#BASICMOOD

Photos by Zeara Oralde

Our Mechanical Engineering sports fest is finally over. I played for the third year volleyball team; our sports fest usually lasts for two days, and by default, the second day is always for championships and I am very proud to say to my batch mates, “Victory is ours!” because we won! It was a tedious two-day sports fest, we started playing at 9am until 7pm and that is why having achieved the most vied position in the ranking hits us in a sweet spot. It was a good start for my week because next weekend will be our pre-finals exam—I despise exams nowadays because of my midterms result—if I won’t be able to ace my pre-fis, at least I got something to celebrate for. I am still hangover from the game, my feet are like pain-generating machines, arms are sore and my eyes are like sleeping pills.

I thought I will be free after the win, but I found myself at 10 in evening still typing this for my blog—which is energy consuming but very therapeutic—and in queue for a foot reflex. In this blog post, I share to you my go-to look when I’m not feeling very stylish in a day—or two. If I am not dressing up for an event, I usually go for my trusty denims and t-shirts; if you ever come across with me on these types of days, you would spot me in a very simple get-up, I won’t even mind if my outfit pieces won’t coordinate because not all the time fashion bloggers look like their best in a day-to-day basis—but if I will be attending fashion week in the future, I will wear couture and change outfit every hour of the day during the whole duration of fashion week.

Cap by Penshoppe

I know most of you, my dear readers, has some days like this or simply just likes to be the physical manifestation of the phrase “understated-in-a-good-way”; If you’re here for inspiration, you came at the right time and at the right moment because I’m about to give you advice on how to look “understated” as much as you possibly can. T-shirts should be a staple in your closet and for the pants: denims are your best friends; the aforementioned pieces go together like warm toast and butter, what I mean is that they easily glide on together and make a very polished “understated” look. I once belted out to my friends, “I’d like to own 365 t-shirts someday” then they asked why, “Because I want to wear a different shirt everyday in a year.” And that, my understated friends, should be your #closetgoals. For the shoes, I usually prefer solid colors or the ones with a very simple design because I found simple shoes to be very pleasing to the eye and just put the whole outfit in equilibrium with each other.

Bag by Jansports

I know some of you might think, Understated is so basic, I DIE. That is certainly wrong because you can totally amp up your understated game a level or two in a lot of different ways; for me, when it comes to being understated, there has to be a standout element in your outfit—it doesn’t have to be a statement piece, and its totally okay if you think that piece is obviously too basic because it doesn’t matter: everything here is all about mindset, if you think it’s a standout piece, it is and it should be, and everyone doesn’t have to agree about it—the reason why I feel the need to include a standout element is that it acts as a compensation for all the creativity you think is lost in the whole ensemble but this is the part where it all gets really tricky: that standout element shouldn’t overpower the other key pieces of your whole ensemble, it should complement each other and not make it feel like they’re competing; For example: you went for a basic white tee, skinny denims for bottoms and a white Stan Smiths for shoes, to amp it up a little bit, you can add a black leather jacket or an oversized coat to really make it stand out. 

Shoes by Nike; T-shirt by H&M; Skinny Jeans by Topman.

Oh gosh I am so tired, I hope that I have helped you with your search for a “How to: be understated-in-a-good-way” tutorial; and last thing, I have to be honest with you guys, while shooting for this blog post I felt like a model off duty; I know it sounds very conceited—you’re not alone because my friends get to see or here this side of me everyday—and I’ve probably said that more than once here in my blog, if you don’t agree, I can say one thing to you: you can kill my confidence but not limit my imagination. And another last thing: you probably have noticed how my props disappeared in the other photos... My bag felt like it has stones in them and I felt very restricted with my movements. *Update: My foot has been rejuvenated and it is time for me to relax.