My SM Fashion Week
A scant five years ago, if you would have said that SM would be at the forefront of the Philippine fashion movement, would be behind a bi-annual event that comes closest to what transpires abroad in the global fashion industry, where designers and retail brands get a chance to seasonally showcase their latest creations and merchandise, the odds are fashion journalists and observers would have brushed you aside with their false eyelashes and faux fur stoles. SM then represented mass retail, “sworn enemy” of Fashion (yes, with a capital F). But thanks to the vision of Joey Espino and the Sys (I recall speaking extensively to Harley during their first Fashion Week), the March and October week-long events have become institutions in the calendars of designers, fashion retail giants, stylists, makeup artists, accessories, shoes and bags manufacturers, fashion journalists and bloggers, Fine Arts students, “dedicated followers of Fashion,” and the casual observers. Sure it’s not Milan, New York or Paris, but for this day and age, and here in Manila, it’s what makes for homegrown fashion “feeding frenzy!”
And without turning its back on “mass retail,” SM Fashion Week has become the champion of promising designers, and that opportunity for major clothing brands to mark anniversary milestones and/or elevate their new collections with maximum media exposure. In a way, SM Fashion Week has demystified Fashion, has made it accessible, sensible, and within reach of the many. Luxury may still be the domain of the few based on sheer price points, but innovative clothes sense, edgier looks, and even the sensibilities of fashionable basics, are now displayed in the general public domain, ready to be enjoyed and absorbed.
At the recent Fashion Week, among others, I saw street fashion and T-shirts celebrating OPM at the Mint 10th anniversary show; watched Hollywood TV glitz in the persons of Kylie Jenner and Rob Kardashian grace the screaming Human fashion event; had Ideal Vision sponsor a showcase of impressive design with Eric Delos Santos, Raoul Ramirez, Vania Romoff and Roland Lirio; witnessed a new breed of designers in the Grand Allure collection; and enjoyed a sit-down evening of clubbing via the Penshoppe show. And of course, there was the special Saturday afternoon of 125 children traipsing and getting a first bite of the runway via the SM Kid’s Fashion show. Sisters Tessie Sy-Coson and Betty Sy (who had two grandchildren participating in the show) were present, eager to hear my reaction after the show; and I have to give credit to business unit head Jo Dy Juanco and her staff for pulling this one off. In our magazine shoots, we often joke about never working with animals or children, as you’ll be asking for stress, loss of control, and frayed tempers. Jo is herby nominated for “retail sainthood,” for once again mounting this particular show and making utter cuteness, sheer spontaneity and a high level of professionalism, all blend!
Given the number of years we now have had SM Fashion Week, it’s far too easy to take it for granted, or criticize it for what it isn’t, or doesn’t yet possess (example, true global, or even regional impact). But having been a witness from its inception, we have to commend the commitment, determination, and persistence of the individuals (and organization) behind the event. Breaking bread with Charles Chamsay Jr., SM FilFashion CFO, is always a joy during these weeks, as he clues me in what are the not-to-miss shows, and literally “breaks bread” as he leads me to the buffets and food choices available in between shows. See you in March, Charles!
Re-imagining history
SM Kids Fashion VP Jo Dy Juanco, Olga Mogilevtsev and Russian Embassy to the Philippines Consul Andrei Mogilevtsev at the SM Kids’ Fashion extravaganza. Here are three novels that are unique flights of imagination. What the authors do is take real historical figures, and recast their life stories, based on unusual premises. John F. Kennedy as a World War II spy, Christopher Marlowe surviving his death in a bar brawl and writing in exile under a pen name we know only too well, and poet Pablo Neruda searching for a lost daughter.
Jack 1939 by Francine Matthews — (available at National Book Store) What could have been a straightforward spy thriller set in the early days of World War II is given a special dimension, thanks to the spy recruit being a young, fresh Harvard graduate named John F. Kennedy. Enlisted by FDR personally, Matthews creates an exhilarating piece of alternative history. Tension between Jack and his father, Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Herbert Hoover and the FBI, a trail of corpses left by a Gestapo spy known as the White Spider, a money trail that leads from a Rome convent to big names who could be uncovered as collaborators — all form elements of this great read that takes us from 1939 USA to London, Paris and Rome.
The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber — (available at National Book Store) The premise for this “novel in verse” may be old hat, that Christopher Marlowe faked his untimely demise, and went into exile to avoid prosecution as a heretic, and continued to write under the pen name of William Shakespeare. But what makes this re-imagining of literary history such a treat and worthy of admiration is that in this day and age, Barber gives us a novel that’s totally written in iambic pentameter! She does utilize modern English, and plays modern-day omniscient narrator, but the fact remains that she accomplishes this in verse. Accompanied by footnotes that act like a true rendition of Shakespeare, this is the Elizabethan era revisited.
The Neruda Case by Roberto Ampuero — (available at National Book Store) A transplanted Cuban who moves from Florida to Valparaiso, Chile in the early ‘70s, private detective Cayetano Brûlé has a fateful encounter with poet Pablo Neruda, and becomes enmeshed in a search for a woman from Neruda’s past, and this woman’s daughter who may or may not be Neruda’s own. Set against the backdrop of Salvador Allende’s last days as Chile’s President and the rise of Pinochet’s repressive military rule, the novel is on one level a retelling of those fateful days in a manner reminiscent of Isabel Allende’s early work. And on another level, it’s a fascinating imagined snapshot of Neruda’s own last days, and the mercurial shadow he cast.
