GOWN BY PINOY DESIGNER DRAWS RAVES AT GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS
[PHOTO - This is the stunning gown that Glee's Amber Riley wore at the recent Golden Globes, designed by Hollywood-based Filipino couturier Oliver Tolentino (inset)]
MANILA, JANUARY 25, 2011 (STAR) FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo - Curtain-raisers:
• After a head-turning performance in the re-staging of Magsimula Ka in December last year, Ciara Sotto (photo right) will soon start rehearsing for Rent in which she plays the female lead Mimi. I'm sure that Ciara is outing in harness what she has learned during her stint in Las Vegas a few years back in her current foray into theater.
• As year 2010 was about to end, a topnotch talent manager got a surprise overseas call from an actress with whom she's bumping heads. The voice from thousands of miles away was full of threat, "Hoy, wala akong kapera-pera. Bigyan mo akong pera at kung hindi idadamay kita sa demanda ko." The TM said calmly, "Tinatakot mo ba ako?" The line went dead. The caller must have turned chicken.
• Sidelights at the wedding of Oyo Sotto and Kristine Hermosa (photo left) last Jan. 12 (Oyo's 27th birthday) at a provincial beach (the favorite venue of showbiz weddings): Oyo's mom Dina Bonnevie turned emotional when she recalled in her speech how protective of her Oyo is…When Maru Sotto, the groom's uncle, signed on the marriage contract as one of the principal sponsors, the name he wrote was Marcelino Antonio III which was the full name of his and ex-wife Ali Sotto's son Miko who fell to his death on Dec. 29, 2003. Maru's full name is Marcelino Sotto Jr. It must have been Freudian slip. Oyo was with Miko during that tragic incident and seeing Oyo at the altar, Maru must have been thinking of his dear son Miko. The Sottos didn't correct the slip and let it be…And could it be true that Oyo's ex-future-mom-in-law Pia Guanio had an LQ (Lovers' Quarrel) with her new boyfriend Steve in the same event? Is the green-eyed monster rearing its ugly head so soon? Who got jealous, Pia or Steve? And who was the object of the jealousy? "Steve should start learning the ABC's of showbiz," said the Funfare VDPA (Very Deep Penetrating Agent) who was hinting at something. "In showbiz, a kiss is just a kiss between opposite or even the same sexes. It's just a simple, harmless social gesture, unless…"
* * *
At the Red Carpet of the 2011 Golden Globes Sunday night, Glee star Amber Riley wore a stunning gown that drew oh's and ah's. The Mermaid Venus-cut, silver-sequined gown with black satin, bugle-beaded belt was created by none other than Filipino designer Oliver Tolentino who is fast making a name in Hollywood, slowly but surely following in the glam-and-glitter footsteps of kababayan Monique Lhuillier who designed the gown worn by Catherine Zeta-Jones in the same affair.
Only five or so years ago when Funfare wrote the "scoop" that another Filipino — Oliver, that is — was starting to attract an A-list clientele in California, I knew that it wouldn't take long before he would break into Hollywood. Two years ago, Oliver was chosen to design environment-friendly gowns for a, if I'm not mistaken, UN-sponsored event in Europe. It was about the same time when 1978 Miss Universe Margaret Gardiner (from South Africa), now a Hollywood journalist, wore an Oliver Tolentino gown when she covered the Red Carpet of the Oscars. My friend Tim Evans (of the US Customs and Immigration) and I were at Oliver's shop on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood when Margaret had her fitting. The shop, put up barely three years ago, is in the same vicinity as those of Stella MacCartney, the late Alexander McQueen and other world-renowned designers. (Oliver's local shop is at The Colonnade Residences in Legaspi Village, Makati City, telephone 856-7088.)
The STAR correspondent Raymond de Asis Lo texted this happy news: "Oliver Tolentino's dress worn by Glee's Amber Riley was praised by Joan Rivers and Kelly Osborne on E! Fashion Police as one of the best at the Globes."
Wow, Oliver, take three bows!!!
More good news about Oliver:
Camille Grammer wore Oliver's black jacket in her same day appearances on the Ellen show and on Access Hollywood late last week. Camille is the ex-wife of Kelsey Grammer and is currently appearing on the reality show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. After the event, she posted on Facebook "Oliver... love the jacket."
Sophia Bush, star of TV show One Tree Hill, which is on its eighth season, wore Oliver's piña and abaca mini-cocktail dress to the Audi & J Mendel party to celebrate the kick-off of "Golden Globes Week" two Sunday nights ago in Hollywood. The gown was even featured in that week's "vote for Best Dress" (of half-a-dozen actresses who attended the event) at www.HollywoodLife.com.
Bubble Gang is here to stay!
That blind item the other day about a "decade and a half old show" about to burst out of the screen turned out to be kuryente (a dud). The clue pointed to the popular GMA gag show Bubble Gang. I have already consigned the Funfare DPA who texted me that "hot" news to a sound-proof isolated room with no contact with the outside world. For one week lang naman.
"I'm sad" was what I said when I wrote that blind item because for the past 15 years, I never failed to watch Bubble Gang, which has been imitated and copied without mercy and without shame by other groups but has never been equaled. The original is still the best, unbeatably so.
"I'm glad" is what I'm saying now that the blind item is not true.
Here's the assurance from Wilma Galvante, GMA's SVP for Entertainment TV: You have a blind item that points to Bubble Gang being cancelled. Where did you get that news? It certainly is not true. In fact, we even re-programmed our Friday-night viewing so that Bubble Gang will come in earlier. Bubble Gang is one of the flagship programs of GMA 7 and it is still going strong.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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