I Am SM Woman Event (June 15, 2016)

This is the new SM Woman! I think we kind of can call SM Woman as the wind beneath our wings because I think that given SM’s long standing history in the country, there have been so many instances in our lives that were made better, or more fabulous for that matter, because of clothes from SM. I myself have so many pairs of jeans, shirts, and all sorts of stuff from SM Department store. And while we of course think of SM department stores as the best place to get a lot of brands, now, more than ever, their house brand is becoming more and more expansive with selections. Expansive actually has several meanings in this sense. They are taking on more and more styles, making clothes for more and more kinds of figures, and are making garments that work for more and more of today’s working women.

To celebrate and announce all that has happened, they invited members of the media to a fashion show and shopping party last June 15, 2016 at SM Makati.

This is a very amusing set up because this whooooole expanse of shopping space you see is runway space! There is no literal elevated stage, and the models technically go through the whole perimeter of the floor’s corridors, which is why I think it’s a good way to showcase everything to the people watching from the barriers of upper floors.

To kick off the show, Teresa Herrera and Amina Aranaz strut their stuff. They are the perfect epitomes of what the new SM Woman is all about given all their career success. Teresa Herrera, obviously, is a supermodel extraordinaire turned host and now art entrepreneur. You will see Teresa’s photos towards the end of this post. Her entrance was sooo quick (as quick as her career’s ascent wahaha) I snapped my hardest but couldn’t get a clear shot of her!

Amina, here, on the other hand, is an acclaimed jewelry designer who is also SoFA’s founder and a fashion entrepreneur. She is sooo pretty. I saw her with her child afterwards and couldn’t believe that a beauty of this level actually has kids.

And here are some of the OOTD’s that the models showed us that night! I apologize in advance that not everything is clear as this is a lively, upbeat careerwoman fashion show. It’s not a bridal or couture show where everyone walks slow, so there is bound to be a blur in some of the photos. I figured that real careerwomen walk fast (I swear I walked fast during my internship because the factory is 10 minutes from my office desk hahaha).

So I think I will also just point out in advance that I liked this show overall, because they had a lot of pegs going on. They had vibrant, cutesy, edgy, demure, and formal outfits, and didn’t gravitate just towards one kind of look or one kind of style. They also had a lot of vibrant colors thrown into the mix. What all this is saying to me is that for one, success is not defined by one look. I am tired of all those magazines advising women to dress a certain way for success. I always feel like if your outfit looks smart, crisp, and begets respect, then it already is “dressing for success.” Another thing is that you don’t need to give up on vibrant colors for the office, because I do notice the trend that vibrant shades seem to be avoided in the workplace in favor of duller colors. But this fashion show says that that’s not true.

So yaaay, it’s OOTD time!

This is a laid back chic look featuring comfy but rustic kitty heels and a modern sunglass to go with it.

I am still not sure if this is a romper or a top and a short, but I think that these lacey shorts are a good way to make shorts wearable to the workplace. The lace extensions make the shorts long enough to not remind people of daisy dukes, and they also create the mental image of a skirt instead of a pair of shorts.

This model has incredibly beautiful skin but she was often walking too fast so it was hard to capture her skin’s creaminess! But well, she is stunning in a crisp, all white ensemble.

These halter styles are all the rage nowadays and SM has heard your pleas.

And homaygulay, it’s Jasmine Meierhofer!!! I’ve always been a fan, so it was sooo nice to see her. She’s so photogenic that I have so many photos of her and she looks perfect in each one.

I like how they made a candy colored top look professional once paired with structural accessories and this unique pair of white pants.

Or how they made this super fun off shoulder top look polished with capri elephant pants and braids. I feel like the braids have a big impact because this outfit would look less edgy if her hair were in beauty queen curls.

This was one of my favorite outfits of the night because while I don’t share a lot of my OOTD’s, I am a total fan of layering. I like to buy jumpers and look for clothes that look good under jumpers. This outfit was a total winner.

So much of a winner I also took a photo of the outfit from behind. I normally pair outfits like these with sneakers so it’s amusing to me how much a look can change just because of stilettos.

This is yet another outfit I super liked because I’ve been eyeing these kinds of skirts for the longest time. They look so comfy and edgy at the same time!!! I also like how this outfit doesn’t look weird despite being denim over denim.

This is yet another denim outfit, but this time with a cowgirl twist (?)

They also had some boho outfits like this one in the show.

And weee, Jasmine is here again!!! This time she is modeling a smart looking dress. I personally like this kinds of styles of dresses for work so this should be interesting.

They also played along and had their choker game strong. I have yet to see the actual chokers in SM soon!

Since SM Woman is also all about the accessories and the shoes, here you go.

Just to give an idea of how expansive the runway is, the models were literally walking by each store on the floor. You can see how interested onlookers were about their outfits!

They also walked by the elevator and walked over a small stage in this area. When I say expansive, I really mean expansive. I also liked this outfit because I like black clothes in general.

This black outfit was also cute for me. But I think I’d have to be as thin as this model so as not to make an outfit like this look sloppy.

Here are all the models with their second outfits. They showcased a lot of outfits given that these were their second outfits for the night and they’re so numerous!

Here are Teresa and Anina with all the models. Teresa muses that “it’s important for women to be driven because it is good to be passionate about something, it sets a good tone, and example for our next generation of girls.” Anina, on the other hand, believes that “To be driven, it takes having a dream, it takes having persistence, being resourceful to make things happen for you.”

Finally, the shopping party begins.

They hired a DJ to make sure everyone was pumped up while shopping. I am soo jealous of this LED turntable because I’d also want to play my tutorials and errthing!!

I have barely been out of the house for the past two years (technically since 2015 started I’ve never had like the time to do nothing as I’ve been sooo busy), so it’s refreshing to be able to walk slowly and look at all the clothes they have now. SM Woman has come a really long way and all the clothes now are style savvy and pretty.

And I like how they are now even faster than ever in catching up with trends. I was positively surprised to see the floral blouse and skirt set here.

They still do have a lot of reliable staples for most engagements with simple, clean looking, but elegant dresses.

These are all the items I brought to the fitting room. I got 6 garments overall. Two red lace dresses, two sizes of a red halter dress, and one of each color of their office tops.

And may I just say, I loved everything in this black and white section. They have everything I could virtually ask for for my wardrobe. I just love it.

This black dress looks so smart that had it not been for me wanting to get red dresses that day, this black dress would’ve also been a good choice.

This is also a super cute top, but this fits thinner people more than the chunkier ones. If you are skinny you will have a lot of ways to use this for sure.

And so if you’re curious, I got myself two red dresses because it’s important to have an arsenal of red garments in Chinese living as birthdays will always occur! I got myself two red lace dresses of the same pattern, the only difference is that one is sleeveless and pencil and one is with sleeves, a belt, and is flowier.