Advocacy doesn’t run dry for Nadine’s fashion and food choices especially at this year’s MEGA Ball
Nadine Lustre speaks up on her advocacy for life and nature in a Ziv Rei Alexi number at the MEGA Ball 2024: Fashion + Food
Intention best describes Nadine Lustre’s creative choices. A number of things give that side of her personality away: an aesthetic Instagram post, her switch to the vegan lifestyle that included her fashion choices; and last June 12, her ensemble for the MEGA Ball 2024. With the occasion giving weight to the intersection of fashion and food—two realms that thrive through nature—the actress and environmental advocate donned a bespoke Ziv Rei Alexi piece that captured nature at its glory, grit, and gore.
RELATED: 3 Times Nadine Lustre Proved She’s a Changemaker
Cracking the Codes of the Piece
“Nadine’s always been vocal about her advocacies, and she stands by it. But this time, she wanted to make a statement on animal welfare—and we did it through fashion,” stylist Lyn Alumno explains in an exclusive interview with MEGA. Throughout the years, the looks of the country’s online Madame President have captured the symbiotic relationship between Nadine and her stylist. This time, Ziv joined their collaboration of bringing an idea to life with the crackled effect which is already a part of the designer’s DNA.
At the event, Lustre literally left a mark at the grounds of Shangri-La The Fort. White bits from her number would fall from her creation, an effect of the hand-painted technique used by the designer. While the actress followed the dress code of black and white, her dress itself had multiple shades of meaning. Alumno best puts it in her own words. “There was just something about the crackled effect that, while it seemed like it was disintegrating, there was beauty in it. It mimicked nature in many ways—scales of reptiles, tree barks, rocks,” she explains. “At the same time, it also alluded to metamorphosis. And it was all achieved through more sustainable techniques and materials without compromising our advocacy. As we grow older, we’ve become more perceptive of the choices we make every day, whether it’s fashion, food or our way of life.”
Meanwhile, the actress herself took to Instagram her own connotation of the piece—“Ode to a disintegrating worldly construct—a reflection of our treatment of the planet, our non-human brothers and sisters, each other, and oneself,” she wrote.
Fashioning a Look to Remember
Describing Nadine and Lyn’s direction as rock-solid, Ziv deems working with the two an ease for a designer. “It is easy when clients know what they want. They already have a clear picture of what the dress would look like. We exist to bring their vision to life,” he shares with MEGA.
The equation of the actress and stylist’s collaboration—with the former’s particularity for sartorial details stemming from her cosplay days, plus the latter’s ingenuity in her own craft—results yet again to a look that is not just a symbol of meaningful advocacy, but also of their own understanding of fashion’s aestheticism.
Alumno drew inspiration from the scaled pattern of the dress and layered everything from there. Apart from the Ziv Rei Alexi old Hollywood silhouette, a few more elements elevated Nadine’s style for the night: Bvlgari’s Serpenti Line jewelry, ELINAILS’s custom gold chrome claws, and Neil Felipp’s “Medusa & Midas” minaudière.
It’s no Alumno assemblage without her actual hands at work to elevate a piece, and for Nadine’s MEGA Ball look, it came with the footwear. “I did it myself hours before the event, Spray painting it black then layered it with crackle paste, inspired by what Maison Margiela did for some of their Tabi boots,” Lyn says.
In both disciplines of fashion and food, the concept of collaboration is deeply integrated into their natures, as celebrated by the MEGA Ball 2024. And as Nadine Lustre’s style at the event proves, more minds and hands at work result in a statement that calls to be seen and heard—art, beyond beauty, is a revolution.
Photographed by BELG BELGICA and EXCEL PANLAQUE of KLIQ INC.
Special thanks to METROBANK-MASTERCARD, SUNGLASS HAVEN, GLENFIDDICH, HENDRICK’S GIN, LUXE BEAUTY & WELLNESS GROUP, Y.O.U. BEAUTY, GRAB, BYS, OLAY, PANTENE, HEAD & SHOULDERS, ACER, AVIGNON CLINIC, DEAR FACE, JINRO and BARENBLISS
Photos ALEXIS CO (via NADINE LUSTRE on Instagram). Makeup JELLY EUGENIO. Hair VALERIE CORPUZ. Nails ELINAILS. Jewelry BVLGARI. Styled by LYN ALUMNO.Special thanks to LYN ALUMNO and ZIV REI ALEXI
