Creative outbursts at YDC

As soon as I arrived for cocktails at the EDSA Shangri-La hotel, people were talking about how one finalist for Mega magazine’s 8th Young Designer’s Competition had thrown a “creative outburst” or fit backstage, screaming at the show’s director.

The buzz had it that whatever chances this guy had for winning was practically going down the drain.

During the cocktails, the contestant’s boyfriend, a previous YDC winner, was throwing his weight around, cussing and giving this writer an evil eye. Not that I take it personally, I really just think he hated everybody in the room including himself.

Otherwise, the room was filled with beautiful people — from Bianca Gonzales who was decked out in full Louis Vuitton x Stephen Sprouse.

Patrice Ramos Diaz looked stunning in her new fighting form. I asked her to share her “diet secret” with me.

Mega’s editor-in-chief Carla Sibal is always a sight to behold, in her Givenchy gown and jewelry by Catherine Tan.

And what is a fashion event without my favorite fashionistas, stylist Andre Chang and photographer Jujiin Samonte?

Rajo Laurel, who was judging, grabbed me by the arm and invited me to have a peek backstage before the show. He pointed out which ones he favored.

Personally I had gone to support Vanessa Ang, who I had met in 2005 at an Alliance Française event. Our common friend Pier Lim cannot stop talking about her so I had high expectations and was not disappointed.

Rajo told me he liked her stuff too. I was amazed at the maturity of her workmanship, which reminded me of old Hollywood glamour. Think Rita Hayworth dressed for the Oscars.

To the right of me, I suddenly noticed pieces that stood out like a pleasant surprise — JC Sasoy’s Japanese-inspired collection, with very intricate origami details in the most unexpected places. To me they were highly competitive pieces. But from experience I knew that my first choice never wins. So the rest was really up to the judges.

When I entered the show venue, I was seated on the Elsa Klensch chair (the end of the front row), which I prefer, so I could take photos at the end of the runway.

Behind me was BB Gandanghari who was looking so pretty.

“BB, what are you doing in the second row?” I hollered. “You can’t sit there. Let me take care of you.”

My friend Pier happily obliged to give up his seat for BB, who sandwiched himself between me and the fun couple Chito Vijandre and Ricky Toledo.

And while it’s cool to sit next to BB, the downside is everybody wants to take a picture with her, so I always have to move to get out of the frame.

It’s funny how clothes look different when you see them backstage and when you see them onstage. It’s another story when you view the photographs after the show.

Upon seeing all entries, for me the top three would be Vanessa Ang, JC Sasoy and Karlo Vincente, with the first two closely in a tie.

Vanessa Ang had a very feminine collection with dramatic styling that just worked. However, some of her models I found a bit hefty. Back home, the more I looked at the photos, the more I appreciated the cohesiveness of her work.

JC Sasoy was the favorite of the most jaded audience that night, including Ricky Toledo, stylists Michael Salientes, Jude Mancuyas and writer Alex Vergara and more. His collection was breathtaking, never mind that we have never heard of JC Sasoy. We’d love to see more of his work.

Karlo Vicente’s collection did very well at the prejudging, but once it hit the ramp, the stunning pieces looked more ready-to-wear than competitive.

These are pieces that could sell very well off the rack, but compared to Ang and Sasoy’s work, it cannot compete.

In the end we were beyond ecstatic when Vanessa Ang was pronounced the winner — the very first female winner for Mega.

I’ve been watching the YDC since it started in 1992, with Stephen Gan and Junko Koshino as judges. Tradition has it that the grand prizewinner doesn’t become as big as the second runner-up, in the tradition of Patrice Ramos Diaz, Rajo Laurel, Ivar Aseron and Mich Dulce — non-winners who became big after the YDC. There were all there to judge the event.

In my years of attending the show, I’ve noticed that the grand prizewinner is usually the unpopular personality (read: the one with the attitude). So the victory of someone as sweet, humble and talented as Vanessa Ang comes as a refreshing change to someone who wants to see the good guy finish first.

Obviously, not everyone was pleased with Vanessa’s victory. After the show, the former YDG winner who was ranting before the show, was seen cursing and having his “creative outburst” in public — making observers believe he was the one who actually fabricated one of the losing finalists’ collection.

In all my years of attending the YDC, I have to say that besides the first one in 1992, this will go down as one of the more memorable Mega events — with director Jackie Aquino, who has perfected the art of painless fashion shows. For once, I felt that Mega had a very strong batch of finalists.

And with two crazed designers having Boyet Fajardo-scale outbursts before and after the show — who could ever forget that?