Summer HUGS in Wintertime

cary santiago, merce brenner, emanuel hamoy, & jun escario

Last winter, a friend took a two-week break from his 5^th Avenue work at Blanc de Chine, New York. Escaping the freezing cold of the Big Apple, Emmanuel Hamoy warmed his tropical days in the company of friends and family in the Philippines.

Chic Chihuahuas

my pet DHARMA with Kate's pink collar

If diamonds are a girl’s best friends and dogs are man’s best friends, then what are pets with crystal collars to us?

 if i

…were seated at an intimate dinner for eight hosted by the president’s designer, would I mince words at how ghastly one lady looked at fashion magazine’s event in Manila? 

Filippo's Iberian Beauties

fiona king

At the show for the World Tourism Organization held at the Atrium of the Northwing SM City Cebu, The Fashion Council of Cebu presented collections inspired by cultures that have become part of Filipino heritage. Cary Santiago and this jotter opened the show with Indo-Malay influenced collections, Arcy Gayatin and Albert Arriba showed American influenced clothes, Jun Escario and Jojo Romoff showed Chinese influenced designs while Felix Yu ended the show with a collection of present day Filipiniana dresses.

tasseled rhumba dress 

Everyone showed what's elegant and beautifully Filipino, most cohesive and memorable however, were the Spanish influenced clothes presented by Philip Rodriguez. There was a white toreador jacket in moiré embellished with black guipure lace appliqué that was so chic; a black gown with tasseled sleeves and red rose embroidery that reeked of romance and a silk organdy shirt with puffed and book-leaf sleeves worn with unmatched style by the elegant Fiona King.

toreador look

“I was thinking of Chinese/Spanish Mestizas of the past and how they would dress up today. The look is Hispanic, elaborated with fine details, which is a rich mixture east and west.  And as you can see, they’re totally wearable for big parties and in tune with the global trends today,” Rodriguez reveals.

 rose embroidered dress

cuisine+couture

haute cuisine plus haute couture happens tonight and I stole some shots of the clothes which will be unveiled later...

 

your blogger worked with the chefs of waterfront cebu city hotel to come up with a course that will emulate the elegantly austere style of Balenciaga. Other participating designers are jun escario doing an yves saint laurent soup, arcy gayatin doing an interpretation of coco chanel purse as pie, philip Rodriguez doing a valentino sorbet, albert arriba doing the christian dior main course and cary santiago doing a christian lacroix inspired dessert.

keeping fingers crossed,i'm hoping the gourmands will love the taste as well as the presentation of the food.

if i

fanny serrano

... were an NBI agent, i would track down this syndicate preying on fashion designers. The main scammer is a nondescript female in her early forties who goes around Manila applying (and, apparently, effectively getting hired) for a secretarial position. Previous to the latest victim, Jun Escario, there were already at least two other well-known designers who fell prey to her scheming. Sources say that to get out of a six- digit debt that she scammed from Fanny Serrano, she even feigned death by having herself photographed inside a coffin. She also tried to get her hands on Joji Lloren’s coffers but fortunately, Joji called Cesar Gaupo and Mike dela Rosa whom she claimed to be her previous employers. There’s been talk that she also stole a seven-digit amount from Cesar who rightfully advised Jojie not to take her in, whoever she was. 

inno sotto

...owned Rustan’s, I would bring in additional top Filipino designers such as Pepito Albert, Cary Santiago and Lesley Mobo to display their luxurious prêt-a-porter at the floor for designer labels. Clothes and accessories (leather goods and jewellery in Pepito’s case) from these designers would make for a wonderful addition to their already-impressive line-up of foreign and local brands. OH...and, if you happened to pass by Ayala Avenue and you noticed how the show windows of Rustan’s Makati are looking cleaner and more eye-appealing (like Barney’s or Sak’s in New York), it would come as no surprise to you that no less than premiere fashion designer Inno Sotto (Rustan’s current Creative Director) has his elegant hands and elevated taste stamped on the store’s visuals.