Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i VOGUE PHILIPPINES

F irst, there was torrential rain, then there were landslides that followed. Numerous scheduling conflicts persisted. But, after several months, the Vogue team finally found themselves on a crisp December morning trekking their way up into Tinglayan in the Kalinga province to visit with the storied tattoo artist Apo Whang-Od Oggay. “When visitors come from far away,” the Living Treasure tells Audrey Carpio in the Butbut language, “I will give them the tatak Buscalan, tatak Kalinga for as long as my eyes can see.” For the multitude of people who have had the citrus thorn mark their skin, either motivated by curiosity or as cultural pilgrimage, they are indelibly linked to a part of Filipino culture. There is something about that history, drawn on skin, how the corporeal surrenders as canvas…

Release the cinch and tug it low, the rise (or should we say the fall) of the low waist takes us back to the noughties. Alexander McQueen's seminal “bumster” first seen in 1995 has been revived this season in trousers that rode perilously below the hip. Torso-baring bravado were also seen at Dion Lee, Sandy Liang, and Miu Miu where the brands solidified their ‘90s reference with knicker bands peeking out of low riding skirts. If a little concealing is needed with all the revealing, take cues from the runway of Michael Kors where hip-hung skirts were paired with oversized tailored jackets. From minis, midis to maxis, there's something incredibly arresting about wearing a trend with body confidence.…

FEATURE SOPHIA'S* FIRST SEXUAL EXPER IENCE WAS WHILE ON HOLIDAY IN BARCELONA. He had a piercing mouth and anti-capitalist opinions that were as sharp as his blue eyes. She was 33. “He looked at me like I had two heads or something when I told him I was a virgin. It was so unusual for him.” It was her first one-night stand and the first time she began to understand how the pursuit of sex could be for fun, for pleasure, for curiosity—and not necessarily for love. Barcelona was followed by other travels and a short stint living abroad as an expat. Living and dating abroad exposed her to a wider range of cultures and personalities. She discovered the buzz of being desired and pursued. “Sometimes people just want to…

W hat stories do we tell when we speak of the moon? You might begin from the gems adorning the breastplates of warriors, monarchs built in the name of jewel-encrusted crowns, or commandments carved in stone, representing the first written rule of law. Luna, the moon's name in Roman mythology, is materialized in each crystal she has shined her light to. In every tale, she makes herself known as the prime witness to the rise of civilizations, the establishment of cultures, and the story of our beginnings. “Crystals and rocks are definitely not new in incorporating into our spirituality,” Jen Bautista, founder of Manila-based crystal shop Clear Space Manila, observes. Unpacking both personal discovery and history, she says we are “innately guided believers” from the moment we started creating cultures,…

MUSIC TRANSITIONS ARE NEVER EASY. Imagine being a successful artist, finally making it, only to turn around and leave it all behind. That's exactly what former shoe designer Vero Faye Kitsuné did. “My resume looked amazing on paper but then, that's it. It didn't make me happy,” she says. A decade ago, Vero went by the name Ivy Kirzhner, designing her luxury footwear collection out of her New York studio. Vero had dedicated close to two decades climbing the fashion ladder, starting with an internship at Kenneth Cole, followed by stints working for brands including Steve Madden and Dolce Vita before launching Ivy Kirzhner. Her brand quickly caught the attention of buyers, editors, and stylists alike. “I was designing for that really confident woman and the rock star of my…

MANY MUSES By GINO GONZALES Photographs by SHARIF HAMZA Fashion Director PAM QUIÑONES Styling by NOEL MANAPAT Makeup and Hair: Eric Maningat, Jayson Santos, Jorge Marquez, MJ Perez. Models: Andriana Coronel, Cathy Jenkins, Dom Corilla, Ica Dy, Leila Ibañez, Martha Raagas, Moss Laygo, Queenie Salmon, Yaofa Dela Cruz. Art Director: Jann Pascua. Producer: Anz Hizon. Photographer's Assistants: Aaron Carlos, Artu Nepomuceno, Choi Narciso, Shiela Mae Gonzales. Stylist's Assistant: Renee De Guzman. DIGITAL NATIVE By JUSTIN FERNANDEZ Photographs by LAWRENCE DE LEON Sittings Editor TICIA ALMAZAN PAGE 42 TEAM CREDITS: Makeup and Hair: Caitlin Nusche. Photographer's Assistant: Selwyn Tungol. Shot on location at Another Man's Treasure, Jersey City, New Jersey. EXTRA LARGE, PLEASE Photographs by MUN KONG Fashion Editor DARYL CHANG PAGE 52 TEAM CREDITS: Makeup and Hair: Manisa Tan using Keune Haircosmetics…

