While international labels are still reeling from the global “retail apocalypse,” Suyen Corp. and its “adaptable, multifaceted and enterprising spirit” is keeping it afloat, flourishing and helping shape the future of Philippine retail.
At the Bench Fashion Week Holiday 2018 presentations at the Bench Tower in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, over the weekend, the corporation’s impressive portfolio of brands Bench, Human, Kashieca, Cotton:On, American Eagle, Aldo and Jins Eyewear unveiled their respective collections.
Like when it started, the BFW thrust follows the shopper-friendly “see now, buy now, wear now” philosophy: what is seen on the runways can already be bought in the stores. As directed by Robby Carmona and styled by Noel Manapat for the runway, the clothes and accessories were shown as they should be worn in real life.
The brands’ core sensibility is all about practical, casual and informal dressing. So the items showcased were mostly shirts, jeans, dresses, jackets and shorts. Fashion designers Ivarluski Aseron (Day 1, Friday), Dennis Lustico (Day 2, Saturday) and the Bench Design Awards 2018 finalists (Day 3, Sunday) unleashed the made-to-measure wow pieces.
Cotton:On, the brand from Australia, showed campus staples dominated by denim. Ripped, raw-hemmed and stitched, the denims can easily be matched with bold and basic tops. All in all in keeping with the brand’s “trends of the moment but always with our own twist” aesthetic.
Kashieca (a portmanteau of founding sisters Karen, Shiela and Camille Santos) maintains its “simplicity of life, youth and what it means to be feminine” look. The ensembles (ruffles, prints, frills) are for the twentysomething young professionals, new mothers and grad students to indulge themselves in.
Edge, adventure and living alternatively with fun built-in informs the Human mantra. The pieces are simple but humorous, suitable for someone who want to dress just a little differently but not too rebelliously.
Human x Proudrace, on the other hand, is for the radical dresser. Pat Bondoc and Rik Rasos, the duo behind the cult brand, showed eclectic and eccentric ensembles. Deconstructed, quirky, multifunctional, the pieces will bring attention to those who seek it.
Hip-hop dancers underscored the flexibility of American Eagle’s jeans. The pants conformed to the almost acrobatic movements of the dancers, with no tear ensuing. “So say good-bye to words like ‘plus,’ good-bye ‘extended,’ good-bye ‘big and tall’—we don’t speak that language. Our jeans are inclusively sized to fit every single unique body,” boasts its web site.
To close Day 2 of BFW, the megawatt celebrities who are Bench ambassadors ignited the runway in varying degrees of sexiness in Bench/Active wear. But before the Kapuso and Kapamilya stars came down, model-athletes flexed their rippling muscles, all sweaty and glistening doing workouts while flaunting the newest clothing additions to the Bench family. To be a Bench Body, after all, requires hard work, discipline and loads of sex appeal.