style manila feature: sasha in gray
Finally, a full length pic of the dress that I made for Sasha of Style Manila for her birthday! Click here for more photos and Sasha’s thoughts on the dress.
revisiting old collections
Sometimes I still can’t believe that I still get orders from old collections . . . take this dress, for example, from my first ever collection.
Model: Andrea Torres
pretty preggy nina
Who says you have to wear tent-like dresses when pregnant? I say embrace your curves NOW…..while you still can, because you’ll have the chance to wear all the loose fitting clothes that you want after you give birth! At more than seven months pregnant, I’m proud to say that I’ve only purchased the following maternity items: belly band (so I can wear my regular jeans and skirts), one pair of black leggings and a maternity belt (to help support my huge and heavy belly). I’ve gotten away with wearing most of my regular clothes, especially maxi dresses….I’ll try to post pics soon in another post.
I’ve known Nina since my styling days and I was so happy to hear that she’s also pregnant! Here she is wearing one of my dresses at a recent event. This dress was definitely not made for a pregnant woman but I loved how it looked on her. I also loved the comment of her hubby Mike….he said, “My wife is still pretty sexy maski 5 months preggy! Wootwoot!” I definitely agree, Mike!
cathy at WCOPA 2011
I can’t believe my niece is all grown up! Makes me feel really, really, really old . . . . hahaha! Anyway, I was thrilled to be asked to make some of Cathy’s outfits for the World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA). I believe WCOPA is considered as the olympics for performing arts, with over 75,000 applicants from 40 countries!
girls’ line
I received a request this morning for some photos of my designs for toddlers / girls and I just realized that I failed to post them here! Anyway, I’m transferring now some photos of my girls’ line from my old Multiply site. Most of you know that my model is my daughter, Natalia and I had a blast just going through these photos and seeing her grow up. My favorite is the last picture in this post, which is the first photo of her as my model. Pretty soon I’ll have another little girl to dress up and I can’t wait!
amia
Amia (I absolutely love her name) is usually more comfortable in neutrals but when her first color of choice (midnight blue) was not available in the fabric that we wanted, I was able to convince her to try out my favorite shade of teal instead. Good thing she agreed to experiment with color because she looked great!
aimee rae
Aimee is one of my most loyal clients (and a cousin as well) — here are a few photos of her wearing dresses that I made for her.
Maxidress worn at a recent beach outing.
glammed up karla
I absolutely loved this gown on Karla! She wore this to a wedding and she got lots of rave reviews — she tagged me in the photos she posted on Facebook and people just kept on complimenting her and the gown even days after she uploaded the photos.
I can’t wait to make your next gown, Karla! I’m thinking black and white, elegant and red carpet worthy, suitable for the maid of honor in a wedding in Europe. If I remember correctly, it will be in a castle, right? Exciting!
ruched dress on rhian ramos
Made this vermilion ruched dress for Ms. Rhian Ramos and she looks gorgeous! I was told that it looked even more awesome in person. Can’t wait to see her wear the other dresses I made for her. 
easy breezy one shoulder tops
Wear it with jeans, skirts or shorts!
I love how Bianca tied the sleeves together!
prom season
Prom season is upon us again! I don’t remember much about my own prom . . . . but I do remember I wanted to dress up too much like a grownup. I felt super cool back then but now I cringe at the thought of my beauty queen gown with matching beauty queen hair.
So when a client showed me her peg for her own prom, I tried to come up with something that will meet her expectations but still have a tinge of youthfulness. Not only was my client so happy with her gown, but also her mom AND dad! That’s no easy feat, I tell you. I’ve had countless mother and daughter arguments in my studio so I’m happy that this particular fitting was a success.
So here’s what we came up with for a Paris-themed prom. The best part of the dress for me (and the client’s mom) is the belt with rosettes.
Enjoy the prom, Maxinne! And happy V-day to you guys!
birthday promo!
Because it’s my birthday tomorrow, I’m giving you guys 20% off on all orders placed between February 3 until the 19th. Send me a message if you’re interested!
