Fashion designer new addition to Filipina int’l beauty queens

The Philippines is truly home of the most beautiful women. Add to the long list of these beautiful Pinays is newly-crowned beauty queen Joyce Pilarsky who is the first Filipina to win the Classic Mrs. Asia International Global 2014. The Mrs. Asia International Pageant (MAIP) happened last June 28 at the Menara PGRM DewanWawasan in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

On its third year, MAIP is an annual beauty and personality competition that champions the true essence of the modern empowered women. The pageant highlights how these women were able to achieve the balance and harmony in their lives that contributed significantly to the growth and welfare of their families and the society.

Pilarsky bested 14 finalists from India, Borneo, Macau, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asian countries.

“It is my dream to become a beauty queen and praise God, it happened!” Pilarksy exclaimed during her intimate press conference held at the Roma Salon of the Manila Hotel.

Pilarsky was formerly Mrs. Philippines-Germany (2000) and Mrs. WI Philippines (2013). “It is with great pride to be a beauty queen because I know that beauty queens are springs of honor and dignity of the country. Many Filipinas dream of becoming one. Being a beauty queen gives you the voice to be heard. Whenever you speak, people listen and you are treated with so much respect and admiration,” she enthused.

With her triumph as Classic Mrs. Asia International Global 2014, she wants to prove to the world that if you dream and you offer it to God, dreams do come true. She also wants people to understand that more than the physical beauty, inner beauty is more important.

“It is the character of the person inside that is most important. All of us are beautiful if you have a beautiful heart. We must make a conscious effort to make a difference in the lives of the people surrounding us, we must make an effort to do well, to make everyone feel good and feel beautiful inside. I just want to spread God’s love in this world.”

Pilarsky is also into fashion design. Her Joyce Penas Pilarsky’s JPP Daring Collections are day wear and evening gown collections that highlight the inherent beauty of the Filipina. 

The Joyce Pilarsky Collection was featured at London Fashion Week’s Ecoluxe Runway, the first-ever EcoLuxe sustainable luxury fashion show, held at the United Arab Emirates Green Festival at the Abu Dhabi Mall, Abu Dhabi. The festival, held last April, was an Emirate-wide celebration designed to educate its people about a better way of life under the theme “Live, learn and have fun in a low-carbon world.”

Pilarsky’s ultimate dream is to be an international fashion brand with no less than Angelina Jolie as signature model.

The local celebrities who already wore a Joyce Pilarsky creation are actress and fashionista Solenn Heussaff, equestrienne Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworksi and the reigning Miss World Megan Young.

She finds Angel Locsin, Anne Curtis and Iza Calzado as “three of the most beautiful actresses nowadays. Looking forward to dress them up and see them on the red carpet wearing my evening gowns.”

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Mr. Pure Energy Gary Valenciano is staging a repeat of his acclaimed 30th anniversary concert Arise: Gary V 3.0 at the Arena of Mall of Asia on August 2. After two nights of a jam-packed Araneta Coliseum last April, Gary felt that they ought to have a repeat to answer the numerous requests from those who missed the concert, and the clamor from those who want to relive the experience.

At the presscon for Arise 2 held last Tuesday at Mother Lily Monteverde’s new restaurant called 38 Valencia Place, the singer said that instead of staging a new concert to celebrate his birthday (Gary is turning 50 on August 6), they’ve decided to mount the same concert.

“It’s going to be basically the same show except probably for a new special guest singer to be featured in the show. We are still waiting for the confirmation of the guest artist that we have in mind that’s why I can’t reveal yet the identity of the singer,” he added. “I know it would be a tough act to follow what we did in the first staging of Arise but that is part of the challenge,” said Gary.

Directing Arise is his son Paolo Valenciano who admitted that there is still some kind of pressure even if the April shows were a success. When asked what the difficulty is in directing his dad, Paolo says it’s making him do some things that he didn’t want to. “It would take some convincing before I can make him do things he finds rather difficult, that’s why it takes some effort on my part to explain to him why he ought to do such,” said Paolo.

At times, Paolo says, he and his dad can’t seem to agree on how to put their ideas into action onstage. “While we may agree on what we have in mind, sometimes we disagree on how we are going to mount it. The best way is to seek a compromise. While I am the director, he is still my dad,” Paolo says with a laugh.

Paolo even admitted that they didn’t have a run-through when Arise was first staged, so technically, the first night of the concert was the run-through. While the audience did not notice, Paolo said they encountered several technical problems while the concert was going on. But the concert went on smoothly (as least from what the audience saw) and was considered a spectacular one.

Joining Gary V in the repeat of Arise are the same line-up of guests – Bamboo, Iya Villania, Sam Concepcion, Keana Valenciano, the Manouvres and Gab Valenciano. Tickets are now available at all SM Ticketnet outlets.