BINI Gives a Glimpse Into Their Vogue Philippines Cover Shoot

BINI documents their first Vogue Philippines shoot, capturing moments between layouts on a shared digital camera.

The eight members of BINI were fresh off a flight from Australia when they arrived in time for their first Vogue Philippines feature. Still, they came with the poise that characterized the shoot: “looking prepped for superstardom,” wrote editor-in-chief Bea Valdes in her editor’s letter, the girls “were very down to earth.”

For this month’s main editorial, fashion director Pam Quiñones envisioned a bold and graphic edge, seeing connections between “the empowered youthquake of the ’60s and the fresh dynamism of BINI,” continued Valdes. Beauty editor Joyce Oreña aimed to capture the essence of that past while reimagining it for the present; the team cites William Klein’s 1966 film Who Are You, Polly Magoo? as one of the primary inspirations, translating helmet hair and heavily lashed eyes to contemporary bobs and deconstructed liner.

In the story’s planning stages, photographer Renzo Navarro was only excited, saying the concept was “a way to tell a different side of them.” On camera, it was. They readily transformed in blunt cuts; their heads bopped and feet tapped in tandem to chansons; and Louis Vuitton stylings transported them back to that mod affair, when mini skirts were an act of soft rebellion and the youth fought for their vision of a better world.

But behind the scenes and in between layouts, the girls were as bright and bubbly as they are known to be. From musing over their eyeliner to munching on miscellaneous Korean snacks and serenading each other with Toni Gonzaga’s “We Belong,” they stayed in high spirits from their early 9 A.M. call time through to 6 P.M.

Perhaps it’s because, true to their storied rituals, this scene was something they manifested. “I remember two shoots [ago] when Maloi and I were joking about how ‘Ooh, what if we would be on the Vogue cover or like on a Vogue shoot?’ We were doing poses like in an editorial,” BINI’s Aiah smiled. “And here we are right now!”

Videos and photographs by BINI members Jhoanna Robles, Gwen Apuli, Sheena Catacutan, Maloi Ricalde, Stacey Sevilleja, Colet Vergara, Mikha Lim, and Aiah Arceta. Supplementary videos and photographs by Shaira Luna, Tinkerbell Poblete, Chelsea Sarabia, and Bianca Custodio. Video editor: Lorenzo Corro.

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