Reading

Bobby Pin-Crazed Is A-Okay and Other Style Notes From the March Cover Shoot With Bela Padilla

Bobby Pin-Crazed Is A-Okay and Other Style Notes From the March Cover Shoot With Bela Padilla

Revisiting our day on set with our #womancrusheveryday

 

 

What was it about this cover shoot that sparked something with the Wonder team? Could point to any number of things. Of course, we’ll take any reason to play dress-up or pull out creative style tricks (a nice routine-refresher that keeps us on our toes). But we suppose having a notable personality like Bela Padilla grace the set––for a Women’s Month cover, no less––was simply an ideal fulfilled.

 

The jumping-off point for this (a modern woman owning her multiple narratives) suggested we could play around with creating entire personas. This meant that close coordination between the fashion and beauty looks was crucial, too.

 

Scroll through and we’ll break things down for you.

 

Headwear Meets Hardware, a K-Pop Crossover and Then Some

Unlike the relatively quick changes made in the fashion department, tweaks take time when it comes to beauty. While a solid game plan and an even more foolproof glam team are key to making good time, it goes without saying that time in the hair and makeup chair chips the most minutes out of cover shoots. It’s for this reason precisely that encapsulating multiple facets of Bela Padilla would become such a challenge. Hair and makeup changes had to be simple enough to be efficient but striking enough to drive a message of difference between looks.

 

Bobby Pin-Crazed Is A-Okay and Other Style Notes From the March Cover Shoot With Bela Padilla
While one hairstyle was simple—damp and pulled back at the crown—the scene-stealer was easily the bobby pin situation that Bela sported across three layouts. The idea was to fashion a makeshift headpiece to frame her face, and with his magic hands and a fleet of bronze hair clips, hairstylist JA Feliciano made it happen.

 

To counter the hard-edged appeal of the bobby pin crown, we let the rest of Bela's mane down, styling it into undone waves. While we could have easily gone ham with the hardware (bobby pin clumps were supposed to be fixed onto the rest of her hair), this shoot was a reminder that restraint is an art.

 

Over in the makeup side, we entrusted our vision to Justine Navato, one of Bela's go-to artists. Utilizing the same dewy base and neat, filled-in brows across the entire shoot, we transitioned easily from a barely-there beat to a look that gave starry eyes a whole new meaning. For further dimension, Justine used a purple eyeliner to tightline an otherwise strikingly blue eye. For that extra oomph (and a tip of the hat to our theme of being a multi-faceted badass gal), we kept the rhinestones on a single eye.

 

In between these looks, though, was something of a transitional touch: the smudged lip. While we've done blurred out edges in the past, we took the smudged effect to the maximum with Bela who was willing to try any ideas we threw at her. K-Pop fans (specifically those who follow boy group Seventeen!) might recognize the red lipstick smear. Yes, it was indeed a little homage to this iconic beauty moment. 

 

Bobby Pin-Crazed Is A-Okay and Other Style Notes From the March Cover Shoot With Bela Padilla Bobby Pin-Crazed Is A-Okay and Other Style Notes From the March Cover Shoot With Bela Padilla


RELATED:
Beauty Counter: March is About Welcoming the Summer with Open Arms and Camera-Ready Lashes

 

Tactile Textile, Nods to The Matrix and a Pink Floyd Moment
Style Notes From the March Cover Shoot With Bela Padilla – 1Cesa bikini top, Ha.Mü ruffled button-down top, Forever 21 faux leather skirt, layered belts and patent ankle boots, Christian Roth Nu-Type sunglasses
For a lot of the looks, an understated play on texture was the main idea. Actual notes for fashion direction here included: “Latex! Tulle! Leather!” (emphasis on the exclamations, please).

 

Since we were also set on putting together a monochromatic outfit for this layout, the devil had to be in the detail. A steel-boned corset worn upside down (because why not?), multiple belts used to create the illusion of yet another waist-cinching corset, a faux leather mini skirt to counterbalance a delicate ruffled top: sometimes a push and pull of elements can work great together. Going with a single colorway definitely makes it easier to pull this off, too.

 

Style Notes From the March Cover Shoot With Bela Padilla – 2
Comme Des Garçons Noir Kei Ninomiya leather top, Craig Green quilted drawstring trousers, Charles & Keith low-heeled strappy sandals, AC+632 pearl earring
Style Notes From the March Cover Shoot With Bela Padilla – 4
Patty Ang “Dublin” dress, Uniqlo sports cap, AC+632 rhinestone hoop

 

At the cover shoot, we learned that Bela Padilla likes to inject Pink Floyd references into the films she works on. Fun fact: four of her movies, to date, have a little Pink Floyd in them. In a way, we lucked out putting her in this band tee that we thought to zhuzh with a pair of high-waist swim bottoms.

 

Often, it’s the swim top that manages its way into the regular wardrobe (perhaps worn instead of a cropped top, covered up with a jacket and then paired with something laidback like jeans), but who’s to say the bikini bottom can’t do the same? To those who dare, something to think about.

Style Notes From the March Cover Shoot With Bela Padilla – 3
Forever 21 Pink Floyd t-shirt and patent ankle boots, Cesa high-waist swim bottom

 

 

RELATED: A Cheat Sheet of 2020’s Most Promising Fashion Trends

 

This one’s for all the Nasty Women, who come in many different forms and evolutions, and know how to handle themselves––much like our cover star for the month, Bela Padilla.

 

Tap to read her cover story, including a video of Bela Padilla interviewing herself and more images from the shoot.

 

 

Words Cessi Treñas and Nicole Blanco Ramos

Photography Wilmark Jolindon using Phottix Philippines assisted by Mark Carlos

Art and Art Direction Alexandra Lara

Fashion Direction and Styling Nicole Blanco Ramos assisted by Matthew Ian Fetalver

Beauty Direction Cessi Treñas

Makeup Justine Navato

Hair JA Feliciano

Production Wonder

Location The Bulb Studios

Advertisement

You may also like

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get weekly updates on trending topics

Ⓒ 2018 – 2023 Wonder ™ | All Rights Reserved

Advertisement

Discover More

Search

Don't miss a thing

Stay up to date to the latest news and articles.