Going Bananas (and Pumpkins!) in the Big Apple

NEW YORK, New York — It is the beginning of autumn in New York, and the transforming colors of the leaves on the trees on Central Park reflect another transformation in the city. The city that doesn’t sleep is a little less perky nowadays, with the city’s main financial artery hemorrhaging. To be sure, the US government has stanched the flow with a $250-billion gauze compress. But except for Filene’s Basement, most of the department stores and boutiques in Manhattan were not a beehive of frenzied shopping despite the markdowns and clearance sales.

And surprise! There are now pedicabs or tuktuks (the Thai version) along swanky Fifth Avenue! On the sidestreets of the Philippines, these non-motorized tricycles are called sikad-sikad or sidecars. The NYC version is not half as colorful as our own pedicabs, and they’re also pests to buses and cars, but hey, who says the First World can’t learn from the Third World when traffic is on a standstill? The last time I was in NYC (in 2004), there were no tuktuks on Fifth Avenue yet, but there were karitelas with fat and handsome horses around Central park.

With more and more people losing homes and lifetime savings, suicides are up, according to a newspaper report. But Sister Agnes, a Filipino nun I met on the long flight from Manila, tells me that the silver lining to the economic crisis is that more and more people are renewing their faith and going back to Church.

Oh-bama!

The person of the hour here, and in Philadelphia (where I visited my sister Dr. Geraldine Mayor) is none other than Democratic presidential candidate Barrack Obama.

His posters are everywhere, and his face is on most magazines — from Rolling Stone to Men’s Health to Time and Newsweek. At the Rittenhouse Park in Philly, I saw a woman selling Obama dog sweaters to raise funds for his campaign.

If it isn’t an Obama poster or magazine you see on the corner stand, it’s a pumpkin, Halloween being a few days away.

But I went bananas amid the Obamas and pumpkins in New York because there was a retail store that was bridging the gap between savvy and savings.

“Banana Republic is all about affordable luxury,” Banana Republic creative director Simon Kneen tells me at cocktails at the Hundred Acres Restaurant in Soho after the presentation of his Spring-Summer ’09 collection (more on that in a coming issue of Allure, a Sunday section of The STAR). A Banana Republic outfit could be paired, points out Simon, with both Chanel or Old Navy.

Because life doesn’t stop even if the wheels of the economy slow down, people still have to look and feel stylish, for who says that you can’t wear stilettos and a tailored suit even as you put your shoulder to the wheel and get the economy going?

‘Accessible luxury’

The Spring Summer-Collection is a delight because it is very wearable in the Philippines, where light fabric and pastels rule. Simon Kneen’s debut collection revolves around soft silhouettes, tactile finishes and a pervading sense of ease. A quiet palette of ecru, slate and pastel hues serves as a meditation on color, while sportswear shapes are elevated to everyday luxuries when rendered in lush, fluid materials.

Kneen’s Spring-Summer look includes relax-fit trousers, pantaloon shorts and airy knits that fit close to the body. Languid, breezy pants and oversized shirts in ultra-light soy silk are the epitome of casual chic while sculptural pieces — from the origami pleat shift to the dolman sleeve knit dress — make a statement in modern elegance. Balancing the architectural with the practical, each piece is truly an accessible luxury.

“We’re moving away from the safari look and going into the city,” says Rosemary Young, the Salma Hayek-lookalike director of marketing and public relations of Banana Republic. Interestingly, Rosemary spent two of the happiest years of her childhood in the Philippines, as her father, a nuclear engineer, was with the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

Banana Republic, which celebrates its 30th year this year, started as a purveyor of military surplus clothing and safari adventure wear. It has since evolved to becoming a store for stylish city wear. Its first franchise stores are in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines (So who says we’re not in the fashion loop?)!

Recession or no recession, Banana Republic is continuing full speed with its amazing journey. “There’s no slowing down in our expansion,” says Rosemary. “There’s still a lot of opportunity when you strive to have the best quality.”

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