Ria Bolivar •Ria goes urban

MANILA, Philippines - It’s not in the way she talks. It’s how she walks. Five-ft.-nine-in. Ria Fernandez Bolivar has got attitude, on and off the runway. She speaks like an angel, but it’s this inner rebel that got her on the road to ramp modeling and beyond.

Quitting an Accountancy degree from AMA Computer School at 17 years old, this rural lass wanted more from life than what her hometown of Dumangas, Iloilo could offer. Her feisty Arian spirit couldn’t bear idleness. Thus, she confronted her mother. “My mom was scared (with my decision to go to Manila), but I asked her what will I do in the farm?” Ria recalls in a voice so sweet and so certain. She was sure that she wanted to leave, but what she would do, she had not a clue. Saved by serendipity, a creative director from Robinsons Place Iloilo approached her shortly after she had stopped school, and Ria’s first gig was modeling for a mall show.

Knowing not a single soul outside Iloilo, she gambled her lot with her friend, designer Bo Parcon and his fashion industry contacts. To Manila she flew, with nothing but a suitcase of audacity. Winning first runner up for MTV Fashionista got the ball rolling. She says, “2004 was when my career really started. That’s when I opened for Inno Sotto’s gala show in Ayala Museum.” Then, she was off the hook. In 2007, she was front cover of fashion magazine Imagine’s maiden issue, her iconic look etched vividly in the minds of many. In 2008, she made it to Preview’s Best Dressed List and most deservingly so.

“I’m not into sexy (stuff). I like my clothes to mix and match from something designer to something I just got in the mall. I like androgynous clothes, though there are also times when I like to go very daintily. It depends on my mood. I love polos, jeans and mini-skirts,” the 29-year-old style chameleon shares.

It is her penchant for looking boyish that paradoxically accentuates her fierce femininity. Aside from innumerable print ads, fashion editorials, fashion events and billboard ad campaigns of Shapes, Ria’s Oriental beauty is so in-demand that she was flown to Doha, Qatar for a cover shoot late last year. She will also be part of the upcoming Canada-Philippine Fashion Week this month.

This writer wonders how this youngest of a brood of three (with two older brothers) from a housewife mother and a construction worker father has such a sharp eye for fashion. Even when Ria isn’t on the job, she’s impeccably spiffy. In her excited mind’s eye wherever she goes, she sees herself on the catwalk, and also herself cheering on the front row.

 Photography by SHAIRA LUNA • Creative direction and styling by LUIS ESPIRITU JR. • Makeup by RIA AQUINO • Hairstyling by AVRIL SEGUIN • White pants and cropped top ensemble by JOEY SAMSON; fuchsia long dress by MARTIN BAUTISTA • Jewelry by MILADAY JEWELS • Shot on location at the FAIRMONT GOLD LOUNGE