1 IN A HUNDRED

YIKES, THE SEPTIC CLEANERS ARE HERE. I WONT BE ABLE TO FINISH MY MUSLIN AND I WON’T HAVE TIME TO MAKE A DECENT POST. I’M SUPPOSED TO PUT UP IMAGES OF ‘FOUND OBJECTS’ FROM MY RECENT TRIP TO TABOGON.

THE POST WILL HAVE BEEN A VISUAL QUIZZ AND THE WINNERS WHO CAN CORRECTLY LABEL THE PICS WILL WIN VIP SEATS TO THE METRO 100 FASHION GALA, END OF THIS MONTH.

...WELL, THERE’S ALWAYS NEXT WEEK.

MEANWHILE, HERE ARE SOME SHOTS OF THE PATTERN I’M WORKING ON. I HOPE THE SHOW WILL BE GREAT, IMAGINE 100 DESIGNERS SHOWING A PIECE EACH.

SO WATCH OUT FOR MY NEXT POST.

Elevated Tulle

blogger's sketh of cary's gown

The most beautiful gown worn by a candidate at Ms. Cebu this year was the serpentine number designed by Cary Santiago. The silhouette was especially flattering on Rizini Gomez.

The bodice was intricately textured with hand-sewn fine pleats that undulated seamlessly around the body. What’s considered a feat in construction skills is the daring décolletage, a Santiago signature that has been widely and, sadly, unskillfully copied by both established and young designers in Manila and Cebu. Cary did not hold back either on couture skills with the floating off-shoulder ruffles sleeves and a flouncy skirt that flared out in perfect cones.

“I boned the sleeves and used crin to shape the skirt,” he revealed. Crin a synthetic fibre used in couture houses gives body to garments and embellishments such as bows and collars without adding too much weight. Because of its stiff quality, perfection of pattern and subtlety of technique is required to achieve a refined shape.

cary santiago

Among the couture savvy, it is common knowledge that other than the fabric, neckline and the hemline are the two most obvious indicators of a gown’s quality. These two areas easily reveal the workmanship and care that goes into its creation and should therefore be no less than perfect.

A neckline that’s an inch too high or too low, a centimeter too tight or too loose will say more about the wearer than a fabulously large collar of white diamonds. A hemline that ‘s too long or too short, unintentionally crooked or haphazardly defined and finished will say more than her million dollars Stuart Weizman shoes.

With above-mentioned gown, Cary exhibited an eye and hand for perfection in both areas but what’s most amusing is his use of hard tulle instead of his usual Marco Lagatola “couture” tulle. Couture skills can indeed elevate any fabric. In this case, Cary’s couture elevated hard tulle, all 250 meters of it.

ethereal fold

dyed pinya-silk fabric

folding a hundred silk butterflies,

can one capture what's ephemeral…

with what's ethereal?

folded pinya-silk butterflies

let these butterflies of happy thoughts

cocoon coat @ L-Manila, Greenbelt 5

bring a hundred smiles to sombrous hearts.

fits like a T

Thin is always in and the new Sony Ericsson T700 sports an ultra-thin slick stick design with premium metal finish. With its 3.2 megapixel camera, you can snap clear shots of anything and share them with your friends via your blog or web page. That means I could instantly send photos of behind-the-scene shots during fashion shows and you, valued readers catch glimpses of rare backstage photos from a fashion insider’s perspective.

High quality stereo speakers let you share your music with friends plus the color matched headset coordinates accessories with the phone and mine is in a matte, deep red hue that multiplies the chic and style factors exponentially.

I love how I can slip my 10mm, 78 gram, sleek handset in the pockets of my stretch khakis, how I can easily edit and add effects to photos with the PhotoDJ application, and how clean and clear the keypad layout and navigation pad are despite the small size. What I loved most about this simple, mainstream market, fashion phone though is its “Sequinity” theme. My animated screeensaver displayed a Christmas tree of sequins in December, double happiness Chinese characters for the new year and abstract hearts for February. Now i wonder if i'll get bows and an easter bunny next.

I like the T700 for its elegance and functionality, it fits me like a T. I’m giving this phone eight red grosgrain ribbons a la mode.

no style victim

digital sketch by george

this jotter has a New York-based batch mate from college (University of the Philippines, Diliman) who has a very interesting blog called Project 365: Draw the Line (draw365.blogspot.com) you’d be interested to read this blog if you actually or virtually sketch. I remember George to be the best illustrator in our class; I was particularly amazed at his skills in figure drawing. He had very confident lines and made his process of drawing look spontaneous and deceivingly easy.

comification of photographed images

george moved to New York in 1994 and became creative director for ROM Antics INC. New York. The very next year, he moved to Muffin-Head, Inc./DVCi Technologies implementing creative and usability standards for clients, internet multimedia, video and print projects, from pitches to finished projects. He designed and maintained company brand image, including corporate identity kits & website. He also managed client relationships with Prada, The Lancaster Group, Revlon, Estee Lauder, Breitling, Oxford, and Visionaire.

