a YEAR ago from today...

...Vanilla Ice Cream did its first post as a style blog. the outfit was from the the first day of our family trip in Hongkong where amid the sea of black and grey in the streets, i stayed true to myself and wore a bohemian-inspired color palette. Vanilla Ice Cream has surely come a long way since that day. with so much inspiration from Karla de Rass and Alice Point, i pushed myself to embark on a style rollercoaster. everyday was and is still a challenge but i am still completely loving the way style blogging has continued to push me out of my boundaries and explore styles that can express myself. here are some of my favorite looks over the past year:

to all the readers who have followed vanilla ice cream since day one, thank you with all my heart. to the new readers, i hope you like what you find here. all of you continue to encourage me to dress and be my best everyday.

yes, a giveaway is not far along. i'll be posting one soon once i finalize the items to be given away. stay tuned for that one!

head over heels

as kids, we grew up watching cinderella getting help from mice, birds and her fairy godmother. we watched how ariel and eric were serenaded "kiss the girl" by frogs and how a candelabra and a teapot were singing to belle and the beast. these fairytales amazed me and instilled in me an optimism that had carried on till' now.

having grown up, we now believe in different kinds of fairytales. aside from the usual soulmate-fate-take the risk movies, there is one kind of fairytale that i constantly long for. the fairytale of a place where all ladies can wear heels without strain. i watch how Carrie Bradshaw, Serena Van Der Woodsen and Andrea Sachs walk, romp and run in heels that i can't help but wonder how it is possible. my shoes and theirs may differ in price by the thousands so theirs might have the extra comfort but it certainly can't be denied that the constant tiptoe form of the feet would still eventually hurt.

so i may own all those heels above but the longest time i can tolerate the pain is 5 hours (12 hours if i'm in a carpeted room). running around in heels on hard pavement will always be a fantasy.

i've been electri-pleated!

one of the perks of rummaging through thrift or vintage shops is finding a good number of good quality pleated skirts and dresses and every time i score one, i immediately sift through the folds and am just amazed at how it flows. i've been lucky enough to score 3 electric pleated skirts in the last 3 weeks on our recent thrifting trips and i can't wait to wear all of them. meet the first one: a black double-layered electric pleated skirt. and i can't help swaying with it when i walk.

printed tee - thrifted

black pleated skirt - thrifted

black wedge sandals - parisian, sm dept store

stacks of bangles - carbon finds

rings - carbon finds

faux snake skin belt - pratunam, bangkok

oops, i thought this was a dress!

growing up in a catholic school, strict rules about dressing up and grooming were enforced. we were always to wear sandos or undershirts underneath our white cotton uniform (which became more excruciating when we reached high school because our blouses became long sleeved). we were not supposed to wear any manicure, pluck our eyebrows nor dye our hair. to be more conservative, we were to wear undershorts beneath our skirts. well, on regular days unless we had to wear our white skirts, most girls in our school wore undershorts that is, except me. our uniforms were warm enough what with the long sleeved blouse and the below-the-knee thick skirt that wearing shorts was excruciating for me. so now, i've carried on the non-undershort wearing habit unless absolutely necessary like wearing this dress.

actually, this dress, as it turns out required more than undershorts but really a pair of denim ones. when i was dressing up this morning, the dress felt like a dress until i was moving about the whole day and was rummaging at lower bag racks in the department store, did i realize that this dress is actually a blouse. LOL.

cotton printed dress - thrifted

multi-colored gladiator sandals - khaosan road, bangkok

stacks of brass bangles - carbon finds

necklaces: fairy - props | diamond-shaped oriental pattern - gifted from ivy

rings - carbon finds

aviator sunnies - mongkok, hongkong

and oh, before i forget, i'd like to ask for a little favor from you guys. PensandLens is holding a 'Fashion Stylist' photo contest in her Facebook page and the winner gets to win a complete Forever21 ensemble. it may not be a big deal to some outside the Philippines, but i am such a sucker for Forever21. so the little favor you can do for me is to like the photo i entered by clicking on that image on the above. here are two simple steps:

