STATUS MESSAGE
YOKO ONO
ECHO SYSTEM I
recently watched this movie called Limitless, where the character Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) takes a pill which gives him superhuman abilities. I wish I could tap into the power of my mind like Eddie, but unfortunately, I can’t (at least not yet). However, this makes me wonder about some of the people in this issue who have tapped into that source with their unyielding clarity, motivation, and insight about music. I’m sure you know who our cover is. Yoko Ono needs no introductions and is synonymously famous as her late Beatle husband, John Lennon. She not only inspired a movement towards peace during her time but an entire generation. I remember when I was in New York a few years ago; I saw her coming out of a building. I was so stunned because I couldn’t believe I saw this icon in real life. Maybe it was a sign that we would cross paths again? And it appears that we have…well sort of. We are honored to have interviewed this free thinker for our cover story as she shares with us her world of music, peace, love, and truth. Self-taught musician Rico Blanco is an incredibly talented “slasher”—singer/ songwriter/record producer/actor/entrepreneur. I met Rico years ago (probably through a styling gig), and he has been very friendly and down-to-earth. This was quite endearing for a famous music genius. With all his accomplishments, what’s left for him to tackle? Sesame Street so it seems. Kimya Dawson has a childlike voice, and her sound may be brushed off as child’s play. However, she has been able to share through her lyrics what she is about and what she has learned. And with this, she has connected to her listeners through sound. So I wonder, what is the secret pill that these musical masters have swallowed? How were they able to tap into their psyche for this talent? Maybe you don’t need to swallow a pill; maybe you just need to live life.
Editor in Chief
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ECHO SYSTEM
M AY 2 0 1 1
STATUSPHERE 15 18 19 20 21 22
THREADS SETTING SUBCULTURE BEATS SCREEN INK
gadgets 24
TECH PACK
59 architecture in helsinki BEAUTY 26 27
FACE PAINT ABOUT FACE
FASHION 28 29 30 32 38 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53
BRICK & MORTAR STYLE ID GO SEE FULL METAL JACKET I AM LOVE SWAG Sneakers Cardigans Messenger Bags/Flip-flops White Tees Pumps Floral Dresses Cropped Jackets Floral Shorts/Necklaces
maestro 59 60 61 61 62 62 63
MUSE 58
16 TS(S) 8 - statusmagonline.com
MELODIE MONROSE
67 anjo bolarda
ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI DUM DUM GIRLS MAC MILLER JESSE MARCO ASKA MATSUMIYA PORCELAIN RAFT PANDA BEAR
ECHO SYSTEM
M AY 2 0 1 1
MASTERMIND 64 65 66 67 67 68 69
CONCHETINAS KATIE GALLAGHER MIKE SCHREIBER ANJO BOLARDA THE XOXO KIDS ANDREW LEAVOLD JEROME LORICO
76 RICO BLANCO HEAVY HITTER 70 76 82
YOKO ONO RICO BLANCO KIMYA DAWSON
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK 84 85 85
RYAN DOMBAL MEHAN JAYASURIYA RYAN REED
NIGHTVISION
STATUS INVADES
87 88 88 89 89 90 90 91 91 92 92
94 100
THIS IS NY GOT SOUL FRIDAYS @ M CAFE HYSTERIA @ KYSS VEVO/CHEVROLET PARTY @ SXSW TUESDAY TAKEOVER DJ KINGDOM @ MANSION FRESH FRIDAYS @ FIAMMA FAR EAST MOVEMENT @ REPUBLIQ DIM MAK STAGE ADELAIDE FULLY FLEXIBLE SUPER SKETCH
REMBRANDT FLORES POLITICS INSIDE “ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES”
statusMAGONLINE.COM Blogsphere Be on the pulse of fashion, music, and urban lifestyles that tickle our fancy through our community of bloggers worldwide. Go See Look to the streets for your fashion inspiration. From Manila to New York, we spot the most stylish kids trotting the globe. FEATURES Bringing you outtakes and more of our original interviews. Because we can’t get enough of all the awesome out there. Night Vision Your personal pass to pool parties, barbecues, festivals, and other events. Now let’s party! Photo Diary A photo is worth a thousand words, so we decided to find out what these talented photographers have to say. Digital Magazine Get STATUS at a click of your finger. You can browse the full digital format magazine at the comfort of your computer. DOWNLOADS Stay on top of the game with STATUS-approved mixtapes and wallpapers. All free!
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82 KIMYA dawson
B
ecause of this exclusive interview with Yoko Ono, we realized three things about the Jap-American widow: that she likes her shades (given), that she likes her hats (she wears more than we’ve imagined, literally and figuratively), and that she may not wear her hair this long anymore, but she still offers the same message: give peace a chance. Our resident graphic designer Soleil Ignacio renders this with a red, red rose.
CONTRIBUTORS
PETRA MAGNO
SHINJI MANLANGIT
ANNA THIESSEN
KRISTINE DABBAY
Petra’s advice to any aspiring STATUS intern: fail better. If that doesn’t make you feel any better, then just read about Conchentinas (64). She enjoyed interviewing them because “they’re bound to get big, so it’s like looking into the future.” But who cares about the future if you get the chance to run away with your favorite frontman? In her case, she wouldn’t think twice if it’s Pharrell Williams.
We’re not sure what track Shinji listened to while writing about Kimya Dawson (82), but on normal days he likes to write while listening to Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Ros, and Shugo Tokumaru. If you see him in a music festival, expect him to set up a separate stage for “sad bastard music” replete with “talk about your feelings” and “let’s hold hands for our hearts” activities.
Thank the Hollywood goddesses Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and Jane Russell for inspiring Anna Thiessen. Without them, she won’t be inspired to merge fashion and photography. Without them, our beautiful fashion editorial “Full Metal Jacket” (32) will not be in this issue. She keeps spreading good vibes not only to STATUS; her photos have already graced Paper, WWD, and Elle. com among other awesome titles.
Our dear Features Editor jumped off her seat when she found out she was interviewing Yoko Ono (70). She has interviewed Sean Lennon in a past issue, and we’re sure she’d like to complete that family portrait through one with the late John Lennon. As if that’s not enough of a jittery encounter, she had to face three music critics in New Kids On The Block (84). All in the name of a good music issue, Tindabs conquers all, and that includes a bottle of our favorite vodka.
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Rosario Herrera ART DIRECTOR: Nicole Bianca Po CREATIVE MEDIA DIRECTOR: Patrick L. Jamora ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Nante Santamaria FEATURES EDITOR: Kristine Dabbay MARKETING DIRECTOR: Jon Herrera SALES DIRECTOR: Tina Herrera Drawing Yoko—incoming Art Director Soleil.
JUNIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Jerdan Buenaventura, Christine Rojas GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Patrick Diokno, Soleil Ignacio, Darwin Manibog EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Viva Gonzalez, Reena Mesias, Loris Peña INTERNS: Carina Alejandrino, Shar Buendia, Gabriel Enzo Escutin, Troy Ericson Evangelista, Wendy Lagrimas, Alyssa Libao, Zoe Laurente, Aljan Lorenzo, Petra Magno, Kevin Mauricio, Macy Reantaso CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Isabel Bayani, Karen Bolilia, Liza Constantino, Khavn De la Cruz, Karl De Mesa, Giano D. Dionisio, Erika Hoffman, Petra Magno, Shinji Manlangit, Alice Sarmiento, JP Singson CONTRIBUTING BLOGGERS: Kristine Dabbay, Rosario Herrera, Zoe Laurente, Alyssa Libao, Petra Magno, Reena Mesias, Loris Peña, Macy Reantaso CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Greg Chen, The Cobrasnake, EJ Constantino, Inna Cristobal, Danny Dawson, Ariana Delawari, Patrick Diokno, Henry Dziekan, Gerard Estadella, Toni Estevez, Rosario Herrera, Soleil Ignacio, Patrick L. Jamora, Cecilia Glik, Cecilie Harris, Tom Hines, Isabella Marcos, Reena Mesias, Ming Han Chung, Miguel Miranda, May Nogoy, Nicole Bianca Po, Steven Taylor, Anna Thiessen, The XOXO Kids
What’s your STATUS? tell us. EDITORIAL editorial@statusmagonline.com ADVERTISING advertise@statusmagonline.com MARKETING marketing@statusmagonline.com INTERNSHIP intern@statusmagonline.com GENERAL INQUIRIES info@statusmagonline.com Read our digital version statusmagonline.com/ digital-magazine Like us facebook.com/statusmagazine Follow us twitter.com/statusmagazine STATUS is published by Whiz Kids Publishing. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
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THREADS / setting / SUBCULTURE / BEATS / SCREEN / INK
MAY 2011
transformer
urban hippie
H
ola! Meet Barcelona’s it-jewelry designer ENA MACANA. Her Mickey Mouse crucifixes and model airplane veils will surely bring out the provocateur in you. Feeling a bit more subtle? Try a cross-shaped gun necklace reminiscent of you and your brother’s old toys. Who said playtime was only for kids? enamacana.com
O
XYGEN’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection, “New Hippies: The Art of Doing Nothing,” is made for navigating the streets. Cropped, altered, and sheer pieces give off a West Village kid vibe— carefree, urban, and very New York. Pair your Oxygen jeans and tops with aviators and a pair of boots, and you’re ready to go. oxygentm.com
hang loose
E
ast Coast meets West Coast in SATURDAYS SURF NYC’s Spring/ Summer 2011 lookbook. Loose boat neck tees and striped tanks are reminiscent of sunny California while the camelcolored Dora Chino pants exude city sleek. Enjoy the best of both worlds when wearing their oxford polo with khaki shorts, and be stylish in either side of the continent. saturdaysnyc.com
tribal ancestry T
rade in the metallics for something ethnic like these accessories from BROKENFAB. Make for a modern-day Pocahontas with their colorful beads and necklaces. Wear them around your forehead or as headbands for that bohoIndian look. The tribe has spoken, and everyone is getting strung out. brokenfab.com
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/threads
city slicker
G
et past modern with the ultra-sleek lines of YOUNG&RESTLESS’ Spring/Summer 2011. It is built from basic shapes for maximum drape, with calm organic colors like seafoam blue and camel. Taking inspiration from a flying squirrel lost in the city, Young&Restless pulls together the geometric and the natural in a totally non-hairy way. young-and-restless.co
guy’s best friend
7
DIAMONDS is what every dude will want for this kind of weather. It’s all about casual wear that’s easy to style because of the light summer feel in the use of stripes and chambray, tailored shorts, and cream-collared shirts. The pieces are so relaxed; they channel that sophisticated, barbecue-at-the-backyard attire with the fellas. 7diamonds.com
dirty harry
T
his latest collection from TS(S) proves that wrinkled can look clean and fresh. Think lumberjack meets The Beatles wearing a mix of tailored suits and shorts in different patterns that range from tartan to checkered. Pair a striped blazer with khaki linen pants for that shabby chic look. Now who said dapper can’t be messy? notsohardwork.com
blue crush
L
eave it to MOSSIMO to take care of your summer. Gear up in their boardshorts, bikinis, and sunnies for a trip to the seaside. Soak up some sun in a ruffled floral bikini, and cover up with a printed tunic as you head back to the resort. With these essentials, life will be a beach. mossimo.com
the best G
angle
erman brand TIEDEKEN hits all the right angles with the multicolored tetrahedron pattern in its latest collection. Mix up your wardrobe with cardigans, scarves, and jumpsuits in shades of gray and navy. Kick up your suede shoes in dark denim. In these threads, there is no such thing as a bad angle. tiedekenstudios.com
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shapely sights
E
nglish eyewear line ZANZAN are out to prove that retro is relentless, with Sunny orange tints and eccentric yet classic shapes—heptagon peepers, anyone? We can imagine these shades on beautiful women with big hair and trim waists, sashaying down some cobbled street. And because the oversized lenses are universally flattering, we can also imagine them on you. zanzan.co.uk
/ T H/RtEhArDeSa d s
so sketchy
just for two
W
earing a shirt with your favorite icon’s face tends to look a bit tawdry. But with DEERDANA’s white tees, you’ll be proud to wear a shirt with Kanye West or even Kim Kardashian’s face on it. The black graphics that look like artist sketches look so ironic; even Leigh Lezark didn’t hesitate to wear an Oliver Theyskens-printed tee to his fashion show. deerdana.com
J
ULIA AND BEN’s SS 2011 collection wows with a neutral palette, standout draping, and subtle hints of sheer. The feeling of relaxed androgyny flows with their oversized sweaters and tie-dyed coats. The play on textures and the lightness of the pieces give a Europe meets LA vibe. This definitely makes for sophisticated street style that can make you and your boyfriend sartorial standouts. juliaandben.com
beat it N
ot your ordinary t-shirt line, ARDENTEES is made special by its different artists from Germany to India. Its tees has names that scream “Holy Suicide,” “Geometry in wild,” and “Black is the night.” Graphic prints like skeletons and skulls, abstract shapes, and a lady’s legs make the shirt pop. How can anyone mess with you? ardentees.com
city of angels
L
EYENDECKER takes you on a date at Venice Beach and downtown LA with their Spring 2011 collection. Stroll along the boardwalk wearing their ivory maxi dress, or have a romantic dinner in town with their sheer and sequined cover up. Dress nice and sweet, and don’t forget to pair it with your smile for a guaranteed second date. leyendeckerlosangeles.com
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/SETTING
/ BEATS
SUITE
big league
N
o need to sacrifice space for style at Bangkok’s boutique hotel LUXX XL. Big brother to the original LUXX in Silom, this branch in Langsuan has upsized everything from the teak doors to the floor-to-ceiling windows. With only seventeen suites and thirty-four studios, the XL binges on open space that guarantees big time exclusivity.
luxxxl.com
GRUB
MIX AND MUNCH I
n BRGR: THE BURGER PROJECT, you can fill up a form to customize your burger from bun to bun. Thousands of combinations are possible with the spectrum of tasty ingredients. They also offer six specially designed burgers for the indecisive and toohungry-to-think folk. Mosey on up to the counter, hand in your paperwork, and savor your success.
