Local Independent Brands I've Been Loving | PHILIPPINES

For as long as I can remember, I've always thought that we (the Philippines) have the BEST accessories. One of the things I like to do when I travel is to collect unique, locally made accessories and while I've found a lot of gems over the years, my favorite ones are still from my country. 

Over the past few years though, I've started to discover that we have some great independent  fashion and clothing brands as well. And while I still love discovering great accessories ( I will do a whole post on that later!), I've been super happy to be finding all these great clothing brands. The Pandemic forced us to adapt to life online a lot more and I've slowly been finding more and more of them on Instagram!

 I truly love anything Filipino designed and made. Being a small business owner and shoe designer myself, I appreciate these  independent brands a lot more because I know they put in a lot more thought to the design and process! Almost all of these are also hand made and not mass produced in factories overseas. Plus, I get to own a lot of unique pieces I know not a lot of people have! I styled some of them into outfits as well as a short write-up of the brand and their IG accounts so you guys will know where to find them! Please check out the video below for more items and outfits! And scroll through the rest of the post for a quick run through and photos of all 7 brands.

1. VIA

Via's designs make use of local fabrics with modern designs. I love that they have a lot of girly tops that have really huge and great statement sleeves! The one item I got was this purple v neck top that had ruffled sleeves and a little band detail at the back. Can't wait to style this into more outfits!

                                                                   2. Good Luck, Humans

Speaking of statement sleeves - this striped top just might be one of my most favorite finds of 2020! Good Luck,Humans uses smocked techniques in most of their designs. I love the attention to details and their mostly girly designs. I also found a black structured top that looks SO chic which I featured in the video (above) and in an outfit ideas post awhile back. This statement headband is made using a quilting technique and is so great for accessorizing plain outfits. So many good things from here!

3. KUL

Kul's goal, according to their site is to create functional, modern and versatile pieces to suit all types of lifestyles. And they're doing a really good job of it, producing some unique and stylish pieces. My favorite find is this blue and white striped top that features statement sleeves and a white strip detail that goes down the front along the buttons. I've worn this top several times already - it is that versatile that they can be styled in so many ways. 

4. Ilaya Couture

Ilaya Couture features styles that are decidedly a lot more "Filipino" in nature as they actually have a lot of "terno" tops. (terno is a sleeve that's a very Filipiniana thing, I wore a top HERE - check it out to get an idea what it is), But anyway, the item I ended up getting was this dress that I feel gives off a vintage-y vibe. The prints! The big bell sleeves! So gorgeous!

5. Jojo Martinez Designs

Jojo Martinez is a longtime designer from my hometown and I've actually gotten a couple of stuff made by her but what I'm focusing in this feature are these giant scrunchies that she and her daughter just recently launched. I honestly was not a scrunchie person at first but when I saw these, I immediately had a vision of wearing them in two ways. One way was the usual way on the hair and the second was to turn it into a giant floral brooch! I literally "scrunched" the scrunchie up, pinned it to my top and voila! Instant, very Carrie Bradshaw esque chic!

6. Guppy Beach Apparel

I just had my first beach trip at the end of April (first since the pandemic and lockdown/quarantine measures started!), and you bet I wanted to dress up for even that! I found this great beach apparel brand through my sister. They have all these sarong pants and sarong shorts which look so great for the beach and even for city wear! Lots of pretty prints and colours!

7. The Project Clothing Co.

I found a lot of their items to be classic but with tiny little statement elements and details that I really appreciate. This khaki top is in a neutral color but I like the way it's cut and its fall around the body. The other tops I got were also plain white and black ones but they featured an interesting ruffled statement collar. These are all timeless pieces that you can own and wear for all the years to come!

Link Ups :

Away From The Blue

Glass of Glam

Lizzie In Lace

Lucy Bertoldi

Create-With-Joy

Not Dressed As Lamb

Mumma B Stylish

Fine Whatever Blog

YOU CAN ALSO FIND ME HERE : 

IG : @mylifeisashoe

Blog : www.lifeisashoe.blogspot.com

Pinterest : www.pinterest.ph/celynps

YouTube : CelynS

My shoe line : www.salachaussures.com

*** Shoes from my shoe line are unfortunately only  available

 for shipping in the Philippines.