MFO Turns Two! We've Come A Long Way Baby!

Happy Birthday T(w)o Us! Yes, MFO turns two today and guess what, yours truly will be going to New York Fashion Week this coming September! Yes, as in actually working the circuit to go to shows and even backstage!!! Well, not to all the shows unfortunately, only the ones that I can get into for now, and can fit in my housewife schedule, hahaha! We can't leave the house dirty and Dear Hubby with nothing to eat right?

Check out the schedule below for a preview of what's to come! (click to enlarge)

Who knows, maybe next season you'll be joining me! Life is full of surprises and writing this blog never fails to surprise and amaze me! Two years ago, I was just sitting on a couch in front of the TV, writing out my thoughts to myself. Yes my audience of one. Fast forward to now and I'm actually taking short courses at FIT, meeting New York fashion industry insiders (from buyers to showroom owners, fashion label executives, sourcing consultants and soon, fashion event organizers!) and enthusiasts (fashion students, professionals looking to a career shift in fashion, etc), visiting showrooms and all that so that I may have something interesting to share with you all! Take my hand and let's look back to my previous posts just to see how far we've come (although the trip really, has just begun)!

AUGUST 17, 2006

Hello! Nice to meet you dahling!

Before anything, let me introduce myself: The Closet Fashionista

I first came across the F word over a decade ago as I was poring through the pages of British Vogue while waiting for my flight out of London Heathrow. It was the summer I turned 18, living on allowance but pretentiously into labels I could not afford, that I lived the life vicariously by buying fashion magazines. (To my parents' middle class sensibilities, it was a puzzle why I was into clothes & the styling life when I was neither socialite nor star. They could not understand my deep interest in fashion and I could offer no explanation.)

At that very instant, while staring at the italicized fonts, I understood why I was different. I belonged to a "cursed" breed, an army of connoisseurs who live for fashion; afflicted with an acute sense when it comes to spotting trends and appreciating details, that the idea of mainstream horrifies them.

Knowing I was a fashionista and coming out of my closet to admit that I was one posed a problem. Growing up in a no-nonsense, frugal home, exhibiting my passion for fashion would make me an obvious target for ridicule. However, I feel I have an obligation to explain the essence of a fashionista, skinny jeans, breezy frocks, oversize bags, dirty linen and all.

The Fashion Foibles

Fashion is an addiction I struggled with, forcing me into suspicious if not bothering behavior: tearing receipts so my mom wouldn't know how much I spent for another pair of shoes, foregoing savings for cult jeans, risking a traffic violation while checking out a lola crossing Kamuning road because I was inspired by her Marc Jacobs meets Prada look, buying a watch just because my style icon Madonna wore one herself, and spending six months of accumulated summers in London during my teen years scouring the streets (read: Knightsbridge, Oxford Street, Bond Street), bumming in parks, going to museums, and watching people every day; rather than taking summer courses on finance at the University of London, as my dad had suggested, seriously believing that both activities were equally worthwhile.

Coming to Terms

Writing about this confession came at an opportune time. At best, this is my coming out letter, a published tell all of my fashion faux pas, an admission of a secret life. At the least, I have given my two cents worth on the fashionista phenomenon. This is not just about having the money to buy designer clothes, wearing what's hot or being in the fashion industry per se. As authors Dela Cruz and Robinovitz of The Fashionista Files puts it, it is acknowledging that fashion is a "form of art, self-expression, and a representation of more emotional roots". It is a serious field of study that Holly Brubach, a self-confessed Dedicated Follower of Fashion, likens fashion to architecture.

Simply put, a fashionista is not simply interested in clothes and trendy must-haves; she knows herself and wears clothes to express her history and individuality. Her passion extends to art, culture, and social issues and disproves the impression that her kind has cashmere for brains. A fashionista derives satisfaction in looking and feeling good, but knows that what matters most of all is who she is beyond the stylish clothes.

AUGUST 17, 2007

Birthday Blog! MFO Turns One Today!

Happy Birthday to us! Yup! One year ago today, I put up this blog to keep me busy back home while hubby was in Cambridge, MA taking up further studies in law. It also served as an outlet for me to document my observations and obsessions about stuff I liked, in the hopes that talking about it would satiate my urge to buy it! Which in a way worked! Hehehe! Its just a happy coincidence that in the course of keeping me occupied, it also entertained and informed my fabulous fashionista readers as well! Thanks to you guys, my fixation with fashion doesn't seem so frivolous anymore because I feel so useful when you ask me for advice and request for posts on stuff you'd like me to feature! It also makes me so happy when you tell me you enjoy reading my posts!

Looking back, I never expected that MFO would evolve into what it is now. What started as rambling musings turned into an advice column/recognizable shopping blog. What's best, in one year, I gained a lot of online friends and quite a following across the world! Not bad, not bad at all! I hope you continue to stay with me as I start a new chapter and a new year for this blog! Because I can guarantee you that there are more exciting things to come! I just know!

As I look out the window now to a fantastic view of the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline from our apartment, I advise you to gear up for a fun ride because I'm taking you with me on another adventure as we take on the streets of Manhattan --Fifth and Seventh Avenues especially!

That is, when I'm not running errands or cleaning house! Hahaha!

Well, I'm still running errands and cleaning house, but true enough, my days have become very exciting indeed! At least now I get to do the things I would just read and write about before! And for me, that is quite a feat! I never would have thought back when I started, when I was just surfing the net and clicking on runway photos that I would actually get to step foot inside the Bryant Park tents during New York Fashion Week in just two years! I never expected that I would be invited into New York City showrooms and trade shows to see the clothes that will come out in stores a year in advance, and it still amazes me to observe buyers and boutique owners picking out clothes and accessories and seeing which taste jives with mine, hahaha! Hmmm, I may have a future in buying for posh stores or better, buying for my own specialty store! Hey, you never know, anything is infinitely possible these days!

I get this feeling, Manila Fashion Observer may pretty soon be a New York Fashion Insider! Hey, it's free to dream! Hehehe!

Thanks everyone for the comments and the emails all these years! Thanks thanks thanks! Mwah Mwah Mwah! For sticking with me kids, buckle your seat belts, I'm taking you all with me!!! We'll celebrate dear readers!!! We've got places to go to and people to see, it's gonna be one heck of a joy ride!!!