Penshoppe unleashes Thai invasion with Mario Maurer

MANILA, Philippines – Leading Philippine fashion brand PENSHOPPE carries on its campaign to cross the international style threshold, and at the same time, to cater to its younger market, as it welcomes its new face, MARIO MAURER—one of Thailand’s hottest stars among his generation.

Maurer steps in as Penshoppe’s latest presentor, as recently confirmed by the line’s brand director Alex Mendoza. The 22-year-old actor and model takes off from the brand's international campaign, which was earlier led this year by British actor Ed Westwick of the popular series Gossip Girl.

"Mario will not only make Penshoppe a bigger fashion name across the borders. He will also help grow the market in the local and Southeast Asian region, especially knowing that he has a gained wide following among the younger set," Mendoza said on selecting the Thai star.

“Mario is fresh, appealing and very influential. He represents the exciting new changes happening to the brand now,” he added.

Maurer, known for his strikingly boyish good looks, and cool, young, free-spirited style, has proved much of himself in the regional entertainment industry. Aside from gracing magazine covers, he has shown sensational acting skills by top-billing films year after year.

Among the films that boosted Maurer’s name to public consciousness was The Love of Siam released in 2007. In his debut role, he played a conflicted teen who develops a romantic liking to his boyhood friend. His remarkable portrayal awed fans from the Philippines, winning a Best Actor award at the 2008 Cinemanila, an annually-held international film festival in the Philippines.

In 2010, Maurer also starred in First Love (Crazy Little Thing Called Love), a romantic-comedy which saw him garnering major acting awards, and assured him a spot as one of the region’s most sought-after stars.

Maurer, meanwhile, is expected to arrive in the Philippines this October to shoot the Penshoppe campaign with renowned Hollywood photographer Darren Tieste flying in from Los Angeles. The campaign is expected to grace magazine covers and billboards across the country.

Meanwhile, fans will have the opportunity to meet and greet Mario Maurer as PENSHOPPE is set to host a Fan Conference for the Thai heartthrob. The gathering will be held on October 28, 2011 (Friday) 1PM at the PICC Plenary Hall in Manila (gates open at 11AM). The FanCon will be hosted by fellow Thai presenter VJ Utt with special live performance by pop Asian girl group Blush and co-presented by official media partner ABS CBN.

To avail entry, one must complete a stamp card promo available at all PENSHOPPE boutiques nationwide. Every P500.00 entitles the bearer to one (1) stamp. Completion of ten (10) stamps entitles access to the event and the bearer must submit the original completed stamp card at any PENSHOPPE outlet in exchange of the final entry pass.

Mechanics for the FanCon entry can be found on PENSHOPPE’s official Twitter and Facebook pages.

Follow Penshoppe on Facebook and Twitter!

follow that unicorn

i got two early birthday presents last week:



one of my jackets from my rob the armory collection is featured in this month's issue of Preview magazine!



the Condo Living feature we worked on last march finally came out! it features several sofa professors (from both fashion and interior design) interpreting pantone 2011 colors as interior design set-ups. scans and full blog entry on this to follow!

grab a copy of both magazines!

ps: in less than 48 hours, i'm turning 24. eww, i'm old.

music fix: lady gaga's highway unicorn (road 2 love)

the bittersweet between my teeth

last april, eldzs's friends and i went to ilocos for holy week. i was looking forward to that trip for about a month because i really wanted to get a tan. after lying in the sand for about half a day, i got what i wanted. more ilocos photos soon!

what i wore:
plaid shirt | random brand at urban outfitters
shorts | hollister
printed board shorts (worn underneath) | folded and hung
scarf | forever 21
belt | urban outfitters
sunglasses | rayban
watch | swatch x jeremy scott
bracelet | topman
bag | malaya bags

i was channeling anne curtis going to coachella which would be held at a beach, hahaha!

music fix: young blood by the young and the famous

this feels like heaven

neon rave: kaye morales s/s 2011 collection
video campaign


video teaser


motion lookbook


behind the scenes video

shot my first ever motion look book for my friend and co-sofa graduate kaye morales. i also got to work with young photographer bjorn bedayo who shot the photos.



more photos can be found here.

ps: sorry for the hiatus. been very busy with teaching and other rackets (which i will blog about soon!).

