Luxe be a lady

When everyone hits the main thoroughfares of Manila on the way to work, it won’t be the traffic that’ll get their attention, but the face of Anne Curtis staring down at them from the recently-placed Freeway billboards dotting the metro. The celeb’s had a long love affair with fashion that’s only recently reached a fever pitch. The Oz-born actress grew up dressing like a surfer chick. “I used to be a laid-back kind of girl,” Anne admits, “all flip-flops, T-shirts and jeans.” Things changed when she turned 20 and took her stylish choices by the reins and decided to revamp her wardrobe. “I started dressing up and experimenting with clothes.”

These days, those clothes happen to come from Freeway, purveyor of all things cute and cheap. The trendy mass-market label has updated its stock with new goods from young designer Mel Orlina. The La Salle College of Fashion grad, who has a few courses in fashion from Central Saint Martins in London under her belt, took over the latest collection from Freeway. Inspired by French cinema, in particular the saccharine-sweet magic realism that was Amelie, Mel fashioned smart, tailored pieces infused with her signature sweet-chic sensibility. Of note are natty high-waist pencil skirts with large buttons, which appear to be nautical in inspiration, a Hepburn-esque (circa Breakfast at Tiffany’s) coat with a darling oversize bow trim and a pretty printed empire-cut dress.

“The person who wears clothes from this collection is a girl who likes to be pretty but is not too fussy about it,” explains Mel. “She’ll probably mix it with her own clothes and style it her own way.”

For this collection, Mel selected from the moodier side of the color wheel, investing in fabrics of pomegranate red, young grape, emerald green, sea teal, with bits of black, white and gray thrown in. She touches on slightly French details for the silhouettes, claiming as inspirations Vionnet (“For all those crazy folds!”), Coco Chanel (“For her infinite femininity”), Marc Jacobs (“For his eye for color”) and Vanessa Bruno (“For her chic-ness”).

Among Mel’s creations, Anne harbors a particular fondness for a few key pieces. “The knitted dark blue vest,” she says, “represents the hippie in me. I love it!” Along with a simple black dress and coat, which she considers classy and elegant. “These are pieces that you end up wearing again and again,” she adds. “These are no-fail clothes that I think everyone should have.”

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Freeway is located at Glorietta 1, SM North Edsa, Robinsons Place Manila, Robinsons Place Novaliches, Robinsons Galleria, Robinsons Metro East, Festival Supermall Alabang, SM Southmall, SM Super Center Sucat, SM Pampanga (Annex), Abanao Square-Baguio, Alimall-Cubao, SM Bacoor, SM Bicutan, SM Lucena, Pavillion Mall-Laguna, SM Megamall, SM Marilao,  Limketkai Mall-CDO, Ayala Cebu, Alabang Town Center, Edsa Central, SM Iloilo, SM Dasmariñas, SM Fairview, Market! Market!, Chimes Mall-Davao, SM Batangas, SM San Lazaro, TriNoma. Check out www.freeway.net.ph for more details.                  

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