I said yes to this campaign because it’s a project that’s really close to my heart. “Love your Family” is the thrust of the SM Store for Holiday and for me, family will always be the utmost importance and it always comes first. I am very close to my parents, my mum, up till she passed was one of my best friends, she always kept telling me (because I am very headstrong and opinionated), that gentle reasoning and compassion was always better than being right (still struggling with that one till now, to be honest. Haha). And she planted the travel bug in us. We have been traveling as a family since we were kids with our mum packing all our stuff in. When we grew older, and Dad opted to stay, it would be the three of us, mum, Andre and me going to all these new and exotic places but this time, it would be us styling and packing her wardrobe instead. My mum was one very kind and chic lady, I really wish you could have met her.
Dad on the other hand is very chatty, engaging people and strangers with all sorts of conversations and he LOVES to crack jokes, to the point that he has a repertoire on repeat, ready for anyone willing to listen. Haha. His devotion to family is extraordinary. I remember him driving us to school every day at the crack of dawn, he refused to get a driver, wanting to send us to school himself. I can’t even manage to drive myself to Power Plant sometimes and I live in Makati. Lol. I adoooore my dad, because he’s intrinsically a very good and honest person and because I was always daddy’s little girl. He’s turning 70 next, next week! And we we’re throwing him a party! The second reason why I said yes to this project? I thought it would be a great present to make Dad a micro celebrity even for just two months (the campaigns last till December and is in the Premier malls: SM Makati, SM Aura and SM Megamall), I knew he would love it. And he does!! Read my Instagram post to know why. =)
And Andre, well, you all know how close I am to Andre. We’re inseparable. He’s almost like my twin, even if we are five years apart. He’s older, btw. Hahahaha. He’s going to kill me. No, in truth, I am. He’s my fashion voice-of-reason, my co-conspirator in everything style, lifestyle and life related and basically my support system. He’s my strength and also my weakness. Hah! I always cave to all his bilins when I’m out of the country, (and gets away without paying for it too!) Hahaha. Classic younger sibling syndrome. Harrrumph.
Oh, and did I tell you that not only were we the talents, Andre and I styled the whole campaign too. 5 families all in all—almost a hundred outfits including back ups and options. If there is one shoot to prove that the SM store really has it all, it has to be this one. I’ve been styling for the SM group mainly for the men’s and youth campaign, sometimes for the women’s too and it always stays within the gender and age boundary. But this shoot, which brought in 5 families (including mine), stretched my skills to the furthest, as we had to create, basically, fifteen color conceptual layouts (with three, to as much as ten! members per layout) with clothes that spanned from baby, kids, teens, 20’s all the way to advanced style. Selection itself took three full days (from 10 am till closing). And the amount of clothes that we edited down from our selects still totaled to 15 giant boxes.
While I am so comfortable doing campaigns from the quiet, back end of the room (where you’ll often find me in uniform all-black, without makeup and going through racks and racks of clothes), I’m not so much composed when it’s reversed and I’m positioned in the front. Heeh. But I’ve always welcomed the uncomfortable, I feel like it almost always helps me grow and expand my capabilities. But my inner thought bubble all the while when we were on set was really just: “I hope I don’t look too awkward.” Haha.
So here it is, the “Love your Family” Campaign. We shot with the Alunans, Amina’s family and her in-laws; the Sorianos, Bea’s family (and my youngest client ever, Bea’s baby Brae) with her mother-in-law; the Pascuals, BJ with his grandparents “Wowo and Wowa” who are soo cute adn soooo easy to style! <3; and the Chang’s, my family. =) heeeeeh.
Thank you again to the SM store and Kathy Chua. And also to my Jed Root Family: Shao, JM, beauty by Omar Ermita, hair by Mark Familara and all images lensed by BJ Pascual. Love yew sooo much.
The Alunans
The Sorianos
The Pascuals
The Changs
