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penshoppe's revision

uh-oh we just saw an ad on ETC for "project runway philippines" and realized that the finals were today at 3pm at SMX. and we missed it. uh-oh. sorry about that... it's just that it's a saturday. and saturday is "me" day. personally, we don't even think of leaving the house. we like to wake up late. take a leisurely breakfast (more like brunch). watch "the nanny" on the hallmark channel. go online. facebook. lurk. blog-hop. pay the bills. watch the chismiss show. then uh-oh before you know it, gabi na. you get the drift...

yesterday was the first time we attended philippine fashion week ever since it moved to SMX four seasons ago. we were invited to a special dinner-show presented by penshoppe. it was an exclusive, by-invitation-only, sit-down dinner for just 150 people. according to the invitation, we will be "witnessing penshoppe's transformation." hmm what's that about? the show was titled "revision." hmm what was penshoppe up to? well, it was a very soshal affair with the food catered by margarita fores, complete with flowing veuve clicquot. look at the fancy table setting:
and the meticulously arranged place setting:
we're not kate torralba, but we were happy to be seated next to her (check out her fun blog, what KT did, on stylebible.ph!). in between courses, penshoppe presented its four trends for 2010. starting with ethnic:
then country:
then gothic:
then futuristic:
it was at this point that we got a little distracted by one of penshoppe's image models, victor basa. he's smiling!

SOS (save our shoes)

October 22, 2009, 3:15 PM

SAVING A NOTORIOUS SHOE COLLECTION IN THE PHILIPPINES

By M. Amedeo Tumolillo and Robert Mackey

As Filipinos brace for the possible arrival this week of a third powerful typhoon — just weeks after two earlier storms killed more than 850 people and destroyed infrastructure and crops worth hundreds of millions of dollars — a museum curator in Marikina, a suburb of Manila, is doing all she can to preserve one symbol of the country’s history: hundreds of pairs of shoes once owned by the former first lady Imelda Marcos.

According to Dolly Borlongan, who runs Marikina’s Footwear Museum, flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana last month did possibly irreparable damage to about 20 of the 800 pairs of shoes Ms. Marcos donated to the museum before it opened in 2001. A museum security guard waded into knee-deep water to save the rest of the collection.

Ms. Marcos amassed her infamous shoe collection during the reign of her husband, Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the Philippines as a dictator for two decades until he was driven from power in 1986. Weeks after the Marcoses fled the country that year, Fox Butterfield reported in The New York Times that people visiting the Malacanang Palace in Manila were shocked by evidence of the family’s opulent lifestyle. Mr. Butterfield wrote:

"Representative Stephen J. Solarz, Democrat of Brooklyn, who was on a visit to Manila, said the most striking sight was the dozens of racks of shoes laid out like a department store. Mr. Solarz, head of the House Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, said after a tour of the palace today, 'Compared to Imelda, Marie Antoinette was a bag lady.'

"The comment by Mr. Solarz, who left Manila today, came after he viewed the palace basement, which is stocked with hundreds of dresses and 3,000 pairs of shoes for Ms. Marcos. On one shelf were four identical pairs of black-and-silver shoes from Charles Jourdan. Arrayed above and below them were rows of footwear with labels like Gucci, Ungaro, Beltrami, Pancaldi and Walter Steiger."

Over a decade later, our colleague Seth Mydans reported from Manila that the first estimate had been high and Ms. Marcos had in fact left behind just 1,220 pairs of shoes — along with 508 floor-length gowns, 888 handbags, 65 parasols and 15 mink coats. But no matter what other indulgences were uncovered after the dictatorship ended, the shoes became the most enduring symbol of the greed, corruption and decadence of the Marcos era.

Still, there are Filipinos who remain entranced by Ms. Marcos. Some of them turned out to help her celebrate her 80th birthday earlier this year. Others make the pilgrimage to the Footwear Museum in Marikina. Ms. Borlongan acknowledged that tourists often visit the museum to sample the “flair of Imelda” rather than to celebrate her efforts on behalf of Marikina’s shoe industry.

The fascination with Ms. Marcos is not limited to the Philippines. In New York, a new musical called “Imelda,” opened this month at the Pan Asian Repertory Theater, featuring the song “3,000 Pairs of Shoes.” A review by our colleague Anita Gates appeared in The Times under the headline: “The Woman (and the Politics) Behind All Those Shoes.”

In 2007, David Byrne — a performer known not just for his music but also for his distinct stage outfits — appeared at Carnegie Hall with a new song cycle called “Here Lies Love,” described on his Web site as a look at “Imelda Marcos meditating on events in her life, from her childhood spent in poverty and her rise to power to her ultimate departure from the palace.”

At the Footwear Museum in Marikina, Ms. Borlongan said that the remaining 780 pairs of Marcos shoes are being elevated to prevent further damage from flooding that could be caused by the storm expected to hit the Philippines on Saturday.

The shoe industry is a key part of the economy of Marikina. The banner across the top of every page of the suburb’s Web site, boasting that Marikina is “Home of the World’s Largest Shoe,” is an obvious clue. According to Ms. Borlongan, the Marcos collection is important mainly because of the attention it draws to local shoe-making. “The shoes of Imelda do not represent her flair,” she told The Lede. “The shoes represent the contribution of Imelda in promoting the shoe industry of Marikina.”

The recent storms have also led to the cancellation of an annual shoe festival in Marikina. The event, celebrating Marikina’s importance to footwear production in the country, was scheduled to occur over a few weeks, starting in October. It typically attracts roughly 50,000 visitors and includes parades, fashion shows and design competitions, Mayor Marides Fernando said. She estimated the cancellation would mean a loss of $2 million, and that overall the city had been hit with roughly 10 billion Philippine pesos, or $214.6 million, in damages.

