you’ve all already probably seen photos of these, but towards the end of april, parsons held their annual benefit show. meaning a lot of people paid a lot of money to watch our designs coming down a runway with unfortunate music. not all the seniors had tickets to attend the show, which i think is ridiculous – those of us who had our designs in the show were guaranteed one ticket (nope, can’t invite your parents who paid US$120,000 for your education), while the rest of the batch had to ballot for their entry pass to the benefit.

while i was at bunka, japan’s celebrated fashion college, as long as you had finished your final collection in time, you were allowed to show your garment in the final runway show. after all, you were at the end of your education. your parents want to see your work. you want a sense of satisfaction, knowing that you’ve finally, somehow, completed your education.

on the same night, FIT held the senior show too, styled by none other than the fabulous styling team from the house of field, artie and sushi. obviously, they had amazing music, major looks and a a fierce runway!

anyhoo. a few of my friends had 1-4 of their looks on the runway. it’s a pity that the selection was so small; there were so many more people who were really deserving and should have had their designs shown. some friends had just 1 look shown on the runway; i had 2 looks chosen for the presentation area instead, which i thought was better, since it was on show the entire night and not just for 20 seconds.

i want a daughter.

the shows kicked off with childrenswear, which never fails to bring many “awwwwww”s and “oooooooh”s to the crowd. the clothes were cute, yes of course. but damn those kids were cuter! the first little girl who came out on the catwalk, in particular, took her time to walk down the runway, and won the hearts of everyone when she waved.

this little girl was such a pro!

laura siegel: living habitants you wanna wrap yourself in.

ryan o'connor: purebred!! pedigrees!!

ryan o'connor: i'm not usually a fan of the girly-girl but i wanted everything from ryan's!

ryan o'connor: like i said...

sean cabezas: c-c-c-colourrrr

not sure who, but i loved this twist on prep!

cute, yes, gorgeous silhouette, yes, but oscar de la renta + balenciaga much?

the benefit honoured the likes of vera wang for her tremendous achievements at the top of the industry.

hee lim: i felt like a proud mom. we all did!

hee lim: the most amazing cape ever!!

hee lim: double-layered vest. i LOVE this.

one of my good friends from parsons, hee lim, had 4 of his looks shown on the runway. he was robbed of the “designer of the year” title. i’m not being biased, but his concepts and ideas were so fresh and innovative, with a completely new point of view. so many people were supporting him and expecting him to win the “designer of the year” title. during the presentations, he had massive claps. so many teachers even came up to tell him, “if you don’t win, something’s wrong with the system.”

but no, he was completely robbed. it was a daylight robbery. at the end of the shows, all the seniors went up stage and that’s when the dean announced the winners. when the winner for “designer of the year” was announced, i think only 3 people on stage clapped; everyone else had a look of disgust on their faces. we all know what a lump of bullshit the “winner” is made of.

for starters, she never had anything to show to her class, and would come to class with the simplest of jersey pieces made. and we all know she sent out the majority of her collection to be made, which of course meant that everything was perfectly sewn. the rules stated that we were only allowed to send out (to the professionals) one to two items, and they had to be knitwear or leatherwork. everything else was to be sewn ourselves. hee had 6 looks and at least 4 garments for each look, and he made everything himself.

putting all that aside, she was allowed to hand in her collection one day late, while more than a handful of people were disqualified from showing their collections completely (for judging) when they were mere seconds late.

if this is not messed up, underhanded politics, then i don’t know how else to call it. you can imagine why she has no friends. she’s the fakest little thing i’ve seen. ugh.

one of my illustrations were at the center of my table! i had a pleasant surprise!

and then on the way out i found another!

taken in the day, when i went to set up the dress-forms

at 27, i need to stop making all these retarded faces because i later come to realize, i had NO proper photos taken!! shit!

antoine and shalindra, cam-whores.

bennnnnn!!! amazingly talented menswear and accessories designer, with his man-bag: to be sold at henri bendel's!

benny and me!

dear boys and girls, please say hello to my new etsy store at http://revasseur.etsy.com.

to explain a little, RÊVASSEUR is french (i want to be chi-chi, ok?? haha) for “daydreamer”. i love to have fun with what i wear, so i hope my designs bring some daydreaming to your closet too! yahooo!

i’ve wanted to name my brand RÊVASSEUR for a very long time. well no, actually i knew it had to be something to do with daydreaming. simply because that’s what i do half of my day. i’m daydreaming with in the subway, daydreaming when i should be thinking, daydreaming when i’m sketching my designs. my work is quirky and non-conforming, according to new york’s parsons. but i can’t change that, that’s who i am.

i dream a little dream through my clothing design. and who am i kidding? my whole life has been like a dream. it hasn’t been all roses, i can tell you that. but i’ve been lucky to have been given this amazing chance to really follow my passion. designing is my dream come true. i’m living it. this is MY daydream.

but the word “daydreamer” in english was too literal, so i thought of translating it to japanese, but realized it would sound like “ninjacockroach” if you said it 10 times and really fast.  then i thought of it in french and really liked how it sounded. plus, RÊVASSEUR is pronounced almost the same way in french, english and japanese. (well, i can’t speak any other language, so i wouldn’t know!!)

