THRILLMAKER: Dressing up for the ball

In the end, what clearly stood out during the event was not just the bloody red carpet fashion combat among the stars but the picture of a television industry that is finally coming together as one. Now that is a lovely sight—at least, for now.

The country’s brightest stars filled the halls of the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Newport World Resorts last Saturday night to grace the much-anticipated and talked about GMA Gala 2023. The event took an interesting turn this year when the stars of GMA’s former rival network, ABS-CBN, confirmed their attendance to the once exclusive Kapuso ball. Such development did not only make an interesting sight to the public of adoring fans but also a historic one for the local television industry. Kapusos and Kapamilyas, for once, are united and are partying together.

With efforts to keep the attendees to a reasonable, manageable number, invitation to the event was highly selective and limited. However, with the privilege of getting an invite also comes the pressure of looking the part of being fit for a gathering of royalties: from show business to politics to business.

Even I, as a non-newbie to attending social events, felt the stress of looking decent enough to be amongst the stars of the local showbiz galaxy. The theme of “black, white or muted” seemed easy to achieve but not when you know that what you’re attending is a night of “pasabogs.” In my case, I was just lucky to have international fashion designer Rian Fernandez to allow me to wear one of his creations: a white long-tailed tux embellished with oversized crystals (Thanks, Rian!). As I also attended the event as a working journalist, to bring home this story for all of you, I also brought with me an extra basic back tux from my own closet so I can move more freely as I did the rounds of celebrity interviews in the venue.

Imagine how dressing up can really be difficult especially to the young showbiz aspirants who were made to participate in such a glittering event for the very first time. I spoke with some of them and I really sensed the difficulties they faced just to look good for the night.

PAMELA KAYE, GMA Sparkle Artist, wearing Roland Abelardo Funelas (attending the ball for the second time): “It was kinda hard kasi I need to find someone I can trust as to how I want my dress to be tonight. We went for something sexy and, at the same time, elegant.”

LEI ANGELA, GMA Sparkle Artist, wearing Jhay Layson (attending the ball for the second time): “It’s very hard. You have to take hours, some people even have to take days to find the right dress for them. Especially for an event like this. You want to give your best so you have to put a lot of effort into how you present yourself. What makes you most comfortable and stylish. I think I tried about 20 dresses and I checked more than that.”

GAEA MISHA, GMA Sparkle Teens Stunning Diva, wearing Omar Sali and Ray Bien Maglonzo (attending the ball for the first time): “The stars aligned for this gown. Though there were a bunch of options that we had to go through for this. From the color pa lang it’s refreshing eh. Malamig po siya sa mata. I feel cool and I feel so relieved. And I feel that I could be my best self with this dress.”

BRUCE ROELAND, GMA Sparkle Artist, wearing Dr. Jerome Navarro (attending the ball for the second time): “It was not hard kasi I have a very good designer. He designs pageants, he does a lot of that, ang laki po ng tiwala ko sa kanya. He even came up with the design in just a week and then it’s already here. It is elegant, it is simple and for me it is beautiful. I’m very, very proud of it. It’s not only about looking good. You also have to dress well.”

JADE TECSON, GMA Sparkle Artist, wearing Prima Rosa Bridals headed by Justin Salvador (attending the ball for the second time): “Sobrang hirap po. Na-rattle po akong maghanap kasi ang hirap mag-fit. Then busy pa sa taping pero thank God, na-approve itong gown ko. Dalawa po yung sinukat ko. Actually, pwede na yung isa kaso nasira. Buti may back up.”

While the younger set of Kapuso Sparkle Artists may have faced challenges in trying to look their best for the gala, two pageant royalties who are no greenhorns in dressing up managed to stand out minus the headaches of finding the right look.

MJ ORDILLANO, Mr. International Philippines 2022, wearing Andre David: “Not that hard. Everybody’s gonna be looking good anyway so all I had to say was what is a suit that I don’t really usually wear to save it for this very special occasion and I don’t usually wear white so I wore white today. After all, I’m just here to mingle with everybody and just have fun.”

CELESTE CORTESI, Miss Universe Philippines 2022, wearing Anthony Ramirez: “You know, I’m really lucky because me and my team always agree with everything and we always want to try something new and we love to explore with clothes, hair and make-up. For this year, we wanted to go with something very elegant and something unconventional. Inspiration? Very classy, very sophisticated, elegant at the same time I wanted to put on something of my personality as well. Of course, the focus is the jewelry tonight. I’m wearing Miladay.”

In the end, what clearly stood out during the event was not just the bloody red carpet fashion combat among the stars but the picture of a television industry that is finally coming together as one. Now that is a lovely sight—at least, for now.