Nothing feels worse than the cringe of having lack of sleep. I’m not sure if it’s just me still adjusting to the lifestyle of Manila, or it’s just me in general, but this week has been quite the struggle already. The fact that I’m keeping myself active is the most important thing. Haha I’ll admit it, I’m not the early morning type when it comes to waking up 7am to go to work, as I honestly find myself to be most productive and alert at night time. So for the first time when I made the effort to go to Jing Monis Salon in preparation for a long day, I was well and truly taken by surprised the moment I stepped foot on the MRT Train. It was trippy in a way. Everyone was well-dressed in their corporate attire, people flashing out their iPhone 5’s checking Instagram and I even counted more than a handful of foreigners using the train. I guess I just found it ironic that Manila is not only just a party town I took it to be when I first arrived.

Well believe it or not, I ended up having a great chat with my new friend Bryan who’s also captured in today’s post... Believe it or not, we’re both Australian-Filipinos from the same city back home, with the same mutual friends! So we definitely kicked it off pretty well. Bryan’s here till July so I’ll definitely make the effort to show him around help make the most of his time. The lucky guy's moving to the Fort so I’m looking forward to livin’ it up on his huge penthouse balcony from what I’ve envisioned through our conversation... Just shows you what surprises might come in store when you try something different. Lesson learnt.

Button down shirt from Industrie, green Zara chinos, Arvust scoop neck tee, Topman fedora and boots from Hudson UK.

Thoughts Abroad

Beige has never really been a colour I've commonly worn. Really, up until last year I wouldn't have been caught wearing this entire outfit. It's not that I wouldn't have liked the outfit before, I just wouldn't have made the effort when I was living in Australia. I believe many guys relate to this simply because clothes are so darn expensive in Australia. Since living in the Philippines I've been blessed to have the opportunity to indulge in different tastes in style simply because the clothes are more affordable. 

This Jack London button-down I picked up really tops it off. And when you simply include an additional colour like my Topman rucksack, the maroon colour gives the outfit a great finishing touch. But hey I'm no style guru, I'll let you be the judge.

Having a few hours to kill, my friends and I spent the time wandering around New Farm. It was lucky to even have the opportunity to bask in the sunny skies with all this rain constantly coming and going. But I really like this shot of Frip and I pictured above, aside from a nice photo, it's not often we have the time to hang out.

Taken inside the book room of my mates house. A house of which was once originally a private hospital in the early 70's, had then been converted into an 8 bedroom mysterious fort overseeing the beautiful city of Brisbane.

Desert suede Sebago shoes, Topman trousers, Arvust plain tee, Jack London button-down and Seiko vintage leather strap watch.

Photos by Khai Van Kampen

Unsurpassed Elements

What I'm wearing: Tommy Hilfiger button down (Ukay, thrifted), Industrie grey tee, ASOS green pants, socks  accessories from SM Accessories, Topman backpack and Chuck Canvas Boxfresh Shoes

Another rainy day in the Philippines is another opportunity for grungy street photography. I left the house wanting to wear my favorite colors and this is what I manage to put together: simple but more importantly, identical color tones. I see many people wear all shades of various colors but the tones are completely opposite and a lot of the times it doesn't look right. I guess its not a big deal when it comes to everyday outfits but when I see the people get it right, the clothes look awesome. 

After receiving positive feedback on my thrifted army jacket, I knew I had to refashion the brown leather elbow patched Tommy Hilfiger button down. Let me remind you that it only cost me 200pesos, plus another 100pesos for the laboring of the patches. So affordable and yet so effective - just make sure the tailor places the patch properly, unlike mine!

Shades of Blue

Outfit: Zara blue jacket, plain white button down from Sahara, H&M pants, Aldo neck-tie (sale) and shoes from Topman.

Unfortunately due to a busy day, I didn't get the chance to shoot during the afternoon where I think this outfit would have looked best in the bright lights. I recently just purchased the jacket on sale at Zara which I'm so happy they had in my size. The color tone is just perfect and the lining of the material is of very fine quality. What's great about wearing blue like I have previously mentioned - is that it's more or so a relaxed version of black. The texture of blue gives many opportunities to work with different colors such as pastel colors to wear under the jacket. Nowadays, its really worth taking the time to spend the extra coin on buying a different colored jacket (other than black) just to add variety towards your entire outfit.

