Royal Kouture's Royal Girlfriends Collection

Our ever so lovely friend, Kim Gabriel, again released new collections of her successful clothing line, Royal Kouture. She called this batch Royal Girlfriends Collection and named all the pretty tops and dresses after her girl friends name, also known as us. We used to call our group "Girlfriends" in college being the only all-girls group in the whole block and because of the fact that all of us our taken since we-don't-know-when and our boyfriends are also friends with each other. Anyway, below are the grabs for THE Royal Girlfriends Collection:

*Anne Crop Top in Mustard and Blue/Aqua.

Named after Anne Roldan, this top is one of my favorites. The geometrical accent in the neckline area and the Peter Pan collar is a sure attention grabber! And oh, just in case you haven't noticed, the colors also remind me of things: Peter Pan and the FEU.

Charish Polo in Gray and Dark Blue.

This polo is one of the many bestsellers of Royal Kouture--ever. Why not? It's classic and safe to wear during the bipolar weather that we are experiencing now. Named after Charish Daniega, it is available in two manly, yet sexy, colors.

Jovy Mini Dress in Black and Yellow/Brown.

Feeling girly? Then buy this lace dress named after Jovy Mariano. The dress' short length cut is perfect for channeling your inner Lolita. Wear with belt to emphasize your waist or wear it as it is to have that flow-y feel, Jovy is sure to bring out the girl next door in you.

Margaret Crop Polo in Beige/Brown.

If you find a hard time deciding on what to wear and want to blame the weather for this, then don't blame your closet if you have this polo named after Margaret Castaneda inside it. :) You can never go wrong with the basics, trust me. Pair this with denim shorts, maxi skirts, tulle skirts, jeans, slacks, harem pants, etc! Possibilities are endless. Go rock 'em!

Phoebe Crop Top Polo in Pink and Apple Green.

Named after the hot momma Phoebe Palermo, the best thing about this crop top polo is the color. Who could say no to that two shades of pink in one and that loud and neon apple green which will definitely make you stand out? I got two words for you, my dear readers: Grab them.

Rachel Denim Polo in Blue and Green.

Again, I tell you, you can never go wrong with the basics. And the earthy colors of this polo named after Rachel Cayao is perfect for both sunny and gloomy day. Hot? Wear it with a tank top, keep the buttons loose, you're good to go! Drizzling? Wear a leather jacket or wrap a printed scarf around you, you'll be kept safe and warm.

Susan Vintage Dress in White/Gray and Brown/Black.

Owls. Forever 21 have set the owl trend and Royal Kouture has it as well. It's the perfect way to say that in fashion, there is always, and there will always be, an alternative. This vintage-inspired dress has great details on the strap and on the sheerness of the skirt. SS: Susan Santos = strap and sheer.

Marianne Heart Polo in White and Black.

And last but not the least, the polo that named after yours truly! ♥ Very vibrant, retro-inspired, hearty, very me! Wanna know why? The heart prints mean SUPERLOVED! I'm not sure if this is the reason why Kimmie named this after me.. but whatever her reason may be, this is a great buy!

I am so happy and touched that Kim always remembers us. Be it business, personal, or even the shallowest things, yet worth sharing, she does not forget us. :)Well girl, you know we'll do the same thing for you!

For price inquiries and orders, kindly click here and also, like them on Facebook here. Thanks!

♥,

Royal Kouture's A Royalty Affair

I had a collaboration with Royal Kouture, an online shop owned by my good friend, Kim. This is my first venture as a "stylist" and I was very excited about this a couple of weeks back. I booked my beautiful friends as models, had an ex-deal with a budding photographer and agreed with chums to do the models' makeups. Since typhoons Juaning and Kabayan devastated the country on the last few days of July, I had to do some last minute changes on the location. An outdoor shoot deemed to be sooooo impossible and I didn't want to have a studio shoot that's why I tried to borrow a friend's restaurant in Kamuning.

ROYAL KOUTURE: A Royal Affair

Photography by: JC Cordel

Creative director and styling by: Marianne Marcial

Models: Ruselle Alinea, Kristel "Kite" Sandoval, Susan Santos, Kaye Quong and Kim Gabriel

Makeup by: Rachel Cayao, Kristel Tan and Cham Martin

Special thanks to: Al Carriaga of 77 Cafe,  Restaurant and Bar

We had a limited time so everybody did a multitasking. Kudos also to our very supportive boyfriends, Paolo and Mon + Kristel's new boyf. They helped us with the moving of the interiors, assisting JC in lighting and stuff. I guess the boys are enjoying such a fashionable act. I bet next time, more boyfriends are coming!

It's the Mon Inciong pose!

Props only!

We brought our own items as well for a better shoot. If makeup artists bring their own makeups and the photographer brings his own camera, the stylist must bring her own shoes and accessories!

My own shoes + some of my accessories piled together with Kim's.

Clothes provided by Royal Kouture.

Kristel did Ruselle's makeup.

While Cham and Rachel worked on the twins--Kaye and Kite.

Now I'm about to show you my top picks, both raw and post-processed, composed of the models' exquisite beauty and features, a photographer's piece, the makeup artists' imagination, the collection's style and character which helped the stylist's role:

Kite, Ruselle and Kaye in a vintage crop top available in orange, white and blue.

I swear Kite and Kaye look like twins!

This photo must be my favorite. Kaye wearing a high-waist mustard shorts paired with a vintage maong dress used as a tube top.

Models wearing a see-through polo available in three colors: brown-brown, brown-peach and brown-beige.

Side and back details of the vintage long sleeves.

Ruselle in a zebra bandage dress.

