The sunshiny face smiling at you from giant Kamiseta Skin billboards that recently started to light up the metropolis looks intriguingly familiar. Yes, that face belongs to Mai Mai Cojuangco who, 20-plus years ago, was an endorser for the same company’s clothing line.
What perhaps amazes people is how Mai Mai, the original “It Girl” (more on that in a bit), has managed to look the same, even younger, without undergoing any radical (read: invasive) procedure that makes a woman look, well, “different.”
“I have Kamiseta Skin to thank for it,” said Mai Mai in an interview in November last year, a few days after she flew in from Florence, Italy, her second home, purposely to do a pictorial for the newest go-to beauty clinic which opened only in August 2017. “We women love to wear beautiful clothes, so shouldn’t we also see to it that we wear beautiful skin?”
There was no sign of jetlag from the hours-long flight (with one or two layovers) from Florence. Mai Mai was looking, to paraphrase a cliché, as fresh and sparkling as the morning dew. She said that she had no fear of neither flying (she often flies between Florence and Manila for family visits) nor turbulence.
“I love turbulence,” she shared. “It lulls me to sleep, like being swung on a hammock.”
Prior to the interview, Mai Mai had a facial treatment at the Kamiseta Skin located at the third floor of the Ayala Malls The 30th (along Meralco Avenue, Pasig City). We were having lunch at an Italian restaurant at the ground floor. “It’s so relaxing. Try it.”
Kamiseta Skin offers other treatments at affordable prices (“Because skin care should be accessible to everybody, men and women,” Kamiseta Skin owner-manager Cris Roque (photo) aptly put it): Kamiseta Thermalift, a gold-standard face-lifting and skin tightening procedure (exclusively at the Skin Laser Center); only P3,000 per session of the Revlite Treatment (for skin brightening); GentleMax Pro for underarm hair removal; and others. (For inquiries and specifics, call landline 514-7336 or celfone 0917-6258438.).
“Mai Mai is a timeless beauty,” added Cris (who could be the walking advertisement for Kamiseta Skin), “that’s why we chose her again as endorser. She’s the perfect face for Kamiseta Skin.”
On a quick tour of the clinic, Cris told us that the Kamiseta team works with an in-house medical director and board-certified doctors to craft its menu of services.
“We also offer non-invasive laser treatments for glowing skin, anti-acne, anti-aging, hair removal, contouring, slimming, lifting, skin rejuvenation and other dermatological treatments.”
The second among the five daughters of Peping and Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, Mai Mai is touted as The Original “It Girl,” a “title” that doesn’t flatter her at all. She said in an interview with Preview magazine in December last year, “I like saying that ‘It girldom’ is simply winning the genetic lottery. There’s no real value to it, except that it is flattering up to a point. I’d rather be called the same as the people I admire — a successful entrepreneur, leader, philanthropist, musician — simply because ‘It Girl’ is pure flattery, cute and fun…but that’s it. It would be a mistake and totally unhealthy to give too much weight to that.”
It is said that Mai Mai is the one who looks more like Tingting (one of Harper’s Bazaar’s “100 Most Beautiful Women in the World” in 1968). “That’s why I was named after her and my grandmother,” she said half-joking. Her full first name is Margarita Demetria which she honors as the name of her handcrafted designer bags.
Since her marriage to Italian Andrea Zini (who designs accessories made in China) in 2004, Mai Mai has been living in Florence with eight-year-old daughter Demetria Antonia (Demi for short). Asked why she and Andrea didn’t have another child, Mai Mai was stumped, trying to find the right words. “You see,” she finally found her tongue, “it’s complicated, hehehe!” (Mai Mai’s family and friends know the reason why.)
“I do miss Manila but I also feel at home in Florence because that’s where I studied (the art of bag making at Polimoda). That’s the school where I learned how to cut leather, how to treat leather and how to paint (on) leather. Italians are like Filipinos but they are more fiery,” adding, “Italians love the sun but I don’t love it as much as they do. When I go out into the sun, I make sure that I wear sunblock. I can’t avoid being out in the beach because I love the water.”
Like her sister Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski who is an equestrienne, Mai Mai also loves horses but she has to stay away from them.
“I’m allergic to horses,” revealed Mai Mai. “When I’m near a horse, my skin breaks out, my throat gets dry and I suffer from asthma.”
To keep in shape, Mai Mai eats anything but in moderation.
“Luckily, I’m not crazy about sweets. Croissants and pastries make me gain weight right away but I lose it just as easily. How? I run, I box. Before that, I did a bit of karate. I’m more into physical-contact sports.”
Her typical day in Florence starts at 6:30 a.m. when she wakes up to dress up Demi and drive her to school. She has a maid. After paying the bills, she returns home and checks what else is on her schedule.
“My day is full of start-ups,” said Mai Mai.
As a mom, Mai Mai admitted that she spoils Demi, all right, “but she is loved. She doesn’t lack anything. If I have to choose whether to buy something for me or for her, no doubt I’d decide to buy for her. I take pleasure in doing it.”
Barely three days after the interview, Mai Mai was off to Florence.
“I’ve been missing my daughter already,” she said.
(E-mail reactions at entphilstar@yahoo.com. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)