You may catch him prancing among the other crepuscular creatures, night-visionaries that prowl Makati’s absinthe-driven haunts, imbibing copious amounts of that elixir called life. He’ll no doubt be thrashing his feathered haircut to the torrent of beats called electro, swaying and swooning along to the seductively raspy, sometimes dirty vocals of Fischerspooner and Peaches, their tronic-buzz cutting up your senses. He might be wearing makeup, he might be looking totally ’80s. Glam rock ’80s, to be specific, with the stress on glam. Marilyn Manson is one of this 22-year-old’s favorite style mavens.
You also may have seen his work as a stylist flaunted in the editorials of fashion rags – he loves elemental contrast, and frames eye color with a barrage of feathers, or cloaks bare skin with a blood drop of petals and a twist of hard metal. When it comes to clothes, he creates clichés and mixes metaphors, pushing them to their limits. School-girl-turned-Paris-Hilton-joins-the-Droogs. David- Bowie-slathered-in-mercury-sails-to-the-moon. Right now, he fancies electroclash, which, like its spiritual predecessor punk, is more about an attitude than a particular sound or style. "It’s fun, sexy, wild, humorous and loud! It’s where futurism/modern or MOD, as they call it, meets retro." Gian explains.
He once showed me a shirt that transformed into a bag by way of ingenious zippers. "I was just experimenting last night, and I came up with this," he said fantastically, as if stylish little cobbler elves visited his work studio late at night. I own a skirt he made that looks like your typical gothic schoolgirl pleats, but once in action the skirt takes on the origami form of a Japanese lantern in bloom, all geometric and sculptural. The element of surprise lies in the detail.
He got into designing in high school, when he started making clothes for friends. Three years ago, he hooked up with the first Milkwear, then located not at the mall but somewhere along Rockwell’s sidestreets, a store that featured more than 19 young designers and their initial uncensored creations. "I got into styling because an editor friend of mine invited me to style for her magazine, and she liked it and so we did a few more shoots for that magazine before it folded up. I came back doing editorials just early this year and have been going continuously since." Now, his stuff can be found at Christina Daniac’s store 1 of a Kind in Glorietta. Or on the bodies of fashion funksters and freaksters as they dance through another gilded night.