Dolman sleeve polo in three colors: white, beige and peach, as worn by Ruselle, Susan and Kim.

Kaye looked classic in this photo.

 Kite and Kaye spell attitude wearing stripes dress, in two colors: blue-white, violet-black.

A Mara Clara peg won't hurt, perhaps?

Leopard bandage dress worn by Kite and Kaye.

LBD, laced, on Ruselle.

Susan and Kim wearing a maong shift dress.

Vintage maong dress with two different skirt details on Kaye and Kite.

It's kind of hard to choose photos to post here! I'm not posting the entire collection here. For orders and other inquiries, kindly check out Royal Kouture's Facebook account here. Royal Kouture features the latest trend in everyday fashion in a very affordable price. From animal prints, nautical, lace, vintage, floral to modern, Royak Kouture has it.

During this first venture, I learned new things. Next time, I should not forget to bring SCISSORS to trim down unnecessary threads, a box of hairpin to join my paper clip, clamp and safety pin family, more accessories, an iron and a set of hangers. In addition, I must also anticipate the need of the makeup artists when it comes to lipsticks and eye shadows and since I have a growing collection of these, I'm willing to share them all on my next shoot. It's an unending, learning experience. It's tiring, literally, but I enjoy every sweating minute of it!

Leaving you with an unflattering, haggard photo of me:

"You smile, I style."

I need to get back to my system soon because I have a series of back log posts: another collaboration with Loca Trends (and the story behind that), a surprise from MaRis and Rachel's Naughty-cal birthday party to name a few.

♥,

Bye, July!

The month of July just passed by and so far, this is the fastest-est-est month of  my 2011. I usually hate the rainy months but everything changes, so now I'm loving the raindrop season. Would you believe we had 6 typhoons in 1 month? Whew!

I started and ended the first month of the year's second half (ANALYZE THAT!) by doing the top two things I love: traveling and styling. I went to Baguio with Paolo's family last July 1 and this weekend, I had two collaborations wherein I styled tweens, teens and young professionals. I'm proud to say that I enjoyed every single moment of it, even if I had to kneel down to put shoes on my models.

It was an early call time last Saturday for Royal Kouture. I organized everything--photographer, location, makeup artists and models with the help of my friends! All clothes are, of course, provided by the great Royal Kouture owner, Kim. To make styling better, I brought my own shoes and accessories plus clips, pins and tapes.

I'm sorry that I can't contain my excitement to show you how the shoot went well. I don't even want to spoil the collection. The best thing I can do for now is to give you a teaser in black and white (I CANNOT SHUT UP, HAHAHA!) using my phone's camera. Here:

I believe I Twitpic-ed the first photo last Saturday, sorry talaga hehe. Again, I cannot contain my happiness, seeing my sense of style to beautiful girls, aaahhh! Peace. :)

I love being resourceful and creative at the same time. Once I get the final photos, you'll understand what I'm talking about. I'll also credit the location as soon as I post the official entry for my collaboration with Royal Kouture. I'll credit everyone and everything!

THIS!!! THIS!!! This set is one of my most favorite! Sheer, so sexy! I really can't wait to post this in colors!!!

After almost four hours of the photoshoot, we went straight to Paolo's nephew's birthday party in Vito Cruz. Haggardo Versoza much! We had our first ever decent meal of the day at the party's venue, Kenny Rogers. The party's theme was military, kids are required to wear something with an army touch. Sadly, I didn't know there was a theme, I went there in a nautical-inspired attire!

Our baby girl Neveah bagged the Best in Costume award! Yaaaay she's such a cutie patootie, with matching hand salute gestures pa! We called her Labanos/Gabriel a la Andi Eigenmann in Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin.

We got home by 7:00 PM and Paolo and I decided to go to sleep for an hour. We were going to attend my cousin's birthday house party at 9:00 PM but because we were so worn out (imagine sleeping at 1:00 AM and waking up at 4:30 AM the same day) we got up by 11:30 PM! The party has just started when we arrived at the party, thank God for Filipino time!

While having a good time at the party, I saw Angelica Panganiban's tweet about his Tagaytay trip with her friends and Derek Ramsay:

I thought of this funny idea and I tweeted Angelica and Derek back:

In less than a minute, Derek replied:

So I was like:

Hahaha! Wondering what picture I posted to get his attention? CLICK HERE. See? Not all celebrities are snobs! AND DEREK DOES NOT DIRECT MESSAGE!!! Moving on, we finished 4:00 AM the following day and headed to Sky Garden yesterday afternoon to meet some of my friends.

It was my first time to try Gong Cha, and dang, I liked it! I ordered Chocolate Milk Tea with extra pearls and 50% sugar. Next time, Serenitea and Moon Leaf! And since it was raining hard yesterday, we moved to Army Navy (to get dry seats) and treated ourselves with a Steak Burrito and Freedom Fries! We played with this little brown paper bag while waiting for Mika, Maro, Mark, Monte (M'ssss!) and Johnson. Paolo even pulled a prank on me. I was waiting for him to take a picture of me with that brown bag on and I was asking if it's done but no one's talking! When I removed the bag, he wasn't there and hid somewhere! People were looking at me as if I'm out of my system but since I'm used to his jokes like this, I pretended like nothing's happened. Hehe. I'm game like that!

***

Surprised? Don't be! We're currently fixing stuff and bridging the gap of our friendship so expect to see me with them just like before. Let's all be happy and set aside the things that make us a.) ugly b.) unworthy c.) childish and immature d.) suffer e.) all of the above and let's all forget the past, move on and enjoy life. :)

Thank you and bye, July! August is going to be an awesome month like you! And oh, by the way, happy monthsary to the Monthly Period group. ♥