As you may or may have not noticed in the first and second, there’s an undercurrent of green in this trilogy. I took it upon myself to work with three musts. First, the outfits must be from pieces I already own (you’ll see this dress in a future post; I wore it on the HK/Macau holiday). Second, the outfits must call to mind words like summer, fresh, carefree, happy and young. And third, I must not take more than three hours from styling, to makeup and hair, to shooting everything. I like playing little games like that. Haha.
I was able to put together and shoot all three in one afternoon, and my awesome photographer (Hi Mama!) did an amazing job as usual. It was quick and so much fun!
Don’t let the height of these lace-wrapped wedges fool you. They’re quite easy to walk in! I tried dancing in them as well and I think with a little more practice, they’re a good enough compromise for the vertically challenged who don’t want to wear flats to the festival.
Let me know what you have in mind for your Summer Solstice outfit, or ask me style-related questions, here! Oh, and which one’s your favorite among the three? :)
In March 2010 started a love story eight years in the making. Seph and I met in 2002 through my cousin Jeru, his best friend of 11 years. Through those years we were always just along the borders of each other’s lives, crossing paths every now and then in between relationships, keeping in touch and losing touch and finally finding each other many years and lessons later.
When we did, we were so sure we had both been prepared for this. That there must have been a reason we weren’t brought together eight years ago; that we were meant to first grow and learn from past mistakes. Things fell into place almost cosmically: the chemistry effortless, the connection unbreakable, everyone’s love and support overwhelming. This is what we’ve been waiting our whole lives for, we thought.
It’s been our joy sharing our story with you through this blog—our passions, hopes, milestones and memories. Love Chic has not only been a celebration of our love for fashion, but of love. Of two people whose bond is so strong that one can feel or think what the other feels or thinks without saying a word. Two people with so much in common it’s like they’ve known each other all their lives. Whose differences are so complementary that when their strengths and weaknesses combine, they’re unstoppable. Two people who have made cynics believe that true love is real after all.
But love as a feeling is never enough. Falling in love is the easiest thing, while staying in love requires commitment. It takes two; not one, not three, to make a relationship work. As it turns out, the worst fears and gut feelings I’ve been having for a while were real: Seph and I have stopped moving together in this direction. The things that were supposed to be just between the two of us—secrets, plans, dreams, problems, were no longer just between the two of us.
Due to circumstances beyond my control, our story has come to an end.
They say fight for what’s yours. Give it your all. But when it turns out it has no longer been yours for over a year now, you can fight and give with all you’ve got and it won’t make the slightest difference.
When that happens, all you can do is forgive, and move on. Be grateful for what happened, and have faith that things can only get better.
From here on, Seph is leaving Love Chic to me. There will be changes, but with the same name and aim of inspiring young people to be their best and confident selves. We hope you’ll continue to be supportive of us even as we go our own ways.
Made this on our anniversary to celebrate our story. It’s time to let it go. :)
To everyone who stood by us from the very beginning, when we were starting out with webcam photos on Facebook albums. To everyone who read our first blog posts and watched our first videos. To everyone who came by our talks, wrote to Dear Love Chic, dropped by our bazaar booths, watched our guestings, and read our features. To everyone who showed their faith in us, who looked up to us and made us feel like we were doing something right. To everyone who loved Love Chic, and sephshai.
It’s been a while since our last blog post! Along with the coming of the new year (and the Chinese new year lol), a lot of changes have been afoot.
Change, we often hear, is the only thing that’s ever constant. The only thing that follows a pattern. At first, resistance; and fear of tipping the balance. Of rearranging anything.
And then, enough courage to embrace the reality that what has been comfortable, what’s easy, isn’t always what’s right.
Enough courage is mustered to face whatever must happen head on, with a sound mind and a willful heart.
Denim button-downs layered over tangerines and blues, worn with nude shoes. One of the many ways we’d style ourselves for the Forever21 Valentine’s Lookbook contest.
How about you? Join the contest for a chance to win a P10,000 shopping spree at Forever21.
Calling all couples! Get ready for our sweetest giveaway yet. Pose a la Love Chic in your most stylish outfits for a chance to win a P10,000 shopping spree from Forever21.
