Holiday Essential gifts for your man for under $50

Posted on December 17, 2014December 18, 2014 Posted in ListsTagged bespoke, dapper, dapper fashion, fashion, gift ideas, gifts, gifts for men, gifts under 50 dollars, holiday gift ideas, men's clothing, men's wear, mens fashion, shopping, tech, technology, vancity, vancouverLeave a comment

We know its that time of the year again and finding the right gifts for your special guy can get a bit tricky. He probably has everything that he wants and needs and you wouldn’t know what to get him. Well here’s a short list that I have made that would probably give you some options that he probably doesn’t have yet and would love to have.

1. Kent Street Apparel’s MERDE IL PLEUT (Shit it’s Raining) UNISEX UMBRELLA $44

I just featured this on my blog and I can’t help but rave about it. Especially if you’re living in Vancouver you know we are always blessed with this “awesome” rain on a regular basis. This works if you know he has that dry sense of humour also since it actually says “shit it’s raining” in french on the umbrella itself. It comes in other colours as well.

2. Zara Black Mini Messenger Bag $39

This one is for the guys who carry a lot of things with them on a regular basis or just have super thick wallets and you know it’s not good for their posture if they always put it on their back pocket and sit. This avoids that potential back problem and would help them in the long run. I personally own a few mini messenger bags and I find them very useful especially when I travel and I would put my wallet and passport and other important documents in them and small camera inside.

3. Express Dress Socks $11 for 1 or $25 for 4

This one is another no brainer. All grown men or even teens should own dress socks and not plain white socks. Its basically a “right of passage” if you ask me. A man can’t be taken seriously if he’s wearing a suit while wearing white socks. He’s better off not wearing any.

4. Victorinox HOK Exclusive Blackcomb Climber II Sapphire $49

Here’s another essential. I think every man should own a Swiss Army Knife. Having the basic tools is just key to “being a man”. It would also be a nice touch if you could get their name engraved on the plastic part if you ask me.

Now we’re coming to the tech side of things. If your man is into tech, i’m sure he either owns one like this or if he doesn’t, he would like to own one and love you for giving it to him.

6. Google Chromecast $39

I own this little guy and I LOVE IT TO BITS! This gadget basically attaches to the back of your TV and makes it a smart tv. You are able to connect your phone, tablet and even your computer wirelessly to this device and mirror it onto your tv. If this might seem too complicated for your i’ve provided a video made my google to give you a better idea.

6. Motorola P4000 Portable Power Pack $30

Now this is just another essential. I’m sure all of us could relate to our smart phones running out of battery on the most important time. Well look no further, this guy is your life saver. This power pack actually comes with its own cable so it can charge basically any smart phone except for iPhones, but you will just have to use your own usb chord because it does chard any product with a usb plug built-in. It can fully charge any smart phone out then from 0-100% and still have some left to charge other devices.

So these are my list, I truly hope you find them helpful and share it with your friends. If you like this article please leave a comment or any suggestions. Happy Holidays!

Ramir

Shit its raining

Posted on December 17, 2014December 17, 2014 Posted in Collaborations, Dress to Impress, OOTD, Product ReviewTagged bespoke, canada, dapper, dapper fashion, fashion, fashion photography, gentleman, lifestyle, men's clothing, men's wear, mens fashion, model, photo, photography, photoshoot, vancity, vancouver, vintage1 Comment

Most of the people here in Vancouver can relate to this expression on a very regular basis. We don’t have the nickname “Raincouver” for it for a reason. Especially in this time of the year, we can experience a very generous amount of rain coming our way. This doesn’t mean that our sense of style and our rain gear should suffer. I notice that most people here in Vancouver stick to the very safe and simple black umbrella to protect themselves from the rain, but I have a solution for you.

“Merde Il Pleut” – Shit it’s raining (in French) umbrella

When life gives you lemons, you make lemon juice. So when it rains, why not make the best of the situation and throw in some sense of humour while you’re at it.

Why just stick to the norms of a black umbrella when you can make someone’s day with a funny yet still stylish and classy one.

The strong wood handle, wood shaft, ferrule, and wooden tips help prevent wind damage. I haven’t tested this guy against strong winds yet but with the feel of its construction I can say it stands a good chance of handling the occasional winds of Vancouver.

Let me just say, it does look good when matched with a pair of tan coloured shoes and brown belt because of the wooden accent on the umbrella. It just gives it a very vintage yet modern feel.

So the next time you buy an umbrella for yourself or even as a gift for someone you might want to consider this umbrella. I got this at Kent Street Apparel which is a Vancouver based online store.

If you guys like these kinds of content please leave a message. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ramir

The shirt that gives back and inspires.

Posted on November 28, 2014November 28, 2014 Posted in CollaborationsTagged anti bullying, bullying, everyonesamodel, fashion, fashion photography, inner beauty, inspirational, lifestyle, men's clothing, men's wear, mens fashion, photo, photography, photoshoot, vancity, vancouver2 Comments

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:

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!

I 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.

The 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?

Which 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.