videos fold canela
photography bjorn bedayo
clothes & styling kaye morales
make up anton patdu
hair mycke arcano
models
rodina luspo
mae bueta
maecon timbol
daryl morales
mark go
gerard go
music adventure's feels like heaven

bato bato pick

Bato Bato Pick

1. Adventure - Feels Like Heaven
2. The Kills - Baby Says
3. Kids on A Crime Spree - Sweet Tooth
4. Virgo Four - Look Into Your Eyes
5. Niva - The Boy From The Sun
6. Craft Spells - You Should Close The Door
7. US Royalty - Monte Carlo
8. Empire of the Sun - Country
9. Friendly Fires - Running Away
10. The Books - Tokyo
11. Calhoun - Knife Fight
12. Bibio - Light Sleep
13. Parts & Labor - A Thousand Roads
14. Sin Fang - Because of the Blood
15. Seapony - Blue Star
16. Chad Valley - Now That I’m Real
17. Dead Man’s Bones - Pa Pa Power
18. The Stills - Still in Love Song

Download here.

ice ice water

Ice Ice Water

1. Crystal Castles VS Health - Crimewave (Lazrtag Remix)
2. Futurecop! - Street Hawk I
3. Yelle - La Musique
4. Dangerous Muse - The Rejection (Blazing Lazer Reject Disco Mix)
5. Chew Lips - Play Together
6. Starfucker - Bury Us Alive (Original Mix)
7. Thieves Like Us - Fass
8. The Naked and Famous - Young Blood
9. Two Door Cinema Club - Cigarettes in the Theater
10. Foals - Cassius
11. The Strokes - Taken for A Fool
12. OK Go - White Knuckles
13. Neon Neon - Raquel
14. Bibio - Anything New
15. The Sounds - Yeah Yeah Yeah
16. The Klaxons - Valley of the Calm Trees
17. Jookabox - Gonna Need the Guns/Doom Hope
18. Caesars - Jerk It Out

Download here.

roll kid, rock your body off

a few weeks back, i read about the oxygen x status magazine tee off contest. oxygen currently has a line of photographic tees and they were looking for four new designs which will be part of their summer collection. i decided to try my luck with the contest and sent in three entries.

1)


2)


3)


anyway, a few days after the contest deadline, i got a call from status magazine that one of my shirts was chosen to be part of the four designs that they are going to sell in april and will be featured in a status magazine editorial! i was super excited because i that's first time i won anything major, haha!



i took that photo when i was in new york. check it out on oxygen's tumblr!

so i won a sony ericsson x10 mini phone which i will claim tomorrow. awesome! thank you to oxygen and status magazine for this! i can't wait to see the final tee in april!

also, do check out sofa's official blog, fibre!



i'm one of their contributing students/faculty, haha i'm still not sure which category i belong to!



music fix: phenomena by yeah yeah yeahs

shake shake shampoo

Shake Shake Shampoo

1. Futurecop! - Transformers (Into the Future)
2. Example - Kickstarts
3. Bag Raiders - Sunlight
4. Robyn - Indestructible
5. Starfucker - Julius
6. Mark Ronson and the Business Intl featuring Q-Tip and MNDR - Bang Bang Bang
7. Miike Snow - Animal (Crookers Remix)
8. The Drums - Me and the Moon (Twin Shadow Remix With No FX)
9. Friendly Fires - Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
10. Empire of the Sun - Swordfish Hotkiss Night
11. La Roux - Bulletproof (Zinc Remix)
12. Fenech-Soler - Stop and Stare
13. Phoenix - Fences
14. Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Soft Shock
16. Crystal Castles - Suffocation
17. Sleigh Bells - Crown on the Ground
18. The Fashion - Solo Impala (Take the Money and Run)

Download here.

made this playlist for my friend Noelle; thought i’d share it with everyone also

we feel the same impact on arrival and embrace

last friday night, my elementary classmates and i held our 10- (well, actually 11) year reunion.



(left to right) cd, sam, migo, dazha, sir efren (our grade 5 class adviser), camille, lisa, edgar, kit, jomar, francis and special guests marie and ira (both of whom were our high school classmates)



less than half of our batch came. the reunion was originally scheduled in april but we decided to hold it this early since one of our classmates, lisa, is on vacation here from the us. we held the reunion at kit's place, forever party venue.



as contribution, lisa made jello shots for everyone. it wasn't as jelly-like as we hoped but it still served its purpose.



the tres marias: lisa, camille and dazha. one of our teachers named them that after the three stars on orion's belt. how elementary, haha!



cd, who's now a pre-school teacher, camille, who currently works in meralco, and ira, who works at one of the banks in the fort (haha, sorry i forgot!)





what i wore:
suede bomber jacket | zara
oversized tank | t by alexander wang
skinny trousers | topman
boots | doc martens





close up shot of my "customized" dm's.



kit had these awesome tapestries draped on one of their walls. instant photobooth!



