The birth of Eden

A year after its conception, a new maternity clothing line was launched at the Manila Polo Club. The brainchild of commercial model, former TV host and mother Bianca Araneta-Elizalde and businesswoman, social entrepreneur and founder of L.A.T.C.H Anna Aquino-Dee, Eden is a line of chic maternity and nursing clothes designed to take a woman through pregnancy and breastfeeding with style.

Due to limited options available locally, the idea of designing a maternity line was something Bianca was interested in pursuing after her first pregnancy in 2006 but it was only in 2009, after meeting Anna, that she decided to push through with her plans.  

She said, “I needed the right partner. Someone who understood the business, had knowledge in production and shared the same passion I had.”

Bianca is in charge of the clothing designs. Being both staunch advocates of breastfeeding, Bianca and Anna knew what they wanted to create in a maternity line.

The brand offers pregnant women clothes that are contemporary, sexy and fashionable and will fit and flatter their ever-changing form through all trimesters of pregnancy including transition and nursing. Being an environmentalist as well, Bianca injected some eco-friendliness into her line by making use of factory surplus fabrics and designing pieces that are convertible and can be worn multiple ways. She added, “Our designs grow with your body so you can maximize the use of each. They are good investment pieces at an affordable price. What makes it even better is that the first collection has a lot of basic and timeless pieces that work well with what you already have and can be layered and accessorized to suit your mood.”

Eden is tailored to offer extra support and comfort where needed so each garment is created using superior fabrication to withstand the wear-and-tear of daily use and constant stretching.

Bianca shared, “My vision is to design clothes that stay true to a woman’s pre-pregnancy style. I also envision to make pregnant women still look and feel fabulous during this precious journey in their lives. The clothes need to feel and look good so that they would want to wear them even after giving birth.”

(Check out www.eden.com.ph or www.shopeden.multiply.com. Select pieces available at Aura Athletica, R1 Level Power Plant Mall in Rockwell.)

If the shoe fits...

HSBC launched its latest credit card promo for the HSBC RED MasterCard at the Quezon Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La. For every approved HSBC Red MasterCard, you can get three pairs of shoes from Charles & Keith for free! New cardholders will receive three claim vouchers, which they can use to redeem a pair of shoes from Charles & Keith worth P1,249 for every minimum expenditure of P3,000 on their card within a specified transaction period. Each claim voucher contains a transaction period for qualified purchases, which should be presented together with the charge slips dated within the specified transaction period of each claim voucher.

At the event, guests were transported into a shoe lover’s heaven when the venue was styled to resemble a Charles & Keith store, with racks filled with close to 100 pairs of shoes.

HSBC also presented five glamorous women with different shoe interests. They were businesswoman Alexandra Rocha as Shoe Shy, model and radio DJ Raya Mananquil as Shoe Setter, bag designer Rocio Olbes as Shoe Diva, fashion designer Stacy Rodriguez as Shoe Biz and Tessa Prieto-Valdes as Shoe Artiste.

The HSBC Red MasterCard promo with Charles & Keith will run till Dec. 31.

Scents and sensibilities

Topper Schroeder is a fragrance marketer whose own elite lines of scents and body care products include Gendarme and Gendarme V (for men) and Carriere (for women). In 1983, Topper was just a consumer on a quest to find cologne he could wear with pride — but without irritating skin or asthmatic reactions. After searching department stores and men’s counters everywhere without success, Topper decided to develop that dream cologne for his own use.

What Topper developed was born with an ID number, but without a commercial home or name. Eventually christened by longtime partner Bob Adels, who translated Topper’s desire for a macho French moniker into Gendarme (French for policeman), “the arresting new scent for men,” this unique cologne gradually grew its own corporation.

After home-testing his ability to enjoy Gendarme without allergic irritation, Topper began to wear it everywhere and evolved from an inadvertent walking billboard to the first fragrance marketer from the music business — a personable maverick in an industry dominated by multi-national corporations.

Jonathan Risco, now the company president, discovered Gendarme at Nordstrom’s. A few years later, an opportunity came up for him to work with Topper Schroeder.  As administrator for the company, he increased the brand extensions and got personally involved in the creation of product. Gendarme EDP, Green and Gendarme SKY are three of his outstanding contributions. His marketing expertise has allowed Gendarme to grow from a California “cult classic” to an industry bellwether.

Being president of Gendarme Fragrances has allowed Jonathan to travel a lot. Recently, he had his very first trip to the country and he said it would definitely not be his last visit to Manila to check out the Gendarme boutique in Rustan’s. Jonathan added that to this day, they do not advertise on print, television, or billboards and they sell through word-of-mouth. Jonathan met some people from the press and explained what the perfume was all about while soothing sax music was played by Vince Lahora.

With this fragrance’s instant popularity, its unique scent has also garnered admiration from women, removing its limits to being just the scent for men. Celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Hugh Grant, Dustin Hoffman, Rod Stewart, Bill Clinton, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Penny Hardaway, Debra Messing, Sharon Stone, Janet Jackson and Brooke Shields have been using it as well.

Gendarme Cologne for Men’s signature scents’ top notes are made of lime, orange blossom, lemon, basil and berbena blended with mid notes of lavander, lemon balm, ginger flower, and finally finished off with base notes of lilac, jasmine, tonka and bergamot. Aside from the Cologne, Gendarme’s fragrances for men include variations such as Grabazzi by Gendarme, Gendarme Eau de parfum, Gendarme Recharger and Gendarme Sky.

(Available in Rustan’s Makati-Grandmall, Shangri-La Plaza, Gateway Plaza Mall, Robinsons Place Essenses, Alabang Town Center and Ayala Center Cebu.)