CORKAGE
SLOW eXPRESSO
M
AZZO, the café that’s fast becoming Amsterdam’s favorite living room, has deep leather couches that will encourage you to take your time eating. Serving fresh Italian food all the time—from the bread in the mushroom truffle panini to the fennel
in the swordfish carpaccio—its long tables and equally long wine list will surely guarantee a good time. So pour yourself another vino rosato, and pass the bottle, because you ain’t in no hurry when you’re in Mazzo.
facebook.com/brgr.burgerproject
PL ATE
PROJECT PATTY
B
RGR: THE BURGER PROJECT lets you customize your meal all the way. Make the grade with some side dishes and a shake. Western Bacon Melt
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STATUS Burger (custom burger)
Blueberry Milkshake
French Fries
/ S U B C U LT U R E
SUPER POWERS S
uper Color Super, the indie promotion company behind the Korean concert series featuring bands such as Handsome Furs and Caribou teams up with artists. Hopping from theatre to theatre across Seoul, SUPER SKETCH events are a cross between concert tours, themed parties, and art jams. These wild nights feature all the possibilities of ink meeting material, like onthe-spot tattooing and live drawing. They also take it to the third dimension by setting up vintage projectors for shadow
theatre courtesy of any passing partygoer. The musicians invited to play are also of an artistic bent; there’s Zach Hill with his strange illustrations and Sighborg with their psychedelic visuals. During ticket pre-sale season, you get to download and design their concert swag like masks or posters to trade in for drinks and zines. It’s a winning combination of collaborative and performance art as well as solid proof that artists party hard.
supercolorsuper.com
WEATHER LEATHER
E
veryone likes to work with their hands, and if pencils have failed and pottery isn’t your thing, why don’t you try leather? FUNGUS WORKSHOP in Hong Kong takes on all the possible ways to recreate leather, and you get to do the slicing and sewing yourself. Hoiming, a local luxury brand, supplies the leather, and Cowrice, a lifestyle creative team, supplies the skills.
The students are definitely not DIY dominatrixes having created sweet things like tote bags and baby shoes. The best part of the workshop is that you get to make anything you want, which makes space for all sorts of weird interests and oddly shaped objects. Isn’t it time you put together a real classy case for that twin lens reflex camera?
fungusworkshop.net
WAVING FLAG
P
art take-out joint, part public art, all awareness, CONFLICT KITCHEN only serves cuisine from countries that the US is at odds with. They rotate countries every four months, so their Iranian kubideh has recently been replaced with the Afghan bolani. The street food comes in a wrapper printed with facts and opinions about its country of origin, reminding passers-by of an entire culture that’s getting the wrong end of the deal.
conflictkitchen.org
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/ b e at S
/ BEATS MUSIC REVIEWS
ON THE SPOT
IT’S A RAP I
f you want to know the difference between a rapper and an MC, People’s Future got the answer. Composed of Jed Kenneth Caba aka JedLi, Brian Adlin Pascual aka Verb, and Christian Michael Saldaña aka Gap—they prove that being an MC isn’t just about rapping or spitting out words—“it’s about having a positive message,” Verb says. But beyond their music, their names also decode their personal creeds. Verb, for example, has a bias to action while JedLi is heavily influenced by martial arts. Gap’s moniker might have come from a gap tooth, but you can’t drill a hole in his full-proof beliefs.
He says “Hip-hop is stereotyped as gangster—we want to take away the misogynistic views associated with it.” With their debut album, Headlines Issue#1 and its socially relevant single “On the Grind,” this trio takes their cue from the late Francis M. Major influences also include MC Dash, KRS-One, and A Tribe Called Quest. But whoever their influences are, their goal is to influence us. You might catch them with their hip hop basketball collective Team Sunday, but other than that, hear their estimated 50 WPM of “unforced songwriting” aimed to trigger patriotism. KRISTINE DABBAY
LISTEN UP Already legendary or still on their way, these musicians continue to rock on after years and years of being in the music circuit.
Remedy Waloni of THE TREES & THE WILD
myspace.com/thetreesandthewild Flying Lotus – “Do the Astral Plane” I really loved the album Cosmogramma, the sounds and compositions in this album are just amazing. And this song really exhibits those qualities. Damien Jurado – “Beacon Hill” Damien Jurado’s delicate voice fits well with the acoustic guitar and the backup choir. Real Estate – “Suburban Beverage” I saw them last year at Bowery Ballroom and have been a fan ever since. I really love how they used a lot of clean guitar sounds in this selftitled album. whisperdesire – “Di Atas Batas” A band from Jakarta, Indonesia. Their drummer is our touring drummer, too. I think The Trees & the Wild wouldn’t be what we are now if it wasn’t for bands like whisperdesire.
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Tom Fekete of SURFER BLOOD
myspace.com/surferblood Talking Heads – “Air” The second side of Fear of Music is absolutely perfect. Bardo Pond – “Limerick” Beautiful track over ten minutes. Smoke a joint and chill out to this, brah. Women – “Narrow with the Hall” Public Strain was my favorite album of last year; I am still listening to this song everyday. Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks – “Do Not Feed the Oyster” Lately, I’ve been listening to more Jicks than Pavement.
Michael Benedicto of OUTERHOPE outerhope.com
Tokyo Police Club – “Juno (Ra Ra Riot/ Andrew Maury Remix)” I always wear their band shirt my sister got me when she watched them front for The Shins (that confused me enough to not hate her). I loved the original track, but that harmony in the chorus on this mix will have you listening nonstop. Small Black – “Despicable Dogs” I just really love the melody of this song from start to finish. “Do it without me, do it when it’s wrong/ right as I want you/ right as you run/ you duck” Sufjan Stevens – “I Want to Be Well” I always loved his saturated vocal arrangement. This one stays sane for the most part, but be sure to stand in front of a mirror, and watch your head eventually explode into a pleasing mixture of confetti and brain tissue.
Serge Gainsbourg is dead, but musicians like Beck and Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste are keeping him alive through the concert Serge Gainsbourg Tribute with JeanClaude Vannier where the classic Histoire de Melody Nelson will be performed in full on August 28 at the Hollywood Bowl. Morrissey can’t get any more British this June as he starts his UK tour right before he headlines Hop Farm Festival in July. Bob Dylan, whose voice and verses immortalized his generation’s social unrest, remains steadfast with his message as he headlines London Feis this June—an event celebrating Irish music and culture. If you’ve missed DMB, June is your month as they hold their first Dave Matthews Band festival at the Bader Field in New Jersey. Artists included are The Flaming Lips, Ray LaMontagne, and Amos Lee.
/SCREEN
MOVIE REVIEWS
DIRECTOR’S CUT
LAGING LABSONG NA LANG
(2011)
Creator of Kulas & The Last Playground, an all-ages epic haunted by the ghost of the child star Niño Muhlach, and Edsa XXX, the next mega-musical about love and war, Vigo frontman and multi-awarded writer and filmmaker Khavn de la Cruz talks about his latest screenplay while he’s fresh from the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
S
MUMBlecore will save the world tonight.
hoot some kind of perfection. Make myself another love story. After Goodbye My Shooting Star. After The Longest Moment You’re Not Here. After I Don’t Know You. After Cameroon Love Letter. Boy meets girl. The end. What we don’t talk about when we talk about love. Let me make you feel something. Afraid of sleeping early. Waking up in the middle of the night. What’s wrong with that? Why are we so afraid of sadness? Caught all alone in the dark. Turn the lights on if you can. Sprinkle some songs from Fando & Lis. Heartbreak mindfuck mindbreak heartfuck. Mumblecore will
PL AYBACK
LIVE FOREVER (2003)
A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE BEST MUSIC THAT THERE WAS ONce upON A TIME
save the world tonight. Casting the perfect couple that doesn’t exist but should. Boy + Girl = Love. Not necessarily so. Not always. Sometimes it’s all just one big nothing. Savor it while you can. The headless chicken runs faster than you think. How to repeat oneself without getting killed in the process. Going in circles till you lose yourself. Once more. Your back aches like hell, and you can’t do anything about it. What is narrative but a pair of losers on their way to hell. Or just waiting for the great, wait for it, nothing. But we don’t care anymore. We’re done pretending.
CINEMANTICS
A
BEGINNERS (June 2011)
h, the 90s. Grunge surely took center stage with Kurt Cobain’s death, but this John Dower-directed documentary, Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop evokes the timelessness of the decade’s Cool Brittania by featuring cameos by Blur, Pulp, and the Stone Roses. Nutty art savant and member of the Young British Artists Damien Hirst also makes an appearance, having directed the music video for Blur’s Country House. Most of the time, it’s Oasis’ Noel and Liam Gallagher snapping at each other and making comments about how cool they are, but with bands like Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, and The Libertines now following in their footsteps, you have to agree. As droll and snarky as the era it depicts, Live Forever is a documentary about the best music that there was once upon a time. Don’t look back in anger. Stop crying your heart out. PETRA MAGNO
a comedy for geeks, aND IT has big names donning armor for a knightly venture
F
ollowing his directorial debut, Thumbsucker, Mike Mills creates a semi-autobiographical movie that revolves around Oliver’s (Ewan McGregor) discovery that his 75-year-old father Hal (Christopher Plummer) is gay. This happens in 2003 when Oliver’s mom dies and Hal decides to come out of his closet. He goes to LA hipster bar Akbar, starts dating men, and lives like he never did before until he dies of cancer. While Oliver deals with this, he meets Anna (Mélanie Laurent), a like-minded actress with whom he shares a sense of being a “beginner” in life. All of these emotions are heightened by the way middle-class LA is portrayed; it doesn’t reek of celebrity excess. The film doesn’t rub homosexuality in your face or in your crotch. Instead, it shows that gayness can become a strong chain that binds relationships. This happened to Mike Mills himself, and from then on, he has led a gayer or, rather, a happier relationship with his father. KRISTINE DABBAY
TICKET
EVERYTHING MUST GO
L’AMOUR FOU (THE MAD LOVE)
An alcoholic Will Ferrell loses his job and his wife’s affections in one day and has to resort to selling his stuff off of his front lawn. Hiss loss, our gain!
This documentary plays out the fifty years of mad love and loyalty between fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and businessman Pierre Bergé.
TREE OF LIFE
PRIEST
Only Terrence Malick can give Brad Pitt a crew cut, cast him in a sci-fi film set in the 1950s, and still manage to make us weep.
This adaptation of the Korean horror comic Manhwa casts Paul Bettany as a priest who brings out the big guns to rescue his niece from vampires.
THE HANGOVER PART II In the sequel to the funniest movie of 2009, the not-likeEntourage entourage hits up hot and sweaty Thailand for Stu’s (Ed Helms) wedding.
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/ink
BOOK REVIEWS
ONE-SITTINGS
THE FORGOTTEN WALTZ by Anne Enright
W
inter—the season of paralyzing loneliness, and it’s made even more so when preceded by a rosy affair. Gina Moynihan, remembering her hotel-room affair with Seán Vallely, relives it with a whirlwind of intensity. However, as she waits for Seán’s twelve-year-old daughter, Evie, to arrive, Gina knows the layers of complexity are already beginning to thicken. In The Forgotten Waltz, Dublin-born Anne Enright invokes her power to magnify the sharpest feelings, a gift
rea d ing group
PICTURE BOOK
I don’t know where I’m going but I want to be there
by Jean-Claude Carriere & Umberto Eco
hat happens to paper in the age of the PDF? Has Google eliminated the library? Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carriere are well-equipped to take on the hoary digital revolution discussion, Eco being a semiotician and Carriere a playwright and screenwriter. Because they’re word nerds of the highest degree—The Name of the Rose, anyone?—the discourse is anything but old hat. Rambling from book burning to famous libraries to Eco’s first computer ever, this
transcribed conversation runs both deep through history and close to the bone. This is Not the End of the Book is for anyone who dreams of a personal library full of aged pages. Eco and Carriere are the champions for treasure hunters who troll book sales because a book you discover in a bargain bin carries elusive things like a previous owner, marginalia, and a certain sweet smell. Plus Kindle doesn’t smell like anything but plastic. PETRA MAGNO
for anyone who dreams of a personal library full of aged pages
most appreciated by those readers who welcome taking it all in
/////////////////////////////////
THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE BOOK W
solidly displayed in her last novel and 2007 Man Booker winning piece, The Gathering. The force with which she describes pain makes the jar that holds emotions infinite. Like other writers with a penchant for stillness and secrecy, her language can be a little dragging—but her work is probably most appreciated by those readers who welcome taking it all in. LIZA CONSTANTINO
Initiated by Graphic Design Museum and Mieke Gerritzen
T
hough the title hints on uncertainty, I don’t know where I’m going but I want to be there: The Expanding Field of Graphic Design 1900-2020 eruditely charts the field’s progression. The discipline was small and based heavily on crafts, but in the 21st century, it expanded and relied more on technology. Collaborating with the Graphic Design Museum of The Netherlands, the ongoing Connecting the past and the future exhibit even displays designs from the book. From the contribution of several visionaries like
Victor Margolin, Micah White, and David Stairs—the future of graphic designers has been drawn. The direction may be unclear yet, but with concepts such as data manipulation and mental ecology tackled in this book, we come prepared in facing the future of graphic design. So who cares if we don’t know where it’s going? At least we have a sound idea. ISABEL BAYANI
tackles data manipulation and mental ecology
FOOTNOTES
Books will never go out of style. Kate Spade designed these cheeky clutches for the bonafide bookworm.
