Garage mag's STREET STYLE

He is Rheeno. He is a stylist. He is a contributor for this site.

He just appeared at GARAGE mag STREET STYLE.

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I Need a Relevant Upgrade

by Rheeno


Relevant.

I've always read perezhilton commenting on who's relevant or not among the Hollywood celebrities. I still have to learn how to classify them: A-list down to Z-list. LOL

Anyway, calling someone relevant or irrelevant is not easy. The meaning of the word is still the same as in other cases. To take some example, David Archuleta is relevant and Nick Carter is not. It also has something to do with who's in and out of the scene.

Here's my experience: last weekend I got to talk to C telling me that she saw J and her boyfriend. It's the J I used to date. Anyway, I told C not to talk about her anymore because she's irrelevant these days. She doesn't even appear relevant to her besfriends, one of which I'm currently talking to. (Not really dating yet. Hehe)

upgrade/downgrade

On the other hand, when talking about new celebrity couples, perezhilton comments if the new boy/girlfriend is an upgrade or downgrade; compared with the ex-.

A case in note would be Rihanna dating this new guy Drake (I hope I got it right) who perez calls as a major upgrade from Chris Brown. Then there's Paris Hilton dating football player Cristiano Ronaldo - another major upgrade from Doug Reinhardt. (Paris claims, though, that she and Cristiano are just friends.)

Anyway, my date last weekend would hopefully be an upgrade from J. I can't lower my standards anymore. LOL

I need a relevant upgrade!!!

(originally posted by me at call-talk.co.kr on 2009/07/20)

What Have You Worn Lately?

by Rheeno

You read the question right. It's not "who you've worn lately?" because I would not have an answer. I don't really have designer items, you know. Well, I have branded stuff lying around but not in the league of Marc Jacobs or Louis Vuitton or Giorgio Armani.

Anyway, feeling so fugly today, I decided to wear something out of the ordinary.

Then, on the way to work, I was thinking of my fashion history. I have been fashion-conscious since, I think, elementary. I remember arguing with my dad how high is the pants' waist should be, haha. In high school I tried to be trendy.

In college, I became fashion-forward. That was the time I became brand-conscious. Well, I must admit I bought vintage and second-hand stuff too. Glam? Not really. I always don something with deviance.

Now, well, it's more of whatever (in-season or so-last-season) I find interesting.

I've done, gothic...

rock...

punk...

Tokyo-Harajuku...

(I think this is familiar to everyone. I really found it difficult to find great pictrues to accompany this style and I can't copy most of them. Go to this link for reference: www.style-arena.jp)

and recently, preppy.

(Okay, I know, they all look friggin similar except for the preppy look. Well, effin blame the web search, sigh.)

What have you worn lately?

originally posted by me at call-talkco.kr on 2009/04/28

Insider Wire

At CFDA Town Hall Meeting, Future of Fashion Week Contemplated
Tue, 07/28/09 - 05:36:03 PM

by Rheeno

>> This morning, the CFDA held its first town hall meeting, moderated by CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg, to discuss whether Fashion Week is still relevant. Many attendees agreed with Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough, who voiced his concern: "There seems to be a disconnect. For us, the shows have become a press thing. It's on blogs; magazines pull straight from the runways; and by the time it's in stores, it feels sort of old."

Donna Karan, who has long been a proponent of selling and showing clothes in season, also wondered about the timeliness of the shows: "We are in a crisis. There's no question about it... We spend so much money on shows, but what is it getting us?"

In reply, Diane von Furstenberg pointed out, "People want shows. The photos travel. So ... I don't know." But she remains optimistic: "There is no way when you are in the middle of a tsunami that you can change absolutely everything. But one thing that we can do and that I would like to do is make New York Fashion Week the most dynamic fashion week in the world." She hopes that a solution can be found and organized by September 2010. "Maybe there can be a Fashion Week that says trade and another one that says shop?"

