Gifts from Home 1 : Chuvanness articles

Rofel and Ms. D sent some gifts through Eugene.

Chuvanness articles

I like fashion but there are only certain type of fashion that I love. One of those 'fashion' is Cecile Zamora van Straten. I can still remember how I discovered about Cecile Zamora. It was in a feature about her and Grocery in Inquirer Sunday Magazine. I still have a copy. Funny how she now writes for the rival newspaper. I was mersmerized by her cool, street style (apt how van Straten means 'of the street')with baby tees printed with Nora Aunor's mug paired with apron skirts made of some material she got from Divi (no more than 100 pesos she said then). The model they used could have been my neighbor, pretty in a quirky way. She made them wear those flatform loafers that were so uso back then. Basta, I was so stunned and shocked and mersmerized by her design philosophy. Gosh, I found a really cool designer whose work doesn't involve beading, long trails and fabrics in shining, shimmering splendour!

Then she did her first fashion show with those stenciled menswear inspired pieces. I think the director of that show is now her ex-friend. And Joan Bitagcol was so chica there. Even now I dream of using Joan. Everytime I have some fashion editorial shoot I request Joan. Sayang, malas talaga ako. Not that the other models were not good. Joan's face just suits my androgynous sensibility. And she's chica that's why. But back to Ms. Chuva, I also remember those puffy, Snow White-inspired pieces sa Fashion Watch. She got some flack with those designs but then compared to looking like some Dynasty matronics her deranged fairytale girls is more palatable. I think it's also that show where she had the Bella Flores print.

I never got to shop in Grocery (My parents wouldn't bring me and my cousins weren't hip enough. Super tsaka!) It was when she opened a store in Glorietta called Defect that I got my Kokur pieces plus plus. I still have those pieces back home especially those colorful track jackets na ala Adidas. I think I have like 6 of those in different combo. I always wished to see her in Defect. It did not happen. Only Noni Diza was there. Let me just say it is in Defect where I saw the controversial M7 perfume ad by Yves Saint Laurent. And I like the kurtina of the dressing room, so colorful. And what I remember also is Cecile's business permit picture that is pasted behind the counter. She's in full Burberry regalia, the pix that she calls her Japayuki pix, which she also used in her column pix for the first Chuvanness articles. Also didn't see her in Store for all Seasons. Yung blond na girl and Xtina yung nakita ko. Did meet Mich there but I don't know if she remembers now. I'm sad it has closed na. I hope in the future Ms. Chuvs reconsider again or maybe makes her own limited-edition line. She can sell it through the net.

I collect articles about her. Those in Cosmo where she's wearing a Hello Kitty kimono. The Mega Most Stylish issue where she's in Margiela Stockman sleeves, Westwood platforms and a complicated bustle. The Lucky Strike advert where she's in this white dress, probably by Jessica Ogden, and Margiela tabi shoes. Oh how I treasure the article she wrote for Mega's supplement magazine for the Young Designer's Competition. There she argued how we normal looking but fashionable pips need fashion to make us extraordinary versus this model who can get away with wearing a Gap tank and jeans. Of course, if I'm terribly beautiful I, and I suspect Ms. Chuva also, will still wear what we are used to wearing now. There's so many more about her that I read in the papers and all, like designers hating what she wrote. I don't know what happened to the two newby designers who said their career was destroyed because of what she wrote? hehehe!

So what is my point really of this whole shebang entry? I don't know. I guess one can be touched by somebody you've just known from the papers, from the blog, from the internet. I haven't met Cecile Zamora Van Straten but she made me realize that it's not a bad thing to be different, to be 'weird', to be a sore thumb, to be an outsider, to be baduy, to be sosyal, to be both at the same time, to be real with what you like and feel and do.

I guess you realize by now I'm such a big fan.