PHILIPPINES' TOP 5 RUNWAY SHOWS 2010

They gathered together for the Red Cross' Charity Gala Show, the society's upper crust, the glitterati, the moneyed and the famous, who conspicuously and ostentatiously attended "War and Roses", FURNE ONE'S Haute Couture 2011 at Shangrila Makati. Older ladies with sprayed helmets of hair and cascades of diamonds were dressed to the nines, next to women in their late twenties in five-inch stilettos with Balenciaga clutches and Chanel totes. As one famous celebrity dropped her BlackBerry into her HERMES Birkin bag that lay at her feet, models began marching FURNE ONE'S armour dresses inspired by Queen Elizabeth I.

These are unsettled times for everyone in the business of luxury, but the challenges facing this uncertain world of economic crunch, are as unique as the one million peso hand-beaded ball gown embellished with Swarovski brilliants and semi precious stones, sashaying at the Philippine Fashion Week Holiday Collection 2011 by Dubai- based designer, MICHAEL CINCO.
With money in retreat, its traditional customers aging or dying, and critics increasingly carping about its irrelevance, the couture economy, always delicate, now is more precarious than ever, leaving many to wonder whether there is a customer base left for couture.

Gone are the high-class tastes of the old Manila's finer set, the blue-blooded ladies who lunched and hosted benefits and social events in couture daywear having been replaced by new-world of pret'- a- porter and China's excess from Divisoria to Greenhills.
For this very few moneyed class, it’s less about the luxuriousness of wearing exquisite handmade to-order creations and more about conspicuous consumption and making museums out of their closets. But couture is much more than a product. It’s a creative branding, a marketing strategy, it's an image. Lovers of Couture don’t bring the much coveted piece into publicity and recognition to maintain its allure.

To call couture a business has long seemed unstinting. The art of handmaking and custom-fitting intricate one-of-a-kind garments surely would have died out two decades ago. The diaspora of creative and talanted Filipino designers to the Middle East, particularly Jeddah and Dubai, with international trained craftspeople, made the Pinoy designers more aggressive, more artistic and more knowledgeable to high stitching of elaborate gowns, sometimes loosely translated to Haute Couture. Filipino designers abroad became the "masters" and on the top of a newly created fashion food chain, having a staff of trained embroiderers from India and the subcontinent, pattern-cutters-tailors from Europe and Philippines.


MICHAEL CINCO
MADAME BUTTERFLY
Philippine Fashion Week 2011


The most mesmerizing ambience show ever this year, MICHAEL CINCO continued his impalpable dream. Inspired by the classic 'Madame Butterfly', the 45 piece- collection flown in from Dubai, was eight months to finish. His embroidery staff worked day and night to create a dazzling embellishments of crystals and semi -precious stones. Soft and diaphanous, the ensemble of voluminous skirts complimented the vivid color- mix of iridescent Swarovski crystals in pure abundance from bodice to skirt in butterfly patterns. Highly knowlegeable in fine stitching and impeccable finishing, Cinco's trained staff laboriously moulage every piece,
producing a feminine silhouette of luxury. The "Madame Butterfly Show " raised the bar of haute in couture and luxury, Michael Cinco's finest.

 FURNE ONE
WAR and ROSES
Red Cross Charity Gala Show
Shangrila Makati


Known for his grand and elaborate shows, FURNE ONE's War and Roses was the most fabulous event of the year. Except for the sliding of the models incident, the show deserved high praises, from production to collection, it was Parisian Show in Philipines. The ONE& ONLY FURNE ONE'S aesthetics are innate, a veteran A-lister and award winning designer, his Dubai's runway shows top the fashion's most wanted.Furne One created edgy and modern concept of women with strong attitude. His beige, nude silhouettes in well-crafted short dresses and gowns displayed his no nonsense know how in the industry. Furne One is unbeatable in runway....a master, an illusionist and a fabulous artist. War and Roses showed his edge.

CARY SANTIAGO
Flight of Fancy/Plumage
METRO BRIDE SHOW
MARRIOTT MANILA


CARY SANTIAGO is a meticulous artist-designer, his "coutureness" is unbearable. Santiago's push-to-the-wall love and dedication to HAUTE COUTURE is his personal quest to perfection. Cary Santiago resurfaced the dying if not dead COUTURE industry in the Philippines. Stubbornly arrogant in his convictions, his dream was vindicated and continued doing couture amidst bland and quirky ready made garments. Santiago's collection at his METRO BRIDE SHOW were coveted pieces that exhibit the finest in stitching , more than art....its art immitating art.

