The shirt that gives back and inspires.

As we all go through our busy lives, day-by-day we sometimes forget that how we dress up can also affect the people around us. If you dress yourself up with clothing that says profanity on it, you know you could offend some people. You have this strong influence in others to either offend or inspire, so what would you choose? There are clothes that are made from recycled materials and which help provide jobs for poor families in third world countries. These companies spread positivity and help the good cause. With this being said I’m very happy to say that i’ve been given a chance to collaborate with a company that does something similar.

LeMotto

Spreading good messages through inspiring quotes.

When I got my package here’s what I got:

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An actual personalized handwritten letter

It’s awesome that even on this digital age, you actually still get a handwritten letter from the owner of the company. It makes me feel all warm inside and actually getting a thank you for helping spread positivity!

IMG_0748 IMG_0753I choose this slogan because it hits me close to my heart. I like to think that I will always have this little kid in me and that will never go away no matter how old I get. I also like to think that we all are actually cool kids. No discrimination, just love for everyone.

So what brought about the brand?

Here’s an excerpt from the “about” section of their website and I truly think the message is awesomely positive!

Hi, my name is Vaiana. My story and my brand revolve around something seemingly benign but actually powerful: words.

My life started on the island of Tahiti. It was a beautiful place, but I had to endure harsh words in my own home that often led to violence and abuse. As a student, words were central to all my studies, as I eventually earned degrees in language, law and international relations. As a mother I became even more aware of how words on the playground, in the mall, on the bus, on TV and even in schools can bombard our kids with toxic ideas. I also learned how comforting kind words can be for a suffering child.

Vaiana - Le Motto - SheSheBonBonThe trigger for Le Motto happened when I noticed a girl at Disney World with a t-shirt that said, “I want to be like Barbie because this b*tch has everything”. Really?!

Hey, I’m not trying to tell you what words you have to wear, but I am definitely giving you a positive alternative: meaningful words that point us in the right direction.

I create clothing that “speaks” to people whenever and wherever they see it. I believe the words on your favorite “statement tee” should be able to make a stranger flip a negative attitude to a positive one and pay it forward. The best statement tee should make strangers come up to you and say, “I love your shirt! Thanks for wearing it. You just made my day!” It works – just try it! Who doesn’t want to be a billboard for good vibes in a world that can sometimes be ugly?

The Bully Project - Le Motto - SheSheBonBonWhich brings me back to my roots. Words hurt me in my childhood. Today, they galvanize my desire to inspire people. Words do have power, and Le Motto is a way to share good messages with the world.

Words must be followed by actions too. Change the world, one word at a time…and don’t stop there. When people purchase Le Motto apparel, we donate some of the profits to causes that help kids who are suffering from violent circumstances. Our current focus is helping fund programs that confront aggression in the form of bullying helping “The Bully Project” that educate over 1 million parents, teachers, kids and entire communities to deal with bullying.”

It doesn’t just inspire, but it helps a very good cause.

So finally here are some photos of me rocking the shirt!

So always remember, what you wear could make a difference. You can choose to influence people in a positive way just by even wearing a t-shirt!

If you would like to find out where I got this shirt from you can check out the LeMotto Site.

I would also like to thank my friend Cyrus Wu for taking photos of me wearing the shirt.

 

 

My selfish reason for creating this blog

A lot of my friends have been wondering why I created this blog.

There were quite an amount of guesses that stood out and kind of made sense when I thought about it. Some have guessed that it was only natural because i’m into fashion. Others have said that its a progression of me exploring the other side of the camera and instead of being behind it, now i’m going in front of it. Very valid guesses and I couldn’t help but agree with them. I’m sorry to let you guys down but it was ALL A LIE.

I created this blog 4 years ago with a different intention…

Back in 2010 I started this as a form of creativity and to show to people that everyone can be a model and that even if I just walk around the street and take candid shots of people, I could create images that could be seen on magazines. I wanted to provide inspiration for others to be able to love themselves. To know their self-worth and cherish what they have. It was a noble cause that I wanted to pursue. I was in a very good place back in 2010 and I wanted everyone else to feel the same. 

Life got busy so I had to put the blog on a hiatus.