Ana P. Santos Writer, PLEASURE AS PRINCIPLE “Beauty is the confidence in knowing that the sexiest part of my body is my backbone.” Artu Nepomuceno Photographer, NEXT OF SKIN “Beauty is the substitute word to a feeling we fail to describe, the appropriate and absolute razzmatazz to a magnificent accomplishment, the beginning and end of a life well lived and story well told.” Melissa Levy Photographer, SHAPE SHIFTER “Beauty is untethered, and unbound. It is the dark guttural underbelly of humanity, it is the the first light of the day as it meets the rising eye, beauty is the grief of a lost loved one. The unfurling of a new leaf. Beauty lives in the silos of the subconscious mind and in the echo chambers of time. Beauty is the…

OPINION THE NATIONAL DRESS BEGAN WITH ENTIRELY FOREIGN MATERIAL. But such is culture. It takes stuff from everywhere and proceeds to own these borrowings and pickings from here and there. The pineapple—a bromeliad, which traveled from a dark green, antediluvian space between Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay—arrived in Las Islas Filipinas no earlier than four centuries ago, likely somewhat later. More likely: it was source of Vitamin C on the long galleon voyages from Acapulco. Bromelia ananas was a valued transpacific passenger, part of the merchant's and adventurer's survival kit. Perhaps 200 years ago, a woman—had to be a woman—saw past the curious, many-eyed fruit and wondered, finally tried, then finally succeeded in stripping fiber from the leaves with prickly edges. Extracting the nearly gossamer filament and imagining it becoming cloth,…

AS FAR AS SOCIAL PLATFORMS GO, WE FIND OURSELVES IN AN INTERREGNUM. Those turning away from “traditional” social media by deactivating their Twitter accounts or making their Instagrams private are in no rush towards the next big thing. To some, the Metaverse stands for a lively, expansive realm encompassing everything from Roblox to Pokémon Go, containing infinite possibilities for fantasy. To many others, it's a distant, off-putting sphere. Most of the world still lacks the connectivity—or will—to make VR feasible. Click into the wrong corner of crypto-powered Decentraland or Facebook-owned Horizons World and you may well find yourself in a ghost town, where a handful of avatars roams a glitchy activation, long abandoned by its parent company. According to the Wall Street Journal, only nine percent of virtual venues hosted…

W hen Melissa Levy first met Kim Jones around half a decade ago, there was instant creative chemistry. It was a photo shoot in New York that Levy was styling for SUIT Portrait Series, a book that featured the women who shaped the life and career of designer Dion Lee. Both women were part of a list of 50, which also included Vogue editors Christine Centenera and Margaret Zhang. “I remember being like ‘who's this woman? She's amazing’.” Levy, a photographer and contributing editor for Vogue Australia, says of Jones. Though it was a fast shoot, they would randomly bump into each other at industry events over the years. “I remember more recently she just invited me out after in New York and it was Fashion Week,” Jones recalls. “She…

IN THIS ISSUE MANY MUSES Créatures De Mode 2000, saw his design entries, he exclaimed, “Nakakaloka ka! Parang di ka kay Danilo nanggaling! Saan mo kinukuha mga idea mo? [You're unbelievable! It's as if you didn't come from Danilo! Where do you get your ideas?]” The piece that eventually made it to the competition was a jacket created by mitred layers of horsehair and zippers. It set the tone for an aesthetic that would eventually be associated with him… the subdued coloring, atypical use of tailoring elements, an emphasis on form, and a contemporary aura tempered by a subtle nod to the past. INSPIRED Past 2010, model Jo Ann Bitagcol crossed over to photography. Her studio was beside Joey's old atelier in Palm Village, Makati. The two gravitated and bonded…