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Bundle up for a cold winter with Yokoo’s Soopa scarf, or use it to cover your blushing face when dreaming of an affair.
These laser-guided scissors bring the super precision of the Crop option to your real-life crafts.
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tech pack SOUL by Ludacris® SL300 • Car-influenced design • With noise cancellation technology • Intense bass with clear mids and highs SRP: TBA
TDK 3-Speaker Boombox • Features a 15-watt woofer, two 10-watt stereo speakers with edge-driven tweeters that deliver full-range sound • Has AM/FM radio, USB stick, and AUX options • Framed with thick aluminium for protection SRP: P21,460
EARGASMIC Tip: You might wanna wear/play these alone in your room. They make you sing out loud—sometimes even dance.
Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus™ • Floor-standing speakers standing 47.6 inches • Uses aluminium dome tweeters to capture music’s accuracy • Spiral design is meant to prevent distortion and internal resonance SRP: P2.58 M
Ultrasone Edition 10: Zebrano • Designed with Ethiopian leather pads, handcrafted ear caps, titanium plated drivers, and Kevlar cables • Features S-Logic™ Plus technology which prevents ears from hurting even after headphones are worn for hours • Comes with a Zebrano wood headphone stand and storage case SRP: P119,500
Beamz Player Interactive Music System • Features four laser beams that control up to 12 different instruments, music clips, sound effect, or vocals as you pass your hands through the beams. • Allows you to add sound effects to music videos • Includes 50 top hits and original songs plus the ShadowBeamz music game SRP: P8,600
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face paint Shu Uemura Pressed Eyeshadow (Blue), P1,000 Guerlain Meteorites Perles Illuminating Powder (Teint Rose), P2,998
Smashbox Photo Finish Color Correcting Foundation Primer (Balance), P2,250
Philosophy Kiss Me Exfoliating Lip Scrub, P950
Pur Mineral Eye Pencil Hello Bright Eyes, P895
Paul & Joe Pressed Powder Duo (Cool), P2,375
candy shop Dainty, sweet, and not fattening. Yay!
NARS Duo Eyeshadow (Hula Hula), P1,750
Shu Uemura Glow On Blush (Matte Pale Pink), P1,500 Clinique Liquid Facial Soap (Extramild), P1,250
The Face Shop Baked Shimmer All-Over Illuminator, P895
Clinique Clarifying Lotion, P1,200
Zoya Nail Polish (Malia), P305
Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, P2,400
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EstĂŠe Lauder Perfectly Clean Fresh Balancing Lotion, P1,700
Bobbi Brown Rich Color Gloss (Melon), P1,100
Photo from Bobbi Brown & Tibi Makeup Collection
about face 80% ORGANIC
Mix coconut milk and papaya fruit extracts, and you’ll get one of the gentlest cleansers that don’t dry the skin. ALBA COCONUT MILK FACIAL WASH is for the twice-aday face washers who want a natural solution that provides enough moisture. P565
Expert
Advice If you have oilier skin, use a mild coco scrub.
WHAT A BEACH PHILOSOPHY COCONUT FROSTING SALT SCRUB is more refreshing than swimming off-shore in the summer because of its sea salt ingredient which exfoliates, and the sweet cake-y coconut smell. P1,550
LOCO FOR COCO In washes, scrubs, and butters, a little coconut always adds that refreshing party to your daily skin care regimen. PUCKER BUTTER Although unlike lip balms that you could lightly wear under a lipstick, THE BODY SHOP COCONUT LIP BUTTER is great at conditioning, moisturizing, and protecting the lips. Use it at night, and expect soft lips in the morning. P350
SKINTELLIGENT Slather your skin with this coconut oil-infused moisturizer, VMV HYPOALLERGENICS KNOW-IT-OIL. It’s non-greasy, it firms the cell wall, and aids in reducing inflammation. Deserves an A++. P600
beauty bite
TOO NUTTY LAURA MERCIER ALMOND COCONUT MILK SCRUB has macadamia nut and sweet almond oils to moisturize, vitamins A and E to protect, and a tropical coconut smell; you’d find eating it very hard to resist. P1,950
BROWHAUS
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UPDATE
hile salons are for hair, BROWHAUS is specifically for facial hair. Eyebrows, lashes, upper lip, and cheeks—name it, and they’ll groom it for you. Anne Hathaway eyebrows are now attainable. To those who have had unfortunate encounters with tweezers, Brow Resurrection is the answer. Eyebrows are filled with artificial follicles that look so real; no one will ever notice. There is also Color Tweak which uses vegetable dyes for matching your eyebrows with the color of your hair. They also offer Lash Curl Up for that 24/7 curled eyelashes look, and Lash in Bloom service to customize
the length of eyelashes for your divalicious liking. With the Blueprint System, the Browhaus eyebrow services are at the forefront. The grid technology analyzes every facial detail including facial structure, eye shape, nose, lip, chin, bone, and muscle tones to contour the eyebrow that suits the face best. It’s about time facial hair has a place fully dedicated to its care. 4th Floor, Greenbelt 5, Legaspi Street, Ayala Center Makati City, Philippines browhaus-manila.com
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brick and mortar hunting and collecting, brussels 17, Rue des Chartreux 1000 Brussels, Belgium huntingandcollecting.com Dime to drop: €5-1,000 (P310–61,500) Don’t leave without: Dearest moccasin-loafer mash-ups
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h, the childhood pastime of HUNTING AND COLLECTING. Here’s the store that knows how good it feels to discover treasure. Playful interior design features flower bouquets on the wall and bags hanging from huge bead necklaces. The neutral palette of both store and merchandise keeps things from getting twee. Painted purely in white, the store’s interior is punctuated by natural wood features like the blond planks in the dressing cabins and the teepee skeleton in the display window. A huge wire pyramid dominates the room; it harbors neat lines of shoes inside, and a jewelry-draped wooden bough lies under a glass case. The name range is impressive, with over 30 collections for men, women, and children. Cosmic Wonder is in one corner representing organic cotton, while Complex Geometries lives up to its name with striking shapes and zero patterns. By bringing together solo designer items like Carin Wester’s nude drapes and well-established brand offerings like Opening Ceremony’s little not-black dresses, Hunting and Collecting has done all the hard work for you. All you need to do is take your pick of the precious things.
the little house, new york
71, Sullivan Street New York, NY, 10012 thelittlehousenyc.com Dime to drop: $210-2,500 (P9,000-100,000) Don’t leave without: The Little House Press publications
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HE LITTLE HOUSE has ways to make you feel at home with its warm lighting and friendly owners Savania DaviesKeiller, Michael A. Capotosto, and Joel Alexander Morales. Interiors include oriental rugs, wooden shelves, and a staircase leading to the basement of more goods such as scarves by UK textile designer Nawal Gebreel, reversible leather bags, and limited edition art and sculptures. This 400-square-meter hidden gem is such a cozy joint that you’ll lose yourself browsing their latest collection of well-curated items, and maybe get an invite to their Little House membership program where you can meet interesting people at their dinner parties, lectures, and private exhibitions, and of course, call first dibs on their next collections. Not ordinary retailers, they actually want you to have a personal experience when you buy a piece of their clothing. So don’t be surprised if you find yourself having a convo with the people there. A good deal especially since the place feels like a home away from home.
FOUNDERS AND FOLLOWERS
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eek into designers’ ateliers and discover their inspiration through FOUNDERS AND FOLLOWERS. Through this website, you can meet up-and-coming brands and designers like Bodkin and Faux Real, and while you’re at it, get close and personal by buying
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exclusive prints from artists such as Coco, Esra Roise, and Philip Smiley. With a good mix of clothes, artwork, and interesting people, you’ll be shifting from being a backstage gal to a girl with camera-worthy style.
foundersandfollowers.com
style id
SHORTY Beat the heat by rocking this summer’s chicest and comfiest pair of shorts. Take a cue from these leggies. By JP Singson
Self proclaimed style icon Yu Masui goes low with his B&W drop-crotch shorts.
Jenny Chung, owner of Acrimony in San Francisco, likes her denim shorts distressedlooking. This Joyce Boutique buyer wears kneelength shorts from Hong Kong.
Sakiko Hasegawa, owner of Adelaide Addition, cuffs her shorts to match her Alexander Wang top.
This guy matches his denim shorts with a denim buttondown shirt.
Lulu Solis, looking very chic, pairing her shorts with stockings.
Christopher Pfeffer, model, goes monochromatic with his Stephan Schneider shorts.
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go see Put some spring in your step! The weather is warming up, so its time to break out with spring fashion. Take a cue from this stylish bunch before your get left behind. Photographed by Fernando Colon, David Guison, Lyka Orhel, Donavan Quek, and Noelle Rodriguez
Draped Layers
Cocktail Ring
Denim Cut-offs
Bowler Hat
Acid Wash Denim Jacket Polka Dot Stockings
Leather Pants
Textured Cardigan
Gray on Gray Cuffed Jeans
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New York
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Singapore
Tokyo
Manila
New York Los An
Satchel Platform Wedges
Maxi Skirt
Floral Dress
Tapered Trousers Metallic Leggings
Red Oxfords
Statement Scarf
Motorcycle Jacket
ngeles Las Vegas Singapore
Ruffled Skirt
Tokyo New York
Brown Waist Cincher
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Singapore
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Lead your platoon in style with army green military jackets and khaki tees. Command attention as you march in tough leather and black booties. Now that we’ve given you the basic training, earn your stripes on the streets with your fatigues.
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Photographer Anna Thiessen Stylist Renessta Olds Assistant Stylist Lee Avent Hair & Makeup Cassandra Renee Model Kayte of MUSE NYC Post-Processing Red Ivy Pictures
dress by Sunghee Bang necklace by Philippe Audibert belt: stylist’s own
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blouse by Ali Ro pants by A La Disposition socks by Weekend shoes by United Nude eyewear by KBL ring by Armor by Cassandra Renee
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hat by Henrik Vibskov glove by LaCrasia hand wrist cuff by Philippe Audibert top by Sunghee Bang tights by Donna Karan boots by United Nude
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fatigue jacket by Zadig and Voltaire twilight jersey tank by Lafayette 148 cumberband pants by Ali Ro brass necklace by Etten Eller shoes by Pour La Victoire
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leather jacket by Carin Wester leather pant by Wood Wood belt: stylist’s own shoes by United Nude sunglasses by KBL bracelet by Philippe Audibert
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dress and jacket by Lako Bukia
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dress by Alice Palmer
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statusmagonline.com - 41 dresses by Alice Palmer
dresses and jackets by Lako Bukia shoes: stylist’s own
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dress by Lako Bukia
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SWAG M
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Y
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0
1
1
hang loose
Make the most out of your summer in platform pumps, sundresses, printed white tees, and floral shorts. Ditch your dark denims for gray jeans, and grab a cardigan or a cropped jacket for those breezy summer nights. Whether its an out-of-town or in-the-city trip, we’ve got you covered. Product photography by Miguel Miranda
Sebago [P4,899.75]
Sebago [P4,899.75] Steve Madden [P5,250]
Topman [P3,595] Steve Madden [P5,250]
Steve Madden [5,250] Topman [3,595]
Steve Madden [P5,250]
From left to right: CPS [P2,995], 7 For All Mankind [P10,998], Gas [P6,495], Topman [P2,745], Forever 21 [P1,635] statusmagonline.com - 45
SNEA K E R S
CENTER OF ATTENTION All eyes on the best pair in town.
NEW YORK
Nike Air Morgan [P3,895]
Puma Lazy Slip-on [P1,860]
Vans Chukka Boot [P2,498]
Vans 106 Vulcanized [P2,698]
Marc Ecko Lenox [P3,890]
Gola Hunter [P3,325]
Adidas Vespa [P3,695]
Gravis In Life [P10,450]
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Clae Khan Black Nubuck [P6,450]
Android Homme Propulsion High [P9,855]
CARDIGANS
WARM UP Don’t get left out on a chilly beach night.
Red Herring [P1,950]
Penshoppe [P1,199]
Mundo [P880]
Forever 21 [P1,179]
CPS [P2,595]
LAS VEGAS
7 For All Mankind [P10,998]
Topman [P2,095]
Springfield [P1,950]
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Messenger bags/ f L I P- F LO P S
IT’S IN THE BAG Slouchy messenger bags for your summer travels.
