Shanghai surprise

In November 2010, I was set to dance in a fla-menco recital organized by Centro Flamenco founder and teacher Emma Estrada until a call from Shanghai altered my plans completely.

TV celebrity and one of China’s business icons, Yue Sai Kan, asked an executive of Young Channel to get in touch with me. They wanted me to recommend a Filipino designer to compete in the International Fashion Designer Award category at the China Fashion Awards.   The event awards the most outstanding persons in various categories.

Yue Sai Kan received the lifetime achievement award a few years ago.  

Past awardees in the fashion design category included some high powered designers like  Diane von Furstenburg and Vera Wang, Anna Sui, to name a few.  This year, top international super model Karolina Korkova was given the Outstanding International Super Model of the Year award.

Come fly with me.

After studying the matter with fashion designer and good friend Lulu Tan Gan, we decided to ask Cary Santiago to join the event. Santiago is a creative and an exceptionally talented designer from Cebu who started his fashion career designing for a haute couture house in Beirut. He also did some training in Paris.

Santiago’s office was very cooperative and sent me photos of his current collection, which I forwarded to the executive of Young Channel, Shanghai. Young Channel belongs to the Shanghai Media Group (SMG), which has 15 TV channels, 11 radio channels and some newspaper and magazines under their banner. Santiago’s cutting-edge Aviary collection impressed them, and soon I received another call that he was chosen to come to Shanghai to present his collection at the China Fashion Award Show on Nov. 27, 2010.   

On Nov. 26, Santiago’s team — Ian Segei Kintanar, designers and stylists Wendell  Quisido and Doro Barandino, Cecile Infantado and myself — was on board PAL’s 6:30 a.m. flight to Shanghai.  At 2 p.m. we were at the Himalayas  Center at Pudong, a behemoth RMB 2.4 billion development by the Zendai Group.

Dreamy designs that brought the house down. Santiago was given a standing ovation.

The Himalayas Center is called the “archisculptural icon for 21st century China” as it will house two luxury hotels, a shopping mall, a theater, a 1600 seat auditorium, an art museum and office spaces.

Boxes of Santiago’s collections, which included six inch high-heel shoes and various head accessories were transported to the dressing rooms. Thirty of China’s top models were waiting to be fitted and trained to walk.  There were 30 female helpers to help dress the models. A neurotic frenzy of choosing what gown belonged to which model followed and when everyone was fitted with the right gowns, the models were asked to walk.  Santiago had definite ideas on how the models should sashay and glide in his creations and Shanghai’s super models had to be shown how.  

During various e-mail exchanges, I specified that Santiago wanted models who were at least 5’10” or taller. It was a tall order but Long Teng Model Agency managed to produce them.  Two sisters from Mongolia and who are making waves as China’s supermodels tower over 6 ft. tall.

General rehearsals were held in the late afternoon.  It was long, and grueling but news that Cary  Santiago bested the other designers and would be awarded the Outstanding International Fashion Designer of the Year Award gave all of us a much needed adrenalin boost.

Santiago’s team flew in from Cebu late evening before our flight to Shanghai and before they could bat an eyelash, they were on their way back to the PAL terminal to take the early flight to Shanghai.

The day of the show was so exciting.  I was the only one allowed to enter the auditorium as the show was packed to the rafters. The rest of the team was backstage preparing the models for the show.  My heart swelled with pride for this Cebuano when the hosts announced in Mandarin “ From the Philippines, the Outstanding Fashion Designer of the Year award is Mr. Cary Santiago!”   My eyes were brimming with tears as I watched Santiago walk to the podium to accept his crystal trophy accompanied by two Chinese supermodels wearing his exquisite creations on both sides.   It was Santiago’s shining moment of glory and he did his country proud.