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By Libay Linsangan Cantor, Contributor
Early this month, The Podium Mall at Ortigas
proudly opened their brand new section called Markati Palazzo, Metro
Manila’s newest fashion address. The cozy cul-de-sac type area at
one end of the fourth floor is the new location of new fashion
apparel and accessories shops created and run by all-Filipino
designers and entrepreneurs. Rare fashion finds and stylish target
marketing characterize what Markati Palazzo is all about. And when
we say fashion, it doesn’t mean your usual off-the-runway type
clothes sold at exorbitant prices, with designs that you’re not
sure you really want to wear at the office or in a party. This new
fashion address breaks those awful truths and non-aesthetic
impressions.
As the name suggests, the area is a lodging
place hosting current trends and innovative styles—a “market,”
if you will, where goods are displayed within rows of stores
(palazzo is Italian for rows of buildings/apartment flats). The
stores in the area are Bobon by Puey Quinones, Hot Pink Lingerie,
Limb, Navarro, Radar Pridewear, Laura, Rugged Door, Stella, Central,
Wisdom and V.
A rundown of the shops would give ideas to
achieve this goal:
Bobon carries unique semi-formal style gowns
with playful prints and long-sleeved polos for men with hand-painted
designs. Puey definitely puts the “hot” in haute couture.
Lingerie lovers will definitely love what Hot
Pink has in store for them. Flash the words lace, see-through, red,
black, silk, satin and sexy in your mind, and you get the idea of
what their store seduces to offer. The people behind the seduction
is Kaye and Carlo Garcia.
For those who want to take their fashion style
more out of the limb, so to speak, Limb embodies that out-of-the-box
appeal in their apparel, where clunky cool accessories and crazy
prints give extra color to colorful personalities. The avant-garde
RTW designs are by Dimple Lim.
Stella carries several trendy day-clothes for
those who want to jazz up their usual office garb. They can choose
designs from Louis Claparols, Eric de los Santos and Maud.
Navarro (by Tina Navarro of Ilaya Couture fame)
and Central (by Hazel Santos and Catherine Cavilte) also serve this
purpose, with the former carrying not just apparel but colorful bags
from Tinsley.
Casual daily wear is what Rugged Door (by
Jeffrey Rogador) and Wisdom (by Gail Angeles) specialize in, with
designs for men and women who want to reinvent the word “smart
casual” in a more intelligent and trendier fashion.
Laura focuses more on jewelry, watches, bags and
even home accessories with designs that span interests among various
generations. Young and old alike could use the elegance and the
trendy style of the jewelries, necklaces and other accessories they
carry. The person behind the style is Laura de Guzman.
Meanwhile, V (by Jane Mendoza) flaunts their
ruffles and frills in their fashion outfits that any bona fide young
(or young at heart) kikay would proudly wear.
And when it comes to being proud, perhaps Radar
Pridewear embodies a unique kind of pride in Markati Palazzo, as
they are the first store in the country to openly target the lesbian
community with their shirts, tank tops and polo creations. Yes, for
the first time, a store creates apparel designed for women who love
women.
Making waves
At Radar, there are shirts that carry designs
pertaining obviously to the lesbian life and lifestyle, such as
“Baby D” or “Barbie with a buzz cut” and several designs
inspired by the popular US cable TV show about lesbians called The L
Word. They also have a somewhat cowboy and/or military-inspired
designs of jackets and polos.
But not to alienate the non-lesbian female
crowd, Radar also has cool and hip shirt designs that anybody could
wear, sans Sapphic slogans.
Their general design concept carries the
philosophy of creating masculine-type designs that compliment the
female form. And depending on the woman who would wear it, their
fashion sense is adaptable to send differing messages—as
androgynously hot, beautifully bi-curious, flirtatiously hetero or
pointblank seductive. In the end, the wearer makes the greatest
fashion statement which Radar compliments.
Definitely, at Markati Palazzo, the young and
young-at-heart are invited to discover their own style—and a
myriad of fashion finds awaits all.
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