Soldiers of style

Maybe, we’re going about this war on terrorism all wrong. Maybe, the desire for world peace doesn’t begin with invading another country and setting up a makeshift government in the name of Western-style democracy. Maybe, instead of trying to figure out George W. Bush’s real intentions, we can listen to three girls in funky multi—layers of clothing for whom a crackdown on terrorism starts with geometric haircuts and a resurrected piece of vintage Dolce and Gabbana.

The new purveyors of world peace are the three women of Amazingrace, the group behind hole—in—the—wall vintage thrift store I Love You. This stylish trio–Corinne Ching, Mimi Sanson, and Sharon Marasigan – believe that global peace is attainable as long as everyone "looks good". What the Powerpuff Girls do through cuteness, Amazingrace is trying to achieve through style.

If Amazingrace were to be believed, the progression to worldwide harmony begins with trash. Amazingrace collects cast—off clothing and second—hand designer pieces and, after some creative reworking, resurrects these as "clothes made with love". The love is then passed on through karmic means: look good, feel good, do good, and the good will eventually find its way back to you. Even Amazingrace’s concept of "looking good" makes way for cordial relations. Setting a style statement should be objective. Dress according to what you really want, and not according to trend or the dictates of society. Make a difference by celebrating your own, and everybody else's, individuality

This hippie—inspired path to peace may not fly in Kofi Annan’s General Assembly, but it’s one that’s not impossible when viewed in the (really) big picture. "Saving the world through fashion" does have its appeal when compared to political deadlock, toppled governments, and genocide (personally, I’m all for Amazingrace’s strategy); the world, after all will be better off with a glut of reworked vintage T-shirts than an overabundance of formaline—lined body bags.

Ystyle: One person’s trash is somebody else’s treasure. Whose trash do you girls go through?

Corinne: Our own personal trash, our friends’, thrift shops’, everyone’s trash…

Sharon: There’s also this old lady who comes to us with vintage stuff.

What do you say when people describe your store as a glamorized ukay-ukay?

Sharon: It’s more than that. It’s not just a vintage shop. A lot of our friends who are artists make stuff to consign in the store–Kiko Escora, Kate Toralba, Patty Eustaquio. Our store is a mix of everything and anything that is made from love…

How far would you go in remaking a piece of clothing?

Sharon: Really far.

Corinne: We consider clothes as our medium. We treat them like art. All the materials we use are part of this art.

Are there times when a piece is rendered unrecognizable from its original state?

Corinne: A lot of times. Actually, it’s usually like that.

Mimi: If I had a lot of time to work on a piece, I would go all—out with it and remake it completely. The thing is, not too many people can swallow what I sometimes do.

How do you feel when some people just don’t get it?

Corinne: Anything different or any change would need time for people to accept. But the good thing about being in Saguijo is that we get people from the music industry or the art community and they’re the ones who usually understand our clothes.

Do you really make an effort to be different from everybody else?

Corinne: I think it’s more like we make a conscious effort to do what we want to do. A lot of times, it just doesn’t flow along the lines of what others want.

Were you guys looking to emulate Imitation of Christ when you were starting out?

Mimi: No, not really. It’s just now that we’re realizing that we’re doing what they’ve been doing.

Corinne: We weren’t really thinking of anything like that at that time; we were just being resourceful. When we started with this, we had nothing but what we had. We had so much time, we had tons of clothes in our closet, and we had lots of friends who can make all these random things.

Do you guys work well together?

Sharon: We have our own talent when it comes to running the store.

Corinne: Sharon is the "head of heads". She takes care of marketing, graphic design, accounting, all the computer work.

Sharon: Corinne is the "head of hearts". She’s the social butterfly. She manages the store. She’s there almost everyday, talks to customers…

Corinne: Mimi is the head of beauty. She cuts fabrics and she also cuts hair.

Mimi: Yeah. We all have weapons. Sharon has her computer, I have my scissors, and Corinne has her phone.

Do you still shop at the mall?

Corinne: I haven’t shopped for clothes in a mall for almost six years.

Sharon: Rarely, sometimes the three of us just exchange clothes.

What are your favorite shopping haunts then?

Mimi: I like Evangelista.

Corinne: I get a lot of my clothes now from I Love You because people bring in different goods and we just get them for our own.

Whose designs do you admire?

Mimi: I’d like to collaborate with (Hussein) Chalayan.

Sharon: I love Ivarluski Aseron. I love his stuff. Yeah. Put that there.

Corinne: I like Yvonne Quisimbing and Patty Eustaquio.

How will you deal when I Love You starts to become too commercial?

Mimi: Then we would have to think of something else…

Corinne: But that’s our real mission, though, to have everyone look styled–everyone from the streets of Quiapo, Cubao, Makati, Alabang.

Sharon: We patterned our mission vision after Coke’s–the vision of the company is to have even the smallest store carry their brand. On our part, we want everybody, whether they be from Quiapo or Makati, to think of dressing up like how we think of dressing up. We want them to dress according to how they want to dress.

Corinne: Our mission is for style not to be dictated upon anybody. Our main philosophy is "Know who you are and that will reflect through your clothes."

Who is the love directed to?

Sharon: Everybody. We want everybody to say "I love you" more often and hopefully that will save the world.

Mimi: We want people to say "I love you" through fashion. Our tagline is "Fashion will save the world".

Sharon: And we opened September 11…

Corinne: The love all starts with the clothes.

Sharon: If you look good, you feel good, then you do good. If everybody looks good, feels good, and does good, then there won’t be anymore war. Makes sense, right?

Mimi: We’re soldiers of style.

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The I Love You store is located at the second floor of Café Saguijo at Guijo St., San Antonio Village, Makati City.

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