DBH Style: Simple and Clean

top / tank / pants / bag / shoes

If you had to ask me to define my style, I would want to say it's pretty similar to my design aesthetics. I really like clean, simple with just pops of color here and there. Sometimes I get drawn to really crazy colors and designs but as I get older, I lean more towards simplicity. I'm also not a very trendy person. I love fashion but I could care less for trends. Personally, I'm just trying to build a staple wardrobe where most of my pieces will be timeless. That way, I can re-use clothes for a couple of years and not feel like I'm completely out of style. Anyway, I've yet to talk about my personal style on my blog but as I'm realizing how it reflects my overall aesthetics as a designer, I figured I might as well introduce it. But be warned: About 80% of my clothes are from Uniqlo. That place is pretty much my second home. {I try not to cross paths with this website or store too often because I'll seriously hurt my wallet here.}

Daydreaming: If DBH x NIKE was a thing.....

Ever wonder what it would be like if you could collaborate with your favorite brands / designers? I know I have. Let's be real here, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a brand whore. I have my select favs and I'm pretty loyal to them and for the last ten years or so, every sneaker I purchased happened to be a Nike. I was messing around on the NikeiD site for fun and came up with some colorways if I could have my own line of custom Nike's. They probably seem a bit boring at first glance (black on black everything please?) but they definitely scream 'ME'.

Designspiration: Black&White I

As a designer, I see a lot of beauty in simplicity. Crazy, outrageous, trendy graphics will come and go but minimal design lives forever. Ever wonder why the iconic Chanel bag is still popular after all this time? Because the design is 'timeless'. A seemingly simple structure, the classic Chanel bag was intricately and intelligently designed. From the subtlety of the quilted pattern to the elegance of the woven leather through gold plated chains, each detail was thoughtfully created. Make no mistake, these bags are not simply sought after time and time again because of celebrities or just because Chanel is a well known luxury name. Whether you're a classy 50's Audrey Hepburn-style fashionista or rocking out in Nasty Gal and Hot Topic clothes, these bags will literally fit any type of wardrobe. Dress up or dress down, the bag will go with everything. You can thank the simplistic design structure for that. Bottom line: Simplicity is evergreen. 

With that said, Black & White and structure are key elements to my own design aesthetics. There is something undeniably sleek about geometrical sharpness and a monochrome palette. Check out those killer shoes! A prime example of intricate design that is trendy yet can be in style for a long time due to practical structure. And that is what I like to achieve in my own designs. I hope this Designspiration board will inspire you to love the monochrome colors as much as I do.

Snapshots: Kate Spade

Hands down, one of my favorite designer brands is Kate Spade. Her accessories are so colorful and cute and I pretty much live by her mantra, "Live colorfully". I just love how clean and modern her aesthetics are. Everything is colorful yet it's somehow subtle at the same time. She tends to use a lot of simple geometrical shapes and lines to compliment her colorful designs, which is something that I've adapted to my own design aesthetics. Probably one of my biggest fashion inspirations.

Design project: Magazine cover

Recreating magazine covers has never been an interest to me, in my 6+yrs of learning graphic design. Which is odd because I always buy magazines as a source of visual inspiration. I guess in a way it seemed really 'played out' since it's one of the most commonly designed things. Not to sound hipster or anything.....

(I just did.......)

Since I'm working on my portfolio, I'm trying to create some versatility. Since I never actually designed a magazine cover, I thought--hell, why not. I even went on to design a little fashion article for it, which took me way longer than I had anticipated.
The cover itself didn't take very long to design, but it does take a lot more thought than you would think. I always thought 'pff' a magazine cover is probably one of the easiest things to design, but boy was I wrong. If you want it to look nice, not boring, and somewhat original, it will definitely take some thought.


First you'll need some inspiration. I went with a fashion magazine, because that's what I love! And holy hell do I have a lot of them.
I used some handy little 'post its' to mark the pages I find the best inspiration from.

I made up the magazine because it seemed like it would be more legit that way. Also, I totally didn't steal this picture of Emma Stone from Vogue magazine........

And here's the fashion article with a bunch of outfits from Emma Stone. I didn't want to do a text based article because I had no idea what I would write about and I didn't want to "Lorem ipsum" it. That's too easy. And although this looks like it was generated with Polyvore, I actually had to construct everything through photoshop. Since you only have a certain given amount of space to work with, you have to consider the composition. I thought it would be easy to just put all the outfits in a section, until I had to put text in. Oh God....I give so much more respect to magazine designers now.

It took me about four hours on this ONE PAGE alone (including the time it took me to gather the resources) but then again, I am really bad at LAYOUTS in general, so inadvertently this turned out to be a challenge for me. Oh well. Good learning experience. I have learned I still hate doing layout.

Day 97: Kate Spade: Things We Love

I've been eyeing this book like mad for the last couple of months. I've been trying to be mindful of my money these days since I'm still job hunting, but the designer in me got the best of me. Buy.com had a sale on this book for $20 + free shipping! I couldn't pass that up. (The book retails for $40, although Amazon has been selling them for $25) 

Three things lead me to love this book: For one, even if I could afford to blow hundreds of dollars on a designer bag, I'm very VERY picky about handbags. Like, I hate almost every bag from Louis Vuitton. I hate the monogram design on any kind of brands, but hey, that's just me. I think the only line of LV bags I like are their vernis leather bags, only because I really like patent leather. On the other hand, I almost always love Kate Spade's line of handbags each year. It's kind of rare for me to like a lot of things from one designer. Usually, I like one or two of a designer's style. And for me, it's not just about the 'look' of the bag, I'm OCD about the shapes and sizes and the small details. Anyway, TL;DR, I LOVE KATE SPADE. So there's reason 'one'. 

Reason two, I got a good sample of this book through other bloggers, and I knew I would love this book as a designer. Each chapter is color coordinated, and that to me already wins me over. 

Reason three is simple; bright pink coffee table book that's extra large. What's not for me to love? 

Day 10: J-fashion

I love looking through Japanese fashion magazines! Japan has some of the coolest fashions I've ever seen! I can't wait to go to Tokyo and shop to my hearts content. I'm sure my wallet will cry but at least I'll look damn awesome.

I pick up my J-mags at Kinokuniya in Little Tokyo. They're actually pretty expensive compared to the American fashion magazines, but I think it's worth it. As a designer, I get inspired by the fashions from Japan and it's fun to go back and look at these magazines over and over again.

2NE1 - 내가 제일 잘 나가 (I am the best) MV SCREEN CAPS

As I stated before in previous posts of 2NE1 MV screen caps, I really love the style of 2NE1. They're not your typical all girl Kpop girl band and I really appreciate that they are so successful, especially considering that they come from a VERY shallow entertainment country. South Korea is a harsh critic when it comes to singers and actors/actresses depending on how they LOOK alone. The members of 2NE1 aren't particularly pretty (I think Dara is really pretty though, like model/actress pretty) but they are all beautiful nonetheless and they just look badass in general. About time a girl group like this was formed.