pose peg: awkward.





camille, lisa (the balikbayan, haha) and ira



ira banks



even though we weren't complete and that i had to leave early despite the fact that i came late, i think we all had fun catching up with each other. each one told fond memories of our elementary days. of course, it wouldn't be a reunion without a playlist of all the songs we used to listen to, including better off alone, 5,6,7,8 and space jam.



also, we all had fun watching a certain youtube video (wink, wink).

ps: spot the hipster at the back.

music fix: the same space by the klaxons

drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain

last wednesday, i had my students submit their egyptian-inspired accessory as well as made them come to class in a roman toga.

i was actually very much impressed with all of their egyptian-inspired accessories but here are some of my favorites:



mabel's accessory was inspired by the beaded collars worn during ancient egypt. even though the reference is obvious, she managed to update the collar into a necklace that's definitely wearable by today's standards. the organization of the colors is interesting and i especially like how it sort of also looks like it was inspired by ethnic filipino accessories.



dondi made an awesome collar/neckpiece using various materials. he used capiz shells, which he spray painted bronze, as the base of the necklace and used copperwire (which he had to untangle from actual wires), pearls and beads as decoration. the neckstraps are gold and silver ribbons that he braided together.



i can't imagine how long it took him to make this! i really admire the fact that he was able to mix jewelry beads with unconventional materials.



eunice is actually one of my closest friends in sofa and i was really excited about having her as a student. her necklace is actually one of the most interesting pieces that was presented that day.



inspired by ancient egyptian architecture and decorative motifs, she carved that intricate design using soap and used it as her necklace's pendant. she mentioned that ancient egyptians placed a huge emphasis on personal hygiene and she used soap to reference that fact. i really like very conceptual designs and i like that she somehow managed to inject a little wit into her accessory.



using the nemes headdress as her inspiration, caroline made a tie-around belt with pleated details. i wasn't expecting a student to actually make a belt and i was really surprised and amazed with what she came up with. i had a chance to inspect her work up close and the construction is really amazing. she could really sell it right then and there!



last but definitely not the least, jezl redesigned a pair of shoes! jezl was actually a classmate of mine before and i remember her being interested in shoes, so it wasn't a surprise that she passed this. she referenced ancient egyptians' use of gold and animal/religious motifs in their jewelry.



she actually used glue gun to cover her shoes with that green and black ombre fabric. she also attached a black and gold ribbon around the heel and made a scarab-like decoration at the back of the shoes. she actually showed me the blisters she got from using glue gun! all that pain definitely paid off! she got one of the highest points for this activity.

we were actually tackling the costume of ancient rome that day and here are some of the students in their roman (or roman-inspired, since most of them deviated from the traditional ones) togas:



jireh and caroline, who both got the highest points as theirs looked the most accurate.



eunice and nino



karen and dondi

overall, i was really impressed by what everyone made and presented. i can't wait to see their next projects!

music fix: the beat goes on by the all seeing i

the fear and the yearing, it's gonna eat you alive

photo by the ever-amazing joseph pascual.

wore this last week when i met up with joseph and other friends at up film institute. i miss being in up.

what i wore:
stripes sweater | banana republic
carrot-fit trousers | topman
boat shoes-style sneakers | vans
aviator eyeglasses | gianfranco ferre

two things about that photo:
1. it summarizes the way i'm feeling right now - stressed. being stressed actually helps me function better. i tend to accomplish more things when i'm pressured. but right now, i can't seem to juggle preparing lectures, doing photography/video rackets and trying to set up a really small business. strugs.
2. i got that sweater during my last trip to the us. that was actually the first time i wore it and i really love how it's a little bit big on me and it felt so comfortable. it's perfect for the current cold, breezy weather in manila. i saw the sweater a few days later, after being washed, and it shrunk so much. sayang!

joseph featured this in the powersnet blog by john robert powers. check it out here!

music fix: positive tension by bloc party

lost little boys

a collaboration between thekabog and astrobimpo.
(HAHA MEGANON.)

music fix: pharaohs and pyramids by cut copy

queuing up for some more junk food

today in pictures:



one of the few times i was in cubao x that wasn't at night.



shot one of the most adorable babies ever, tala, along with her mum and dad.



went with grade school friends lisa, kit and cd to visit our old alma mater.

and look at this f-cking hipster:



what i wore:
graphic tee | crystal castles
carrot-fit cuffed trousers | topman
sneakers | vans
wayfarers | urban outfitters
canvas tote | brooklynmade at bryant park, new york

music fix: helicopter by bloc party