Yodel Pe and I were looking at the Monocle pop-up store at Univers, One Rockwell last Wednesday night.
The pop-up store would only be there for one night, and I was wondering what I should get.
Ethan Hawkes-Pippen of Monocle
Monocle scents by Comme des Garçons
I thought of getting the cute Monocle bag by Rootote, but it cost Php 8,000. The price includes a magazine subscription, CD, and notebook.
Then I thought, do I really need another bag? I am severely backlogged on my reading. So I ended up buying this cool Monocle tech case by Porter.
I handed my credit card to Monocle’s Ethan, who was cashier for the night. It took him a while to do the transaction and I waited. He apologized a couple of times, while I mumbled to Yodel, “How can I get mad kung ganon siya ka guapo??”
The waiting paid off. Ethan gave me a free Monocle tote, which made me feel giddy the whole night. (Read: so kilig)
The week before I had received this invitation by email.
The Monocle team was stopping by Manila, Taipei and Jakarta as part of their summer Asia-Pacific tour.
Put simply, the idea was to meet readers and fans face-to-face and expand the Monocle community.
When editor-in-chief Tyler Brûlé decided to come here, he asked a Filipino friend in Hong Kong, who’s the best person to call in Manila? The Filipino recommended her friend, Margarita Forés, who would host a Filipino dinner for the team at Grace Park. Margarita also recommend Univers at One Rockwell as a perfect venue for the event.
Rumor had it, Tyler dislikes the color purple, so I skipped the purple eyeshadow on my Shu Uemura Mon Shu palette and went for brown instead. Of course I wore black.
All the other guests seemed to wear the same color scheme of black, white, blue, and khaki
Anders Braso, Monocle Advertising Director
Mano Lotho, Press Relations officer of Univers with Ethan Hawkes-Pippen of Monocle
Fashion Designer Joey Samson
Univers Managing Director Jappy Gonzalez with Lucia Restelli, Head of Sales for Peter Pilotto
Monocle’s Tyler Brûlé with architects Ed Calma and Chut Cuerva
It felt like a man’s party
Chambray: color of the day
L-R: Elaine Domingo, Tere Henson, Tadi de Leon, JoAnn Bitagcol, Tina Ong
As soon as I came in, Jappy Gonzalez of Univers introduced me to Tyler Brûlé, whom I had encountered in Hong Kong in 2006. Ack!! The Tyler I remember is a dream boat, extremely well-dressed and intimidating.
I don’t really get starstruck, but tonight I was just super intimidated beyond words.
That night Tyler made a short speech about things you don’t need to change, like paper. Even though we’re in the digital age, there are things that don’t have to be obsolete. And these things we pay for. Not everything should be free and downloadable because it costs money to produce the things we consume.
Personally, I love paper. I don’t own a Kindle. I prefer books and the smell of bookstores, the feeling of going through the shelves, seeing book covers, turning pages.
Dinner followed at Grace Park, where Margarita Forés served lechon and lamb adobo, among other dishes.
I heard traditional chicken/pork adobo had to be whipped up last minute as a special request by Tyler, who thoroughly enjoyed it.
Wish I had stayed to witness it, but my shyness got the better of me.
Monocle magazine is available at Univers, One Rockwell East Tower, Makati City.
For back issues, just ask the sales assistants.
To know more about Monocle, go to http://monocle.com/magazine/.
Originally published at Chuvaness.com. You can comment here or there.