The Perfect Basic Cotton Shirt

Styles come and go but in terms of tops, none can quite compete with the comfort, versatility and timelessness of 2 things. First, A basic button down, and second, a plain V-necked shirt. While the former is my lazy girl go to staple because its a day to night- monday to sunday piece, In this post I will tackle the latter.

A good cotton shirt is the most comfortable top in the world, especially for temperate climates like the Philippines. It allows you to be totally mobile while keeping stylish and gives you room to have fun styling. It's no wonder it's the go to signature piece of designers, architects, off-duty models, and the like. 

You can wear it under a suit/ blazer on an expo, with trousers and a statement necklace to work,  denim shorts and gladiators on a hot summer day, or in my case, with a high-slit maxi skirt, wide-rimmed hat and stilettos. You will be surprised at how much you can actually need this piece when you have it. 

Sometime last year, us Cebu Fashion Bloggers were challenged to put together a look that will best showcase our personal styles using this shirt from Giordano and this what I came up with at the last minute: Subtly sexy but mostly just effortless, feminine, and classy.

Hands down, a basic v-shirt is the ultimate key piece to an off-duty look. But take note, for plain shirts, FIT is ALWAYS KEY. I like mine flattering but not tight, a little relaxed but not excessively oversized. So depending on your body type and personal aesthetic, find yours and discern well.

How would you style your V-neck cotton shirt? :)

Shirt: Giordano* Skirt: Blind Clothing* Heels: Charles and Keith* Hat: SM Ladies* Necklaces: Forever 21 * Watch: Skagen

Photo: Burtz Rolian

Locale: Movenpick Hotel

Hair & Make-up: Ava Celocia

Grind Days.

Life has been increasingly different since the last time I wrote on this blog.

So much has changed.

My lifestyle, lately I find myself lucky to be in town for even just half of the work week as I spent the other half touring project sites.

(Exhausting and lonely!! but fun! )

My daily schedule, I am now working on my own firm and dedicating my full attention on private practice as an architect.

(Very exciting, but schedules can be very erratic.)

My opinions, thoughts, preferences, palette, priorities, among others.

But one thing that hasn't changed over a century?

My affinity for effortlessly chic and comfortable dressing.

                  

Picture this. I landed home friday evening, had the whole saturday to do everything I could do in one day because on sunday I had to leave again for an out of town shoot.
I was home for just one day, so I was definitely on vacation mode as I savoured it. But I needed to hustle at the same time otherwise the day would be put to waste.

To me, this is the outfit that translates that.

For days I'd spend without trips and meetings, (aka. personal errand days, days spend working inside coffee shops, light site visits, canvassing and purchasing materials) I basically choose to live in clothes that are made of light breezy fabric (what with the heat lately!) and functional. If I know it will limit me (or even irritate me) sometime in the day, it's a no go. I think it's very important to choose pieces that will compliment your active lifestyle and help you become your most productive self. 25 year old me now believes, more than ever, that comfort should weigh heavily with aesthetics, a balance needs to be met.  If athletes have performance wear, working girls have theirs too. ;)

The key to having a trendy twist is incorporating trends with basic.

I picked these timeless cotton trousers but in gray-white gingham pattern and this v-neck shirt but in a midriff- bearing overlap style.

Simple, but chic.

Casual. But not rugged.

Corporate, had you changed a few elements.

For the ultimate chill factor, mandals. bedhead. 

Very simple formula.

In architecture, we always say "form over function"

In fashion I'd say form with function.. function with form. 

Sure, for special occasions one can make a little compromise but when it's a regular grind day, 

one should never be without the other.  ;)

{ Top: Sabrina | Trousers: Uniqlo | Mandals: Parisian | Shades: Sunnies | Necklace: Forever 21 }

 **************************

Our work on "Kairos by the Lazy Chef" was on "Sunstar Live!" earlier this month.

I'd like to thank Monica Lopez for featuring Chef Chip Lopez' culinary loft and I'd like to urge everyone to book a reservation and try out this unique food excursion where everything is vegan, always fresh and seasonal, mostly home-grown, and of course, delectable!

More about that on the blog next week! :)

xx

Dawn

Welcome to Cebu, Kiehl's!

Special thanks to Marco Paulo Diala of Philippine Street Fashion for lending me his photos! <3

L to R Marco, Joanna, Doyzkie, Vanessa and Karlo

Bagels, hotdogs, booze, good music, and good company. Last night it poured hard at the metro but at the gallery of the Ayala Center Cebu.. it poured, well, something else. 

It was a fun and quirky downtown NYC-themed party last night at the gallery as Cebuanos Celebrated the opening of KIEHL's, the forefront in providing the world's finest skincare . Yep, they have finally arrived at the Queen City of the South, and Zee Lifestyle did nothing short of a good job in organizing a kick ass party! Unfortunately, I got stuck in the crazy rain and traffic missed the party but this was just too fun to not share with all of you guys. What's more is that today, they officially open their doors to everyone. In fact since 1pm earlier, they've been giving out free tote + travel kits to the first 100 shoppers! Isn't that a treat? I'm personally excited to try their much talked-about rejuvenating night serum! I'm a personal believer of investing on skin care over make-up! :)

 What began as an old world apothecary, 3rd avenue and 13th street, NYC, are now the purveyors of the finest skin care formulated using one-of-a-kind ingredients. Check out Kiehl's at the G/F of the Ayala Center Cebu New Wing and be part of Kiehl's timeless stories to getting beautiful skin, hair and body. No rules, just skin care that works. Join them as they celebrate old & new stories from this new-york born and bred brand that's well-loved all over the world! What you waiting for? Headddd. Onnnnn. Nowwww. :)

Congratulations again, Zee Lifestyle and Kiehls Philippines. And thanks to the beautiful Paula G of Zee for inviting me over!

