Dominique Tiu is a twenty-something year old self-declared fashion blogger-cum-stylist. A certified shopaholic who fangirls Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone, making incessant albeit futile attempts to virtually stalk Anna Dello Russo, Carine Roitfeld, Emmanuelle Alt, and Anna Wintour, sending them annoying anonymous emails with a montage of abused punctuations begging for Fashion Week tickets. Ultimately loves seared tuna, nutella, Japanese mayo, Goyard, splenda, Kinder Bueno, button mushrooms, Heinz catsup, Rodarte, and cashews. She owns a pair of Alber Elbaz’s underpants and aspires to meet Rei Kawakubo someday. Dominique loves Asian fashion and applies the Japanese style philosophy to her burgeoning Western-directed wardrobe.
What is your full name?
It’s Dominique Marie Tiu. Most people call me by my first name or “Domz” for short. Strange enough, I still do have people calling me “Nikki”–old childhood friends and family members rather (oh, plus my boss).
But what do you really do?
That’s tricky! But first and foremost, I am a marketing specialist on weekdays (got to pay the bills somehow, y’know), stylist-model (I get iffy enumerating this but well, a job’s a job, right?) on weekends, and blogger-journalist 24/7, all year round.
Notable Achievements?
I can stuff thirty marshmallows in my mouth! No, that’s a lie. Oh, you mean fashion-wise? Okay, err, when I was seventeen I modeled–I did ramp shows like Levi’s and I did print ads for teeny-bopper magazines like: Candy, Seventeen, and Meg. I also did a few minor print ads and TVCs. Next, I transitioned to styling, I started out working for Jay Tablante for a few of his shoots and then I got work styling for commercial brands like Hang Ten and SM Department Store for their print collateral (billboards, magazines, catalogs)–by referrals, my friends are awesome. Somewhere in the middle, I started contributing to several fashion publications, though I am more visible in the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s 2bU section.
Where are you from?
The Philippines. I grew up in a small place called Cebu City and relocated to Manila during my college years. I can’t assure you that I’ll be here forever though.
You don’t look Filipino?
My mum is part English, part German while my dad is Filipino-Chinese. I grew up with my stepmum however, who is Filipino-Chinese as well.
How’d you get into Fashion?
I was doodling dresses at the tender age of three, if fashion isn’t a normal transition then I don’t know what is. I could have been an interior designer too but well, I’m mathematically challenged. Admittedly however, I was a tacky tweener (I wore elevator platforms and elephant pants) but hey, it’s all part of growing up, right? Then I started reading, watching television, and traveling; I was mostly fascinated by details, by colours, by architecture, by art, by history, but most of all, I was fascinated by people’s inclination to express themselves. Fashion had all of the aforementioned.
How would you define your style?
I don’t anymore, that’s the beautiful thing! I went around declaring I was mod, I was hippie, I was rocker-chic, I was boho, so on and so forth and it was getting pretty stressful. Now, I will gladly admit that I have a fashion identity crisis–I’m in a place where I don’t know my style, where I don’t care if I have a style but you know what? I do wake up everyday knowing how I want to look, which is an amalgam of all the styles I’ve gone through, I’ve taken in. I feel that it’s the constant search for style that makes my style and fashion preferences unique.
What inspires you to dress?
If you hang on to this blog, you’ll know the various things that inspire me. It can range from random online fashion photos, internet fashion icons, magazine spreads and editorials, a fashion house’s lookbook, articles of clothing, trends, models, architecture, music videos, movie stills, nail polish colour–it really depends!
Where do you shop?
I get them just about anywhere! When I travel, I explore local brands as well as cheap markets. In my country, I get them from the local department stores. I also try my luck with online stores–they’re a treasure trove of unique pieces, and then I get the really trendy, prolific ones at High Street fashion stores like Topshop, Zara, Mango, Forever21, etc. I also go shopping in designer stores for classic staples or leather goods–Marc Jacobs being my favourite for apparel, Missoni for knits, Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton and Goyard and Chanel for bags, and Tod’s or Michael Kors for shoes. Just about recently, I’ve gotten into thrifting.
Who does your hair and makeup?
Depends with who I work with! Most of the time, it’s just me, but when it’s a trufax shoot, I lay-out credits and from there, you can see who’s done my makeup/hair.
Why did you set up this blog?
I’ve had several blogs prior to this one. I’ve always been opinionated and I love writing but they all didn’t seem to have a direction so I went on a blogging sabbatical or hiatus. When I was able to collect vestiges of myself, what I wanted to do, and inspiration in the form of Asian style philosophies, I upped and made this site. See, I’m half-Caucasian and half-Asian; ninety-eight percent of my fashion idols are form the West but rather unfortunately for me, my Asian features are stronger than my Caucasian features and so Western styled clothes are hard to come by and pair with. It seemed like something was “off”–I guess I couldn’t hammer the look. So I explored the Asian industry, found Western-inspired clothes for Asian individuals and well, fell in love. At the same time, traveling to various Asian countries made me want to adapt that Asian philosophy of dressing–that calculated need to make an outfit seem effortless and at the same time, addressing the desire to blend in a community where everyone has to stand out by loud, avant-garde dressing.
Who takes your photos?
Once again, it depends. Just check photo credits.
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