The simple life of Auggie Cordero

It’s my first time to meet Auggie Cordero, having been asked to interview him for the upcoming Metro Wear event this Friday at the Rockwell Tent. It’s been a few years since he last participated in a fashion show and people are wondering what he’s been up to.

I do a little research and call people who know him.

"Madaldal yan. Pag naglabas ng isang ream ng Mild Seven, brace yourself," said someone quite fond of him.

"Low-key. Pero he’s my idol," said a designer from Iloilo who collects clippings on Auggie.

"He’s a DVD fanatic and insomniac," said a friend.

Still, I don’t know what to expect. Auggie Cordero was already a known designer when I was a child.

Anna Bayle called him the "Oscar de la Renta of the Philippines."

"A compleat designer," according to Thelma San Juan. "Meaning, he has mastered the art of cut, fabric, silhouette, color and detailing. When you have a gown, dress, or suit made by him, he will spend some time with you. Come fitting time, you’ll know he’s one designer who takes great pains in choosing his fabric, lining, and doing the hem."

Dreaming Of Malate

It took some time to find his place. On a late Tuesday afternoon, the driver and I went around familiar streets in Malate in search of his atelier on Alonzo Street.

I’ve always had this romantic feeling about Malate, having spent many Friday and Saturday nights there since I was 17. My husband and I dated there for two years before getting married. Sometimes we talk about owning a small place in Malate, where we could stay on certain weekends. Where once you step out, there’s action.

Auggie Cordero has such a place. There’s a noisy outdoor bar right across his doorstep, but once inside Auggie’s you forget it even exists.

There’s no sign bearing his name. Instead there’s a funny graffiti on his wall that makes me smile. It says, "Punk is not a fashion (sic)." I wonder if the scribbler had any idea Auggie Cordero, a classic couturier and a name as famous as Inno Sotto, was working inside.

A Cozy Place

Auggie opens the door himself and welcomes me into a cozy room of couches and pillows, and a coffee table laden with books and merienda.

At the end of the room is a corner with an "organized mess" of books, magazines, and a pile of fabrics. On his desk are more books, paperwork, sketches, two canisters of sharpened pencils, and an impressive lamp fashioned from an antique sewing machine – a gift from Aurora Silayan Go.

Before I could shoot the first question, Auggie breaks the ice by saying he’s been following my "career" since I started writing for Daily Globe in the early ‘90s. We talk about living in New York and the years he spent the late ‘70s taking courses at FIT and working for a Jewish manufacturer.

"When I was younger I could manage to do all the hard work, wake up at seven, ride the subway at the height of winter," he reminisced. "I made $500/month, less taxes ended up with $350. Kasama na pamasahe mo, grocery. Sometimes I’d go to a Chinese restaurant or to the bars, but after I while I got depressed.

"I was young, so puede kang mag-ambisyon ng ganoon. You waste two, three years of your life, but at least you gave it a try. Mahirap. Then I thought I could still stop it, I still had time to go back. I realized I was better off in the Philippines."

Back at home he went on to become known as the best maker of women’s suits, as well as a trendsetter of styles such as the barong tunic for women (something even I wore in ’83), tuxedo jackets for women, and the Annie Hall look with a bow on the collar–remember when everyone in Manila wore a bow?

Among his clients are Tingting Cojuangco, Imee and Irene Marcos, Cory and Kris Aquino, families of Chinese taipans like the Yuchengcos, Lims, Tys, Lucio Tans, Kuoks, Angs, and old Filipino families like the Lagdameos and Kalaws.

"He must have one of the most profitable–if not the most profitable–couture businesses in the country," said Thelma San Juan. "He also made beauty queens. He got Anna Bayle into modeling and guided her career in Paris and New York. He got Margie Moran into Miss Universe. He also made Menchu Menchaca, Joyce Oreña, Wanda Louwallien."

An Anti-Social?

