Street fashion with passion
Fashion retail comes in many guises nowadays; and our malls and commercial centers are at the forefront of providing us the choices. From the mainstream to high fashion, and points in between, it seems at times there are a plethora of choices; and yet, there are those who would complain about the homogeneous quality of what’s out there in the market. In such fashion forward cities as London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong, the diversity and segmenting of the market is that much richer and enumerated. There are districts and areas in these cities that become renowned for being the home of edgier fashion, where boutiques and storefronts scream “unique” and have that “indie” feel we see paralleled in the movie industry. In New York, it would be the Village, Tribeca and the Meat Packing District. Tokyo has Harajuku, London has Notting Hill and the streets off Oxford and Bond, while Hong Kong fashionistas would direct you to NoHo (North of Hollywood Road). Here in Manila, we don’t really have that kind of branding. While areas like Mabini once vied for that kind of reputation, we can’t say it even achieved the kind of renown and commercial viability that the districts in those cities above achieved.
The alternative for us Manila denizens are individual shops, retail concepts that cry out “We Are Different.” At the foot of Bonifacio High Street, right beside the entrance to the Club Ascend, and across from ROX, we have Theodore’s, a lifestyle store that dares to merge high fashion (and its price points) with street fashion, and create “Street Couture.” There is where the edgier brands from Europe and the United States have found a “warehouse home” — and I say warehouse with impunity, because while the interiors of Theodore’s do simulate “warehouse,” it does so with a panache that the more trendy shops abroad also carry. One enters the shop, and one finds the more chic designer labels for women that the store carries. There’s a men’s section at the crook of the shop’s leftward angle; and at the back of the shop, we find the funkier labels that all women with attitude and spunk will surely go crazy over.
In women’s fashion, labels like Morphine Generation, Surface to Air, Gsus Sindustries and the jeans of Miss Sixty can be found. There are also accessories and belts that help define individuality and “being different.” The guiding philosophy behind the merchandise at Theodore’s is not to go for too many of one style, but give its clientele a chance to really browse, find the piece of apparel that calls out to them, and be assured that chances are slim that one will be running into someone at that next party wearing the exact same thing. There may be variations on a theme or the same style with modifications, but the essence of the shop is to provide its customers with unique choices.
On the men’s side, look out for the Kid Robot label and the one from Spain, De Puta Madre (DPM). DPM has a great back story. Founded by a convict jailed for drug trafficking, this convict found himself designing clothes while doing time, and finding a ready market for his “outlaw” concepts. When he finished his sentence, it was easy to find commercial backers and we now have DPM, a brand that’s literally on the knife’s edge of fashion; tough, yet comfortable and relaxed. For shoewear, Theodore’s has brought in the more fashion-conscious models of such brands as Superga and Puma.
In the jeans section, check out the Evisu jeans. Made with denims coming from the highly renowned looms of a Japanese textile company with a lot of history, these jeans are the ultimate in designer brands. There are numerous other “hot” labels to choose from — among them, Onigashima, Mizra, PRPS and Nom de Guerre; and what’s really great about the shop is how knowledgeable and helpful the staffers I encountered were. They’ve obviously been instructed about the shop’s concept, merchandise and guiding philosophy, and treat their tenure at Theodore’s with extraordinary enthusiasm.
I had the chance to talk to Tony Fernando and Pam Gonzalez, the brain trust of the group that’s behind Theodore’s. I openly welcomed the existence of the shop, and as a consumer, enthused that it now existed, but wondered if the price points would mean its chances for survival would range from Slim to Not At All, and they both laughed. They explained that the shop was there to “educate,” and while acknowledging it is a very niche market they’ll be catering to, they hoped that enough communicating would open the eyes of enough people to support their efforts and make the shop survive, and even thrive. Go to the current issues of magazines like In Style and People USA, and if you look at the young celebrities from Hollywood and the music industry, the brands carried at Theodore’s are what they’re wearing, available here in Manila, under one flagship store, for the very first time. I may not care for Alvin or Simon, but I hope Theodore’s is here to stay!
