leather vest-black v-neck-black coated jeans-strappy boots combo on Tuesdays, black cut-off t-shirt-cobweb knit striped cardigan-black jeans-rivet belt-boots combo on Wednesdays, cobweb knit green sweater-black singlet on Saturdays, and so on and so forth. You get my drift.

So maybe out of the boredom with what I have in my closet (or maybe just the boredom at my office desk this morning) I started clicking and clicking on photos of fashion-type people and then ended up looking at photos of Visionaire's Cecilia Dean.

She has this blog-type section on the V Magazine website which shows her outfit pick of the week. Aside from career-envy, this woman gives me closet-envy (having a sheer amount of nice clothes that you can bike to work at 7am in Givenchy)

If only I could wear Balenciagas, Margielas, Rodarte, vintage Helmut Lang to work every day.

Photos from vmagazine.com
Posted by X2

The Beast and Dragon, Adored

Look, I've read the directions. I know the trends.

I know what's out there. So, screw it.

Let's take riding lessons...

to when Stella McCartney had the reigns on Chloe (Spring 2001 RTW).

Self-Service: "What's the most innovative thing that you've seen lately?"
Alexander Wang: "Nothing, really."

Posted by X1.

Image Source: Style, Google (LOL), "The Horse in Art"

Domestication

I am now in the middle of one of those tasks I have developed an aversion to - house hunting. I am right now living in a dump. Hey, the rent is cheap so can't really complain, eh. That's the only good thing about this space. And I think the cosmos is playing tricks on me. Even this dump doesn't want me. So now, I need to move. Well, I have only fully unpacked my suitcase a couple of months ago and now I might have to pack again. Good thing I don't have a lot of stuff and I just have clothes and shoes. I'm beginning to think that I'm living a nomadic life.

So okay, moving. I've been looking at residential listings in the papers and online and there's one thing I hate about it. Most of them are fully furnished. I don't want to sound like an asshole but I bet most of the furniture in those rooms I wouldn't like. Well, to be fair, I don't really like a lot of stuff in my room. I just want a bed, a chair, and a lamp.

Again, like the last living space post I did here, I still want my next room to look like Alexander Wang's studio! Black furniture, white walls, dark hardwood floors, lots of space and humongous windows.

And if I'm gonna be a creature derived from the genes of Martha Stewart and Rick Owens, I might make these gorgeous concrete furniture by myself. But I highly doubt that I'm gonna go to the hardware store and pour some cement onto a steel frame to make slabs of concrete to make a table and a chair.

Now I just need to find a space to dump my stuff in and call it home. I'm suddenly craving for Saturday nights at home in front of a TV. Oh wait, I don't have a TV.

Photos of Alexander Wang's studio nicked from theselby.com
Photos of Stefan Zwicky's concrete furniture swiped from hapsical.blogspot.com
Posted by X2

Heaven

Drapiness has reached the point of saturation. I know, I know. It's so pedestrian that almost everyone who wants to be called "avant garde" (I ain't a fan of the term especially when related to fashion) just slaps on some monochrome (I use monochrome here in terms of the non-colours black, white and gray, and not monochrome like "different shades of blue or red or green") cotton jersey and then claims to be a member of a fashion cult. But then, they almost always end up looking like 10,000 others within a two-kilometer radius. Sometimes, it just makes me want to wear bright neon colours and mollify myself with truck loads of junk food and never go out of the house again.

Yeah, and usually, the above-described people look to Rick Owens/Gareth Pugh for inspiration. By look-to-for-inspiration, I mean knock-off. Hey, just saying...

But whatever. I still love Gareth Pugh. I still can't afford him though. Almost US$500 for a t-shirt? Well, yes and no. But I'm mostly leaning towards no. But if I could afford it, why the hell not? The strappy boots (either the patent leather with patent leather straps or the matte gray with gray ribbon used as strap) are pretty covetable though. And the jackets! Ahhh heaven!

Okay so on with the video. I like the music. I like the very minimal production design (if a white and a black background could count as production design). As always, I like the Matthew Stone soundtrack. And of course, I love, love, love the clothes.

Gareth's video for Spring Summer 2011 reminds me of most of the stuff I like in fashion. Well, maybe not most of but a lot of the things I like in fashion. It's either "I want to make something in the same vein as that but not exactly like that" (sometimes, I just really like how it was made, not necessarily I'm killing myself for not thinking of making it first) or "I want to slap that on to my body and then step out of the house". With Gareth Pugh, it's almost always the latter.

Err, okay. Enough with the hero worship.

Video by Showstudio/Gareth Pugh snatched from youtube
Posted by X2

Everyday Uniform

Maybe if i can be one of those people who just wear one designer their whole life, I'd probably wear Margiela. Usually, conceptual clothes look crap a few hours after they're made. But I think Martin Margiela came up with well thought out clothes that still looks pretty damn good up until now. And there's nothing like going out wearing a duvet to make you feel dressed up.

Photos from ressurectionvintage.com

Posted by X2

In Absentia

So we took a vacation from this thing. We got bored. We got busy. Our lives got in the way. We have nothing to put in it. We found everything to be a big blah. But now, we're getting bored again from everything so we go back here.

We just need a bit of inspiration. Inspiration for what? Inspiration for our wardrobes that we are slowly getting sick of? Inspiration for projects that might or might not take off? Inspiration for our bleak lives? Maybe. Why not? I don't know. But the images, I just think they're pretty.

Photos from all over the internet.
Posted by X2

High Crass Call Girl

Greetings from the sunnier part of the world. So we have been ignoring our blog. We might be getting a bit bored with everything so I don't know.

So the other night I saw Peaches. The whole show was so lo-fi, lo-tech, minimalist, whatever. Just a beatbox, a guitar, stagedives, towels and chiffon. There's one thing I kinda found disturbing though, some men and women way past their fifties dancing to "Fuck The Pain Away".

Best line of the night from the Queen of Crass: "Jesus can walk on water. Peaches can walk on people."

Photos snatched from Facebook taken by one of our friends since I am too poor to afford a camera.

Posted by X2.