• Oliver Tolentino

(via inquirer.net) BEVERLY HILLS —“I’m still awestruck. I feel like I’m in a dream,” Oliver Tolentino admitted after he and eight other designers were about to be introduced to the fashion and entertainment press as the finalists in the Oscars Designer Challenge 2010.

The Filipino designer said, “I, a province boy who grew up in little Orani, Bataan, am at the Academy headquarters before the international press for the presentation of my gown that might be worn on the stage of the Oscars? Someone should pinch me!” Oliver stood beside his gown entry, draped on a hanger, which is an ivory piña (pineapple fabric) and abaca fiber mermaid gown with freshwater pearl detail.

Reporters and photographers admired Oliver’s exquisite creation. We heard Oliver extol the beauty and quality of our piña and abaca fabrics to every journalist who interviewed him. TV star, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Carson Kressley (host of Oscar’s exclusive web series, ‘Behind the Dress’ which premieres March 3rd) couldn’t help but admire the black abaca blazer that Oliver wore (his own creation). “I want one!” said Carson.

The winning gown, to be determined by online voting, will be worn by one of the awards escorts onstage at the Academy Awards on March 7, while its designer and his guest will get to attend the prestigious show. [READ MORE…]

*Click the image above to vote for Oliver’s gown. One vote per person per day.  Voting open until March 1st.

• Mich Dulce

(via philstar.com) LONDON – From a tropical country where few people wear hats, a Filipino fashion designer and milliner, actress and musician has won the British Council’s Young Fashion Entrepreneur (YFE) Award for 2010.

Mich Dulce bested 10 competitors from Bangladesh, India, Libya, Lithuania, Russia, Sri Lanka, Syria and Turkey to become the first Filipino to be honored with the prize.

Judges and the public raved not only about her designs, but about her use of indigenous materials, including sinamay and abaca, the latter a material the British associate with rope, said Leslie Stokes, chairman of the British Council Philippines, which sponsored the local search for the YFE.

Dulce’s fashion business, which started out on eccentric frocks and dresses, has now expanded to hats, headpieces, corsetry and bridal wear. Her unique style has been featured on “Young Asian Fashion Designers” published by Daab Publishing in Germany.

Along with her title, Mich gets a £5,000 grant for a collaborative project with the British Council. [READ MORE…]

Malaysian-born singer Fish Leong got married to Taiwanese businessman Tony Chao in a beach wedding at Discovery Shores last Monday. The bride is well-known in the Mandarin pop scene and has had much success in Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. Jasmine Leong (Fish’s stage name) is known as “the Queen of Love Songs” and famous for her love-themed ballads, many of which have become popular KTV hits.

Talks about her planned island wedding came out as early as October last year. Channel News Asia reported that the Fish originally wanted to hold her wedding on the island of Boracay where around 50 relatives and friends were to be invited. The bridegroom was also prepared to bear all expenses including accommodation and flights estimated to be worth S$100,000. But due to the recent storms and floods in the Philippines, the couple is now considering either Okinawa or Guam as an alternative. The following month, Fish laid down guidelines for upcoming wedding.

Luckily, their original plans to hold here wedding here pushed through. The couple flew in their own hair & makeup artist and photographer from Taiwan. A few photos from the wedding can be viewed here.

The Philippines’ very own, Mayad Studios covered the wedding and did the SDE (same-day-edit) video which can be seen below. Amanda Tirol of Boracay Weddings was the couple’s wedding planner, and April & Karen Yu did the bouquets.

The Philippines has hosted the weddings of other big names in world of Chinese entertainment. In 2006, Hong Kong actors Nicholas Tse & Cecilia Cheung got married in a private wedding organized by their Filipina maid. Early last year, another HK celebrity couple (Dickie Cheung & Zhang Qian), had their wedding held in San Agustin Church in Manila.

Below is an article about Tony & Fish’s wedding as reported by Singapore’s Strait Times.

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BORACAY (Philippines) Malaysian singer Fish Leong married Taiwanese businessman Tony Chao in a beach wedding on Monday, said reports.

At the ceremony at Discovery Shores resort, she was led down the aisle by her mentor, singer-songwriter Jonathan Lee, and was in tears before she took her vows. Her bridesmaid, singer Penny Tai, yelled at her not to cry and mess up her make-up.

After the 31-year-old bride and 34-year-old groom exchanged rings in front of more than 50 guests, she choked as she told him: ‘Thank you for loving me.’

Her bridal dress was by Vera Wang and her diamond wedding band was by Cartier, said the report.

Lee, who was a chief witness to the nuptials, said: “I’m the first man who brought her into the music industry when she was 17. Today, I entrust her to the second man in her life.”

The couple, who dated for about two years, will live in Taipei.

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related news item:

• Fish Leong gets hitched but says no to retirement | Channel News Asia

Few people know him well. But those who do know that aside from being funny he is very deep, he is very sensitive and he is very nationalistic. He even had his Vespa repainted like our Philippine Flag.

Here’s his birthday wish video by Threelogy.
Happy Birthday, Mr. John Rana aka Abet Rana! *rolleyes*

Ikaw, sasama ka ba?

