Liz Uy: 'I'll just keep my mouth shut on Noynoy'

She is known as the top celebrity stylist, or that “super fashyon” girl, or as the ex-girlfriend of John Lloyd Cruz or the woman who President Noynoy Aquino dated. Because of what she does and the man she went out with, Liz has become a household name, with random people on the street calling her by name or asking to have their photo taken with her. She often still says, “I can’t believe kilala nila ako.” She styles cover shoots but is now a cover girl herself. Everyone wants to know what her fashion opinion is. And people want to know about her love life. This is the story of a girl who so many people are intrigued by, and why. Here’s 10 things you should know about Liz Uy.

1. The most important fashion advice she wants to share with men is “to always look and be mabango.” The most important fashion advice she wants to share with women is “you should never be lazy.”

For men, Liz says, “Even if you don’t really dress up, you just wear jeans and a shirt. If you are so mabango, it is so attractive.” On the topic of women having “unfashionable” days, Liz says, “Why?” She insists that women should make that extra effort to wake up a little earlier every day to fix themselves up. The most fashionable men for her are Hollywood actor Ryan Gosling and local model-slash-entrepreneur Borgy Manotoc. With women, she admires European editors Emmanuelle Alt and Giovanna Battaglia, as well as young stars like Emma Watson and Elle Fanning.

The reason why things didn’t work out between Liz and John Lloyd is that they “were too young to be living together.” And she became too demanding.

2. Liz believes that there is no such thing as a “fashion no-no,” but fashion victims do exist.

She explains that for her, there are no rules in fashion. “Gold and silver? Check. Stockings and open-toe stilts? Check. Brown and black? Check. Print on print? Check. It is about the right kind of mix. I can’t explain further, but I can show you how,” Liz shares. She does have a definition of what a fashion victim is. She says it is someone who follows fashion blindly, meaning somebody who can’t define their own sense of style and just follows all the trends, all at the same time.

3. Liz Uy in numbers:

500: approximate number of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) messages she sends a day. “Never less than 500,” Liz says.

93: number of lipsticks in her collection.

4: average number of shoots she styles a week, whether it be for advertising or for Preview and Esquire, for which she is currently fashion editor-at-large.

3: number of years that she and John Lloyd were together, it being her longest relationship ever.

3: number of dates that she and P-Noy had at McDonald’s. Liz would like to clarify rumors and say that the three dates were in the Pearl Drive branch, F. Ortigas Jr. branch, and Greenbelt 1 branch. (They had these three public dates plus a couple other private dinners.)

345,811: number of Twitter followers as of Oct. 21, 2011.

4. She went from HRIM student to editorial assistant to fashion editor to top stylist, and from sporting baby tees to wearing gorgeous gowns.

Liz took up hotel, restaurant and institution management in the College of St. Benilde in the hopes of becoming a restaurateur and club owner. “That’s one thing people don’t really know about me, I’m super ‘Monica’ in Friends. I cook, I sew, I clean, I wash the dishes, I design my place,” Liz reveals. Her college boyfriend was extremely conservative and didn’t like her fixing up too much. When that relationship was coming to an end, she started wearing makeup and dressing up, and discovered that fashion is what she is really interested in. 

Everything changed in 2004 when she did a photo shoot for fun. She bought clothes from an ukay ukay, got her brother Vince to be the photographer, and got her friends Kelly Misa and Anne Curtis to be the models. Vince then sent the photos to Pauline Suaco-Juan of Preview magazine, and the next day she was called in for an interview (she was wearing a green cotton shirt, high-waisted pencil-cut skirt, three brooches which was her mom’s, and peep-toe shoes.) At the very end of that interview, Pauline asked her, “How soon can you start?” From editorial assistant, in only six months, Liz was promoted to associate fashion editor, and after just two years was again promoted to fashion editor.

Liz Uy, the super fashyon girl, cover girl and shoe-perb stylist: She dreams of becoming a fashion mogul like Rachel Zoe

She not only credits talent, hard work and taste for her quick rise in the industry, she also says luck was a big factor. “It was my time when celebrities started requesting stylists,” Liz shares. Today, her regular clients include Kris Aquino, Anne Curtis, Marian Rivera, Bea Alonzo, among others. 

