Styling at Promod

Posted on Wednesday, 04.28.2010 11:32 PM

Tags: styling, fashion, rtw, malls, the philippine online chronicles, contests

Last Saturday, fellow POC writer Lauren (of I am Bourgeois) and I went to Promod’s Megamall Atrium branch to participate in their styling contest.  Okay, whew, that was a mouthful.  Actually, it was an event for fashion bloggers as part of Promod’s marketing campaign.  Lauren was one of those lucky ones who were invited to participate in a very exciting contest that would involve creating 5 looks with the help of a stylist.  I have never met Lauren personally before this, although I am a regular visitor to her blog and of course, I know her from The Philippine Online Chronicles as we both write for its Beauty and Fashion channel.  But when I received an email from her asking for a team up, I got so excited about it that I think I replied with an emphatic yes within 3 minutes of reading that email.

I think the contest is a brilliant idea especially when done properly, don’t you?  After being exposed to so much Promod in one day, it makes me feel like buying the whole ensemble Lauren and I put together.  I don’t know just how good we are against the competition since it’s a matter of personal taste and our own interpretation of “je ne sais quoi” (translated to “I don’t know what”—kind of a cool, devil-may-care approach to French aesthetics) as the contest rules required.   Win or lose, I still want to wear all those looks we created.  I really wish more fashion brands would explore similar ideas!

The first outfit I came up with.  I am especially in love with the skirt, I do like vintage floral patterns.

I like layering belts over jackets.

I admit I got panicked when we started out.  I’ve never been asked to style with such a wide selection before!  Usually you just worry about styling the newest collection or whatever it is that needs to be included in a fashion show or spread.  But here was the whole store, with all its shoes, accessories, dresses, hats, bags, tops, bottoms just there for us to use!  I thought we would be limited to pre-selected pieces.  (Well, to a certain extent, I suppose that’s true.  We were there with about…4 or 5 other teams, and it wasn’t against the rules or anything, but we hardly touched anything that the other team had already used.  So whoever grabbed whatever first, everyone else is left without that option.  Which, trust me, is more difficult than it sounds).

Second outfit I styled and ultimately, the one we chose to display during awarding because it's so Promod.  I really love that shredded scarf.  I want it for myself!

The chiffon neckpiece is actually a hairpiece.  But the mannequins are headless!  Still, they still look pretty darn good as a necklace.

I thought it was also interesting that Lauren and I had somewhat different tastes.  I’m not very matchy matchy with my clothes--I hate same colored bags and shoes in an outfit--and I love layering.  I like to pile on necklaces and belts because I know they look especially good in pictures, even if they seem larger than life when it comes to…well, real life.  What Lauren and I both agreed on, though, was the use of scarves.  We had it for all our looks!  Also, we both put together our final outfit, which ended up being used as a display on Promod before the day ended.

The fifth look.  I love its happy colors and patterns!

I think we were all pretty much exhilarated from that experience and I felt like I wanted to do more!  But as with all my other styling gigs, this really worked us to the bone.  It didn’t help that I stupidly wore heels that day, when I almost never wear heels when I have to style for clients.  I was just happy to sit down at the end of it all.

But the icing on the cake?  Several times, people actually went up to our mannequins to admire it up close—not knowing we were in a middle of a contest, actually.  One of them wanted to buy the whole ensemble.  I also observed this family who walked past the store then turned back to go inside Promod and actually look at the mannequin on display closely.  They were pointing to it excitedly and obviously liking what they were seeing.  It was our mannequin, our 5^th outfit!  It wasn’t the one we chose to be displayed tomorrow for the awarding, but I’m pleased as punch to see that it was used for the store and even attracted customers.  So even if we don’t win, I think I can safely assume that our collaboration was definitely effective.

Our last mannequin, the one we really collaborated on.  It's on display!

Take a look at Lauren’s blog for a more detailed coverage, since the photos I took weren’t as many.  It’s hard to take pictures of anything but details with a 50mm lens.

All photos were taken by me, Alexandra Lapa.  Please do not take anything without permission.

Tags: styling, fashion, rtw, malls, the philippine online chronicles, contests

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