clothing – BRYOLOGUE

Another pair of wings

May 16, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

I do not know if it is safe to say that summer has officially ended. For several days, we’ve been getting a lot of rain and wind, that Marcos Highway and that main road in SSS Village got their first flood of the year. With the effects of climate change, I think at least the dry and rainy season had all moved at least a month earlier. It is boots season again (not that I follow it) and I managed to score another one online. =)

I still love my Doc Martens but I’ve been lately using the pair of Red Wing 8875s because the white crepe soles are very sneaker-y and looks very casual. We still have a dress code in the office but that pair is not technically a sneaker so it is still not a restricted footwear. However, as I do not feel confident wearing chestnut boots with black pants, I have been wanting another pair of Red Wing in black. And along came these 2913s.

I’m not that familiar with Red Wing and whenever I see one for sale online, I have second thoughts. Back in March, I got an interesting comment on my blog from a person accusing me that I have a fake 875. Well, thank God for the internet because an extensive search led me to answers, and I did the exact thing for this black pair of boots.

One thing I’ve learned was that certain styles are not available on other locations, such as 8875s being a Japan exclusive. Then 2913s are not available in the US, but they appear in Red Wing Singapore’s website. I also loved the small history about this style, as it was based on boots worn by electric line workers. According to their website, one out of three linemen was killed by accident while working due to faulty shoes. The design first appeared in the 1940’s on their catalogue and the 2913 adapted it. I expect to try on climbing lamp posts in the coming days, granted this pair has the power to prevent me from falling. Just kidding.

DIY alteration project on a rainy Saturday

May 4, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

Two weeks ago, Faye sent a Reddit link to me about a guy who became quite adept in altering his old and/or thrifted clothes. I’ve been wanting to try this project out, given that I have recently bought a sewing machine for my mother, but the busy graduation week last week prevented me from doing so. But as it rained so hard this Saturday afternoon and as I had no plans to go out, I had all the time I needed to experiment on some of my clothes that needed some revamping. The first two things I thought of working on was this retro-looking longsleeves and a pair of navy blue pants.

The longsleeves was in a stretchable fabric, and I was quite worried over what kind of stitch to use. It would only be the second time to sit in front of my mother’s sewing machine and I only used the basic, running stitch over a minor alteration on that previous occasion. Should I use the zigzag stitch or just stick to the running one? I have also tried using the tailor’s chalk to mark where I needed to cut and stitch the new seams together, but the fabric did not seem to have the slightest orange stain on it. I resorted to using a black ballpen and good thing that the marks were placed inside because I had mistakenly drawn a lot of stray ones.

The first cut was difficult. The length of the shirt was about five inches longer than what I would normally want it to be, so I had to cut it. From the tutorial, he went straight away sewing the marks, without putting on pins. However, I wasn’t that comfortable in doing the same thing, so I had to put on a lot of pins before sewing. I started with the armpit to the sleeves, then back to the armpit all the way to the newly-unfinished hem. I had a hard time sewing the sleeves, though, because I can barely fit the hole beneath the machine’s feet. I eventually got there somehow, and after several runs with the acting-up bobbin, I was able to hem the sleeves.
As for the pants, I only got to wear the pair once on a Valentine’s night since buying it, but it stayed inside the closet since then. The fit was just weird, and even if it has been already altered by my beloved tailor, I still did not like how it sits on my behind. Frankly, I had no idea what to do with it while altering, but I just ran a half-inch adjustment from the crotch up to the hem. The sewing machine is not a heavy-duty/industrial type, so I was careful not to push it too hard and break a needle. Most of the time, I just manually move the wheel just to lock the stitches.Et voilà! I think I have made a fairly good job with the alteration of this longsleeves to a short sleeves, and changing a straight cut pants to a slim fit one. It was not as tasking nor difficult than I had expected. What was first a guinea pig garment for experimentation, actually turned out to be something I will definitely wear in the coming days. As for the pants, I am very sure that they will look nice with every pair of boots that I have. I might try altering two longsleeves tomorrow, that is if Mama will not use the sewing machine, as she was so inspired by my DIY work and will most probably alter a few garments of her own.

