Seven years and counting, THE Clothing releases their Seventh Anniversary Collection

Cubao-X long-time resident, skate-inspired lifestyle brand, THE Clothing is set to celebrate another birthday in business. To commemorate their 7th year, here they are with the THE Clothing Seventh Anniversary Collection. Of course, they focused on their staple offering, t-shirts. From typography to graphic images, the designs are definitely on point. They also came up with two outerwear pieces for the collection, the first one is a black coach jacket, while the other is a hoodie with a camouflage pattern. Accessories include four snapback caps and two handkerchiefs with printed design. They also produced two skateboard decks: a white Staple Logo, and a black TWPM one. Available starting this September 17, Saturday at their shop in Unit 4A, Cubao Expo, Quezon City. You can peep full the lookbook below, and some exclusive product shots straight out of the THE crew.

Art, Style and Personal Expression for "Beginnings", The Starving Artist's debut collection

It all started with owners Bryan Joseph and Kathrina Crisostomo's mutual love for clothing. For some reason, they just couldn't get the items they truly wanted. If there was, it wasn't always enough for their personal taste. More often than not, some sort of adjustment had to be made. This sparked the idea of starting their own clothing brand and the rest, as they say, is history. But to say that living the dream is a bed of roses is far from the truth. After all, what they chose to invest in was a completely different road—the road less traversed. Bryan shares how the failures were so rampant back then, "Everything came out wrong and we invested so much money already. We almost wanted to quit the whole idea". But then there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Opportunities started presenting itself and Kath and Bryan just couldn't say no. Thankfully, they soldiered on and after a season of trials and errors, they finally debuted their first collection for The Starving Artist aptly called, "Beginnings".

In "Beginnings", a pop of color is the main aesthetic, with the pieces staying functional despite the art that go along with it. For instance, the trousers' pockets have the commuter's safety in mind. Classical paintings motivated the jackets with the texture of paint added by layers. According to Bryan and Kath, the mural jacket was the brainchild concept of a friend, Paulo Reyes. More than it is a piece of clothing, it seeks to bring people together as a whole and to spark conversation.

In a nutshell, The Starving Artist serves as an ode to the artists who don't have the means, the time, or the budget for their art. It's an ode to the artist who's on the path of seeking fulfillment. Thus, the clothes are curated for the creative mind. The brand also represents our growth in how we perceive clothing and is the embodiment of how it has evolved. Completely unrestricted, don't expect The Starving Artist to fit in a certain genre or style. For Bryan and Kath, labels are not welcome here either, "We wanted to eliminate the labels for clothing, erasing the wall between male and female, and any other titles you can think of". Another thing the duo is aiming for is to shed light on certain issues using garments as the main medium.

With the diverse designs, concepts, and influences, it's definitely not hard to say that exciting times are ahead for this young brand. Don't miss out, check out The Starving Artist's debut collection now.

Get revved up with the music video of Higher from RnB singer Quest

If you are the type of person who sometimes need some music to help you start or get through your day, then you better have Quest on your list. This local RnB artist has these kind of tracks down to a science. Here he is with a new music video titled Higher. Quest starts by rapping the verses, which matched well with the snares and keys provided by the instrumental. After the buildup, the chorus goes for a hymn to guide you for that one more push. Director James Muleta weaves moving images of activities such as basketball, breakdancing, and skateboarding to properly depict the kind of inspiration this song imparts. This audio-visual presentation is produced by Stronghold Manila.

Threedown takes a detour and films Skateboarding in Tagaytay

Local independent streetwear label Threedown takes their apparel for a spin in Tagaytay. The brand actually started as a street cult blog back in 2009. Then come 2011, the blog has developed into the clothing label that it is now. A few weekends ago, owner and founder Ken Yamaguchi shot and edited the recently released video of the Threedown team cruising their skateboards inside the City College of Tagaytay, where we're told the skateboarding DIY scene is very much alive. The video features Christian Cuyos, Chase Gawat, Don Lopez, and Luis Gilnogo. Watch the madness unfold below.

 

Ray-Ban Shows It Takes Courage with New Campaign

Since 1937, Ray-Ban has been producing quality eyewear in different shapes and designs, all inspired by military and pop culture fashion. Seventy years after the brand's conception, they came out with their first-ever marketing campaign – Never Hide tells its consumers to build a sense of identity and to "never hide." The campaign ran for nine years until recently, when they launched #ItTakesCourage alongside the release of their Spring/Summer 2016 Collection.

