Megan Young and Benjamin Tang for Metro Magazine (January 2011)

PH: Doc Marlon Pecjo with Kench Genato

Anne About Town: Anne Curtis for Luxe Magazine (December 2010-February 2011)

PH: Mark Nicdao
Styling: Bea Constantino
Make-Up: Gela Laurel-Stehmeier
Hair: John Valle

Ria Bolivar and Zhenya Papirovska in Cary Santiago and Furne One for Preview Magazine (December 2010)

Models: Ria Bolivar, Zhenya Papirovska (Mercator)
PH: Paolo Pineda
Styling: Darryl Chang
Art Direction: Vince Uy
Make-Up: Omar Ermita at Shu Uemura
Hair: Vianney Guese
Nails: Emily Llagas at Nail Spa
Stylist's Assistant: Anna Canlas

Venus Raj for People Asia (December 2010-January 2011)

Image credit: People Asia's facebook page

PH: Niccolo Cosme

Rafe Tontengco is Nine West's new Creative Director for handbags

Props, props, props to New York-based Filipino designer Rafe Totengco for his new appointment as Creative Director of the global brand Nine West. Here's an excerpt of a report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

The New York-based Filipino designer had been meaning to take a break as he put his eponymous accessories brand on hiatus (he’s not rolling out a Spring 2011 collection). Rafe New York has been a casualty of the bad economy, so that Totengco had entered into a licensing agreement with another company to keep afloat.

 Image credit: rafe.com

Totengco’s initial directive is to steer the handbag businesses of Nine West and Vintage America. For Nine West, which is exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Stores Specialists Inc., it’s to get the woman who buys the shoes to buy the handbag as well.

The first handbag collection under his direction will roll out in April. It will distinctly be “chicer, cleaner, more polished, more lady,” he says. For Nine West, he has two senior and two associate designers working on the collections.

Totengco says he will revive Rafe soon, under a new licensing agreement with The Jones Group. With the recovering economy, he believes the market will soon be ready again for smaller designer brands. “I would never sell my company,” he stresses.

His campaign for the Rafe brand, Fall/Winter 2009 (Model: Lisa Cady, Click Model Management)

 Image credit: fashionising.com

Charlene Almarvez in Audrey Magazine's Best of 2010: Asian Models

Audrey Magazine cites New York-based Filipina model Charlene Almarvez as one of their favorite top Asian models for 2010, alongside Chinese mannequins Liu Wen, Shu Pei-Qin, Ming Xi, Sun Fei Fei, Japanese Tao Okamoto and Korean Hyoni Kang.

Anne Curtis for Luxe Magazine (December 2010-February 2011)