 INNO SOTTO
INNO 30-20-10
The Cultural Center of the Philippines
MANILA

Thirty years in the business has made INNO SOTTO a "PREMIERE CLASSE" amongst the fashion-conscious and the fashion elite. Specialising in exclusive haute couture originals, a Sotto creation spells affluence and class. His sartorial focus is a non-stop quest for producing the finest elegant pieces that conjure a feast for the senses. Bringing to the fore a refreshing insight into his thirty years collection founded with a palatte sated with colours and a balanced blend of symmetric shapes and forms, INNO SOTTO presented a vision that moves from glimmering flesh tones to delicious peaches. Then, his "noir" pieces move sinuously into vibrant tones ending their journey in an unparalleled blend of silk chiffons that cascade flawlessly down the runway like harmonious limericks.And while his signature all-out celebration of all that is glamorous takes you on a passage to all that’s chic, he also references his love for the finer things.
INNO SOTTO'S 30-2010 wondrous creations are a testament to his mastery, and a gift to the fashion industry.

 CESAR GAUPO
PHILIPPINE FASHION WEEK S/S 2011
SMX MANILA


The grand finale of the PFW S/S 2011, GAUPO's neat and precise collection showed the veteran's mastery in high-end designs and techniques. His fabrics and color combinations  were great achievements, a "soft tailoring"- a chief trend in international fashion, from VALENTINO to MARC JACOBS ..lean tailored look.
Cesar Gaupo's sophisticated style combined with a hint of  feminine flair, made his collection  outrageously popular. This trend embraces understated, elegant pieces like subtly structured gowns, ruffled blouses and delicate cap-sleeved dresses. All classy cuts, Gaupos fashionable, comfortable and clean-cut urban looks work best , although the tailoring is evident in these garments, it is relaxed and flowing, clearly indicating that it belongs to a GAUPO silhouette.

CARY SANTIAGO: Haute Plumage- MetroWear BRIDAL 2011

CARY SANTIAGO is contending himself, struggling to  revive couture, a renaissance; a rebirth of classicism's dying trade. With his fine tailoring sensibilities, Santiago challenge the establishment, the old cliche'... with lots of skill at his fingertips, merging innate talent and his no nonsense attitude to creativity.

CARY SANTIAGO's BRIDAL COLLECTION  has his name written all over it...his finest contribution so far to fashion. 

His unmistakably ultra glamorous pieces of organza and chiffon plumage origami, was something so exquisite.

Santiago's signature: sculpted bodice and gravity defying origami folds harmoniously moulage to form a voluminous fluid skirt, resonates operatic fluidity only a CARY SANTIAGO could muster.

The breathtaking columns of grey pleats in a well structured knee length dress masked carefully without any glitters and further embellishment...pure genius.

Given the attention to detail in those chiffon pieces, the over all simplicity translates exquisite haute couture procedure: painstakingly stitched bias cut-outs that unsurprisingly costs hundreds of hours to finish.

CARY SANTIAGO's audacity to create art to art...is his natural, creative porn. He has arrived. Definitely.

PHOTO CREDITS: NELSON VILLARICA-MANILA PHILIPPINES
                         KONRAD ONG-MANILA PHILIPPINES
                    

CARY SANTIAGO: Couture Speak!!!......

Fashion is evaluated by their style -worthiness..and there is one designer whose high fashion elements ,worth one's salt, the young set of Haute in Couture- CARY SANTIAGO.

The Old Cliche' is dead...long live the New Cliche!!......
Sartorial..Distinct..Progressive..and very well done. That's CARY SANTIAGO.

It took him almost a year to meticulously research and finalized the "Santiago look "on his upcoming MetroWear Bride on September 29, 2011...with two decades of experience and awards, Cary Santiago is cut out for the task.

Reference to Origami and history books was just the beginning. The real challenge was to create couture pieces straying away from all-over embellishment..without glitters, only pure high stitching and architectural craftsmanship.

