A Whiff of Freshness

Five years ago on my birthday, I received a gift from one of my muses and closest friends. From the shape of the simple white paper package, I could tell that it was either a cologne or skincare product. True enough, I received a bottle of clear scent.

JIRO’S CIRCLE

At the MOMAT last March, (Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) I spent the whole morning going through the museum’s collection on my free day. The 4^th floor had art from the Meiji and Taisho periods from the 1900’s to 1926. The 3^rd floor highlighted the Pre-war Showa Period and art during and after World War II--rather depressing , I struggled to get through this particular section but ike light at the end of a tunnel however, I found my favorite Japanese painting on the same floor—Jiro Yoshihara’s White on Black Circle.

  Terrific Day in Tokyo

If you had a day to spend in Tokyo where would you spend it? Topping my list were three places: Ginza, Omotesando and The National Museum of Modern Art.

The Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art

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.

if i

…were to name the three most stylish women today they would have to be Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Carine Roitfeld, and Zoe Kravitz

…

The Subanen Princess

During my visit to Zamboanga Sibugay for the holidays last year, I sought out indigenous fabrics for a possible garment presentation/auction in an art gallery abroad. In my earliest collections, I incorporated fabrics such as the T’nalak from Davao and Langdap from Marawi into garments of clean, linear silhouettes. 


These fabrics were readily available through sources provided by my aunt Henrietta Ele who is the founding director of Darangan Dance Troop of The Mindanao State University. Her company globe-trotted for fashion presentations with Ben Farrales in the 80’s and today, she owns an extensive collection of indigenous fabrics from the South. She showed me this collection a couple of years ago and it sparked off an idea.

           if i

…were to host dinner for other parents from my kids’ PTA, I wouldn’t brag about the cost of my Birkin. Especially if one of the parents know that I haven’t settled a million-peso debt with one of Cebu City’s high profile designers.  Would some really just go broke for a Birkin?

...were throwing dinners at my private abode I wouldn’t be brazen when inviting guests over to my powder room. One stylish hostess called the girls in for some white truffles leaving a chocoholic guest feeling bad. 
He was clueless that the post-dinner dessert had absolutely no chocolate content.

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?

Artful Warriors @ The MET

“Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156-1868,” is a sumptuous, revelatory exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and having learned and practiced Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu, a Japanese form of swordsmanship perfected by Miyamoto Musashi, I was drawn to the revelry like moth to a flame.

The Berrie Winter Room

An Englewood Winter Room

Autumn.

I always think of the first autumn I experienced at the elegant Englewood home of Angelica Berrie. My dear friend Greg who lives with his sister Angie invited me to stay with them in 2007 and that stay sparked off creativity.

Taking Tartines @ PQ on 5^th

Emmanuel Hamoy, a close friend who was one of Cebu’s best designers before he relocated to the States fifteen years ago is looking like a native 5^th Avenue New Yorker these days. His characteristic all-black, luxe wardrobe beautifully sets off the refined speech and gestures.

On my second visit to the Blanc de Chine Flagship Store at 673 Fifth Avenue, an ultra-chic store which he co manages, he found time to spend a quick coffee break with this jotter at a very charming Belgian bakery chain.

The Vellum Paper Dress

The very fist time I ever saw paper dresses was at our neighbor’s house when I was in grade school. Eileen and Christine Horlen dressed up their paper dolls in what seemed to be stylish paper garments that were fastened with tabs. They folded the tabs unto the flat paper dolls and changed the look of their dolls at a whim.

Ming Elegance @ Blanc de Chine 2010

Blanc de Chine, a luxury brand with a flagship store on Fifth Avenue New York, began in 1986 as a concept workshop in Hong Kong. The idea was to bring together eight principles with three classic Chinese garments. The guiding principles were simplicity, sensuality, purity, functionality, comfort, harmony, subtlety and serenity. The three garments were the women's Qipao, the man's Zhongshan suit and the Dudou undergarment for men, women and children of all ages.

