THE JUMPER AND THE CHILD

I think my love for shoes and my fondness of wearing dress comes from childhood when my Nanay and Tatay would dress me up with what I call now mini-adult clothes (because I buy clothes for my niece with a design for an adult like me :)). I remember I had a very sheer, crumpled, garterized, spaghetti-strapped top which was so tight it will mark on your skin as soon as you take it off of you. My father would buy me shoes on every occasion or event at school. He would personally choose a pair for me and fit them in.

My very first time to attend a birthday party was at McDonald’s Greenbelt 1. My father took the time to squeeze me in to his field job and dropped by McDonald’s to buy me a pair of shoes at Plaza Fair in Makati Cinema Square. He knows I outgrow my shoes too fast and he would always check if they still fit on me.

My mother, on the other hand, would dress me up with dainty clothes and fix my hair with a bow or a headband. Sometimes, she would pay someone to braid my hair. I think she’s the first person who ever taught me how to look at the mirror.

I realized I am also fond of different type of jumper clothes – jumpsuits, jumpshorts, jumpskirt, etc. It’s something that’s always present in my cabinet since I was young as my parents would often buy me that. And up until now, I still keep about 5 types of jumper clothes.

Gray Jumpskirt - Thrifted

There was a lost picture of me that was so vivid, I can still remember – I was a three-year-old girl wearing a jumper, I was so round, my hair was cut like one of those men in The Beatles band and I was wearing a white jumper with socks and doll shoes. My father was holding me on my waist because he said I was too heavy, I found it hard to stand up. Hahaha, I was cringing my nose giving the camera an attitude with a grin. I was such a child. I think I still am. That’s why I still keep jumpers and I continue to have them even if my bestfriend think I am too old to have one. I would forever love the feeling of wearing a jumper. It’s so casual, so young, and so carefree like a child.

This is my fashion. This is my statement.

Love,



BellaDonna