Everybody's a F*****g Blogger

Everybody's a blogger nowadays: everyone has their own outpost (or three) in the vast plains of the cybersphere; Internet life is taking over real life and blog musings are taking over in-person conversation.  My editor, Kwannam of I.T Post in Hong Kong had given me free rein on this piece, and I went on and explored the effect of this phenomenon on our fashion-world.  Here's an excerpt of the piece, read the rest of the article after the jump:

Yesterday at Café Select seemed to be a typical lunch date among friends in New York City: catching up on the latest movies seen and the best new free yoga classes in town, who’s dating whom and who isn’t anymore, a rundown of the sample sales happening within the next week---we, after all, all worked in and around the fashion industry in differing capacities.  But there was one more thing we seemed to have in common; interspersed between the chatter were bursts of enthusiasm in a language that would have sounded foreign merely eight years ago.  “I could only imagine how many hits you got from the UK after that feature.” “How come I’m not on your blogroll? We’ve been friends for ages!” “Nicola Formichetti just tweeted at me, sooo dreamy!”  It then dawned on me: everyone at the table was a blogger, or had at least some significant social media presence, be it on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook.

Read "Everybody's a Blogger" and more on I.T Post

Sequel to the Ring

I almost never leave home without my rose gold signet ring with brown diamonds, so I decided to make pavé diamond pinky rings my style signature. I think signet pinky rings are unobtrusively comfortable, classically masculine, and are the perfect little vehicle for daytime diamonds. Here's the new one I had co-designed with Jane Sy and Yen Guevara of Lanero Fine Jewelry in Manila:

The white diamonds on blackened yellow gold make for a bolder, high-contrast statement, as opposed to the brown diamonds on rose gold which is more tone-on-tone.

Alas, my hyper-acidic sweat so quickly stripped off the black plating, as you can see the gold peeking through the side of the ring in this photograph, and I will have to bid farewell to the ring for about a month as it gets re-plated in Hong Kong.

at breakfast, with Earl Grey crème tea and a gray nail

Look at the stones, huddled like tiny moons on a dark winter's night.

See the ring in progress here.

photographs by Nikki Tuason

Sequins, Spots, and Self-expression

Last Saturday, I walked over the bridge to DUMBO in Brooklyn for their annual Arts Festival: a weekend-long celebration of "the best in local, national, and international art amid the breathtaking backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline". It was an exhilarating afternoon---think Fashion's Night Out, minus all the tourists; swap fashion for art, and free drinks for food trucks. Expecting that the art set would be a little more accepting than the fashion folk, I decided to wear two items in the much-maligned materials, sequins and leopard print.

Illesteva sunglasses, Junya Watanabe x Comme des Garcons shirt, Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons bracelet, Uniqlo jeans, leopard-print shoes from Lane Crawford

The sequins on this Junya Watanabe shirt seem to be oxidized and almost crumpled, and are embroidered on to the faintly printed black-and-brown batik fabric with very thin copper wire.

This horsehair and leather bracelet, on loan from Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons, has been my alternative to the multiple-layered bracelets, a.k.a. "arm parties" that abound. Sometimes the most enjoyable parties are those you rock with just one else.

Prada saffiano briefcase and leopard-print shoes from Lane Crawford. I don't seem to be getting that much wear from these shoes in today's sole du jour, the Vibram thick wedge. I find the wearable comfortable footwear to be proper dress shoes with slim all-leather soles.

Enough about about my artfully put-together outfit, let me share with you the art my eyes saw at the DUMBO Arts Fair:

sparkling walls

and twinkling rain

light boxes

and backlit black shingles

love you

and f*ck you (It rotates!)

twigs

and twilight.

photographs by Tiffany Gong and Izzy Tuason

Staples: The Dark Debonair

If there’s one thing that helps me get dressed in the morning, it is my imagined persona. Embodying such a character helps streamline the task of picking things out of my wardrobe vast as the facets of my idiosyncratic personality. I’ve gone through quite a few in the past, most of them too shameful to reveal, but this one, I believe, will stick around for quite a while.

Beloved readers, meet The Dark Debonair.

