Inspiration: Anna/Annie

SHIP'S LOG: A sets out her style resolutions and thinks about Anna Karina reborn in Annie Monroe. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. 



The Like's Annie Monroe clearly took some style inspiration from Danish actress Anna Karina. Note the  classic trench coat, sailor dresses, the heavy fringe, dark sweaters, inky cat's eyes, the very 60s Continental flair, and their names. Then there's the matter of their work (Monroe's music and Karina's movies) not being everyone's cup of tea.

Here's Annie . . .






And Anna . . .





I think it's amazing how Anna Karina's sense of style has stood the test of time. Everything she wore in Une Femme Est Une Femme wouldn't be out of place in today's street style blogs, and gosh I want her outfits in Pierrot Le Fou. So, goal for 2011 remains the same as 2010: dress like a girl from a French Nouvelle Vague film!



Last year, I slowly began building a wardrobe dominated by the colours blue and red, but I didn't manage to "keep things simple" enough. This year, I am going to take a page out of Dead Fleurette's notebook and be extremely selective about what I buy. Note to self:

• No spontaneous shopping trips to Forever 21 or Greenhills, and let a planned seasonal list guide me. I love my spur-of-the-moment floral dresses but I am afraid that their patterns may date very quickly.
• Be willing to spend more for something that will last a really, really long time. My friend Mirella and I are sending pennies into a piggy bank ear-marked "Hermes". Yes, lots of studying and long hours of overtime before I get that Constance, but it will be worth it. As Aunt Alicia says, " Wait for the first-class jewels, Gigi. Hold on to your ideals."
• Less is more. It's time to cut down on excess and stick to the basics. I am allowed to buy striped shirts and button downs, but no more red shoes! If I buy something new, I need to let something go into the shop or a charity bin.

Building a capsule wardrobe seems like a tough project (especially with all the beautiful clothes I see on the blogs), but I am confident—I've got the proper incentives in place (trip to Palawan! Cambridge satchel! Jasper Fforde books!) and the fact that I've got my pockets to let. Thank you, Christmas!

You may have noticed the changes in our blog layout, the result of many hours of CSS coding and HTML headaches (and I'm still not finished!). The wonderfully charming illustrations were made by Basil from The Ghost Narwhal. He is a brilliant young artist from France, and I absolutely adore his work, especially the Doctor Who-related ones! He was kind enough to talk a bit about his work, and I hope you all enjoy the art and the answers.

What are your favourite things?
Time machines, tweed jackets, english breakfast, second-hand bookshops and watching films all day long

What's your inspiration?
There are load of artists who inspire me, I really couldn't make a list. I have a soft spot for American illustrators from the early/mid XX° century, such as Edward Gorey, Winsor McCay, Charles Adams or Maurice Sendak.

What are your plans for the new year?
Don't have any plans for 2011 for the moment. Or rather I have so much plans they can't all fit in 2011!

Thank you so much, Basil!

Photos courtesy of James Kelly and AFP.

Play Pretend: Blue Valentine (again)

SHIP'S LOG: Guess who finally saw Blue Valentine? And guess who is going to make YET another rambly post about it? B!

Well, that movie did not disappoint! I would highly recommend it if you're like me and you love trying to figure people out. That's one of the reasons I am such a huge fan of Mad Men. Nobody is good or bad-they're just human beings and infinitely interesting. The same applies to Cindy and Dean in Blue Valentine.

The movie felt like '500 Days of Summer' meets 'Revolutionary Road'. The dark and heart-wrenching marriage scenes were tempered by those sweet 'young love' scenes. You know the ones. A crazy-in-love couple in a magical world of their own. It was scary to see their relationship go from romance to ruins. As if I'm not enough of a skeptic! Anyway I've been pushing the movie on friends so I could finally have someone to dissect it with. Have any of you guys seen it? What did you think?

As expected, Michelle Williams was adorable. It looks like her character was probably big on thrift shops! She was always in faded floral dresses and tough black boots with an epic leather backpack. Just look at how her really simple outfits enhance her natural beauty. I loved that about the styling.

