FOREVER 21 OPENS IN DAVAO CITY

It was like a movie scene shot in a holy land, where droves of die hard devotees pay homage to their religion.

In this case, I’m talking about the opening of the clothing store long awaited by style conscious beings in the promise land of Mindanao.

Forever 21 has finally opened its doors to Davaoeños, occupying more than 1,400 square meters of space in the newest and biggest mall in Davao, the SM Lanang Premier. Waiting in heels and in traffic, the people endured lengthy and idle hours just to take part of that momentous day, which could equal to a right of passage mentioned in different style bibles across continents. Those who treat shopping as a form of meditation for their “weary” souls and fashion chi came in their stylish best, adding pizzazz to the fashion show and F21 reverie.

The globally renowned brand gained its following for its variety of creative solutions to any kind of style intuition. It took fashion by storm with its eclectic lines and designs. Edgy fashionphiles would usually feel naked with just a mere top and bottom to make their look. Forever 21 offer solutions to this as it not only houses clothes that are trending or on forecast, but also a wide collection of shoes, bags, accessories, and intimates to match them with.

The brand has become a clothing lifestyle adopted even by those who are not part of the privileged set. It boasts of fashion forward pieces, tailor refined staples, and couture inspirations all at great value, making shopping more fun and affordable.

Its reach extends to all types of market segmentation. In a way, it is a gender-bender, age defying, and affordable kind of fashion. While in other continents the brand takes after the relentless pace of changing seasons, it finds calmness in the Philippine setting as the clothes only sway on a pendulum between sunny and rainy seasons.  

With its versatile, fun, and trendy lines, it is no wonder why so many Filipinos remained loyal and have become even more hooked to Forever 21. I, for one, consider it as a stopover whenever I visit my family in Manila. Yes, even moms like me can relate to the hip and colorful clothes. I personally like their collection of shoes, accessories, jeans, and cocktail dresses. Being away from home gave me the advantage of maximizing my favorite Aunt’s credit limit. My niece-away-from-home line of attack never fails to sway my Aunt to spoil me with the fashion fixation which was, at that time, only available in Manila. My younger brothers complained about getting overly bored and tired while they waited for me to finish my tour around the store.  They’d quip, “It takes FOREVER and 21 years before you get done with shopping.”

Well, now that the store has a branch here in Davao, I guess I won’t be hearing them whining that way anymore. And, in glorious feat, my Aunt embraced freedom with a formal declaration telling me, “Now you don’t have any more reason to drag me to that store whenever you’re in Manila.”
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Story published on my newspaper column, Metro Mom.
A1 and A4, INdulge section, Edge Davao, Vol. 5 Issue 152, 02 October 2012.