Bench-ure capital
It’s not often that a local celebrity goes beyond his (or her) status as an endorser and “creates” his (or her) own signature line of clothes or fragrance. And when it does happen, more often than not, he (or she) merely lends his (or her) name to such a venture. While Ben Chan makes no claim to having started the whole thing, he certainly has set the bar in terms of branding and marketing such ventures. In the fragrances arena, we have Kris Aquino, Richard Gomez and wife Lucy, all with signature scents that are very much in the public’s radar. More recently, Kris and Lucy teamed up with Kashieca to create their own line of apparel. Latest Bench endorser to join the bandwagon, and doing so in a double-barrel shotgun approach would be Piolo Pascual. At the Mall of Asia’s Music Hall, Piolo unveiled both a fragrance, the Pure Passion Eau de Toilette, and an It Just Gets Better clothes line, to which he lent a hand in terms of research and development.
As Piolo gushed after rendering a number of songs for the excited crowd, he had never imagined as he embarked upon his career, that the day would come when both a fragrance and a clothes line would carry his name/signature. For that honor, he gratefully acknowledged the business acumen of Ben, and the trust and confidence they placed in him as a viable branding exercise. And if you think about it, it really makes perfect sense. If you look for Top Leading Men under the age of 30, Piolo’s name will immediately spring to mind, and there are only a handful who can claim that status. If you think in terms of being multi-dimensional, one can’t deny the credibility he now enjoys as a recording artist and concert performer. Ogie Alcasid, who was seated beside me during the event, was enthusiastic about how much Piolo has grown and developed as a singer. The constant barrage of concerts, both here and abroad, has been a godsend, giving Piolo both endurance and range. I personally know of all these society matrons and donyas who may feign ignorance of local stars and showbiz, and yet troop to every premiere of Piolo’s films, or have their help buy the DVDs the moment they’re released.
Pure Passion is a light scent that subtly mixes musky and fruity. To create the fragrance, Bench went and utilized perfume oil from Grasse. A small town near Cannes, in the South of France, Grasse is traditionally seen as the perfume capital of the world. As for the It Just Gets Better line, Piolo personally pored over designs and cuts, developing dress shirts and dressy polos that exude both style and comfort. The shirts are mostly monochromatic, depending on cut and accents to provide the difference. The polos are more prone to use unusual prints and emblems to create a “look” that’s playful, yet stylish. It’s safe to say that Ben and Piolo have developed something that’s unique, yet very accessible for the market. A capital idea from the master!
Reliving the past
The three novels today all have a stake in reworking (or recreating) stories and eras of the past. The first, Child 44, brings us back to the time of Stalin’s Russia; while By George is a vivid recreation of the Age of Vaudeville in England. The third novel is a wonderful retelling of the Mutiny on the Bounty story, now seen from the perspective of Captain Bligh’s boy-servant.
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (available at National Bookstore): I don’t know if it’s some major coincidence with Smiths and three word names and Russia, but reading this novel immediately had me thinking Martin Cruz Smith and his 1981 novel, Gorky Park. The research in Child 44 is impeccable, T.R. Smith always has us cognizant of the era, Russia in 1953, when Stalin ruled; and gives us a serial murder mystery that hooks us from the first chapter. Leo is Moscow KGB, and when a child is murdered, he is tasked to investigate a murder that theoretically never happened because Stalin’s Communist Russia is a perfect society where crime has been eradicated. Forced to even investigate his own wife of subversive activities, Leo is torn between his duty to the State and his family. Exiled with Raisa to the countryside, he comes across another child murdered with the same MO. Fascinating stuff!
By George by Wesley Stace (available at Fully Booked): After the wonderfully rendered Misfortune, set in Victorian times, it’s nice to report that Stace has come up trumps with this more contemporary story. It’s a double helix narrative: a George in the 1970’s, scion of a vaudeville theater family that can be traced back to his great-grandparents, and George, a dummy used in a ventriloquist act that prospered in the 1930’s. This four-generation story flows around several time strands, and what’s great is how complete and interesting all the characters are. When the two Georges unite, the novel becomes an odyssey of family secrets, exhuming lost causes and seeking redemption. It becomes a lesson on how, so often, mistakes are repeated and dysfunction renewed. At its core, it’s also a story of domineering women, and how they dominate the psyches of all they come in contact with.
Mutiny On the Bounty by John Boyne (available at Fully Booked): Chalk this one down as revisionist literature that works. It may seem suicidal to take on the Mutiny on the Bounty story, but leave it to John Boyne to make this well-worn story refreshing and entertaining in its retelling. Boyne is the author of Crippen and Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and that says a lot for his writing prowess. Our narrator here is John Jacob Turnstile, a 14-year-old street urchin who agrees to be the Captain’s servant in order to escape the gaol. What then follows is his account on life on board the fateful journey, his impressions of Bligh and Christian, and interspersed are flashbacks of his life on the streets, and a Fagin-like character who uses the urchins for stealing and as boy-toys. What I loved about the book was that despite knowing how the story would end, the color, smell and feel of the voyage vividly came to life in these pages.
