Eddie Bauer Launch and Samantha: Pig in the City

I get to visit SM Aura in rare occasions. Monday's was only the second of these occasions. Ruby from Primer/ROX sent an invite to the launch of their latest brand in the country: Eddie Bauer. While already having a branch open in SM Megamall at the new Fashion Wing, the brand was officially launching just now, at the same time as the opening of their SM Aura branch.

I've known this brand for quite some time now; mostly from outdoor magazines and, of course, from the ukay-ukay finds of Richard. Eddie Bauer has been around for a while, starting off as sport shop (hunting, fishing supplies) in Washington State in the 1920's. It has since grown into one of the leading outdoor apparels in the States, especially after its introduction of the down -filled jacket. In 2009, they launched a new product line, called First Ascent, recalling the tradition of the brand's support of  early and  notable American alpine expeditions.

with Romi, Paeng, and Lulu 

I arrived at the venue late, after making the error of taking EDSA instead of C5, under the assumption that it was faster (didn't consider the u-turn below the Buendia flyover was closed, and that McKinley was a driver's nightmare). I caught the tail-end of the fashion show, before the gorgeous foreign models took their exit walk. 

Romi was the only person I knew there, apart from the people from Primer. With the fashion show done, the cocktails started. It was our chance to enjoy liberal amounts of free wine, while surrounded by people in the outdoor apparel industry (I'm mostly there for the wine). We spoke with two ladies from Eddie Bauer HQ, who flew in from Seattle just for this launch, and were flying out first thing in the morning. It was a shame, we told them, that they wouldn't be able to head for the beach before leaving the country.

Eventually the crowd grew thinner until there were only five of us left. Ruby introduced us to Paeng and Lulu, before heading out herself, leaving the four of us, the clean-up crew, the wait staff, and a near-full bottle of wine.

We took it our duty to finish of that bottle. With everyone else gone, it would just go to waste. And with this, we got to know Paeng and Lulu's interesting expat life in the Philippines. The couple came to the country a couple of years ago; became involved in some development NGOs; before becoming connected with A_Space Manila, a multi-purpose hub catering to start-up companies and events right at the heart of Makati CBD.

What's more interesting about these two is how they embraced the Filipino culture (more than some Pinoys out there). They're the only couple I know (expat or local) who has a pet pig in their backyard--named Samantha--along with a couple of ducks and chickens. From what they've told us in the process of finishing of that wine bottle, it seems they've been all around the country, enjoying trying out things at least once (better, twice). That became quite obvious when Lulu climbed up to the catwalk and did a couple of walk-and-pose, like those models in the show earlier.

With the last drop of wine drained, we parted ways. But the evening wouldn't have ended properly if we didn't refresh their vocabulary with a few choice swear words, which we hoped they remember.