the W dress

March 11, 2006
11:30AM

Today I met Inno Sotto for a chat about wedding dresses. My dear friend Luis escorted me to the Syquia, an historic old building on the west side of Manila's old town, Malate. We walked up three flights of stairs. The designer's foyer welcomed us with rolls of rich fabrics in many hues, standing upright in front of the Spanish-style wrought iron-barred windows, through which sunlight streamed.

We were led by his assistants past the ornate main 'sala' (room) and taken into an equally character-rich room, somewhat dark but with a large mirror on the main wall. Vat-sized rolls of white and cream fabrics sat in plastic on the floor. Luis adorned himself on the sofa, and I took the chair with a bit of apprehension and anxiety thinking about the man we were supposed to meet... L kept the conversation flowing though, and 20 minutes passed quickly enough.

It was an interesting meeting. Not only does Inno have a soft-spoken manner and no Filipino accent, he also has a casual elegance (he wore black-rimmed glasses, faded jeans and a white tee-shirt with his jet-black hair pulled back into a loose ponytail down his back), to match his European-influenced approach to W-dress design.

As we chatted, Inno gave his thoughts on the W-dress: timeless beauty vs. trendy, and hideous in 5 years. We all were impassioned by images of Indian chiffons, Islamic motifs, pina. Romantic laces, tulles, silks, colour combinations. Shades of grey. He is a thinker. Thoughtful. And with 26 years in the business - ! With my naive and direct questions, he must have wondered who I was, not to have known who he was! After a word on prices and process, we agreed to come back next Saturday for a foundation fitting and initial sketch -- and take it from there.

Back in Makati's Salcedo Village, a strangeness stirred in us both -- to find myself and L, walking along the same streets of Salcedo as we had done almost 6 years ago, when we first met. We decided to stop in to my old building (and that of his parents and grandparents), the Eurovilla, on the corner of Villar and Alfaro. Six years later, the building's neighbour is an up-market, one-on-one Pilates Studio. Fernando the guard who had watched me and my guests' comings and goings for more than a year in 2000-2001, greeted me with clear recollection, but without the shock (perhaps I had stopped in since then, during a previous holiday...?). We went up to L's parents' place to see the photos and invitation of the Garcia-Terry wedding in 1972 and 1997 respectively (their nuptial vows took place in Spain, their 25th year renewal vows in the Phils). A few quick calculations in my head and oh, the heart and head began to swell -- with excitement, and anxiety!

March 18, 2006
11 AM, Foundation Fitting

This time, when walking up the stairs of the Syquia, we counted: one for each year that has passed. On 1967 we arrived at Mr. Inno Sotto's door and quickly enough were ushered into the waiting parlour where I undressed into near-nothings to slip into a 'silhouette'; the second silhouette required some zipper pulling, as the sizes I was trying were the standard S, M, and L. This meeting was to ascertain which of the basic wedding-dress silhouettes look best on me / I like most. Somewhat of a tough decision...

April 5, 2006
7PM - "Allegra: Under the Pink Sky of the Secret Garden"

Inno's first fashion show of this year. Invited by Inno and accompanied by Luis to this 'invite only' event for Manila's socialites, it was my first glimpse of the most recent manifestations of Inno Sotto's talent and creations (NB: he does not keep or show clients samples of his work in his atelier). Held in the garden area of Ayala Triangle just behind the office building I currently work from (in the heart of Makati's central business district), it was an experience just to be there. The ambient surroundings -- including sand underfeet, tropical cocktails, and elegantly dressed people everywhere (excepting me in my work clothes) -- made it surreal ... I left with a sense of calm that my dress would turn out OK.