When Reese Lansangan is asked about her style, she answers, after a loud giggle, “It’s all over the place. I always say it’s a mishmash of weird adjectives strewn together.” She can put her style in words. Proof: her floral top, billowy knee-length peasant skirt, boots, oversized rings, artfully messy long hair with full fringe, and multicolored nails.
“I like fun stuff, and I never know when to stop,” she says. “My friends sometimes poke fun at what I wear because it’s not something people would usually match.”
But it is the Ateneo de Manila University recent graduate’s quirky and eclectic style that has gained her a blog following at reeseypeasy.com. Lansangan reveals that it actually took her three tries to blog about fashion. Back when it boomed and took the form of online diary, she tried blogging, then stumbled upon a fashion blog, an unfamiliar space she wanted to get into, as well.
Lansangan wasn’t sure how Internet users would take to a Filipina posting about what she wore every day, since it was so new. Add to that, the freedom of negative anonymous comments, and it all seemed to point toward the “not yet” sign. “I’m not the type to think about what other people think about, but I just decided to wait until there were more Filipino fashion bloggers,” she says. It paid off.
Reeseypeasy.com isn’t just a fashion blog, though, as it’s also about the 21-year-old’s other interest, her music. Lansangan is part of Dressed Up Days, a power pop band with fellow Ateneans, and Lansangan and Vica Hernandez, an acoustic indie pop duo.
“I didn’t really intend to be a musician,” she says, but opportunities just fell on her lap in college.
“I was super shy about my music in high school,” she says, because she thought it was “nothing.” Her solo music, also on her blog, is very much like her style, she admits. “They’re very harmonious!”
Lansangan is unafraid to show her individuality, writing songs about experiences which aren’t your usual topics and are even quite relative. “Trophy Boy” is about a history classmate she had a crush on and always wanted to talk to, but never did.
Relatable
The song drew attention on Tumblr—”and people found it funny and cute, and relatable.” Her other song, “NBSB,” short for “no boyfriend since birth” (“which is true!”) was also a hit online in the “relatable” department.
“I like writing songs with imagery. I like people to imagine what I’m writing about. My music is not serious, I don’t like tackling heavy stuff,” she says.
She is enrolled at the School of Fashion and the Arts for a yearlong course in fashion design, and the homework is keeping her from creating her own designs. But what might a hodge-podge of influences from fashion, art and music result in? “Quirky stuff. I do want to create designs with strong concepts, and which are colorful,” she says.
“I really appreciate conceptual art. I like things that are well-thought-of, even if it’s not generally aesthetically pleasing. I usually like referencing my interests or my childhood. I like wearing toys.”
As if writing and performing music and studying fashion design were not enough, Lansangan also dabbles in jewelry design, helping out in the family business, Elan Bijoux and Accessories.
“My blog has different kinds of posts, from art to my portfolio to my blog. No one really knows what I want if you visit it. I want to be an artist,” Lansangan says.
She also hopes to post the processes behind her art, and not just the finished product. Lansangan majored in Fine Arts, Information Design. Apart from fashion and music, she creates 3D paper art and collages, as she prefers art that is hands-on.
“My goal is to have a general art studio and do commissioned work and design,” she says. “True to the three things I love: art, fashion and music.”
In a copy-paste world that doesn’t seem to care about copyright infringement, Shakespeare’s words “To thine own self be true” may just be the guiding principle behind Lansangan’s dream.
Visit reeseypeasy.com, youtube.com/reeselansangan, or facebook.com/reeselansangan.