Ebay headache: Overseas buyer claiming “Item Not Received”

April 21, 2013bryologue 2 Comments

The summer heat is no joke and I’m most happy with the cotton shirts I have in my closet. I could have acquired more before and I’m left circulating the same shirt and polo shirt over and over again. That’s why I was extremely happy when I got this white shirt from Mon’s grandma and Laylay on my birthday last week. I still have to use the clothing allowance we have in the office and when I get extra money, I’ll spend all of them on cotton T-shirts and polo shirts — one in every color. =D

Anyway, at the back of my mind, I had a feeling that something seriously bad will happen with one of the items I have sent overseas earlier this month via Registered Mail of PhilPost. One buyer (of a bag) has filed an “Item Not Received” case against me on Ebay 12 days after I have sent her item in April 3. That was not even two weeks since I have sent it and she was pretty much informed of the transit time, as indicated in the auction, as well as my (one-way) correspondences with her uopn sending the item. It mentions that shipping might take “more or less two weeks”, so I was baffled on how quick she was to jump the gun in opening a dispute.

The tracking in PhilPost’s website was faulty and delayed, and I was excpecting that tracking information will get updated once the item reaches U.S. soil and it may take some time. I have also informed the buyer about this and I’m quite exasperated of her impatience. =/ I know the item will eventually arrive in her homestate and I did not know what will happen to my bag and money once she gets her refund. And of course, Ebay ruled in her favor and it was no surprise that the funds were taken out of my PayPal account. The reason: I allegedly did not provide a valid tracking information and there was no movement in tracking. I was gobsmacked.

I have half-heartedly accepted the outcome as selling internationally on Ebay.com is always a great risk. I also not made adequate research on every possible scenario that might happen, nor asked around about insuring the item in case it gets lost. Very expensive lesson, especially I had to take the shipping fee out of my own pocket because my funds are normally held for 21 days because of inadequate selling history. I have lamented this issue over a forum and was then happy to receive words of encouragement from some of the members. At their urging/curiosity, I followed up in the tracking and was happy to see that there was already movement in the tracking. It took me some time to process what was happening and thought of the best way to respond to this development. I contacted Ebay, explained the situation and hoped they would reverse the decision and give my funds back. Ugh.

Interesting comment from a reader

March 12, 2013bryologue 1 Comment

Summer is officially here and I should probably start buying lots of plain cotton shirts because of the heat. I love my workshift as I get to do things before going to the office but summer is always a tricky thing to deal with. Lately, I just bring another collared top with me in the office to change my usually drenched with sweat shirt because that was the minimum requirement of the dress code.

Anyway, I attached the trick keychain on the wexford messenger and they looked lovely together under the afternoon sunlight.

What I love most in having a constant access to my email is the ability to read curious events happening on my blog even on the go. So yesterday, when I’ve heard the familiar “You’ve got mail!” AOL-tone, I was surprised to see this message in my Inbox, for a comment left on the entry “Wednesday footwear finds“:

Of course, I was taken aback. It never occurred to me that I had a fake pair of Red Wing shoes. The anonymous reader did not leave any e-mail address nor URL for me to get in touch with him/her, so there was no way for me to reach out to him/her. All I had was the IP address from a user located in G/F Centrum II Building in Makati, just near my workplace. (hmmm…) Anyway, I looked into this possibility and I would have appreciated more this piece of information, had the user elaborated on the reasons why. Personally, it is extremely easy to call out and pronounce something as inauthentic, especially under the cloak of anonymity in the internet. Maybe the comment was not left out of malice and the reader was really concerned; and in his haste, he had forgotten to indicate any contact information. But I can’t help but think of other reasons as well. =D

He had a point, though. When I first posted about the shoes in November, I just cross-examined it with the website of Red Wing and zeroed in immediately on the 875s. I did not bother scrutinizing the tag beneath the tongue of the boots and realized that these were 8875s and NOT 875s. But what’s the difference anyway? I did not know about nuances in design until last night (and I will not bother claiming that I know everything but at least I backed it up with my own research), and thanks to the reader, I got a better understanding of the Red Wing 8875s.

