YStyle Picks

Back to basics

In time for their fall/winter 2012 collection, Levi Strauss launched its global Go Forth marketing campaign. “Levi’s tapped into the brilliant minds of young movers and shakers of this generation, creating a partnership and believing in their talents and aspirations make them the new leaders who will mold this generation,” said Gec Alcid, marketing manager of Levi Strauss Philippines. The launch featured the works of designers Eric Delos Santos, Maureen Disini, Sassa Jimenez, Jeffrey Rogador, Charina Sarte, stylists Alyanna Martinez, Bang Pineda, Sidney Yap, photographer Bj Pascual, visual artist Leeroy New, bloggers David Guison and Patricia Prieto, and DJ Callum David. The men’s collection offers classic, yet contemporary head-to-toe looks built around refined styles with sharp clean aesthetics, tailored to perfection. The overall style of the women’s collection is classic and refined with a clean, tailored aesthetic and pronounced femininity.

Art of zen

Once again, Rajo Laurel collaborated with SM homegrown footwear brands Parisian and Milanos to bring two exclusive collections that derive inspiration from the Japanese culture. Launched at the SMX Convention Center this week, the highly anticipated comeback of Rajo! for Parisian features adventurously stylish wedges, boots, flats, and heels for women while the premier Rajo! for Milanos collection introduces dapper casual and dress shoes for men. This year, Rajo turns to his recent travel to Japan to produce his exclusive shoe collections for local retail leader SM. “As a designer, the Japanese culture has always been a point of reference for me,” he explained.“We’ve decided to make our Parisian and Milanos collections in 20 stores nationwide as opposed to only seven stores last year,” says Eugene U. Saw, vice president of SM Department Store.

Making the cut

The Preview Emerging Fashion Talent Awards (PEFTA) is Preview magazine’s way of giving back to the fashion industry by helping budding design talents maximize their potential as designers and turn their passion for fashion into successful enterprises. Every year, Preview editors put forward a list of 10 new designers whose works have shown merit and distinction. With PEFTA, Preview has committed to five designers who will come from graduating students from participating design schools. Preview editors then pick five new and practicing designers who have shown potential to excel. These five designers, together with five student finalists, presented their take on silhouette reinvention through a six-piece collection last Sept. 19 at Rockwell Tent. The finalists will also partake in a colloquium, curated by the magazine, where they will learn from the expertise of fashion insiders and gain knowledge on tricks of fashion trade.

Hey, sexy lady

K-Pop star PSY has officially taken Gangnam Style to New York. The dapper rapper appears to have inspired NY-based brand Jill Stuart to create something called “Gangnam x New York Style.” Though we’re not entirely sure if this is for a capsule collection, the company has released a teaser video in which PSY dances Gangnam-style with an NYC club bouncer, on top of a Jill Stuart runway, and as he makes acquaintances with a brunette Anna Wintour lookalike, all while espousing the Gangnam virtues of “Dress Classy, Dance Cheesy.” We’re so amused, we’ll forgive the inaccurate use of adjectives in place of adverbs — maybe that’s part of bending grammatical rules, Gangnam-style.

Cute collabs

Hello Kitty has joined forces with Forever 21 for the second time, following their hugely successful collaboration last year. This time, the line will not only include clothing and accessories, but also F21’s first foray into home décor. The collection will hit stores in Nov. 16, but there’s no telling when it’ll arrive locally. Sooner than later, hopefully. Meanwhile, Missoni has once again revived its partnership with Converse, which will be available exclusively in Colette, Paris — talk about irritating. Just when we thought that we could finally stop pining over Isabel Marant sneaker wedges, especially since the Topshop version is perennially out of stock. Why must French women always get dibs?? Sigh. #fashiongirlproblems