thrifting – Girl Gone Cuckoo

maternity diary: what do i wear?

Every girl’s dilemma before going out of the house is this: “I don’t have anything to wear.” Would you agree? Well at least that was the case for me. I’d say this everytime I’d open my closet to which my husband would reply with a snort. I’d roll my eyes at him and he’d point out his smaller clost compared to mine.

I’ve always leaned towards loose clothes and layer them for a hippie chic look. Whenever I wore form fitting clothes though, I’d always pair it with something flowy or loose. When I got pregnant and my tummy got bigger, most of my style philosophies went out the window. And that what to wear dilemma happened daily.

The 1st Trimester
For me this was the most challenging of all. My body has just started changing and the little bump developing looked like extra tummy fat (hihi). My hips have become wider which I really wasn’t used to because I had really narrow hips. My shorts didn’t fit me anymore and I couldn’t really wear form-fitting tops. I hoarded pajama pants which turned out to not just be flattering but were also very comfortable with its cotton material. I wore looser knit tops over my pajama pants or cotton leggings. Of course, my maxi dresses which I consider wardrobe staples stayed loyal to me all throughout my pregnancy.

The 2nd Trimester – 3rd Trimester
Around the 5th month, my tummy was more pronounced. My pajama pants wouldn’t fit anymore as my legs have grown bigger too. I didn’t want to buy maternity clothes because frankly the ones in malls are not so fashionable and I didn’t want to spend money for clothes I won’t use all throughout the year. All my skirts were meant to be worn on the waist. So what to do?

I wore my maxi and midi skirts over my tummy. And to create shape and not look like a big cloud of clothes, I tied my shirts over the skirt waist.
I wore my husband’s work shirts (haha!) over simple black cotton leggings. This automatically became my errand outfit.
I banked on my maxi dresses and wore them to death — as in I’d wear them right after they’d come from laundry.
Shift dresses that used to be below the knee are now above the knee because of my tummy.
I wasn’t afraid to wear form-fitting dresses because how many times can I get pregnant and flaunt a beautiful tummy? Thus, the 2nd set of maternity session with Blinkbox Photos below. ♥

Note: More photos of maternity outfits below the series.

neutral floral chiffon dress, max mara (worn with a nude-hued slip dress) | army green parka, thrifted | leopard print combat boots, doc martens (gifted from sister) | necklaces, bracelets and statement ring, vintage stores and forever 21

“maternity session taken at 35 weeks” photography by Blinkbox Photos | hair & make-up by Suzaine Christi Smith

A few of my outfits while pregnant:

plum tinkerbell

“you look like tinkerbell…” that’s what everybody told me when i wore this outfit to work. of course, all i can do is smile because there’s nothing else to do. i don’t know if they say i look like tinkerbell because it’s so juvenile or that i look like tinkerbell because it’s pretty. maybe both for some. LOL.

i got this dress from one of the spur-of-the-moment thrifting trips my mom and i made a couple of months ago — which my mom and i had more frequently before she left for Aussie and where my dad so happily obliged to drive us wherever we wanted to go. i love going thrifting with my mom. she’s been at it for so many years, she knows what to look for and definitely knows whether a stain can be removed or not. sooner or later though, it seems she has evolved to wearing my style or i hers. on casual days, she wears loose tops with a long cardigan and skinny jeans. sometimes you can’t tell us apart — except that she’s really fair and i’m not.

be kind, rewind four | transcending time

blue floral dress – thrifted | leopard-print wedges – shoe etiquette | braided belt – primal rave wholesale | cutout cuff – downtown find | rings: mustache, spike and lion – downtown finds

it always feels like Christmas to me whenever i find a good condition vintage dress for a steal (say, P50?). some vintage clothes have a certain wear and tear in them and some have the obviously dated fit. this floral dress is definitely one of my favorites — it has that old-style feel of the 50’s like something my grandma wore and its material is made of a thicker chiffon with a thicker lining (not those flimsy ones you find in clothes nowadays) but the fit and style transcends time. at least i think it does. i am just such a sucker for girly dresses with a certain whimsy or frill.

be kind, rewind details: remember a year and a half ago that i wore this dress to formo? (mind you, i stood out and was definitely misplaced — photo below). paired it then with my Gold Dot Alfreda wedges and now i wanted to add more oomph to it by pairing it with a contrasting leopard print pair of wedges from Shoe Etiquette.

how else would you style this dress?

