Eleganza at GMA Gala and SONA 2023

HIGH fashion was first and foremost in people’s minds at two recent high-profile events: the second GMA Gala and the second State of the Nation Address of the current President.

On July 22, the GMA Gala 2023 was held at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Newport Pasay City, with the broad theme of “Elegant Formal.” While international labels stupefied onlookers, Filipino designers took local flair to equally greater heights.

On July 24, the SONA 2023 was delivered at the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City. Once again, Filipino designers went all-out in their postmodern interpretations of the terno, which was showcased in all its resplendence.

ALL OUT GLAM AT GMA GALA

YOU know the Kapuso stars took the theme seriously when they tapped the biggest names in international haute couture for their outfits. Kyline Alcantara and beau Mavy Legaspi were both gorgeous in Jacquemus. Heart Evangelista stunned in Schiaparelli. Bea Alonzo dazzled in AZ Factory by Norman Rene’ de Vera. And Anne Curtis, whose It’s Showtime now airs on GMA’s GTV, was in YSL.

• Danielle Frankel for Marian Rivera. Marian Rivera looked like a Goddess Bride in Danielle Frankel, a bridal and ready-to-wear label made in New York. The Kapuso Queen wore “Scarlet,”a pleated silk wool gown with lace appliqué and tulle watteau similar to the wedding gown worn by American actress Alexandra Daddario to her New Orleans nuptials to film producer Andrew Form.

• Ehrran Montoya Atelier for Barbie Forteza. The Kapuso Primetime Princess wore a minimalist mint green silk gown ensemble reminiscent of an Edith satin gown that Hollywood legend Grace Kelly wore to the 1955 Academy Awards.

• Joe San Antonio for Bianca Umali. The star of The Write One wore a glittering tube gown made of gold pellets with Swarovski crystals. The fast-rising designer enthused: “All hand made! Full of love!”

• Michael Leyva for Sanya Lopez. The dusky seductress was Lady Oscar personified in a floor-sweeping mermaid design by the designer du jour.

• Mara Chua for Beauty Gonzalez. Not to downplay the controversy surrounding the macabre jewelry she wore to the gala, but I’d love to focus more on the design marvel that was her dress, which her designer described as thus:

“A deceptively simple look. The dress is made entirely of knit jersey. “I wanted a super seamless look and jersey is the only material stretchy enough to make it happen. “The only problem is the skirt. Lol. Jersey being super stretch, it doesn’t behave the same way woven non-stretch fabric does. In fact, jersey doesn’t behave at all. It’s pretty, uhm, uncontrollable. It just keeps on stretching… So it’s the worst material to make a structured skirt out of.

“We ended up having to do the skirt twice. With our first attempt, all the fabric drooped to the bottom and created pools of loose skin looking texture. It took on a life of its own and it ‘fought’ with the flow of the nylon inner structure of the skirt.

“The solution was to stabilize the jersey by ironing stick-on fuse interfacing. Which is also tricky because regular iron doesn’t go hot enough and the pressure strong enough to properly secure the fuse to the fabric without creating air bubbles. Thankfully, I have a heat press machine. The same heat press T-shirt printers use to do heat transfer prints.

“So for our second attempt, what we did was to first run the jersey through regular iron to pre-stick the fuse to the jersey and then run the jersey + fuse interfacing through the heat press to securely bind the materials together. “If it sounds like a handful, it is. It took two people almost an entire day just ironing almost eight yards of jersey + fuse interfacing. And then we had to baste stitch the stabilized jersey onto the nylon pieces again. Then seal the hemline with the lining layer and then baste the lining to the jersey +nylon layer to create three solid giant pattern pieces that we can finally join together and then hand pleat and then handsew back to the corset.

“I had to pull out half of my finishing team just to baste and hand-stitch everything so we could finish on time. The resulting dress is a seamless creaseless minimalist dream so I’m pretty happy.”

SONA SENSATIONS

• Jo Rubio for Bianca Manalo. “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication,” the Kapuso actress and Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2009 stated in her socials. Her designer shared: “Joining us in our advocacy in championing the craftsmanship of the Filipino artisans, Senator @wingatchalian74 wearing a pina barong woven in Aklan and embroidered in Lumban and Bulacan and my muse @biancamanalo channeling Terno elegance in her Blanc and Noir Terno with exquisite Jo Rubio Roses embroidery proudly made by the Bulaqueño artisans for Sona 2023.”

• Lesley Mobo for Alexandra Rocha Araneta. The London-honed designer has found a new muse in this lovely lady, dressing her in a cheerful candy floss sorbet tulle terno with white Anthurium embroideries.

She shared on her Instagram: “Mama, you look like a princess!” My daughter squealed with delight while fluffing the candy-colored fabric with her little hands and watching it playfully flutter about in the wind.

“@lesleymobo creates timeless pieces which will definitely be reworn, and handed down to my darling daughter to wear one day. Another heirloom piece to be cherished.”