ode 2 e

having recently been invited by havaianas to design my own pair of slippers, i dutifully went to sm north mall here in cebu last friday and came up with the pair below.

thought i wanted to wear them with my blue-black, frayed linen slacks, thus the metallic indigo color. didn’t want them to look too ‘designed’nor too blah, so I decided to dress them up a bit with the available studs. how drawn was i to these skull and crossbones studs.

must have been thinking subconsciously of my friend e because my havaianas are manifestation of my mind’s vision of his silver sandals (refer to his post: the chronicles of e, September 14). i felt bad that he almost died of an overdose but on hindsight i see the benefit of his actions. i'm just not sure if the benefits outweigh the suffering my friend has brought upon himself.

thus, here, an ode to E:

couldn't stop giggling,

both mind & body laughing

@ E's bitter pills

pills to heal attachment to pleasure

pills that conjured his silver sandals.

this pair i wear

conjured by friendship,

heals my mundane attachments.

my indigo slippers

E's happy, profound legacy.

chez lloren

after watching ito curata’s show at shang makati, your blogger met up with jojie lloren and some more friends from the art and fashion circles at his atelier. i took candid photos of them while we talked about everything from ito’s collection to the man made wonders of dubai. this was fun evening, felt like i was back in college hanging out with my schoolmates. something about this shop’s architecture and surrounding artworks reminded me of U.P. Diliman.

jojie @ chez lloren

dorla villalon, one of my muses was with me. if you remember, i was with her at ito’s show (refer to the last pic on my previous post). dorla is a treasured friend who inspired this blogger to create a jacket based on the alvar aalto chair below. we were admiring the lines of his furnitures which were on exhibit at the ayala museum sometime ago. i should post some pics of that eggshell colored, raw-silk jacket; if she allows me to photograph it, that is.

alvar aalto chair

darling dorla is a meticulous designer herself with impeccable taste for the elegantly subtle. she’s been all over the globe to study photography, art and many other creative pursuits. it was through her export company Tribal Genius that I first found creative expression in creating candleholders and napkin rings in the 90’s. the designs that she created herself are beautiful and timeless. i have a few pieces of her fish candleholders which i keep for posterity.

dorla villalon, inspiring

james reyes who was past president of the young designers’ group (YDG) was also there. he is funny, witty and very good at his craft. i love the surreal black and white clothes he did for metro magazine some seasons ago. he had recently lost a pet dog, had him put to sleep. i could totally relate to such loss since my shih-tzu died late last year after i returned from a trip. poor doggy got sick and thought i wouldn’t come back. she just gave up but waited long enough for me to see her off. i told her that she was a good pet and that it was okay to go, "you'll be back to help humans in your next life." didi gave one deep, sigh and spent her last outbreath looking at me.

james reyes

paolo who just returned from dubai is so much prettier now than he's ever been before departing. refined, wealthy and well-educated, he must have left a trail of broken hearts in that distant desert. surprisingly he revealed that he only had one boyfriend. He showed photos and admittedly, with a boyfriend like that, one is really all you need.

pretty paolo

albert avellana, art-dealing culturato, was there too. He showed me the latest exhibit @ his f.b. harrison, pasay city gallery: eight atists doing anything that’s got to do with eight showed thought-provoking, retina-pleasing works. i wanted to stay longer but i ate too much of the fresh steamed vegetables that jojie served (sans the kare kare sauce and ox tail of course). had to head home immedeately.

albert avellana

Ito's Coup

cascading cape in silk organza with a high-neck shift

Ito Curata, one of the presidential designers for her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo showed an ultra glamorous collection for Fashion Watch Quartet. His guest of honour, the president of the Philippines herself, showed up five minutes before the show, sat at the assigned table with Ito’s mom and lifetime partner Bob, and immediately left after the presentation.

nuances of elegance from day to evening in variants of luxurious raw silks, silk chiffons and crepes.

