Manila at its party best shows up all dressed in white at a welcome party for Coralie Charriol
Sunset on the French Riviera was white-hot.
Or so it felt, as a crowd of mostly 20somethings, the beautiful next generation party set of Manila, all dressed in white, trooped to the Chairman’s Lounge at Okada Manila for a sunset soiree thrown in honor of Coralie Charriol Paul, her husband Dennis Paul, and Charriol’s international sales director Antoine Lecompte. To welcome them officially was no less than Anton Huang, president at SSI Group, Philippe Charriol’s long-time partner in the Philippines.
Coralie’s late father Philippe Charriol, who died in a race crash while enjoying one of his great passions on the Le Castellet track in the south of France in 2019, was a bon vivant, who loved the Philippines. His joie de vivre was stamped all over the Chairman’s Lounge, especially as it was bathed in the golden glow of the famous Manila sunset streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Coralie, who now heads her father’s legacy as Charriol International’s CEO and creative director, is as in love with life as her father. A designer, a philanthropist, a wife, and a mother, she is an adventurer—a surfer—and a visionary. Everything she does is fueled by her personal dynamism and energy. At this white party (where beige was also an optional color in the dress code), she did cause a youthquake as she aims to bridge the gap between Charriol’s e-commerce platform and its brick-and-mortar, showcasing all that’s new and fresh as well as the latest updates even on the brand’s iconic St. Tropez line.
Saint-Tropez has been a magnet for Hollywood A-listers, sports superstars, style-savvy politicians, and socialites ever since Brigitte Bardot, only 22, put it on the map as she frolicked on the beach in a revealing yet refreshing two-piece bikini while shooting And God Created Women there in 1956.
Just as Bardot was catapulted by the film to superstardom, Saint-Tropez turned from rustic fishing village into a playground for the rich, the famous, and the beautiful, although even decades earlier, in the 1920s, this stretch of beach paradise on the Côte d’Azur was said to have had some special attraction for style arbiters like Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli.
For Charriol, Saint-Tropez has been such a big inspiration, especially for one of its key collections, the St-Tropez Mariner. To bring out its inspiring beauty, along with that of its new Mariner design, Apple Watch strap, and the Izadora bangle, which was named after one of the evening’s guests, our very own Iza Calzado, the Chairman’s Lounge at Okada Manila was transformed into the coastal town on the French Riviera renowned for its pastel-colored houses and glamorous sandy beaches. Was I at Club 55 on Pampelonne Beach? Was I at the Byblos, which the Lebanese billionaire Jean-Prosper Gay-Para built in an attempt to woo Brigitte Bardot? I remember parking my car in the basement of the Okada, but did I come in a super yacht or a luxury speedboat, which they say is the only way to arrive in Saint-Tropez? Anyway, the venue, dressed for the evening with bouquets of flowers in variegations of pinks and white, was chosen precisely for its mesmerizing views of Manila Bay and the magic hour which has given Manila world acclaim. It did not disappoint.
If I let the magic of the evening overtake my senses, I might have spotted Leonardo DiCaprio, Cara Delevigne, Jennifer Lopez, Kate Moss, and Cristiano Ronaldo, even Joan Collins and Elton John.
‘I miss being in the Philippines. It’s one of my favorite places. I can’t wait to get back there, be in the sun, on the beach, with everybody.’
Time stood still, with the overflow of wine, spirits, and cocktails. I could have sworn I spied Coco and Elsa too, bickering in the crowded lounge, but the Charriol Celtic Legacy watch on the evening’s host Janeena Chan’s wrist snatched me back from my reveries. And so I was back at the white party with the likes of Janine Gutierrez, Kyline Alcantara, Pia Guanio Mago, Katarina Rodriguez, and Kelly Misa traipsing about adorned in their prized Charriol pieces to the music of soulful singer-songwriter Nicole Laurel Asensio and the heart-pumping beats from Filipino-Australian DJ Emel Rowe.
In a video conversation last year, Coralie told Manila Bulletin Lifestyle assistant editor Jules Vivas, “I miss being in the Philippines. It’s one of my favorite places. I can’t wait to get back there, be in the sun, on the beach, with everybody.”
The young CEO, who is now based in Geneva, after having lived in New York for 20 years, got her wish. For good measure, she brought the beach with her in the latest from Charriol’s, particularly the fresh takes on the St-Tropez line, which she describes as a collection that has captured the spirit of Saint-Tropez, “a charming seaport that matches the sparkle of its illustrious guests.”
But the world is big enough for more wishes to come true. The next day, as Anton told me, Coralie flew to El Nido, which has many times over the years been awarded the distinction as one of the world’s best beaches.
There’s a chance, you know, that, always on the lookout for the muses of inspiration, she’ll find something there that will put El Nido on the Charriol map. Too bad, her husband Dennis, who told me over a cocktail toast, “I like it here. I want to stay 10 more days,” had to fly to Hong Kong for a meeting.
