Harper’s Bazaar SG’s last issue of 2023, with Filipino “multi-hyphenate” Heart Evangelista on the cover, apparently sold out

The two December 2023 covers of Harper’s Bazaar Singapore with Heart Evangelista on them. Cover photos: harpersbazaarsg/Instagram

Her birth name is Love Marie Payawal Ongpauco, but she found fame with a catchier and less lengthy, more Hollywood-sounding moniker: Heart Evangelista. In the last three months of 2023, Ms Evangelista appeared on three consecutive covers of the region’s international titles—the October issue of Harper’s Bazaar Indonesia, then the November issue of Vogue Philippines, and, finally, the December issue of Harper’s Bazaar SG. It was the local Harper’s Bazaar’s final issue of the year, with two different covers, that, according to editor-in-chief Kenneth Goh in an Instagram comment shared by a Heart Evangelista fan on IG, were “completely sold out in Singapore”. It is not clear how many copies of both covers hit the newsstand or if they were all snapped up by Singaporeans or members of the Filipino community here, or both. Regardless, the sold-out issue meant that Harper’s Bazaar SG can seriously move copies when they feature foreigners on their covers—a shrewd editorial strategy.

The Manila-born Ms Evangelista is no doubt a superstar in her home country, where she is referred to as “Global Beauty, Fashion and Style Icon (yes, in caps)” or “one of Asia’s Most Influential (yes, in caps) people”. On IG, her Harper’s Bazaar cover triumph has spawned tremendous raves. “The one and only Queen (yes, in cap) who does it all,” went one comment. Another fan, palpably excited, shared: “She’ll always be the moment and no one else comes close! A truly world class Filipina!” Ms Evangelista is considered a fashion industry fixture since 2017, but she is never described as one with just one job, or two. She is, as Tatler Asia effusively described her, covering all likely bases, “a professional actor, television host, international and local brand endorser, sold-out visual artist, best-selling author, fashion influencer, beauty icon, and entrepreneur”. In a word, overachiever.

Harper’s Bazaar SG shared a reel on IG that showed Ms Evangelista talking about the two covers. Screen shot: harpersbazaarsg/Instagram

The Harper’s Bazaar cover story tells us enthusiastically that “in this age of cliched representations of Crazy Rich Asians, she is the real deal—and a true multi-hyphenate to boot. A child star turned household-name actress in her native Philippines, Evangelista is also an haute couture client and a global influencer who sparks a street-style frenzy whenever she hits up Fashion Week. Not only does she have the inside scoop on fashion, she can serve it up from various perspectives.” Interestingly, in the same feature, the magazine’s long-serving EIC received a glowing comparison to Ms Evangelista: “In a parallel manner, so too does our editor-in-chief, Kenneth Goh, who started out a stylist in the golden age of print, and along the way has become an arbiter, overseer and the thoroughline (sic) in the fragmented, multi-channel landscape that the fashion media industry has become.” Mr Goh prefaced the issue in his Editor’s Letter by describing the cover girl as “a diminutive, incredibly chic woman who darts about fashion week in all her splendour but never misses a moment to stop by to say ‘hi’. She’s always camera-ready, but beneath that perfected exterior, she possesses a warm, almost childlike naivety.” To be certain no one would mistake her as Bryan Boy.

In a reel shared by Harper’s Bazaar on IG, which showed Mr Goh delivering the magazines (with the two covers) to her at her hotel room when she was visiting our island last month, the suited Ms Evangelista said, “I equally love them.” Pointing to the cover with her in a Tods biker jacket and a pair of underpants-like shorts, she enthused: “This one I love it. I feel like I was a bit more, like a little bit rebellious in a good way—a good rebel.” There could not be any mistaking rebelliousness to be bad. The other cover, a close-up of her outfitted in Louis Vuitton, “is very me—very in a subtle way.” In case you’re doubtful, she added, “I also have that side of me. That’s my original side. That’s me growing up and I’m very soft. I’m innocent, very naive about a lot of things, about the world, also about myself.” Still, we did hope that the real Heart Evangelista had stood up or that, as interviewer and his subject “dive deep into a conversation”, we were shown just how good she had been, not told. Perhaps that was how they deviously ensured that the magazine sold out.