Courtesy of Venus Collab
The organizers behind pop-ups Vintage Weekend, Salo Salo, Venus Collab, and Nirvana talk to Vogue Philippines about why a young, vibrant crowd is leaning toward this form of retail, and how it might serve as a gateway to slow fashion and ethical consumption.
It’s difficult to gauge scale when it’s chalked up to a follower count.
Angelica “Mika” Dela Cruz is the 24-year-old architecture student and entrepreneur behind Closet By Mika, an upcycled clothing brand with close to 40,000 followers on Instagram. It’s a large number by any means, but what informed her first real understanding of scale came from mounting Vintage Weekend last January, which had a swarm of eager shoppers wrapping around the block an hour before her venue would open its doors.
“Incredible,” Mika remarked, eyes shining as she gazed at the memory. “I’ve never seen this happen in all my life. The line started at 10 AM and reached over four streets in Makati, people just wanting to be in Vintage Weekend.”
If her tone held an inflection of disbelief, it’s because she only mounted her pop-up in only three weeks. She had only began tapping brands and sellers last December around the holidays—only a month before the scheduled date—but with her purpose centered around celebrating vintage fashion, it was easy to get everyone to join.
After the nitty gritty work of organizing, however, Mika recalls being nervous, with only had eight days left to actually market the event. This particular Vintage Weekend promised a stellar roster of vintage sellers: Wear Classica, Nirvana Collective, Past Lives, The Velour, and her own brand, to name a few, each with a couple thousands to their accounts. Still, she didn’t expect her venue to be teeming with people all throughout the day, especially after only a week’s worth of promotions. “It’s insane. It’s literally insane,” she laughs, looking back in retrospect.
Though, she suspects that the success has something to do with knowing the ropes around Instagram. “In my seven years at Closet By Mika, I’ve learned to market something and use social media tools to reach a market [whose trust] I’m keen on earning,” she explains. “It’s all about building trust, getting the trust of these people to come to this event.”
That knowledge certainly pays off, and not just for Vintage Weekend but for the slew of vintage and local brand pop-ups held across Metro Manila. On social media, announcements catch on quickly; a pop-up happening anywhere in the city, it seems, will almost certainly generate a crowd. It become something of a meeting ground for the creative community and its congregation of style devotees. Even if shopping is the primary objective at pop-ups, sellers and attendees alike find community and connection between their love of one-off-clothing, food, and music.
Interaction over transaction
For one, the twentysomething entrepreneurs behind Salo Salo don’t like to bill it as “just a pop-up or bazaar.” Organized by Tous founder Bram Ascan, Anca Boutique founder Bianca Dumlao, and Through Habit Cafe co-owner Margot Magat, it was founded on the premise of becoming a “vibrant space” for “fostering relationships, not just between sellers and buyers but within the entire community.” Bram expands, “Pop-ups have become more than just a shopping experience but rather a place wherein people can make meaningful connections, having a drink or a couple or a lot.” A few weekends out of the month, a pop-up becomes a place for people “to dance, to take pictures, and much more.”
At Salo Salo’s first gathering at Sine Pop in Quezon City last December, there wasn’t a lack of conversation touch-points for the crowd; apart from the clothing brands, there were offerings of sculptural ceramics by Justine Basco, natural wines courtesy of Anybody, Filipino street food from Pepita’s, and more. There was even a make-your-own-bouquet booth courtesy of Nora Flora, as well as a seasonal Salo Salo special, Christmas cookie decorating, ideated to “initiate conversations and build existing and new relationships.”
As fashion freely moves between online spheres and the real world, this careful curation of brands and the atmosphere is intentional. It only adds a layer of sentimentality to our purchases; stuff is made special when we get to know the creatives who made or selected them. From Margot’s perspective as one of Salo Salo’s organizers, “Local fashion brands and start-up brands in general are more intimate.” She adds, “Going outside the online world, we still crave to meet people and our buyers.”
Safe space
That’s a part of the reason why another monthly Makati pop-up, Venus Collab, builds on a feeling of intimacy, citing it and familiarity as two integral factors in their curation of space, branding, and vintage selection. Founded by a team of sisters, namely Kaycee, Jen, Kim, Kat, and James Roxas, it’s immediately clear that a Venus Collab pop-up is fine-tuned to the nostalgic makings of girlhood.
