Good for you

CEBU, Philippines - Arcy Gayatin would have been an excellent scriptwriter. Like watching an evening TV drama, she’d first introduce you to the protagonist, then to the visual effect, and finally, to the rollercoaster of emotions.

For a fashion designer who’s known for wearing her own label and influencing numerous female clients, the public view of her men’s line late last year is a dramatic surprise. Always applauded for her floral appliqués, cascading jersey drapes, bias tapes sewn into pants, Gayatin has applied the same discipline with men’s bespoke—the pieces do not grow old with time and depreciate with function.

This is where the visual appetite begins. She creates a dress-up-dress-down plan of action: the tweed suit styled with long trousers can be worn to an evening affair, or match it with a pair of city shorts to a beach cocktail.

Gayatin knows where to put emotion. She rendered her iconic “degrained” mastery in a blue long-sleeved shirt, making another version of it in a rather classic piece. Who wouldn’t love a tease of lean abdomen, covered with the shredded tweed trench?

At her atelier, a collage of inspirations is mounted on her wall, but we surmise she owns a mental mood board of stories she’d like to tell in her  future designs, ultimately, assisting us in what we really like about ourselves and—if ever she’d consider show business—launching the next matinee idol. (FREEMAN)