The latest in the bridal wave, RTW gowns

The ink was hardly dry on their pre-nup when Kim Kardashian filed for a divorce, not that anyone cared about another sham Hollywood marriage, except that the $10 million spent on their wedding could’ve gone to more worthwhile pursuits, like say, micro-financing women in Sub-Saharan Africa. People all too often get married for the wrong reasons, which makes the Philippines one of the last places where it’s still somewhat held sacred, since marriage here is a life sentence. I respect the institution, and I love weddings, but I’m not counting on having my own, mainly because I don’t like poufy white dresses.

Tulle of the trade: Rosa Clara designs embody the romantic feminine. together.

Well, that is until I walked into the Rosa Clara boutique and was urged by the store’s Ambassadress, Sam Eduque, to try one on, do a little bride-to-be role play. Mimosa in hand, I hopped on the pedestal in the dressing room and two ladies helped me climb inside their poufiest, most expensive gown. It had a strapless bodice and cascaded in tiers, with a feathery long trail, definitely something that I would not have picked for myself. First of all, it wasn’t black. But what do you know, a transformation took place, and like Natalie Portman’s alter ego, I became the swan. The dress looked beautiful, and every detail was perfect, like it was knitted together by those fairy god-animals in Cinderella. I’m accepting proposals now, by the way.

Rosa Clara is a ready-to-wear bridal boutique from Barcelona, and Rosa Clara the designer is herself considered the Vera Wang of Spain. Valerie Zayco, the store’s managing partner, explains that the brand was brought to Manila to give brides here options for RTW. Her own wedding gown was a Rosa Clara design, albeit a copied one. “Even if I had the design followed, I wasn’t completely satisfied,” she says. “So even after I got married, I thought, ‘we have to find a way to bring it in!’”

Say I do or die: Make your wedding dress one of a kind with accessories like Rosa Clara shoes, beaded belts and boleros. together.

Says bridal consultant Nicole Hernandez-de los Angeles, “It’s generally a new concept that’s being introduced here. Only a few brides have the luxury of being able to fly to the States and visit the salons.” Nicole was tapped to join the Rosa Clara team because of her own experience buying bridal RTW. “I didn’t want to go through the whole process of sketching, fitting, changing. When you design, it’s really organic and what happens on paper is different from the end product.” She wanted to be sure that what she saw was what she got, and that she looked fabulous in it, and whenever her wedding plans started to stress her out, she would just unzip the bag of her dress and breathe a sigh of relief.

Fitting your wedding gown at Rosa Clara is a pampering experience, which starts with paging through the catalogue and marking off the styles and matching accessories that catch your eye. The advantage, however, is being able to try on a whole lot of different silhouettes, giving you an idea of what really works for your body, especially if you came in resolved to get a mermaid gown just because it’s trendy. They mention a client who thought she wanted a plain one-shouldered dress, but Nicole suggested she try on a V-neck gown and pair it with a lace bolero. The neckline enhanced her chest and the lace framed her delicate figure, and the client, transformed, was convinced. 

A few of the bridal outfits already have a future as Tatler Ball gowns, sans train of course, but Rosa Clara also has a non-bridal Fiesta Line specifically for those purposes, with fully beaded ones going for around P74,000. They’re apparently popular with the WAGS (Wives and Girlfriends) of European football players. The model and heiress Amanda Hearst, Rosa Clara’s muse, was one of Vanity Fair’s best dressed and was photographed in a Rosa Clara cocktail dress.

La vie en Rosa: Nicole Hernandez-de los Angeles, Sam Eduque and Valerie Zayco together.

Of the three Rosa Clara women, Sam is ironically not one of those gung-ho pro-marriage types, not for herself at least. Hasn’t she yet been transformed by the magic of the store, working daily with the luscious dream gowns hanging like fluffy snowflakes? Not really, she says, “But it’s a wonderful experience when you see a bride try on a gown and she has that look on her face that says, ‘This is the one.’”

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The Rosa Clara boutique is at the G/F, Greenbelt Residences, Makati.