W Magazine and Imelda Marcos

I finally met W’s features director, JamesReginato, yesterday morning when I took them to see Mrs. Marcos at her apartment. The day started at her apartment– it was a little “meet-and-greet” moment, and as Mrs.M was talking to both BenH and JamesR, BorgyM arrived. I haven’t seen Borgy since November, but when I saw him, I got depressed. While everyone over the holidays gained all that unsightly weight (hello built-in flotation device), *why, even my own DH who NEVER gets fat, gained a little weight!* there was not an ounce of fat AT ALL on Borgy. I had to stop this self obsession about my “muffin top” look. I’m becoming reaaaalllly annoying to myself and to others around me. Ben, the top photographer, said “If you say you gained 10 lbs and say you are fat, then you must’ve just been 10 lbs. too thin before”. Ok, yeah, I should begin to look at it that way *haha ok I’m becoming delusional*

All that fat talk aside, the shoots went remarkably well. There were actually so many of us at the shoot. The W guys must’ve been perplexed somehow. But here’s the explanation: the thing is, Mrs.M loves people and she enjoys being surrounded by people. She gets into a very festive mood when there are many of us, so the more people around, the better it is for her. And also though, the people who were at the shoot each had their own responsibility– right down to the security detail of Mrs.M. But we promised JamesR that tomorrow (rather, today) he’ll get the chance to sit down and talk to her without any of us around *gulp, nuisance?*
Us= YvetteRI (Religioso), SherleC (Imelda Collection), DaphneP (my partner!), thebaghag Mrs.T , JamesR (W), ImeeM, and ChocRD (Religioso) *speaking of Religioso, Imee wore Religioso for the W shoot, while Mrs.M wore vintage Hanae Mori*

I’m not going to post photos of the shoot itself, so just wait for it to come out in W (I was told in April). And make sure to buy a copy! But I can already tell you that I am very excited to see it. From the polaroids that Ben took, we were all oohs and aahs (gaping mouth and all). My brag-worthy moment was when I had to sit in for Mrs.M for polaroids. So now, I have polaroid “portraits” of fat ol’ me, taken by the master photographer himself 😀 And he signed it for me!*ahh let me enjoy my little pathetic moment of glee teehee*. DaphP also got her polaroid signed too 🙂

Oh and before I forget, here’s one of BenHoffmann’s work for W Magazine. This was taken from the Art Issue (November 2006). Ben took the portrait of James de Givenchy. Beautiful!

We had a short lunch, but we were enthralled by more stories told by Mrs.M during her days as the country’s First Lady. Again, I reiterate that every sit-down opportunity we have with her, we just get so captivated. She is just charm personified.

Apres lunch, BorgyM and JamesR got to talk quite a bit. Borgy also was the de facto stylist of Mrs.M, and according to her, “Before, my children ordered me around, and now, it’s my grandchildren ordering me around”, while laughingly pointing to BorgyM. Anyone can see that they have quite a remarkable relationship together.

And since there hasn’t been a show of bags lately, here’s one for you all. The white Goyard croisiere of Mrs.T makes an appearance at the shoot, while hanging around next to JamesR’s tote.

We all then had dinner at Tower Club, where also invited were Dr.TeyetPascual, LuluTinio, DingDiaz, ChitoAntonio, AndrewGan, MarivicVasquez, MichaelM (brother of BorgyM), DaphneP, Yvette and ChocR, MarkC, SherleC, and BryanB. Million peso question of the night: Where was Borgy? *As always, no one knew :D* I got to sit briefly at the head table before I moved over to what I love to call the “kids” table (such is always the case when there are Chinese banquets… the more esteemed guests get to sit with the host, while we get relegated to sitting with the kiddies *but in the end, we always preferred to sit with the kids– kids have better food haha!!*).

The night ended early (around 10pm) because everyone was just plain tired. Today’s agenda: Mrs.M takes W guys around town 🙂

P.S. Bag related notes: The YSL Muse seems to be a keeper in the YSL collection. I am not sure how much the prices here at the Gbelt 4 boutique are, but I am thinking they’re in the 76K range. And wooh hooo, Bottega Veneta has announced its sale! So get going 🙂 As for Louis Vuitton’s coming collection, I read that they would be reintroducing the Mini Monogram (not Mini Lin) line in the hot pink and lime green *I have yet to get confirmation*. Also, the Monogram Mini Lin collection will be including colors like blue and cream. Hope that helps!

More bag talk soon, I promise!!