CEBU, Philippines - Trust A - List Production’s Cybill Gayatin and Kaye Luym (both A-listers themselves) to pull off the Forever21 invasion in this sunny island/city paradise. Even during its target market’s semestral break, the label wasn’t idle: The much ballyhooed launch expected 500 guests that swelled to a thousand.. Now after the holidays, the label’s back with a collection that shows how it has moved on from where it left off. It’s still recognizably the label obsessed not by strict, black Helmut Lang-ish urbanism (opting for options and more choices) , but now things are calibrated a few more degrees toward the feminine and flouncy.
Caped coats and short flared skirts—of the ilk of the minicrini/skating skirt/dirndl seen elsewhere outside our country—proved the label is fully locked onto the trend radar. The silhouettes – either a long, lean streak in leggings or that nip-waisted full skirt, had high necklines with stock ties, and zones of techno-sparkle worked into them (the leather jodhpurs, is another matter that we won’t discuss).
For evening, it pursued the favorite black even more relentlessly. There were some sequined styles and some fine white cotton pie-frill-necked shirts, but then it all went on a good ten minutes too long. Not surprisingly for a mass produced label, Forever21’s audience vary from tweens to way above 21. The odd but true fact is that audiences can sometimes like a collection more, the less they see of it. That’s what happened during its launch show. Twas brief that sent most clamoring for more. Here are a spread of Forever21’s flock. Stay tuned! (FREEMAN)