SOLO Presents Kenkoy!
by Juan Manila
Manila, Philippines
SOLO is launching its 2nd installment of Pinoy Cartoonist Memorabilia with now featuring Filipino cartoonist Tony Velasquez’ Kenkoy. Coinciding with this, SOLO opens open its 3rd year of SOLO Online Model Search. Like the previous years, the Online Model Search is a much-anticipated online photo-contest and now on its third year, will run from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30.
When SOLO launched its first ever Pinoy Cartoonist Memorabilia featuring Larry Alcala’s Slice of Life last year, I was one of the many who joined and submitted three (3) entries for the Online Model Search. I tapped three young models to help me in capturing the Larry Alcala’s Slice of Life rendition in my shots that fortunately landed in the Top 20 list during the promo period. However, there were two more deserving entries that bagged the contest prize. Luck wasn’t just on my side way back then.
After SOLO successfully launched Jaggy Tallada and Jhonna Flor as 2010’s grand winners and Mehran Khaledi and Phoebe Rutaquio as 2011‘s grand winners, we are now on search for two new faces of SOLO to be officially unveiled in 2012.
Due to insistent demand, SOLO is bringing out another innovation, its 2nd installment of the well-loved Pinoy Cartoonist Memorabilia series. This time it features no less than the greatest work of the Father of Philippine Cartoons, Tony Velasquez’s Kenkoy.
Antonio “Tony” Velasquez, the Father of Philippine Cartoons, created Kenkoy way back in 1929, together with Filipino writer Romualdo Ramos. Long before the era of the movie stars and showbiz celebrities, there already was a Philippine pop icon named Francisco Harabas, more popularly known as Kenkoy. As Tony Velasquez described him, “He is always pusturyoso”. He was a debonair and his trademark fashion sense was Western influenced: decked in suspenders, charol shoes, double breasted suit, baggy pants, a sailor hat, and a slicked back hairstyle. Kenkoy is considered the most influential comic strip in the Philippines and most successful because of the wittiness and humor, as well as his antics, colonial way of thinking, and carabao-english. Kenkoy gained massive following that he was adapted into movies in 1950s-60s and musical act in early 90s.
This year, old meets new as SOLO Pinoy Cartoonist Memorablia takes timeless Kenkoy comic strips and mixes them up on trendy silhouettes and fabrics with different treatments such as foil printing, embroidery, embossed printing, flocking, high density printing and washed effect. The collection consists of His & Hers graphic tees, polo shirts, woven tops and dresses, men’s long sleeves, shorts and accessories such as stainless necklaces and slingbags, gift sets like watches, vanity sets and lighters and will hit SOLO stores in September. Each Memoriabilia Series item will have its own bio-tag of Tony Velasquez as well as its own unique packaging.
Check out www.solo.com.ph/modelsearch2011 for contest details. All participants wearing any apparel from the Pinoy Cartoonist Memorabilia featuring Kenkoy are to submit their creative photo entries embedded with graphic elements available for download via the website. Early birds submissions get rewarded with special prizes from SOLO! Everyone can register to the contest site to submit entries and/or just vote.
And this year, SOLO will be giving away prizes to lucky voters as well! We will randomly pick 3 voters per month (September to November) to win SOLO GCs! Model search starts September 1 and ends November 30. Check out more details about the modelsearch on SOLO’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages.
Catch more exciting things happening online for the launch of our Pinoy Cartoonist Memorabilia collection.
You may be the next face of SOLO!