Anyway a big fat thank you to my brother for helping with this shoot. I haven't had much time to take photos in the day and shooting at night is usually problematic. Luckily, Mic had a brilliant idea. He parked the car facing this wall and beamed the headlights straight at me so we had makeshift lighting. Cars passing by, of course, thought I was crazy.

I kind of like the effect of the pictures even if I look more grunge than usual. Here I am still playing pretend in Cindy's trademark floral dress and black boots! I wish I had a little ukelele or tap dancing skills to show off too.



I got the dress back in December and have been just about living in it. It has a hidden zipper at the back and a tie at the waist. But I didn't realize how short it was at the store and now I can't wear it without tights.

Speaking of tights, one of the guys at work randomly told me, 'Alam ko na kung bakit ka palaging naka-tights… (Now I know why you're always in tights) kasi gusto mo si Zooey Deschanel! (Because you like Zooey Deschanel!). Am I that transparent? That's the second Zooey comment I've gotten at work. But don't worry, I am definitely not deluded enough to think they're indicating similarities looks wise!

B wears Mango denim jacket, Greenhills tiangge necklace and dress, ukay-ukay boots, black tights and green canvas messenger bag.

Play Pretend: Blue Valentine

SHIP'S LOG: B bundles up for Blue Valentine to channel Michelle Williams and her fluffy hooded goodness. Location: Ronac Art Center.

What do Michelle Williams and I have in common? Ryan Gosling? I wish. (If he dates Michelle- I may finally get over the ultimate pairing of McAdams/Gosling. Yes, it does hurt me when hollywood couples break up. ) We both love toggle coats and furry hoods!

Thus my Blue Valentine inspired outfit post. Most shots of Michelle show her all adorable in furry, hooded jackets. To emulate her, I had to don my own blue toggle jacket with it's snowy white hood. Weather is still a-ok here in Manila. I hope it never ends! 'Fall' is definitely my season. The colors, the layers. I thrive on cold weather clothes.

Anyway I am just dying to watch this movie. So much so that I have taken to downloading screen caps and analysis even before seeing it. I read that to accurately capture the dynamics of a married couple, Michelle and Ryan had to shack up for a few weeks and play house. They had to make grocery lists, take care of their 'daughter' and other domesticated tasks like that.

It is probably not coming out here in the Philippines so I am not-so-patiently waiting for a downloadable torrent. If anybody links me to one I will FOREVER be in your debt.

I have kind of been living in this striped top/camel skirt combination for weeks. I will not lie-it makes me feel very put together and grown up. The skirt is the only new piece of clothing I've bought in months! (sale = God send to an unpaid intern) I wonder if suede will still be comfortable when the summer sun rolls in...

It's a basic piece that goes well with everything I own. I am happy to report that the closet cleanse I did months ago has payed off big time. I am buying less but growing more content with my closet's er...contents.

If you think this outfit has nothing to do with Blue Valentine then take a look at the above picture. I think my outfit is the lovechild of Michelle's and Ryan's.

The messenger bag is from my good buddy, Karl. Or rather the bag rack from which I sneakily stole it. I'd really been hoping to find one thinking, "Wouldn't it be so cool and utilitarian to have one for shoots? So 'journalist-y'! This will definitely up my street cred!" Wow, I sound so professional.

I don't know about you guys but just one new accessory can suddenly make my go-to outfits seem brand new. This one makes everything look decidedly less fussy and more...bad ass. Much cheaper than buying a whole new wardrobe. Magic!

B wears Forever 21 blue toggle coat, Promod striped dress (worn as shirt), Promod camel suede skirt and Nine West flats.

Outfits: Ciudad Real

SHIP'S LOG: A wishes that the Large Hadron Collider would tear a whole in space and allow time travel, if only to see what Manila was like back when it was a chartered royal city.



I find the title photo so serious-indie-film-maker-gangs-of-Tondo-Manila. See the blood red? Ominous, right?

I feel like Atlas in the Garden of Hesperides this week, so I am going to show you photos from November's walk around old Manila. In retrospect, I'm so glad I cut my hair right after—I look like Dora the Explorer!




Best Giordano denims ever! I am very picky about my jeans—no streaky acid washes, true blue please, stretchy enough to climb trees in—so I am glad that I found this pair for only PhP 900.00. My sister just told me they are selling the same style in a darker blue, so I'm off to SM Megamall!



