Heart vs Pia: Who wins?

From “Who wore it better?” to “Who’s the better person?” almost everyone has been invested in everything I know about two supposedly rivaling actresses and fashion influencers — Heart Evangelista and Pia Wurtzbach.

Valentine’s Day (Happy birthday, Heart!), has always been a media darling — always a pleasure to interview because she’s so humble, remembers those who interview her and most of all, almost never gets “pikon” (pissed) by probing questions.

I, for one, had asked her almost all the controversies: her ex-boyfriends; P1.5-million crocodile-skin Birkin; supposed temporary separation from husband, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero; her falling out with her glam team. Her answers were not always direct-to-the-point but she understands that we, the press, are just doing our job and so she tackles us with admirable grace and professionalism. That alone makes Heart a worthy fashion icon. More than her clothes and how she carries her dress, it’s how she carries herself through sticky situations that makes Heart truly inspiring.

Pia, on the other hand, had not been as strong as Heart when it came to answering daring press queries. For one, she admitted that she was seeking mental health therapy for Impostor Syndrome, “a common psychological experience where high-achieving individuals doubt their accomplishments and harbor a persistent, internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud, despite evidence of their competence,” as defined by Psychology Today.

When she just won Miss Universe in 2015, among her first public appearances was an endorsement for a fabric conditioner label. I asked about her reaction to her then boyfriend Marlon Stockinger’s reported twins from a previous relationship. Seemingly clueless about the issue, she panicked and walked out.

At Pia’s Jollibee endorsement, media was asked to prepare only one question related to the fast food chain. Since an ABS-CBN reporter, who had interviewed her before me, already asked about Pia’s childhood memories at Jollibee, I wasn’t able to think of any Jollibee-related question. So when my turn came, I asked if Pia and Marlon ever dated at Jollibee and what their favorites were, but Pia glanced at her handler who immediately went on attack mode and pointed a finger at me while shouting invectives. The bouncers pushed at me as they barricaded Pia and escorted her away from the venue — for another walkout. 

I reported the incident to Jollibee’s publicist, who apologized on Pia and her team’s behalf. I kind of found justice anyway when National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts Ricky Lee exposed how Pia’s bouncer also shoved him after greeting Pia at a book fair in 2023. 

Nonetheless, Pia and her management team became more open after the Jollibee incident. I got first dibs when Pia announced her separation from Marlon — and also her relationship with now husband Jeremy Jauncey. 

In 2024, I got an exclusive interview with her during her launch as new Bulgari endorser, and she generously answered all my questions. I stuck with fashion and beauty questions though, and spared her from issues. I even enjoyed our dinner at the now Michelin-starred Hapag in Rockwell, and I sat and shared stories and laughs with Pia’s sister, Sarah.  

A few days after Pia’s Bulgari dinner, Heart made her dog, Panda, wear her 18k white gold Bvlgari Serpenti Viper necklace approximately worth P11 million. Some interpreted it as her protest for the brand getting Pia as endorser after Heart had been supporting the brand, wearing her Serpenti Viper necklace a lot, for years, before Pia’s endorsement deal.

During her launch as L’Oreal endorser, I also asked Pia about her supposed rivalry with Heart, but her handlers immediately shut me out. I had that moment captured on video, which has since gone viral.

In an interview, Heart said she had nothing against Pia and, in fact, she admired the beauty queen. Heart, however, warned Pia about the people surrounding her. In her vlogs, she hinted that people she trusted “stole” her fashion weeks contacts. 

Although Heart did not give names in her interviews and vlogs, many speculate that she was referring to her former glam team, who are now working with Pia. I’ve seen her former glam team with Pia at the Bulgari and L’Oreal events.

Reliable sources close to Heart’s former glam team said, with text messages as proof, that the falling out allegedly resulted from Heart not paying her team properly. They were made to do Heart’s makeup, photography and they even served her as assistants — and the payment was supposedly already their trips abroad as “x-deal” or exchange deal. There were also allegations that the team overused Heart’s credit card and maxed it out for shopping. A Filipino designer, who used to be among Heart’s constant collaborators, also reportedly complained that Heart spent for foreign brands but asked for “x-deal” or got local brands for free. None of these claims and reports, though, have been confirmed.

Winner takes all

I have an open invitation to cover Fashion Weeks with Heart, Pia and/or other Filipino celebrities, but these brands do not really cover all your expenses. Oftentimes, the brands would only give you the outfit you’re going to wear at the event — but for everything else, especially your airfare and accommodations — you’re on your own.

But Pia and Heart merely attending fashion weeks abroad is not a novel nor a big Filipino proud moment. Because even before them, other Filipinos had made bigger waves in global fashion: Pitoy Moreno staging an international fashion show inside an airplane, his gowns worn by European royalty; Salvacion Lim-Higgins being the first and Filipino designer to have her works in the collections of the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. 

Designer Oskar Peralta was the first Filipino to have been featured in Vogue. Filipina Anna Bayle was the first Asian supermodel who have graced the catwalks of Versace, Chanel and YSL in the ‘80s — long before Heart and Pia started attending fashion weeks or before they were even born.

The “big win” is more for Heart and Pia than for the Philippines — their fame and coffers rise with every Fashion Week attendance. It is them who score international brand freebies and endorsements. Their presence is also a win for the brands — a form of “Pinoy baiting” that makes these brands known or dear to kababayans (Filipinos) abroad who would buy those YSL sunglasses, for example, just because Heart was wearing it. The result? Heart seals an eyewear endorsement, YSL gets those sunnies model sold-out, but what’s in it for us, Filipino consumers? Did we get discounts or anything? So, who wins?

The real win would only come if Heart, Pia and other Filipino fashion week influencers would champion Filipino designs — preferably that they paid for and not just borrowed — in the international stage; if they spend their hard-earned money more on Filipino designs than on international labels.

I don’t know why Filipinos are still so keen into promoting Paris and Milan as fashion capitals — when all I’m hearing nowadays are more horror stories of bags and jewelry getting robbed or snatched in these cities. Why not promote Filipino fashion instead — in your own country, in your own city? Does the catwalk need to be somewhere else for it to become a “proud Pinoy” moment? 

But anyway, who could blame these fashion influencers from being ashamed of their own — the thieves in this country steal not just bags and jewelry, but trillions of taxpayers’ money!