i resisted for a very long time to put this up, but i simply can’t put it off anymore. mainly because the collection i’m working on is making me broke and i need some money to continue! can’t just keep spending daddy’s money, you know? i’m grown-up now. haha!

it is a very small store at the moment, with pictures of myself and pictures that were mostly taken by myself. it’s a little sad because they are so ghetto. when my collection is complete though, i will definitely look around for extra pennies until i save enough to hire a pro photographer and a cute model. in the meantime, you’ll have to deal with my not-modellish “very real” body and face. yeah.

it’s very exciting times for me and RÊVASSEUR. i can’t tell you what just yet, because it is all hush-hush top secret, but i can tell you that i am working my own mini collection, as well as on two exciting projects right now with other intensively amazing people. i wish i had more time, more energy, and more time to sleep. but all this excitement is keeping me going. i love to work, i really do. i’m at my happiest when i’m feeling challenged. when it comes to a point where i can share it with you guys, i most definitely will!!

in the meantime, please know that i definitely twitter more than i blog, and that you should be following me. yes you should!

thank you for all the love and support through my blog, and please leave me with any suggestions or comments on my etsy store!! it’s scary, you know! i hope everything goes right! yikes!

i was just looking through my friendster photos, and i realised how much i really miss my japanese friends. i have like a million photos of my friends that we took together in and around tokyo, but because they are all on my removable hard drive, and because japan and singapore have different voltages, i can’t view or upload any of those photos!! (i didn’t wanna buy a transformer to convert the voltage cos that’s just a pretty expensive buy that i’ll only use for 2 months before i leave singapore again.) but now i’m regretting not buying one. shit. i really want to look at those photos.

well i just remembered receiving an email a couple of days ago, asking me about my friends from japan. so i did the only thing possible: i copied some off my own friendster page. *eyes rolling* bah. i wish i had more to show!! ugh i need my removable disk to come alive now!!!

so here’s a pretty long post of my memories of japan, captured in photos. *sigh*

a purikura taken with friends from my year1 class in bunka. they are so cute and stylish!!

in school with ruby, after one of our fashion shows.
ruby is one of the coolest girls i’ve ever met.
she’s really smart, and great to talk to, and fun!
what more can you ask for!
i love you ruby!!! (and sorry, do you mind if i put your photo up? )

the infamous japanese peace sign.

in kyoto with my class. god i had too many laughs with this bunch.

with hiroshi and…err.. some of yuka!!
hiroshi is a pretty silly guy who makes the weirdest comments
that have me in stitches.
but ultimately he’s just a silly guy but i love him!

at yakiniku with my beer buddies.

how can you not love them!
we always joke that all of us are quite retarded.

4 of us and an “outsider” in the middle.
i love non-chan (second from left) and seri (in red).
non-chan is my tokyo version of aygness.
in fact she’s way cooler and always hyper active.
seri is miss polkadot.
she only wears polkadots.

otaru in hokkaido. too beautiful for words.

undercoverism.
plain drunk.

bib and i. it’s true. we look good only when we’re in japan.

pop up sapporo tower.

pop up cheeks.

being a smap fan is never glamorous.

i love baikin-man. much more than anpan-man.

i’ll kiss you, shingo, even if you had a face like that.

and finally, i love disneyland.
i love mickey mouse speaking in japanese.
i love the magic.
i’ve been to tokyo’s disneyland 4 times and it wasn’t enough.







i realise that i look pretty satanic when i try to imitate pumpkins.

i am in the search for a bloody charger for my digital camera.
yup, i STILL can’t find mine!!
i also went to sim lim yesterday,
singapore’s answer to tokyo’s akihabara,
except akihabara is an entire town and sim lim is just
one measly building, filled with all things electronic.
but they took a look at my camera, and said,
“don’t have”.

it’s driving me crazy.
i usually take a million pictures all the time, and because
my camera captures videos too, i used to take plenty,
and transfer them to my computer everyday!!!
being unable to do that is really irritating.

in my earlier post , i mentioned that i had stolen
my dad’s canon 30d.
yeah i’ve been using it,
but unfortunately, that father of mine keeps stealing it back.
so we’re like constantly stealing on each other.
can’t he let me have it!!!

anyway. i finally borrowed my sister’s boyfriend’s
multi-card reader/writer, and managed to extract my photos.

woohoo!!

so now i only need to find something to charge those
camera batteries!! yikes!

so here are some photos from the past week or so,
from when i was just leaving tokyo.

may 11

that crazy reiko. everything and anything that she got her
hands on, she put on!! i was like, “aren’t you hot!!”
hahaha it was so funny. we ordered pizza and she opened the door
like that. and asked the pizza guy if he wanted my feather mask!

may 13

sasan and me in the taxi, on the way to the station!!
that’s the notebook that my friends made for me.
with these drawings of me on the cover. it’s disgusting. haha.

the famous singapore changi airport.
in a not very well-taken photo from the back
of my taxi on the way home.

