KC designs to help

MANILA, Philippines - Everyone knows KC Concepcion can act, model, host and sing. But only few know Sharon Cuneta’s daughter has another artistic talent: She designs hoodies (hooded sweatshirts) and tees.

In fact, she sat down with the Bayo creative and merchandising team which applied KC’s existing pool of drawings and writings to its limited edition line of You collection.

KC’s first crack at fashion designing mirrors her personality. The hoodies — which come in neutral shades of black, gold, mustard, charcoal grey and dark green — carry some of the words she scribbled on a notebook as a college student in Paris.

A student will spot familiar phrases like “Everything is law” (from Moses), “Everything is money” (Karl Marx), “Everything is relative” (Einstein), “Everything is sex” (Freud) and “Everything is love” (Jesus).

Another version has a tiny fairy reminiscent of KC’s fantasy-inspired debut years back. The fairy can take on other forms, of course. Turn it around and it spells KC’s name.

Look even closer and you’ll see the drawing of a little octopus and a pair of goggles.

“That’s because I love diving so much,” KC explains.

KC also loves her job as United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP) National Ambassador Against Hunger, she has agreed to donate the entire portion of her share in the project to the campaign.

 “Every time you buy a hoodie from the You collection,” says KC, “you will be giving a hungry child the chance to learn and enjoy a healthier life.”

This will also enable WFP to provide 90,000 school meals to children in the conflict-ridden area of Mindanao.

WFP’s target is a whopping 150,000 meals to help sustain children in North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. To reach that goal, KC’s collection must raise P500,000 or more.

KC is optimistic Bayo will reach its target in time to give the children a truly merry Christmas.

“You can be an ambassador in your own way if you buy from the collection,” says KC.

Like a mother proudly showing off her baby, KC extols the virtues of her new collection.

One of them is versatility.

“They’re okay for various occasions: Casual, formal and sporty,” she crows.

Colors are muted, not bright, like many Bayo clothes usually go, because KC wants the collection to go with any type of clothes its young wearer chooses to have.

Thus, a college student may wear a bright shirt under the hoodie. A Makati yuppie can don a pastel-colored blouse and let the hoodie provide the striking contrast to her attire.

“See this gold zipper?” KC takes out one of the hoodies from the Bayo clothes rack. “It gives the attire a formal touch,” relates KC.

And while she’s at it, KC is pushing for yet another thing: the youths’ right to express themselves.

“I’m encouraging young people to express themselves, to be experimental in their designs,” says KC.

Youth power, as her stepdad Sen. Kiko Pangilinan told her, is something you can’t ignore.

KC is harnessing it by starting with herself. She is walking the talk. Now, no one can say she’s not practising what she preaches.