Since its inception in 2010, “Glitterati,” at The North Wing of SM City Cebu, has become the fashion tradition we look forward to the most year after year.
The annual fashion show that features Cebuano teens has served as the runway debut of our town’s bright young things, many of whom have gone on to model and win crowns, as in the case of Miss Tourism International 2013, Angeli Gomez, who was among the teens in the show’s first run.
While “Glitterati” has helped model agents find their latest talents or the media discover their next cover boys or girls, it has also introduced to the mainstream young, up-and-coming fashion talents.
This year, in “Glitterati 7: Electric Dreams,” three female fashion designers, Pearl Arandia, Lian Lacandalo and Pinky Magalona, crafted their interpretations of the neon and denim theme.
Boxy silhouettes
Arandia presented a color-blocked collection, pairing various shades of denim with solid hues. She created boxy silhouettes for Sean Quitevis, Pietre Dakay and Mikio Kuribayashi, and dressed Alessandra Gruet in a denim gown, and Heather Marie Lim in a ruffled number.
Lacandalo had the Beach Boys and tropical house music playing in her mind as she designed pieces for Liam Sacal, Luis Miguel Moro IV, Daniella Baroud, Kirsten Dawn Mata and Laura Darza. She said, “I wanted to portray a resort vibe and used embroidered floral patches to add femininity to a strong and vibrant neon and denim combination.”
Pop culture
As with her collection for this year’s “Glitterati,” the 26-year-old evidently draws most of her inspiration from pop culture. She realized she wanted to be a fashion designer after seeing Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady,” she said.
“The Ascot scene is still fresh on my mind after all this time,” Lacandalo said.
Inspiration came much closer to home for Magalona. “My mom is a dressmaker and my father a tailor. I started to operate a sewing machine when I was 7 years old,” said the designer, who got her big break when she became the first woman to win the Cebu Young Designers’ Competition in 2011.
’80s inspiration
For “Glitterati 7,” she turned to the ’80s for inspiration, which was a decade or two before her models were born. Still, Veronika Rivera, Chloe Young, Selly Heo, Daisy Zambrano and Jack Zambrano all did the collection justice.
Magalona designed her collection with the personalities’ ages in mind, dressing the girls in crop tops and flirty silhouettes with flashes of neon straps and bold neon socks and headbands. “I wanted them to feel comfortable and just have fun while walking on the runway.”
Mission accomplished because it looked like they did.
