You are what you wear, and if you have a nodding acquaintance with music, you’ll know that an all-white or all-black ensemble becomes a canvas upon which the addition of a few choice items will declare allegiance to a certain genre. A set of gold chains will keep you fly, a pair of scuffed Doc Martens paired with a Mohawk could pass for punk, and a three-button suit and trilby hat might get you in the mod.
Frocks that rock, on the other hand, can be anything from your grandmother’s closet or the ubiquitous ukay-ukay ’round the corner, where any indie with a yen for paisley can drop by. A girl can also just as easily walk into a bar and get herself a beer and a bangle, thanks to Baul sa saGuijo, run by Camille Villanueva of The Yellow Door fame.
The shop gets the bulk of its traffic at night, when patrons mosey their way from the band-stand to the upper floor and the stash of vintage shirts, accessories and dresses of every shape and deconstruction. Baul stays open until the wee hours, and generally caters to those who fancy being “eccentric or funky” or “trendy and simple,” but who share one love: the music they come to saGuijo to listen to.
“I have band merchandize. Some are made by musicians, some are not... they design it and deal with the manufacturers,” said Ms. Villanueva, who owns and operates her other
fashion establishment, Yellow Door, next door, but deems the hand-painted walls and cozy atmosphere of the bar to fit her brand of indie fashion.
“Music influences fashion by creating the mood, and fashion influences music by creating the look. Both are forms of art that interrelate.”
YOU JUST GOT TO HAVE THAT SHIRT
Musicians are a hot property in Manila, particularly because they have that indefinable IT that makes them iconic. If the billboards of EDSA are anything to go by, the purveyors of musical
taste are not only embraced by fashion, they’re actually spit-shined and placed on 200m x 250m display. It helps that they’ve already got a sense of style. Or at least, they should.
“If you think you’re in a hot shit band, then it should reflect what you play. If you’re a shoe-
gazer kind of band from the ’90s, it would be great if you looked the part. I’m not saying it’s really crappy how they dress, but just to have an attitude, and try to at least dress up for the stage... I don’t really mean you really have to be in a suit or wearing a jacket all the time — even just the right T-shirt can help,” said Toti Dalmacion, founder of independent label Terno Recordings, and responsible for acts such as The Radioactive Sago Project, Up Dharma Down, Juan Pablo Dream and Giniling Festival, among others.
Mr. Dalmacion is adamant that if a band considers itself as being of a particular stamp, say “mod-ish,” then they have to know their fashion by playing it straight and wearing something fitting to the subculture such as a Fred Perry or Ben Sherman shirt, or add a “hipness” and variation that goes beyond the usual duds. Either way, a band has to
know exactly what it is that they’re wearing and not just follow what is currently acceptable — to “be the trendsetter, as opposed to just following the trend.”
Each band in Terno has its own shirt, care of Branded, sold in malls, in Team Manila, and at
your friendly neighborhood dive. Part of it is refining the look of the bands with shirts that pop onstage and make a Pinoy statement. The rest of it is promotion, to give a semblance of buzz to the band, no matter how popular or unknown — and of course, making a bundle.
“The bands are not going to survive on CDs alone, especially here. It’s a necessity. Those are
the avenues where you get the money, for most artists, endorsements or just the T-shirts. But the T-shirts alone will not make a killing. “Just because you’re making your own T-shirts, it doesn’t mean you’re selling out... It’s branding. It goes hand in hand — the design, the direction of their label, and the band doing the label,” said Mr. Dalmacion.
WEAR WHAT YOU WEAR
In the international scene, pop stars have run the gamut from tiny bikini bottoms a la Jessica Simpson to a new dressed-to-kill line from the rap artist that shall not be named. Shirts are an age-old tradition, especially in underground music. If Paul Weller, former lead for The Jam and arbiter of mod fashion, is asked to design a polo shirt for Fred Perry, a brand he’s endorsed since 1950s teendom, why the heck not? In the local arena, a simple shirt is easy on the pocket, and the fans are apparently not only buying and loving it; they’re also selling the
stuff.
“I don’t want to call them fans, friends na lang. They’re nice to me, they sell my stuff. I told
them, you want to do this on commission basis? They don’t,” said Dok Sergio, bassist of Pupil, who started his silkscreen T-shirt printing business — tentatively labeled Meshed Up — straight out of high school. He has supplied promotional shirts to a long list of A-list bands including Sandwich, Kjwan, Imago, and recently, the Itchyworms.
The business, it turns out, is less of a money-making venture than a “stress-free, steady” exercise in breaking even. Loyal “friends” once organized a selling date at Mall of Asia for shirts “gawa ni Dok” (made by Dok), but the proceeds were blown on their own dinner. Other times, selling became secondary to photo-ops. As for those with fuller piggy banks to dip into, there’s always the next level. “[Pupil endorsed] Pony, and a lot of our fans, they also bought the shoes. When there was a signing, they asked us to sign their Pony shoes. They liked having the same type of shoes as we did... [Pony] asked us to design a shoe, but I don’t know what happened to it, if they gave it away or auctioned it... Didn’t see it worn by anyone,” said Mr. Sergio, in the vernacular.
In the case of Terno Recordings artist Up Dharma Down, fans are inclined to buy the
Adidas shoes members wear at every concert, prompting discussion groups to invariably comment on them.
Even so, whatever products made or promoted by the artists are said to be of a quality that can be readily worn by “the ordinary man on the street,” no matter how obscure the band referenced. If there’s anything musicians won’t stand for, it’s peddling shoddy goods, wearing something that doesn’t come naturally to them, and putting their credibility at stake.
“You have to stick to the right product. Not all opportunities for endorsement, you get. You
balance. Like Terno, it balances art and commerce, as opposed to just commerce all the time and never mind the art. It shouldn’t be all about art either — how do you earn? If you balance both, without sacrificing your integrity and credibility, your direction, then that’s the ideal scenario,” said Mr. Dalmacion.
Originally published on 6 August 2007 in BusinessWorld.