ads for RAFE

he went through other companies such as Digital Pulp, hip O, Nu Run that completely honed his skills and decided to go freelance as Art Director in 1992. From then to the present, he is the Branding Design Director for RAFE Studio Limited, New York, a bag and shoes company owned by Rafe Totengco. His clients now include Peter Som, AnnTaylor.com, Sony Music, Sointu USA, Russ Berrie & Co., and Grey Interactive

artist's self portrait (COPYRIGHT George G, all illustrations)

i remember george as a t-shirt and jeans guy in college and was pleasantly surprised to see him turn out to be a fashionphyle who, to this style jotter , was the chicest guy on fifth avenue. seemingly he has the chutzpah to wear Rick Owens and Mcqueen together without looking like a victim.

a thing of beauty is a joy...for now

I acquired a white Macbook last July for my birthday since my old one conked out and as soon as I’ve gotten used to the Leopard operating system, immediately upgraded to the new, uni-body aluminum Macbook. I wouldn’t have been able to upgrade sooner had I not purchased from e-Central. I usually get my tech toys from this store, and my friend Joy gave me a good deal (hint: it included a trade in). Still, I was wondering if I should have just stuck to the white one.

The new MB is cast from a single aluminum block and has the high style of the sleek MacBook Air with a more reasonable price, while providing much better performance, accessibility and capacity. The new Nvidia video chip is a great improvement on the previous model, delivering performance you can feel in ordinary use and according to some technical reviews, also nearly matching last year's MacBook Pro.

Despite the luxury feel and build quality, the new MB isn’t professional-grade hardware however. The loss of FireWire is a big deal since I have a video cam that uses this port; this machine will not be useful for video, music and visual creative professionals. Also, the new MB has a bright and visually striking LED-backlit display which is bane not boon because it is apparently more reflective than my previous white MacBook outdoors and in less than ideal environments.

I love the new minimalist, glass trackpad , which incorporates "multitouch" technology from the iPhone platform however. There are no extraneous buttons; the entire surface is the button. The huge trackpad is hinged at the top and depresses at the bottom with a precise, satisfying click. The surface is smoother than a traditional trackpad's, with a matte finish that provides an excellent mix of slip and stick. It supports pinch, stretch and rotate gestures; three-finger navigation in Safari and Finder; two-finger scrolling and secondary click; and optional tap-lock. You can swipe all four fingers up or down to activate Expose (up to push all windows off the screen, or down to view all windows). Left and right four-finger swipes trigger the application switcher (normally accessed via Command-Tab key combo). This was initially a little confusing but a couple of hours of practicing and playing turned your jotter from klutz to virtuoso.

The aluminum MacBook is a great laptop with its pro styling at a consumer pricing and in terms of pure design. The new MacBook is a big step forward with its faster speed and I’m glad I upgraded. Thus, I give this device nine grosgrain ribbons. 

Checkout the latest phones and gadgets @ e-central, located at Unit 3, Century Plaza Commercial Complex, Juana Osmeña, (Tel. nos. 2535480/ 4124909)

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.

pale, pale summer

There’s a new way to wear white and pale colors, designer Edwin Ao showed how it’s done with his recent collection of men's casual clothes.

Unstructured sports jacket with grey bands layered over a button down dress shirt and black T’s

“I always like separates that can be worn different ways. The possibilities of mixing them are endless. The clothes were cut loose to give white and pale clothes new proportion and freshness.”

 Short dinner jacket with detachable black cuffs worn with a long shirt and twill pants.

Ao’s mix of unstructured shoulders and generous cuts lend sophisticated nonchalance to his menswear that’s far from dated. His sartorial mix is at once non pretentious and, as he expressed earlier,  “fresh”. Here are my favorite pieces from his recent group show. 

 blazer with checkered blocks worn over cotton polo shirt with black piping and buttons worn with blocked twill pants

llueve a cantaro

it's been raining cats and dogs lately and i came across this video that i captured of two dogs (iro and aw-aw) and a cat (miming) at play.

not stereotypical, are they?

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

some digital sketches

my friend paul brought my intuous 3 which was purchased online and i’ve been learning how to use the pen since late december. here are some of the exercises that I’ve done thus far.

 

i like this cat sketch best, it’s the closest to my actual sketch.

 

 

this watercolor scene is also interesting but handling the pen is totally different from holding a sable.

 

this is the digital artwork that I least like. it looks totally synthetic and is the farthest  from my actual works.

Karl Roque's Optimism

red dragon (diptych)

Before your art jotter met professor Karl Roque one presumed that other than Cuevas,great abstract expressionist artists in Cebu were non existent . A chance viewing of Karl's most recent works at the SM Art Center and a short interview of the artist however, proved to be both inspiring and enlightening.