1. 'Like' the PensandLens Facebook page.
2. 'Like' my photo entry.

your votes would certainly make my day if i am announced the winner on november 21, 2010. 

thanks a lot for your support! ♥ ♥ ♥

honey, we can talk about anything

as a kid, i remember my mom asking me to stay silent for even just 5 minutes. yes, it was that impossible for me to stop talking. i was infamous for blabbering about anything that was on my mind. ironically though, despite how talkative i am, i also enjoyed being alone. but i did talk to my stuffed rabbits or dolls or sometimes to myself, as i attempted to write an amateur novel. 

years later, i never thought i could my meet my match and in my soulmate at that. harry talks more than me. his brain is filled with so many ideas and information, i am rendered speechless. so on our usual saturday night date over pasta and cheesecake, while listening to harry talk about one of the authors he spoke to at work, i realized that one thing i should always be thankful for is how harry and i never run out of things to talk about. after 34 months of being together, you would thing our conversations would go in circles and would grow duller by the moment. we will never have that and i'm thankful because not everyone can have that.

"I cannot wait for | I will not wait forever | It's such a drag | Nobody knows me better | I'm heavy like Sunday | I wanna be your reason why..." -- Leona Naess

printed maxi dress - thrifted

long black cardigan - thrifted

beaded sandals - gifted from harry (people are people)

black belt with gold studs - pratunam, bangkok

necklaces: fairy - props | watch - hongkong

bangles - props and carbon finds

rings: blue stone and skull - carbon finds

Blog | Cebu Street Fashion by Armand Alforque

"Above all, remember that the most important thing you can take anywhere is not a Gucci bag or French-cut jeans; it's an open mind..." - Gail Rubin Bereny

behind-the-scenes: cebu fashion bloggers

armand alforque was looking for his next project and suddenly thought of us bloggers. of course we all were glad to jump on the wagon as it's not only a chance for a little bit of publicity for us but also a chance for us, cebu style bloggers to get together and get to know each other. some our boyfriends tagged along and gillian even brought her dad. *smile*

 the style bloggers who participated in this shoot are (left to right in the group photo by the truck): vanessa east of one frozen margarita, gillian uang of by details, toni pino of perfumed red shoes, eden villarba of chic in the tropics, philip lapinid of fashion toy gun and mildred zapanta of dred reveries.

making over my boyfriend

harry asked me yesterday what for me is fashion's significance in society. it felt like a miss universe question and i wanted to immediately answer, "world peace" without batting an eyelash. haha! kidding aside though, i had to think hard before answering because weirdly, i've also been wondering the same thing for the past few days. 

here's my answer: "even if we want to deny that physical appearance doesn't have anything to do with our well being, it does. by looking physically good, we feel mentally and emotionally good as well. take for example, "how do i look" (the reality tv show in lifetime tv). the ones who undergo the makeover initially don't agree that they need one not necessarily because they don't like to dress up but because they're not confident enough to do so. by dressing up (and at the same time being modest about doing so), i'd like to believe that i inspire other people to do the same and in the end, they feel good about themselves. 

harry said: "exactly. just what i thought. and for that, i'm not only getting inspired but i will be joining your world."

i said, looking at his ratty outfit: "in that???"

we had to burst out laughing because that's just how we are. we take turns annoying each other. seriously though, i have indeed seen a transformation in harry ever since i met him more than 2 years ago. back then, he used to own only one pair of sneaks, a handful of shirts and one pair of jeans. he admits to having his eye opened to personal style by me. by being passionate about my personal style, i guess i'm transforming one person at a time.

white top with lace shoulder detail - pratunam, bangkok

brown pleated pants - chatuchak, bangkok (originally armand's)

lace-up wedges - gold dot

camel braided belt - pratunam, bangkok

zebra-print fedora hat - sm dept store

cross necklace - borrowed from aimee

rings: skull and blue stone - carbon finds

bangles - carbon finds