While some were considering the possibility of fashion shows for consumers, Anna Wintour piped up, concerned with the premature discounting that has been happening at the retailer level: "Could someone lead a committee that would make ground rules for retailers of when the discounting starts, and then all the retailers can agree to it?" Von Furstenberg informed her that that would be illegal, but Wintour was not deterred: "Is that something we can change? We have friends in the White House now!" Finally, DVF considered the suggestion: "Anything is possible."

Canceled date? What to do...

by Rheeno

Canceled date? What to do...

Well, after typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy), typhoon Parma (Pepeng) came. However, the latter wasn't able to stop me and my cousin from going out last Friday.

C and I made plans for Friday but because of the news reports and weather forecasts I actually thought it would not pursue. Friday morning, we went with my brother and our grandma for groceries, money changing, and eye check ups. C is my female cousin of the same age from the Windy City and here on a vacation.

After lunch, I told my grandma that C, me and my brother will go out for coffee. With the nearing storm, the sky was gloomy and it was even showering. We went to Market! Market! and strolled a bit - I was looking for a bag to buy. I found one white leather bag at Fused but it was very expensive for such a young brand.

C asked me if we can go somewhere were we can smoke, drink and have dinner. I went to Gilligan's just at the side of the mall. At five o'clock in the afternoon, I was having Zombie, my brother was having Tom Collins, and C was having Johnny Walker Black Label. I didn't know C's drink was expensive: $1 per shot!!! She even wanted to try the Blue Label but it was very expensive at $7 per shot!!! We had dinner there with frozen margarita as beverage.

My mom texted me asking me where I am and telling me to go home early because of the typhoon.

We went home around 9PM. But that was not after buying beer for C's new drinking game.

We saw Kimmy Dora when we went home. (It was the third time for me to watch it.) I was so glad she enjoyed it and she was able to follow the Tagalog (she mostly understands but speaks with difficulty). My brother who has a discriminating taste with movies was found laughing hard too.

After the movie, we had C's drinking game: taking one shot of beer every minute for the next one hour!!! She bet me and my bro will last only 22minutes. We proved her wrong, we finished somewhere after 30minutes. The beer didn't last long.

I was supposed to go on a date last Saturday but because of the typhoon, it was canceled. No matter how much will power I have, mother nature won't be beaten.

So, how did I deal with it? On my way back to my place, I ate one whole big bar of Cadbury Gold Dark Chocolate. After resting a bit, me and my roommates decided to eat out so we had pizza, pasta and salad.

Several friends were asking me out that night but I didn't want to spend anymore. One friend, G, asked me instead to go to her place. So, I went there.

I got there and found out one of our female friends, D, was home, so we chatted a bit until G's other female friend, Ar, arrived. They bought GSM Blue Gin. We set up the living room and waited for D's suitor to arrive. T, the suitor, arrived with a bottle of Mojito Tequila and a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label, and his very cute teacup Yorkshire Terrier, Angus.

We drank the gin first with iced tea while watching typhoon news on tv. LOL We chatted and smoked the whole night away. Speaking of smoke, I bought a pack of Dunhill Frost before going to G's place. I didn't expect D and T to like my smoke so they kept on asking for it. I think we finished two packs that night.

Angus, the Yorkie, stayed in my lap most of the time until he threw up. I think he was able to inhale some cigarette smoke, poor dog, he was such a cutee!!!

After finishing the gin, we hit the tequila - done with salt and lime. It was interestingly great. I don't usually drink tequilas, you see. I ended up drunk, LOL. D passed out first and she slept with Angus. Ar, was next. I was third. I didn't dare try the Black Label.

So, G and T were left. We have finished the tequila so they only had J. Walker and Tanduay Ice (I think it is an alcopop) that D left behind. G mixed J. Walker and Tanduay Ice - the next day, she felt feverish and couldn't move much, LOL. She said her body reacts badly with whiskey (J. Walker). She usually goes for brandy. T was also drunk I think but he and G were still able to clean the place before going to sleep.

I slept a bit and went home at 7AM. I slept more when I got home - the gin gave me a stomachache, ugh.

I saw Transformers2: Revenge of the Fallen on DVD last night. It was a cool movie, better than the first one.