Clean and fluid pieces without embellishments are tricky territory. Being stylish without being ostentatious; Cary Santiago's challenge is to present haute in couture by presenting skillfully cut designs with precise stitching..perfectly done....inside out. And there is no place to hide any mistake...no frills, no beadworks, no nothing......afraid? then by all means..go back to school! It is as much about the hanger as it is about the clothes.

The CARY SANTIAGO phenomenon and ‘the goodluck’ might bring new meaning and the desired effect, but certainly he knows what he is doing......!


SAMSUNG METROWEAR BRIDAL by CARY SANTIAGO
Grand Ballroom/ Marriott Hotel MANILA
Sept. 27, 2011

CARY SANTIAGO: Transcending Fashion Into An Artform

Several years back, there was a wider gap amongst fashion designers that were involved behind creativity and ecomic survival in the rag trade, a trend, of simply making clothes and not indulging into anything that goes beyond art. Hence, they dressed women like anarchists, who apparently never gave any interest in looking them good. Clothes where just clothes for necessity purposes.T- shirts, jeans and the rest of the street wear garments were considered to be the fashion style dictat of the day till it became a stereotype....the fashion industry was dying.

Art has an inherent stylistic sensibility, the clothes that you choose to wear often reveal a lot about your personality.Clothes and fashion is a cultural index that declares the allegiances and affinities of the wearer in a given social context.

Fashion has never been averse to art, or vice versa. Rather, one should say that fashion has always been an integral part of the lives and works of the artists of any time. There is a tremendous but subtle complementariness between fashion and art, though it has been a norm for a long time to downplay the role of fashion in art, unlike the way we know these days.

Before anything becomes a stereotype, it would be interesting to analyze one person I know that had spent his life living, breathing and emulating fashion to a "T".

Meet Cary Santiago.

An artist who tried to move away from the ‘mainstream’ fashion, had in a way, created his own fashion statements through his clothes.Such disinclinations towards ‘fashion’ itself is a fashion, which in turn would create a paraphernalia of designs, no matter whatever philosophy guides the production of such design would become ‘fashion’ in no time. The derivative dress codes, which oscillated between East and West style culture and his unmistakably inborn gift of artistry, molded, shaped and sculpted the now, Cary Santiago.

Equipped with proper experiences in the Dubai and Lebanon, an added sense of Haute Couture , Cary Santiago's aesthetics look different. Perhaps, he had the edge, the freedom of creating fabulous silhouettes and had achieved and accomplished the artistry in his fashion.


Personally speaking, I have been always interested in Cary Santiago's career, since a decade ago when he started working in one of Dubai's truest sense of high end couture atelier. In frank and straightforward manner I speak from my heart and devil may care, I gained friends and lots of enemies.
Even now, people have a reservation about me when it comes to my appreciation of fashion and fashion designers. They want things to be kept in watertight compartments. They want art to be art and fashion to be fashion....and designers to be just designers.

There is a strong essence in a Santiago's design, it transcends mere fashion statement into an artform. His clothes are clever and highly crafted. A visual code and instillation. It is a performance.
In Philippines, art and fashion are not strange bedfellows any more. Fashion designers like Cary Santiago project themselves as artists. Cary is damn worthy of that name, as he has a strong conviction and had proven his artistic prowess. It is not just clothes he put before the public, but his artistic creations, his positive relationships with the world of art not only in his individual practice but also in his love to beautiful designs and its luxe appeal.

I think, Alexander Mcqueen and Hussein Chalayan, before calling themselves fashion designers, prefers to designate as artists! They use their designer’s abilities and materials to create works of art, complete with installations and videos. Such attempts are becoming a ‘fashion’ in a way and it is a very positive trend. Internationally, Alexander McQueen was one of the designers who indulged in the world of art like an artist, a surrealist – abstractionist!


Cary Santiago's upcoming Gala Show on September 26, 2010 at Marriott in Manila will proclaim his artistry to a higher level, having inspirations from the world he loves to withdraw from chaos."Feathers' will surely be one exciting show complete with high- end drama on the runway.
I had been privileged to see some of the pieces, and surely those muted colours of beige, grays, light sands and oysters will complement the versatility of a designer we hate to love, vis-a-vis, Cary Santiago.


He is what we need today – a fashion artist with aesthetic skills and unlimited talent.


CARY SANTIAGO'S 45 piece Couture Collection is sponsored by ABS- CBN & SAMSUNG