I was in a constant transition from different jobs and life was great. “I’m moving on up” as they say. All my sacrifices and hard work were all finally paying off. I had finally landed a dream job of mine working for a multi-national company doing what I loved to do and what I was very passionate about. I was with the girl of my dreams and things were great, minus the distance. It was all good though because we had all the tech to compensate for it and it just felt like we were never far apart. I was sitting on cloud 9, I had everything that I could ask for. A career and the woman that I loved.

Life looked great, but was it really?

So throughout the time when I first started the blog (back in 2010) until present time a lot of things have happened as well. Here’s comes the down part. As I was going through the highs, I was going through some lows as well. I guess I was just really good at hiding things from people or covering things up to make it seem like everything is fine. But it wasn’t. There was an ongoing battle inside of me that I created myself and myself alone. I had put certain boundaries and certain “stupid rules” to try and keep my perfect world untouched. I started to create a different “me”. At one point in time, I had forced myself to not look my regular self. I grew out my hair which I had never done in my entire life, and also my facial hair.

Here are some photos for reference:

celebrating a friend's birthday
celebrating a friend’s birthday (2nd from the right)
out at a club when I was working as a photographer/promoter
out at a club when I was working as a photographer/promoter (left)
When I was working at a electronic retail store
When I was working at a electronic retail store

So if you have seen my photos from this blog, you wouldn’t have guessed that this was me at one point in my life. It’s a complete 180 of who I am. I had made this conscious decision to really not make any effort just so I can tell myself that I am trying to deter any attraction from the opposite sex. I told myself that this is the way to make make my long distance relationship work and to further create a sign of trust that I am not out to find any other girl out there while my partner and I are apart.

I was completely lost and blinded.

I was finding myself and losing myself at the same time. At one point I was very happy to have everything that I could ask for my job and my love of my life, and on the other hand, I was loosing my own identity. It was just one crazy rollercoaster ride. Long story short, I got married back in January 2013 and after a year we split up and now we’re going through annulment. I left my job as well and I was just completely lost.

I don’t know who I am…

I couldn’t find my own identity, who I really was and what I really wanted to do. All my passion had left me, I felt dead inside.

Time heals all and gives clarity.

Eventually after through many different experiences with good friends and loved ones I was slowly finding back my groove. One big breakthrough was during the Vancouver Fashion Week back in March a friend of mine gave me a chance to go there and spectate the event. I was forced to dress up due to the nature of the event and sparked my love for photography and fashion once again. It had given my back my confidence.

So here’s my selfish reason…

I brought back this blog and turned it into a men’s fashion site so I could feel good about myself again. I wanted to regain back my lost self-confidence and to further work on my creativity in photography and how I would style myself on my day-to-day life. I wanted to create a platform where people could comment on how good I looked and how well put together my outfit was. I wanted to be separate from others and not just use facebook to post my outfits because anyone can just do that. I wanted a legitimate platform where my love for myself can be shared to others.

I want my selfishness to be seen by everyone.

I want everyone to know that being selfish and loving yourself is important. It’s hard when you get lost, when you can’t find your way that you really have to look hard within you to find happiness. I hope that some of you out there who had been lost or had gone through a similar experience as mine is that you need to look at the positive things and focus on the things you can control which is yourself.

Success will come when you do the things that you love.

So here’s a short version of some of the success i’ve had since I revived this blog.

  • I was one of the models chosen to represent a South Korean clothing line “WYW” this past September for Vancouver Fashion Week S/S 2015 and I have an ongoing collaboration with them as well
  • I was given a chance to do a collaboration with Sebastian Cruz Couture Vegas
  • I am doing a collaboration with Bravo Echo Custom Suits

Seriously THANK YOU to these three people who have put their faith in me while i’m still just starting with this blog.

Thank you to everyone and please share my story if you think its worth sharing and I hope it could inspire others to find themselves and pursue their passion.

There will be more things to come at this blog so please follow me through my ongoing journey through fashion!

Here are some photos of me during the fashion show for WYW this past September 

 

Fedora for a bad hair day

This line is often uttered by women “bad hair day” but us guys have it as well. I encounter it more often than not especially when I haven’t gone to the barbers for a while and my curly hair gets way too unruly. Here’s the quickest and most often used trick to compensate for the dreaded bad hair day, wear a hat! If you want to do it in style though, you can’t just wear any snapback or hat, you want to add some flare to it so why not use a fedora?

