happy birthday, chuvaness

so how did you spend your weekend? if, like us, you received one of these... then you must have been at cecile zamora van straten’s 40th birthday party last saturday. and just like any party worth a door biatch, this one had a theme: 80s. yikes! the decade we want to forget! (also the decade fashion forgot? hmmm wasn't that the 70s..?). the boys' invite (left) had rubber bracelets, little silver hoop earrings, a dozen safety pins, and angelique black eyeliner. the girls' invite (right) had fingerless gloves, little silver hoop earrings, a dozen safety pins, and angelique black eyeliner. and each had a credit-card-plastic invite, which had cecile's caricature and written in the back:
instructions for april 28, 2007:
1) wear an '80s outfit, including this invitation.
2) go to shangri-la's premiere cinema on the 5th level, 7pm.
3) eat the food.
4) have your picture taken.
5) enter the cinema to watch an '80s movie.
6) popcorn and soda are free.
7) enjoy.
so for inspiration, all day saturday we listened to 80s music, and became nostalgic for all our favorite british new wave bands—the cure, echo & the bunnymen, aztec camera, scritti politti, style council, the blow monkeys, ABC, elvis costello & the attractions, haircut 100, even culture club! daming memories… at hindi lahat maganda! but people came dressed in 80s, some hard-core 80s, others 80s-influenced lang. some preppy, some punk, some dynasty, some disco. after food and drinks catered by margarita fores, we were treated to a classic 80s movie, and no, it didn't star molly ringwald... some random people who were feeling 80s that night…
alex!
daphne! patrick!
daryl!
emi!
jo ann! tadi!
liza! elbert!
mark!
marlon!
michael!
mimi! juliet!
melvin! xtina! jujiin!
peewee! paulo!
ricky!
shahani!
so chica cecile zamora!

zara s/s show

people have been complaining that the fash pack has not been diligent about blogging lately. well, it’s kinda true. the month of april is almost over and we’ve only posted about a dozen times. you know what they say, april is the cruelest month, and it’s been so cruel to us, boo-hoo, sob, sob. ano ba yan, snap out of it already! ok, ok, so today’s post is about the party zara threw last thursday at power plant mall. just like their big launch a couple years ago, they blocked off the entire south court with tall black walls—you could only come in if your name was on the guest list. then there was a platform, which covered the fountain, with caliph8 in the DJ’s booth… walk all the way to the back... and there’s what we’re looking for—the bar! by 7:30pm, we were all ushered into the rockwell tent for the fashion show. it was filled to the brim that we couldn’t get any good shots because we ended up sitting on the fourth row, while the rest had to stand. right in front of us. there were a lot of brazilian models and those gals really live up to their nationality. some parts of the stage were really high, so we had a bird’s-eye view up their skirts and yikes! it was like britney all over again! not good. we recognized some of the local gals as finalists on “the philipppines next top model” and the front-row occupants as the judges and hosts of the show. apparently, the zara show is one of their challenges.

then the party continued. and so did the shopping. kaching-kaching!

myth

the other day was the exhibit opening of myth—another soon-to-open boutique in the soon-to-open greenbelt 5—at the greenbelt 3 lobby. myth is the brainchild of schu shoe store owners ruby and jayjay, both big fans of filipino fashion design. so they collaborated with their good friend randy ortiz to come up with a list of four other designers who could create capsule ready-to-wear collections for the boutique, two beauty gurus to produce limited-edition hair and cosmetic products, and one artist: fashion designers dennis lustico, ivarluski aseron, jojjie lloren, joey samson, hairstylists/makeup artists henri calayag and jing monis, and artist doltz pilar. it was heart-warming to see all the support they got from industry friends who came that night: fellow designers, press people, clients, hey, even the landlords (or should we say, landladies?)...

viaje del sol

so we decided to make a weekend out of last weekend. and since we were going all the way to villa escudero, we decided to take the viaje del sol tour, which we’ve heard so much about and read about, mostly in other blogs (google it). viaje del sol, which literally means way of the sun, is a tour of a group of establishments—inns, cafés, artists’ studios—in the laguna, quezon, and batangas provinces. we got to visit four.

1. first, we had breakfast at kusina salud in san pablo, laguna. owned by designer patis tesoro, it’s an old house transformed into a funky-quaint little café. we like the mismatched antique furniture, the lush foliage that surrounds it, the river that runs through it, and of course the cheap (meaning inexpensive) food! full filipino breakfast with bold barako brew for only P150! kusinasalud.com
2. then we checked into casa san pablo, a charming country inn located within a seven-hectare private property owned by boots alcantara and his mother’s family. they have eleven rooms, which can accommodate up to about 80 people. we love the manicured garden, which looks like baguio because instead of coconut trees, they have pine trees! casasanpablo.com
3. then we attended the wedding in villa escudero located just past the laguna-quezon boundary. it’s been around forever. they recently partnered with landco to develop it into an honest-to-goodness resort. we hope they will maintain the provincial atmosphere, evident in the coconut trees as far as the eye can see, nipa huts, carabao-drawn carriages, bamboo-raft rides down the lake, and local dishes. villaescudero.com

4. the next day we drove well into tiaong, quezon to visit ugu bigyan’s pottery studio. ugu is famous for his ceramics, which you can buy and guess what, you can take lessons from him too! we didn’t get to eat in the outdoor resto, though, because you need reservations for that. ugu wants to keep his place like a best-kept-secret kind of place, so it’s not easy to find! tel 0917-560-5708