Diesel [P5,850]
Armani Exchange [P1,195]
Springfield [P2,950]
Topman [P1,295]
FLIP OUT
Keep your soles from burning in the sand.
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Penshoppe [P199]
Vans [P998]
Havaianas [P1,045]
Vans [P998]
WHITE TEES
BETWEEN THE LINES These white printed tees tell all.
Springfield [P995]
Diesel [P2,850]
Vans [P898]
Mental [P499]
LAS VEGAS Penguin [P1,450]
Topman [P1,445]
CPS [P995]
Forever 21 [P705]
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PUMPS
PUMP IT UP
Charles and Keith [P2,850]
Turn up the volume in platform pumps.
Aldo [P4,295]
Charles David [P10,250] Aldo [P4,895]
Charles David [P10,250]
Forever 21 [P1,575] Steve Madden [P5,650]
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f loral dress E S
SUNDAY BEST
Easy breezy dresses for every day of the week.
Details [P995]
Details [P995]
Topshop [P3,315]
Runway Photo by Ming Han Chung
Dorothy Perkins [P2,545]
Henry Holland for Debenhams [P3,150]
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Red Herring [P3,150]
O E RONS T T O L R CHA S/S 2011
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CROPPED JACKETS
CREAM OF THE CROP Keep your jackets short and sweet.
CPS [P2,799]
Details [P2,295]
Topshop [P2,245]
7 For All Mankind [P14,998]
Details [P1,195]
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Runway Photo by Ming Han Chung
M VIVIANNE TA S/S 2011
f loral shorts / necklaces
WILDFLOWER Are your legs ready for these bloomers?
Forever 21 [P545]
CPS [P1,495]
Forever 21 [P915]
CPS [P1,895]
SWEET DISPOSITION
Adorn your neck with spring blossom necklaces.
Aldo [P1,095]
F21 [P495]
F21 [P885]
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M U S E
There’s no escape; MELODIE MONROSE’s unapologetic features-a combination of intimidating elegance and a megawatt smile-will captivate you like a meat hook, and despite what mom said, it’s only polite to stare. After a debut Spring/Summer 2011 circuit that included Marc Jacobs, Prada, Valentino, Chanel, and a closing spot at Lanvin, the model’s future looks most promising. Oh, it’s just a normal season for this teenager. By Giano D. Dionisio Photos courtesy of Silent Models Paris
“Growing up in Martinique was great; living in an island has some constraints sometimes, but [when I left], I realized how lucky I was to grow up there, with these lovely landscapes and this sense of sharing and family that we got there! It’s always a pleasure for me to come back.”
“I’m becoming very good at [rush] packing! I always have everything in [twos]. I always have a beauty travel bag ready with everything I need. I usually can’t sleep in the plane, so I try to get movies or some nice sitcoms in my computer or have some good books and magazines with me.”
“Becoming a designer was my little girl dream! If I were to create a collection right now, it would be about femininity and softness with flowing fabrics, transparency—a bit like in the last J. Mendel show—with a lot of drapes and somes brown leather corsets to give a bit of sexiness. The colors will be brown, powder rose, a bit of beige, white, grey pearl. The hair and makeup will be a kind of modern version of Marilyn Monroe in “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in the spirit of Dior Spring/Summer 2011.”
silentmodels.com
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M A E S T R O
A rumored New Year’s Eve release date for ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI’s new compilation since 2007 sent fans raving but frustrated last year, but this April, the much-loved Australian indie pop collective finally hollers back, through a new label, sounding their freshest. By Nante Santamaria
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he last time people heard of Architecture in Helsinki (AiH), they were touting their fourth record, Places Like This. A thousand music festivals and tour stops later, I get to ask their trombonist, guitarist, keyboardist, percussionist, and backing vocalist—by the way, that’s just one person, Gus Franklin—whatever happened in between. “Just a little high from my morning coffee…” he offers when I ask how he’s doing. On the other hand, I also suspect Gus always sounds like this. He and the rest of the band—Cameron Bird, Jamie Mildren, Sam Perry, and Kellie Sutherland— all multi-instrumentalists, for the most part, met in art school, where coffee is fuel and thoughts are required to run high. When I ask him about some favorite artists and songs that they remind him of, he gives me the Ninja Turtles with multidecade track references. Gus says about the new album, Moment Bends, “We were going for a timeless quality, within the realms of the years 1976, 1982, 1985, 1994, and 2025 if you know what I mean...”
Of course. The thing about this band is that their minds are always somewhere else. “One minute, you’re jammin’ along with a beautiful drum machine beat and a synthesizer...the next thing you know, it’s two years later, and you’ve got 60 awesome instrumentals that need lyrics!” Gus says, surprised from intense absorption. Adjustments have been in order. Since touring with The Presets in 2009, AiH joined the act’s label, Modular Recordings, and so far, it seems to be going smoothly. Founder Pav Pavlovic welcomed them with “getting to see my aussie-rules/AFL football team, the Geelong Cats, win the 2009 Grand Final.” In fact, it’s probably so comfortable that Gus seems not to have reception jitters this time. “I feel like these songs are kinda like classics in my brain now because I have lived with them and heard them so many times and labored over every miniscule moment...every synth filter, hihat clutch, fret-buzz, and harmony. When I take a moment and try to listen to it with
fresh ears, it feels like I’m listening to a greatest hits record by some Fleetwood Mac-esque band, produced by Giorgio Moroder in the early 80s, and then projected into the future, and then time travelled back to re-release in 2011, y’know what I mean?” I think that means he is incredibly excited, no, ecstatic, charged, fired up in the music balls. I mean, in their previous release, That Beep, they knew that this record was gonna take a while because of “trying to get everything as perfect and concise as we possibly could within the constraints of a three-or-so-minute pop song.” Gus says it’s actually much similar to their debut, Fingers Crossed. “But now that we’ve been in front of microphones for a good few years,” he adds, “we can find innocence and trepidation in bigger things...like just being a human in the universe and growing older and thinking about all the big things…”
architectureinhelsinki.com
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maestro
Recorded in Chicago with Steve Albini, Let’s Wrestle’s sophomore album Nursing Home tackles suburban themes. If you want something that sounds like Thin Lizzy or The Cars, this is the album for you—only it has a more raucous beat.
Girl Gang Riot They might remind you of your 90s girl posse as they update the glory days of 60s and 80s’ music, but DUM DUM GIRLS are no mere decade dummies. As frontlady Dee Dee puts it, music is “A reverence, an incorporation, and a resulting evolution.” By Erika Hoffmann
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on’t be fooled by Dum Dum Girls’ female consensus composed of Dee Dee (vocals), Jules (guitar), Bambi (bass), and Sandy (drums) because their do-it raw music can transport you into a whole other dimension—one that’s a throwback to the past and, at the same time, a progression into the future. But if Dee Dee has a choice to go back or forward in time, she says, “I will choose the past and experience some personally historic events because I don’t want to know what is going to happen.” Things started happening, though, when Dee Dee was wrapped up with clashing ideas. Being an introvert, she wanted a way to break out and express herself. She began writing songs and putting them in MySpace. After a while, a couple of bands started wanting to collaborate, and record label Sub Pop found her. But it was only until the band got together in the studio when they started blowing people’s minds. Dee Dee shares, “‘He Gets Me High’ marks an obvious step forward both in songwriting and production. Development and progression are important to me. I Will Be charts the beginning of my songwriting, guitar playing, and home recording.” But working with Richard Gottehrer, his engineer Alonzo Vargas, and Sune Rose Wagner really opened “a lot of doors
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in terms of seeing what DDG is capable of,” she adds. Despite singing on tour, Dee Dee still has a bit of stage fright, which she overcomes through her alter ego. She seems to find more solace in being alone. “Songs tend to fall out of me. I can go a few days to a few weeks without writing a song, but the drive builds up. By the end of a tour, I am dying for some privacy and a guitar.” She might be shy, but the whole group isn’t reluctant to display some good style. They don’t believe that any musician should be discredited just because of a fondness for pretty dresses. “My sentiment was that music has always gone hand in hand with strong aesthetics, and that tradition is something I identify with and want to carry on,” Dee Dee says. Their stories of love, pain, loss, anguish, and restlessness all mirror their experiences. “I write about what I know, so obviously, being a woman affects my experience,” she says. But it’s not just about womanhood either because it goes way back to childhood. “I choose the palette of an all-girl band because that is the aesthetic and sound I was interested in. I grew up obsessed with female artists and musicians, so much so that it seemed impossible to not follow in that path,” Dee Dee shares.
"...we actively support each other like a gang." With their all black yet laced-up outfits, it won’t come as a shock if everybody gets drawn to their charm. But behind their prissiness—their music shows that they know how to toughen up and get it rough. Dee Dee concludes, “We function really well as a group despite being very different individuals. It helps that we actively support each other like a refined gang.”
myspace.com/dumdumgirls
Whether he is with Sonic Youth or not, Thurston Moore is always a forced to be reckoned with. His fourth album, Demolished Thoughts, is a brooding beauty executed with violinist Samara Lubelski, harpist Mary Lattimore, and Beck among other musicians.
One of our most awaited collaborations—Danger Mouse teams up with Italian composer Daniele Luppi for the album Rome. 5 years in the making and inspired by Spaghetti Westerns, it also has contributions from Jack White and Norah Jones.
Moby’s spirituality and depth always sets him apart. With Destroyed, this insomniac records wrecked gear in hotel rooms— producing music born out of nocturnal puzzles and chaos.
maestro
THUMBS UP There are five things you need to know about MAC MILLER. One, he just released his album, Best Day Ever. Two, he followed it up with an EP entitled On and On and Beyond. Three, he’s touring with rapper Wiz Khalifa. Four, his YouTube account has more than 40 million views. Lastly, he’s only 19. By Loris Peña
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"Well, one thing I love about [being called a rookie] is that I really have to prove to people how dedicated I am..."
orn and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mac Miller has gained more than 300,000 fans on his Facebook page because of his mixtape K.I.D.S (Kicking Incredibly Dope Shit). Building his own buzz from the ground up, the white rapper says, “It’s all about grinding because I didn’t get anywhere yet.” His new album, Best Day Ever, speaks of what he’s all about. Mac shares, “Best Day Ever will get my message across with everything about positivity [and] reflection of what’s been going on in my life.” His upbeat songs, mixed with laid-back lyrics, has gotten every college girl and every homeboy across
the nation bumping their heads or, in Mac’s case, raising their “thumbs up” to the air with his hits like “Knock Knock,” “Donald Trump,” and “She Said.” Featured on XXL’s cover as part of 2011 freshmen class, he says, “Well, one thing I love about [being called a rookie] is that I really have to prove to people how dedicated I am…” Hoping someday to collaborate with Andre 3000, Mac tells us, “Hopefully, by next year, I’ll be making music that’s changing people’s lives.” But until then, he’s got us watching him growing up until his next big move.
listentomac.com
While every adolescent disguised the assault of puberty in varying degrees of teenage angst, JESSE MARCO, at 13, decided to turn things around through his turntable. By Karen Bolilia
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esse Marco’s formative transition, as if not aspirational enough, commissions an even greater (if not equally) ambitious city: New York. But Jesse, instructed in the schools of DJ AM and Mark Ronson, says, “I would say that New York is distinct—and whether it is harder or easier to make it [there], it’s the root of my sound.” Not boxing his sound to New Yorkers, the 22-year-old acknowledges the power of the Internet. He says, “You can be a super producer and live in a box on the moon, and your work speaks for itself.” His mettle may not have been conceived online, but his infectious concoctions are tainted with artistry and credibility as he provides further audio aesthetic
righteousness to Brandon Flowers, Peter Bjorn and John, Kanye West (of whom he says, “No one man should have all that power.”), and many others. These days, though, Jesse has his eyes set on breaking beats for mane man Justin Bieber and extending his deejay dexterity to come full circle internationally. His discography attests to his diverse creative sensibilities, and just maybe, Jesse’s greatest edge is his occasional fidelity to romanticizing any genre of music minus the tawdry overtones. He says, “I practiced a lot and stayed creative by making my own edits, remixes, trying to find or make something no one else had or did.”
myspace.com/thedjjm
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maestro
Already
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hen you work with someone you respect and are inspired by, I think it feels natural to want to blend talents together in the most beautiful sense.” These are words from Aska Matsumiya—better known for songs like “Almost There” and “There are Many of Us”, from the soundtrack of Spike Jonze’s roboromance I’m Here. She just performed at the Big Apple Circus alongside Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But despite numerous collaborations, her talent can stand alone because her soothing alto works across so many genres, thus allowing seamless transition from obscure contributions (like her cover of David Bowie’s “African Night Flight” for the tribute album We Were So Turned On) to bigger projects like last year’s scores for I’m Here, as well as After Dark, a short film for the upscale department store Lane Crawford, which she worked on with designer Phillip Lim. But it’s her classical background and worldly aesthetic that will probably keep her in our ears for years to come. “I think being trained in music this way has helped me better understand the dynamics of the instruments according to my emotions and also how my performance affects the emotions of the listeners,” says Aska of her transitions from the Japanese Koto and the piano to contemporary beats. “I was ready to break the strict rules of classical music. It was a relief and a new pleasure…” She satisfyingly adds, “I finally found my sound G-spot.”
there
LA’s ASKA MATSUMIYA has more to offer than lullabies and love songs. We caught up with this classically trained musician as she finalizes her new full-length album. By Alice Sarmiento Photographed by Ariana Delawari
askamatsumiya.com
"I finally found my sound G-spot.”
