Hermès opens first watch corner in Rustan’s Makati; eclectic music radio opens

The legendary French luxury brand, Hermès, has opened its very first watch corner in the country at Rustan’s Makati Silver Vault.

Hermès, dahlings, is, of course, the prestigious French high-fashion house established in 1837, and today specializes in leather goods and accessories, as well as watches, scarves, ties and other luxury goods.

The new store displays an eye-popping selection of assortment of watches, from the fashionable Kelly watches to the complicated movement watches such as the Dressage Perpetual Calendar.

Tall and très charmant Jerome Souman, GM of La Montre Hermès Southeast Asia, and Lyn Chan, marketing and communications manager, jetted in from Singapore to be très visable during the formal launch, dahlings.

No less than the oh-so-gentlemanly monsieur Souman toured me around. I guess he detected that moi is a watch lover. He patiently explained the watches on display, even giving me a short history of each of the designs. Noticing the Hermès watch I was wearing, he told me, “This one you have on belongs to that certain style and design which is incorporated into today’s latest Classics category.”

The Hermès famille were originally Protestant Germans who settled in France in 1828. In 1837, Thierry Hermès first established Hermès as a harness workshop dedicated to the noblemen of Europe. Later, his son Emile Maurice Hermès took over the company, which catered to the elite of Europe, North Africa, Russia, Asia and the Americas, dahlings, with bags designed for riders to carry their saddles with them.

In 1935, the “Kelly bag” was introduced. Two years later, the Hermès scarves were issued and were sold out in a week’s time. Then, the Hermès silk tie became a sensation. Ditto with the house’s first perfume, Eau d’ Hermès.

In 1956, international celebrity Grace Kelly, who had just become the new Princess of Monaco, was shown by Life magazine carrying the “Sacá depêches” bag in front of herself to cover up her pregnancy. The public began calling it the “Kelly” bag; Hermès adopted the name and it became hugely popular.

Moi was even surprised to know that a Hermès scarf is sold somewhere around the world every 25 seconds. Millions have been sold since it was introduced.

Today, the latest Hermes must-have for women is the “Birkin,” named after British actress Jane Birkin. This bag has taken our country’s socialites by storm regardless of its astronomical price tag, palanggas.

In the watch section, a personal favorite is the H Hour collection. But my all-time favorite is the Cap-cad with the exchangeable orange, white and beige straps. Love it.

As Vogue magazine says, “Hermès is a boutique where you don’t just buy… you invest.” And USA Today reports, “Hermès is Old World luxury in the New World.”

Check out Hermès watches at at Silver Vault and Hermès Boutique the second floor of Rustan’s Makati, where you’ll find the best of Hermès for men and women; and at Greenbelt 3.

Unique credit card

Robinsons Retail Group has introduced the Robinsons Cebu Pacific MasterCard, a credit card that gives you points to fly as well as shop for free.

MasterCard’s latest value-driven card gives cardholders one fly-and-buy point to fly for free and shop for free.

Leading the star cast were MCC executives led by president Riko Abdurrahman, senior VP Peaches Cuenco and VP for marketing Aileen Vallesteros.

On stage were my palangga, Robinsons Retail Group president and COO Robina Gokongwei-Pe, Cebu Pacific president and CEO Lance Gokongwei, VP for marketing Candice Iyog, director for passenger sales Arlene Tena, and manager for holidays and partners Sandee Pedrajas.

New music channel

Hey palanggas, there’s a new kid on the block rocking the airwaves.

Radio High 105.9 has gone on test broadcast since July, carrying its exclusive slogan, “Not for everyone,” dahlings. It plays an eclectic mix of jazz, new age, Latin/Brazilian, standard and occasional retro, plus new fusion forms such as neo-swing, popsanova and even high-brow classical music.

The smart brains behind this new concept is none other than Francis Lumen—the wiz behind jazz radio pioneer Citylite 88.3 and Joey@92.3 Manila.

But the programming scheme that makes the station unique is, take note, palanggas, there’s only a maximum of four commercials per break.

“With only four commercials, people will likely stay on and listen to the station longer throughout the day,” said Lumen. “And our sponsors get the mileage they deserve because with only a few messages vying for the listeners attention, there’s higher recall for their product.”

Radio High 105.9 has such gotten the support of awesome namedroppable global brands such as Jaguar, Maserati, Citibank, Air-France KLM, McDonald’s, Luxuria of Robinson’s Land Corp. and Ferrari.

Check out Francis.lumen@ayr.ph; visit at Silver City, Frontera Verde Drive, Ortigas Center; call 0918-9238883 or 7061580. You’re in for great fun and chill-out sounds, dahlings.