White Kicks

Outfit: Shoes by Tretorn, yellow Zara Pants, blue button down shirt from FCUK, white tee from Cheap Monday and accessories from Aldo.

Nothing beats nice cool steady weather on a bright and sunny day. Yesterday I had a shoot for SM Department Store, so dressing down to stay nice and casual was well deserved. I'm not too sure if you may have heard of the brand Tretorn, but they're a Swedish international shoe brand that have been around for decades - mainly specializing in sporty sneakers such as the ones I'm wearing. They're comfortable and very agile to wear, due to their lightweight feel. Haha I don't own many pairs of white sneakers aside from white Vans, but when I saw these I thought they were pretty cool. They're a shoe that you could even wear in the gym.

Boss Hunting Fridays

Outfit: Versace Sunglasses, Banana Republic trenchcoat, Sahara white shirt, bow-tie from Aldo, Zara suspenders, H&M pants and Topman shoes.


I don't know if its to do with the change of season, or the Hermes 2013 Spring/Summer collection, but its well obvious now that I've been fancying dark blue colors. If you didn't know already, blue (navy blue in particular) is the new black and its been like that for quite some time now. So rather than purchase the average jet black jacket, go a few shade back and choose navy blue, or a nice solid light blue pastel. Whats great about these tones is that it works well with so many colors and its simply a more relaxed color of black. Instead of wearing a plain old belt, I also decided to play around with my outfit and incorporate polkadot suspenders with a striped bow-tie that a friend had given to me as a gift. Nice combination right?

My feelings for you will always be free

I don't know what the feeling is when im in Ortigas. No matter what time or day it is, whether it would a be a regular Tuesday or a quiet Sunday afternoon, everything feels so alive and there always a feeling of hope. I guess thats why Ortigas is one of business capitals of the Philippines. But going by the photos it doesn't look or feel that way, in fact the photo doesn't look like its from Ortigas. I was just lucky to have driven pass this empty car park strip behind El Pueblo, fit for picture taking before the rain had began to pour.

I had to go with the yellow pants yesterday just keep things interesting and take my mind off this depressing weather. What I love about wearing yellow is that its simple, yet a flamboyant color and when complimented with the right colors, you'll definitely stand out from the rest. I find yellow is such an easy color to wear as well, most of clothes in my wardrobe had paired-up effortlessly. The only reason why you see me wearing it now is because I finally found the right color tone. But hey, let me know what you think about the outfit because I know it's not a very common color to wear casually without looking a little feminine haha.

Outfit: H&M denim shirt, Cheap Monday plain white tee, Topman hat, Zara yellow pants, Boxfresh shoes and skull-necklace from General Pants Co.

Great Chats, Good Company

After such a busy day yesterday, I fell sound asleep last night and probably had one of the best sleeps I've had in a very long time in Manila. It's quite hard to sleep early in Manila with all the opportunities to go out, party and have fun with all my friends. And its not just young people my age that like to go out, its the whole city! Haha fun people we Filipinos are.

Today I woke up nice and early to go to Manila Peninsula for a Fashion show rehearsal with Bench Clothing. Seeing it was at The Pen, I thought it would be nice to show up a bit preppy and show off my new sweater that I bought from Zara, Greenbelt 5. I wanted to blog about this because I got it on sale for around P1,500p. I thought it was a bit cheaper than their regular prices and there's a huge variety of colors to choose from. Im a big fan of sweaters simply because they're light and easy to layer-up with here in Manila. And just by simply adding the bow tie makes it really cute (I dislike using the word cute but works in this situation).

Soon after rehearsals we had a lot of waiting around, so I thought it would be nice to take a few snaps and show you all what everyones getting up to.

Yeh I had get make up on, unfortunately I couldn't avoid it.

Samantha said I was so irritating... I'll be the judge of that haha.

My mate Sean Go and Samir Ayeb (above) simply chilling back stage catching up with small talk. 

Fashion shows are always fun backstage when you put aside all the stress and build-up moments before the show starts. When I hang around backstage with all the models, it somewhat feels like I'm back at school and we're all on a field trip! We'll anyway I better go, Robbie is about to go 'on duty'. Hahaha Samantha was right, I am irritating.

Radiant Unwind

Outfit

Green pants from Zara, Sebago shoesm, 'Jim Morrison - The Doors' shirt from Terranova, blue button up from FCUK and Flanno by TWENTYONE MEN, New York.