Fashion: 003, Calayan-Sevilla. 12/20/2010

A little late a post. :)

Held last December 20, 2010 in Hotel Intercontinental Manila,

the event was an intimate exchange of vows.

Marriage isn't an available option for these two wonderful

loving people. As the Philippines doesn't have Same-sex Marriage laws

and to some extent, Gender Identity Recognition provisions in the constitution.

To this point, the only real 'advancement' in the rights protection

of the local LGBT ( Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community

is the still-yet-to-be-passed more than a decade old Anti Discrimination Bill...

I salute Lalen and Selina for being courageous in showing their commitment

to one another despite the moderately hostile environment of conservative Philippine society.

About the dress:

I was thinking of clouds when I made this dress. :)

Credits:

Bride and groom both in Mara Chua.

Photographs are a mix. My own cam and Nice Print Photography.

Fashion: Cotton

A preview of my client Patti's grad ball dress.
It's a double dress with a detachable long skirt.
She was less specific about the design of this dress so
I did exercise quite a bit of liberalism in designing/making this one. :)

I don't really see myself as the go to designer for pretty feminine dresses.
I love my edge. haha. Yeah, as you might have guessed, the color and the material isn't exactly my thing. Sooo, in this particular exercise I tired achieve compromise (femininity and edge) by creating soft geometries.

The dress is made of around 19 yards of chiffon. Dull satin base.

19 yards coz I did at least 3 layers of chiffon per skirt. I'm not a fan of single layer chiffon overlay. It's not diaphanous enough. hahaha (I would have used ethereal but diaphanous is a more apt description of the effect I wanted to achieve)... If I had more chiffon I'd have gone all the way and made 6 layers and made do without a base to really get that light airy effect.

The bodice is 100% hand pleated.

Also, loved the fact that my base is a few tones darker. It give the impression that the dress is glowing.

Fashion: Mum's Dress, Tentatively titled: The Fall of Icarus

From the Mara Chua Bespoke Collection tentatively titled: "The Fall of Icarus".

It's my mom's dress for a wedding where she's participating as a sponsor (ninang).Im using her as my latest guinea pig (opportunity) to experiment on newer techniques and to carry out certain ideas lingering in my head for a few weeks now. Ideas I want to make a collection out of for my Mara Chua line.

I guess this dress will serve as my prototype for the other looks. And I hope I do get to finish 7 looks. Considering all 7 are pretty ambitious and costly.

I'm still not yet sold on "Fall of Icarus"... While, the gold fabric reminds me wings and flight and classical Athens, it's very easy to go cliche and extremely inaccurate if I use Icarus and Greek culture as my central theme. Considering that the setting for Icarus is Crete and the Cretan (Minoan) civilization is very very different from the Greek ones of the time. Sure, it was told from the point of view of Greek poets... I just dont want it too look all drapey drapey and flowy flowy 'Greek'.

Picset:

In the pictures posted above, you will see a bit of the development process. From the final fitting where the dress is 90% done to the beginnings when we were hand stitching pleated material onto the bodice. :)

new year

lots of things happened. most of them good.

i'm rather optimistic, positive about the coming months/ year.

the purpose for this entry was to do a bit of recap of what happened from my last blog entry until uhm now but running through everything that transpired is such a chore. i guess i should be more religious about chronicling those said events. for reference/archive purposes of course- the main reason i probably created this blog in the first place.

i'm posting this particular piece (refer to pic) to, at least, fulfill the purpose of this entry. this piece is a personal favourite and to be very honest, i consider this a personal milestone. it's symbolic of me (reluctantly) embracing the world of weddings and bespoke garments. as for the reason behind the reluctance, i think that deserves yet another blog entry. :)

this piece is "002". it's made of cream chiffon circles and bias strips on charmeuse base.