This whole outfit was inspired by the first fedora I could get my hands on in my room (lazy, I know, but I like to live dangerously). I slowly worked my way down which led me to my trusty black v-neck shirt (you could never go wrong with a plain v-neck). Black leather belt with a nice simple metallic accent from Danier Leather and black pants from Zara. I shortly realized that I was just wearing all black and someone might think i’m going to someone’s funeral or I turned gothic all of a sudden (nothing wrong with goths and nothing wrong with all black, but It’s still sunny and I still want some color also so how do I make up for it? Socks!!! I gotta have some fun and add color to this ensemble so I went with a puzzle patterned sock and partnered it with some classic style Cole-Haans. To tie-up the whole outfit together, I added one of my favorite suit jacket from Sisley. I just love how it adds some “umph” to the simple yet strong ensemble I have put together.

As you can see from the last photo, my hair was a mess, haha, but it’s ok since I have my fedora 😉

Here’s the round up for the items used in this outfit

  • Fedora – no brand
  • V-Neck Shirt – Zara
  • Suit Jacket – Sisley
  • Belt – Danier Leather
  • Pants – Zara
  • Socks – can’t remember
  • Shoes – Cole Haan

So always remember, it’s not the end of the day if your hair isn’t cooperating or you’re too lazy to fix your hair, you can always style it up with a fedora.

Everyone’s A Model

Guess The Name (Kyle and Kyrie)

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So I went to the beach with a friend yesterday (April 9, 2014) to just hang out and enjoy the nice RARE spring weather that Vancouver has blessed us. I had no intention of taking photos of people and just wanted to take some nice scenery shots and maybe some timelapse photography. I was sitting on the grass and had my tripod set up for my phone for some timelapse when I noticed a couple sitting on a bench shouting out peoples’ names while they were walking pass by them. I quickly realized that the couple we’re trying to play a “guess the name game” with others.

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So the next logical thing was to get involved, LOL. My friend decided to ask them if they wanted to guess our names. So one thing led to another and it was GAME ON! They tried to guess our names and we tried to guess theirs. I actually managed to guess one of their names and they couldn’t guess ours. (I guess i’m psychic!)

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After I have guess Kyle’s name (the guy on the right) they both decided to shake my hand.

We all started to talk with one another and shared stories and our backgrounds. His name was Kyle and her name was Kylie, a very cute and energetic couple. It’s hard not to get infected by their super friendly nature. After our conversation my friend suggested that I should take some couples photos of them and send it to their e-mail and I obliged. They we’re a good sport and we just decided to do a very quick shoot by the sand.

So here they are…

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What a very lovely couple and I wish them all the best in their future. They find joy in the simplest things and make the best out of every situation, even as simple as guessing people’s names on the beach. Their photos could easily be used in a lifestyle magazine showing how people should be living and just having fun.

Everyone’s A Model

Jiwon and Ryan

Jiwon and Ryan

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Now here’s the lovely newlyweds of just over a year. They have their cute dog named Ritchie who’s very hyper and who greeted me right away when I entered the couple’s home.

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It was very clear that they love their dog a lot, they couldn’t stop playing with Ritchie while we were doing our shoot. I didn’t mind it at all as well as it made them feel comfortable while I was taking their photos. Jiwon actually mentioned to me that this photoshoot session reminded her of their wedding photos. They got it done in Korea and got over 2,000 photos taken. She even said “our eyelids we’re twitching at the end of it because we were trying to smile the whole time” and I just responded with a laugh. I told her that the life of a model isn’t actually easy, they make it look easy and comfortable but it does take a lot of skill and she agreed.

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After a while, I got the couple to feel a bit more comfortable and got a few snaps of them smiling and not worrying too much about the camera in front of them. I was getting much more organic photos and you can probably tell from the photos as well.

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And here comes the money shot of the couple. Both laughing and smiling while playing with their tablets. I couldn’t quite remember what we were talking about and why they we’re laughing but you can tell that it was a good one.

These set of photos could possibly be used in a lifestyle magazine or in a catalogue like IKEA. Regular couple who have no experience in modeling yet the results show that it can be done.

Everyone’s A Model

Start again!

So here we are, I tried to start a mini project but I haven’t gone quite through with it. But now, I do promise to be a bit more consistent. I will start with my own photo that I took a while back when I was bored.

Poser

I am not the most photogenic person in this world, which just goes to show that everyone’s a model.