10 years of redefining Pinoy style

I remember my first day of work at Preview magazine. I was 20 years old, rebounding from a first job that didn’t agree with my personality, and still quaking at the knees from my job interview with Summit’s editorial director Myrza Sison and the Preview staff two weeks prior. That first day I spent rearranging dusty files, and assessing the head-to-toe fashion of the senior staffers and other Summit editors. I remember mentally restocking my wardrobe, and fuelling a fierce determination into a promise that I was going to grow into the ideals of the magazine. At that time, I was a greenhorn journalist and a "wet (actually, more like storm-raged, shipwreck-drenched) behind the ears" stylist, given the opportunity at a dream job with people who took to fashion as naturally as a New York socialite to Botox parties.

I came into Preview in its fifth year of publication, when executive editor Tara Santos headed it. Preview’s present editor-in-chief, Pauline Suaco-Juan, was then fashion editor. I presided over minion duties as editorial assistant.

In the year I came in, Preview had become a hybrid of sorts, a magazine that drifted in between practical fashion editorials and spreads featuring showbiz personalities and young society-shakers. Its covers featured the likes of Jolina Magdangal, and one of its most popular sections was "Fashion Police," a saucy diatribe dished by three caricatured personalities on the fashion disasters donned by celebrities. This focus on the entertainment industry and the society spotlight, though well-received, had veered off-track from the ideals of the original Preview – the Preview that was born of a real passion for fashion 10 years past.

A Preview Of The Past

A decade ago, June 1995 to be exact, fashion lovers were first introduced to a new glossy magazine that had just hit the stands. Called Preview, the magazine featured a slightly desaturated image of supermodel Tweetie de Leon on its cover , and an impressive deluge of visual candy, which perceptibly bore the mark of youthful flair, in its inside pages. The staff of this magazine was as keen and impressive as the pages they had put together; four twenty-somethings who just wanted to produce something that "would challenge the existing glossies on the market": Publisher (a.k.a. "Big Boss") Lisa Gokongwei, editor-in-chief Leah Puyat, creative director Raymond Lontok, and fashion editor Myrza Sison. The latter three were already familiar figures in the fashion industry as a writer, photographer, and model, respectively, and gave some credence to the glossy newcomer.

What credibility couldn’t offer, sheer passion and determination had to make up for. Preview, when it first started, had very limited resources. Recalls Myrza Sison, "We had no office, no computers. Eventually we would sneak into the Manila Times office (then part of the Gokongwei enterprise) before 4 p.m. when the journalists arrived and used their computers. We had no desks (Lisa’s mother took pity and sent us the joint study table of her twins Hope and Faith), no aircon (there was one electric fan in the room that did not oscillate – whoever came in first would have first dibs on the fan’s direction). But the lack of resources did not faze us at all. We had to prove that we could do it first before any funding came in, and I guess we did.

What Lisa, Leah, Myrza, and Raymond felt they had to prove soon became a standard in the local fashion and publishing industries. As it produced more issues, Preview became known as the magazine that showed off style in a manner that was "hip, young, and spirited." It was forward-thinking yet practical, aspirational yet grounded.

The success of Preview did not just gain the magazine an office and funding. It also prompted the development of publishing conglomerate Summitmedia, which, including Preview, owns 21 of the most popular magazine titles in the country today. Lisa Gokongwei remains the publisher and Myrza Sison is now editorial director. Raymond Lontok has moved to Paris, and Leah Puyat has moved on.

Part of Preview’s success has been its willingness to accept and produce change. Like the fashion that it follows, Preview has continuously evolved and experimented, its contents reflecting the tastes, quirks, and experiences of the editors that make up its staff. It has always tried to be a trend-setter, at times taking risks for the sake of making a point. In early 1999, under Leah Puyat, Preview featured ebony-skinned model Wilma Doesnt on its cover, challenging local society’s notion of fair-skinned beauty. On its April 2002 cover, unknown model Yciar Castillo, one of the new faces of retail brand Anonymous, was shown with her eyes cast downward, a tiny smile on her face. This move broke off from the traditional magazine requirement of having a cover model smile into the camera, trying to establish eye contact.

Amid the changes and developments throughout Preview’s 10-year run, the one thing that has remained constant is the magazine’s role in the career commencement of young local talent: designers, photographers, makeup artists, stylists, and models.

