The Many Visions of Manny Villar

Senator Manny Villar is, indeed, a rarity. Not only is he a devoted family man, he may also be one of the last few honest politicians we have today. Manny Villar struggled to achieve the ultimate Filipino dream on his own, starting out as a fish vendor while trying to keep his grades in school in the uppermost bracket.

He was the first brown Filipino to ever make it to the Forbes 500 list, earning him the nickname the brown taipan. However, this is not his greatest achievement. Despite a prolific political career, Manny Villar considers his family his greatest claim to fame. His wife Cynthia Villar, also in politics, has been his pillar, while his three children are all scholastic achievers and entrepreneurs (including Camille, who is part of this week’s Kikay Team).

Manny Villar’s signature look is his bright red jacket, matched with his enviably thick mop of hair and his humble but beaming smile. Years and years of hard work have not taken their toll on Manny Villar who still manages to be, dare we say it, one of the most good-looking men in politics as well. So our Operation MV was actually quite inspiring as we did not have to look far to tweak his look. Although he is charismatic in an old world kind of way, he also needed a little twinkle in his wardrobe. "If someone is distinguished, one can automatically assume that he’s forever stuck with boring charcoals. Fashion has evolved and the new neutrals are the unexpected powdery tones of nature," quips Celine Lopez.

Senator Manny Villar has so many concerns, that he has kept his wardrobe to the safe basics in safe colors. We decided to add a little edge to his look, not anything cartoony, but using a more polished and modern palette. Using the formidable George Clooney as our point of reference.

"He is the epitome of the modern man, dapper yet relaxed. His style is simple but striking," says Celine.

Who could ever be a better historic reference for his style other than his daughter Camille, who says, "When he was young, he always said that he dressed to look older and more respectable so his style would be boring. Now that he’s older and he has been through a lot and has nothing to prove, he experiments more and longs to look younger."

Indeed, the team created a sophisticated yet easy-to-manage wardrobe, using unexpected colors to enhance the senator’s dark good looks.

"His clothes are simple, but they’re nice. The best thing about him is that he never looks like he tries too hard. He looks effortlessly cool in his sweaters, jeans or slacks, his simple black leather watch, and a really nice Cerruti messenger bag that he uses abroad," Camille reports.

We took the things he liked and found new alternatives for them. Instead of bright sweaters, the team chose pastel ones for him. Men tend to stay away from "girly colors but in reality, today’s soft tones enhance masculinity more than the basic bright blues or greens. It’s unexpected and regal at the same time.

On what he would keep and what he would ditch, the senator was quite candid. "It was efficient, very interesting ... definitely something new, and I could tell that my daughter was behind some of it. The clothes were very trendy, very interesting, eh sometimes you end up asking yourself, why not?"

He was game to try on the clothes because they were certainly interesting and very different from most of what he has. While he was putting on the suit, he commented that "this is certainly interesting" often.

He normally wears dark suits and white shirts to the Senate. Camille thinks he has only one light suit in a sea of black and he’s never worn it. Celine, being a stalwart protagonist of the morning suit and pastel clothing for men, infused her candy inclinations with much restraint in the following looks. He thought the blue jeans and the jackets were nice, too. He even bought it. The white outfit reminded him so much of Europe and when he was shown the light brown messenger bag, he said that he told Jigs and the rest that he had something like it in his existing wardrobe as well.

Your favorite virtue: Honesty

Your favorite qualities in a man: Being driven

Your favorite qualities in a woman: Being driven also

Your favorite occupation: Entrepreneur

Your chief characteristic: Cool and collected

Your idea of happiness: Being with my family

Your idea of misery: Being idle

Your favorite color and flower: Red, camellia

If not yourself, who would you be? I can’t think of anyone else

Where you like to live? Nowhere else but here

Your favorite prose author: Ka Blas Ople

Your favorite painters and composers: Onid Olmedo, Glenn Bautista

Your favorite hero in real life: My father, Manuel Villar Sr.

Your favorite heroine in real life: My mother, Curita Villar

Your favorite drink: Coffee

Your favorite names: Paolo, Mark, Camille

Your pet aversion: Pessimism

What is your present state of mind: Optimistic

For what fault have you most toleration? Excessive enthusiasm

Your favorite motto: Sipag at tiyaga

– Based on The Marcel Proust Questionnaire