Girls in LBD's

joy onglatco, tricia gullas

What did Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s wear at the opening scene of said movie? This garment was designed by Hubert de Givenchy and accessorized with pearls. It is the Little Black Dress of course.

agnes heuttel, arcy gayatin

Wallis Warfield Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, was also known to own several and said much in praise of the dress declaring, “When a little black dress is right, there is nothing else to wear in its place.” Even the French folk icon, Edith Piaf, consistently performed in a black sheath dress throughout her career and was nicknamed “little black sparrow” for doing so. It was acknowledged that the dress made the audiences focus more on Piaf's singing and less on her appearance.

tess lampert, lani osmena

The Little Black Dress, an evening or cocktail dress, cut simply and often with a short skirt, was originally made popular in the 1920s by the fashion designer Coco Chanel when she published a picture of a short, simple black dress in Vogue. It was calf-length, straight, and decorated only by a few diagonal lines. Vogue called it “Chanel’s Ford.” It was intended by Chanel to be long lasting, versatile, affordable, and accessible to the widest market possible and in a neutral color. Its continued ubiquity is such that many refer to it by the abbreviation LBD.

june alegrado, luisa robinson

The Little Black Dress is considered essential to a complete wardrobe by many women and fashion observers: "rule of fashion" now is that every woman should own a simple, elegant black dress that can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion. A staple of the wardrobe for years, the style of the little black dress, ideally, is as simple as possible: a short black dress that is too clearly part of a trend would not qualify because it would soon appear dated.

this jotter, marco protacio

Appearing fashionably dated, one summer more, was your style jotter. Thus, when Marco Protacio, Waterfront Hotel’s style savvy General Manager, hosted impromptu dinner to celebrate friendship, I did not hesitate to call on my favorite girl friends for a night of gustatory fun and stylish, light chatter.

couture inspired cuisine

100 guests at the Pacific grand ballroom

Imagine excellent food inspired by the great masters of French fashion. Imagine dining in a place where the two absolute disciplines of Haute Cuisine and Haute Couture take center stage, merging into an art experience all its own.

Such was what your style jotter and 100 other guests experienced at the 15^th Anniversary Gala Diner Amical of the Confrerie de la Chaine des Rotisseurs at the Pacific Ballroom of The Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino which was transformed into an ethereal place of food and fashion.

Marco Protacio, the hotel’s food/fashion savvy general manager, invited six Cebu designers to work with the Waterfront’s team of culinary experts to interpret the iconic styles of the legendary and most prestigious members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.

invitation to indulge

Gastronomy started with “Comtesse Bismarck,” which was black caviar on amber ice and foie gras parfait. This was my food design inspired by Balenciaga thus it adhered his simple but monumental aesthetics.

Inspired by one of Yves Saint Laurent’s favorite dove motif, Jun Escario’s all-white soup of scallop and lobster called “La Colombe” was served next. 

Next came Arcy Gayatin’s “Mademoiselle Coco,” a puff pastry stuffed with duck confit and chantrelle mushroom which was beautifully presented as Chanel’s 2.55 quilted bag. Surrounded by cream pearls and white chocolate camellia this was inarguably the creation that epitomized the cuisine+couture concept.

Chanel bag by Arcy Gaytin

“La Vie en Rose” by Philip Rodriguez followed. A red chocolate cabbage rose opened to reveal champagne and rose sorbet inspired by Valentino. Then came the Christian Dior inspired “La Dame Mèdaillon” of Parma ham wrapped Angus beef medallion and baked lobster by Albert Arriba. Then finally served was Cary Santiago’s  inspired dessert called “Les Coleurs d’Arles.” This was a vibrantly colored and sinfully tasting that captured the tonal and textural genius of Lacroix.

Cary Santiago's Christian Lacroix inspired dessert

It took no less than three meticulous food tasting and styling sessions, of perfecting details of the cuisine, before the designers and chefs were satisfied. And all that hard work paid off.