amina vs michele

last night, two bag ladies launched new collections. amina aranaz launched her holiday collection called crown jewels, a three-part collection inspired by cleopatra, marie antoinette and princess urduja. the aranaz family has been in the bag business for many years, producing bags for international designers like kate spade, cynthia rowley and rafe totengco. amina took further studies in italy and struck out with her own line a couple of years ago. to coincide with the opening of her new shop at power plant, amina held the launch at the mall's south court. (her other branches are city golf plaza, julia vargas st., pasig, and rustan's makati and shangri-la plaza.) it was a small, intimate event, mostly with friends, family and fashion press. the bags were all highly decorative, embellished with beads, crystals, sequins, pailettes and all those lovely sparkly things. some of our favorites:agimat
bai kuwintasjeweled stripes
michele sison, on the other hand, was one of manila's most promising designers back in the 90s. she even went to london to study accessories, then launched a bag line. but after her husband was murdered (they were separated at the time, but they had a son together), she disappeared from the scene. and after a three-year hiatus, michele made her comeback last night by presenting a new bag collection at the launch of the metrobank femme visa card. (you can order through mobile number 0917-328-6363.) some standouts:
melissa liza michael
so get going, gals, and put your orders in asap! we can't wait till the holiday season rolls around, we want them now! because if you are anything like us, you must also be a victim of HAGS (hysterical accessory gathering syndrome).
update: the article about HAGS is no longer posted. but you can search their archive by typing in "simon says," press go, then click on the article dated october 31 titled "ladies! open up your purses".