G texted me yesterday that Angus is in the vet because it felt sick because of the rain - he got wet on the way to G and D's place, I think. I hope he's okay now.

**************
Well, there are many sides to it. Do you want me to explain each side? I hope not.

Anyway, I think that fashion weeks are still relevant. We still have to showcase the new designs, right? I mean, designers have to dress people still.

I don't think that the problem is in the blogs and preview pictures. I think that they even help. Although, it is not impossible for someone to feel that the design is a bit old when s/he buys it after seeing it a few months before. I don't think that the trickle down (and if ever there is reverse engineering in fashion and clothing) effect is so fast as to shelf it on the department stores before the original designs are sold.

Anna Wintour has always been so notorious.

Nontheless, good luck to the CFDA people. Also, I can't wait for September's fashion week here in Manila. I hope my friends' shows would be on weekends so that I can WATCH!!!

What about you? What do you think? Is fashion week still relevant?


reference: fashionologie.com http://www.fashionologie.com/3620872

Are Social Networks the New Paparazzi?

by Rheeno

Unwanted tags on Facebook and revealing Twitpics when drunk, have we become our very own versions of the paparazzi? New York private members club, Protocols aims to keep parties fearlessly free of virtual gossip by banning blogging, tweeting & photography.

Could the news News that Brad Pitt wants to build his own airstrip at his French Chateau to avoid being snapped at airports, and billionaire Abramovich is adding an 'anti-paparazzi shield' to his new billionaire dollar yacht to avoid the glare of cameras - could living one's life in private suddenly be chic again?

Michael Malice, author and blogger who is the organizer behind NY's new media salon Protocols - has said the idea behind keeping social networks out of his evenings is to allow people to talk fearlessly. And herein perhaps lies the problem of web fatigue.

Our continuous stream of status updates, tweets and flawless Facebook profile pics envisage a world of flawless beauties filled with ultra-exciting lives and packed social calendars. The reality for many of us however is we turn to social networking when we're alone (hence the thirties attraction to Twitter), with that solo glass of chardonnay convincing ourselves, we're not drinking alone because we're tweeting our friends.

Documenting situations leave us circling encounters rather than diving head first into them, and the selective uploading of personal photos leads to an editing process where one's close friends and relationships are scrutinised for online credibility.

Even music is not spared. Last FM, the new arbiter of online music sharing, has its been said changed the face of music charts. Users wanting to put their best musical face forward have dropped personal favourites (those dodgy albums we like to listen to alone) in favour of the latest cool download.

The upshot? Thousands of users, with similar 'cool' musical libraries and leading us to question when is accessibility to each others information a good thing, and at what point does it start to morph a generation of clones?

Kerry Olsen
Source: Vanity Fair, NY Times, People Magazine
Photo Credit: PlayLust

A Generation of Clones

by Rheeno

As one saying I heard, "you are unique, just like everybody else."

Well, Kerry Olsen couldn't put it any more fitting. Status updating on Facebook and Tweeting are banal (?) attempts to make our lives appear interesting when most of the times our cellphones don't even ring. One must admit though that there are really people who have interesting lives, let alone a full social calendar. The one who has the most packed calendar seems to be the most chic.

About (music) profile sharings, here we can say that a person can finally download a life, though it's not really his own, but others'. Copying other people, where's originality there? Or is the word "original" just a historical, traditional, conventional concept? It has happened to art before. But since art imitates life, life could be the next victim in this age of mechanical reproduction. What I fear is that our lives will soon be like mass produced from social networking factories.

Crazy? It's like the Internet hangover or something. Well, at least there are still people who think and question these phenomena. However, most people are so much like sheep. Have you seen that cartoon wherein a sheep was sitting in front of the TV because people who watch too much TV tends to just follow the pack and not think on their own? Well, we can replace the TV in that cartoon with a computer monitor now.

Glamour really does manufacture ENVY. (First used on the magazine 'Glamour' and now on the word itself.)

I'm really just blubbering.

http://www.swide.com/luxury-magazine/en/Life/HoWhere/Are-social-networks-the-new-paparazzi-/2009/10/006/