my swollen eye. except that when i transfered the photos
to my computer, it didn’t look that bad. but it was actually red
and swollen and the nerve below my eye kept twitching and
irritating the hell out of me!! i wanted to take photos of my
face when i got home, but it was itching and i was scratching,
and my hands refused to reach for the camera.

may 15

we had lunch at a hawker centre at zion road, near my
house. my aunt and cousin, nicole, came to join us.
she’s huge for her age and really cute!! i haven’t seen her
for a while and she really grew. i hear she’s quite the devil
though. at least she’s cute. haha.


we went to palm beach seafood restaurant for dinner.
we’ve been going there for years and always order a big
sri lankan white pepper crab. yummy!!
it’s what i call finger-lickin’ good. the fried prawns in
almond flakes and nestum cereal is really good too.
but prices have gone crazy the last few years and it’s not
really worth going there anymore. the food is pretty
average for the price, and you can probably find equally
good meals elsewhere for much cheaper. and besides,
i give them fail fail FAIL for service. by the way don’t
attempt to go there without a singaporean if you are a
foreigner. for many reasons.

palm beach is lucky because they relocated to the
pretty cool one fullerton. i saw pretty cool because it’s
right next to the waterfront, and next to the merlion.
you can also get a pretty good view of singapore’s
commercial district (i like it at night). across the bridge
is also “the durian“, what locals call the esplanade,
singapore’s performing arts centre.
(by the way, say “singapore” to a japanese and they
reply “merlion”. it’s weird!)

may 16

shadow‘s already 13. she’s really old and her senses are
slowly failing. she’s even got grey cataracts clouding
her eyes. and she’s gotten skinny over the years. i hate
feeling her bones. she has a breathing problem due to
a collapsed windpipe. i hope she stays healthy for many
more years. i can’t lose her just yet.

at hard rock cafe for dinner. i love hard rock. good food,
good service. and good food. plus, the one in singapore is
SUPER near to my house. very convenient. i wore a
really colorful anna sui dress and cowboy hat, and felt
very loud in boring singapore. HAH.

may 17

i went out with my sis, bib, and her friends to some karaoke bar,
and had two vodka cocktails, before ordering a whole bottle
of absolute vodka to share with my sis and one other friend.
we paid like SGD140 for it. that’s crazy because i can buy it for
SGD17 at the airport!!! why can’t everything be duty-free!!
the 3 of us finished the bottle. it was crazy. i haven’t been this
high for a really long time.

may 18

chocolate fondue at stella’s house!! i LOVE chocolate.
my sis is sometimes disgusted with how much
chocolate i can eat. put chocolate in front of me and
i’ll eat it. fry some cardboard and cover it with
chocolate and i’d probably eat it too. you’ll know
when a restaurant serves really bad chocolate shakes
or cakes when i don’t finish it (hardly never, but
when it’s really bad…)

may 21

a night out with bib and my cousins. they are from my
father’s side of the family. we had half a bottle of hennessy.
it was a bit too strong for me. haha. do any of us look alike??
they are children from two of my dad’s sisters. it’s so hard
to get together like this with everyone busy or abroad.

it’s 5:30 in the morning here.
i’m leaving my house at about 7,
and taking off at 11am in the morning.

yeah… the only song stuck in my head is…

“all my bags are packed, i’m ready to go..
i’m standing here outside your door,
i’d hate to wake you up to say goodbye…

cos i’m leaving on a jetplane,
don’t know when i’ll be back again,
oh babe, i hate to go…”

i don’t even know if i got the lyrics right.

3 friends, eri, reiko and sasan came over to help.
they’re sleeping now, poor things;
they must be exhausted.

i have such wonderful friends.

my heart is breaking and i’m about to cry.

i can’t believe i’m leaving japan.

i dreamt of coming here,
wanted to come here,
came here,
lived my dream here,
and now…

it’s all going to be in the past.

but it’s not going to be sayonara (goodbye)
it’s going to be mata-ne (see you again).

arigatou.

i’m goin’ nuts.
i’m leaving japan on sunday morning.
for good.
holy.
i can’t take that thought.
i mean, sure, i’m gonna come back again to
watch a concert in summer,
so i know i’ll be back again every year.
but, the thought of me leaving all my friends here,
and all the wonderful japanese food,
and oh the fashion, the beautiful clothes…
you can’t get clothes like japanese clothes anywhere.
they say paris is the fashion capitol.
for high-fashion, yeah i guess so,
but if you stand in the middle of harajuku,
that’s a fashion catwalk in everyday life.

i’m gonna miss all this.


the other reason i’m going crazy is,
like i said i’m leaving on sunday morning.
early morning.
at the moment, it is 4:35am tokyo time,
friday morning (the 11th).

i haven’t finished packing.

my house is a junkyard at the moment.

i’m dying
and will probably have a panic attack tomorrow.


i also have a million pictures i wanna put up
but i don’t have the time.

plus, tomorrow my computer will be in it’s box,
and put on a ship.
two days without a computer (that is also my tv)!!

seriously. i might die.

in any case i’ve gotta go back to packing.
but i have so many things that i haven’t used
for ages and ages but i can’t bear to throw them away!!

there are so many things left to do.

i’m in big big trouble.