Serendipity
Behind the Velvet Ropes
I'm no Lauren Ezersky, but I did get a preview of what our very own Philippine Fashion Week (PFW) was all about when I went to Manila Last April 1 to 4. I braved the traffic and the AC-challenged cabs in Manila partly to cover the PFW series of events for Iloilo Premiere Magazine and partly to give my support to my three designer friends, Aldrich Aparicio, Jasmine Castelo and Eric de los Santos. Of course, there was some "guiltless" shopping involved (guiltless because I was shopping for my sister which meant I was spending her money - ha-ha!), but basically, I was there to immerse myself to four days of relentless fashion show-watching.
Day one started on an interesting and semi-inebriated note considering that I had two glasses of wine before The New Generation Collection show started (the group that Jasmine Castelo was a part of). Apparently, aside from fashion gossip, yards of fabric and tons of clothes, wine also overflowed, making us guests too tipsy to notice that the show started unfashionably late. Of course, since it was a group fashion show, there was a mélange of the usual "the good, the bad, and the... never mind", but since I'm not here to critique (fashion like beauty is relative), I'll just give a good round of applause to those designers who gave a lot of thought and work to their collections. Jasmine Castelo was one of those who really stood out (check out last Wednesday's Hot Haute for Jasmine's collection as well as national dailies and magazines for their great reviews for Ms. Castelo - congratulations again, Jazzy!) as well as designers like Garimon Roferos, Jun Escario, Mich Dulce and Tippi Ocampo. I was also happy to see two Ilongga models, Everille Aparicio and Jackie Moriente doing the ramp for most of the evening shows at the NBC Tent. Way to go, girls!
On my second day, I was pretty excited. Aldrich Aparicio, my best gay friend, opened the show for the Luxe Wear Collection (relax, people, it was an alphabetical billing) and he opened it with class via his fab clothes as well as the perfect choice of music ("I am what I am" - what else!). Call me biased (because I am), but I think that the Ilonggo designers created a stir (a positive one, of course) during their segments. Aside from their stylish and elegant clothes, they also knew how to present their creations with the right music (Eric de los Santos opened his segment with "More than a Woman" - you can't go wrong with that), styling and accessories. I don't know if it was just my imagination, but I think the show direction for that particular night and group was also more detailed, inspired and creative.
The tent was packed with curious fashionistas all craving for a look of the avant garde collections of the Young Designers Guild (YDG) members on the third day. I particularly liked the collections of Joey Samson, Mitzi Quilendrino, Yvonne Quisumbing and Mel Vergel de Dios (as I was writing this piece, I was shocked when someone called to tell me that Mel passed away just yesterday. I had the opportunity to work with Mel here in Iloilo three years ago and I was even able to talk to him after the YDG show last April 3. My heart goes to the family of Mel and the FDCI group would also like to extend their condolences to the de Dios family).
On my last day of PFW coverage, my digital camera conked out. So my apologies to Frederick Peralta for not being able to take pictures of his beautiful wedding gowns especially the one modeled by the ultimate models' model Marina Benipayo.
But, like all (fashion) shows, the most interesting and highly quotable part was not what transpired on the ramp (although there were a lot of gaffes, wardrobe and shoe malfunctions, tripping and cursing on stage courtesy of a "one plus one" model and other "animalistic" gimmicks gone awry which also proved my theory that dogs are more "in" and fashionable than their owners) but what happened off the ramp.
There were a lot of beso-besos, chika-chikas and Orocan proved to be the material (or weapon?) of choice for most people. Some personas who have reached a certain "stature" (probably more imagined then real) in the industry did the I-know-you-but-I-will-pretend-I-don't-see-you bit, while some played the "underdog" melodrama and went around making up stories about the real reason behind why they weren't invited to join Fashion Week (Sob! The best way to find out is to ask Mr. Joey and Audie Espino and not make up stories because that is so incredibly passé!). And then, there were people from the industry I've pleasantly worked with in the past who personally approached me just to tell me about their disastrous experience in Iloilo when they did a show here a few weeks back. Should I feel embarrassed or sorry for whoever was responsible for the booboo or should I just relish the feeling of being able to have the last laugh? Oh, well, all I can say is, everything you do will always catch up on you. If you have the best of intentions, then the result will always be positive and fabulous!
Hopefully, this won't be my last PFW coverage. But if worse comes to worst, I'll just troop to Bryant Park (hah! Dream on, girl!) next year.