Director Quark Henares leads the pack of young mavericks chosen by Oxygen to epitomize the brand's reinvention from a graphic tees line to a more sophisticated yet carefree apparel retail player.
A launch party was held last June 16 at Whitespace in Makati City. The event gave the public a preview of the brand's latest collection inspired by street fashion and the fast-paced lifestyle as commonly experienced in the bustling city of Hong Kong.
Photographer Doc Marlon Pecjo travelled to Hong Kong to shoot the brand's latest campaign catalogue, which is "a day in the life" photo diary capturing the happenings in the favorite tourist shopping destination.
But before all the happenings, Us-2 Evil-0—the independent pop-rock outfit fronted by Quark and designer Mich Dulce—performed some of the songs lifted from their debut disc titled, Dirty Debutantes.
"We're basically all about having fun," smiled Quark, pertaining to his band's kind of music. "Just singing and making fun of random and sometimes serious stuff... Boy-girl harmonies and translating all that fun onstage to the listeners or audience."
Keeping the night swinging were DJ's Gigee of Fluxxe, Chie Castaneda of ILY x Future Bar, and Bcal of Styles.
The occasion also marked the exhibition of a documentary film dubbed "XTV" featuring some of the movers and shakers in the Manila lifestyle and art scene, namely, photographer Doc Marlon Pecjo, entrepreneur Divine Lee, artist Revo Naval, writer Pam Pastor, stylist Kai Magsanoc, tattoo artist Ron Poe, makeup artist Jigs Mayuga, Boys Night Out's Slick Rick, Tony Toni and Sam YG, and Quark.
Each of the featured documentaries gives a profile of the subjects, who all narrate how they started out, struggled and eventually found success in their respective fields.
Brand director Jeff Bascon explained that the idea behind the project "is to inspire everyone, not just the young people, to find their true passion and pursue it regardless of the odds."
He also took note that the featured personalities are not under contract as endorsers: "We'd like to simply highlight that success and recognition can only be achieved through hard work and dedication. It's serious work but fun at the same time because there's nothing cooler than doing what you love the most."