Preview, in its 10 years, has witnessed and encouraged the growth of some of the industry’s most talented figures. Ace photographer Lilen Uy, moving back to the Philippines from Singapore, first showed her worth to the local scene in the pages of Preview. Paolo Pineda, considered one of the most talented among the new batch of photographers, first started taking paparazzi photos for Preview’s society pages. Likewise, hot young photographers Jake Verzosa and Mark Nicdao had their start with Preview and the rest of the Summit Publishing’s magazines. Makeup artist Barbi Chan had her first taste of public exposure doing editorials for Preview; now, Barbi is one of the preferred makeup artists of Maybelline. Stylist Luis Espiritu honed his talent as a consistent contributor in the late Nineties. Young designers on their way up –Gian Romano, Joey Samson, Kate Toralba –initially found some of their biggest fans in the magazine and its editors.

A Preview Of The Present

When Pauline Suaco-Juan took over the editor-in-chief position in mid-2001, Preview minimized the movie-star pandering, and began going back to its roots as a fashion magazine. Under Pauline, the staff brushed up on its fundamental purpose of creating a magazine that "pushes forward the brightest and most creative talents in the industry, yet is grounded enough to give practical, useful advice to readers." Four years after Pauline’s "re-rooting," and 10 years after it first hit the stands, Preview is more striking than it has ever been.

The June 2005 10-year anniversary issue is an explicit expression of Preview’s love affair with the fashion industry, and celebrates a decade-long legacy that started out with four earnest staffers in a muggy, computer-deficient office. Worked on over a three-month period (a month to sort out the concepts for the editorials, one month for production, and another for post-production and digital imaging), the June 2005 issue features 10 of television’s brightest young female stars on the gatefold cover – Bea Alonzo, Anne Curtis, Iza Calzado, Alessandra de Rossi, Mariel Rodriguez, Bianca Gonzalez, Olivia Daytia, Maike Evers, Kat Alano, and Cheska Garcia – with each star having her own stunning six-page editorial in the inside pages. The cover, photographed by top commercial photographer Jeanne Young, is evocative of Vanity Fair’s special-issue covers, both in look and in production. The cover shoot was a booking editor’s nightmare and a publisher’s dream come true. Reveals Pauline, "Artistas have very unpredictable schedules and we knew from the start that it would be no mean feat to get 10 girls to sit for our cover. Confirming the availability of our cover girls proved to be the most difficult part of the issue. The cover alone was shot over three days at Unitel. The only ones we were able to shoot together were Mariel, Bianca, and Olivia. Everyone else was shot solo, against a white background and composited later on."  

For this dream issue, Preview brought together, and in some cases brought back, figures that have been significant in its 10-year run. Ten teams composed of 10 different photographers, 10 stylists, 10 makeup artists, and different writers were recruited to produce the images and stories that compose the issue. Each team put their blood, sweat, tears, and their own creative panache in the inside spreads. The envelope was pushed; the distance, travelled. Chechel Joson even ordered props and headpieces from the US for the costume editorial she styled for Iza Calzado’s feature. Photographer Xander Angeles and stylist Luis Espiritu closed down a street to capture a lingerie-clad Cheska Garcia in a Pirelli-reminiscent fashion editorial. Fashion editor Rorie Carlos, creative director Vince Uy, and photographer Paolo Pineda flew to Bukidnon for just one day to shoot Olivia Daytia in a lush mountain setting.

Almost two years after I left Preview as fashion features editor, I renewed styling responsibilities with the magazine for a gypsy-inspired editorial with rising TV star Mariel Rodriguez. This editorial had me reuniting with photographer Francis Abraham who, for three years (1999 to 2002), photographed all of Preview’s covers. It took my team almost three hours to complete the hair and makeup for just the first set-up.

A Preview Of The Future

Until now, I remember my first-day promise to grow into the ideals of Preview. I stayed with the magazine for two and a half years but can’t say for sure if I fulfilled this pledge made to myself. All I know is that I grew, period. I discovered and became a big fan of local designers and local retail brands. I learned how to value makeup, iron clothes the right way, learned that tweezed eyebrows make a big difference. I learned that fashion is personal and open to interpretation – the magazine, more than a how-to bible, is a guide that gives options and alternatives in personality enrichment. I discovered confidence, creativity, style, passion, and even a little bit of myself.

I am not alone in my discovery. In its 10-year run, Preview has become mentor to many Filipinas who love, and have learned to love, the world of fashion. Through the magazine, women have earned a sense of self-awareness and fashionistas have been given a fighting chance. As Pauline Suaco-Juan attests, Preview will always be a window to the development of the fashion industry: "As the industry grows and becomes more sophisticated, we’ll be able to produce better stories and pictures for our readers. For sure, though, Preview will continue championing emerging talent and will always be the best resource on fashion, beauty and all things hip and stylish."

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Preview’s tenth anniversary issue is now available in bookstores and magazine stands. The 10-year anniversary celebration continues with the "mother of all parties" on June 24 at the Embassy Super Club.  

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