Ray-Ban's new campaign, #ItTakesCourage, shows that courage comes from wearing a pair of Ray-Bans. New campaign posters showcase this courage through different scenarios, while promoting the brand's newer and more modern styles. In an event launch by Ray-Ban Philippines, they gave us a glimpse of the early days of the brand, as well as stories behind their wide range of lenses. There was was also a music performance by Pupil, live art by Tokwa Peñaflorida, and a tattooing session by P&P Tattoo – all tied to Ray-Ban's goal of reinventing the brand's DNA for today's bold lifestyles.

Logiclub co-founder, Emcee and Producer, Ninno takes on leadership role for the Collective

Last August 19, electronic music collective LOGICLUB celebrated their fourth anniversary with a gig at Black Market, Makati. The night also served as a passing of the torched between two founding members of the group. Rez Toledo a.k.a. Somedaydream and Ninno. With the former focusing on his own music and also his venture Futurestudio, Ninno steps up and takes on the leadership role for LOGICLUB. We asked the man himself about this latest transition.

What led to the change of management of LOGICLUB?

Rez is focusing again on Somedaydream, and it was high-time to let his baby fly by itself. He’s still very much part of the collective, but he’ll be doing less of the back-end work now. He also thought it was time for a new era, and it was time for LOGICLUB to either sink or swim by itself. I’d love to share with you all the reasons, and trust me, there are many, but I don’t think I’m allowed to do so!

Can you describe the responsibilities of being the President of LOGICLUB Collective?

Well, I’d like to correct your syntax first. President is not a term we use. We’re not a corporate entity, far from it. So we use the term “Emperor”, “Fearless Leader,” or, my preference, “Warchief” (which must promptly be replied to using “zug-zug” or “be happy to”) to signify the leadership role. In the month that I’ve taken over, a lot of it just making sure everyone is happy—and is working. We’ve expanded past JUST the music now, so work gets a little more tedious, because we really do want everyone to be able to showcase their talents on a level playing field, and getting paid the amount they deserve.

Lately, it’s been meetings every other day. Meetings non-stop. I am so tired of meetings, haha. This life really was never meant for me. But I’m happy to do it for the collective. I want to make sure our platform shouts the loudest in this day and age of the internet.

What should we be excited about from the collective, are there upcoming projects already? New tracks? Album?

You should be very excited, indeed. A lot of our artists are finally releasing material on Spotify/iTunes/Apple Music and our catalog has never looked better. Also, we’re launching our website sometime soon, which is me saying that it’ll be done when it’s done (hahaha), that’ll have all of our music, press kits, contact information and overall catalog to be able to reach us a lot more easily. Oh, merch incoming too, I suppose! Gotta wait on that though.

Who are the new members of LOGICLUB? What can you say about them? 

Oh it feels like there are too many to mention, but I’ll try to come up with my thoughts about it in 140 characters or less.

Vic Prieto (Chyrho the Wrath), Rapper and Producer

He’s like my older self, founder of legendary rap label AMPON. He brings his experience in as not only my personal consigliere, think Godfather’s Tom Hagen, but also in the finance and sales side.

Six Gantioqui (Six the Northstar), Rapper and Producer

One of the most underrated and sickest beatmakers in this country. Together with Vic and I, we form nerdcore hiphop group, Shadow Moses. He’s has some sick beats coming your way this year, so watch out!

Vince Javier, Kinetic Typography Producer

Vince is one of my oldest friends, dating back to our childhood. You may have seen his work already on the Somedaydream streams, but I assure you, that’s not all he does. Our visuals for LOGICLUB shows just got a HUGE upgrade in Vince. He’s one of the most talented people I know in one of the hardest platforms to make art on.

Tim Ng, Writer and Executive Producer

Tim owns Mow’s and my soul. The Kowloon King himself. The Leader of the Hong Kong Death Squad. HAHA, no but all jokes aside, he’s honestly one of the funniest guys (GET IT ALL JOKES ASIDE) in these parts of Manila. I can’t wait to start working with him! This dude cooks up ideas like his family cooks wonton noodle soup.

Nina Unlay, Writer

Nina’s a talented writer who’s work you check on in GRID MAGAZINE. She’s great at what she does, and she’s been doing marketing for us even before we asked her to join up. She’s been there since LOGICLUB’s first big gig, so she knows the organization like the back of her hand.

Nikki Ruiz, Photographer

Ah, THE NikkiRu. She’s an amazing photographer who, I believe, has mastered the art of Facebook ready profile shots. JOKE LANG Nikki!! She’s a good friend and loves Logic (the rapper) as much as I do. A lot of our artists’ album covers and promotional material are shots taken by Nikki.