I’m looking forward to some fun in the sun this coming weekend to celebrate my birthday . . . I’m going to a place where there is no signal so if I don’t answer your calls/text or emails, I’ll get back to you as soon as get back to Manila on Sunday night.
In the meantime, here’s another summer inspired outfit I made for my kids line, modeled by Natalia.
summer on my mind
I need some Vitamin D after all the holiday madness and stress at work! I actually squeezed in a couple of designs for my next collection while making holiday, wedding and entourage dresses and I wanted to share this sample dress with you guys.
This can be worn as a coverup for a bandeau bikini at the beach or it can be worn as a summer dress.
I also made a similar gown that I plan to wear to a friends summer themed wedding and I just realized now that the color is honeysuckle, Pantone’s 2011 Color of the year. I’ve always been a sucker for all shades of red so I’m looking forward to wearing this gown soon!
HNY!
Happy new year, everybody! Hope you guys had a blast during the break. Just wanted to share with you some pics of my items worn over the holidays.
Talia’s wearing a top that I released just last month. It was actually
one of my bestsellers during the Christmas season.
mad rush of the holidays
It’s been a mad rush to get everything in order, from client fittings to measurements for 2011 weddings. At only four days before Christmas, I only have a few more fittings to go then I can finally relax and enjoy the holidays!
Just wanted to share with you guys a few photos of my clients wearing my dresses this holiday season. To my other clients who have yet to give me pics, please do email/tag me in your beautiful photos so that I can also include them in my website.
Miko at a hosting gig wearing a dress from last year’s bridal collection.
striped A2W skirt
We’re having too much fun with our A2W orders . . . . we’ve asked Vernon to airbrush just about anything we can get our hands on, from tank tops, to shirts and now this skirt. I used denim for this asymmetrical skirt, the same fabric we used for the original A2W dresses.
I’m currently thinking of a design for another piece under this collection. Will post pics soon!
tuesday vargas
When stylist KC Leyco asked me if she could use some of my dresses for her client, Ms. Tuesday Vargas, I said yes right away because it’s not everyday that I’d get the chance to see my designs on TV worn by one of the nominees for Star Studio’s Celebrity Style Awards 2010 as Most Stylist Comedienne . . . and after seeing her past outfits for ABC 5‘s Talentadong Pinoy, I’d have to agree with the nomination! I loved how my dresses looked on her!
Here are pics of Tuesday wearing my dresses (thank you KC and Dyna for emailing me some of the photos).
a venetian debut
Marie wanted a Venetian-inspired ball gown for her debut and here’s what we came up with. I wanted to make it a little bit more modern with a bit of a rock and roll vibe and based on the feedback that I got, I think it worked! With 10 yards of tulle AND a removable petticoat, I applaud Marie for being able to wear this heavy gown without complaining. Haha!
the most demanding customer ever
This has got to be one of the most difficult dresses I’ve been asked to make . . . patchwork, floral, stripes, polkadots (which she calls beach balls) all in one dress . . . major argument when it came to the neckline because she wants it low (she wants to wear a tube top inside) and I want it high (as in turtleneck).
When I asked her how she’ll pay me, she giggled and said, “I don’t have money, but I have a credit card!”
I think I’ll really make this dress and give it to her for Christmas!
working with removable accessories
Worked on this design sometime last year with accessories designer (and my SIL) Miko Olfindo and we’ve been getting good reviews about it until now. The beadwork is detachable so you can wear the dress by itself or with other accessories and you can also wear the beadwork as a necklace or bracelet since they’re all detachable. I love getting a lot of mileage from my pieces!
OMG cheerleaders
OMG! I’m sure you all know it stands for OH MY GOD but did you know that it’s also part of the current tagline of the new Omega painkiller campaign? O-Me-Ga! Anyway, I had the opportunity to design the cheerleader uniforms and I just wanted to share with you a few photos of the outfits. The full TVC can be viewed here.