For the shoe museum, which has been closed for a month and is scheduled to reopen on Oct. 26, the festival’s cancellation will mean fewer visitors, further cutting into ticket sales, Ms. Borlongan said. But given concerns about more basic needs — housing, infrastructure repairs and more — the absence is not registering as particularly pressing.

“Everybody’s busy trying to restore their area, restore their lives,” she said. “Nobody’s really thinking of the parade right now.”

(article from the lede: the new york times news blog

good night

Guess that's it for the night.. We're still at dinner.. Looks like we'll miss (or missed na) the 25th anniversary of make up for ever at amber lounge and the rest of today's Philippine fashion week shows at SMX. Sorry, puey, we missed your show :-(

Dinner at elbert's steak room

8:40pm made it in time for our dinner! just a small get-together at elbert's
steak room to celebrate the release of Louie Gonzalez. He was
languishing in prison for a year even after it was proven beyond a
reasonable doubt that he didn't commit the crime. O sha let's eat and
just talk of pleasant things :-)

RJ Ledesma book launch

8:15pm the last of the autograph seekers were queued up at RJ's book
launch, which was held at national book store, also in glorietta 5.
The book is called "I do or i die" and RJ implores you to buy the book
to help him pay for his baby's diapers. Congrats, RJ!

Convergys/bench

8:10pm convergys/bench launch at the glorietta 5 atrium. We don't
really know what they're launching but we wanted to see their image
model enchong dee--he is such a cutie pie!! Where are you, enchong??

Firma greenbelt 3

7:35pm Aren't these two of the most chic-a guys you know?? Ricky Toledo (in red pants) and chito vijandre (in green pants). we love their style, so fun and fearless! (parang cosmo girl haha) we hopped, skipped, and jumped to firma at greenbelt 3 for the launch of the jewelry collections of Kristine Dee, paul syjuco, and Michelle syjuco. Lovely (but expensive!) pieces!

Paul smith

7:05pm Paul smith at greenbelt 5 (business as usual!) is having a sale and the launch of two exciting things: a new fragrance called Paul smith man, and a collaboration with evian water. Cute bottle! The scent is now available, but the water will be sold at the store and in select hotels and restaurants starting in November.

event marathon

there are so many events tonight. we wonder how many we'll actually get to attend. as we speak, there are already several events happening around the metro. hmmm shall we turn this into an amazing-race-like marathon? and have a blog-a-thon via iphone? let's see how long we last. matira ang matibay!

après coco avant chanel

just got home from watching the by-invitation-only screening of "coco avant chanel" at gateway mall—yes, all the way in cubao! which isn't bad if you live in, say, bahay na puti. took us over an hour to get there from makati to catch the 6:30pm cocktails (we were an hour late). ok lang, the manadarin oriental suites was hopping. bright lights were swimming from every corner with cameramen getting soundbites from the guests. ooh, there's madame imelda in all-black! how cute, the guests came in their black-and-white chanel-inspired outfits. the pearls! the camellia! the tweed! the stripes! the gold chains! the quilted bag! the little black dress! even the guys cooperated (even though it wasn't requested in the invite)... that's because such is the power of coco chanel. she was a maverick, an innovator, a true original. try and think if there is any other female designer whose name can instantly conjure a look, a style, a detail—and can be interpreted in your own way at any point in time, from the 20s up to today. ladies and gentlemen, coco chanel...

mango 10th anniv

last night was mango's 10th anniversary event. they called it a black & white ball and requested guests to come in urban glam attire. and your favorite mango piece if you have one. so we wore a black mango raincoat from last season. this has been put to good use in the last few months. we got to NBC tent by 7:15pm. good crowd forming. had our picture taken on the photo wall...
viewed the framed photos on the wall...
went inside the main room, had wine, ate pika-pika, schmoozed, listened to the band...
and sat and waited. and waited. by 8:45pm, we were bored. so we left. and missed the show. we wonder how it went. sometimes it doesn't pay to go on time...

TF's TL (true light)

about a month ago, we had a shoot with fanny serrano. we love TF, as he is fondly called in the business. he is one of the most pleasant people to work with. just don't cross him by being late or unprepared or unprofessional. as he was touching up our model with gloss, we thought, wow that is some shiny gloss—her lips are actually glowing! almost like a light is being shined on them! but as we took a closer look, we realized there actually WAS a light! check out this lipgloss, there are tiny little bulbs in the wand to light up your lips so you can retouch in the dark (plus it has a sliver of a mirror on the side of the tube so you can see yourself)... o diba?? pwede pang blackout! or sa sinehan para di ka madapa. the brand? what else but fanny serrano! the gloss is called true light and is available at all watsons stores. check out his complete cosmetics collection and for a complete list of where to buy them, go to his website fannyserranocosmetics.com

nooka na lang...

last thursday evening we went to the establishment at the fort to attend the launch of nooka watches. not familiar with nooka watches? neither were we. read all about it here. we promised the organizers that we'd drop by because we were getting all sorts of text messages bragging that the "genius" behind nooka, matthew waldman, was going to be there. never heard of him either. so how was it that an hour and a half after we arrived, we found the man himself sitting at our table, quaffing piper-heidsieck and snacking on mini-croquettes? the native new yorker was telling us all about his trip to korea before flying to manila. how he ate sautéed silkworms, and even showed us the video to prove it! an adventurous chap, this one. he didn't want to eat adobo—"too boring." but he was hungry! hence, the croquettes! he was also thirsty and asked for vodka on the rocks with a splash of cranberry. soon it was time to give away some nooka watches! here are some of the pretty people who won! squares all! (envious much??)
stephanie!
joey!
claudine!
charina!
divine!
jenni!
alana!
jane!