As part of the 20th year celebration of clothing brand Bench, a coffee table book entitled Wear Your Conscience was launched last January 15 at the Ayala Museum in Makati City.
This coffee table book features 40 photographs taken by Jun de Leon, who took the very first pictures used by Bench two decades ago.
Ben Chan, founder of Bench, told PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) that they chose Jun because "he is already one of the best. We started with Jun and the first photograph of Richard Gomez [for Bench] was taken by Jun de Leon. It's been something that we have been talking about for the longest time."
"Since we're celebrating our 20th year this year, we thought of giving back something to the community," says Ben. For this reason, proceeds of the book sales of Wear Your Conscience will go to the non-profit organization Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation. In addition, sales of the framed photographs displayed at the Ayala Museum that night would also go to the said foundation.
Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation is a non-profit professional Philippine organization that promotes the love and habit of reading in Filipino children. Its goal is to build a nation of readers by working with public schools all over the country, providing resources to motivate students to make reading a part of their daily lives.
Philip Cu-Unjieng, one of the editors of the coffee table book, explained that the proceeds of the book sales would be used to purchase customized school tables for deserving public school teachers and principals nationwide. He adds that 2go, the Aboitiz Company, will shoulder the freight cost of shipping the tables to far-flung provinces in the country.
Wear Your Conscience includes photographs of celebrity couples Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres as well as Kris Aquino and James Yap. It also features the business-oriented Gokongwei sisters Jay, Robina, Marcia, Faith and Lisa; Philippine Daily Inquirer's Paolo Prieto and sister, Sandy Prieto-Romualdez; as well as the Zobel brothers Jaime Augusto and Fernando.
Representing the political arena are Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo with daughters Berna and Mons as well as First Daughter Luli Arroyo, who attended the posh event at the Ayala Museum.
The coffee table book Wear Your Conscience, which costs P1850, is exclusively available in Bench stores nationwide.
Click MORE PHOTOS to see pictures of this exclusive event.