No, this isn't about the star-studded grand opening of the One&Only Cape Town, which by the way, is a fabulous hotel by any standard. With architecture by Ruben Reddy and Dennis Fabian Berman and interiors by Adam Tihany, it is sexy, modern and chic, and makes that grande dame of Cape Town, The Mount Nelson, look like its spinster aunt, creased but dignified, clinging defiantly to the glories of centuries past.
No, this isn't about the hotel at all, though in a roundabout way, it is.
I think the Department of Tourism should hire me. Though certainly not the DOT under the current administration. Yes, I'm being utterly political.
In the last 12 months, Philippine luxury retail has had quite a bit of coverage in WWD. There have been stories on Greenbelt and Ayala Land, Rafe, Melissa Dizon and Eairth, and players who have shaped the market like SSI and Anton Huang, Jappy Gonzalez, Ricco and Tina Ocampo, Juan Miguel Ongsiako, and Louis Vuitton. There was also a story on Adora I wish I'd written but my editor beat me to it!
Funny how life - and genetics - work. In 1953, a chemist and inventor by the name of Graham Wulff concocted a formula that became one of the most successful beauty elixirs of all time. That elixir was Oil of Olay, and it promised youth through effective moisturizing and mass-market distribution.
It's always nice to open a magazine and see three of your stories published in one issue. The latest WWD Fast, a biannual publication of WWD which focuses on jeans, sportswear and youth culture, carries three pieces by me - one on Eairth, the organic line by Filipino designer Melissa Dizon, one on Metropolitain Cosmetics, just about the best beauty and fragrance shop in Johannesburg, and one on my favorite African city, Cape Town.
Read them after the break.
The terno goes haute couture. Was Lola Karl inspired by Imelda Marcos?
To infinity and beyond...
MARTHA STEWART IN MANILA:
Martha Stewart may have been denied a visa to the U.K. because of her criminal record, but she's very much welcome in the Philippines. The first overseas edition of Martha Stewart Weddings will hit newsstands in the Philippines starting in September in a venture with Summit Media.
I've been waking up to some amazing views lately. This morning, in Cape Town, from the patio of my fabulous room at The Dock House - a sublimely chic six-room villa-type boutique hotel in what used to be the Residence of the Harbour Engineer in the mid-1800s - I woke up to this:
As far as homecomings go, Rafe Totengco's is pretty hard to beat.
Accessories designer Rafe Totengco, known for blending uptown sophistication with downtown edge, has taken his aesthetic to the Philippines.
"I was blown away with the reception I got from customers, who came in droves to congratulate me, shower me with affection and support," New York-based Totengco said about the launch party.
