Drake Ibay on making stars, beauty queens ‘shine brighter’

MANILA, Philippines — As the country’s bet to Miss Universe 2021 Bea Luigi Gomez eyes the fifth crown for the Philippines, adding sparkle and shine to her campaign is LVNA (pronounced as “Luna”) jewelry by Drake Dustin Ibay.

This is the second time that Drake has provided accessories for the Philippine rep to the international pageant after Rabiya Mateo, who was also recently introduced as his new celebrity endorser.

Ahead of today’s Miss Universe finals in Israel, Drake told The STAR that the jewelry pieces he had in mind for Bea featured colored diamonds or gemstones to symbolize the LGBTQIA+ community, which the Cebuana beauty is part of. “LGBTQ is known to represent bright colors so when it comes to pageants, like Miss Universe for example, I think it’s already due for us to introduce a different kind of jewelry. This would be a great opportunity for us to do so, since she is our first-ever LGBTQ representative in a major competition.”

Drake is a big believer of star power. He considers one of his first endorsers, Ivana Alawi, as his lucky charm since putting up LVNA in 2016. “To be honest, mas mahal yung binili niya sa amin kesa yung binayad namin sa kanya, hahaha! She bought an eight-carat diamond ring. Nagulat nga ako na bigla nalang siya bibili ng ring, akala ko nag-jo-joke lang. Pumunta sa store, tingin ng price, the next day, nag-send nalang ng deposit slip,” Drake disclosed the backstory behind the diamond ring they asked Ivana to model but which she bought for herself to the tune of, as per PEP, P12 million.

“(She said) it was a symbol of love for herself. Di mo kailangan ng lalaki kung pwede mo naman bilhin para sayo, why not?”

The top YouTuber’s purchase and other posts got people interested in the brand. “Before di kami masyado nagbebenta ng engagement ring, but when she got one, dumami yung inquiries for engagement rings,” Drake said. “There were times nakita talaga namin yung volume ng sales. Kunwari mag-po-post siya sa YouTube. In one day, there were like 700,000 visits to our website just because of a YouTube post of her.”

“She’s our lucky charm,” the jeweler added.

A favorite celebrity client is Kapuso star Rita Daniela. “I got to know her because at first, her stylist would pull out jewelry from us for her, until she asked about one of them that she really loved and actually bought it for herself. From then on, she started buying her jewelry investments from LVNA. She loved our dainty jewelry pieces, they are delicately small, but the very essence of it is that they are subtle and attractive, which suits her very well. And I must say, she is very down-to-earth.”

Stylist Liz Uy is another fave. “I love how creative she is. She’s very particular with the diamonds, which I think is a good thing because as cliche as it sounds, diamonds are forever. When buying one, you have to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth. It was a challenge for me but I really enjoyed creating her piece.”

Drake said he got into the luxury jewelry business after his unsuccessful art studies in the US and failed attempt by his grandfather (Oscar Ibay, founder of Datamex computer schools) to recruit him into the family business. When he came back to Manila, he joined the Mega Fashion Crew contest as a photographer and placed second. The connections he made in the tilt led to work opportunities in arts and fashion photography, including with Tyra Banks, on his return to the US.

When he came home again, he started working as a fashion photographer. He eventually transitioned to art-dealing and selling where he met clients who shared his interest in crystals and diamonds. That inspired his foray into the jewelry business. “I started an online store and then from there, it took off… First year, pop-up store and when it boomed, naging almost two stores per year.”

To date, Drake has seven stores with two opened over the pandemic. Asked if his business got affected during this time, he said, “No. It’s super weird. Buong akala namin (it would),” adding he observed a particular rise in gold and diamond investment purchase. Three branches, he shared, are “not fully mine. I opened para sa babaeng kapatid, lalaking kapatid and sa mom ko. It’s for them. That’s really my goal in putting up this business. Separated na yung mom and dad ko. Bata kasi sila pareho (when they had me). They broke up mga 30s…That’s the time naisip ko na yung mga kapatid ko na parang, OK may need akong gawin para i-support yung mga kapatid ko. Basically, I put up LVNA and endured all the stress, troubles to give them a comfortable life.”

His next big dream is to showcase his jewelry at the Cannes International Film Festival’s red carpet. “Dun kasi naglalabasan ang mga Cartier na nakatago sa vault. ‘Pag Cannes, lahat ng focus nasa jewelry.”

Currently, Drake continues to study and “read a lot of books, especially about jewelry. I study the big jewelry houses internationally, Cartier, Harry Winston, how they started, their creative process. I visit their websites all the time, I read their biographies because my end goal for LVNA is to be like that, to be well-known. Maybe it’s not gonna happen in my lifetime but it’s definitely gonna happen if aayusin ko yung pag-pass on sa magiging children, grandchildren. Kaya right now, I’m doing IVF, I’m getting a surrogate mom since I’m gay. Naka-process na.”

Drake, who just turned 30 last October, could say his youth worked to his advantage. “Ang advantage siguro (with) younger people like me, we are more risk-takers. Actually, lahat ng ginawa ko ay risk and faith. Dasal-dasal. We’re more adventurous in a way, open to risks, careless. It’s an advantage and disadvantage. But when you took a risk and it worked, sobrang fulfilling.”