The Life of Bryan

“The spectacle is back.” So declares influencer, creative consultant and now TikTok sensation Bryan Grey Yambao, better known as the global fashion personality Bryanboy. Twenty months into the pandemic, the fashion whirl has resumed and in the course of just a few weeks, Bryanboy has already jetted off to three continents. In Manila, he opened the first Ikea flagship in the Philippines, then he sauntered down the runway for Alessandro Michele’s ode to Hollywood glamour show for Gucci in Los Angeles, made a pit stop at the TikTok headquarters, and extended his stay to attend his good friend Paris Hilton’s wedding before flying off to his home in Sweden, then to London for meetings at Perfect magazine, where he is the international editorial director.

That itinerary, however hectic it may seem, is only a fraction of the dizzying schedule of fashion shows, parties, openings, shoots and events that he’s accustomed to.

“It’s fascinating, you know, that fashion is very quick to latch on to issues that are relevant,” he says. “But at the end of the day, it’s all for show, you know, it’s fun!” When the pandemic first struck, he recalls, everyone saw it as an opportunity to reflect and refocus—at least on the outside. “They were like, ‘Oh, we have to be conscious of how we show. We’re not going to follow the fashion calendar anymore. It’s not really sustainable to have all these collections.’ And here we are,”