I guest blogged for Lauren, a wordy article describing my experience in prepping for The First Philippine Fashion Ball and being part of the organizing committee.  Since that was written weeks ago, I’ve yet to blab and post photos about the actual night, so here you go:

The PFB team was always meeting in Mary Grace and Manila Pen.  In the former, I’d always order Sangria and cheese rolls. Yum!

And then my favorite part of the preparations…fitting for my dress. Designed by none other than Noel Crisostomo!  Most of the clothes were big at the time of the fitting, as they were measured for tall, lithe models and not scrawny runts like me.  I tried on 3 outfits, and I ended up going with the last one. It had a deep v-neck that went down to my high waist but thankfully, there’s nothing to see (as my mom solemnly pointed out to me) so I could get away with it without being slutty.

On the day itself, I was a right mess.  I had to deal with last minute phone calls, text barrages and strangers calling me up for invites.  To top it all off, I bought 2 pairs of earrings that I also lost a few hours later.  I borrowed the rest of my jewelry from my aunt, but it seemed really lacking not to go with earrings so I hied off to Unisilver and bought a pair of studs.  Hence, I was a bit late for my appointment at Symmetria salon.

Carmi David took care of my makeup.  I love her to bits, and I work with her every week!  She does makeup for KC Concepcion, which is how we met.  I was her project for the day.  I asked her to make my brows fuller and we opted for an Old Hollywood glamour look.  She put 2 layers of eyelashes on me, a pair of which had fishtail ends. It was very dramatic.  4 falsies were heavy, but I got used to them and I loved the outcome.  She also put 2 layers of lipstick to achieve the pouty, red lip, which was also drawn fuller than usual.

I was also aiming for Jessica Rabbit-esque hair swept to one side of my face, which wasn’t quite achieved because we had little time to prepare and I already arrived there late.  I still like the outcome, though, as it was sleek and neat.

As I mentioned earlier, I borrowed most of the jewelry I wore that night from my aunt.  She graciously lent me an heirloom ring, a diamond bracelet, an Omega watch and a necklace.  I bought black, 5-inch heels from Charles & Keith, though I was sorely tempted to just wear 5-inch wedges underneath my skirt since it was long, and it had a train, and people would never see anything underneath.  But I was glad I didn’t–apparently, when you’re wearing a long, heavy fringe skirt, it’s better to wear stiletto heels.  I wore chunky heels to my fitting and I was stumbling, but that night, walking was actually a breeze. Surprise, surprise.

When I got to The Peninsula Manila where the ball was to be held, I went immediately to the backroom where I had a Joel Escober belt added to my outfit.  But of course, before I got there, ALL of the cameras were flashing.  Hence, the photo posted in Stylebible.ph was the one without the belt to cinch the vest top.

Also, that is not my clutch. That’s Pepper Potts, my phone.

Photo grabbed from Pax

With Nio (wearing Ulysses King), my partner-in-crime. And yes, my hand looks pretty weird stuck out like that.

with models Ana Sideco (in Ralph Ng), Michelle Panemanglor (also in Noel Crisostomo) and their friends

with Mich Dulce

and the gorgeous Tweetie de Leon

Other people in their gorgeous garb:

Irish Ong. Don’t know who made her dress, though.

Jessica Yang in Noel Crisostomo

Natasha Bautista in Noel Crisostomo

Daryl Chang in Jun Escario, Tessa Prieto in Rajo Laurel, Liz Uy in Ezra

Raymond Gutierrez and Anne Curtis

Philippine Fashion Ball photos courtesy of Jan Chester Lema. Some rights reserved.

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