pH by phillia

new york · 2004–2010

Before sensiistarr*, there was pH by phillia.

In another version of my life, I almost went to medical school. Instead, I followed a completely different calling and unleashed the artist in me.

I took one sewing class, taught myself the rest, and started making clothes simply because I loved creating them. What began with one-of-a-kind upcycled pieces grew into pH by phillia—my first creative world and an independent fashion label born in New York in the mid 2000s.

pH was a playful collision of vintage silhouettes, bold color, Asian influences, space-age kitsch, femininity, and a refusal to take fashion too seriously.

I called the whole vibe “Retro Asian Space Chicks.”

I created one-of-a-kind pieces and boutique collections, styled shoots, dreamed up campaigns, and built an entire world around them—learning as I went and following sheer passion, curiosity, joy, and imagination.

Somehow, that little world traveled farther than I ever imagined. pH appeared in The New York Times, NYLON, Teen Vogue, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, BUST Magazine, Time Out New York, MTV, and beyond.

That chapter opened doors far beyond my own collections. I went on to teach How to Start Your Own Clothing Line workshops at the Fashion Institute of Technology, helping aspiring designers bring their own ideas into the world. I worked as a fashion stylist on projects for Sony and Bloomingdale’s Hot Rocks campaign, assisted behind the scenes at celebrity gala fashion shows, and found myself immersed in a world I had entered almost entirely by following my instincts.

And then the economy crashed.

Like so many small businesses during the recession, pH couldn't survive it. I lost the business I had built, went bankrupt, and eventually walked away from fashion.

It was a heartbreaking end to a chapter that had begun with so much joy and possibility.

Over the years, much of the original pH archive was lost too—catalogs, photographs, collections, and years of documentation disappeared along the way.

What remains are the pieces I was able to salvage: old photographs, campaigns, lookbooks, press clippings, and fragments I've carried with me through the years.

They aren't a complete history. They're glimpses of a world I once created—and of the young woman who took one sewing class, followed her imagination, and somehow built a fashion label out of it.

Twenty years later, I'm so grateful I found my way back to her.

from the archives, with love. ♡