Working with Wig Tysmans

Working with Wig Tysmans, one of this country’s foremost lifestyle and commercial photographers is more like play than work these days. At my recent shoot for the fashion pages of this luxury issue, the atmosphere was relaxed and infallibly focused. The seamlessness of working with the best in the industry reminded your jotter of his first fashion shoot more than a decade ago.

Style-packed DC’s

Just before my flight to New York City last fall, I met with Dino Gilladoga who represents DC Shoes, a leader in performance skateboarding shoes and renowned action sports brand.  DC Shoes, now a global brand with product lines that include lifestyle shoes, apparel, snowboard boots, outerwear and accessories for men, women and kids, has recently launched its SixPack France collection, the first of a series of apparel/footwear collaborations that characterize the LIFE division of the brand for the next few seasons.

DC X SIXPACK Double Label collection features two classic DC LIFE models– Xander and Sector 7, and a line of apparel. The collection that is also dubbed “Non Merci,” French for “no thanks,” has custom Sixpack patterns and logos.

Valentino's Philippine Screening

It’s been months, but success of the Valentino screenings in Manila, Davao, and Cebu lingers. The denizens of Manila’s fashionable set came in full force to watch the film of iconic Valentino. First to arrive at the pre-show cocktails was no less than national Artist for Fashion Design, Pitoy Moreno a Philippine fashion icon himself.

To give you a backgrounder, Pitoy’s spectacular career that has reached its golden years, has made an indelible mark in fashion industry. The beautiful embroidery, exquisite beadwork, and luxurious hand paintings of his highly praised collections have been toured around the globe: from Malaysia to Moscow, Japan to Paris and Bangkok to Barcelona.

Ramon Valera, the first Filipino fashion designer to be given the recognition of National Artist, created the butterfly sleeves of the Terno today, but it is Pitoy Moreno who made the country proud with his introduction of Filipiniana silhouettes and styles, and the words jusi, piña and lepanto to mainstream fashion through his international shows and clientele. 

 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? 

if the shoe fits...

I saw these satin pumps at Bergdorf Goodman. They’re the most beautiful pair on the shoe department and were the only ones I could think of getting for my cousin Ann. They would be perfect for the fibre de bananiere, or pineapple silk dresses that she has to wear to formal congressional functions… and they’re just the right height.

Sadly, they didn’t have her size so now I’m waiting for the order to be delivered. My cousin Aimee who manages the Marni store @ Bergdorf will be sending these four digit Valentino’s as soon as the order arrives.

They almost cost as much as a trip to NYC, so, no I’m not paying for these.

She is.

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.

Staying Serene at Club Serena

I just did a shoot at my friends resort, Club Serena in Moalboal and rejuvenated was I. although I was also working, Dexter Alazas, the stylist did his job quite well, thus, I didn’t have to lift a finger. I’ve worked with some stylists before but admittedly, in Cebu, Dexter’s level of professionalism is matchless thus far.

The items had been picked more than a week before the shoot and pulled out from the stores. An hour before the shoot, they were already steamed and laid out with the accessories, and the vignettes too had been sorted out.

Mind you, I’ve been to shoots where I had to iron the clothes myself because the stylist didn’t take care of that. Some clothes had not even been taken out of their plastic packaging.

Makeup artist, Romero Vergara, was also in top form although days before the shoot, he was at the emergency room of a hospital in Singapore recovering from an asthma attack with a nebulizer. “Too much partying, we had three bottles of Moet Chandon the night before and then a barbecue party. My lungs conked out,” he said.

Seven layouts for eight pages, all done in a day; there really is nothing like working with industry professionals. Day after the shoot, I had time to laze at oxygenated pool and even go scuba diving just before we headed back for Cebu. I didn’t realize how the deepest blue triggered primal fear in my spine until I saw the colorful, seabed of corals drop into an abyss. Then again, that’s another story.