i’m sure there are a lot of ways and i can’t wait to recycle this on more occasions. ♥

stealing granny’s style

i have always had this affinity for granny clothes especially those that come with a gartered waist and electric pleats. i always get overly excited when i see electric pleats and the science behind creating those stunning folds never ceases to amaze me. so when i saw this dress at PHP 50.00 ($1.20), i was immensely elated and couldn’t believe what a steal it was. the dress is pleated, polka dotted and has scalloped sleeves — just my cup of tea.

wearing granny clothes can easily lean both ways, looking juvenile like a 13-year old girl or looking well, like a grandma. so i had my dad cut 2 inches off the hem to make the dress more modern. the only regret? he cut it too short because i measured it too short — i was bending when i made the cutting mark! LOL. so to style a granny dress more youthfully, i layered on a chunky necklace and studded belt, added gazillions of bangles and a pair of chunky rings to create that extra jingle, topped the outfit with a bowler hat and let my hair down. voila! juvenile and granny no more. what do you guys think? would you wear granny clothes?

sunday mornings with you

i said i never would but i went back to the night shift. i must say i am more productive with this schedule. Sundays are more special because i spend them with Harry and we’d have super late dinners, spend an hour or so watching TV, workout on the stepper and lift weights, go walking around our neighborhood and attend Church on its second schedule. my mornings are no longer spent being sleepy and in bed.

the scheduled maintenance by the local electric company didn’t stop us from enjoying last Sunday. we did our usual activities in the morning and added visiting the mall right when its doors opened to have brunch at French Baker and shop for a pair of boots for our South Korea trip this November. unfortunately, the mid-calf boots that was on sale at Janilyn no longer had my size. we went home right after lunch to find out the electricity was still out and will be out until 6:00 PM. so we changed into comfier clothes and went thrifting around Jones avenue. my favorite shop is already closed but a new shop opened just across the street and to my delight, i found the perfect pair of boots at only PHP 336 ($8.00)! can you believe it? you’ll see the pair when i wear it in South Korea.
i can’t wait! ♥

erratic behavior

if you’re thinking about something bad, don’t. i’m just talking about the weather. as sunny as my photo is now, the direct opposite happened just last week. the sky was dark for 4 days and the rains were so heavy that my car got flooded as i was driving out of the office to buy food for lunch. cleaning my car caused me P1,500 and i had to get some repairs done too. yes, it was that heavy and i’m sure it was heavier and a lot worse in other areas. for those who are in areas that are most likely to get hit by typhoons, keep safe and be prepared.

anyway, on a lighter note, do you find my white blazer to be like that of a doctor’s? i bought this 2 years ago but i’ve only worn this twice, i think. i bought it because it’s cotton and very breezy but it’s very tricky to wear. what do you think? did i style it right?

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

what would you wear?

even if my feet would ache terribly and eventually die all-together from my 5 inch heels, i’d still wear this out if i could attend the Philippine Fashion Week. this is of course, if i’m invited and if i’d be one of the other fashion bloggers invited to the event. there’s really nothing special with this outfit but it’s a perfect representation of me: vintage and a little bit of boho rock. and yes, my dress is thrifted too — a printed electric-pleated dress with a ruffled neckline that used to be knee-length. i asked my dad to trim off some length, added a black studded belt and black leggings, tall heels and my signature stacks of bangles and a couple of rings. i’ve come to prove that style doesn’t have to be expensive. (on the details below, i’ll list the prices of the items in this outfit.)

september is the start of the fashion year with fashion week events all over the world. as i’m still comfortably stuck on my seat just watching the week in amazement on the internet, i’m just participating in Chicisimo’s septemer event — What would you wear to the Philippines’ Fashion Week? Paxie of Drowning Equilibriums is the co-organizer of this event here in the Philippines and she is definitely one fabulous gal. so let’s play a game. participate here:

vintage orange printed, eletric-pleated dress – thrifted, php 180

black leggings – random, php 150

black cutout heels – forever 21, php 1500

black belt with gold ring studs – pratunam find, 50 baht

bangles: plastic faux gold – props, php 100 | braided beads – chatuchak, 30 baht

butterfly ring – gifted from sweet

the art of thrifting

another thrifted find. i know, you must be wondering where i shop. and might be thinking that i just walk in the vintage shop already filled with awesome stuff. i wish! thrifting takes patience and needs a bit of learning.

