Cover Celebrating 25 years of style, resilience and storytelling: look back at the defining moments that shaped Tatler Philippines from 2001 to today
Celebrating 25 years of style, resilience and storytelling: look back at the defining moments that shaped Tatler Philippines from 2001 to today
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For our remarkable silver anniversary, we embark on a vivid journey through defining moments and extraordinary individuals who have left indelible marks on Tatler Philippines. Each year has brought seismic shifts, stories of resilience and triumphant breakthroughs, weaving themselves into the very fabric of our publication
The birth year of Tatler Philippines was, not to mince words, tumultuous, starting with no less than an overthrow of government through a people’s power revolution. Nine months later, on another continent, an unthinkable evil act shook global complacency with the stark realities of vulnerability, extreme hate and paranoia.
When those four hijacked planes hit their targets on the morning of September 9, 2001, the world was gripped with instant fear. The magnitude and brazenness of the attacks completely changed the culture of air travel. Travelling by plane since then has been either fearful or cumbersome. Or both. In the few months after the worst tragedy in aviation history, something felt awry with plasticware and linen in first class. Today, security demands vacillate between preposterous and ludicrous. Lotions are measured; liquids are banned. Scissors and heavy electronic devices must be hand-carried; shoes must be removed. The list goes on.
Although direction is largely a reactive course of action, a disruptor can cause a cataclysmic reset. As did 9/11 in the first year of the third millennium, the same year when Tatler Philippines was born.
Tatler witnessed the challenges of the first 25 years. Confidently and staunchly, it faced all the stones, boulders sometimes, that fate hurled at humanity. Perhaps because it believed in its essence more than any other of its ilk, the brand survived the tests of time and became the standard-bearer for luxury chroniclers.
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This destiny could have wavered and shrunk back to a safe womb and await better times when, for instance, it faced political uncertainty over a new national leadership, intensifying trouble in the south from Muslim insurgents, the global damage caused by the “I Love You” computer virus that also pointed the world’s accusing finger at its Filipino creator.
However, it saw a glimmer of hope trying to find its way out through this mesh of troubles, in an economic growth posted in the previous three consecutive quarters. That was enough for Tatler to remain optimistic. So, while the world changed course and the country adjusted its direction, Tatler Philippines went full steam ahead in 2001.
It took its mission seriously. It would never have become a resource for luxury statements had it not closely watched the unfolding events.
Social media has not yet controlled the national psyche so television was still the medium of entertainment. Some celebrities who ruled were Judy Ann Santos, Piolo Pascual, Claudine Barretto, Aga Muhlach, Sharon Cuneta, Kris Aquino, Regine Velasquez, Gary Valenciano and Jolina Magdangal. In Hollywood, the hot stars were Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston, and the movies were The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series.
In music, OPM still dominated the airwaves and videoke was, as yet and arguably as now, everybody’s go-to musical release. Rivermaya, Parokya ni Edgar, Eraserheads, Side A were the bands that drew the fans hands down. Their international counterparts: Britney Spears, Eminem, Beyoncé, Kanye West, etc.
Mobile phones were fast becoming a must-have, with Nokias grabbing the market. Internet cafes proved their worth for both studying and gaming. Everyone was still texting, not TikToking and blessings, trolls were not that powerful and pervasive yet to mass-manufacture fake news and mess around with our mental state.
In food, with Starbucks’s entrance in the Philippine market three years before, the coffee culture has begun to strengthen its brew, opening the world for the local coffee producers to introduce their products and for the market to taste local coffee, which turned out to be world-class.
On the heels of Seattle’s successful coffee concept arriving in the country was the trend of fast fashion. This gave rise to others in the industry, an early one being designer collaboration. One of the early players here was H&M, which worked with Karl Lagerfeld on a highly successful one-time collection in 2004, followed by Stella McCartney in 2005. Target also entered its own designer collaboration with Isaac Mizrahi in 2002. Interestingly, the brand that broke ground was Halston two decades before, in 1983 when it launched its affordable Halston III line with JCPenney. Fast fashion, however, has already anointed collaborations as a corporate growth strategy.
Read also: The 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award honours 3 Asian visionaries changing the world
Although the entrance of the millennium will always be marked by the evil of Al-Queda, the years that followed brimmed with perpetual motion. Tatler rode the waves. Constantly blending creative excellence and business prudence, the magazine soared to the top, without missing nary an issue, ergo clocking 300 this month in this year of the third millennium.
In 25 years, the brand has continuously and constantly grown in this type of maturity. The national and global upheavals that marked its early years would not be the last of mega-disasters to come, a pandemic no less waiting down the road. Toughened, however, by these initial but, nonetheless, grave crises and impassioned by a longevity that is proving, year after year, that the dream is destined for reality, Tatler is prepared to survive. When a room for a storyteller who writes about the truth, beauty and relevance of luxury opened, Tatler Philippines claimed the space. So, at the beginning of the third millennium, against all odds, it occupied the room and assumed the role, determined to continue doing it justice as destiny had deemed it to do so.
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A journalist of more than 30 years, Chit has had varied exposures in this field, both in hard news as well as in soft news, and brings everything she has learnt to the production of the magazine. When not writing or editing, Chit is deeply involved in her chosen service organisation, Rotary International.
