A particular aesthetic It takes a certain kind of person to think outside the box, and you'll often find Ms. Bennett doing off-kilter things such as bringing home trash (she likes a cracked windshield for its texture), or scavenging materials from nature (such as the paypay amour, a type of Philippine fern that she uses for fairy costumes, or dropped feathers from the swans, peacocks or macaws at Fernwood Gardens, where she does most of her shoots). “If it's a fairy costume… kapag purist ka, ni wala kang makikita na something na nabili sa mundo na ito (If you're a purist, you shouldn't see anything that can be bought from the civilized world),” she pointed out. To achieve the look she wants, she makes everything – from the nail art to the false eyelashes (falsies), the shoes and the natural-looking wings. No network lends out copyrighted mermaid costumes – and ordering from the States could cost P180,000 – so Ms. Bennett made her own: initially a rubber prototype, then a body-fit silicone version, which costs P100,000. The finished material is soft, fluid, and shimmery; she considers it well worth the investment given its popularity.
model in black body-paint, with gold dust and crushed pebbles artfully arranged on one side – as though someone had doused the model with gold. “Hindi pupunta ang mga mata mo sa maseselan na bagay, mapupunta yung mata mo sa kabuuhan, sa art (You'll focus your eyes, not on the controversial bits, but on the totality, on the art),” said Ms. Bennett. “I take pride in everything that I do because pinag-iisipan ko yan (I really think on it).” Her next project – the sky's the limit. She's open to movies. The last time she was involved in an independent production – a church-funded theatrical depiction of hell featuring four demons of her making – was apparently so effective, that baptism went up.
“I used to do a Marie Antoinette, or Casanova, or Victorian [couture] – pero ngayon kasi pinaka-popular mermaid e (right now the most popular is the mermaid). I just found out that all of the girls want to have a mermaid photo shoot; once-in-a-lifetime daw yan, saan sila makakuha ng opportunity to wear a mermaid tail? (They say it's once-in-a-lifetime, when will they ever have an opportunity to wear a mermaid tail?)” said Ms. Bennett. Photographers' darling Given her talent, Ms. Bennett often collaborates with photographers, including Manny Librodo, Lauren Malcampo, Wendy Capile-Wilkie, MJ Suayan, among others. She also holds “open photo shoots” for 20-25 photographers, for a minimal fee. She notes that certain kinds of makeup are appropriate per style of photography (e.g. only matte for flash photography), but the more exotic the subject, the better.
©Toto Celzo
“They're looking for texture, layer, color…. kapag naglalabas ako ng wow… agawan sila. Naglalakad pa lang yung model, nagkagulo na sila (if I come up with something wow… they're fighting over it. The model's just coming in, they're already making a fuss),” said Ms. Bennett. The photographer may be taking a tight shot from the neck up, but Ms. Bennett will give him something extra, perhaps tempt him to extend his frame – case in point, her use of latex to make webbed fingernails for the mermaid, or droopy falsies that won't go against the tide. Her ideas come in a lucid “half-asleep, half-awake” state. On a plane trip to Vigan, she daydreamed over cloud formations, observing aloud that it would look very pretty to have a winged model reclining against a backdrop of puffy clouds and candelabras. Mr. Librodo liked the notion but was skeptical over execution. “Basta ako bahala (Leave it to me),” she assured him. It took 10 kilos of dry ice, and laboring over set of wings that could fold sideways and backwards, but they pulled it off. Ms. Bennett has done runway and fashion shoots – her favorite being a set of 12 different looks for the outrageous outfits of her idol, Rocky Gathercole – and hopes to do more. She considers it an “accomplishment” to have pleased someone with a “very high taste and definition of beauty.” She has also done risqué shoots, boudoir and nude shoots, but is conscious of never crossing the line between art and pornography. It was her idea to cover a model in metallic body-paint – adding bits of texture from a destroyed bag – as though the model melted with the ornate frame backdrop. As of press time, she was contemplating covering a model in
35