YStyle Picks of the Week
She’s still got it
MANILA, Philippines - There truly is a first for everything. For the brand’s 60th birthday, Emilio Pucci decided to shoot its first ever advertisement campaign starring 38-year-old ’90s supermodel and Revenge actress Amber Valletta in their fall collection. Shot by photography team Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott in Pucci’s luxe headquarters at the Palazzo Pucci in Florence, Amber killed it in Pucci’s signature psychedelic prints and a sexy-as-hell LBD. Guess Pucci creative director Peter Dundas is taking a step in the right direction, especially after Miuccia Prada lamented on the state of Italian fashion. “With the sale of our luxury labels to foreigners, our entire system risks falling into second league,” the fashion legend told Italian broadsheet La Repubblica this week. Perhaps she’s still not over Raf Simons’ transfer to Dior from Jil Sander?
Keepin’ it raw
Last week Dutch denim luxury brand G-Star Raw opened its first flagship store in Bonifacio High Street with a party, introducing their men’s and women’s collections, along with their five local brand ambassadors: models Sanya Smith and Pauline Prieto, young director Sid Maderazo, social entrepreneur Mike Concepcion, and fashion designer Gian Romano. Known for its raw materials and architectural tailoring, G-Star Raw has a strong following of denim addicts worldwide. The most interesting aspect of their denim? Because of the way they are cut, washed, and dyed, washing them may actually ruin them — they actually just recommend placing them in a Zip-loc bag and storing them in the freezer in between uses. Seeing as how hot it gets in Manila, it’s unconventional, but shouldn’t be a problem.
Charlie: The new kid on the block
Last weekend, PMAP model Bea Soriano and her boyfriend Eric Dee opened their fifth branch of high street clothing brand Charlie in Robinsons Galleria. Manila’s young fashion set from bloggers to editors flocked to the store opening not only to shop fervently, but to also celebrate the first year anniversary of the store’s entry into the retail scene. Conceptualized back in 2010, the first Charlie store opened last year in SM North EDSA, followed by branches in SM Fairview, SM San Larazo, and Robinsons Place Manila. Their selection of on-trend, yet affordable (think P199-P999) garments are proudly designed and made in the Philippines and feature three collections: Serene Garden, Out of Africa, and the ever-reliable Charlie Basics. Based on their overwhelming sales during their first year, they hope to open a few more branches in Metro Manila and have even set their sights on expanding to Malaysia by 2013.
All ‘shopped out
The Twitter-verse was abuzz with @stylebible retweeting the raves over Preview’s latest cover featuring young actress Julia Montes as a bronzed golden goddess. However, seeing Julia in all her gilded glory wasn’t the only thing worth cracking the local glassy open for. Inside, the main pages feature industry icons, like Anna Wintour decked out in local designer Arnold Galang, Carine Roitfeld in Jerome Salaya-Ang, Anna Dello Russo in Ezra Santos, Kate Lanphear in Sassa Jimenez, Emmanuelle Alt in Avel Bacudio, and even fashion It-girl Shala Monroque in Bo Parcon. How, you ask? They’re all ‘shopped, of course, in the same way Marie Claire South Africa Photoshopped Duchess Kate Middleton to make it look like she was wearing local designs for their cover last month. As Pauline Suaco-Juan declared in her editor’s note, “this editorial is also a commentary on the lengths and breadths you can go with Photoshop.” Amen to that.
Posh behind the scenes
In time for the unveiling of the September cover of Glamour magazine (this industry sure knows how to get ahead of themselves), it was revealed that cover girl Victoria Beckham was the guest editor of the glossy for five months and apparently, did a really good job, too. According to editor in chief Cindy Leive, Victoria was completely involved when it came to pitching ideas, casting, even going as far as taking early morning conference calls and helping with layout decisions. Now that is commitment. “I wanted to put my stamp on the magazine. They were really open to my ideas, like I wanted to show Lily (Cole) with not a lot of retouching. I have a very strong vision of what I like and it’s cool and a little more edgy,” said Victoria of her tenure at the magazine. Honestly, can Posh do no wrong?
Fashion and film
Fashion is often enjoyed at its most unrealistic, which is why we enjoy fashion films so much — it’s all about letting a great dress have its moment. This week, Paul Soriano’s short fashion film Sedo Nouli (I Yield to No One) previewed on Stylebible.ph. Starring Anne Curtis, Solenn Heussaff, and Georgina Wilson, in collaboration with designers Hindy Weber-Tantoco, Maco Custodio, and Nicole Whisenhunt, the film suggests (spoiler!) a little lesbian action between Anne and Solenn, with Georgina as an evil (and apparently anti-gay) dictator of some sort. While the clothes are fabulous, the film left us feeling a little confused… let’s just say that we hope Philbert Dy doesn’t get his hands on it. In similar news, James Franco added another title to his multi-hyphenated career by directing 7 for All Mankind’s fall/winter campaign (which involved gratuitous amounts of half-naked chicks and fake blood), while Alexander Wang collaborated on a music video with bad girl rapper Azealia Banks.
