Now showing at Rustan's Gallerie: Vivienne Tam, Emilio Pucci, Vera Wang, Helmut Lang & co.
Imagine passing by a stretch of beautifully dressed window displays. You crane your neck as your car whizzes by, wondering if that dress in the window — separated by a thick pane of paneled glass — is as soft and floaty as it looks. “What’s the label?” you ponder over lunch as your colleagues discuss market prices or, more likely, whether Shia le Beouf was hotter in Transformers or Eagle Eye. “More importantly,” you think, as your friends calculate your lunch bill, “how much does that dress cost?”
Well, wonder no more. Rustan’s, under its new president Nedy Tantoco, has a lot of exciting treats for shoppers. The Gallerie, the posh, immaculately put-together space in the middle of Rustan’s Makati ladies’ floor conceived by designer and Rustan’s creative director Inno Sotto, is where people can view the department store’s latest acquisitions. “Here, people can actually experience the window display,” says Sotto. Modeled after a museum, the selections are carefully curated by Sotto himself.
“The concept is based on a gallery, where people can view items worthy of inspection in a space designed to highlight the pieces,” he explains.
For the launch, Sotto set up a fashion show at the Gallerie, inviting Rustan’s shoppers to view the newest labels in the company’s portfolio.
On view were Emilio Pucci dresses in the label’s signature print, available in shift dresses and mod mini dresses and crowd-pleasing caftans; Diane Von Furstenburg frocks in her signature wrap style as well as floaty satin pieces, along with Working Girl-inspired wrap tops in deep jewel tones; sharp Helmut Lang jackets and pants; and more than a few chic offerings from the likes of Nicole Miller (lots of richly hued dresses), A.B.S. by Allan Schwartz (ombre cocktail apparel was popular), Laundry separates (cute printed pieces) and Les Petites (charming resort wear).
Some of the pieces that stood out were striking accessories. Most of the women couldn’t take their eyes off the bags but my attentions were strictly drawn to the dazzling bejeweled cuffs by Mia and Alexis Bittar.
After the show, more than a few shoppers rushed to the nearby sales staff ready to place orders on their favorites. The bestsellers? “Pucci, of course,” Sotto noted. “And those Pollini and YSL bags. Oh, the women went mad for them.”