Paolo Narciso, A&R and Business Team

One of the co-founders of Amplify.ph—Pao has been in the game for a LOONG time. He brings in a vast wealth of experience and technical know-how to make sure our day-to-day operations run smoothly.

Richard Matsuyama (Ryoku), Producer

This dude is the future, make no doubt about it. I haven’t known Rich for a long time, but every time I see him in the studio, this dude manages to blow my mind each time he shows me a new beat. Trivia: The person that taught Richard how to produce was taught by Six how to produce. So technically, that makes him Six’s production grandson, right..?

Earl Limjoco (Earl of Manila), Singer-Songwriter and Producer

Earl was one of the first people I met when I started college in CSB. He’s always been super talented, and it’s great to see someone do 90s-RnB mixed in with a little future. He’s part of the LOGICLUB HPG Strike Team, or the HULOG PANTY GANG music team. Hahaha.

Miguel Feria, Visual Artist

Most people know Feria as one of the guitarists for Imelda, which, by the way, you guys should check out too. But besides the heavy RAK he makes, Feria is a physics buff and a math nerd—which kind of makes sense because when he’s handling our visuals, everything’s so well programmed and robotic in a sense that it’s highly hypnotic. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started writing algorithms for house lights. Last I heard, he was trying to program software for color correction—you never really know with this Spanish cutie. NYAHAHA

Jessica Milner, DJ

J Mill is a headliner, no doubt about it. She’s been a friend of LOGICLUB for quite awhile now, and our post gig drinking sessions as a collective are almost ritualistic. It just so happens that musicians have similar schedules. Jess really had a lot to say about LOGICLUB and was very enthusiastic about what we did. So when it came up that we were inviting new members, she was a SURE choice. We immediately messaged her then drank at Sky after.

Rhea Leorag, Writer

Rhea’s been with us since LOGICLUB’s inception. She was always asking us questions behind the scene and she used to cover us for a long time. She’s a fellow musician too, which makes it easier for her to write about what the collective has been up to since she speaks the same language! She doesn’t know this, but I was there for her thesis in her Minor in Music Lit.

David Tan, Producer

David’s going to pioneer a genre called EmoDM, I’m so sure of it. I can’t even fully describe his music. It’s like Fall Out Boy and Panic sprinkled with MDMA and a whole lot of heartbreak. It’s something else, for sure. When he finally decides to release what he’s working on, it’ll blow your minds too.

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New artists. New staff members. But the same old goal of progressing with their craft. In a fast-paced world filled with people who mostly have a short time deciphering the information before them, LOGICLUB is definitely set to put things up a notch. Stand up above the rest, so they can watch the audience dance to their music.

Deadways and Calle join forces to show you the Ways Of The Streets

Local skate shop Calle and lifestyle label Deadways of Cebu team up for the Ways Of The Streets capsule collection. The headliner piece of this drop is a customized iteration of the Deadways Fontana backpack. The said bag is upgraded with a new feature: a pair of skate strap and tail pocket to help ease carrying one's skateboard. They also came up with a t-shirt featuring an artist's image of a skate bearing, with co-branding logos from the two involved outfits. The said design has a small front print and a larger back graphic, and is available in black and white colorways. Available now at Calle Buting, Pasig City and at the Deadways webstore.

The Nostalgic Illustrations that made its rounds online is by Cebu-based artist Chad Manzo

Chad Manzo, a graphic designer, illustrator and founder of clothing brand Scars, launches his new design project, The Sartorial Zone, which immediately caught the attention of two prominent fashion and culture websites: Highsnobiety and Hypebeast. Chad has been designing professionally since 2004 and is currently working as a multimedia creative for an offshore company. He has worked with various companies such as Human, Bench Philippines, and Toshiba on big projects and has been featured on magazines as being one of the top designers in the country.

Chad told us a little bit of background behind his inspiration for The Sartorial Zone. It was enthused as a marriage of two of his top interests: Fashion and TV/Childhood Nostalgia, which started off as a means to exercise his creative sensibilities. Since no one else has ever done it anywhere, he figured that he might as well give it a shot. His work was soon then featured on Highsnobiety and Hypebeast and Chad was more than grateful for this. “It feels great. Who would've known a small town boy from Cebu would get there?”, as he said it.

As of now, Chad is currently working on more personal projects, but he’s just taking it easy and living in the moment. He even shared with us one advice that his friend quoted, "Where you are in the universe enjoy it first. Don't be in a hurry." Guess we could learn a thing or two from Chad about enjoying life as it comes.

See more of his artworks here.