'L'enfant terrible' lives on
“Would it be in poor taste if I came wearing a noose?” my friend Paolo asked. Fortunately, he nor anyone else showed up as Alexander McQueen to Preview maga-zine’s annual Best Dressed Ball, this year a tribute to the brilliant British designer who ended his life February this year, just days after his own mum had passed.
To come McQueen-inspired was no easy task— the man was famous for beyond-the-ordinary creations, impossibly constructed works of art that were concep-tually daring, if not contro-versial, and naturally quite expensive. The challenge resulted in highly creative and resourceful interpretations of a McQueen motif, or poorly made knockoffs that wouldn’t last an evening, much less a season.
It was a visual feast, to say the least. Republiq, the swank new club at Resorts World, was filled with ghosts from runways past, with avian headpieces and other strange things Lee liked to decorate heads with, from umbrellas to ships. Michelline Syjuco wore her own horned headband while Daryl Chang and Juana Manahan-Yupangco rocked the skyrocketing sculptural coifs.
Preview’s fashion editrix Daryl, looking like a Japanese cyborg in a silver Cary Santiago dress, says her favorite outfits of the night were Anna Canlas’ sequined drip dress by Kermit Tesoro and Leeroy New, Pauline Juan’s crystal pagoda frock from Michael Cinco, Kimi Yap’s textured suit by Eric delos Santos, and Boop Yap’s dystopian black dress from Jerome Lorico. Associate editor Eunice Lucero, darkly cute in Joel Escober and thigh high boots, admits that the whole Preview gang looked out of this world, but one who really caught her eye was Puey Quiñones, who “never fails to make a statement.”
One of the Best Dressed awardees, Garvos Garovillo of Everywhere We Shoot loved Cheetah Rivera’s cheekily spot-on take of McQueen’s Fall 2009 collection. Cheetah topped off the John Herrera-designed houndstooth dress with an electric fan grill and didn’t skimp on the clown lipstick. His theatrical outfit would have delighted the designer — unlike some others, who murdered him.
Among those who came in the real McQueen were jewelry designer Joyce Makitalo, who wore a gown from his last collection, and Best Dressed belles Aivee Aguilar-Teo, Gretchen Barretto and Kaye Tinga in elegantly understated dresses, proving that McQueen wasn’t just all about the weird.
