I want to be a star!

For the longest time running, fashion has been influenced by a gamut of things – music, film and "superstars" included. Think about when half of Manila’s women cut their hair to short-cropped bobs after Ghost came out – never mind the fact that not everyone’s bone structures suited the style. Dressing like the stars practically eclipsed fashion forecasts and current runway prêt-a-porter collections by seasoned designers – think Sienna Miller, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen or even Lindsay Lohan. These days, it seems like the boob tube and silver screen really are conditioning the minds of the new generation. You can call it brainwashing if you want but, hey, if it’ll make the few people who can pull off the I-want-to-look-like-I-belong-in-Hollywood look really appear a gazillion times better, why not? God knows we need it.

And in the local scene just over 10 months ago, indie film Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (which the Philippines is sending to the Oscars next year) became the talk of the town – not because it is about a young homosexual boy vying for a straight cop’s attention or because it rendered a more than realistic setting of third world urban poverty. It became the hit it is because of the unusually fantabulous acting of then 13-year-old Nathan Lopez as he played the little gay fashionista Maxi in the movie. He’s probably our own version of Dakota Fanning. He played the part so well it’s hard to imagine him not being gay – and he’s not. And with Nathan and his twin brother Gammy now on the rise as "real" young Filipino actors worthy of international recognition, we’re hoping that young teenage boys follow suit and give up the high school mushroom haircut and über baggy clothing –that was so 10 years ago. Now, it really is okay even for young men to look like they want to walk the red carpet, be on the cover of Esquire and be a superstar.