i started out at 12 years old and that was before people and fashion magazines labeled thrifting as cool. before, it was a taboo of some sort. we can’t talk about it. as a child, we’d go thrifting at one of the local markets in our province every summer — where people can’t see us! haha! and where most of the cool stuff are. the market is stuffy and the clothes are on bamboo racks and platforms. you’d have to literally rummage through the clothes. mind you, it was super dusty! but the finds are worth it — vintage tees and cute dresses at only P5 – P50 (that’s $0.10 to $1) each. it was always something we looked forward to.

in college, we’d wake up really early on sundays and go to our local market in Cebu. ukay-ukay (vintage) vendors would all lay their tables and hang their racks everywhere on the streets — this is from thursday evening to sunday. this became our sunday habit. the market is sometimes smelly and muddy, full of sweaty people and noisy. since i was in college, i’d scour for vintage and graphic tees, denim shorts and skirts, long-sleeved shirts and dresses. the prices ranged from P10 – P80 ($0.20 to $1.60). we soon realized though that we were buying more ‘could be’ stuff — stuff that needs altering, fixing or snipping. we’d soon have piles on our sewing machine — waiting to be altered.

we’ve long let go of our sunday habit and just shop at the nearby vintage stores — air-conditioned and the clothes are properly organized and on hangers. the prices are a bit more expensive than the street kinds at P50 – P200 ($1 to $4) but we don’t have to bear the sweat, smell and grind of the market. not too much alterations are needed too. and i personally have learned something, before buying anything, i need to picture if the item is something i can wear over and over. if it’s just a ‘could be’ or a ‘i could possibly’ item, it’s off of my list. now i can’t wait for the weekend — new stuff at our nearby vintage store!

ps. my dad does the alterations to our dresses. he shortens them, trims the waist, alters our flare jeans to skinnies..LOL. his grandma taught him how to sew. love you dad!

striped dress – thrifted

red flats with chain detail – celine

black leather bag – lil’ sister’s

thin black belt – props

long watch necklace – hk gift shop

gold bangles – from india

layered beaded bracelet – from a friend at P80

i just close my eyes

before anything else, i know everyone is saddened by the death of Alexander McQueen. He was a genius designer and will be greatly missed by the fashion industry. RIP Lee McQueen.

so i’m back to work. back to the grind and very deep in it. nothing interesting has happened to me since coming back from my long weekend. although now, when i’m overwhelmed with the piles of work, i close my eyes and think that at the end of the day, i’m going home to a tree house cottage with ambient lights and a comfortable bed. it comforts me for a minute and makes everything all right again.

i’ve been thinking about putting up a “vanilla ice cream shop”. people have been asking me where i buy my clothes or how i’m so lucky at thrifting. well, thrifting is a hobby. it’s something my mom and i love to do. we do it monthly and we buy in bulks — trust me, my arms get sore after shopping at vintage stores. i was thinking of selling some of the stuff i bought (washed and ironed, of course) and if i love what i bought too much, design something inspired by the item and have it custom-made for the shop. what do you think?

ruffled top – thrifted

cropped black knit cardigan – thrifted

black croc belt – props

skinny jeans – chillypapas

grey flats – so fab (big sister’s gift!)

spiral cuffs – props

gun-metal reindeer necklace – bubble bee gift shop

clouds in the sky

after days of scorching hot weather, we finally got some clouds. i love clouds not because i love gloom but it’s a break from the heat. the only time i love the heat is when i’m at the beach. it’s not a complete beach experience if i can’t get a tan.

so my sister, mom and i went thrifting this morning. i scored around 5 dresses and 2 tops. i’ll soon be wearing them on future posts. on the thrift store though, there was this woman who was always asking people there if what she’s choosing is stylish. what ticked me off was when she approached me and asked me to fit what she chose because she’d like to see if it looks good. and pathetic me cannot say no even when i wanted to. ugggh! it looked good though — a black top with pleated details. and i wish i could have grabbed it from her.

aside from thrifting, we went to the market to buy some veggies and horns for tonight. it’s my first new year not spent with my family — i’m going to be at work! hmmmm… so many changes this year. might do a recap post this weekend. we’ll see. anyway, i have to sleep. so tired. good night!

striped top – thrifted

white tank top – kid’s section

skinny jeans – chillypapa

maryjanes – a gift from my sis

long necklace (reindeer in gun metal) – bubble bee gift shop

gun metal cuffs – props

sterling silver howlite ring – dane’s giveaway