Sarah Jessica Parker on SM Aura Premier Grand Opening

Remember this?

"I like my money right where I can see it... hanging in my closet."

After days of tweeting and clues from @thesmstore about a Hollywood celebrity who’s flying in for the opening of the newest shopping mall in town, clues have been unmasked when everyone started talking about Sarah Jessica Parker arriving in NAIA on Tuesday, simple but fabulous even without makeup and without any airs.

Fashion icon and Hollywood actress Sarah Jessica Parker wearing a figure-flatterring black floor length gown graced everyone at the grand opening of SM Aura Premier yesterday, May 16, 2013.

If you're someone obsessing (and still is) over the HBO series Sex And The City, like me, you'll find it hard to delineate Carrie Bradshaw and Sarah Jessica Parker. Looking right at her will make you think they're the same person, but definitely in a good way! :)

Before I lay all the deets, let me share to you some facts about Sarah Jessica Parker (SJP) on her visit here in Manila:

• Anna Wintour of Vogue describes her as “both a mythic American (the midwestern girl who came to Broadway to play Annie and became a star) and a down-to-earth citizen of the world.”
• Sarah Jessica Parker refused to ride in the stretch limo provided by The Peninsula Manila and chose to sit with her crew in a van.

• As SJP entered The Peninsula Manila Lobby, the band played New York, New York. She stopped to listen until the end of the piece and heartily applauded after.
• Just a regular suite, please,” she told The Pen which offered her their best suite at the top.
• “I am quite different from the Carrie Bradshaw character I portrayed,” she once told James Lipton in The Actors’ Studio.

• The 48-year-old actress refuses to have a job done on her nose, and has said that she is not a big fan of collagen and Botox.
• Unpretentious as she is, SJP preferred to go edgy and bohemian, mixing vintage jeans with Patricia Fields, Galliano, and Halston redux.
• During the launch, Sarah Jessica Parker praised Filipino women for being unique and confident in their style choices.

As the new face of SM, Sarah Jessica Parker will dominate the store’s new campaign billboards and ads according to SM VP for marketing Millie Dizon. “Her style is experimental and unparalleled. She can wear clothes as diverse as our fashion collections.”

SM Aura Premier is considered by reviews as the most exciting and newest upscale mall conceived under the leadership of SM bosses Tessie Sy-Coson for retail and marketing, and Hans Sy for mall design.

It was Coson with her visionary grasp of ever-evolving fashions that transformed her father Henry Sy Sr.’s shoe store into a mega store that is fashion-forward. Today, the SM Stores include top-selling global brands coveted by both its faithful clientele and the finicky “A” market.

Coson mentioned, “SM Aura was created to serve the changing lifestyle of our customers. Everything that went into the planning of Aura is different from what we’ve done before,” 

SM Aura, as the next generation establishment with its total floor area of 249,861 square meters, consists of a mall and an office tower with thoroughly modern design details.

Hans Sy explains, “With its sculptural form designed by Willy Coscolluela, SM Aura projects images from the elements of nature: the flow of water, the turbulence of air and the strata of the earth. The SM Engineering and Design Team enhanced it with sustainable operation: pollution and waste management systems are planned for maximum efficiency; a water treatment facility recycles water for non-potable use; a massive green roof reduces the heat island effect in the structure; and international green standards are strictly followed to ensure the efficient use of energy.”

SM Aura derived its name from two elements: gold (AU) and radium (RA), which when put together, evokes luxury and elegance. The chemical numbers of gold (79) and radium (88) – or 7,8 and 9 – are considered lucky according to Sy.

Shoppers will discover many firsts in this new lifestyle mall. Among these are Suiteblanco from Spain, and Stefal from Italy, BB Dakota, J Lindberg and Farah. Paul Boulangerie brought in from Paris by Ben Chan and his Bench family, NBA Cafe and Todd English Food Hall are new places to relish.

The SM Supermarket, Kultura, Watsons, Our Home and Toy Kingdom are there, as well as the young fashionistas’ favorite brands Forever 21 and Uniqlo. Movie buffs will delight in its IMAX Theater, two digital cinemas and two director’s club cinemas.