One of my journalist friends wanted to throw what would have been a very awkward question at the president regarding her attending the show despite the recent MILF bombings in Lanao. Personally this blogger had questioned the propriety of such query considering that said friend wasn’t even a hard news journalist. A fair reportage on the clothes was what she owed her readers, it was what was expected of her as a fashion writer. Evidently, protocol did not allow her to raise such question as PGMA left promptly sorrounded by her presidential guards.

red-carpet ready gowns

Ito created one of the most elegant collections for the Fashion Watch Quartet Series. I loved the soundtrack. His main theme, Vuelvo al Sur, heightened the tres, tres chic and golden-age Hollywood charm of his clothes. One can imagine Sharon Stone, a client of his when he was residing in the states, walking the red carpet in one of Ito's latest ultra-glam looks.

DORLA VILLALON, ITO and BOB with this blogger

EMPTY is a DRESS

this fashion folly

timeless as a single breath

empty is a dress

• photography AMANDA LUYM ABOITIZ
• dresses LINEN,TULLE & JERSEY

s t i l l n e s s in m o t i o n

Yin & Yang symbol

Tai Chi Chuan means the Supreme Ultimate Fist. A soft-style martial arts developed from the Taoist philosophy of Yin and Yang or opposites, Tai Chi is practiced for both good health and self defence.

108 Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan

sequential forms are practiced slowly in a state of total relaxation, allowing vital energy or CHI to flow smoothly. everything is performed in a circular manner with the goal of achieving balance and tranquillity with every inbreath and every outbreath. This technique of subtle breathing and slow, continuous movement without strain through varied sequence of contrasting Forms creates stable vitality with calmness, balanced strength with flexibility, controlled energy and awareness.

this style i learned from my shifu francis is called Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan. These are the beginnings of the 108 Form that i practice every morning.

AUTUMN @ ENGLEWOOD

around this time last year, i was eagerly anticipating my trip to New York. it was going to be my first trip to the big apple and the prospect of viewing masterpieces by the greatest modern artists animated me with unbridled anticipation.

while abstract expressionism by Mark Rothko, Kenneth Noland and Franz Kline transfixed me, it was the mind-blowing colours of autumn @ englewood however which triggered the primordial urge to paint again.

these are incipient strokes of oil hastily applied on canvas last year after i returned from that inspiring trip.

Fashion & Art @ Kate's Shop

In between fittings at the Escario-Hofer atelier in LPL Towers, Makati i frequent a favourite dessert place called Classic Confections. Sipping tea and getting my chocolate fix at this café is a treat because not only does it have my favourite cocoa confections, it also has a view of the Filipino designers’ show windows at Greenbelt 5.

resin buddhas @ Kate's counter

Spotting fashion designer Kate Torralba at her store during one of those caffeinated afternoon walk back to the atelier I greeted her and asked to take a photo. She graciously obliged and half an hour later, I was back at her store with my camera.

“I didn’t want the store to be just another regular shop so I collaborated with artists and invited Pio Abad to exhibit his drawings with my clothes,” Kate disclosed. As a result the white space of her boutique is transformed into a gallery of fashion and art. Right by the entrance display console were plates with Pio’s drawings and red bags made with satin ribbon loops while above a red wall and a rack of colored clothes hangs Kiko Escora’s acrylic quadrup-tych of Kate painted in primary and secondary colors.

black and white shirt dress

Charged with vibrant hues and eccentric details such as colourful resin buddhas and boddhisattvas on a niche behind the designer’s desk, Kate’s shop retains her personal stamp on style. Lee Roy New’s commissioned replica sculpture of her pet dog Miu Miu stands on the show window with her fashionable clothes. “His clothes and bow tie changes with the show window, “she added.

miu miu with a red bowtie, linen bag with zigzag embroidery

Kate’s Greenbelt 5 store displays her readymade clothes for both walk in and regular clients. Already into her sixth year of designing professionally, she was entertaining most of her clients at home before she opened this outlet. With its opening last November, however, she has made herself and her designs more accessible to a wider market.

designer Kate Torralba

“The store has the same feel as my place. Clients who have been going to my apartment to order clothes feel at home in this store because of how I set it up. Meanwhile, walk-in clients who want to have the clothes customized can also have something designed since I’m around most of the time,“ she concluded.