Red Wing Classic Work Moc Round Tote Style No. 8875 boots - Heritage Work

Screencap from redwingshoe.co.jp (Japanese site) with the 8875 boots

Red Wing 875 versus Red Wing 8875 – notice the difference in the color of the eyelets

A careful Google search brought me to forums discussing the 8875 Red Wing boots and I found out here that:

“Different model use different eyelets. 875, 1907 & 877 are different where u can find engrave of ‘red wing’ on each dark color eyelet which silver eyelet dont. 8131, 8875, 8165, 8134, 8167, 9111, 8173 and 8179 are made with silver eyelet.”

I also found out that the 8875 is a model exclusively produced in Japan and is more reddish than the yellowish 875. I also cannot find 8875 in Red Wing’s website but when I was redirected to their Japanese site www.redwingshoe.co.jp, I found the boots after a simple search. I also had a little difficulty searching for the 8875, but after knowing the Japanese connection, I had more relevant results when using google.co.jp.

Anyway, I’m still open to hear again from this curious reader. And hopefully, the next time he calls me out on something, he would leave some contact information so I can easily get back to him for a better exchange of words.

The search for leather cleaning products

March 5, 2013bryologue 2 Comments

The last time I was faced with the task of reviewing for an exam, I had shaved my head off and sported a buzz cut. Well, I would have done the same thing but I wanted to have workable hair come April for my graduation and starting from a buzz cut just won’t cut it. On the other hand, I’ve been struggling recently with my hair and the moment I started feeling a bit uncomfortable with it, it only means one thing: a haircut!

For the past three months, I had been getting my haircut from Fix in Sta. Lucia Mall because I had them done on a weekend. On my way to work today, however, I almost did not go to Ménage Salon in Gateway but Mon persuaded me not to postpone my haircut again. I arrived in the salon and good thing that the person from whom I always get my haircut was present. He remarked that I haven’t got my hair cut from him for quite some time. LOL I normally ask him to shave the side and do little with the hair on top because I grow it out. But this time, I asked him to cut them way shorter because I unconsciously pull my hair a lot whenever I review.

After getting a haircut, I rushed to Handyman in Farmers Plaza to buy a leather cleaner and conditioner for my bags and shoes. The last container I had was already used up a month ago and I have been cleaning my things with only a soft rag. My Red Wing boots suffered the most because they looked extremely scuffed and I can no longer put off buying another container of leather-care product. I already tried Turtle’s Leather Cleaner and Conditioner and I was already at the point of buying one, but I took my time to look at other products on the shelf.

And then, my experimental self saw a pair of leather cleaner and conditioner, sold on separate bottles, and hoped that they will work better than the previous one I’ve used. Tanner’s Preserve Leather Condtioning Cream and Leather Cleaner cost almost twice as the other one (Php 399.75 each *gulp*, whilst the the other was Php 499.75), and I’m very eager to try them out. I’ve also read reviews online and saw that they are generally well-received. The catch: they are used more on car seats and there’s a chance that they may not react well with my items. My reasoning was that “leather is leather” but I know that this logic is highly-flawed, given that not all leathers are created equal.

I know that utmost care must be exercised when dealing with “open” leathers, such as suede or bucksin and I won’t be too crazy to ruin them. Nevertheless, I’m hoping this initiative to treat my bags and shoes will not backfire! Let’s see later on how things will turn out as a ruined item is definitely worth posting about. Just kidding.

Monette in the office!

February 11, 2013bryologue 3 Comments

Monday means back to work but I was more excited to wear the pair of khaki pants I have picked up yesterday! And because of the Chinese New Year, I decided to wear my Chinese collar polo — stupid excuse, I know. LOL

Everything was normal, a usual day in the office when I suddenly got a text message from a friend of ours. Monette was in the area and told us she’d drop by the office and we were extremely happy to see her. She was in overdrive, though, and we can tell that she was extremely happy to see us. Ho ho ho. Monette, I know you are reading this and we were so delighted to see you! ^_^

A pair of this, a pair of that

February 10, 2013bryologue 2 Comments

I finally got the two pair of pants from the tailor, to whom I have approached exactly a week ago. I was really excited because they were the first non-black pants I have asked him to do. When I got in their shop, the tailor was not there but his assistant took care of things and I paid the remaining Php 400 balance.

