Let's Get Personal

Inspiration: Kris Van Assche's Fall 2010 Collection

And, my look. I look like I'm having a headache. 

But I was in a good mood that day.

All amazing photos by Lesley Choa

I have this amazing project for Institution of Style coming out, hopefully, next week. It's called Style Diaries, which will feature personally handpicked friends and schoolmates whom I believe are among our university's most stylish personalities and I am all excited now that I have seen the first three people I've chosen and asked to be featured for my blog. To you three, you know who you are, you guys are incredibly so stylish, so kind and always such a pleasure to keep honoring, especially for people like me who are huge spectators of well-dressed men and women. I have seen your photos and your looks and they always make me smile. Congratulations for having style that's worth more than just blogspace.

If I had power and money, I'd do a book for them, ala Sartorialist. It's not cause I'm copying Scott Schuman and all the others out there, but it's more of understanding where these famous bloggers and photographers are coming from: seeing people with well-defined styles is more than just ogling at handsome clothes, it's a sneak peek into these people and what they believe in, a fraction of who they are and a look into culture and the times. And while clicking through their photos, it made me appreciate my own style, one that's always so simple, so reserved and not as adventurous as others. I don't know, the people I chose to feature are pretty impressive stylists in their own right and their styles are truly different from each other and from mine, which highlights the beauty of personal style. One's all keen on details, preppy most of the time and polished to a T, one's affair with music shines through her choices of accessories and gutsy chic pieces and one's all elegant, expensive but truly unassuming and relateable...And they inspire me to keep my style the way it is cause it's my own.

As for me, well I'm still eyeing some things I want to treasure in my closet, and I'll probably always stick to being the "feel" dresser and always being simple. Besides, I do that best, than any other style I know of. Right? Anyway, I've been wanting to do a Kris Van Assche Fall 2010 look for quite sometime now, and I literally copied it...Well, not exactly literally, but you do see the resemblance a lot. Since I feel most comfortable in an ensemble like this one (which you know is my lazy look) I knew that what Kris Van Assche had for Fall 2010 would work most definitely for me. Yeah just say it, it's boring and pretty dark, but I like how the collection looked. To me, it's straight to the point, unfussy, masculine and quite tough.

Speaking of spotting, style and people, Poj Lim, one of my closest girl friends ever, has finally landed on our spotting radar. She tells me it's her dream to be spotted, which I think is a joke, but I spotted her anyway cause what she wore during this day (Thursday), was very now what with its color and also it looked really nice on her: plain, but respectable and quite sexy actually. Krisha Vizmonte was there cause her classroom was on the floor we took pictures at, and while Lesley, the always reliable Lesley Choa, was there with me, Poj decided to take advantage of the perfect situation to have our pictures taken. And like all other pictures with these close friends, it'll always end up all laughing and noisy and chaotic, but we manage to take good photographs. So to Lesley, thank you, as always and to Poj and Krisha, we guys have to hire Lesley to take our barkada picture next week, since that would be our last, group picture EVER...Now I'm getting all sentimental, and probably red is a good color to "end" our college life. Why? Well, I don't know. It just felt like it made sense. 

The three-step photo shoot to happiness: 

Krisha abusing my chest and Poj hugging "too low". 

I love these ladies so much, it's funny.

HERE, comes the plugging part:

My IMC friends have asked me to do them a favor, one I still couldn't understand but for sure, they want you, if you study at our school, to head down to Philly's for some special treat. I think it's all about refilling, something. Anyway, my super duper close girl friend Cindy is the model of that campaign and though it's not Gucci, you better support Cindy's modeling career and my IMC friends.

Second, one of the BEST gifts you could give me is buying yourselves copies of MONDAY magazine for November-December 2010 AND also ROGUE's December 2010-January 2011 issues. I have contributed to these awesome magazines and I will appreciate it if you read my works...Again, without the fabulous editors who have asked for my work, these great things wouldn't be possible. So thank you, thank you to them and thank God for always, always making me happy.

-Gerard