CELEBRITY + BLOGGERS FASHION AND FOOD BAZAAR at The Outlets!

What's up Cebu? Our beautiful island city just never runs out of surprises for us. After Hyper last last week, comes another event to look forward to, and it's happening TODAY. :)

In celebration of Cebu Business Month, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce launched ISLAND MADNESS SALE. A series of exciting events to boost tourism, business and consumerism for our beloved Ubec.

What I'll talk about here is the event I'll be part of, CELEBRITY + BLOGGERS FASHION AND FOOD BAZAAR! See poster above for details because I don't want to bore you, and it's happening right now as we speak. Aside from the outlet stores at The Outlets at Pueblo Verde, below are the booths you'll find at the event. Isn't it exciting. Shop, meet your local bloggers and fave top Manila bloggers Camille Co, Lissa Kahayon, Kryz Uy, and David Guison, and then go food trippin to your heart's content! :)

What's that? It's far away from the city? Well they got that covered. See below shuttle schedules that will take you from Ayala Center Cebu or SM City Cebu to the event venue and back FOR FREE. How convenient is that? ;) Gather the troops,  pick up your bags, and head on down to The Outlets. It'll be until tomorrow, Sunday, June 15. 

As I'm typing this I'm currently stuck at work quite frankly, in danger of not being able to make it because of work priorities. BUT! With or without me, you should definitely go. I'll be sharing the same booth with Issa Perez of Issaplease so check out her stuff as well. We're at Booth # 2 at the center aisle. I'll keep this short so you can start moving. Haha. Have fun! :) x

What Went Down at #HYPERCEBU

A bunch of familiar faces.. Heaps of clothes to rummage from and go crazy for... loads of food to try and be adventurous about... a sea of familiar and soon-to-be-familiar faces... music accompanying the chill afternoon vibe and intense rave night.. This was how I spent my weekend 2 weeks ago at #Hypercebu. 

More than a melting pot of Cebuano interests (food, travel, technology, fashion, charity), I'd say it was like a hair-down acquaintance party of Cebu's youth (haha), a youthful celebration of our electric, modern culture. I could have been doing so many other things that weekend but by some twist of fate I made it and I couldn't be happier to be a part of it. So here's what went down. 

Special thanks to my fellow bloggers Jean Candice Yu, Sophia Sanchez, and the Official Hyper Page for some of the photos I'm about to share below.

 *Day One*

The entrance. Parking was quite haaaard.


Facing the Stage/ Event Area

The Cebu Fashion Bloggers booth

My booth! :)

My booth mate, Sophia! :) 

Who's also by the way, a soon-to-be architect currently doing her apprenticeship! \m/

Sophia with Jesse who's also just started blogging about men's fashion. ;) What a cute pair!

Me and Chup (what I call Sophia) with my very cute twinsie, Issa of Issaplease.

Thanks twin, for helping me out with set-up. <3

Me and Chup with, ofcourse, our superstar in the Cebu blogging community, Gillian of bydetails. <3

How this girl sarrived 6 hours prior to us and still managed to look #Hyperfresh and #hyperchic is beyond me! haha!

Us with this beautiful man responsible for gathering all of us bloggers for Hyper, Rabsin of Finlust. Haha. Thanks so much babe for accomodating us. Love youuuu.

With one of my fave food bloggers, Marco of Phil. Street Fashion and Lami Kaayo. :)

Finally met Jean of Anything Goes, welcome to CFB, Jean!  And with us was our  good common friend, Christine. <3 So sad I didn't get to snap photos with the other bloggers, hopefully next time!

Family love!

Meet my gorgeous booth assistant, Ninz and my sexy driver and cargador, Don. Hahaha :P

Cebu Fashion Bloggers holding a give-away via Bring-me game. Where else will you more than 10 blogger give-aways in one place and win it so quickly or easily?? :))

My photodump ends here. Haha. 

Sorry I didn't get to take photos of the other booths but my twinsie Issa did a really good cover of that and you can read about it in her post here :)

So, evening befell us and God knows what the place turned into. :))

I set down my booth at 9, went to the party for awhile and then pulled an all nigher at a place close by to work on something for my architecture practice, slept just a little bit in the wee hours, and headed straight to Day 2, in a polo borrowed from Buddy because I wasn't planning on manning my booth hands-on at Day 2 but changed my mind. Whew. Haha.

*Day Two*

Ninniebumbini.

Free hugs from Don for al my buyers. Hahha. Joke.

With Rabs again, just before set-down. Not sure if this guy even slept. I do remember buying him 3 glasses of beer the night before as he was busy crowd-controlling at the entrance gate during the rave? ;)) Beer bribes. Haha. 

                                                       With Ate Tine of Instyle Cebu. 

With my baby Scarlet and new friend Christine of XOFS. This girl practically made friends with all the booths its amazing. :))

So there! Over-all, it's been an exhausting and exhilirating weekend, no doubt. 

Thanks and congratulations to the organizers for having us, the people who came buy and shopped for a cause, and to the readers/ Blind Clothing community who dropped by and said Hi. I'm sure by now you realize how completely human and candid (and petite) I actually am. Hahaha. My love goes out to you guys! x

Shout out as well to all the friends I got to catch up with and those I got to meet! Until the next one, #hyperhalloween is brewing around the corners somewhere but that's a story for another day. ;)

Later! :)