THE naked truth is that Bench is still the most desirable underwear brand this side of Calvin Klein and Victoria’s Secret. That was my assessment, days before the lifestyle brand’s denim and underwear show at the Arena in the Mall of Asia complex, when I learned that trailblazing transgender model Geena Rocero was in town to sashay down the Broadway-like runway.
How visionary of Bench, I thought. Geena has achieved what the equally gorgeous RuPaul’s Drag Race alumna Carmen Carrera has been petitioning Victoria’s Secret for a spell now: to be its first transgender Angel. While strides have been made to include transgenders in past seasons of America’s Next Top Model, no one from that show has strutted for major labels in the awesome way that Jean Paul Gaultier used Conchita Wurst or Andrej Pejic for his womenswear collections.
And then Coco Martin and his “circus act” dampened my spirits. How gender insensitive of Bench, my media companion and I decried. But I wouldn’t want to dwell on this anymore as much Hong Kong-style protests have since ensued. Disgruntled women everywhere can instead take comfort in Chanel’s latest collections, which celebrates women’s lib—only with a more haute treatment.
What also disappoints me, however, is the blatant gay-baiting that Bench resorted to in the portion featuring matinee idols/competent actors Tom Rodriguez and Dennis Trillo, who played lovers in the phenomenal GMA hot soap My Husband’s Lover. Apparently, leading gays on is becoming a disturbing trend as evidenced in Supernatural and Teen Wolf, where characters are about to engage in intimate scenes but would then pull back at the last minute. A most cruel coitus interruptus. If Bench can flaunt Jake Cuenca’s un-titillating butt (think Michael Douglas’s in Basic Instinct), maybe a little guy-on-guy kiss wouldn’t have hurt in an R-rated show, would it?
The 2014 Bench Denim and Underwear Show decidedly tempered its trademark raunchy and risqué DNA. Rising starlet Ellen Adarna played it sexy-coy, taking over the mantle of Katrina Halili and Aya Medel in shows past. No comedy queens a la Ai-Ai de las Alas and Pokwang did the funny-is-sexy routine. Pancho Magno served sex appeal in a virile platter, in the same vein that Jon Hall once did.
https://youtu.be/aPaZ1yjjrw4
While other segments suffered from uninspired styling and presentation, Michael Cinco’s Bench/Cinco collaboration provided the haute-couture cred the show incorporates every now and then.
“Undergarments are everyday essentials that people tend to take for granted. I wanted to change the mind-set and design undergarments that would make the wearer feel good about himself or herself, be it in the material, in the cut or color, and even feel confident being caught wearing just them,” Cinco said after the show. “Bench, as always, has been supportive and has given me enough leeway to come up with a collection of undergarments that are very sexy, very now and aptly complement the sheer, light couture gowns the Michael Cinco brand is known for.”
“It Girl” and Renaissance Woman Solenn Heussaff wore a takeoff from Cinco’s Seductress collection, which Queen Bey donned in one of her recent videos. “As with Beyonce, she wore a hint of bondage queen—only sexier,” Cinco cooed.
Cinco’s Pegasus collection was inspired by the mythological winged stallion. It is featherlike, wears like skin and oozes sexiness. “The Bench team knew my requirements and promptly complied. The international male models were flown in from New York mainly for my segment,” Cinco says.
So, if Michael Cinco were to come back as underwear, whose would it be? “Lukas Ridgeston’s.”
Hottest bachelors in the cosmos
Just a few days after the Bench brouhaha, Cosmopolitan magazine gathered bachelors of only one shape: the deliciously buff. While single dad Paulo Avelino (who gets more covered up as he gradually becomes more famous) was selected as the top bachelor, the banshee-like screams were reserved for heartthrob James Reid, who fell from the stage when he performed. (Careful, James, that fall might be a metaphor for your career trajectory.)
Teen superstars are the biggest draws, it seems. At Bench, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, though fully clothed, elicited the loudest cheers from the audience. The Kathniel tandem is the current toast, replacing the defunct Kimerald. Kim Chiu, I must say, gave supermodels a run for their money when she strutted in killer seven-inch stilettoes without teetering! For me, Andre Paras was the face of the night.
Incidentally, James performed a song by Chris Brown, someone who is universally known as not gentle with women. Last year, Aljur Abrenica sang “Blurred Lines,” a song with subliminal misogynistic lyrics. I wonder if the “fun, fearless females” even grasped the implications of these performances?
Like the Bench show, the better-styled and better-paced NSFW (not safe for work) Cosmo Bachelors show had a dearth of celebrities. Does this mean that stars’ appeals have dimmed? Standout bachelors this year were the pageant kings/models: John Spainhour, Vince Ferraren, Miko Raval, Sam Ajdani and Jun Macasaet. Let’s not forget Neil Perez, formerly known as Mariano Flormata Jr., the hot cop who won Mr. Philippines International. Nothing’s hotter than undressing a man in uniform.
Well, that’s it for now for shows with prurient intentions. In the next days, fashion shows that truly show fashion at its best will take center stage: Cary Santiago’s silver anniversary gala and Jesus Lloren for the Red Cross Ball. All’s well in the Philippine fashion front, it seems.
Image credits: Bench and Cosmo Bruce Casanova