You might have heard The Vaccines first in Skins, but this UK indie band shows what’s in their sleeve with the release of their debut album, What Did You Expect From the Vaccines?
We understand how teased you are with Death Cab for Cutie’s early release of the titular track “Codes And Keys,” but there are more tracks and emotions that this album unlocks such as “Monday Morning” and “Stay Young, Go Dancing.”
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raft of reverie
Blending poetry with luminescent melodies, PORCELAIN RAFT is a head trip spawned from a fanciful mind. By Liza Constantino
here are those who crave for the kind of music that carries a hint of Romanticism, without need to offer an explanation of itself. A solo project of Italian songwriter Mauro Remiddi, Porcelain Raft reflects just that. Its sound is neither revival, derivate, nor trend. Having a penchant for capturing images and treading through language (English isn’t his first), he does to music what postmodern poets urge—to “make it sweet again.” “Rain, rain, rain, rain, sun” is how he describes his work. He even quotes Italo Calvino in his blog which says “I will start out this evening with an assertion: Fantasy is a place where it rains.” Remiddi’s story began in MySpace, but now, his music has taken a life of its own. His latest EP, Gone Blind, was released last February, during his European tour. Of his wanderlust, he says, “Travelling changes the way you look at things, I guess…you pay attention to things that, back home, seem common and obvious”. Now based in London, he plans to move to New York soon. Often branded as shoegazing lo-fi, Remiddi claims, “Originality—it’s not what I’m after... We have more choices than that. I want to be in a place that feels comfortable to me. You want to express yourself—if that is original well... great! But the bottom line is, be yourself. When that becomes effortless, surely, you are in a special place.”
porcelainraft.com
"ORIGINALITY — IT'S NOT WHAT I'M AFTER... WE HAVE MORE CHOICES THAN THAT." 62 - statusmagonline.com
Legendary hip-hop trio Beastie Boys won’t get derailed even if they’ve experienced the most trying circumstances lately (Adam “MCA” Yauch has been diagnosed with cancer). Their proof? Hot Sauce Committee Part Two is right on track, exploring a “bizarre” new direction.
Arctic Monkeys ‘s fourth album, Suck it and See, may not incite the most positive album title reception, but with tracks like “Love is a Laserquest” and “She’s Thunderstorms,” this James Ford-produced album does sound exciting.
maestro
"I'm certainly not into alienating anyone, and I'm certainly not into music elitism."
SOLO FLIGHT
Silly labels have trivialized the originality and talent of Animal Collective. But there should be no doubt about how prolific they are both as a group and in their respective solo projects. Our proof? We caught up with PANDA BEAR, a.k.a. Animal Collective’s drummer and vocalist, Noah Lennox, as he talks about his fourth album, Tomboy. By Alice Sarmiento
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f there’s anything that publishing and recording have in common, it’s their capacity to sell themselves by ruminating on the threat of their demise. Yet there are artists like Panda Bear who have managed to overcome that by creating work that genuinely sound like nothing you’ve ever heard before, forcing the average consumer to reconsider the status of the music industry. “I’m certainly not into alienating anyone, and I’m certainly not into music elitism,” says Lennox of his rise in an industry known for the fickleness of its audience. “I hope that the things I’m involved in don’t promote those kinds of things in any way but the side of ‘experimental’ that means I like trying new things very much,” he adds. Amidst the tangle of arguments on going beyond the popularity he expected he could reach, Lennox makes sure to remain levelheaded. He says, “I definitely feel pressure to do something that I think is good, but perhaps, that pressure only comes from myself.” Keeping life surprisingly
simple, he starts his day with coffee and cereal before strolling over to his studio to work on songs. “I looked for a studio space for a long time and only just found one with some friends of mine…It’s down deep in the basement of an old newspaper factory. There are no windows, and I’d usually work with just a small desk lamp, so it was really dim down there.” Both the title track and the single “Slow Motion” from his latest album, Tomboy, have already leaked, and not surprisingly, they bear the marks of a dark and hidden place. Often tagged as the “percussion guy” or “pop guy” from Animal Collective, he says, “I’d say all of us are pop guys in some sense, and I couldn’t say that I liked pop music more than any of the other guys. The rhythms are typically my duty, and I’ve gotten used to always thinking of things in rhythmic terms. I’ll often write words that have specific rhythmic qualities, and I like to set up arrangements that work together like a rhythmic machine if I can,” he says.
But when asked to describe his sound as a solo artist, Lennox maintains a steadfast allegiance to folk, a genre he sees as the most clearly tied to the community where it is created. “I feel like environment’s a huge influence not only on what comes out of you but on what you think about and the way you react to certain things. It really dictates a mood,” he believes. In terms of environment, Lennox has relocated from Baltimore, Maryland to Lisbon, Portugal, where he recorded his third solo effort, Person Pitch. While Person Pitch took cues from sunny, laidback Lisbon, Tomboy draws from a different scene altogether. “The music I make is always reflective of who I am today. In that way, it’s often kind of uncomfortable to listen to old songs I’ve made,” he shares. While Lennox’s work has shown a clear progression over the years, each song still represents a coherent musical identity— one that’s more about creating sound than marketing an image and places more premium on being heard than selling records.
myspace.com/pandabear
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M A S T E R M I N D
Maybe you reread The Virgin Suicides until your copy fell apart. Maybe you just really miss the Spice Girls. Whatever your reasons, it’s alluring to witness a bunch of girls doing their thing like Argentinean theatre group, dance troupe, and art band CONCHETINAS. By Petra Magno
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omposed of Alina Perkins, Natalia Cristofano, Laura Hita, and Victoria Colmegna, Conchetinas named themselves the local Argentinean slang for “snobby girl,” but their creations are far from pretentious. Their first show, Campopsi (2007), was a large-scale altar-like installation with interactive pieces such as a chair made of candles and a many-eyed mannequin. Alina describes it as “a tent where people could make music and hang out.” This sense of camaraderie and collaborative madness fills their entire aesthetic, giving rise to bicycles freewheeling into buckets, expansive blanket forts, and wall-sized collages. Alina explains, “We have synchronized obsessions... But sometimes, either you follow others or everyone follows yours.” From their mock-serious dance numbers in empty swimming pools to the campy poses they assume in front of their finished paintings, their bravado and readiness to giggle at themselves can be empowering. However, the female psyche is still a tricky thing, and ladies with wild imaginations and immense talent must also have tempers. Alina says, “Once, we had a paint war that was a scandal.” Despite the affirmation that they sometimes throw things at each other, Laura dismisses these as “the usual fights” that come from working together every day. “They are necessary; they renew the air,” she says. Despite the occasional artistic tussle, one thing draws the four femmes together. Conchetinas is deeply rooted in their hometown, Buenos Aires. Choricity, a recent Conchetinas exhibit, was a homage to Argentinean sausage, even as the event itself took place in New York. Alina muses on how they bring the sun everywhere they
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go. She says, “When you travel, either for work or inspiration, you appreciate your city from another perspective.” Laura explains that their connection to Buenos Aires is also a practical one. “[Here],” she says, “we have our studio and our favorite places to find stuff for our pieces.” From the canvas plastered with straw hats to the little bejeweled dollhouses, their pieces display an obsessive attention to detail. “We like to find special objects full of history,” Laura says, and from there, the Conchetinas’ magic takes over. Alina describes their working day as “a jam session... depending on the concept we are working on. In [our 2009 exhibit] Jewelcity, we worked with bright things, with jewels and fantasies.” This fascination with color and the tactile is comparable to playing dress-up. In terms of fashion, Alina lists
animals, occultism, and her mother as her influences, while Laura’s favorite costumes are bodysuits, hair bows, a leather jacket, and a pair of golden boots. They promise us “lots of colors, powder, and lipstick,” for an upcoming Buenos Aires art fair in June, which will witness “a series of sculptures inspired [by] all the aspects of makeup,” but Conchetinas has not just internalized the little girl; they’ve also embraced the woman. They’re even collaborating with a sex shop to come up with a special Conchetinas Kit, which will contain their “selection of accessories for fun girls.” Fun girls that they are, they evoke the paradoxes you’ve learned from falling in love with your hottest art school classmate: seductive in wildness, mysterious in boldness, lighthearted even as they make their indelible mark.
conchetinas.com
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mastermind
Working with monochromatic palettes and a minimum of five or so fabrics per piece, considering none of her clothes have side seams, fashion designer KATIE GALLAGHER is a cut, line, and drape above the rest. By Giano D. Dionisio Photographed by Tom Hines
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ost people are quick to judge fashion with a smirk, scoff, or the dreaded pursed lip, forgetting the amount of work into each garment that often has its beginnings as a collection of thematic imagery, rough sketches, fabric swatches, paint streaks, and paper cutouts. Not Katie who Gallagher is a student of this rudimentary process; she begins, “Every piece I create comes from what I draw. I work from drawings that I then transform into threedimensional, wearable garments… [and] patternmaking is the most important thing to me. Without the proper patterns, everything goes wrong.” The technique, a cross between geometry and artsand-crafts, involves exactly measured shapes drawn on paper, cut into fabrics, then pieced together to create a cohesive look; it’s a foundation of classic sportswear tailoring, which Katie redefined for Spring/ Summer 2011. Indeed, her creations of sculpted nylon, lycra blends, wool, silk, chiffon, and treated leathers appear more spunky than sporty with body-hugging curves,
asset-accentuating leggings, layered textures, and teasing darts. However, Katie insists on donning her own designs to morning jogging circuits and afternoon calisthenic sets, trading in her worn trainers for a pair of stilettos for a night at the bar. Then again, after her September Spring showcase, the perenially eyeliner’d platinum blonde barely has time for herself anymore. “I do [the collections] by myself right now; there’s never really a break for me. I do everything from designing, producing every show sample, dealing with stylist pulls, keeping track of press, right down to menial tasks like stringing my hang tags and licking show invite envelopes…it literally never ends, and it is quite exhausting.” I advise a vacation, but she just laughs, pauses, and sighs, “I really would love to see Japan, and one of my dream trips is to be in Mexico for Dia De Los Muertos.” Her latest Fall/Winter 2011 collection is “inspired by Southern voodoo and is called ‘Gris Gris’—small cloth
bags containing herbs, oils, stones, small bones, hair and nails, pieces of cloth soaked with perspiration and/or other personal items gathered under the directions of a god for the protection of the owner,” as she puts it. Models came out with black raccoon rings around their eyes, overlaid with eery weblike diamonds juxtaposed aptly with the designer’s signature criss-crossed diamond patterns. Once more, the deconstructed leggings—ruched, meshed, and striped—were present as well as Katie’s impeccably constructed jackets. Some appeared as blousy pinafores with bell skirts, others as cropped blazers padded at the shoulders. This season’s singular color choice:
an acerbic tangerine, seen in a thick leather jacket with a bold black zip-up and collar panels, under sheer black, and as paneled leggings. Beneath the constructivist surface lies the macabre influence she had mentioned, taken from messy initial drawings to wonders of wearability. The collection received more beaming smiles than pursed lips, and reinforces the 24-year-old’s stake on today’s diverse style scene. All we can do now is pick our jaws up off the floor and watch as she continues to reshape fashion’s landscape, one seamless body-con at a time.
katiegallagher.com
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mastermind
THE BREAK DOWN
MIKE SCHREIBER’s first memory of hip-hop was his first K-tel record. “I wanted [it] because it came with a step-by-step instruction booklet on how to breakdance,” he recalls. He never learned to breakdance, but he’s pretty darn good at taking photos of the lifestyle surrounding it. By Reena Mesias Photos courtesy of Mike Schreiber
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ike Schreiber refused to grind away as a cubicle slave; he would rather hustle and make a career out of photography. Self-taught, he started snapping photos of hiphop concerts and parties (those were where he got most access to), and eventually, he stepped up to shooting portraits of the best artists in the game—from Maino to Eminem (when he was still unsigned) and M.I.A. Mike’s impassioned photographs are implicative of the styles of documentary photographers like Sebastião Salgado, Bruce Davidson, and Elliott Erwitt, who are his inspirations. Through black-andwhites, he reveals to us the hip-hop world in a different light—one beyond booties, blings, cash, and chrome wheels. “I like to shoot things the way they exist,” he says. “My photos are true to me and to the subjects.” With neither fancy lighting nor a showy set-up (maybe just an accent of a boombox, a sandwich, or a graffiti wall), Mike likes to document rawness in an artist. “It’s pretty much up to me and the subject to make it interesting,” he says. Case in point: Mike’s photo of Ms. Wallace, Notorious B.I.G.’s mom, with a photo of her dead son. While most can only remember Notorious B.I.G. as the “savior of East Coast hip-hop,” his mad rapping skills, and maybe even his car accident, Mike’s photo reveals a proud yet grief-stricken mom who cared for and remembered so much more. Although more famous for snapping everyone who’s anyone in hip-hop, he cannot just be boxed into that category. He’s also shot
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advertisements, basketball players like Amare Stoudemire, actors like 90210’s Tristan Wilds, the prisoners of Louisiana’s Angola prison, and…well, dogs. Mike describes hip-hop artists behind the lens: “some are chill, some smoke, some are very professional, some drink all day, some are loud, some are quiet”—it sounds like he’s rapping. How about him? “I’m pretty laid-back and respectful, and that’s usually how people are towards me,” he says. If there is, however, one difficult thing about being a hip-hop photographer, it’s being patient. “Hip-hop artists are notorious for being late,” he laughs. “That can be annoying, but it comes with the territory.” When it comes to shooting everything hip-hop—just off the strength of his experience and his book called TRUE Hip Hop, a collection of his photos alongside anecdotes and shooting techniques— there really are no limits to his skills as a photographer. A photographer since 1998, Mike still believes that his work is a momentum that will never reach a cutoff point. “I just really wanna keep moving forward and take great pictures,” he says. And to him, a great picture is defined by the composition in its bulk, not just the subject. “The biggest compliment I get is when people like my work but have no idea who Mos Def, M.I.A., or O.D.B. are,” he says. “I’d like for people to see my work as great photos rather than just photos of people they recognize.” mikeschreiber.com
State Property
M.I.A.
