Press Release
What you wear versus what you watch on TV. Life does imitate art and vice versa, but which follows which when it comes to fashion and streaming?
Quite often, costume designers and stylists working on a show often borrow from the streets to visualize the cultural mood of the moment. On the other hand, audiences absorb these looks and bring it back into the real world.
Ever since Giorgio Armani made cinema elegant and costume designer Patricia Field influenced global trends with every season of the HBO Original series Sex and the City, fashion on-screen has done more than expound a character’s story. It has given us ideas about how we might want to dress in real life. This transcended further over time, with the likes of costume designer Eric Daman molding Manhattan’s sensibilities into the 2007-2012 run of Gossip Girl and then the series’ 2021-2023 reboot.
Today, fashion is less about a single prevailing look and more about finding an aesthetic to call our own. Gen Z and millennials increasingly draw style inspo from one of their favorite pastimes: Streaming. The shows they binge become virtual mood boards, offering a steady stream of characters and wardrobes to borrow from.
Customers of PLDT Home’s new Fiber Unli All Plan 1499, which bundles fast and reliable fiber internet with an HBO Max Standard subscription, can tap easily into these shows turned style inspirations. The plan offers even more unlimited entertainment, along with access to Cignal TV channels, 9GB of Smart mobile data, and unlimited landline calls.
This Fashion Month, there’s a whole wardrobe of ideas on HBO Max waiting to make the jump from screen to your closet!
Photo credit: Reality MM Studios
Power dress à la Andrea Manuel on Call My Manager
Adapted from the French series Dix pour cent, Call My Manager is a comedy series that follows the managers and employees of the fictional talent agency Shine Artist Management. Starring Judy Ann Santos, Edu Manzano, and RK Bagatsing, the Erik Matti-directed HBO Original Philippine series looks to differ from the French original in terms of pacing.
Santos as talent manager Andrea Manuel rocks tailored power suits in monochromatic gray, black, and navy. Unlike corporate power suits, the talent managers portrayed by Manzano and Bagatsing prefer a more relaxed style that still exudes boss energy – even as they scramble to deal with the drama of their artists.
New episodes of Call My Manager drop weekly on HBO Max every Thursday.
Photo credit: DC Studios
Pull off punk like Kara Zor-El on Supergirl
Outside of the Supergirl costume, Kara Zor-El–played by Milly Alcock–showcases a rugged, punk-edged, and rebellious civilian aesthetic. The key pieces? Tan-brown hooded trench coat, Miu Miu boots, jeans, and a Blondie T-shirt. The look says she just rolled out of bed looking like this: weary yet somehow put together, and with the attitude that she sure won’t be doing a GRWM video.
Supergirl costume designers Anna B. Sheppard and Michael Mooney created a wardrobe that resonated with Gen Z so much that after the movie came out, the tan trench trended on online retailers.
Supergirl is now streaming on HBO Max.
Photo credit: Lionsgate
Reinvent retro to the tune of MJ in Michael
In Antoine Fuqua’s 2026 biopic starring Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson, Michael Jackson’s clothes help recreate the eras of the singer. Costume designer Marci Rodgers retraces Jackson’s evolution from the colorful looks of the Jackson 5 years to the distinctive wardrobe of his solo career.
Channeling the 80s, the jackets are easily the highlight. There are plenty of iconic looks represented: the red leather jacket with V-shaped piping from Thriller; the sparkly jacket, glove, and socks from Michael’s Billie Jean performance at Motown 25; the belts-and-buckles jacket from Bad; and the white suit and hat from Smooth Criminal.
Michael premieres on HBO Max on September 25.
Photo credit: SHOWTIME
Aim for an arresting style like the MobLand Season 2 gangsters
Even when the characters are doing terrible things, their wardrobes look terribly good. MobLand–starring Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, and Tom Hardy–brings the mob chic sartorial language into the present. Still expensive, just not outwardly expensive.
Standing out is Anglo-Italian tailoring in labels like Ralph Lauren, Salomon shoes, Barbour silhouettes for the men; and always all black for Mirren’s character Maeve Harrigan. As for accessories, expensive Swiss watches seal the statement.
MobLand Season 2 premieres on HBO Max on September 19.
