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.
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.
