A FIRST GLIMPSE OF SPRING

(FROM A WEEKEND NOTE, THE EDITOR'S LETTER IN STYLE WEEKEND, THE FRIDAY LIFESTYLE SPECIAL OF MANILA BULLETIN, FRIDAY, 08 FEBRUARY 2008)

We don’t have spring in Manila, but it was springtime, indeed, in a yet to be unraveled strip of luxury-on-the-rise at the end of Macapagal Boulevard when Sense&Style threw a par-tea at the Sentosia at Bay City last week.

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Spring came along, a season of song, full of sweet promise… —Bette Midler

All things traditional provided the elements for a great sunset party, a hybrid of high tea and cocktails, but because the idea was to showcase the changing of seasons and their accompanying trends, every moment at the party was very here, very now.

Fashion editor Hector Reyes was more than thrilled to have had the occasion to stage “A First Glimpse of Spring,” with trends that seem to be harking more and more back to the good ol’ things, like tea at 5 p.m. and flowers in spring, which the Devil Wears Prada character Miranda Priestly brushed off as “very imaginative!”

But times are changing—and they’re changing back. In a world besieged by life-threatening issues like climate change and terrorism, there is a clamor for stability and continuance. After all, when the future is uncertain, the past provides some kind of reassurance.

So here we are at the doorstep of another season, a time of new beginnings. Last Monday, Feb. 4, was the first day of spring in the lunar calendar, although we only ushered in the Year of the Rat sometime before midnight last Wednesday. In the temperate zones, spring has yet to come and the leathers and the mink in the closets have yet to give way to lighter fabrics in a profusion of flower prints.

Yes, flowers are in vogue. At the Sense&Style tea party, which unraveled at the three-level clubhouse of Sentosia, the walls were abloom with them, thanks to the spring-inspired paintings by various artists like Sanso and Velasco, collections lent to us for the occasion by Gallery Big’s Jonathan Sy and Gallery Joaquin’s Jack Teotico. A collection of floral dresses also blossomed in strategic corners, showcasing the fashion genius of some of our best and most promising young designers like Puey Quiñones, Kate Torralba, Tippi Ocampo, Eric de los Santos, and Veejay Floresca.

With Elnora Halili’s piano renditions of songs like “La Vie en Rose” and “April in Paris,” along with songstress Snare Mata’s repertoire of feel-good numbers like “What A Wonderful World,” everyone was in the mood for conversation in between mouthfuls of Billy King’s avocado prawn tartlets and sips of Tea&Therapy’s lemongrass with lychee, as well as bottomless glasses of Moet&Chandon.

After sunset, everybody moved up to the roofdeck. Under a firmament of stars, Mondo Castro’s Pin-Up Girls performed to endless rounds of Infinit as fireworks, courtesy of Johnny Lugay’s Phoenix, lit up the clear, cloudless sky with what appeared to be a garden of sparkling, shimmering, explosive flowers.

It is raining as I make these recollections and it feels like April in February. They say it is La Niña or, to the more paranoid, a classic symptom of global warming. Change is here, but I am waxing romantic about our spring party and the only change I can think of is flowers bursting back to life after a long dry spell. They wither and die but they always find the reason and the season to bloom again.

Spring is a season of hope, indeed. Let’s drink to that!


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post me aapatawaran@yahoo.com.