"The biggest compliment I get is when people like my work but have no idea who Mos Def, M.I.A., or O.D.B. are. ”
mastermind
' Coup D' eclat The art of ANJO BOLARDA can only be described as emphatic pulsations reverberating with frenetic characters and untamable hues. “Sukiyaki Western” is how he describes it, and his aspirations, to match, teem with just as much color. By Liza Constantino Artwork courtesy of Anjo Bolarda
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njo Bolarda confesses that he most easily draws from moments of unease and contemplation. “The best of my work—the pin-ups—were made when I was suspended [from my job] for one year,” he claims. But his experience hasn’t caused a drought of other offers. Earlier this year, he collaborated on an animated short with Iker Hiro, another artist from Malaysia—something that probably resonates with a “frustration,” his once-held dream of becoming a filmmaker (among others: astronaut and chef). Having recently chosen to freelance full-time, Bolarda’s transformative power only seems to be growing. He says it’s
enough for him that his work has travelled far even if he remains in Manila. For the most part, what concerns Bolarda is his capacity to inspire. He had begun from being accidentally exhibited at an event by Noise Singapore (he joined online without knowing one had to be a citizen) and has kept a blog featuring fellow artists from all over the world. But beyond the exposure, he says, “friendship matters in the industry.” That may be part of Bolarda’s magnetism, which, like the vibrancy of his work, pours out for others to take in.
heyanjo.com
Hold on to your floppy hats, people. Chad Burton has kids—they’re Koreans—the best in street style, runway fashion, parties, and they’re in his blog called THE XOXO KIDS. By Reena Mesias
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hile Chad Burton occasionally models and regularly trendspots, his other talent is blogging Seoul’s nightlife. Drawn by the energy of bands/ DJs on stage, looks of ecstasy in the crowd, and free drinks, Chad freezes these frenzied moments with his camera. “I’m not sure if I have a style [in photography] per se, but I hope my photos capture the energy and atmosphere of the places or subjects...” he says. “Also, I’m stupid tall, and it’s crowded in clubs, so that means a lot of up close, in-your-face, and downward-angled shots.” After spending four years in Korea, he’s finally making the big move to London this
spring. “It’s scary, exciting, challenging, and maybe exactly what I need,” he says, also pondering on the chances of his blog evolving into a Londonbased site. “But so much of who I consider myself today was shaped and inspired by Korea, so instead of being a ‘goodbye,’ it will be more of a ‘see you later,’” he shares. Asked why he named his blog The XOXO Kids, Chad answers, “I wanted to adopt [XOXO] as a sort of adjective for things that I liked.” Well, kids, whatever he puts in his blog—whether from Korea, London, or both—you know you’d end up XOXO-ing them, too.
thexoxokids.com
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mastermind
ANDREW LEAVOLD ran Brisbane’s largest cult rental store, Trash Video, and has been collecting cinematic gems since the age of Betamax. However, he admits that he has a soft spot for Manila’s wealth of whacked out films. By Giano D. Dionisio
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uerilla documentarist Andrew Leavold ended up selling the rights to his precious brainchild, The Search for Weng Weng, to create Not Quite Hollywood’s Mark Hartley’s latest offering, Machete Maidens Unleashed. On the other hand, Andrew settled for writing Weng Weng’s IMDb biography. “I guess that’s the industry for you,” he shrugs. “It’s certainly not the first time someone has been demoted on their dream
project.” Now, he busies himself by piecing together his book, Bamboo Gods and Bionic Boys, and the doctorate thesis from his five years of research.
The Search for Weng Weng began years ago. Share some of your most thrilling stories. Weng Weng was my film obsession ever since I watched For Y’ur Height Only in the early 90s... It wasn’t until my second visit that I tracked down Weng’s only surviving brother, Celing de la Cruz... [who] told me Weng Weng’s incredible, never-before-told life story... For me, Weng Weng’s both a personal avatar and metaphor for the Philippines’ film industry: someone who achieved greatness with very few resources and then outlived their usefulness and was sent home to live out their days in poverty and obscurity. Could you talk a bit about Bamboo Gods and Bionic Boys? There’s over a hundred interviews condensed into a history of Philippine’s genre filmmaking—the early days of Fernando Poe, Sr., Eddie Romero, and
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Cirio Santiago’s export films with Roger Corman, the Pinoy James Bonds and Bruce Lees, the Bomba and Bold explosions, the parodies, the international coproductions, Namsploitation, the Mad Max rip-offs... My favourite parts would have to be interviews with my own personal Bamboo Gods, who became close friends and have since passed on: Bobby A. Suarez, creator of the Cleopatra Wong series and, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest pioneers in Philippine cinema; Nick Nicholson, one of the last remaining American extras from Apocalypse Now and frequent White Goon in countless 80s and 90s action films; Palito, whose humility and humanity really touched me. I’m so privileged to have been given access to their lives and to record their stories for posterity. You’re clearly a big follower of the Philippine film scene, and you aren’t even Filipino. How would you convince the nation’s Westernized moviegoing masses to appreciate their native cinema? If your taste runs to third rate copies of second-rate Hollywood romantic comedies, I wouldn’t try. And if your attention is caught by trendy buzzwords like “indie,” again, I can’t help you. If you have
the spirit of adventure and a taste for the absurd, and are willing to look outside the frame of what constitutes “real” and “important” and “tasteful” culture, then there are a number of parallel film universes waiting, ones in which the rules of decency and propriety are turned on their heads, and films whose skewed logic and crackpot ideas are allowed to run rampant. What are your all-time favorite B movie moments? There’s a school of thought that says there’s five minutes of gold in most movies... These days, I don’t have the patience to pan endlessly for gold in a river of shit. I’m watching mostly Pinoy films, so I can talk about those moments: a village’s children cutting of a naked Mark Joseph’s head with a hoe in Silip, the giant ice cream hallucinations in Temptation Island, Michael de Mesa using Maria Isabel Lopez as a samurai sword sheath in Hubo Sa Dilim... a threeminute shot of Rene Requestias shitting into a toilet. Amazing, startling images that have been hardly ever seen outside the Philippines, and that’s a criminal act. Except maybe the shitting.
andrewleavold.blogspot.com
mastermind
COUTURE "A lot of people are surprised to...discover that I didn't go to fashion school."
Designer JEROME LORICO has never taken a fashion class, but he copped an international award for an extremely un-basic little black dress he created from hybrid cloth. How’s that for unschooled? By Petra Magno Photographed by Joseph Pascual
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ne fateful October night in Tokyo, Jerome Lorico won the 2010 Japan Fashion Design Contest, making him the first foreigner to ever take home the grand prize. Big ups to the Literature and Language graduate who found himself dealing with language but of the confusing sort. When the awarding began, understandably in Japanese, Jerome mistook the three third runner up winners for the grand prizewinners. “I thought Russia won the grand prize,” Jerome says. Nevertheless, after the demure applause and the drum roll that preceded the pronouncement of the real grand prizewinner, it was Jerome’s dress, “Ink and Water,” and his model that walked out on stage. Jerome pulls out the contest poster and points out how his model’s tights should have been opaque rather than sheer. He was gunning for focus on the dress’ texture, which works on both the level of textile— woven out of a 30/70 pinya-cotton hybrid— and on the structure. A marvel of symmetry, the machine-knit base is encased in a handassembled armor of looping and interlocking strips intricate as exposed wiring and organic as blood vessels. Jerome would forgive my poeticizing. “I’m the kind of designer that’s fond of
telling stories through his collections,” he muses. For his part in Samsung Metrowear’s 2009 fashion show, which revolved around the couture commuter man, Jerome’s press kit was a faux newspaper filled with dreamlike essays he wrote himself. Headlined with “Man Recalls 12-Year-Old Memory,” the papers are stacked neatly on a table Jerome purchased from a recent We Are Triangle pop up shop. Beside it are a copy of Pablo Neruda’s Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, Esquire’s The Handbook of Style, and a vintage edition of Robinsoe Crusoe. His minimalist studio is peppered with quirky details echoing his fashion aesthetic. Two pairs of geta (traditional wooden Japanese sandals) lie by the doorway. A ceramic bowl filled with bow ties doubles as an ashtray, which Jerome proffers after diplomatically opening a window. “When you’re doing menswear, most of your clients smoke,” he says. In menswear, he restrains his Aitor Throup tendencies to detail as seen in his Spring/Summer collection for Philippine Fashion Week 2010. Bronze studs lined T-shirt necklines and edged topcoat lapels while button-front shirts concealed their buttons. The show also marked Jerome’s
notable departure from black and white, and his foray into color had soft blues and sandy browns evoking sea and sand. However, Jerome is at his most experimental when designing for women. In a fundraiser for Ballet Philippines, he tripled a Barbie doll’s natural height of 11.5 inches by encasing her in an avantgarde sculptural splendor of black wire and ribbons, earning a P40,000 starting bid for four of them. He’s also a member of the Young Designers’ Guild of the Philippines, about which he says, a little sadly, “When you say you’re a young designer [in the Philippines], it means you’re a struggling designer.” But it doesn’t seem like Jerome’s having a hard time, having joined Inno Sotto’s Fashion Watch Quartet 2011 as well as Singapore Fashion Week. “A lot of people are surprised to... discover that I didn’t go to fashion school,” Jerome says, adding that he’s eyeing scholarships in Central Saint Martins or the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. “Hopefully, late this year, I’ll be able to join a fashion institution,” he says. The fully laden clothing rack at one end of his studio prompts him to thoughtfully add, “After my shows.”
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HEAVY HITTER
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can forget many things in the sixties. You might even want to forget that the Vietnam War happened. But surely, you won’t forget The Beatles and the woman blamed for breaking them up—Yoko Oh-no—so the pun goes. But at 78, she remains unstoppable in embracing everything affirmative. Today, she tells me, “Living in this world was always tough for everybody. So why not try to make it better by saying yes? I’m here now not because I kept saying no, you know. Yes is what brought me at being 78, and I’m very thankful.”
Already far from the bedeviled times when she was heralded as the witch, the weird wife, or the pitiful widow—Yoko remains as one of the world’s widest window to peace. Yes, she was the Chambers Street’s High Priestess of the Happening. Yes, she could be the person Paul McCartney is alluding to while barking “Get back to where you once belonged.” Yes, she is what Esquire called “John Rennon’s Excrusive Gloupie.” Yes, she is Ocean Child. Yes, she is an avant-garde matriarch. But what garnered her yesses from the masses is how she never sought anyone’s approval. “I’m just doing what I can do. Just like what you are probably doing. We can only do our best. This is the time…it’s better to solve things in your head. Safer, and very effective as well,” Yoko says. She not only tamed John’s demons or the perilous fate his death brought upon to millions; she also had to dismantle the concrete bowels of her own sorrows with gospel fervor. In doing so, she found peace within herself, with herself, and outside herself. Letting her love grow a million fold, she proves the Lennon lyric true: “we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.”
Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try. It was like a scene from an apocalyptic movie— the Japanese evacuating because a 9.0-magnitude earthquake had shattered their country. No hell below us, above us only sky. As if that’s not enough, a tsunami followed damaging nuclear power stations leading to radiation leakage. Imagine all the people, living for today. In this ill-fated day, everybody was praying and singing the songs of their souls. I found myself singing “Imagine” while reviewing my questions for Yoko. I ask her how she’s been after releasing “Move on Fast,” to which she quickly responds “Not Bad!” For someone who has witnessed music’s “toppermost of the poppermost” moments, she’s not wont to prophesizing or comparing musical eras.
“Music is still going on strong. It always will be,” she says. Being Japanese herself, she is numbed by the consequences of the disaster. But she breeds a culture of positivity. She planted this way back in London’s Indica Gallery where she and John met. John had to climb a ladder leading to a painting hung on the ceiling, and when you peek through a monocle, you’ll find the word “yes.” John, relieved to find something so simple and encouraging, manifests the effect of Yoko’s message. “I just concentrate on what I can do. I don’t compare myself with anybody else. I just try to live positively,” she shares. The marriage of Yoko’s ideas to John’s radiates a vision of a world ruled by peace, love, and truth—forces that detonates by resonating in our hearts.