He is gentlemanly, smart, and refreshingly proper---but at the same time elusive and intriguingly weird. Think young Sean Connery as the old James Bond in head-to-toe Comme des Garcons taking a private jet to the Maldives to do a performance art piece solely for his three wire-haired dachshunds.

Aramis had approached me to share my staples, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce you to The Dark Debonair. Suave yet relaxed, with a penchant for the charmingly odd, The Dark Debonair keeps ten things in his arsenal as he goes about his business and trots the globe.

The Dandy Project's Dark Debonair Staples: 1) Comme des Garcons black blazer, 2) vintage black lace-ups, 3) black-faced Rolex, 4) Thom Browne cashmere wool tie, 5) Number (N)ine sunglasses, 6) Hong Kong, 7) Erotic Poems by e.e. cummings, 8) Seth Price mix CD, 9) Goldwell hair gel, 10) Sabatino Tartufi truffle honey

Here they are in detail:

clothing: the Comme des Garcons Homme black blazer

The soft tailoring on this Comme des Garcons Homme blazer in subtly crinkled black wool makes it an easy versatile piece, and the luxe red silk lining makes putting in on a simply delicious experience.

footwear: vintage black cap-toe lace-ups from London

These shoes, scuffed beyond decency, have been with me through two re-solings and one painful breaking-in. The classic almond-shaped cap-toe is perfect, and the patina adds that touch of street-grit shiny new shoes just can’t give.

time: black-faced Rolex

I’ve had it since I was a child, and wore it to elementary school with its original bezel of pavé white diamonds, much to the puzzlement of my classmates. Ah, the beginnings of a grown-up eccentric...

neckwear: gray houndstooth Thom Browne cashmere wool tie

Handsome and understated, and the soft cashmere makes it such a pleasure to stroke.

eyewear: round tortoise sunglasses by Number (N)ine

There’s something about round glasses that connotes eccentricity: John Lennon, Willie Wonka, Freddie Aguilar… The tortoiseshell gives it a softness that makes it more versatile than black.

travel: Hong Kong

The glossy boutiques of Hong Kong may carry all the goodies that the dark debonair needs to fill his closet with joy, but it’s the noisy, smelly, neon-hazy streets of authentic Hong Kong that fill his nights with wonder. He meanders about Kowloon, possibly lost on the way home to his hotel, he makes eye contact with a stranger or two, and is convinced he is Chow Mo-Wan from In the Mood for Love.

literature: Erotic Poems by e. e. cummings

e. e. cummings’ love notes embody the way the dark debonair lives his life: passionate and irreverent. The best subway read.

music: Seth Price Fashion

New York-based conceptual artist Seth Price put together a mix of both smooth, danceable beats and hauntingly jarring sounds for his latest collaboration with Tim Hamilton on the designer’s Spring 2011 line. The CD, a limited-edition giveaway at the Tim Hamilton presentation, is a carefully orchestrated audio file featuring Severed Heads, Philippe Besombes, and Zsa Zsa Laboum.

grooming: Goldwell hair gel

How else does the dark debonair achieve his bulletproof slick-back but with the thickest, most high-tech hair gel available? Goldwell’s Lagoom Jam is thick to the consistency of jam, yet washes out cleanly with warm water.

entertaining: Sabatino Tartufi truffle honey

Generously bespeckled with black truffles, this honey is a jewel in the dark debonair’s kitchen: slathered on cheese and crackers, drizzled over buttered pasta---or even on ice cream.

Here I am channeling my alter-ego du jour in a bruise-inspired color palette of black and blue:

Comme des Garcons blazer, Eton of Sweden shirt, Margiela denim cummerbund, Uniqlo jeans, and vintage lace-ups

details: round collar on the Eton shirt and a vintage astronaut pin with a moonstone head

Fellow menswear bloggers Mat of Buckets and Spades and Pelayo of Kate Loves Me have also collaborated with Aramis on similar posts on their ideas of how to be a gentleman. Check out theirs and other bloggers’ posts here:

Buckets and Spades

Kate Loves Me

Guerreisms

Impossible Cool

Man of the Cloth

photographs and collage by Hudson Shively

blog post written in partnership with Aramis

Outlet Shopping, Hong Kong Style!