• Sasama Ako! (Threelogy | video)
• Angkas Kayo? (Jason Magbanua | video)
• Abet is my bet! (Maeline Rocas | fbff )
• ABET IS OUR BET! (Paul Vincent | photo)
• Sasama din kami! (Jayson and Jo Anne Arquiza | photo)
• Driving You Crazy (Queen | coordinator)
• Abet is my only bet! (Clarice | coordinator)
• Abet (Veluz | designer)
• AANGKAS AKO! Kasya pa ba? (Erron Ocampo | photo)
• Kaangkas ang Metrophoto (Oly Ruiz | photo)
• Abet is my bet! (Nelwin Uy | photo)
• Kaangkas Ako! (Chug Cadiogan | video)
• On Abet Rana’s birthday… (Mimi and Karl | photo)
• sama ako jan!!! (Phoeben & Gen | video)
• ABET IS MY BET!!! (Fol Rana | photo)
• Tara na sa makahulugang biyahe. (Dino Lara | photo)

Today a wife is brought to her final resting place beside her man in Manila Memorial Park.  In a corner so ordinary as everything around them, the only indication they’re even there is if one doesn’t happen to miss two plain epitaphs bearing the couple’s nicknames: “CORY” and “NINOY.”

Ninoy didn’t have the privilege to see his housewife become the first woman president in all of Asia.  Their 29 years of marriage has been punctuated by his seven and a half years of incarceration, and cut short by his brutal assassination.  His death served as the candle that shed light until his countrymen joined his cause which turned darkness into yellow. Her passing, a reminder never to give in to that gloom that tries to envelope us as a nation.

My wife & I belong to a generation who only knew Cory as a widow, but never a wife. Our blog entries the past couple of days served as our own first time glimpse into her married life.  Indeed, Ninoy and his housewife was an ordinary couple who led extra ordinary lives because of their love for the country.  May our generation never forget that ‘the good & the beautiful’ is a stark contrast from the simple and ordinary.

This is our final tribute to Ninoy’s bride.  Here we celebrate her life & love!

“I’ve been thinking, ‘Would I ever have married anybody else?’ I don’t think so. And not that nobody ever looked at me. Because I am vain enough to think that there were others. But none of them ever measured to my husband’s qualities. And I feel blessed that we found each other…”

- Cory on being married to Ninoy

“He could solve almost any problem. And I also felt whatever problem I had, I could just bring to him, and he would find ways and means of addressing that problem, or the two of us could easily look for solutions. But this time, both of us were powerless to do so. And so the two of us naturally had to turn to God. And while I was prayerful before, I was not as fervently prayerful as I became. Because before, what were my problems? Really nothing. And very inconsequential com­pared to the enormous problems that were brought to us because of Martial Law.”

- Cory, on being married to Ninoy during his incarceration

(The above clips are part of Cory’s video interview by Dr. Shann Ferch in November 2004. Visit coryaquino.ph to view the complete video interview and the full transcript.)

The Order of National Artists (Orden ng Gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining) is the highest national recognition given to Filipino individuals who have made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts; namely, Music, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts, Literature, Film and Broadcast Arts, and Architecture and Allied Arts. The order is jointly administered by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and conferred by the President of the Philippines upon recommendation by both institutions.

President Arroyo has recently signed the proclamation honoring seven individuals who have made substantial contributions to the development of Philippine art.  The 2009 National Artists, as announced by the Office of the President, are as follows: Manuel P. Urbano (aka Manuel Conde) for his great contribution in the field of film and broadcast arts (posthumous); Lazaro A. Franscisco for literature (posthumous); Federico Aguilar Alcuaz for visual arts, paintings sculpture and mixed media; Cecilia Guidote-Alvarez for theater; Magno Jose ‘Carlo’ Caparas for visual arts and films; Francisco Bobby Manosa for architecture; and Jose ‘Pitoy’ Moreno for fashion design.

Pitoy Moreno is only the second artist to be recognized in field fashion design, the first being Ramon Valera who was conferred National Artist posthumously in 2006.

Dubbed as the fashion czar of Asia, Pitoy is renowned for his beadwork, embroidery and hand painting embellish the gowns of international celebrities, politicians and royalty in his career spanning 50 years.  He introduced  jusi, piña, hablon, and accessories like tambourine to the world on international fashion pages of the Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Holiday and Le Figaro.

He was one of the earliest exponents of the Maria Clara. He re-fashioned the Barong Tagalog and made it wearable by women.  As a matter of course, the First Ladies of the Philippines have always been dressed by Pitoy, in his trademark ternos. He also did the bridal gown of former president Cory Aquino when she married Ninoy.

“The Filipina bride in a Pitoy Moreno wedding ensemble became the centerspread in the pictorial history of Philippine fashion.”

To this day, Pitoy works the full week, attending to his clients with untiring dedication. He makes it a point to be there for his brides at their weddings so he could supervise every little detail, from putting on the gown and shoes to the cutting of the cake.

“I like doing it, I like to coordinate from day one,” says Pitoy. “Sometimes, I have two weddings in a day so I hop from one place to another.”

Pitoy’s love for Filipino weddings transcends his being a fashion designer having also authored the coffee table book called “Kasalan”.  Here’s his take on Filipino weddings and the book:

“A wedding is, for me, the greatest love story ever told.  And this book is an attempt to tell that story in words and images.There is romance, folklore, nostalgia, and fashion on these pages of impressions.

Above all, there is magic. That dimension which preserves the wedding in the realm of dreams and drama, myth and memory. That mystique which gives a wedding it’s past, present, and future fascination for us all.

The book is your invitation to the Filipino Wedding. And all the magic it brings.”

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sources:

• The National Artists of the Philippines (www.ncca.gov.ph)
• PGMA names seven new National Artists (op.gov.ph)
  
• Pitoy Moreno (wikipilipinas.org)
• Jose Pitoy Moreno: The Fashon Czar Of Asia (thenewstoday.info)
• Truly Pinoy, Truly Pitoy (newsflash.org)
• All Hail the Fashion Czar (businessmirror.com.ph)
• J. Moreno: The Designer as Author (showcase.eyp.ph)