À la Seconde: Inside This Onitsuka Tiger’s Reopening and The Debut of its Ballet-Inspired Collection
Photographed by Julian Reantaso
While debuting its latest footwear collections, the brand centers its reopening on Filipino culture, Italian classical dance, and its evolving fashion community
When Onitsuka Tiger cut the ribbon for its previous concept store in Greenbelt 5, both the space and its inaugural footwear lineup showcased how Filipinos could express their personal styles through Japanese heritage and craftsmanship.
This year, Onitsuka Tiger looked to ground its Greenbelt 2 reopening in Philippine culture, with local creatives and brand enthusiasts showing up for the debut of the GYMNARINA and a Philippine-exclusive capsule collectionCapsule CollectionA small, cohesive set of pieces released together, often in limited quantities, around a single theme, color story, or collaboration. Capsule collections let designers and brands test ideas, reach newGo to Capsule Collection Glossary centered on local iconography.
At the event, guests such as content creators Camille Co-Koro and Chelsea Robato, Miss Universe 2024 Chelsea Manalo, and actors Cole Micek and Caitlyn Stave arrived, styled in their biased pieces from the brand’s inaugural collections.
Throughout the afternoon, guests were able to explore and purchase the GYMNARINA collection, which reinterprets traditional ballerina footwear with soft leather materials and Onitsuka Tiger’s signature motifs. While displayed within the event space, attendees were also seen styling the shoes’ red, blue, black, silver, and rose gold colorways, with some even swapping out their metal-tipped laces for the color-matched satin ribbons for a more elegant look.
The Philippine-exclusive collection, however, highlights the brand’s Mexico 66 silhouettes through colorways inspired by jeepneys, ube desserts, and the Mangyan tribe’s Pakudos motif. Guests were also able to take home some of Onitsuka Tiger’s latest clothing pieces, while helping themselves to some halo-halo while exploring the store.
While the space itself carries the visual narratives of contemporary Japanese design through its wood and polished metal furnishings, the reopening of Onitsuka Tiger’s flagship store served as a celebration of local artistry, culture, and the brand’s enduring relationship with the country’s distinctive fashion scene.
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