For all her sins, imagined and admitted, Kris Aquino is still a most effective endorser. From Bench to Leonardo, San Miguel Beer to San-San Cosmetics, Kris attracts the widest demographic. Hardly surprising, since she is a woman who has been in the national consciousness for as long as we can remember.

Why do beauty products work for some people and not for others? The usual explanation has to do with individual body chemistry. Yet, most of the time, products fail to deliver because of improper application.

BRAND BUZZ

KAIZEN Salon

Yohji Yamamoto and Azzedine Alaia belong to that rarefied circle of fashion visionaries, purveyors not only of the most sublimely beautiful clothes but also of the most liberating ideas about fashion and its place in the scheme of things. Their words, indeed, are vital to the fashion discourse. A unique magazine called A (the second, and current, issue guest-curated by Yamamoto) captures the "two alchemists of the black" in an edifying conversation that should inspire everyone who thinks that fashion is art and a way of life. Following are excepts from the conversation: