Beginnings

After graduating with a BA in Communication Arts, I worked for the PR Company of Edd Fuentes. I decided to pursue theater after realizing that the “hobby” in college was what I wanted to do. My former teacher, Salvador Bernal, needed an assistant for a production that he was working on as costume designer. I worked under Mr. Bernal on several productions including film, musicales, concerts and all sorts of clothing requirements for his clients. I also got to observe him as a set and costume designer navigating meetings, fittings and rehearsals. At the same time, I also experienced all the backend work in mounting productions, from dragging sacks of cloth in Divisoria, searching for the “impossible” materials before the age of Google, fitting and altering hundreds of costume pieces at the same time, and dealing with all sorts of egos.

As an assistant who was constantly coordinating, I also learned to communicate with a range of people… from impatient directors to moody craftsmen. So I tend to be at home in any crowd… in other words, kaya ko makisama. And now that people tell me… I know how to speak their language.

I recall that there were “low seasons” in Badong’s shop. And he allowed me to take on other work, including my first theater production as designer at Tanghalang Pilipino. I also got to work for Richard Tan as a coordinator, starting with the first ASEAN Design Show. He assigned me as caretaker of three designers. I still remember their names Mei Lao of Brunei Darussalam, Celia Loe of Singapore and Kamariah Elli of Malaysia.

ADS was quite an experience for an impressionable youth. This is where I met many of the “established” industry leaders including Inno Sotto and the people behind CNN’s Style with Elsa Klench. I also met a lot of young people who were just starting out… Michael Salientes (himself an established stylist in New York who had just returned to Manila), Luis Espiritu (who had a lot of wavy hair and strong opinions), Ariel Lozada (who took over directing duties on the spot from a French director, whom Richard fired), etcetera… most of whom will form the backbone of the fashion industry in the 2000s.

Challenges

As a young person, I couldn’t help but compare my situation with those of my batchmates. While most of them were taking high paying, corporate jobs in Makati, I was working in a small shop in Cubao. My salary was small, so I had to be quite frugal. However, I was living my dream. Kaya nagtiis ako (So I endured).

Mr. Bernal also became National Artist in 2003, long after I worked for him. So it was a proud moment, when he received the award in Malacañang. In many ways, it was also a validation of my choice to work for him… and the choice to go into a less traveled path.

Where I am now

I’m currently working as designer…or a creative. My work has gone beyond the theater, film, or television. I design spaces for museum exhibitions, live experiences, retail, etc. I also realized that all that exposure in the 1990s has been synergized in the establishment of Ternocon in 2018. I think my experiences as a costume designer, coordinator, copy writer and educator somehow informed the way Ternocon was formed. All of these different hats came in handy when we pushed for this advocacy to promote the terno.

Wisdom

I am so blessed to have a supportive family, and I must say that faith plays an important role. All of these keep me grounded, because in the creative industries… it’s easy to believe in oneself too much.

I also have the advantage of experiencing the transition between analog and digital. I belonged to the last batches of students at New York University, who still had to do manual drafting with a pencil and vellum paper. At the same time, I was in the first group introduced to digital renderings with a stylus and pad in 1999. I also had to manually search through all the card catalogs of libraries in New York for our research projects in History of Costume and Décor, and I was also the first group of students to use Google circa 1999. Napadali and buhay naming with new tech. However, we were not slaves to the technology either. For this reason, I am still able to function without relying on my gadgets too much. To this very day, I still go through books for research and I still draw with a pen before it all gets translated in digital format. And I don’t get incapacitated when tech breaks down.