Roque: Great Cebuano Abstract Expressionist

The process that Karl described in creating and perfecting his pictures is complex but the resulting images and color fields are deceivingly simple and clean. Though the surface of his work is planar the movement and textures created by juxtaposing colors and forms draw you into the artwork itself and invokes within your core a wholesome spark of joy. His works are initially retina pleasing then instantly thought-provoking and finally happiness-invoking. To this chocoholic admirer, they are like eighty percent dark chocolate. The phoenylethylamine enzyme present in chocolate that reproduces the feeling of being in love has the same pleasantly addictive effect.

deep forest

What is there to love in Roque’s work? The subtle transitions and jolting contrasts of colors, both the accidental and intended movement of forms and ultimately the state of mind that it puts you in. In the diptych Deep Forest for example the green gradates into the deep blues and brown while specks of light blue lift up the tones of the canvasses. One had commented, “Viewing this particular painting is like viewing a Chinese watercolor landscape painting of mountains and distant trees. It has that sophisticated sense of multi perspective and open space. It’s very refreshing.”

spring flowers

Roque’s poetic reply was, “ I have attempted to evoke a sense of freshness and a new beginning, like the breaking of dawn, the sprouting of a new leaf, or a morning dew on a flower’s petal. This, perhaps, is an aspiration to offer a different and a more optimistic vision of things to come.”

ms. piggy, so?

i was in Zamboanga Sibugay for christmas and how rejuvenated was i. old folks were there and so were siblings, nephews and nieces, and even pets. i’ll post a video of a view of Sibugay Province from the capitol and an interesting “pets playing” vid later. i have to do some editing work on them first.

 

anyway, i’m @ davao city now for the homecoming of Ateneo de Davao University. I’m staying at my high-school-friend’s house in Woodridge and, speaking about pets, guess what greeted me at their gate?

 

this adorable pup whom the friendly maids called “Piggy.”

 

weird name for a dog, i thought, but then again she’s kinda cutely fat. perhaps she has already slimmed down from a heavier frame.

 

i’m loving this adorable dog (a pug/shihtzu) hybrid and missing my sweet dharma (a fawn colored chihuahua) back in cebu. i kept playing with piggy at the couch gleefully calling her by her unusual name oblivious to my host, tonette, who had entered the room and burst out in laughter:

 

“oj, you’re just like the maids. the dog’s name is Peggy Sue.”

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.

almost a wrap

finally,

i'm done with metrowear gala.

your blogger was second to present the clothes, which was just perfect since it meant that i could dress the models and then run out from backstage to watch the show soon after I had final-checked the clothes and accessories.

the night before the show, during dress rehearsals, someone from abs-cbn asked what the viewers should expect from my atelier this summer.

“this summer, my designs are, as always, very quiet. These are clothes that whisper elegance...”

thanks to my friend Tere Whymark, i am able to post these photos she took of the event.

the last fashion to-do this year is on the 12th of December. after "haute cuisine + haute couture," it's a wrap.

lull before the...

Gil, designer Arcy Gayatin, Edwin Ao and Cybill

I just had breakfast with my peers at the Heat, EDSA Shangri-la. Had loads of fun with Metro Magazine's editor-in-chief Katrina Holigores and Metro Soceity’s Raul Manzano. How pleasant katrina is and how handsome raul is in the mornings. This was fun time for your blogger, tonight can be chaos.

We were joined by Cebu designers protacio, marichu and ren for more laughs and more fun. There are actually more cebu designers than manila designers showing tonight; 11 to 8 respectively.

Katrina and Raul loved the camaraderie among the participants while we love how they take care of us (unlike some organizers who seemingly think that designers from outside of Manila are second rate)

 Keeping my fingers on my mala beads, I ideate on a successful presentation tonight. Hopefully, all my friends and some of you valued reader will be there to show some love.

...this is the proverbial lull before the storm

Are Diamonds Forever?

a faceted, stealthy back

stunning aesthetics meet unrivalled innovation in HTC Touch Diamond.  this 110 gram ultra sleek and stylish smart phone raises the bar in mobile communication, while retaining stark simplicity and elegant beauty at its core.

sleek front with animated phonebook

a 2.8-inch large touch screen housed within a stunning formation of brushed steel and flawless faceted edges echoes the durability and elegance of its precious namesake.  the touch-responsive user interface, TouchFLO™ 3D, makes your messages, list of contacts, favourite music, videos and photos not just an ordinary and uninspired line of text. With this feature, text messages, album artwork, video stills and snapshots of your friends’ and family’s faces are animated and easily respond to your finger gestures.

black is always beautiful

this phone uses Windows Mobile 6.1, has a 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera, a 4GB internal storage for your files but what I like most about this phone are its ultra-fast wifi, HSDPA internet connectivity and its customized YouTube application for a variety of user generated video content. 

your blogger rates this phone with eight and a half black grosgrain ribbons out of ten but one question remains: are all diamonds really forever?