Manila (CNN Philippines Life) — One small step for a brand, one giant leap for the country’s retail scene.
On July 11, Bench presented a 27-piece collection at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) 2016 — the first time a Philippine brand had conquered one of fashion’s biggest runways. Spearheaded by the retail maverick Ben Chan, it was another victory in the brand’s rapidly expanding international portfolio, including stores in territories like Singapore and the Middle East, ads in magazines like VMan and Fantastic Man, and collaborations with major fashion figures like Albertus Swanepoel.
The collection was characteristically Bench and characteristically Filipino, accentuated with florals, tropical hues, and tribal tattoos. This is the brand, after all, that last year initiated the call-to-arms campaign “#LoveLocal,” featuring Philippine icons like Eddie Garcia and Pilita Corrales and launching a companion book to boot . A year shy of its 30th anniversary, the brand — which also participated in the Liberty Trade Fair — proves its continued vitality, revealing the potential for still more growth.
CNN Philippines Life talked to Noel Manapat, the Bench stylist and creative assistant who conceptualized the presentation, for a behind-the-scenes take on the brand’s NYFW conquest. Bench collaborated with the Brooklyn-born brand Cadet, a recent finalist in the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund, for the presentation, which proved an inspired choice for the local retail giant. Below are edited excerpts from the interview.
We followed the presentation on Instagram and the set looked really inspired. Tell us about the concept for the presentation. What was the story Bench Body wanted to tell?
Bench Body is a brand born in the Philippines. Our inspirations — especially for our first NYC venture — were all from our side of the world. The set was conceptualized by our director, Ariel Lozada. It was executed by our set designer, Eric Bergin — whose background is in theatrical set design — using actual, used fishing nets that he miraculously sourced here in NYC. We wanted a simple, clever solution to focus the attention on the presentation part because the venue was quite huge.
What were the goals going into this? How did you address them in the show?
The goal was to introduce Bench Body to the New York and North American press to compliment our efforts to introduce the brand to buyers here. It’s our first effort, and judging by the attendance from the press [GQ, Esquire, and Manifesto, among others], it seemed like a good first step.
How did the team pick the location for the presentation? How did you go about dressing up the location to fit the concept?
Our lean team in New York scouted several locations and this penthouse studio seemed to fit all our requirements, including a good view of the Hudson River. The venue was Michelson Studio, an 8,000 square foot photo studio along Bank Street with amazing 50 eight-foot windows. The set design was a simple installation of fishing nets and assortment of carpets that serve as walkways for the audience that moved around the presentation area.
Following the process on @benchbodyph, we could see that the go-sees for the show attracted a good crop of talent. What faces and bodies were you looking for at the go-sees? Is there any difference from what you look for when you do Bench Body go-sees in Manila?
Our casting direction was to use a diverse set of models. Usually there are underwear models and fashion/apparel models but we wanted a mix of both so that you have both the muscular gods and the skinny boys.
We also wanted a diverse mix of cultures, ethnicities typical to what you would meet in, say, a surfing competition or a music fest. Our casting director, Brent Chua, assembled a mix of new, emerging, and very current faces. Some of them normally don’t do presentations or underwear but he managed to pull it off. Everyone looked good and unique! Manila, in contrast, is partial to the alpha-male type — handsome looks, muscular boys who could be actors.
Tell us about the Bench Body collection for NYFW. Did the brand do anything special for this collection? From what we saw, it looked very tropical. It looked very Filipino — which is great because it stands out in New York all the more.
Bench Body’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection is inspired by our tagline “Forever Summer.” Our prints were a mix of flora and fauna inspired by our tropical origins. There was also a lot of innovation on waistband printing, colorways, and print combinations. It’s a look that’s unique to the brand. This mood board and designs were sent to Cadet, our collaborator for this, who created a 12-piece capsule collection to complement our underwear designs specially for this presentation.
What was it like collaborating with Cadet on the show? As a stylist, how did you work with the Cadet aesthetic and how do you think they worked with the Bench Body aesthetic?
Cadet is a menswear brand, and one of the strongest breakthrough brands to emerge in NYC in recent years. The background of the Cadet designers Brad Schmidt and Raul Arevalo is menswear, so it made things easy that they spoke the same language as Bench. We sent them our mood board and they fell in love with our prints. Everything had to happen fast. We fitted their final samples in Manila on July 6, packed on July 7, flew to NYC July 8, did final fitting July 9, set up July 10, and had the show the next day!
We love the sun-kissed lookbook you put together for NYFW. Why did you decide to shoot in Anilao? (From what we understand, that’s where the old Bench Body ads were shot.) And how did you come up with the theme?
We wanted our lookbook to be a visual travel guide to some destinations in the Philippines as part of our Love Local advocacy. Anilao is near, always a good idea. Because this presentation and trade fair happened in less than two months, we only had a day to shoot, a day to do layout before going to the printing press and shipping to New York.
Finally, what do you think is next for Bench Body?
It’s always a surprise, even for me! Ben Chan is very brave in going out of the box, from designs to events to new ideas to keep the brand dynamic and current.