RUNWAY With a referential nod to the golden era of fashion, the surprising silhouette of the season is one that defined the 1920s. Drop waist dresses are a nostalgic touch. See the season's fresh takes: Batsheva delivers a summer-ready number with puff sleeves and a tiered billowy skirt finished in a lightweight eggshell. Carolina Herrera makes corporate tweed playful with a fit-and-flare mini dress that's more beach than boardroom. Meanwhile, hips descend at Toga with a form that is boxy and away from the body, a shape to try when one wants to segue into the trend.…

“A ng ganda-ganda [It's so beautiful],” Inno Sotto muttered to me as he clapped with gusto. “It's so poetic,” I replied. By the end of Joey Samson's presentation for TernoCon 3, the audience was so moved that there was hardly a dry eye in the theater. Entitled “Ang Mga Pag-Ibig ni José Rizal,” the 16-piece collection included men's clothing. It was, by far, Samson's most compelling work. Aside from his signatures, he imbued this collection with historicism, a devotion to crafts, and ultimately a love for country. “Because I was the only designer doing men's clothes [for TernoCon 3], I felt that it had to be a whole story,” Samson explained. “I had to connect the women and men together as a collection; not merely as an afterthought.” The collection…

NOTIONS OF BEAUTY HAVE NEVER BEEN AS DIVERSIFIED AS IT IS TODAY. This truth is the jump off point for the second global call for PhotoVogue, a platform described as “connecting artists, community, and commerce through Condé Nast's global creative networks.” Alessia Glaviano, head of global for PhotoVogue, believes that never before has expressions for beauty been more diversified, and representation more far-reaching. “But there is still so much to do to dismantle the codes of a culture that celebrates unattainable and stereotyped beauty standards,” she says. “It is very important to move in the direction of a more inclusive representation that accounts for the uniqueness and complexity of every human being who builds his/her/they identity through an unrepeatable journey, which is made of and influenced by countless factors—undoubtedly not…

“When my customers come to me, they like to cross the threshold of some magic place,” Gabrielle Chanel said in 1935. “They are privileged characters who are incorporated into our legend.” This legend originates with Chanel herself, the designer whose transformation from a poor orphan girl to fashion's most formidable name is an enchanting and enduring industry tale. Chanel loved to tell tales, often embellishing backstories about her family that disguised a bleak past—that after her mother died, her father, an itinerant peddler, deposited her and her sister at an orphanage and never came back. Understanding that there is no tale more tantalizing, no origin story more inspiring than the truth itself, the House of Chanel naturally draws upon the legend that is Coco Chanel when crafting perfumes and building…

T he remote village of Buscalan, home of the famed last mambabatok of her generation, has never been this accessible. Sure, you still need to endure the 12 hour-body-numbing drive from Manila with its city gridlock to the winding mountain roads of the Cordilleras, swerving around landslide debris and oncoming trucks in dangerously foggy conditions. But the dirt path from the turnoff in the municipality of Tinglayan, Kalinga—clearly marked by a sign that proclaims Welcome! Whang-Od Buscalan Tattoo Village—is now paved over, reducing hike time by over an hour. What's left is a strenuous climb through the rice terraces that a reasonably fit person can conquer in 40 minutes. Modern conveniences haven't completely transformed Buscalan, yet. There is still no cell signal, and only a scant number of residents have WiFi.…

VIRTUAL VISAGE “angel” eye crystals and CGI-effect highlighter. American brand BakeUp goes further with blended integration, offering physical products like a shimmering “eye veil” that have equivalents in augmented reality, as face-filters, and virtual reality, as avatar-compatible wearables. Where overall trends toward “bad beauty” channel hedonism, excess, and play, “unreal beauty” takes as its inspiration the clean, frictionless, and algorithmically-sorted experiences of the digital world. It's more about creating recognizable characters or high-impact effects than it is about expressing one's innermost feelings. It is closer to the wide eyes and perpetual blush of e-girls, as spotted at last year's GIRLGAMER esports event sponsored by Charlotte Tilbury, than the slept-in eyeliner and clumped-up mascara of indie darling Beabadobee, whose crunchy, heartfelt love songs speak to a competing desire for realness in…