HAPPY Father’s Day! This is the single day of the year that my hubby Dennis Valdes has all the limelight from our kids. Just like other hardworking and patient fathers, Dennis deserves all the attention and affection, at least once a year.
At Rustan’s Urban Man event, Dennis got more than he expected. Aside from a special Thomas Pink men’s shirt with his initials embroidered on the sleeves, he got a handsome Undone watch that he customized himself.
Undone is one of the customized experiences that Rustan’s brings to dads this month. The innovative watch is fully customizable, from case to dial to watch face. Undone CEO Michael Young graced the event and encouraged guests to see different selections of designs and details offered to create a one-of-a-kind timepiece.
Urban Man is a monthlong celebration by Rustan’s and RCBC. It includes special promos and perks for all the stylish dads. Rustan’s family executives Donnie Tantoco and Paolo Lobregat welcomed dapper daddies like Paul Soriano, Jaime delos Angeles, Tom Epperson and Kevin Tan to the launch. Dalmore spokesperson Adam Knox gave a short talk on Premium Whisky Appreciation.
Gift ideas for men
Among the new global brands joining the Rustan’s roster are Alea, classy and stylish Italian men’s shirts, and Adolfo Dominguez, a Spanish line of men’s apparel. The Urban Man lineup included Hackett for masculine ensembles and Pedro Del Hierro for more relaxed and casual separates. Customized three-letter monograms on the shirts are free of charge until June 30.
Other Father’s Day gift ideas available at Rustan’s are timeless Montblanc timepieces or an impeccable writing instrument from Visconti. For a more sensorial experience at the Men’s Department through June, dads are entitled to facials from La Prairie, grooming kits from Clarins and many more extras, like an overnight stay for two at The Fairmont with a minimum purchase using any RCBC credit card.
Travel issue
More on dads, there were lots of lucky fathers at the ninth volume of the Philippine Tatler Traveller exquisite affair. This latest issue features avid traveller Monica Urquijo as cover girl, on location in colorful Cartagena, Colombia.
Tatler execs Irene Martel Francisco, managing director, and Mia Borromeo, Traveller editor, were pleased to have more than 300 globe-trotting sophisticates enjoying “The Art of Luxury Travel” experience. Raffles and Fairmont Makati cohosted the event in partnership with Citibank. David Batchelor, Raffles managing director, joined Aftab Ahmed, Citi’s country manager, for the ceremonial toast.
The celebrated brands featured included The Bellevue Resort Bohol, Eye Society, Citibank, Areum, Ipanema, It’s ‘Bout Time, Mövenpick, Lexus, Willow Stream Spa, Regent Seven Seas and Oceania Cruises, Samsonite, SkyJet Airlines and Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort.
I was particularly focused on Globe Telecom and Jewelmer Joaillerie. The two renowned and gracious brands are also the generous sponsors of this year’s Red Charity Gala on Oct. 8 at the new Shangri-La at the Fort.
Also featured was Turkish Airlines. Their GM Ehran Balaban raffled off a biz-class round-trip ticket to any European destination, won by lucky dad Steven Sy of Focus Global.
Cognac pairings
From Tatler, I headed to Vask Modern Tapas & Gastronomic Cuisine to join hardworking dads like Sunny Ku and Joey Pineda of Rémy Martin Cognac. As a follow-up to its very successful One Life/Live Them launch, Rémy Martin Cognac held an enjoyable session of exquisite pairings of fine cognac and gourmet cuisine.
Stylish guests were introduced to the Rémy Martin “Perfect Serve,” with the highlighted cocktail, Rémy Cucumber Splash, the perfect complement to Vask’s new tapas menu. Among the guests were top achievers and great dads like James Deakin and Jonathan Crespi.
Proud pop
Among the proud papas this June is Roberto V. Ongpin of Alphaland. His son Julian is showing dad’s entrepreneurial DNA with his upcoming third offering at his JOYA Gallery at Alphaland Makati Place. Julian brings in a range of foreign artists alongside talented young Filipinos for them to display their artworks in his gallery.
Upcoming show “Chrysalis” brings in two Canadian-raised artists, Casper Kang and Jay Yao Campos III. The two will present their culturally relevant works in the show that opens June 28 and runs until Aug. 15. Call Lou Torres at 0917-5342464 to schedule a viewing.
Alphaland’s RVO also recently celebrated a new partnership between their Balesin Island Club and our preeminent flag-carrier airline, Philippine Airlines. The launch was held at The City Club in Alphaland Makati Place. With the partnership, Balesin can now be reached via Alphaland’s private fleet of airplanes and PAL’s chartered flights.
Frequent flyer perk
Better still, PAL’s Million Milers and Premiere Elite members can gain access to the island, the ultimate reward for the airline’s frequent flyers. The “Getaway Package” includes four nights for two with cash vouchers for food and beverages in exchange for 200,000 miles. For information, e-mail promotions@mabuhaymiles.com or reservations@balesin.com.
Balesin, to those unaware, is seven world destinations in one island. The villages include three Asian locales, Balesin, Bali and Phuket; and four European ones, Costa del Sol, Mykonos, St. Tropez and Toscana.
Let me end this Father’s Day special with a shoutout to one of the great dads out there, Jayjay Calero, past CEO of J. Walter Thompson. Jayjay was recently awarded the Tambuli Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Asia-Pacific Tambuli Awards. The awards are organized by the School of Communication of the University of Asia and the Pacific.
Jayjay was honored for his stellar three-decade career at JWT. Other awardees included Secretary Ramon Jimenez of the Department of Tourism, who received the Tambuli Crimson Award, Unilever India as Advertiser of the Year, MullenLowe Group as Network of the Year, and many others. Check out the full list at www.tambuliawards.asia.
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