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TO
understand the current work of Cary Santiago, one must
comprehend those of his kindred brethren: Azzedine Alaia,
who painstakingly studied Madeleine Vionnet (mistress of
the bias cut), who immensely influenced Madame Gres
(with whom Santiago seems to share the same feel for
material and movement).
Both
female couture greats favored the languid fluidity and
elaborate draping that recalled classical Greek robes,
while Alaia (“an artistic dressmaker of the highest
quality”), Santiago may have imbibed his working
philosophy from: “making a goddess out of every woman,”
as the book Fashion: The Century of the Designer by
Charlotte Seeling (a gift from the great Auggie Cordero)
sums up the Tunisian technician.
JOY CARALDE in Cary
Santiago
The
blockbuster collection was inspired by Homer’s Odyssey,
especially the warrior goddesses Athena and Penélope.
Santiago used jersey in deep mahogany, taupe, black,
beige and chocolate. Why the somber shades? “These have
always been my colors. Dark. They reflect my
personality. I’ve never been colorful, though I don’t
have a dark personality,” he said without irony at the
Rizal Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La, where I staked
him as he busily folded his beautiful frocks on one
large suitcase after the show.
During
the show, the gorgeous jersey fell, swirled, clung and
draped the body as if Santiago, much like Alaia,
sculpted the clothes on the models himself. Chunky
bangles (his ode to Jean-Paul Gaultier), shoes and
oversized neckpieces were wrapped in the same hue and
material as the gowns, adding to the elegant effect.
In some
seductive dresses, he placed strategic peekaboo macramé
details on the hip, groin and bosom; shiny silver
payette cutouts (like those worn by Phoemela Baranda and
Marina Benipayo); attractive scales on a cocktail dress
(on Ornussa Cadness); and the stupendous doily skirt
(worn by Joy Caralde). “I am introducing doilies to
jersey dresses,” Santiago said of his latest innovation.
As the
finale to the first part of the Fashion Watch Quartet
held at high tea at the Lobby Lounge of the Makati
Shangri-La, presented by Nokia (Connecting People) and
Metrobank Femme Visa with Belo Essentials and Globe
Asiatique, Santiago fulfilled a fashion promise glimpsed
a few years back when he won the top prize at the
Fashion and Design Council-sponsored terno competition
to search for the country’s representative to the
now-defunct Concours de Jeunes Creaturs de Mode in
Paris.
Back
then, Santiago was in one of his intermittent trips back
home from his base in Beirut, Lebanon, where for nearly
10 years “I am a ghost designer; here, I’m in the
spotlight.” Following the media frenzy that came after
his triumph and the ensuing curiosity about his unique
(and unequaled) craftsmanship like ingenuous cuts
achieved by laser technology, he was persuaded to
showcase his astonishing talent at a Metrowear show
(where he remembered having goose bumps when the
audience gave him a standing ovation), at Philippine
Fashion Week (where he set the bar so high at the start
of Grand Allure night that others who followed him
played second fiddle) and again at another Metrowear
show.
“My
setting up shop in Cebu was really accidental,” said the
sharp-tongued, tempestuous designer with a stubborn
Cebuano accent fused with French inflections, Lebanon
being a former colony of France. It seems inevitable
that he would cater to a local clientele so enamored of
his clothes. “But I could never give up Beirut. I love
Beirut. I love being alone there,” meaning the anonymity
and being away from all the intrigues and innuendos of
the local fashion mill. “In
Beirut
I am behind the scenes. I just want my life to be
simple.”
That’s
nearly impossible here, as designers are as adulated as
the women whom they dress and stylize. “I don’t have any
aspirations to be part of high society, though I dress
up women who belong there. I am not easily impressed by
anyone, no matter who they are. But I know how to
position myself and I know where I come from,” said
Santiago, adding that he’s perfectly content to be in
rugged clothes eating Spanish bread, sticky-rice
delicacies and tsokolate outside his Cebu shop, than be
in a society soiree.
Be that
as it may,
Santiago, however tired, gladly accommodates the women who lunch,
especially when they come unannounced. As we were seated
for an informal interview, a group of foreign-looking
women came up to the ballroom to see him. They turned
out to be Lizzie Zobel, Barbara Aboitiz, Pamen Elizalde,
Melissa Osmeña Aboitiz Elizalde and their French
friends. They came to buy the clothes outright.
But
Santiago couldn’t sell them the dresses, as these needed
to be flown to
Beirut
to be part of the collection of the couture house that
he works for. Zobel was endearingly adamant—and could
she wear the gown that Raya Mananquil modeled? It was
her husband Jaime Augusto’s birthday party that night
and she wanted to look her smashing best.
Santiago
was firm. He will fly back to Manila to fit the ladies,
just as he usually does for his clients in the capital
such as Cristina and Katrina Ponce Enrile, and Via
Hoffman, one of his “ultimates,” a client who is shown
10 dresses and will buy nine. In Cebu he dresses up
Mariquita Yeung, Amparito Lhuillier, Gov. Gwen Garcia,
the Aboitizes and the Osmeñas, with fashion plate Minnie
in his appointment books.
 He
admits to being quite snobbish when it comes to
accepting new orders. “I won’t accommodate clients if I
don’t feel like it. I am the one who does the cutting,
so I’m afraid if I accept too much, the quality of the
clothes might suffer,” he explained. This is also the
reason why his non-Cebu clients like him where he is
based. “They like the exclusivity,” the inaccessibility
and the pride that they ordered their dresses from
Cebu.
But
Manila will soon get a taste of that Cary Santiago
mystique when he comes back for a show sometime later
this year. “I am ready for a gala,” said the wunderkind,
but withheld any further information. One thing is
certain: he doesn’t want any of the hitches and the
headaches, which are common in staging a fashion show,
to happen again like what ensued at his Shang show.
A mere
two hours before his scheduled showing, Santiago was
still imploring the organizers to provide him with three
new models who could properly fit his complex,
body-skimming gowns, to complete his 25-piece
collection. After much tension and harsh words
exchanged,
Santiago
ended up paying for the three new models himself besides
the five whom he specifically wanted for his show.
An
artist, after all, will think nothing of going through
great lengths to serve his vision. “Did I lose out? I
don’t think I did. I got who I wanted,” said Cary
Santiago, steely as always. |
