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There is something special about seeing a product on the website after it once existed only as an idea in my head.
Kilig Ko just launched our first ever scarves and people are loving it! They are no longer just something I was testing or talking through in a vlog. They are part of Kilig Ko. But even now that they are here, I keep thinking about what they represented when I first showed them. They felt like a shift in how I want to create, what I want Kilig Ko to hold, and how much of the process I am willing to let people see.
I have been drawn to scarves for a while. I loved them as something to wear, but also as something that could move with you. Around your head, tied onto a purse, wrapped into an outfit in a way that feels playful and personal. They opened up a softer, more feminine side of styling that I have been wanting to explore more through Kilig Ko. Something a little girlier, a little more expressive, and still rooted in the same feeling I always come back to, which is creating pieces that help us feel close to ourselves.
When I first talked about these scarves when I recorded the vlog, I was sharing them in a very early and honest way. And even though they are official now, that part of the story still matters to me. There was something vulnerable about letting people into that stage of the process. It felt personal, like saying, this is what is living in my head right now.
What I was trying to say through the designs
The first scarf (Ginto Scarf) came from the Filipino sun. I wanted it to feel bright, proud, and celebratory, but still wearable in an everyday way. The design places the Filipino sun in the center, nested inside a larger sun, with more suns radiating outward. There are three stars in every corner and a soft border detail that helps bring everything together. I chose a gradient approach because I wanted the color to feel alive without feeling too loud. That balance matters to me. I want Filipino representation to feel beautiful and present, but still natural enough that someone can make it part of their own style.
The second scarf was inspired by the map of the Philippine Islands (Mapa Scarf) and the feeling of locating your specific home within something larger. This one leaned into browns and a more neutral palette, but the heart of it was deeply personal. My family is from Bicol, and that sense of being from somewhere specific has stayed with me for a long time. For so many Filipinos in the diaspora, identity gets flattened into something general. But there is so much meaning in being able to say where your people are from, what landscape lives in your memory, what place still shapes how you see yourself.
That is what made me start imagining future scarves inspired by different regions. A Bicol scarf that could hold Mayon and other details that feel true to that place. Pieces that let someone wear not only their culture, but their particular connection to it. That idea still feels so close to what I want Kilig Ko to be. Personal, rooted, and tender in the way it holds identity.
The lesson hidden in a small detail
One of the things I noticed early on was that I forgot to include the Kilig Ko logo on the scarf samples. It felt small at first, but it stayed with me.
For a long time, I don't think I fully trusted that the brand name could stand on its own. I had this thought in the back of my head asking why anyone would want something with just my logo on it. That feeling came from insecurity more than anything else. I was still learning how to believe that Kilig Ko itself meant something to people.
Then I started getting messages from people asking for pieces with just the logo. And something about that shifted me. It made me realize that people were not only connecting to a design or a product idea. They were connecting to the brand, to the feeling of it, to what Kilig Ko represents for them too.
I think these scarves came into my life at the same time I was learning that lesson. They were teaching me about aesthetic direction, yes, but they were also teaching me about ownership. About what it means to stop shrinking your own brand and let it take up space.
They also confirmed something I have been feeling more clearly lately. I want Kilig Ko to keep growing into accessories, multi-use pieces, and softer styling moments. I want there to be room for femininity, for play, for details that feel both cultural and personal. Even learning new words and aesthetics that help me describe that energy has felt exciting to me. It feels like I am getting closer to the version of Kilig Ko that has been waiting to come forward.
Now that these scarves are officially on the website, I do feel proud. But more than that, I feel grateful for what they revealed to me while I was making them. Sometimes a new product is also a mirror. It shows you where your taste is growing, where your confidence is catching up, and what kind of world you are really trying to build.
For me, these scarves are part of that world now.
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