In a space bedecked with baby pink bows on bows on bows, the walls are lined with Y2K-era velvet tracksuits, embellished dresses, sheer lace skirts, and kitten heels, plus oversized outerwear in leather and denim, button-down shirts, and sporty polos; offerings are reminiscent of the gems you’d find while digging through your mother’s closet, mixed with contemporary wardrobe staples that stay timeless through the seasons. If there is a therapeutic quality to sifting through the racks, it’s by design.
“We believe everything has a language, and our environment deeply shapes our experience,” Kaycee says. “When they enter our rational space, we want to make [attendees] feel as if it’s their wardrobe.”
With a broad selection of items on display and a sense of comfort imbued in the shopping experience, Kaycee says that their attendees are able to “find pieces that resonate with their unique tastes and aspirations,” opting for what speaks to them rather than whatever is trending. Driven by their goal to make secondhand fashion and sustainable practices more widespread, giving shoppers options that will last in their wardrobes beyond any one particular season is a given. Jen expands, “Beyond mere garments, these pieces play a meaningful role in shaping our identity and self-expression.” Jen tells Vogue Philippines that their strategy involves “prioritizing diversity in product categories and vendors, aiming to appeal to a broad audience.”
Filling a gap
At a pop-up, brands work together in building a selection where there is something for everyone. At secondhand consignment store Nirvana Collective’s regular pop-ups, co-founder and head of partnerships Nica Siy says that a wide range of clothing is what drives their success. “Nirvana stands out because of our meticulous curation, not just in the unique pieces that we offer but also in our choice of collaborations,” she says. “We want to attract brands that bring in their unique style to the pop-up, driving customers of all kinds.”
Founder Erica Dee adds that the other vintage sellers and local brands offer pieces that are complementary to Nirvana Collective’s own collections. In other words, they fill in the aesthetic gaps, allowing a one-weekend-only shopping experience to cater to many. “Basically, the things we feel like we’re lacking, we see it in other sellers,” she says, telling Vogue that they regularly hosts brands with offerings of jewelry, streetwear, designer items, and even the coquette camis strewn all over Pinterest feeds.
For seasoned thrifters, the thrill of vintage shopping is in the hunt, but at Nirvana Collective as well as other vintage pop-ups, the clothing is already arranged to contemporary fashion’s coveted categories, making it more likely for newcomers to leave with something that suits their tastes. Nica explains, “Our selection is carefully tailored to be approachable and unintimidating, inviting everyone to explore and discover.”
At the same time, they get to form relationships with the many sellers they host, some of whom have been joining their pop-ups from the onset. Nica says it’s always been one of their main goals: “to attract creatives and fuel them further by providing them an avenue to showcase their art.” Collaborating with sellers in this way, Erica tells Vogue Philippines, is also a part of what makes organizing (and adversely, attending) pop-ups so enjoyable. “It’s just great because we can bring the community together,” she says, then notes an added bonus. “I really feel like since we started doing pop-ups before, like the very first pop-up compared to now, people are just really more receptive to shopping vintage and secondhand.”
Community and connection
When asked about why pop-ups are becoming so popular among Manila’s young creative crowd, Vintage Weekend’s Mika had an answer right away. At pop-ups, “People can tap into their unique taste, venture outside of malls,” she says. “That’s why Manila is the hub for thrifting, for artists. Like, different communities come together and just really each other and tell you, ‘You’ve got great style. You’ve got this amazing ‘fit on you, where did you get that?’ And it’s amazing to say it’s thrifted. It’s upcycled, recycled.’” Or, it might be made locally, by rising brands and creatives.
In any case, it takes a more mindful approach to shopping, encouraging people to purchase in line with their values and distinct personal style over trends. “By letting go of the haste and disposable [aspect] of fast fashion,” Venus Collab’s James expands. “This shift toward secondhand and sustainable fashion is not just a passing trend. It is a movement—a conscious choice to make a positive impact on your community.” Building on your aesthetic via clothing is self-serving, but it simultaneously allows you to participate in slow fashion.
This is what Venus Collab’s Jen finds most fulfilling about being a pop-up organizer. She says, “Celebrating the beauty of vintage alongside Metro Manila’s thriving creative industry is a valuable opportunity for shared experiences.” Salo Salo’s Bram also speaks to the same idea: “Witnessing people engage in conversations, forming connections, and discovering new local brands creates a sense of community that resonates deeply with us.”
Apart from their local and vintage finds, shoppers and sellers alike are able to take away a genuine connection from these shared spaces. Mika sums up the feeling to the experience of being at Vintage Weekend, “In the moment, we felt like we were all together and experiencing something amazing, having this community of people who support each other.”
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