Remember when you were in highschool and you had no idea what to wear for Prom? Well back then, we…read moreonly had beepers and tamagochis and the internet had almost nothing in it. There were no smart phones, no Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest to help us figure out what kind of dress was best. Even more, most of our stores back then were local. No Zara or Mango stores at the time and if we needed something formal, a trip to the local mananahi with our mothers who usually decide on everything was our only option. Nowadays, kids have it easy. They can easily just go to Se La Vi Clothing and walk away worry-free, clutching a new gown that fits like a glove. It's no wonder so many ladies trust this shop- they can create a custom dress from scratch, working with little as a sketch and create something beautiful in a short amount of time. For students in need of a prom dress, I suggest you get in touch with Angelie Sevilla, the owner at least 2 months before your prom. Best to get ahead of everyone.

Pop Culture isn't so much as a store so much as it is a part of Alabang Town Center. This place is…read moreto Alabang Town Center as a district is to a city. I hope that analogy helps clear things up for you guys out there. Anyway, Pop Culture has a lot of small stores, one of them sells video game hardware and games. Most of them sell clothes for girls at a really low price point. Then there's a store that specializes in selling ipies, bongs, and rolling paper and other Rastafarian paraphernalia. It's interesting to walk down this part of Alabang Town Center because of just how cool some of the stores are. Most of them have forgettable names, but it doesn't make the place any less interesting. When I just window shop for the heck of it, I find myself strolling around this place even if it's just for a few minutes.

Do you sometimes feel like your limited budget is keeping you from enjoying a mall? That's how I…read morefeel often whenever I'm at Alabang Town Center and mostly everything I see in shops are out of my budget. Though with Pop Culture around, I finally have a place where things are of "within reach" on those days where I'm in a pinch. Pop Culture is that section of Town, beside the food court that's basically a small group of boutiques that sell a lot of good clothing, accessories, shoes, bags and whatnot. There's a Girl Shoppe by the entrance, which sells a variety of women's accessories, while the other stores inside have a lot of imported clothes from Bangkok and sometimes locally manufactured like Get Laud. Lots of Korean accessories too. What I love about Korean accessories are how dainty and quirky the designs can be. Most of the prices here are relatively cheap to averagely priced (around Php 100-450 for, let's say, a top) so there's surely something that fits every budget.

I was walking around Westgate with much time to spare when I saw Magarbo from the outside. It stood…read moreout quite well from all the surrounding restaurants. Curious, I stepped inside, expecting to just browse through nice clothes with high price tags (this was Alabang and near Alabang Town Center, after all). Sure enough, the clothes were arranged by color, as the usual in branded clothing stores in malls, but the thing was, no two clothes seemed to look identical, even at first glance. The lady in the shop, who turned out to be the owner, greeted me warmly, as I looked around. She explained to me that while the clothes were secondhand, they were very high-quality, many coming from celebrity wardrobes. No wonder they all looked quite good - definitely not your usual ukay-ukay despite being secondhand. The owner happily helped me choose clothes that would suit me, and I was surprised that most of her choices really looked good on me. She even had fashion advice on what to pair them with. Best of all, each item was just P100-P200. I ended up buying three clothes totaling P500.

Trying to purchase a paper bag because my paper bag broke. They told me that i need to purchase…read moretheir item in order for me to purchase a paper bag.

It's undeniable that as you grow older, taste really changes. When it comes to clothing and the…read morestyles that I prefer, what I liked before is light years away from what I like now. Before, when I was much younger, I used to be quite a trendwhore, blindly loving and wearing any new trend in sight. Now that I'm much older (and wiser), I've come to appreciate simplicity and comfort. But of course simple doesn't need to be boring, and comfort doesn't necessarily mean unstylish. One local brand that's got the whole easy, breezy stylish look down pat is Facile, a newcomer in the local fashion scene. Only two collections young, Facile is all about comfort and ease of wear, without sacrificing style. The brand usually comes out with a small capsule collection of tops and dresses that capitalize on the slouchy, effortless way of dressing. I'm such a big fan and if you see their clothes, you will be too. The brand doesn't have a physical store yet but they do have an online shop and pop-up in bazaars from time to time.

What's better than an Adidas store? What's better is an Adidas OUTLET store. Yes, Adidas can be…read morepretty pricey and you would definitely need to shell out a lot of money for cool new kicks or a hip sports jacket, but why not check out an outlet store and see all the (still) cool and hip stuff that are sold with great quality? I for one, am definitely thankful for this store. I have not one but 4 members of my family who are Adidas addicts. I can see why because they certainly have great stuff but it's personally not my style so I buy other and cheap workout gear that won't burn holes in my wallet and pockets. An outlet store won't so every time there's a birthday or it's Christmas, I always visit this branch. They have great discounts (up to 70% off during sale season) and you can even call them beforehand to ask if they have a certain model you want.