Whether on social media or on our billboards along EDSA, chances are, you've caught a glimpse of Kathryn Bernardo's viral November 2023 Preview cover.
Epitomizing effortless cool, Kath commands the frame looking raw and unfazed as she stares directly at the camera in a Randolf Red Heart Bra. It was an exclamation point moment for those who've tuned in to her colorful 20-year career, because not only is it a look we haven't seen on her before, the energy at the shoot was also as palpable: Here's someone who isn't afraid to stand in her truth and be unapologetically herself. The "good girl" former teen queen isn't one to be bound by the successes of yesteryears, and guess what, her fans loved her even more for it.
In this special episode of The Making Of, we go behind the scenes of Kathryn's November 2023 cover shoot and learn more about the concept and how it was brought to life by the Preview team. Press play to hear all about it!
Epitomizing effortless cool, Kath commands the frame looking raw and unfazed as she stares directly at the camera in a Randolf Red Heart Bra. It was an exclamation point moment for those who've tuned in to her colorful 20-year career, because not only is it a look we haven't seen on her before, the energy at the shoot was also as palpable: Here's someone who isn't afraid to stand in her truth and be unapologetically herself. The "good girl" former teen queen isn't one to be bound by the successes of yesteryears, and guess what, her fans loved her even more for it.
In this special episode of The Making Of, we go behind the scenes of Kathryn's November 2023 cover shoot and learn more about the concept and how it was brought to life by the Preview team. Press play to hear all about it!
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:07 Catherine Bernardo has had to deal with the impossible pressure of being
00:12 the proverbial good girl growing up in the spotlight.
00:16 She was the queen queen, so of course, you couldn't be anything less than perfect.
00:20 But two decades since she started her acting career,
00:24 she's now learned to live her most authentic self and
00:28 break free from the society's expectations of her.
00:32 The cover was really more than just a beautiful photograph.
00:37 More than anything, it was about telling a story.
00:39 So after 20 years of being in the industry, Catherine has achieved so
00:44 many things.
00:45 She has nothing left to prove.
00:47 She's cool and she knows it.
00:49 She didn't need to try.
00:50 So in the two-fold cover, it's actually quite a paradox.
00:56 There's one image of her that's just standing still.
01:00 It's raw, it's effortless.
01:01 And then in another image, she's screaming her lungs out.
01:06 Look at the picture as a whole.
01:09 It looks as if she's screaming at herself.
01:13 So in the cover image, Kath wore this red heart bra by Randolph,
01:18 who's one of Preview's best Filipino fashion designers awardees for this year.
01:24 It was paired with this trousers from Alexander Wang in the aquarium layout,
01:29 which is also one of our favorites.
01:31 We also feature this other talented Filipino designer, Antonina.
01:35 And there were some pieces from Fendi and Jimmy Choo.
01:39 [MUSIC]
01:42 In our original shoot deck, the beauty direction was actually quite different.
01:46 The hair in particular was meant to be some sort of a pixie cut.
01:50 John Balliet, our hairstylist, always so amazing to work with.
01:53 He tweaked it a bit so that it frames Kath's face shape better,
01:58 did some sort of a mullet on her.
02:01 It looked stunning on Kath.
02:02 And then we also have her makeup artist, Owen Sarmiento,
02:07 who did wonders to achieve that dewy, natural, raw glam on Kath.
02:11 [MUSIC]
02:13 >> During the day, it was very nice seeing how Balara Studio became a playground for
02:19 Katrin, where there were sets built, there was an aquarium.
02:23 And with Paul Hatayna's team, they were able to transform Balara Content House
02:29 into this super mod, super cool backdrop for Katrin.
02:32 We worked with Katrin multiple times already.
02:36 So she's also appeared in so much glossies and covers and also in movies.
02:40 So she has really been transformed in multiple ways.
02:44 But for this shoot, we really wanted to make it special by stripping it down and
02:48 just letting her cool girl shine.
02:50 [MUSIC]
02:53 >> Our November cover is inspired by Janek Soft Club.
02:56 I'm sure you've seen it on Pinterest or Instagram.
02:59 It's an aesthetic that emerged during the late 90s and early 2000s that
03:04 embraced minimalism as opposed to the pop bubblegum trends at that time.
03:08 It's also influenced by tech and natural elements.
03:12 When you search for soft club editorials, they mostly have blue hues and
03:17 the soft filter.
03:18 And the poses are very relaxed as if the models aren't posing.
03:23 So it's just naturally cool and nonchalant.
03:25 So it's perfect for Katrin Bernardo.
03:27 During planning phase, we already decided on the final cover treatment.
03:33 We wanted Katrin to wear the Randolph heart bra and
03:36 we wanted it to be super minimal.
03:38 And then since it's minimal already, we wanted it to be a carousel cover.
03:43 It's the digital counterpart of the two-fold print cover.
03:49 So it was my very first time meeting and working with Katrin in the shoot.
03:54 And within the first five minutes of meeting her, I immediately understood
03:59 why she's been in the industry for more than a decade now,
04:02 despite being only in her 20s.
04:04 Throughout the whole shoot, she didn't complain at all.
04:07 There was even a layout in the shoot where we had to photograph her in a glass
04:11 aquarium and she didn't have any complaints.
04:13 She was super game for it, even though the water was really cold and
04:17 we had to photograph it in an air-conditioned studio.
04:20 For the styling of the shoot, we wanted it to be inspired by the GenX
04:25 soft club aesthetic.
04:26 So for the fashion film, we had to connect it with the overall story that she was
04:32 breaking free from society's impossible expectations and
04:36 standards of her being a quote-unquote good girl.
04:40 Even the moving cover that you can see on the billboards has the same concept
04:44 behind it.
04:45 So during the shoot, our direction for Kat was to just be herself.
04:50 That was it.
04:50 Everything that you saw in the film, like Kat eating pizza,
04:54 dancing around, that was her energy on the set.
04:56 So it wasn't scripted at all.
04:58 We also used sound bites from her actual interview for the cover story.
05:04 It wasn't scripted at all.
05:05 She wasn't trying to portray an image.
05:07 Whatever you saw on the film and on the images,
05:10 she was just being her authentic self.
05:12 [MUSIC]