How We Styled Our Kikay-Themed Editorial with Jolina Magdangal

The word "kikay" is practically synonymous with Jolina Magdangal. Type the term into a search engine, and images of her ’90s era surface instantly—funky hairstyles, butterfly clips, and all.

In recent months, “kikay” has found a new footing in Gen Z vocabulary, propelled by a makeup trend that gained traction on TikTok. With nostalgia for the aesthetic continuing to build, it only felt fitting to pay homage to the figure who helped define it: Jolina Magdangal.

In this month’s Preview Original, the team looks back at the roots of ’90s kikay culture and traces its evolution. The editorial’s fashion direction follows that same philosophy, using modernity as its guiding approach.

Ahead, a closer look at every outfit Jolina Magdangal wore in the shoot.

From the outset, incorporating a print-on-print look only felt necessary. During the shoot, Jolina shared her fondness for mixing patterns. “Mas colorful, mas gusto ko. Mas hindi pare-pareho ’yung print, mas nae-enjoy nung mata ko,” she said during the interview.

Here, she wears a full look from H&M: a pink striped long-sleeve jersey top paired with a calf-length zebra print skirt. To heighten the maximalist and playful mood, the outfit is styled with emerald green fringed heels from Studio D’Arte Alexie, alongside layered accessories from local brands Antler Accessories and Spaceskullpixie, plus select pieces from the team’s personal collection of anik-anik. She also carries a purple beaded purse—a vintage find from Chatuchak Market in Bangkok.

In approaching the styling, the goal was to keep each look current and youthful without directly replicating Jolina’s ’90s wardrobe. Throughout the process, a guiding question remained: who is the kikay today, and how can the idea be reinterpreted?

After all, kikay isn’t contained in a singular definition. Instead, it’s rooted in embracing femininity and playfulness through personal style, however that may take shape.

In this look, Jolina wears a gauzy, pearl-embellished babydoll dress by Cebu-based brand KLA Studios. Originally conceived as a bridal piece, it was reimagined into a Harajuku-inspired look, complete with a spiked hairstyle, cool-toned makeup, mismatched earrings, and layers of technicolor bracelets. The ensemble is finished off with black platform clogs from the Simone Rocha x Crocs collaboration.

The look is a slightly edgier, street-style-inspired interpretation of kikay, while remaining lighthearted and unapologetically feminine.

For the next look, the direction shifted toward something softer while maintaining that eclectic feel. Jolina wears a longline pink shirt with ribbon accents from Comme des Garçons (sourced via Archives d' Homme et Femme), layered over a gauzy white dress from the R.A.F. x Nicolo collaboration. The ensemble is finished with a pair of cheetah-print flats, the Pierre silhouette from Flabelus.

2025 Preview BFFD awardee Rik Rasos of Proudrace sent over one of his “Icons Forever” T-shirts, printed with Jolina’s photo from the ’90s and emblazoned with the phrase “Proudrace is Forever” in red.

For a quick layout, it created a fun “meta” moment—Jolina, now 47, wearing a shirt featuring her image from her peak kikay years.