A certain “fashion scam” has been among the hot topics on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook this week involving famous fashion designer Puey Quiñones.
This was after ABS-CBN’s Trip na Trip host Kat de Castro tweeted 3 days ago a photo of a double-labeled beige suit.
The photo which de Castro posted had a caption which reads: “The designer asked 30k for this suit. Pero bakit may Dansen tag? Sa SM ito di ba? Napeke kaya yung friend ko?”
According to the story by Kae Pickrell on StyleBible.Ph on Thursday, Jhon Maala, who happened to be de Castro’s friend, ordered a suit from Quiñones for his upcoming wedding. After several fitting sessions, the suit was finally delivered to him. It costs P30,000.
Maala, however, found out that the suit that was delivered to him carried 2 labels: "BOBON by Puey Quiñones" and "Dansen."
Haute couture
Dansen is one of the brands carried by the SM Department Store, an anchor store of Sy-led SM malls that try to reach a wide market.
Quiñones, on the other hand, is one of the elite fashion designers in town whose boutique provides haute couture and custom-made designs that fashion-conscious individuals usually turn to to dress them up for important events.
De Castro, in another tweet, said her “friend felt bad because it’s for the wedding.”
A few minutes later, De Castro said: “Designer update: He asked my friend to give back the Dansen suit but also give him time to create a new one. Wow. Wedding's less than 2 wks.”
BOBON’s Official Statement
After the photo circulated in the internet, BOBON immediately released a statement regarding the matter.
In their official Facebook account on Tuesday, BOBON clarified that they are “not in any involved in the design, production or sale of the suit in the photo, or the affixing of the “BOBON by Puey Quiñones.”
The statement further revealed that although they have worked with various Filipino designers in the past, they have ceased using the “BOBON by Puey Quiñones” label in 2008.
“We have no knowledge of how the label “Bobon by Puey Quinones” ended up in the suit in the Facebook post as we have used every effort to reclaim and destroy these old labels. We are certain that this suit was not purchased by the owner from or through BOBON. All BOBON pieces are sold exclusively at or through the BOBON store at The Podium and we have no record of this transaction,” they added.
Puey Quiñones’ Statement
Meanwhile, according to StyleBible.Ph, Quiñones has already apologized to the couple in an official statement.
Quiñones said he “regret that all this happened.” He said he is sorry “for all the trouble that it has caused them (the couple).”
“I was simply pressured to create a suit and found a perfect blank canvas to develop. I know the entire situation could have been handled better but now it has just been blown out of proportion and affected so many others,” he said.
“To the couple who brought attention to this matter and to everyone else that have raised concerns over the quality of my service as a designer... I am sorry. I am doing all that I can to make sure that this does not happen again,” he added.
On Thursday, de Castro disclosed on her Twitter account that Quiñones vowed to give her friend a refund and that he already “went to another designer for help.”