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Besides the marriage of ideas, Yoko’s marriage to John in Gibraltar in March 20, 1969 traces the origins of Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland’s Viðey island, where a beam of light extends to the sky in memory of John. Lit from March 20-26, it coincides with the couple’s historic bed-ins at the Amsterdam Hilton. Then it hit me. Shit. Yoko Ono actually defined an age. She was there at The Beatles’ rooftop performance of “Don’t Let Me Down.” She’s one of the few people who can throw a comparison between Paul McCartney and Mozart’s less talented archrival Salieri and get away with it. She stood up against Vietnam War and all wars for that matter. For kids like me, those things are almost fictional. So I ask her, how do you deal with your own legend? Yoko answers “Don’t look back. Make your own legacy.” She might be inseparable from the shadows of her past, but her works are the testaments of how she carves her own path. Constantly collaborating with Sean Lennon, Thurston Moore, and Cibo Matto, she’s also present in SXSW and actively spearheads artistic and pacifist movements. It’s still debatable if she’s one of the progenitors of new wave, but with an oeuvre spanning from “Walking on Thin Ice” to the seminal Season of Glass and 2009’s Between My Head and the Sky—Yoko attests that she may not always shed light to pop music the way her husband did, but she has always been a dance star—strobe lights and all that spaz.
When Yoko performed with Lady Gaga last December, she praised the latter’s bottoms which were exposed in a lace cat suit. But even as early as 1966, her mind already permitted the beauty of the risqué with her film No. 4 or Bottoms which shows close up butts. Still favoring the spontaneous, she shares, “I did one risk-taking studio session two weeks ago. When the CD comes out, I hope you get some energy from it.” The remixes for her single “Move on Fast” from Approximately Infinite Universe enjoys being side by side dance dominatrices Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Kylie Minogue in Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play Chart. But musically or not, Yoko doesn’t really care about popular opinion—she just dances through it all. And if you want to know how she does it, May 27 marks the 32nd anniversary of the publication of her and John’s letter in The New York Times—To People Who Ask Us What, When and Why. It says “We felt it was time for us to stop discussing and do something about our wishing process: The Spring Cleaning of our minds.” In her “Wish Tree” project, she also tells us to “Keep wishing/Until the branches are covered with wishes.” For her “wishing is more effective than waving flags.” And in a world threatened by its own demise, that might just come in handy. After so many decades, you might ask, does it really matter for a person like her who has seen so much if today is May and yesterday is March? Probably yes because history binds us all. But just as it is the end of spring, Yoko marches on optimistically and self-aware. Recommending reads like the 50 Secrets of the World’s Longest Living People, Yoko defies lifetimes, saying that if John is still alive right at this moment, they’re probably “laughing together.”
imaginepeace.com
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HEAVY HITTER
It’s a sunny day. RICO BLANCO is sweeping the clouds away, on his way to where the air is sweet. Figure out the rest because this Philippine rock icon def I nitely knows the way to Sesame Street, the generation-defying children’s show, for which he is now ambassador to reinvigorate educational virtue in the country’s youth. By Giano D. Dionisio / Photographed by Patrick L. Jamora / Styling by Loris Pena & Sean Go / Grooming & Makeup by Ara Fernando / Illustration by Nicole Bianca Po statusmagonline.com - 77
HEAVY HITTER you know, no pressure,” laughs Rico Blanco after having carefully explained why he dislikes journalists and giving interviews that never seem to capture his intentions properly. The brooding bloke takes his time when speaking, punctuating sentences with thought pauses; it’s like a mind game
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Blanco was chairman of Sangguniang Kabataan (SK), a youth-helmed government council elected in local districts, before completely giving himself over to his college rock band, Rivermaya. The decision to leave SK was met with protest from his fellow public servants who insisted that the political route was his calling. This happened again in 2007 when he announced his career sabbatical. “But you’re music!” Rico recounts the cries of his fans, to which he calmly retorts, “You don’t know who I am.” Another quiet moment filled with what sounds like purpose. I note the way his answers come off as akin to the almost indecipherable ramblings of Yoko
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This latest endeavor came about when Rico’s friend dialed him up, asking if he would be interested in a collaboration with Sesame Street, to which he replied enthusiastically with “Sesame Street kid ako! (I’m a Sesame Street kid!)” The phrase stuck and is now the name of the campaign which, through Rico’s help as ambassador and SM Foundation’s donate-a-book drive, has furnished public schools with Sesame Street Learning Corners that have books and Sesame Street videos available for healthy consumption. Apart from the ABCs and the 123s, Rico stresses the importance of values that children learn through the program, rooted in “respect—I think all other virtues follow from there.” Of course, his own experiences from the show recall “the love for music and creativity and art” that he developed from watching familiar faces in new scenarios everyday—but back then, Elmo was merely a Baby Monster. Groundbreaking for its time, Sesame Street continues to be the standard of children’s programming, and Rico sums up its wonderment with a smile: “Imagination was a big part of it.” Growing up certainly shaped the man’s character in obvious ways, from his songwriting—”I came from a music-
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Ono, and he just laughs, “I think Yoko is deep. I’m just vague.” The rocker has dipped his toes in the realms of film (as a director in local television, as an actor on primetime’s take on vampires and werewolves, Imortal), art (through paintings, photographs, and more), literature (as a struggling poet whose verses often appear in his various blogs), and even in fashion (as creative director of his own line of t-shirts, Koboi). Think he’s got it covered? Well, he concedes he “can’t write books… I’ve gotten used to writing concisely and in rhythm. Because you don’t have enough space in songs, I think my capacity for
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of fill-in-the-Blanco. “It just happened,” he starts, mysteriously. He says he was already part of renowned rock band Rivermaya, performing gigs and recording albums, when he finally realized that it was what he wanted to do with his life. But even then, he wasn’t sure.
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loving family, so the records were there, the music was there, the piano-playing was there; everyone was into music.”— to his more philanthropic side. Blanco tells of his parents who raised him with “conversations about the country, about what it needs, about what we need, and how to help.” His grandfather, he mentions, was a war hero, and that patriotism was instilled in a young Rico along with Oscar the Grouch’s humor and Mr. Snuffleupagus’ mischief. And when he wasn’t at home watching the show, he was often out on his own street, playing games with his own friends from the sunny hood. The musician has never escaped this inner need for change and revolution. Through the years, he’s created epic anthems that cry of a generation in uproar, notably “Awit ng Kabataan (Song of the Youth).” He also sings dark narratives, a handful of lovers’ jams, and, he grins, “some silly songs, too.” Rico concludes, “I’ve just written so many songs
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that they’re bound to touch on different topics.” It was reported that he went through writing five songs a day at one point, relentless for his soaring voice to be heard, and anyone would be ignorant not to have encountered one of his powerful melodies on the radio or on a commercial or a television show’s theme song.
It’s a classic trick in the Sesame Street book. Goo Goo Dolls performed “Pride” with Elmo, Billy Joel sang “Just the Way You Are” to Oscar the Grouch, and Johnny Cash strummed “Nasty Dan” also with Oscar. Rockstars + muppets = awesome. And it’s happening in the Philippines with Rico Blanco plus Elmo and Cookie Monster for an education campaign called SESAME STREET KID AKO (I’m a Sesame Street kid). The goal: providing Sesame Street corners with TV and DVD set, books, and Sesame Street videos to public schools throughout the country. That’s what you call rocking on.
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writing proper sentences and paragraphs has suffered,” he half-jokes, those nebulous thought pauses intimidating me. “I never saw myself doing just one thing,” he continues. “I never saw myself having a one-dimensional life…[that] I’m a master of none, that’s why I’m a jack of all trades. It’s the other way around. I think the reason why I’m [involved in so many ventures] is because I’m not really good—excellent—at just one thing,” a response overwhelmingly supported by the rampant celebration of the music he’s created over the years as well as the rest of his successful projects.
HEAVY HITTER
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HEAVY HITTER
EVERY DOOR WILL OPEN WIDE Right now, most of his time goes to taping for the last few episodes of Imortal, propagating his Koboi line of clothes, updating beloved fans through Tumblr, making up his mind on what to jump onto next, and the odd photoshoot here and there. Today, animated synthesizers; tomorrow, the world, though he’s too modest to admit it. As part of the collaboration, Rico is covering two Sesame Street songs which will be performed at a mall concert series. He gives us hints—something about letters (like Norah Jones’s stab at singing about the letter Y for which she tweaked her breakthrough single “Don’t Know Why”), something about finding comfort in being together (like John Mayer giving Elmo a hug in a promo for the show’s episode called “Coming Home Military Families Cope with Change”).
Whatever those songs are, as we have glimpsed in his recent work, this we are sure about: that they are products of his playful mind (like the synchronized robo choreography in “Antukin”). And we sure hope he’s not just singing but also dancing—as in his Fred Astaireinspired moves in “Ayuz” or as when he was a kid himself, watching them muppets and singing with them. That’s all we know for now, but we can all agree that Blanco belongs in the rich library of Philippine music history, including a few footnotes in every other area he’s touched. The words legend and icon are thrown around, but if I were to venture a guess, this whole feature is more appropriately brought to you by the letters ſ, Æ, and Ŧ. Go figure.
ricoblanco.com.ph
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HEAVY HITTER
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’s music had always been described as childlike, something attributed to her voice, which might sound like a raspy 15-year-old’s, but her lyrics prove otherwise. Once, she was a girl sitting across a boy outside a little Minessotan house; both wielding acoustic guitars, they start playing a two-chord song about how cute they are. Two years after its initial release, The Moldy Peaches’ “Anyone Else But You” quickly emerged as anthem of the quirky ones thanks to this Oscar-nominated 16-year-old pregnant girl known as Juno. The Moldy Peaches are long gone, but the two singers—Adam Green and Kimya Dawson— both spawned successful solo careers in the antifolk movement they helped build. Adam now has seven albums. Meanwhile, Kimya Dawson remains cute as a button. Now at 38, she has a fouryear-old daughter to take care of, a choir ensemble to conduct, a shitload of side projects and six albums under her belt with another one being released this year.
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ouring and promoting an album is not easy. Travelling is a drag, playing the same shows in different venues is repetitive, and socializing with people could be a real chore. But Kimya isn’t a pompous indie rock star. “I am a mom, which has kept me insanely busy,” she shares. Her last solo effort, Alphabutt, was an unusual children’s album with songs about potty training, losing a tooth, watching plants grow, lots and lots of animal sounds, and of course, butts. The concept was to make an album for her daughter, Panda. What came out was a charming exercise in what it feels like to be a kid. And because she decided to become a mother first before being a musician, the road to her upcoming album, Thunder Thighs, hasn’t been as smooth as she expected. “When [my daughter] was a baby...[I] couldn’t get internal enough to write,” she shares. Recording took a whole year to complete. Recently, she released “Walk Like Thunder” for free in exchange for a promise: “Tell someone you love them. Take care of yourself.” The song is a sprawling 10-minutes about her entire life; it feels like it would belong in her 2004 release Hidden Vagenda, undoubtly her darkest album.
“There are a couple of kid-like songs and some extremely dark songs. Some songs about healing. Some about compassion. Some silly stuff. Some rapping!” she exclaims as she gives a gist of this new album. “I feel like I was just so ready for something different,” she adds. Her usual incorporates unusual imageries—drowning babies, hugging girly giants, physical and sexual abuse—along with joyful guitar riffs and playful harmonies.
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ason Carmer, who produced both Alphabutt and Hidden Vagenda, went back to the studio to help her record. Kimya describes her frequent collaborator: “He will just sit there and goof off and eat a sandwich or be texting, and it seems like he is not paying attention, but he can diddle a knob with his eyes closed, and shit sounds perfect.” She adds, “Jason just has this innate way of knowing exactly what to do without being a pretentious dick about it.” Another frequent collaborator in Kimya’s work is the underground hip-hop artist Aesop Rock. Six tracks in her new album were made with Aesop and a whole other bunch of indie boys. John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats appear in the album as well as Nikolai Fraiture (The Strokes) and Andrew Dorsett (Lake). Kimya has an alarming number of male musician friends not to mention that she’s married to one (Angelo Spencer). She also keeps in contact with her friends from the antifolk scene. The song “Tire Swing” from her album Remember That I Love You mentions a few of her male friends including Paul Baribeau (the one who took Kimya to the tire swing) and Matthew Pop Chart (the “Tobey” in the line “I never met a Tobey that I didn’t like”). Perhaps the most “neurotic” of Kimya’s troupe of male collaborators would be Adam Green, the other half of The Moldy Peaches. By the time Juno came out, The Moldy Peaches wasn’t even a full band anymore. They were “on hiatus” since 2004, but with the movie’s success, they decided to reunite on live television thanks to the empowered menopausal women of The View. Even without The Moldy Peaches, Kimya continues to ride the wave of success inflicted upon her. Last year, she formed a band with Jeffrey and Jack Lewis called The Bundles, which sounds like the spiritual brother of The Moldy Peaches but with better production values and a more country
rock flair. “I am in a totally different place,”she concludes.