I was pretty surprised to see the Star of David motif on this building on Calle Real. Lovely Art Deco details, but I hadn't known that there was a Jewish presence at all, Intramuros being a predominantly Catholic and insular city.



Morbid bit of information: the intersection of Calle Real and Santa Lucia was the scene of an uprising in the 1920s. A troop of Philippine Constabulary soldiers went on a shooting spree that killed several policemen and the American deputy chief of police in order to revenge the disrespected wife of one of its soldiers. Yes, high-profile legal drama, but it was a very strange feeling to realize that it had all been real. I was reading the case for CRIM 2 just before scribbling this post, and I got the shivery shakes.



Hmmm . . . I'm really enjoying cuffed jeans. What's your flavour?

A wears Giordano denim jeans, white tank from Greenhills, Ichigo shoes, and thrifted coat and bag.

Outfits: Sand and Sea

SHIP'S LOG: No snow but lots of sun and sand at Kawayan Cove over the holidays. A left the law commentaries and headed to the beach for sandcastle wars and a true tan.



Take out your pens and put this on your bucket list: eat a freshly caught seafood lunch on any of the beaches found on 7,107 islands that make up the Philippine archipelago. You can't go wrong with buttered crabs and frozen calamansi shake after a morning's swim in the South China Sea. I keep telling all my relatives and friends: that no country can compare with the natural wonders of the Philippines—the white sand of Boracay, the underground rivers of Palawan, the roaring surf of Siargao—22,529 miles of swim-worthy coastlines.

Sorry for the geography lesson, but I always get patriotic after a trip to the beach. I love travelling for two or three hours across rice fields and mango orchards, over jungle-covered mountains, until I see the pale blue outline of the sea rising above the near horizon. Then to get out of the car and have my first breath of sea-salty air . . . glorious.



My cousin Albi came over from Switzerland for his yearly tan with his girlfriend (you're awesome, Mirella!) so my brother and sister and I jumped at the chance to go with them to Kawayan Cove. Isn't it ironic that, for a blog called A Plus B in the Sea, we don't go a mile near the ocean until after six months?





It was so much fun! We half buried ourselves in the powdery sand to get an all-natural exfoliation and raced against the tide to build elaborate sand structures. Found it funny how most Filipinos (I mean, you Tiff and Vinz!) were slathering on gloopy sunblock while Mirella and Albi were aiming for that golden glow Caucasians pay big bucks for. Autres temps autres moeurs with a spatial twist. :P



The high-brow literature I brought remained unread (so did the non-fiction on probabilities). Got distracted by beach volleyball, a game that I am not as bad at as I was in grade school P.E., and floating on the waves, rather like a corpse as my little brother pointed out.

Anyway, back at school and studying much, much more than I used to. But it's all good, as I've got the high street sales to look forward to at the end of January and the return of another cousin bearing gifts (my Dooney & Bourke bag! At last!). I'll end with this: if any of you decide to pop into the Philippines  I will take you to the best beaches and a secret market for pearls. Promise!



A wears striped Zara jersey dress, Sock and Sole Co. boater hat, Debenhams swimsuit, Forever 21 sunglasses, and Aldo sandals. 

Outfits: The Apartment

SHIP'S LOG: B and siblings have a low key night with cousins at possibly the coolest bachelor pad ever.

Whenever my sister visits from Australia, we make sure to set aside one night to get together with a few cousins. Since everyone is getting so darn old and lazy we opted to chill out in Miguel's little apartment. It turned out to be the coziest, quirkiest place!

It definitely made me wish I had piles of money to put aside for my own place. He has interesting books, funky furniture and vintage cameras and toys scattered all over. And a fridge stocked full of Korean ice-cream. I was barely paying attention to the Monopoly game because I was so busy filming things. (Much to their frustration) If you guys are fans of stores like Vintage Pop in Cubao X-be sure to check out the video I made. His apartment could put that store to shame!

Cousins Night from Bea Bermundo on Vimeo.

The song is by Reverie Sound Revue!

B wears Greenhills Tiangge floral dress, Mango denim jacket and black tights