our take on lilo and stitch
Made this Lilo costume for Talia for last year’s Halloween party but she never got around to wearing it — she opted to wear the Minnie Mouse dress that I also made for her.
lojo-acena nuptials
Congratulations and best wishes, Sarah and Jet! Thanks so much for getting me to make the gowns for your entourage. 
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!
andrea torres on chika minute
Andrea Torres was one of Pia Guanio’s substitutes for 24 Oras’ Chika Minute and I must say that Andrea did a great job. Yes, not just because she was wearing one of my dresses in one of the episodes haha.
Andrea wore this dress a couple of days from one of my past collections. Thanks, Andrea!
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.
southern living may 2011
Thanks so much to Niña Chua-Cabardo for including me in her Work-at-Home Moms article! Although I’m not a full time work-at-home mom (I have a day job in an office setting), I work from home for my designing business after office hours and during weekends. It’s great that my hobby turned into a small business!
[Please click on the photos below to view the larger versions of the article.]
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!
una on pazette
Here’s one of my clients wearing my best seller from last year’s Art to Wear collection. Looking great, Pazette!
andrea torres on GMA’s lenten special “Maestra”
I was pleasantly suprised to hear that one of my favorite models, Ms. Andrea Torres, wore three of my dresses to her GMA Lenten Special “Maestra” which aired last Black Saturday! Thank God for the internet — I was able to view the show online last night and was able to get some screenshots.
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!
maffy soler at TV5
Singer/model Maffy Soler has been making the rounds at TV5 to promote the network’s latest teleserye called Nagbabagang Bulaklak. She sang the theme song of the show along with Marvin Ong — great job, guys! Here’s Maffy wearing one of my designs from my Satin et Lacet collection at her Lucky Numbers guesting.
lace tops circa 2005
My Facebook and Twitter accounts have been releasing those stupid HCG / weight loss diet links and I can’t get it to stop even after changing my passwords and turning off the platform apps! But I guess the spam must be working because I think I lost weight (haha). Tested my luck this morning by trying on a couple of lace tops I made more than five years ago and I was shocked that they fit! I’m wearing the white version now with bell bottom jeans and wedges . . . it’s a hippie day for me today!
sherwin and denise
When Sherwin and Denise asked me to make their entourage gowns, the mission order was to keep it simple and to follow the pink and gray theme.
The bride(zilla)* was actually my blockmate, carpool mate, part of my barkada back in college, and ninang of my daughter. It was fun (and stressful)** working with her and her entourage!
(L-R) Me, Talia, Julia and Rose
morphing stills
Some of you guys know that my husband Miguel is my resident photographer, web designer, videographer and editor. How lucky can a girl in my position get, right? I’m proud to share with you this video that was part of the Collaburature group show at The Collective last December 16, 2010.
He morphed his still photos to come up with this video and my designs can be seen from 3:05 until 4:21. Enjoy the video!
creating silk
It’s amazing how something gross (sorry, I don’t really like worms) can make something so beautiful. I remember a visit to a silk factory in China years ago and it was great seeing how silk was made. Went through my old photos of the tour so that I could share some with you guys, along with some info coming from this website.
The silkworms are fed mulberry leaves. (more…)
my “acting” debut
My friends and family know that I hate being in front of the camera. I hate posing, most especially acting. But when Johnoy Danao asked me and the hubby to be part of his new music video, Ikaw at Ako, I said yes because I’m a big fan. I only had one request, and that was no acting allowed. Or else, we might never finish the shoot hahaha!
The video was shot on my birthday and I’m posting it here so that you guys can have a glimpse of what happens at my home studio. Perfect day to launch this, today being Valentine’s Day.
Thanks again, Johnoy!
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!