The Sky Park with its al fresco dining stands amid landscaped garden and water features.

The Samsung Hall is an events place with a unique dome design set against a lush garden.

Every SM mall has a chapel, and the one at SM Aura is dedicated to San Pedro Calungsod.

SM Aura has 1,771 parking slots for the convenience of its customers. There are also bicycle paths and landscaped recreational areas around it. SM Aura’s design team includes Miami-based Arquitectonica and the Sydney-based EDGE Design for the mall interiors.

Sarah Jessica Parker shares a toast with SM's Hans Sy during the grand launch. 

SM Aura Premier is officially open to public starting TODAY, May 17 and located at 26th Street corner McKinley Parkway at The Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Here's a preview, WATCH!! :)

 

For more details, visit www.smprime.com. 

Follow @SMAuraPremier and @thesmstore on Twitter, and on Facebook. 

A mall of firsts... Redefining lifestyle!

Love, Sex and Fashion

It was the third quarter of 2006 (if my memory serves me right after a not-so-good break up with Lloyd in an apartment we shared at St. Paul Road, San Antonio Village in Makati City) when a friend Janus introduced me to a tall-cute guy named JJ. Well, that night wasn't exactly an idea that we'd fall inlove and like each other but then again, we did - at least for months. He lives in Las Pinas with his sisters and everytime I visit him will be bags of chips, bottles of Coke and a marathon episodes of Sex & the City.

At first, I was never really into watching it. But you see, I was really young and when you love someone, you'd learn to love what he loves and does. Weeks after weeks we'd do the same thing and go to some bazaar where his sisters own a booth. And then came a no-closure break up.

A year passed after a few more ex's and fuck buddies, I've decided to buy my very own complete season series of the Sex & the City DVDs. It was surreal!

It made me stop going out with friends to venture boys and beers in Malate and stayed home with bags of chips, pancit canton, bottles of Coke and watch it all night for God knows how many weekend it was. It made me fall inlove, cry, wanted more sex than ever (LOL!), and opened my eyes with fashion and the wonders of New York City, well of course next to Paris! :)

Every and most episodes sinked in with how Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha plays their characters as four friends finding love and happiness in a wonderful fast-paced New York City.

And after 94 episodes, 6 seasons and 2 movies... now came this!

That's right! Carrie Bradshaw is back. And before she became a Manhattan writer, she had to survive the first day of school just like everyone else.

THE CARRIE DIARIES is based on the novels by Candace Bushnell.

It's 1984, and life isn't easy for 16-year-old Carrie Bradshaw. Since their mother passed away, Carrie's younger sister Dorrit is more rebellious than ever, and their father Tom is overwhelmed with the responsibility of suddenly having to care for two teenage girls on his own. Carrie's friends – sweet, geeky Mouse, snarky Maggie and sensitive Walt – make life bearable, but a suburban life in Connecticut isn't doing much to take her mind off her troubles. 

Even the arrival of a sexy new transfer student named Sebastian only reminds Carrie that she spent the whole summer grieving rather than moving on with life. So when Tom offers Carrie the chance to intern at a law firm in Manhattan, she leaps at the chance. Carrie's eyes are opened wide at the glamour and grit of New York City – and when she meets Larissa, the style editor for Interview magazine, she's inspired by the club culture and unique individuals that make up Larissa's world. Carrie's friends and family may have a big place in her heart, but she's fallen in love for the first time with the most important man in her life – Manhattan.

The new TV series stars Anna Sophia Robb as Carrie Bradshaw; Stefania Owen as Dorrit Bradshaw; Ellen Wong as Mouse; Katie Findlay as Maggie; Chloe Bridges as Donna; Austin Butler as Sebastian; Brendan Dooling as Walt; Freema Agyeman as Larissa and Matt Letscher as Tom.

"In my years of playing dress up as a child, I understood that what you wore define you. But in this store I realized you might be able to change who you are."

The Carrie Diaries premiers at ETC on January 21, Monday at 9:00 PM.

ETC is on free TV on RPN-9 and also available on cable channels - Sky Cable Ch. 14, Destiny Cable Ch. 14, Cable Link Ch. 34, Cignal Ch. 14 and Dream Satellite Ch. 6.