Cherie Gil To Portray Diana Vreeland, Fashion’s Doyenne In Full Gallop

Cherie Gil To Portray Diana Vreeland, Fashion’s Doyenne In Full Gallop

 

When in Manila and you are a certified fashionista, you might want to catch Full Gallop, a one-woman play based on the life of Diana Vreeland, one of fashion‘s most celebrated editors. The inimitable Cherie Gil will take on the role of Vreeland.

 

Diana Vreeland brought an immense amount of energy in the world of fashion when she worked at Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. In her later years, she was a special consultant to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her eccentric style placed her at the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1964.

 

 

At Harper’s Bazaar, Vreeland popularized a column called “Why Don’t You?” a list of decadent suggestions for readers. Some famous examples are “Why don’t you turn your child into an Infanta for a fancy-dress party?” and “Why don’t you wash your blond child’s hair in dead champagne?” She took fashion so seriously that her fashion shoots were set around the world, with elaborate and expensive looks. In 1946, she said “The bikini is the most important thing since the atom bomb.”

 

Vreeland’s influence in fashion was such that she discovered actress Lauren Bacall, supermodel Twiggy, and designers Oscar dela Renta, Manolo Blahnik, and Diane von Furstenberg. She also advised US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Vreeland proclaimed herself as “the one and only fashion editor,” and is considered as the original Devil Wears Prada. Her memos were legendary for their outrageousness, and her staff did all they could to execute her visions. 

 

 

After Harper’s Bazaar, Vreeland became the editor-in-chief of Vogue, where she declared, “What these magazines gave was a point of view. Most people haven’t got a point of view; they need to have it given to them – and what’s more, they expect it from you.” Because of that, she aimed to educate Vogue‘s readers through travel, using her lavish editorials set in Tahiti, Bali, and other exotic locales. In 1971, she was fired, presumably because her shoots were expensive, one of which was estimated to have cost $1 million. After that, she worked at the Costume Institute and in 1989, died of a heart attack.

 

Full Gallop is the tribute to fashion’s High Priestess, and was written by Mary Louise Wilson and Mark Hampton. The play is set in 1971 at her Park Avenue apartment in New York. After a trip to Europe she took after she was fired, she decides to throw a dinner party, in the hopes that a wealthy friend would bankroll a magazine of her own. Others have suggested that she take a job at the Met. In her distinctive voice and accent, she declares that whatever path she chooses, she will go at it “full gallop.”

 

 

The legendary Cherie Gil will take on the role, and at a press conference, she immediately disappears into the role. Gil captures Vreeland’s nuances, down to the editor’s speech and demeanor. Of course, Gil is a talented actress who starred in Peque Gallaga’s Oro, Mata, Plata and Emmanuel Borlaza’s Bituing Walang Ningning. On stage, she successfully portrayed roles in Doubt and Nine, and received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Maria Callas in Terence MacNally’s Master Class.

 

Full Gallop will be her latest stage production, where she will be joined by director Bart Guingona, set designer Joey Mendoza, and costume designer Rajo Laurel. G Tongi will have special participation in the production.

 

So when in Manila and you want to relive the life of Diana Vreeland, watch Full Gallop!

 

 

Full Gallop

 

Date | March 15 and 21 (8PM)

March 16 and 23 (4PM)

Venue | Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Ayala Avenue cor. Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City

Ticket Inquiries | 215-0788 or 09175378313

Ticket Purchases | https://www.ticketworld.com.ph/Online/

 

Cherie Gil To Portray Diana Vreeland, Fashion’s Doyenne In Full Gallop