Facing Faces

A trek down memory lane was in order as the entire cosmo manille - the SFDV crowd plus more - trooped to the EDSA Shang last Friday after MS mag issued the invite that they would "re-create" the famous Faces... And so the '80s came back with a vengeance, this time staged in the grandeur of the Isla Ballroom converted into one gigantic authentic-looking disco with mirror balls, colored lights, fog machine and ledge dancing from that memorable era. Faces from the past were a-plenty, with plenty of air kissing, hugging and yes, shrieking. It was indeed a lump-in-the- throat moment for many as recollections of the hedonistic 80’s and early 90’s filled the air - which led to a very heightened party feeling - ergo - marathon drinking and celebrating with long lost friends (including vodka tonic ‘classmates’ like JT the ex lover of my best friend then Christie C who had that famous confrontation scene in Quirino Avenue after leaving disco SG, which by the way wasn't Faces era, but still part of the sinful '80s) . It was simply overwhelming- - the memories, the music, the people. But I told EL, one of the party hosts, that although I was very much an '80s girl, Faces was NOT exactly my scene as that happened late eightees when I was – ahem – busy getting pregnant or nursing and seeing a different set of faces - cute lil' ones with drool and spit who kept me up all night. Admittedly, and I know I’m dating myself, I have a different set of memories - having been more of a Stargazer-Johnny Romero’s Circus - LouieY’s and Calesa kind of '80s gal. Yup, early to mid. So there, the age shows but who cares. ANYWAY.. the party last Friday was a celebration of the ENTIRE '80s era, which was still MY era, and indeed the most colorful part of my life, where stolichnaya and disco reigned supreme and the only problem was how to drive home with car on auto pilot, where the issues for the day involved deciding what to wear that night, who to go with, and hoping "na maganda yung crowd’. I remember agreeing with Christie back then that the only reason we had our day jobs was so we could earn enough money to buy nice clothes to wear at night.
And that, folks, summarizes my shallow shallow youth which I've left behind - thank God.

Instant youth by osmosis - with twenty-something SSI girls Ria, Annick and Nina... They too were at "Faces", wanting to find out what their aunties, uncles, moms and dads (my peers in other words) were up to twenty years ago. Common denominator? Look what they're holding...