Tonyboy with Gretchen still, and vice versa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:47:00 09/28/2008
MANILA, Philippines - (Thumbs up)NO, IT’S NOT THE end.
We’re referring not to the fate of the world—but to the Tonyboy Cojuangco-Gretchen Barretto long-running affair which, talk has it, is now off again. Watching the ups and downs of the more-than-a-decade relationship between the tycoon and the actress, who’s one of the most beautiful Filipinas, is like weather-watching; you don’t know when the tropical depression is building up, or when it’ll be sunny, or just overcast skies.
Insiders say it’s not true that the tycoon has thrown the actress out of the house. In fact, they’re very much together in their Makati home. “Gretchen will never leave him or that life,” said the insider. “Nor will Tonyboy.”
But—we also heard that Tonyboy is again scarce in his family’s gatherings.
Yup, you know when things are getting to be a bore again in Metro Manila; people turn to the latest about this couple. Or—is it when Gretchen is bored with her away-from-the-limelight days?
(Thumbs up)Celestina makes it to ‘Gossip Girl’
CELESTINA, the luxury bag label designed by Tina Ocampo, lands on an episode of the hit teen drama, “Gossip Girl.”
Amanda, the new girl on campus played by Laura-Leigh, is shown in one scene clutching a Celestina cracked-mirror glass minaudiere while having cocktails with Dan (Penn Badgley).
This wasn’t a first on TV for Celestina. In a recent episode of “Lipstick Jungle,” Wendy (Brooke Shields) had a Celestina Ikat clutch. In March, Victory, the fashion designer played by Lindsay Price, carried a handwoven brass clutch, also by Celestina.
Anna in Time
(Thumbs up)AS ASIA becomes a formidable market of luxury fashion, Asians are also staking their claim on the megabucks catwalk.
“Asian models have appeared before, but the numbers have reached critical mass,” Time magazine writes in its Style & Design supplement for Fall 2008.
A 20-year-old South Korean named Hyoni won the Ford Supermodel of the World, the first Asian to bag the title in the tilt’s 27-year history. There’s also the Chinese Du Juan, 21, who has done campaigns for Louis Vuitton and YSL. There are the runway mainstays—Hye Park of South Korea, Ujjwala Raut of India, Anne Watanabe of Japan and Sonny Zhou of China.
But among the first Asians to make a name in international modeling, Time reports, is the Philippines’ Anna Bayle, who shot to fame in the ‘80s, modeling for top European houses. She was among the highest paid faces of the era, photographed by the likes of Helmut Newton, Peter Lindbergh, Patrick Demarchelier, and featured in campaigns of major brands.
An original supermodel, Bayle paved the way in the ‘90s for mixed-race beauties-- Korean-African-American Kimora Lee Simmons and the Eurasian Devon Aoki.
Until recently, there had been a dearth of ethnic models on runways. “But the industry is ready now,” the article says. “No longer is just well-heeled Europeans and Americans who are scooping up $800 handbags and $2,000 jackets.”
(Thumbs up) ‘Green’ resto
THE GREEN restaurant movement is picking up steam. The need for healthy, fresh and organic dishes has influenced restaurant owners to go green.
Antonio Alleje and Swiss-Filipino wife Jacqueline opened Rizal Dairy Farm, a green gourmet restaurant that offers fresh milk-based products—fresh mozzarella, ricotta, plain and flavored yogurts and Swiss quark cottage cheese—non-dairy products, such as salad dressings and sauces and signature gourmet dishes. (The food company supplies hotels and restaurants.)
The Allejes use fresh cow’s milk from Tanay and Laguna, dairy cultures (probiotics) from Switzerland, and certified organic vegetables from Tanauan, Batangas, and Tagaytay in Cavite.
Alleje, a farm owner in Tanay, says that, given the demand for fresh, healthy and reasonably priced food, there are suppliers who resort to deceptive practices. They bombard fruits, vegetables, poultry and dairy products with pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics to help prolong shelf life but endanger human health.
This prompted the couple to initiate the organic movement in the Philippines, with Rizal Dairy Farms as founding member of the Organic Certification Center of the Philippines and Organic Producers Trade Association in the Philippines.
(Thumbs up)Ask PLDT
WANT your instant fill of show-biz gossip? Or a recipe to please your in-laws? Or do you just want to check the weather?
Beyond directory assistance, your landline phone can now be a good source of home, business, lifestyle and entertainment information, as telecom giant PLDT unveils its phone concierge service.
AskPLDT 101-811 is a value-added service that gives PLDT residential postpaid landline subscribers unprecedented access to useful and timely information from their home phone.
AskPLDT 101-811 is a first in the country—a round-the-clock service that comes with 30 free calls monthly and requires no application, registration or monthly service fees.
(Thumbs up)All that glitters . . .
THE WORLD economy is in a shambles, our economy is... well. But you’d never guess that, had you been in a private party recently which unveiled a jewelry collection. The place wasn’t really overflowing. There were only a handful of matrons. Yet—the sales ran up to tens of millions, in one night.
(Thumbs down)Table manners
SOMETIMES sit-down dinners of Manila’s chi-chi society could be a tricky affair, especially when they run out of seats. A gregarious guest, after working the ballroom, finally found his seat, but then he had two other guests in tow. Eager to seat his friends beside him, he grabbed the clutch and other personal stuff on the chairs next to his—obviously placed there by the original occupants to reserve the seats—and dumped them on the next table, as other guests at the table stared in disbelief.
In postmodern society, table manners must include not only the use of the right spoons, forks and knives, but also the observance of proper seating arrangement. The ballroom, after all, is not the MRT.
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