To celebrate its 80th anniversary, Lacoste revealed an exclusive and unique brand experience roadshow via an exhibit at the Shangri-La Plaza’s East Wing Atrium. Installed at the exhibit were three cubes filled with moving and still images and objects from the brand archives dating back to the invention of the polo shirt and founding of the brand by tennis champion René Lacoste in 1933.
Celebrating with the brand and welcoming the guests for an exclusive exhibit walk-through were Stores Specialists Inc. executive vice president Anton Huang and Rustan Group of Companies chairman Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr. French Ambassador Gilles Garachon and Lacoste Asia Pacific retail excellence and travel retail director Erin Lillis-Arrowsmith joined David Celdran, Tessa Prieto-Valdes and Bianca Valerio in treating the guests to a delightful tour of the exhibit.
Spotted at the event looking sleek in the iconic Lacoste polo shirt were Teddy Locsin Jr., blogger and model Robbie Becroft, Georgia Schulze-del Rosario, Victor Basa and TV personality Lexi Schulze-Berenguer-Testa.
At the exhibit, the first cube showcased the iconic polo shirt. For 80 years, Lacoste has been featuring a carefully curated collection of Lacoste polos, including the Holiday Collector’s Series, where each year since 2006, the brand features guest artists to re-imagine the classic polo. These include British industrial designer Tom Dixon, British product designer Michael Young, Chinese artist Li Xiaofeng, American designer Jonathan Adler, Brazilian designing brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana.
Visionaire Magazine also teamed up with the brand to create shirts with singer/photographer Michael Stipe, designer Karl Lagerfeld and photographer Peter Lindbergh among others.
I have been collecting limited edition Lacoste shirts for some time now and I am lucky enough to have some of these pieces.
The second cube contained a cabinet of Crocodile Curiosities. Here, visitors discovered the evolution of various shapes and sizes, colors and contexts of the Lacoste crocodile logo. Along the walls was a timeline highlighting the important dates and milestones in the brand history and fun facts about the crocodile.
The third cube housed a collection of images from the brand archives. Black and white heritage photos of brand founder René Lacoste, as well as his wife and daughter, both golf champions, were mixed with more recent images of fashion shows, products and other objects. Together, the whole picture offered a compelling visual narrative of Lacoste’s development and expansion from a single item — the iconic polo shirt — to a truly global lifestyle brand. Film clips of current creative director Felipe Oliveira Baptista and design director Christophe Pillet speaking to the inspiration and ideas for their innovative work completed the content of this room.
The newly opened Lacoste store in Shangri-La Plaza’s East Wing is the first Agora store concept in Manila. Inside, visitors will be able to touch and try on the special collections featuring the 80th anniversary logo created by British art director Peter Saville and designed especially for this important birthday of the brand. This is definitely another piece to add to my growing collection of limited Lacoste shirts!
A tribute to heroines
The Louis Vuitton store in Greenbelt 4, Makati City was transformed into an art gallery when it presented “A Tribute to Heroines,†an exploration of art featuring Filipino contemporary artists. The exhibit was done to commemorate the brand’s 20th year in the Philippines. The carefully curated selection of artworks by Ferdinand Cacnio, Chati Coronel, Olivia d’Aboville, Ramon Orlina and Popo San Pascual celebrated femininity, its beauty and strength.
Louis Vuitton’s Asia Pacific president Jean-Baptiste Debains, vice president for cultural development Vita Wong-Kwok, and general manager for Micronesia and the Philippines Emily Zhou flew in to commemorate the event with the Louis Vuitton Philippines team headed by its country manager Rhea de Vera-Aguirre.
Christina Bartges (a.k.a. DJ Badkiss) provided funky soul tunes that entertained the crowd.
Proceeds of the in-store art exhibit will be used to support the rebuilding of SOS Children’s Village Tacloban.
Exploring the ‘Constellation’
In the world of telecommunications, there’s a “constellation†that you need to discover.
Vertu, one of the world’s leading providers of luxury mobile phones, launched its latest collection called Constellation recently. The launch coincided with the opening of the first Vertu store in Manila at the ground level of the East Wing of Shangri-La Plaza Mall.
Handmade in England and swathed in high-quality calf leather, the Constellation uses a 5.1-inch piece sapphire crystal — weighing more than 100 carats — that’s resistant to scratching from anything other than a diamond. This trait ensures that the phone screen remains virtually flawless for many years. Surrounding the sapphire crystal is an engineered grade 5 titanium casing, a material stronger than stainless steel yet only half the weight.
The new collection was presented by Vertu Southeast Asia Pacific (SEAP) general manager Richard Yong, regional sales manager Nick Holt and SEAP marketing manager Andrea Tan who flew in to Manila especially for the event, which was hosted by Issa Litton.
Vertu Philippines general manager Edith Dychiao said, “This is a remarkable day for all of us as we launch Vertu’s modern smartphone, handmade in accordance with the English tradition.â€
On the other hand, Holt said, “Vertu stands for hand manufacturing, and the belief that you cannot replace the hands, eyes, dedication and passion of a true craftsman, through a mechanical process.â€
While guests took pleasure in their full-course meals and cocktails by Wine Story, Vertu’s staff went around with Constellation units that came in five different hues: cappuccino, black, orange, mocha and raspberry. After presenting the extraordinary collection, Holt eventually revealed a behind-the-scenes preview of their campaign, which was the brainchild of a visionary in fashion photography, Kristian Schuller.