In
Fashion With Imee
The Cutting Edge - Vol. 3 Issue #12,
December 1999-January2000
We're
with Congresswoman Imee Marcos at Hair Bytes Salon. The original plan
was to do the shoot at her San Juan residence. But the rain and character
of Manila traffic have conspired against us. Congresswoman Marcos has
a packed schedule and can't afford to go through all the traffic.
We adjust. We'll do the shoot and the interview right in the parlor. It'll be like a girls kikay day out.
In between rinses, Imee dishes about every topic under the sun. She says she's having a particularly "critical" day. We wouldn't have had it any other way.
HAIR
Imee: Can you believe platform shoes are back? Did you think it
was never going to make it back?
TCE: Did you think it was never going to make it back?
Imee: Well, I once said in an interview that bell-bottomes were
never going to mke a comebck. And the issue is this if you were around
to wear it the first time, do you still have a right to wear it as retro?
Parang hindi eh. Why do people want to make the seventies come back? Sixties
clothing was really nice. The sixties was a nice er. But all this disco…(she
trails off)
TCE: Well, the eigthies are coming back too. All the big hair.
Imee: ctaully we all have terminally big hair. My mother, my brother.
I have a lot of hair. I am not sure I like this straight down look. I
don't really understand this sleek, almost bare hairstyle that people
have now. It makes you look so (she trails off but her expression is of
distaste) I don't even like going to parlors. I'm too restless to sit
down so long for a haircut.
TCE: So what do you do when you need to get a trim?
Imee: If I can, I do it at home in my bathroom. But now I'm trying
to grow out my hair. Short hair is so high-maintenance pala no?
TCE: You seriously cut your own hair?
Imee: Yeah. I just do it at home. It's all the traffic and hassle
kasi that makes me not want to go out na.
TCE: Have you ever had a major hair crisis because of your DIY
haircuts?
Imee: Oh yes. I have albums upon albums of bad haircuts.
PHONES
TCE: We hear you are a major clothes-horse.
Imee: I used to be Now I'm a tech-freak. No more fashion junkie,
techno junkie na. I have all these gadgets. (As if on cue, her cellular
phone rings. She rummages through her bag and pulls out this mobile phone
encased in a pig stuffed toy carrier. She ends her call.)
TCE: That was a really cute case...
Imee: I have to have those cute cases kasi I have to distinguish
my phones from each other. For some reason I don't know, the inside of
all bags are black and if your phones are black, it's so hard to find
them. The pig is a Smart, then the teddy bear is the Globe then the frog
is something else pa. If I can I'll e-mail everything through my Zion
or a computer with red-eye. But now I'm afraid I'll get brain damage from
all the gadgets so iyan, I use the earphone when I have to be on the phone.
I also have those baby phones everywhere. The hands free? Everywhere on
the Congress floor. I had everything wired so now everyone is wired in
Congress.
TCE: Is it really more convenient that way?
Imee: I'm actually really ignorant technologically. But see the
thing is I have to communicate with my district office in Ilocos and I'm
Ilocana enough not to want to pay for the long-distance calls. So I have
to find all these various ways to get in touch with them. And we have
these hideous telecommunications problems here where they are all not
interconnected. I carry lots of things.
CLOTHES
AND CONGRESS
TCE: But when you were in your clothes phase, where did you shop?
Imee:
I m the tiangge flea-market type. I m a major tiangge queen. I live
there in Tutuban. You ask them. You find the weirdest, nicest things at
bazaars. Really crazy outfits. But now that I'm in Congress and there's
a dress code, I've had to tone down a little.
TCE: Do you still haggle?
Imee: I feel it is embarrassing now. I used to be very vicious.
TCE: Will you ever be dictated by trends?
Imee: No but I'm always reading these women's magazines. It's my
junk reading. Fashion is so globalized now and trends spend three weeks
on the websites. Every time I read about a site in a magazine I look it
up. The other thing is I really look at the sports shops because I really
think that fashion is merely derived from there. Also my life is so weird
now where I'm either in Congress where it's really conservative or in
Ilocos where all you want to wear is sportswear. Also, I find that nobody
really dresses up in Manila anymore.
TCE: But what do you consider must-haves in your wardrobe?
Imee: A white tee-shirt. I'm a big fan of that. I don't really
wear jeans anymore but I want to try those new Engineered jeans. They
look like I can carry all my 78 phones and I think they are ergonomically
designed to fit everyone's bum. I'm not really sure. I just saw a picture
and they look really good. Parang they look good. Parang lang. Ewan.
TCE: For dressier occasions?
Imee: I'm not a little black dress girl. I'm more of a little red
dress person. I used to wear all these little slip dresses but apparently
they are not up to Congress standards. It's like it is taboo to see a
bra strap. They declare you out of order first then you're absent. They
declare you out of order is you are inappropriately dressed. So they always
tell me off when I take off my jacket. But it is irritating because Congress
is so hot. Then I have a real problem on Mondays because you're supposed
to come in Filipiniana.
TCE: What constitutes as Filipiniana for you?
Imee: I had these barongs made for me. I wear them lot. Shrunken
barongs with nice ¾ sleeves and pa-slant na lapels na maikli. But
they told me that does not count as Filipiniana. I do not know why.
TCE: So are you reprimanded a lot?
Imee: Well yes but they re really gentle about it and they are
indulgent. The dress code is uncomfortable. I'm convinced that if I could
go to work in a shirt and shorts I would be a hundred times more effective.
I hate those standard issue navy blue blazers and black pumps. Really
nasty.
TCE: Does this men you really dress for comfort over style?
Imee: Actually, weight. I feel fat today that is it, I am not dressing
up. I'm looking for decent raingear. I do not know why. There's no concession
to the tropics here. We all like to pretend it never rains. I also have
a long-abiding love for accessories.
TCE: Do you have favorite designers?
Imee: I don't know, I told you, I'm just a tiangge queen. But Larry
Espinosa made me this dress. It was this torn part na piña na dress.
I think the fashion statement was Warat Part 2. I have some friends who
make me banig clothes and stuff. I have a real problem with this Filipiniana
thing. We are trying to revive the Ilocano fabric. I really think we should
sty away from costume. The baro't saya was well and good for the nineteenth
century but it is not very millennial.
TCE: From the men in Congress who are well-dressed?
Imee: Manoling Ortega is the best I think. He looks very cappo
di tuti Godfather. I think Ed, the deputy speaker from Cebu, is very well
dressed. He's cool. I don't know. I have a real problem with guys who
wear long-sleeved shirts and a necktie and no jacket. It bothers me. I
really think they forgot one major piece of clothing. And barongs with
rolled-up sleeves. It's a barong, a formal piece. You should not mess
with it.
HAPPY
HOLIDAYS?
TCE: What are your holiday plans?
Imee: I won't know until last minute. It depends on what the family
plans to do. And my mom does all the plans and she is the last minute
type. I actually don't like Christmas too much. It's been too over-commercialized.
It's not fun anymore. Now you have to give 6,000 gifts when it should
really be about spending time with your loved ones, your family.