You could’ve bought Bench underwear and/or jeans to receive general admission or upper box tickets. But those were gone soon.
You could know someone high up in Bench, or someone involved in production. Or you could be press.
The tickets said 7 p.m., but I knew I could leave my house at that time and still make it, having been to two Bench underwear shows in the past.
Surprisingly there was no traffic. We arrived at the Araneta Coliseum in less than 20 minutes and the big boss, Ben Chan, appeared at the floor around quarter to eight. There was much time to look around and take pictures.
Celebrity Bench endorsers came in full force: Teddy Boy Locsin and Gina de Venecia were also on front row, as were Celine Lopez and Ipe Cruz on the other side.
Gilda Cordero-Fernando came in a beautiful Pacita Abad tapestry sewn into a kimono wrap.
Dina Bonnevie caused much commotion when she arrived with an imported date.
Mylene Dizon was glowing with her growing exposed pregnant belly.
Let’s not forget the hundreds of other creative people, fashion designers, hair stylists, and makeup people who were there. I remember what Jessica Zafra said at the Bench underwear show two years ago, same venue: "If a bomb were dropped, we will all have bad hair."
Well, she’s sort of wrong cause we’d all be dead, but you get the picture.
Ben Chan rocks.
A small group of us were discussing this at Café Bola after the show.
I heard that Ben discovered the French acrobats that opened the show during a trip to Paris early this year.
"They’re actually Italian," said Patrice Ramos-Diaz who worked on outfits for Lucy Gomez and Kristine Hermosa. "One is a ballet dancer and one is a gymnast."
They were amazing to watch: two very attractive well-toned men doing erotic poses, suspended by very long white tela from the top of the Big Dome.
It was a very gay Cirque de Soleil kind of act and everyone loved it.
It was director Ariel Lozada’s idea to bring in the Japanese taiko drummers. They were so brilliant, I was thinking, "Dear God, why am I not Japanese?"
It was my first time, as well as most of the audience I imagine, to see taiko drummers live.
Everyone I spoke to thought they were hot, and did they have really toned arms or what?
Wendell Ramos was the first artista to come out, and the crowd roared at the sight of his bare-naked buns. One of the dressers told me his skin was practically flawless even without makeup.
The other flawless artista was Geneva Cruz who was so hot, all the girls and gays were saying. We all thought she was hotter than the other women. Who would have known the dark awkward girl from Smokey Mountain would turn out to be such a vixen?
Juliana Palermo, Francine Prieto, Rica Peralejo, Alessandra de Rossi, Jenine Desiderio and Kristine Hermosa also appeared separately, but sadly almost no reaction for the women.
"Everyone came to see the guys," thought Peewee Reyes of Meg magazine.
Well received were Marc Nelson and Richard Gomez. Some people thought Marvin Agustin looked hot.
Richard Gutierrez and Diether Ocampo had the most applause, but silence greeted Jomari Yllana.
"Buong Araneta, parang na-stun," said one observer.
Surprisingly there were a lot of Rainier Castillo fans, that guy from Starstruck with a thick head of hair.
She may have seemed out of place in an underwear show, but I thought Lucy Gomez looked like a beautiful santo, fully clothed amidst male models in underwear.
"Si Lucy kasi in Bench shows, even in the past, she’s always been the elegant muse," explained Patrice Ramos-Diaz.
"Our idea was to make her stand out also. I did a gown in nude. It’s a nude stretch tulle top that I covered with beads, then I made her nude tights na stretch tulle which I beaded. I just layered a panel of tulle over her legs."
On her head was an accessory made by Dutch designer Rene Coster.
Among the other designers were Ivarluski Aseron who did some wonderful things with tulle, as seen on stars like Juliana Palermo.
Complementing Bench underwear were whimsical puff sleeves by Joey Samson, and dramatic obi sashes by Patrice.
Additional designs were done by Puey Quiñones, Kenneth Chua and Ricky Vicencio.
Less raunchy than the last Bench underwear show, this year had no breast exposure from bomba stars like Aya Medel, or naked guys doing the Oblation Run. It was almost a PG event.
It did feature great video by the group of R.A. Rivera and Edsel Abesamis of Furball; haunting music by Melvin Mojica; lighting design by Sioko Matsumoto and set design by Gino Gonzales.
The creative styling was done by Michael Salientes, and hair and makeup by the team of Patrick Rosas.