There exists a place on earth where everyday is a sample sale and the place goes by the name of Ap Lei Chau. Ap Lei Chau (literally: duck-tongue island) is an area on the island side of Hong Kong still not directly accessible by subway train, hence, taking a trip there is a short, yet sufficiently taxing pilgrimage. But a pilgrimage of fashion finds not of this earth---here you'll find outlet stores stacked so high they scrape the heavens, filled not with the usual Polo Sport outlet duds of American suburbia, but limited-edition runway pieces from the Belgians (Dries, Ann and Martin) and the Japanese (Rei and Takahiro), and a shrine to Prada with all the goodies deeply, deeply discounted.

I knew I was in for a journey, so I had to start the day right.

A bowl of udon and mushrooms in miso broth, the breakfast of champions, and of those who wish they were half-Japanese.

I gobbled up the noodles while soaking in the grandeur of the Peninsula Hong Kong's meticulously preserved 1920's lobby architecture.

Then I took the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Wan Chai,

the mad dash through the doors of Hong Kong's incredibly efficient subways

and a 40-minute bus from Wan Chai to Ap Lei Chau.

Make sure you have coins or an Octopus card to pay for your fare!

The bus stops close to the Prada outlet, a humongous glossy boutique filled with both classics and past-season items by Prada and Prada group brands such as Miu Miu and Church's, all heavily discounted. Never has outlet shopping been more pleasant and worth the trek.

Hong Kong's "Space" Prada outlet, nearly twice the size of that at Woodbury Commons in New York (photo via The Fash Pack)

I then took a cab to Horizon Plaza, a high-rise in the area filled with outlet shops for fashion, home, and baby things too.

top picks for me would be the outlet stores of Hong Kong's best department stores: Joyce, Lane Crawford, and I.T.

And for the loot. Another pair of Number (N)ine shoes to add to my collection of pieces by the defunct label, all acquired posthumously:

Number (N)ine x Charles Peterson "Touch Me I'm Sick" jazz shoes

I was completely happy with my purchase thinking that I had scored a pair of Number (N)ines in printed canvas. When I read the label and learned that they were in fact made out of a specially made wool jacquard and trimmed in silk, any traces of cognitive dissonance dissolved into thin air.

the buttonhole silk-and-leather pull tabs and the textured photo-print jacquard

Charles Peterson is an American photographer known for his prints depicting the rise of the independent music scene in and around Seattle.

And a Prada nylon toiletry bag that I just had to have owing to a slew of very valid reasons:

Prada toiletry bag in tessuto with saffiano leather trim

because (1) I'm Asian, (2) I carry around lots of toiletries, and (3) I like Prada.

Space Warehouse (Prada Outlet)

2/F, South Horizons Plaza (East Wing)

Ap Lei Chau

Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2814 9576

How to get there: Take the MTR to Admiralty. Then take the bus 590A or M590 from the Admiralty station and get off at South Horizons.

Horizon Plaza (I.T. outlet - 5th floor, Joyce Warehouse - 21st floor, Lane Crawford outlet - 25th floor)

2 Lee Wing Street

Ap Lei Chau

Hong Kong

How to get there: From the South Horizons bus stop, take a taxi to Horizon Plaza.

The Vague H Belt

I'm not one to profess my unwavering adoration for a brand, but I do love Hermès, without shame, without a doubt.

the orange box of deep, deep joy

Much as I love the brand and my classic H-buckle Hermes belt, seeing everyone and their uncle and their local newscaster and their Euro-distasteful friend wearing it is starting to get a little disconcerting. But I saw this belt on my recent trip to Hong Kong, and it changed my feelings about Hermès and their waist-cinchers:

Hermès Etriviere belt in distressed black saddle leather

The "H" is vaguely recognizable, and is even obscured by the leather when the belt is buckled.

the Hermès logo ever so sparsely etched on the underside of the buckle

I've long wanted the Etriviere, but when I saw it rendered in this black saddle leather distressed to reveal undertones of bluish gray, I knew it was the one.

close-up of the leather

The leather is thick and sturdy, and, in the same spirit with which I rationalize purchases of such perceived frivolity, "it will only become more beautiful with age."