Bleached out

Ask anyone where they got that one-piece that looks like it fell off of a hush-hush designer’s secret rack and you’ll probably, realistically, get redirected to Bleach. After undergoing a dramatic overhaul almost two years ago, the brand has emerged as a local favorite for artists, stylists, and anyone really who takes their downtime dressing seriously (but doesn’t want to look like they do).

Frayed hem blouses, mock turtlenecks, and slouchy T-shirt dresses round out the roster of season-less basics that have become synonymous with Bleach’s local brand of cult-like cool. The credit for which, of course, goes to owner Tinay Villamiel’s masterful tightrope act that teeters between the commercial and avant-garde.

After all, for all of Bleach’s refreshingly offbeat predilections (silkscreened favorites often include but are not limited to: cigarette butts, overripe bananas, barren landscapes, etc. plastered across everything from dinner trays to shift dresses), it’s notable that Bleach exists as a welcome oddity in the heart of Greenbelt 5’s gooey commercial center. A curious little reminder that amid more easily palatable and ubiquitous retail concepts, there will always remain a space for the truly weird at heart.

Photography by Ralph Mendoza

Styled by Sam Potenciano

Modeled by Audrey and Nori