A fairytale story
Cinderella is not a little princess anymore. She’s stayed up past her bedtime, snuck out of the house and partied ‘til dawn, declared a major and fallen in love, and, with her Prince Charming, has produced a few well-spaced children who continue the fairy tale. Cinderella is now a ripe old 60, a venerable sextagenarian. The queen of retail still lives the dream that was started in 1948 — and this is an oft-repeated bedtime story itself — when Florencia G. Coronel, a talented seamstress, began a children’s dressmaking business inspired by her neighbors’ reactions to the embroidered party dresses she would make for her daughter. Starting with four costureras and a cutter in their own home, she began exporting to America, Germany, parts of Europe and Australia, her merchandise always proudly bearing the label ìMade in the Philippines,î so much so that the country became known for its intricate children’s clothes.
The Cinderella label was available at the better (but now defunct) department stores of the time — Aguinaldo’s, Berg’s, Francis’, and Valleson’s — and in the ‘60s, the first boutique was established along EDSA. Cinderella was the first boutique that carried imported and local brands for young men and women. Florencia’s eldest daughter, Therese Coronel-Santos, managed the retail outlets and traveled abroad five times a year to keep abreast of the latest international fashions. Expanding to carry the franchises of several imported brands, Cinderella in the late ‘70s opened the first free-standing store of a single brand in the Philippines — Esprit, in the former Parksquare Makati.
When I was a tween emerging like a pupa into fashion consciousness, Cinderella, with its three floors of clothing heaven, was the place to go for hip brands and funky separates. Despite the explosion of foreign and local competitors in the past decade vying for the affections of Manila’s developing sense of style, Cinderella has kept up with the times in its own way, never changing the essence of the brand while staying connected to their particular market. ìThe design of the items is very important — we know our customers do not want ‘haute couture’ items, we understand their needs of wearable RTW, great quality with the perfect price,î says Marielle Santos-Po, the store’s third-generation owner. The 28-year-old Santos-Po is in charge of growing Seventeen, the trendy teen brand, and C Women, for young women embarking on their careers.
ìCinderella has paved the way for a lot of young designers and entrepreneurs wherein our store was the venue for a lot of startup businesses,î she adds. Celebrating six decades, the company is revisiting some of its past themes as part of its corporate social responsibility. In 1991, they launched possibly one of the first environmental campaigns, the still well-known ìWork with nature, not against it!î In 2005, they came out with ìBe true to your nature!î This year, Cinderella relaunches ìWork with Natureî in partnership with Bantay Kalikasan’s Save the La Mesa Watershed Project. The brand has created a ìWork with Natureî limited-edition eco-friendly shopping bag, part of the proceeds of which will go to Bantay Kalikasan. Now, with the always fresh-faced Kristine Hermosa as the company’s latest endorser, and a recently held young designers competition, Cinderella is stepping into the future in a very sensible pair of glass slippers.
