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.