severed doll head shimmery purse

© Joselito Briones

the sort of thing one will find on sale at the local flea market in my neighborhood. severed doll head shimmery purse (note the tiny wreath detail below the head), matching cape/shawl knit with angora trim, pink camisole, salmon-colored sailor-collar top with lace trimmings.


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i hate this model

© Joselito Briones

because he wore my clothes better. there.

i do love tho that i didn't have to source clothes for him to wear (we wear the same size, all my stuff is fair game) and that he was a real trouper during the shoot.  stocksy said it wanted some sartorialist-style street fashion photo, so there.

vintage pirate coat from vivienne westwood (this one is charles'), suede chukkah boots from a.p.c., iggy jeans from agnes b., hooded sweater from diesel (which the model smirked at, comparing the style of the hoodie to foreskin) and hat from dior homme.

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h&m unveils the lanvin collab window display

© Joselito Briones

woke up today with the start of a migraine. there goes another weekend wasted, and it hasn't even started yet. called in sick and downed a couple of pills to hopefully get rid of it. early afternoon it's still there but not worse so i thought i'd take a couple more pills and take a breath of fresh air (let's just pretend for a sec that it's possible here in hong kong's central district).  i thought i'd walk to ifc so i packed an impulse purchase (a beanie, from agnes b., a wee bit too small for my ginormous head) i did last weekend to return it for a refund.

a block down my building a crowd was watching mannequins of h&m's display window getting dressed, so i looked and saw that they're preparing the window for the sale of lanvin-h&m crossover. something to do this week. they open at 8am tho. too early. last time i went to an h&m collab sale (with comme des garçons, in germany) there were very few items left an hour after opening.  people get crazy in these events.

i went to agnes b. and returned the beanie, only they don't give cash refund, so i ended up getting something else to use up the credit - a cardigan and a t-shirt - and paying a lot more.  that's me and my f*cked up idea of being wise with money.  return an impulse buy that i don't really need, and end up getting more stuff that are more expensive.  at least my migraine was starting to go away.

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omg! my calves are so pretty!

 © Joselito Briones

haha! i got one of 'em harem shorts from i.t. very comfy indeedy. i'm wondering if the thing balloons up when i fart.

off to have beans for lunch. not that i need help in that department. just hoping for even just a slight lift off.

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an outsider in the inside

© Joselito Briones

as i'm sure you know by now, i'm back. and what time to be here, this place is just full of happenings. on international scale there's the u.s. open (isn't del potro just so cute?), on a more local level there's broadway-on-broadway, and of course there's fashion week in bryant park.

i was difficult to miss the massive tents in the park when i came out of the 7 subway station so i checked it out. at the entrance was a crowd of fashion fans and wannabe's and photographers. i climbed and stood on a podium on the side, but i didn't even bother taking out my own camera as there didn't seem to be anything interesting happening. what did catch my eye was an old man in a blue jacket who was just taking pictures in the perimeter of the crowd, generally ignored. i watched him for a while and saw how smoothly he navigated the crowd, his quick scan of everything around him, taking pictures of what seemed to be nothing in particular (he was in general looking below eye level, so it was obvious he was not interested in taking photos of faces). when i saw him load and reload his camera with an old-fashioned film roll, i took out my camera, took photos of him (circled, above) climbed down the podium, and followed him :)



© Joselito Briones

it was just amazing how fast he looked at things, decisively taking pictures of the few things that interested him, but quickly dismissing everything else. it was clear that the man has been doing this forever. i pictured myself doing the same when i get older :) there's this man who clearly could be someplace comfortable taking it easy and yet his passion brought him here.



© Joselito Briones

the more i followed him tho, it became clear that "becoming like him" is something one can only dream of. the man went up the stairs, was greeted and waved through by the event guards, and entered the tents. without showing an i.d., or badge, or an invitation that was required of everybody else. when he came out it was with people who seemed to be v.i.p.'s of the event (points to you if you can identify whom he's being chummy with in the photo above).

having taken numerous photos of him, i asked one of the guards who he is, and was told that he's a new york times photographer who regularly does a fashion feature. when i got back to jane's here in jackson heights the first thing i did was google him.

BILL CUNNINGHAM.


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mannequin

© Joselito Briones

today's shoot went fairly smoothly, to the point that it was also a bit boring. same seamless paper background as the other day, and lotsa clothes changes. that he wears exactly the same clothes size as me (at least when i bought the clothes) was a big plus. model louis is a skaterboy whose facial features look so delicate. summer holiday for german students started this week, so he was able to do this shoot.


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j'adore

photo ©Joselito Briones / design: Adapt/Ryan Gello

It's always great when a designer sends me a mail to say he's used one of photos for an ad/design. This one is for a fashion event. Thanks Ryan!


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Shopping, shopping, shopping

© Joselito Briones

After having breakfast and doing laundry in a nearby laundromat, Wil (pictured here showing off his really really nice Armani Jacket) and I spent the whole day shopping for kitchen and bathroom for his apartment. We walked south across Hyde Park towards South Kensington High Street. We checked out several shops, including Habitat and Laura Ashley, where we ended up picking out a wallpaper. At the end of the street, we made an appointment with "Magnet", a kitchen store, for Wednesday. I'll be going by myself though, as Wil would've already left for India by then. We then went to Earl's Court and had lunch there, in a Filipino restaurant. We had grilled stuffed fish and kare kare.

After lunch we went to Oxford Street, to the John Lewis department store to look at their kitchen showroom.

© Joselito Briones

While walking along Oxford Street, a fitted-out car passed by, blowing bubbles, driven by an old man singing to a microphone with a loudspeaker. He was all bubbly and happy. He sang a tune I didn't recognize... "Raining in My Heart". It was very effective in that just about everyone who saw it instantly flashed a big smile on their faces when they realized it was the old man driving and singing the silly song. After sometime he changed the tune to something more easily recognizable... "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles. He was promoting a company offfering handyman services.

We dropped by Selfridges first to look for some kitchen stufff, but we ended up spending most of our time there checking out the men's clothing section.


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The Case of the Vanishing Enema

© Joselito Briones

The line actually reads "The Real Barbary Enema", but when you're passing by and looking at the colors and objects, the words on the glass just disappear in the foreground. (See bottom photo, middle right area)


© Joselito Briones

The shop is in Monmouth street, not bad for celebrity sighting. One I ran into recently was Orlando Bloom.


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Woke up this morning to the best window view one could ever have...

© Joselito Briones

Shoe shops proclaiming "FINAL SALE" on their windows. Of course there's no point going to those stores again, as I've gone through them several times already, during "SALE", "FURTHER REDUCTION SALE", "UP TO 70% OFF SALE", and of course this week. Liquidation totale. I've gone through the sale bins each step of the price reduction. This is the best part of living right on Neal Street. I hope when we move to Nürnberg in two month's time that we can find an apartment in the shoeshop district of that city.


© Joselito Briones

Have you been to Union Square recently? I miss the times I spent there sitting along the long steps, looking up at that DSW store level where they sell men's shoes. If you sit right in the middle of the steps you can see the shelves that hold most of the Prada, Helmut Lang, and Miu Miu shoes, the goodies.


© Joselito Briones

I know, I'll be there next month, but I probably won't have time to go shopping. I'll be there on a very limited time, and I have plenty to do already. We'll see...


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