Sunday, January 22, 2012

Enter the Dragon

Yep its a very very cliche way to start a new blog, but what the hey, National Geographic has been running its Chinese New Year special on the original dragon, the legendary Bruce Lee, plus is the Year of the Dragon, I might as well join in the celebration.

I love suits and dressing up for special occasions. Part of the reason is because my daily attire consists of a loose shirt, cargo shorts and sneakers for when I go to my car shop and play mechanic. And when the occasion does call for me to be more dressy, suits are easily my first choice.

I actually remember my very first custom suit. I was 9 years old and its was our grand parents 50th wedding anniversary. It was a double breasted dark navy blue suit with the oh so 80s golden buttons. 

I've owned several over the years but its only in the last 5 years that I started to consider suits as not just pieces of clothing but great wardrobe investments. My first "real" suit was when we took a trip to Italy and my dad told me that we're both getting custom made Hugo Boss custom suits and pants. Like most men, I find fitting and measuring tediously boring, but this was different. The gentleman who did the measuring took time to explain the nuances on what makes an off the rack suit different from one that's made especially for you. Small details like how the inner shirt should extend 1/4" from the edge of the suit, the slight curve that hugs the midsection or how much the shoulder seams should be.

That was my road to Damascus moment.
And last January 27 gave me another chance to dress up for our EMO Stainless Steel jewelry line launch. I've actually had this particular coat for a few months now. This is actually another custom made piece I had done in Shanghai when we were visiting my newly married sister with her Australian husband and she took us to the local "fabric market" Think tiange but all doing suits, uniforms and coats, the size of a single floor in the SM department store.

The inspiration piece is quite similar except it was bulkier and had a cashmere lining inside (they do have freeze your nose off cold weather there). I then requested the tailor if we can do without the cashmere lining and make it more fitting, which he gladly obliged. I did ask him to keep the dragon embroidery for the collar and the pockets. 2 weeks later it arrived via courier and I giddily tried it on.

Here's my custom made dragon collared coat
Here's a close up of the dragon embroidery

While I have worn this before, I did so with black skinny jeans and Nike Air Force one shoes. But the launch requires something a little bit more formal so I went to Megamall to try and find a pair. And son of a bitch! None of the shops had them!!! Not Levi's, Girodano, Monakiki, American BLVD, Marks & Spencer, GAP and even Forever 21! 

I then remembered that during Chinese funerals, we always needed white pants for mourning and the department store should have them. I really wanted skinny jeans but feared that only the baggy kind was available. So of I went and I quickly spotted some white pants in the Lee booth.


I immediately grabbed a pair and tried it out in the dressing room. Perfect, exactly what I was looking for and its a bit stretchy to boot.

Next up where the shoes. I actually shopped for these earlier that night and the big BUY 1 TAKE 1 sign at Maphisto caught my eye. They had these white driving loafers that was just perfect, and I did have to choose another pair.


And since this is supposed to be my jewelry launch, love your own! I initially wanted to wear a necklace but decided against it because it won't be seen with the coat I'm wearing, so I opted for men's bracelet which we do have quite a lot of (you can check them out here http://www.emo.ph/index.php/bracelets/bracelets-men) This was actually my first choice:


Then I remembered the bracelet I used on my calling card. So I decided to go with that. I let my friend Luis wear my first choice during the launching night.


I'm actually still waiting for the pics from my official photographer (I swear I'm gonna fire him) since it was a very busy night with over 70 people showing up! I actually started to panic at point as the room filled up, but everything worked out rather well. 

Lots of thanks to all the fashion bloggers who attended my small gathering and I promise you, this is just but a first of bigger and better things to come.