The former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, is launching her own fashion label.
The "Imelda Collection", unveiled at a Manila hotel, will begin with a range of jewellery designed by her eldest daughter Maria, better known as Imee.

The brand is expected to include clothing and shoes, with items recycled directly from Mrs Marcos' own outfits.

Her wardrobe became an by-word for extravagance and she was once reputed to own more than 3,000 pairs of shoes.

More than 1,200 of these were found abandoned in the presidential palace when she and her husband, Ferdinand Marcos, fled the country following a popular revolution in 1986.

'The Imelda spirit'

Now the 77-year-old former beauty queen has put her name behind a collection which will sell for more modest prices than the fashion items she became notorious for buying while her husband was in power.


Daughter Imee Marcos is behind her mother's fashion launch

Items in the "Imelda Collection" are expected to retail for between $20 and $100.

"What we are selling is not something valuable, but ... it is something invaluable because it's only beauty that can feed the spirit," said Imelda Marcos.

She said the idea for a jewellery collection came from her grandson, Martin "Borgy" Manotoc, who told her: "You are creating beautiful things like jewels from practically garbage."

Imee Marcos said her mother's accessories, discovered at flea markets and transformed into jewellery, were "just a visual and tactile reminder of... the Imelda spirit".

No convictions

Imelda Marcos was found guilty on corruption charges in the mid-1990s and sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison, but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

Former President Marcos died in Hawaii in 1989, and members of his family, including the former first lady, returned to the Philippines in 1991.

Although a large number of corruption charges were filed against the Marcos clan, no family member has ever been finally convicted in the courts.

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Seem like Philipino not gonna take her to account. She already been forgive on what her husband done?

Pity those filipinos who chooses to wear clothes under this label. This lady still wants to utilize her name the fullest even after all those things that happen to her.

Be sure that the BIR knows how much do they earn or else they can again sue Mrs. Imelda for tax evasion

i want a cut of the pie,how much do you think i will get if i sold some of the clothes here in the states?

She is such a LOSER!

She should join her husband in hell and be executed for her crimes. How she's still alive today is beyond me.

More news about Imelda Marcos


Imelda Marcos in 1965


Imelda Marcos in the famous victory sign



Shoe maven Imelda Marcos has a new collection
POSTED: 11:44 a.m. EST, November 6, 2006
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MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos, notorious for an extensive shoe collection and eye-popping jewels accrued under her husband's dictatorship, is launching a jewelry collection she "recycled" using castoffs from her old wardrobe.

Marcos, known for her shopping trips to ritzy shops in New York while the country wallowed in poverty, made the one-of-a-kind pieces from her old accessories and clothes, mixed with newly bought stones and other materials.

Her daughter, Rep. Imee Marcos, said that unknown to many people, her mother shops for trinkets and accessories at flea markets, and keeps earrings with a missing pair or brooches that have some missing stones.

Using her own glue gun, scissors or pliers, Imelda "can combine them with her vintage items in a way that comes out beautiful," Imee said during a promotional photo shoot that journalists were invited to.

The 77-year-old grandmother and widow of Ferdinand Marcos took time out Monday to talk to reporters in between hectic photo shoots for brochures that will launch "The Imelda Collection" of fashion jewelry later this month.

Lying on a divan in a Manila hotel's seaside garden, Imelda was clad in gossamer top with a butterfly design and black pants for the photographs. For the brochure, she modeled several chunky necklaces, rings and bracelet sets, some made with fake tiger eye stones.

Pointing to a set of matching earrings and brooch made of blue imitation tiger eye stone she was wearing, she told reporters, "This thing I wear now is something I recycled."

Imelda said the jewelry collection was the idea of her grandson Martin "Borgy" Manotoc, who was directing the photo shot.

Manotoc, Imelda said, told her, "You are creating beautiful things, like jewels from practically garbage."

The collection will be officially launched November 18, most likely in Manila.

The first designs to be shown to the public are the accessories and the jewelry and will "not yet" include shoes, her daughter said. But a close aide of the Marcoses said there are plans to expand the collection to include shoes, clothes, and maybe furniture.

Describing how the collection came to be, Imelda recalled, "One day my grandson came to me and said, `Mama Meldy, I would like to use your collection to tell the world the real Imelda and the spirit of my grandma.' "

"What we are selling is not something valuable, but ... it is something invaluable because it's only beauty that can feed the spirit," she continued.

"Even Plato said God is made real in what is beautiful," she said.