CRISELDIFIC!

The latest Criselda shoe collection was born out of two compelling forces: Criselda Lontok’s own passion for shoes and an ambassadorial edict. "The Ambassador (referring to Bienvenido Tantoco, patriarch of the Rustan’s Group of Companies) has long been telling me to come up with shoes," Criselda reveals at an intimate lunch with friends, both from the press and her equally glamorous and clothes-conscious close circle. "It’s just that I never had the time. But I have really always loved shoes. The first time I went to Rome, I bought 36 pairs of shoes!" She then goes on to relate how peeved her sister was because Criselda had to stuff her shoes into her sister’s suitcase as her own luggage could not contain the new hoard of shoes.

This deep love just could not be suppressed forever. After all, for as long as she can remember, Criselda has been mentally designing a shoe line. "Every time I go through a fashion magazine, I tear out pictures of shoes I like. If I can’t afford them, I just look at the shoe and think about it!" This year, Criselda’s job description at Rustan’s became more fluid, leaving her with enough time to travel, look for a supplier and finally sit down and design a shoe line. She beams with pride as she says, "We found a supplier who also does shoes for Nine West." This supplier sent her samples of textured kid leather, jacquards and other rich, supple materials.

I really like formal shoes and it’s good because this is a holiday collection, but for summer, we’ll do more casual shoes and flats," she explains, as she shows off the sleek, elegant shoes. She chose a palette of reds, blacks and nudes to go with the holiday colors of Rustan’s other in-house brands. Her styles are classic and sumptuous: high heeled pumps, mules, slides and sling backs with bows, rhinestone buckles and jeweled accents. These are not shoes for the overly trendy woman but that is not to say that they are boring. The intricate detailing makes the difference. A discreet flap held down with metal studs, a basic slide in a striped leather, a conical heel that makes walking in high heels more stable – these are some of the points of interest in these shoes. She says, "We have a new one that’s coming up with a safety pin all covered with rhinestones." She looks just like a kid in a bonbon shop, surrounded by her favorite things.

But aside from her own personal taste, Criselda also designs with her friends in mind. She then picks up a black mule with a pretty bow on the side, and says, "I just knew that Josie (Lichauco) would love this, because it’s formal and looks good for dancing." Just as she says this, Josie Lichauco saunters by, "I’ll be in the store next week to get that." And she points at the very shoe Criselda was holding. When she tells Criselda, "Can I get it for free?" Criselda says charmingly and diplomatically, "But it’s not expensive anyway!" Criselda asserts that Rustan’s feels the needs to bridge the gap between the pricey foreign labels and the local labels and her new shoe range, she likes to boast, has a very reasonable price at P1,950. The new Criselda shoe collection is available at Rustan’s Makati, Rustan’s Shangri-La Tower, and Rustan’s Alabang Town Center.

This woman is a designer who certainly knows her target market. While the shoes were still in her offices and not yet distributed among the stores, some friends passed by. They asked to see what she was working on and when she showed her shoes to them, Criselda sold 24 pairs of shoes in 30 minutes. "Can you believe it?" she asks, genuinely amazed.

But Criselda didn’t stop at just the shoes. She also worked on the logo and the packaging. The shoe line has its own distinct logo, separate from the logo of her clothes – two long intersecting curved lines. Monty Roxas, director for marketing of Rustan’s Commercial Corporation, says, "Those are actually two C’s intertwined. It’s a take-off from her logo from her original line." Even the black boxes for the Criselda line were specially designed and made in China.

Criselda invited such chic friends as Mary Prieto, Josie Lichauco, Brenda Reyes, Menchu Concepcion, and Conchitina Sevilla-Bernardo to try on her new shoes. They seemed delighted with the shoes, gamely posing with the shoes that struck their fancy. As I watch Criselda, in a crisp cranberry shantung sleeveless shell top with three bug brooches and matching cropped pants and, of course, red sandals from her collection, chatting easily with her friends and effortlessly charming the press people, she looked like the very picture of a totally fulfilled woman. She smiled often and easily and she radiated serenity and joy. Now I wonder if those two qualities come with wearing such lovely shoes.