When I was a fashion student in New York, one of the things that stuck to my head was when my illustration teacher said, "You can’t live in an ivory tower." Meaning, to be a designer, you have to be out there.

In this cruel place called Manila, that’s kind of true. I’ve learned that you have to be ma-chica and force yourself to go out and talk to people even if you don’t want to. Otherwise the phone stops ringing.

In Auggie’s case, it’s not even true. He doesn’t go to parties and he "cannot tolerate alcohol." Neither does he use a cell phone or e-mail. When necessary, an assistant will text for him, or he’ll use the landline to call a cellphone, which can be expensive.

Despite going against the grain, he’s managed to stay on top and I wonder how.

"Siguro suwerte," he says. "The truth is, you’re only as good as your reputation. Pag hindi ka nagbibitin, pag hindi ka naglililip on the wedding day itself, makakakuha ka ng clientele."

Auggie says he lets the bride see her gown two weeks before the wedding date, "para walang stress, walang away."

"At the same time I really don’t enjoy the social life. All I get is chismis, pagod. When I go out I’m thinking, what am I doing here? I can be at home and read a good book, read my magazines, watch four films…

"At work I get to socialize with my clientele. Kung lalabas pa ‘ko, wala na akong time sa sarili ko. I never really liked madaming tao."

Though he doesn’t really count as a hermit.

Every three months he takes a break and flies to Bangkok for 10 days. He says what every Filipino who has been to Bangkok laments: "Kainggit. Pag punta mo, puro bago. Ang sarap ng food, ang sarap ng fruits, ang babait nila."

A Homebody’s Routine

A true insomniac, Auggie says he doesn’t need much sleep, shutting his eyes at 7 a.m. and waking up at 11 a.m. "Sometimes pag marami akong iniisip, I don’t sleep anymore."

Taking six cups of brewed coffee and a glass of orange juice, he starts his day reading the papers and calling suppliers. He showers at 1 p.m. and goes to work by 2 p.m. Clients and fittings are scheduled between 2:30 and 6 p.m. He goes home at 8 p.m., but not before briefing his staff of 18 on the following day’s requirements.

Once at home he goes straight to the bedroom and takes his sandwich and tea. Then starts his routine of going through the cable channels, three to four DVD movies or half a boxed set.

The books and magazines shipped monthly in a care package from the US are the last things he looks at before he falls asleep.

Once a week he goes to Makati Cinema Square to stock up on no less than 30 DVDs or three boxed sets of TV series. Korean movies are his currents, and his all-time favorites are Sex and the City, The Godfather trilogy, Citizen Kane, Titanic, and "all Audrey Hepburn movies."

A housemaid who is a college graduate is in charge of cataloguing his collection of over 3,000 titles. If he feels like repeating titles, all he has to do is make a list and when he gets home, he will find them stacked in his bedroom.

"Yun ang kaligayahan ko," he laughs, and tells me what strikes me most of all: "In life you must seek your own happiness."

An Anticipated Return

This Friday at the Rockwell Tent, Auggie Cordero will present a small collection based on Empress Josephine and inspired by the movie Vanity Fair.

He joins 18 of the country’s leading names in fashion in Metro Wear, the annual fashion show presented by the one of the country’s largest fashion and lifestyle magazines, Metro.

This year’s roster also includes: Vittorio Barba, Rhett Eala, Jun Escario, Arcy Gayatin, Katrina Goulborn-Feist, Oj Hofer, Rajo Laurel, Jesus Lloren, Dennis Lustico, Anthony Nocom, Tippi Ocampo, Randy Ortiz, Philip Rodriguez and Frederick Peralta.

Ready-to-wear giants like Mike dela Rosa, Lulu Tan Gan, Efren Ocampo and Cesar Gaupo will be showcasing their newest ideas, along with the much-anticipated return of Auggie Cordero’s couture on the fashion runway.

Metro Wear is presented by Metro magazine with Samsung, L’Oreal and Lancome, with additional support from HSBC, the Lifestyle Network, Studio 23 and ANC.