5. It took over a year for Liz and Ruffa Gutierrez to patch things up, and all Liz was waiting for was an apology.

When news of Liz and John Lloyd’s breakup came out, at the same time, rumors of a relationship between John Lloyd and Ruffa circulated. When that ended, Liz recalls one time she and Ruffa bumped into each other at an event. Ruffa said to her, “Girl, let’s move on,” to which Liz asked, “Why are you saying sorry now?” Ruffa answered, “Who says I’m saying sorry? I’m not.” Liz then stopped the conversation, thinking: what use is there in talking if no apologies are given? A year after that incident, Liz and Ruffa bumped into each other again at an event. Ruffa then said, “Liz, I’m sorry.” At that time, Liz was very much over the whole thing and even teased Ruffa, “Hmm, parang di ka naman nagsisisi eh!” They sat down to talk more, and Liz told Ruffa, “It’s nothing now. Things really happen for a reason, ang tagal na, and everyone has moved on.”

Liz also makes a surprisingly ironic revelation that the first-ever celebrity who requested her to be a personal stylist was Ruffa.

6. Liz on why she is still single: “I don’t know, I’ve been told I strike men as intimidating. But honestly, I don’t really care if they are intimidated, it shouldn’t be my problem if they are.”

She shares that no one really comes up to her here in Manila, which is the exact opposite of when we travel because when we’re abroad, so many guys go up to her to try and get her attention. Liz reveals that one of the men who did express interest before was now-Rep. Roman Romulo (ironically, now engaged to Shalani Soledad, who was in a relationship with the President before Liz and Pnoy started dating). “He called me, called Gang (Badoy), called Erwin (Romulo), called the owners of companies I’ve worked with,” but the meet-up never pushed through because Liz doesn’t do blind dates. For her, it’s not a matter of “This is the kind of guy who deserves you” or “This guy doesn’t deserve you”; Liz believes that when it’s love, it’s love. And she is willing to give her all in the name of love. She’s done it before (read: John Lloyd) and she’ll do it again (man yet to be found).

7. The reason why things didn’t work out between her and John Lloyd is that they “were too young to be living together.”

It has been three years since they broke up and looking back now, she says she realized so many things and can think of three things to say about why it didn’t work out. First, they were really too young. Second, she would not advise couples to live together at that young age (they were around 23 then) because it is too suffocating. “At that time, I was so in love that I wanted us to be together all the time,” Liz shares. Lastly, she shares that she became too demanding.

Today, Liz and John Lloyd are good friends. When they bump into each other in public, they say “hi,” they hug, and they catch up on stories.

8. She promised good friend and first sister Kris (Aquino) that for everything to stay peaceful, she won’t talk about the President anymore.

“If I say something, people might take it in a different context, iba-iba ang interpretation, so para peaceful na for everyone, I’ll just keep my mouth shut,” Liz shares. Being Liz’s friend, I was actually witness to a lot of their moments together and what I feel I can share is that when they were going out, they enjoyed talking to each other and they made each other laugh; sometimes when P-Noy would pick her up for dinner, he would be driving the car himself (of course with backup cars and security not far behind); and that when he would come home from official trips, he would bring simple pasalubong home for Liz. 

After they dated, to avoid any issues, Liz ceased to be the personal stylist of the President.

9. At the time she was seeing the President, she did try to imagine what it would be like to be First Lady, and in her mind, the airport would be on top of her list.

In her mental picture as First Lady, making the Philippines more beautiful would be her top priority, that being her line of work. “There is so much we can do. Unang una na diyan yung airport, to help the tourism industry,” Liz reveals, being an avid traveler herself. “When we travel, we get inspired by everything we see, and we should show na kaya din ng Pinoy yun.”

10. Liz dreams of becoming a fashion mogul like Rachel Zoe, hopefully with her own book, website, and possible business. She dreams of doing all this, while being a dutiful wife and mother.

“Housewife with a pet project,” Liz says about her dream. She doesn’t think she will ever want to give up the career that she loves, but she reveals that she wouldn’t mind staying home with the kids or living abroad, if the need may arise with her future husband.

For Liz’s closest friends, they say her best trait is her sense of humor, her compassionate nature, her “cowboy” style. These make her a joy to be with. With me, Liz often shares her insecurity about her legs, how she can’t believe that all these important people seek her advice, or how she doubts that this certain guy will notice her. I think it is because she is so unaware of her charm and beauty, and how she doesn’t think of herself as an “it girl” that she is all the more charming, beautiful, and “it.” She works hard, loves what she does, takes care of her family and friends, makes the most of the talents she has been blessed with, and in return, life loves her back. Something we all can learn from. 

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