Reaching my room, I immediately took them out of my bag to try their fit. I first tried the khaki pants and it was what I exactly expected. A bit snug but I can still move and I was fine with that. As for the navy blue one, it was a different story. It was so ill-fitting that I cannot even lift my foot off the ground without getting some unwanted ‘squeeze’. LOL I had to return to the tailor hours after, hoping that he can do something about it. I also threw in another pair of pants I have been intending to get altered and hopefully get both of them tomorrow.

From a pair of pants, I also got another pair of black leather shoes from Ebay. I don’t have a conservative plain black leather shoes, as the other pair of oxford shoes I currently have is on the dark charcoal gray side — a shade sort of black. If I were to go on interviews in the coming months (ehem, ehem), I can’t show up in my Doc Martens because there is always a time for everything and I know when to stop pushing my stubbornness. Then along came this pair of black leather shoes and I instantly fell in love.

At first, I did not know what brand this pair was because it was very handsome in itself, with the veins on the leather giving it more character. Not to mention, it was the same style as the other Prada pair (i.e. oxfords). And then I saw that it was actually a pair of Paul Smith shoes!

After several searches on Google, I found out that the style was called ‘Cervantes’. Selectism.com did two articles about the shoe back in 2009: one when the style was first released in March 2009; while the other was in August 2009 when the style was updated with a floral touch. Its listed price in the website of Gravitypope was US$ 319.99. O_O Mon was astounded on how easy it was for me to find a pair of shoes in my size. Well, I wear a US 8.5, so compared to his bigger feet, it was really way easier for me.

See you again in July!

February 6, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

Today is Mon and I’s 4th year and 5th month together and a few minutes after the clock had struck 12, he gave me a piece of paper with a note and a drawing of the Eiffel Tower and some French macarons from Max’s. =D

First of all, I did not even know that these are called as such, and I initially thought that there was a mistake with the spelling (i.e. macaroons). The irony of a French major not knowing French food.

We had a plan to meet up with Ikle today because he is going back to China tomorrow until the semester ends in July. As it is still winter there, I decided to just give him one of the trench coats I bought last November online.

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Grunge Tuesday

February 5, 2013bryologue 2 Comments

I was reading yesterday about D&G and its eventual discontinuation when Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana decided to stop the production of their diffusion line, with the S/S 2012 collection as their last runway show. Anyway, I was browsing their previous collections on Style.com and stopped at the F/W 2008 to look at the array of plaid, and tartan prints, in varying sizes displayed in every garment.

And a year before that in February 2007, Jean Paul Gaultier sent out models dressed in the same type of prints for his F/W 2007 show, which was famously opened by the dancing Coco.

So for today, I decided to take this shirt out of the closet and use it for work. Since buying it in November, I have only worn it once on a casual day (to The Mind Museum) and never thought of using it in the office because I personally think it was too ‘loud’. Perhaps due to the color, as the most color I usually wear in the office was blue, and as I tend to wear Doc Martens everyday, it might be overkill for 90s grunge look but I did not feel like giving a damn today, so I just let it go. They will have to deal with it.

And for the first time ever, I have used Salonpas beacuse I have a persistent lower back pain since Saturday. It was especially painful in the morning after waking up and I had to wait for about an hour before I can normally walk and stand. I already have a slight idea over the reason why this is happening. LOL Mon was kind enough to buy me a pack of 10 plasters for less than Php 50 and it feels more menthol-y than my favorite efficascent oil.

End of the month! Bye January 2013!

January 31, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

January just flew past and I can’t believe it has been a month since I said goodbye to 2012! A lot of great things happened to me in January and I’m looking forward for the following months to be the same, or at least tolerable. I’ve got a lot of things planned for the year and I knew that I was living the taking-a-risk mantra little by little.

What I’m most proud of this month was the lack of online purchases. I have never bought anything from Ebay and most importantly, I have never bought a bag, be it online or offline! I never thought it would be possible but I made it anyway. Maybe the preoccupation of what should I be accomplishing this year has taken over me, that even windowshopping on Ebay did not yield any result. Again, I began asking myself “Do I need this?” and was surprised that I was actually able to reason out to that impulsive side of me. The big question now is how long I can hold this one out. I have a lot of bags in their dustbags and inside a giant container because I’m not using them that often. I know that I should eventually be selling some of them because they need a better home. Maybe this summer or before June starts, most of them will be out. I just need to rotate the bags I love AND use more often and I also consider as special. February, I can conquer you!