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wo years ago, while living in Washington with her family, she started organizing The Olympia Free Choir, a singing group that meets twice a week at a local park to practice. “There are no requirements. No tryouts. No commitment. Just come if you want to sing. We sing all kinds of songs. It is very fun and therapeutic,” she shares. The Olympia Free Choir is also present in Kimya’s new album, and she usually brings them along to her shows—they even backed up Daniel Johnston once when he rolled into town. In the process of collaborating with Aesop Rock for Thunder Thighs, Kimya shares, “We realized that we work really well together, so we started our own band and are working on an album,” Kimya shares. The band, previously called Precious Bros! but is now nameless due to another band having a similar name, is unlike anything they’ve done individually. The unusual tandem of a rapper and a folkie is definitely something to look forward to in the future. “We are really similar in the way we see things and respond to things, both creatively and emotionally,” she says. Aesop Rock, known for his intricate lyrics is definitely a perfect match for Kimya’s melodies. “It is also so refreshing and powerful to meet and work with someone who is such an insane lyricist and who loves and respects words in such a deep way,” she continues. With almost a decade of experience in music, Kimya knows how the landscape works even if it constantly changes. She acknowledges the fact that the Internet is a tough environment but thinks that it’s a nice thing to deliver music to the masses. After the release of Thunder Thighs, Kimya’s focusing on her collaboration with Aesop Rock: “It’s pretty epic and really the only way I can imagine writing now. Heads together like nerdy twins separated at birth, looking for answers. Can’t beat that.” she states. Rest assured that even after Juno, even after The Moldy Peaches and through the hardships of taking care of her first child, Kimya Dawson of Olympia, Washington still likes giants, still thinks President Bush sucked, and still makes awesome music. She notes, “My songs are just how I process what is happening in the universe.” kimyadawson.com
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NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Musicians usually create for the people. But it wouldn’t hurt to know what makes the music critics tick. After all, who would be the “golden gods” of music without all their scribing? Illustration by Nicole Bianca Po
features editor, pitchfork media What can you say about people associating Pitchfork to harsh music reviews? We try to be as honest as possible with our reviews. The site has high standards when it comes to music, and I feel like our readers ultimately appreciate that.
What’s the craziest reaction that you’ve got so far?
Lots of people reacted to the review of Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which received a rare 10.0 grade. Somebody started a “Having no respect for Pitchfork since they awarded Kanye West’s album 10.0” Facebook page. Another person wrote me an email hypothesizing that Kanye must have gotten me “laid once” in order to get such a high mark. Untrue!
Who will make it big this decade?
The singer and producer James Blake is at the top of the list because his recent debut album manages to revamp the age-old singer-songwriter tradition with newfangled electronics, including elements of the wobbling dubstep style. Another relatively new singer I’m excited about is Zola Jesus, who has an obscenely big voice and is using it to bring back the darkness and melodrama of goth. And the L.A. rapper and producer Tyler the Creator is a ferocious new artist [who] combines the oddball lawlessness of vintage Eminem with the synth-based beats of The Neptunes at their weirdest.
What’s your take on hip-hop today especially that it’s not mainly covered in Pitchfork?
Hip-hop has reached that stadium rock level, which is cool to see. I went to the Jay-Z show at Yankee Stadium last fall, and it was easily the best concert I went to the whole year.
If Pitchfork will host an awards show, who would it be?
The Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne would be an amazing host partly because there’s a good chance he would spray fake blood over the entire audience.
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Contributing writer for The Guardian and PopMatters What constitutes a good music review?
Someone once asked the music critic Greg Kot this same question, and he said that he felt like a lot of younger writers are “infatuated with their own voice.” I think he was right about that. The best writing is simple, clear, and concise.
Who will make it big this decade?
Tune-Yards: Merrill Garbus has a new one coming out this year that she recorded in a professional studio and the first single, “Bizness,” is really immediate and accessible in a way much of her previous work isn’t.
Tyler the Creator: The 10-person hip-hop collective Odd Future is
pretty hotly tipped in critical circles. 19-year-old pack leader Tyler the Creator seems likely to become the band’s breakout star— he’s totally charismatic and has a strong aesthetic sensibility that runs through all of his work.
Future Times: A label, not an artist. The artists on Future Times all share a similar aesthetic—they dig up these strange sounds from long-forgotten records and reassemble them into a sort of warped, mutant funk.
Contributing writer for Paste, Associate Music Editor for PopMatters What can you say about Arcade Fire’s win in the Grammy?
I was utterly shocked. But at least, it shows that mainstream culture is expanding the notions of what “normalsounding music” is. Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs was my number 1 album of the year for 2010, so I felt very satisfied with that choice in the first place.
Do you think that taste can be taught?
I don’t think it can be taught like a subject in school. Some art required the person experiencing it to ruminate on it. I remember when Radiohead’s Kid A came out… I was totally baffled. Where are the guitars? I was absorbing this new sonic language: electronic noises, abstract beats, discordant textures, ambience… Within a couple days, Kid A was one of my favorite albums.
Who will make it big this decade?
There is this guy, Steve Marion, who goes by Delicate Steve, and he just put out an album called Wondervisions. He has an ear for really catchy, layered instrumentals. Finally, there’s a band called Morning Teleportation… they make really funky, exploratory stuff—sort of like Modest Mouse meets Talking Heads.
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NIGHTVISION this is ny
by Gerard Estadella
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NIGHTVISION
got soul fridays @ M CafĂŠ by Greg Chen
HYSTERIA @ Kyss
by Inna Cristobal
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VEVO/CHEVROLET PARTY @ SXSW
photos Š WireImage / Getty
TUESday takeover by The Cobrasnake
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NIGHTVISION
DJ Kingdom @ Mansion
by The XOXO Kids
Fresh FridayS @ Fiamma
by Isabella Marcos
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FAR EAST MOVEMENT @ Republiq
by EJ Constantino
DIM MAK STAGE ADELAIDE by The Cobrasnake
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NIGHTVISION
FULLY FLEXIBLE by The Cobrasnake
super sketch by The XOXO Kids
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Where to find stuff in this magazine BRANDS ADIDAS Urban Athletics, Greenbelt 3, Makati City and Adidas stores nationwide A LA DISPOSITION aladisposition.com ALBA albabotanica.com ALDO Power Plant Mall, Makati City ALI RO ali-ro.com ALICE PALMER alicepalmer.co.uk ANDROID HOMME djpremium.com ARMANI EXCHANGE Power Plant Mall, Makati City ARMOR BY CASSANDRA RENEE cassirenee@gmail.com BOBBI BROWN Rustan's Department Store, Makati City CARIN WESTER carinwester.com CHARLES & KEITH Power Plant Mall, Makati City CHARLES DAVID SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City CLINIQUE Rustan's Department Store, Makati City CPS Bonifacio High Street, The Fort, Taguig City DEBENHAMS Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong City DETAILS Power Plant Mall, Makati City DIESEL Power Plant Mall, Makati City DONNA KARAN donnakaran.com DOROTHY PERKINS Power Plant Mall, Makati City DR. NICHOLAS PERRICONE perriconemd.com ESTEE LAUDER Rustan's Department Store, Makati City ETTEN ELLER etteneller.com FOREVER 21 SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City
GAS Greenbelt 3, Makati City GOLA Urban Athletics, Greenbelt 3, Makati City and Gola stores nationwide GRAVIS Urban Athletics, Greenbelt 3, Makati City GREYONE SOCIAL Greenbelt 5, Makati City GUERLAIN Rustan's Department Store, Makati City HAVAIANAS All Flip Flops, Bonifacio High Street, The Fort, Taguig City HENRIK VIBSKOV henrikvibskov.com KBL EYEWEAR kbleyewear.com LACRASIA lacrasia.com LAFAYETTE 148 lafayette148.com LAKO BUKIA notjustalabel.com/lakobukia LAURA MERCIER Rustan's Department Store, Makati City MAKE UP FOR EVER Bonifacio High Street, The Fort, Taguig City MARC ECKO Urban Athletics, Greenbelt 3, Makati City MENTAL TriNoma Mall, Quezon City NARS Rustan's Department Store, Makati City NIKE Urban Athletics, Greenbelt 3, Makati City and Nike stores nationwide PAUL & JOE Rustan's Department Store, Makati City PENGUIN Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong City PENSHOPPE SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City PETER TWISS petertwiss.co.uk PHILIPPE AUDIBERT philippeaudibert.com PHILOSOPHY Beauty Bar, Greenbelt 5, Makati City POUR LA VICTOIRE pourlavictoire.com
PUMA Puma stores and department stores nationwide RED HERRING Debenhams, Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong City SEVEN Greenbelt 5, Makati City SHU UEMURA Power Plant Mall, Makati City SMASHBOX Beauty Bar, Greenbelt 5, Makati City SPRINGFIELD Greenbelt 3, Makati City STEVE MADDEN Greenbelt 5, Makati City SUNGHEE BANG sungheebang.com THE BODY SHOP Power Plant Mall, Makati City THE FACE SHOP Power Plant Mall, Makati City TOPMAN Power Plant Mall, Makati City TOPSHOP Power Plant Mall, Makati City UNITED NUDE unitednude.com URBAN ATHLETICS Greenbelt 3, Makati City VANS American Rag, Athlete's Foot, Landmark Department Stores, Olympic Village, SM Department Stores, Sports Warehouse, Toby's, Urban Athletics, Vans boutiques VMV HYPOALLERGENICS Bonifacio High Street, The Fort, Taguig City WOOD WOOD woodwood.dk ZADIG AND VOLTAIRE zadig-et-voltaire.com ZOYA zoya.com ARTISTS Greg Chen (Photographer) greglchen@yahoo.com Ming Han Chung (Photographer) runwaynewswire.com The Cobrasnake (Photographer) thecobrasnake.com
NIGHTVISION EJ Constantino (Photographer) ejconstantino.multiply.com Inna Cristobal (Photographer) adventure-inna-crunch.tumblr.com Danny Dawson (Photographer) kimyadawson.com Ariana Delawari (Photographer) arianadelawari.com Patrick Diokno (Illustrator) patrickdiokno@gmail.com Henry Dziekan (Photographer) henrydziekan.com Toni Estevez (Photographer) toni_estevez@yahoo.com Ara Fernando (Grooming and Makeup) arafernando.multiply.com Cecilia Glik (Photographer) ceciliaglik.com Sean Go (Stylist) seanwgo@gmail.com Cecilie Harris (Photographer) cecilieharris.co.uk Craig David Hills (Stylist) craigdavidhills.squarespace.com Tom Hines (Photographer) tomhines.com Soleil Ignacio (Illustrator) behance.net/choleil Patrick Jamora (Photographer) behance.net/padraick Isabella Marcos (Photographer) im.isamarc@gmail.com Loris Pena (Stylist) lorispena@statusmagonline.com Gosia Peruzynska (Hair and Makeup) linkedin.com/pub/gosia-peruzynska Nicole Bianca Po (Illustrator) theothernikkiepo@gmail.com Renessta Olds (Stylist) reneeostylelab.com Red Ivy Pictures (Post-Processing) redivypictures.com Cassandra Renee (Hair and Makeup) linkedin.com/in/cassandrarenee Steven Taylor (Photographer) steventaylorphotography.co.uk Tiger Tiger Photography (Photographer) tigertigernz.com Anna Thiessen (Photographer) annathiessen.com The XOXO Kids (Photographer) thexoxokids.com
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: Perch Collective ScarF
I love their signature scarves because they’re super soft and perfect for making me look chic from day to night.
DeLeon Tequila Diamante
I am a tequila guy. There is nothing better than DeLeon Tequila on the rocks with two limes. Nothing beats this brand—I mean look at that bottle, and tell me you don’t gasp at its beauty.
REMBRANDT FLORES
Born in the Philippines and raised in California, A-list publicist REMBRANDT FLORES has a knack for turning actors into celebrities. While he’s busy taking over the entertainment capital of the universe, check out the kind of gear that dominate his space. Shades on, please.
Blackberry 9700
I am an email maniac, so this thing is my life. I think I get about 1000 emails a day and, you know what, a day doesn’t go by that I don’t answer everyone by EOD.
Photographed by Steven Taylor
Goyard Belvedere
Santa Maria Novella Pet Products
This messenger bag is my pride and joy. It fits my iPad, camera, smartphone, prescriptions, and other daily essentials.
My yorkie Diesel deserves the best, and I only trust these all-natural products from the world’s oldest apothecary.
Oakley Jupiter Sunglasses
Since I live in sunny Los Angeles, I am wearing shades more often than not. These look cool day and night.
TY KU White Sake Sportiqe Shirts
I am a huge fan of the Lakers and these shirts are dope because they look vintage. It also doesn’t hurt that Zac Efron and Justin Timberlake are huge fans!
My favorite food is sushi, and I can’t take a bite without this amazing sake. It’s smoother than silk.
Rolex Submariner 5513 on a NATO Strap
Cult of Individuality Jeans
This brand has unique washes, so I always stand out and never blend in.
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True luxury is something you cannot have just by going to a store and buying. The patina on the dial is unique and only gets better with age. There isn’t a more versatile watch than a vintage Submariner. You can literally pair it [with everything], from shorts all the way to a tux!
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outside cover