Power of Women (Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation with Sebastian Cruz Couture)

Posted on November 10, 2014 Posted in Events, InspirationalTagged breast cancer, canada, canadian breast cancer foundation, dapper, dapper fashion, fashion, fashion photography, inspirational, lifestyle, men's clothing, men's wear, mens fashion, vancity, vancouverLeave a comment

I’m very pleased to tell everyone that a company that i’m currently collaborating with is supporting my friend’s event.

Sebastian Cruz Couture Vegas is kind enough to sponsor “Power of Women” a Pink Ladies Event that’s going to be held in Vancouver this November 30, 2014.

Here’s the good news:

When you buy any Sebastian Cruz Couture product from November 1, 2014 until November 30, 2014 half of the profit goes to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. More details are available if you click on the images below.

link to the event (click the image above)

To check out the rest of the line of Sebastian Cruz Couture (click the image above)

Photo of myself, rocking one of their awesome pocket square and flower lapel (click the image above)

I’m very proud to say that i’m also sponsoring this great event and will be taking photos of the festivities. A full review of the Sebastian Cruz Couture pocket square and lapel flower is also almost done and i’m very excited to share it with you guys! Stay tuned and please support the good cause!

My selfish reason for creating this blog

Posted on November 4, 2014 Posted in InspirationalTagged canada, inner beauty, inspirational, insporation, life changing, mens fashion, people, vancity, vancouverLeave a comment

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 (left)

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

The vest in the west

Posted on October 20, 2014October 20, 2014 Posted in Dress to Impress, OOTDTagged canada, Cold weather, dapper, dapper fashion, everyonesamodel, fall fashion, fashion, fashion photography, lifestyle, men's clothing, men's wear, mens fashion, model, ootd, photo, photography, photoshoot, suit jacket, vancouver, vestLeave a comment

So fall is now here and there’s no escaping it. Cold weather is upon us bit if you are not in the mood to wear a big overcoat just quite yet and want to stick to just wearing your suit jacket, adding a vest usually does the job. It helps with keeping you warm without adding much bulk to your outfit. It doesn’t hurt either that having a 3 piece suit outfit looks classy. When you’re outside you’ll be warm enough and if you’re indoors and find that it’s a bit hot, then you can just take out your jacket and still look styling with your vest. Never forget one of my favourite accessory to any outfit as well, the socks!

Tripods make good wingmen…

Posted on October 12, 2014October 23, 2014 Posted in Collaborations, OOTDTagged fashion, fashion photography, men's clothing, men's wear, mens fashion, model, ootd, photo, photography, photoshoot, vancity, vancouver, women's fashion2 Comments

Bold statement, yes. Is it justifiable, yes, and here’s why.

All these photos were taken by me, with the help of my trusty tripod. No selfie sticks here. So if it weren’t for the tripod I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to be in the photo with my beautiful and talented friend fellow fashion blogger Samantha. So the background story here was, I was only supposed to take photos of her then I would feature her on here but the nice lady that she is, she wanted photos with me as well. Who am I to turn down this opportunity anyway? (Give you some time to think here)

EXACTLY…

So I went with my tripod and self-timer to the rescue and these were the results of it! Not too shabby if I say so myself (brushes shoulders off). It was quite the fun experience as Samantha and I would run back to the camera after each shot to see if we got the right shot or if we blinked or not. The occasional *high five* was present as well when we were both on point as we waited for the shutter to go *click*.

So would you have guess that these photos we’re just taken by me with a tripod or someone else was taking the photo?

Lastly, please check out my friend Samantha’s fashion blog.

Fedora for a bad hair day

Posted on October 7, 2014November 4, 2014 Posted in Dress to Impress, OOTDTagged clothing, dress to impress, everyonesamodel, fashion, fedora, gq, inner beauty, men's clothing, men's wear, mens fashion, model, ootd, photo, photography, photoshoot, vancouverLeave a comment

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

Shooting for the Stars (Go Loud or go Home)

Posted on October 2, 2014November 4, 2014 Posted in Casual, OOTDTagged canada, everyonesamodel, fashion, gshock, hipster, marvel, mens fashion, menswear, model, ootd, photo, photography, photoshoot, punisher, red, richmond, skulls, stars, summer, vancouverLeave a comment

Sometimes you just want to wear something that’s loud and basically stand out without being “too much”. Here’s one that I find that works well. Pick one element of your outfit that has big prints or pattern, in this case I chose a sweater that has stars all over it. The rest of the pieces just fell in place. I chose a black cap to match the color of the stars on my sweater and paired it up with some bright red pants to go along with the bright and loud theme. While we’re at it throw in some red suede shoes and match it with a comics themed pair of socks by Punisher. As I always say, its all in the details. (Details do go a long way) As for the watch, can’t go wrong with a G-Shock to go along with the black and red theme.

If you like what you see, please subscribe to be updated with my latest posts and don’t hesitate to ask questions or give suggestions on what you would want me to feature.

Always Remember,

Everyone’s A Model

Summer Photoshoot

Posted on October 2, 2014November 4, 2014 Posted in Casual, OOTDTagged canada, dapper, fashion, fashion photography, men's clothing, men's wear, mens fashion, photography, photoshoot, vancity, vancouverLeave a comment

During this past summer, I had the chance to collaborate with a friend to do a couple of shoots of each other to start a his and hers outfit of the day (ootd) and here are some of the results.