Before visiting Singapore, I thought all the places I ever visited have a special charm.
Well, this city is beyond charm, is a revelation. In terms of harbors, neighborhoods, buildings, streets, food, innovation, beauty, fashion... culture in one word.
Pina and abaca, the two materials I've chose for my MA RA MI collection of Filippines inspiration are now famous in the business world.
It's an exaggeration, of course, but a good one, since Forbes Romania, the magazine of business and financial news, introduces MA RA MI to its readers.
Little India - a true surprise for me this neighborhood in modern Singapore, an amazing blend of different cultures and traditions.
What's the connection between this district and fashion? Traditions and culture, the burst of ancient symbols in this new, upcoming world. In a single word: MA RA MI. All seen through my designer's eyes.
First time in Singapore - how could I miss China Town area?!
Not a chance, 'cause my tremendous desire to nurture myself form different cultures if enormous.
The images bellow it's just a symbol of the amazing world one can only see by itself.
Another amazing place to discover in Asia is Singapore.
Singapore surprised me with the perfect mixture between modern and traditional, multicultural and national autenticity.
This night festival was a bless for me: the perfect way to better understand a mysterious culture.
A short walk on the streets and you will fall in love: with their food, their hats and bikes, their simple way of living and laughing and the vivid colors of their clothes.
You must find a way to discover Vietnamese food and lifestyle, you will simply love everything there!
Another culture I want to share with you, another way of living and especially many amazing crafts to be discovered. Vietnamese culture it's surprising and intriguing, as Asia more often can be, a mixture of Asian culture with French elements, simple people but a sophisticated society, welcoming families and skilled women and men in so many traditional crafts.
This country is another piece of the Asian world that I've started to explore more than two years ago and I decided to share it, as MA RA MI is more about fashion and lifestyle, rather then only clothes, focused on world's nations and their traditions.
More will follow, highlighting the lifestyle, fashion, concept of living.
Having the chance to start my academic career in no other country then The Philippines, it seemed to me the perfect excuse to add a new direction to my life. Or perhaps not totally new , but the same one in different clothes: more challenging, filled with great experiences, amazing people and discoveries.
The selection of pics bellow is meant to illustrate some of the Philippino crafts I discovered in my travels, like embroidery techniques kept from the Spanish ancestors or "pina" and "abaca" handweaving. Just a few people there are struggling to keep this crafts alive, in a country touched by the same illness like the rest worldwide: the lost of its identity.
Imagine a country spreaded on over 7 000 islands, faraway in the Pacific Ocean... Let's say that only the sky changes minute by minute, from island to island, influencing every piece of life.
Now imagine how many influences shaped over the centuries their culture. So it's the perfect place to start my adventure, to dip my inspiration in this amazing blend of cultures, lifestyle, crafts, emotions.
I'll continue my exploration with South-East Asia and Middle East.
But until then, some pics from Baguio city, the first place I discovered here with of my first amazing students.
Enjoy!
Faraway in the western Pacific Ocean, close to Taiwan and Vietnam, you will find a country like a necklace of islands (more than 7000!): Philippines.
2013 was the year to start my adventure in Asia, and I begun from the south-eastern part of the map. A young country, just like the wardrobe of a teenager: a mixture of modern and traditional, rich and poor, joy and sadness, humidity and heat.
My first pics from there, bellow, like a bracelet of astonishments.