Just a few samples to give you ideas. It doesn’t matter if you take your photo on the streets or in a studio, as long as it showcases your sweet style.
Dropping by Heima is always a sweet treat, but more so on December 6 with the launch of Juicy Couture’s Viva La Juicy La Fleur and John Varvatos’ Artisan Black EDTs. Both are reinterpretations of Juicy Couture and John Varvato’ bestselling fragrances, Viva La Juicy and Artisan respectively.
Inspired by the blushing aura of being in love, Viva La Fleur is a veil of sparkling mandarin, wild berries and water lily combined with the luminous blend of dewy honeysuckle, gardenia petals and soft jasmine. A whisper of creamy gourmand caramel, vanilla and sandalwood lingers in the background. It’s fruity and sweet, but not in an overpowering way, which is exactly how we like it.
John Varvatos is a menswear designer who started out with Calvin Klein and Polo Ralph Lauren in the ’90s before developing his own line in 2000. Artisan Black is a limited edition scent from his new collection. Each bottle is hand-woven by a craftsman, so no two bottles look exactly the same. Inside is a surprising symphony of contrasts—with top notes of citrus, black basic and boxwood leaves, middle notes of dark woods, ginger and essential floral oils, and the woody, musky base notes of patchouli and soft leather.
That day was a feast for all the senses; apart from home design eye candy, easy-listening grooves, and the fragrances, guests were invited to sample these. Created by Chef Anne Chua of My Pink Wasabi, kashi maki means “sweet maki.” This particular collection was custom-made for Viva La Juicy La Fleur so that anyone who’s ever smelled a perfume and thought, “This smells so yummy I wish I could eat it!” actually could.
…On a graffiti-filled rooftop of an abandoned building. Pity we couldn’t show you just how high up we were—the lower floor is filled with trash and weeds and other unsightly things not suitable for anyone’s sensibilities. When we say abandoned building, we mean abandoned, even by any hope of salvation. We mainly just braved that rooftop and sat on the edge for our own sense of fulfillment.
Anyway, we’re usually a little more subtle now about our matchy outfits than this, but this was for a Valentines PR collaboration with Skechers Philippines (posting only now because we’re Slowpoke like that) so it’s cool.
Besides, it could be a lot cheesier. We could’ve been posing sweetly with the lines of some song sprawled on the picture and the letters L-O-V-E behind us. Oh wait…
Well, still could be cheesier. We could’ve been wearing all red and, you know, have a red heart-shaped balloon or something. Oh wait…
*** We’re both wearing Skechers Go-Runs. Special thanks to Jay Dalisay and Katrina Ong for tapping us for this project. Check out Skechers Philippines on Facebook! Click pics for other outfit/photo credits.
A small sidebar feature on Look, a popular fashion magazine all the way in London. This is photo they used, credit for which is due our friend Tricia Gosingtian.
We couldn’t find a proper scan of the article itself and just edited the one above from Louder Than Silence, a London-based couple blog that was the main focus of the article. We cropped the scan and edited it to include the header and subhead.
“Fashion bloggers Seph and Shai share their style tips. Philippines: Love Chic is one of the world’s first his-and-hers fashion blogs, created by Seph Cham and Shai Lagarde, who dub themselves ‘a stylish couple in love.’ Full of stunning photos and useful style inspiration—”
Whoa there Nelly, can we rewind to that last sentence? Hmm, lest we be mistaken for a smug, self-absorbed couple aiming to nauseate the general public with our lovey-dovey perfection, allow us to mention how the phrase came up. They asked why we called this blog Love Chic. We replied that it’s like when you say “geek chic” to describe a fellow who looks nice in nerdy glasses and an argyle vest, or “shabby chic” to describe a lady who otherwise looks frumpy, but somehow manages to carry herself with style.
Love Chic is pulling off matchy his-and-hers outfits in a non-overdone way (him wearing a “Soul” shirt and her wearing a “Mate” shirt, things like that). Sharing your life together as two people in love without pissing people off by how sickeningly sweet you are. Expressing your passions, interests and beliefs without shoving them down people’s throats. That’s what this blog has always been and will always be about. :)
