December 2, 2011

At yesterday’s cocktail reception to meet Yves Carcelle, Chairman & CEO of Louis Vuitton at the newly opened Louis Vuitton store in Greenbelt.

It was a very intimate event. And like I said I was very surprised and pleased to have been invited. It was attended by the country’s top magazine editors and publishers. It was a rare opportunity to meet the chairman of the most one of the most recognized luxury brands. Mr. Carcelle is credited to have transformed Louis Vuitton from being a trunkmaker into a “luxury behemoth” selling diverse products.

A couple of months ago, news broke out that Mr Carcelle will leave his post as Chairman and CEO to become the president of Louis Vuitton Foundation by 2013, a Frank Gehry-designed museum outside of Paris that will house the group’s art collection. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA appointed Danone executive Jordi Constans to succeed the 63-year-old Mr. Carcelle who will remain on the executive committee.

With Jean-Baptiste Debains (President of LV Asia Pacific), Yves Carcelle and Rhea De Vera (country manager of LV Philippines) unfortunately Edouard Faure, General Manager for Micronesia and the Philippines was cut off from the photo. The kind gentleman who took the photo couldn’t figure out my camera; it was zoomed in.

The LV Manila team. It was a reception-slash-working visit for Mr. Carcelle who did the rounds, met with Ayala executives and checked the back rooms. He was only in Manila for 6 hours. Like I said, rare opportunity.

I had a fashion crisis. The invite said, Attire: Business. I don’t do corporate well at all. Luckily I remembered this old dress. Does it look familiar?

Can I just say that I love my Olympus PEN EP3 and my Soft Set curls? It’s been a week and it’s holding up real well. Hee hee.

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December 2, 2011

I don’t normally fall for viral campaigns. And I do not drink soft drinks at all. But I just had to share this.

I cried non-stop from beginning to end.

Very very touching.

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December 2, 2011

I was quiet yesterday. We were busy working on a little creative project at home. It was an instant production with Xeng Zulueta doing my makeup. She brought Felicity Son to play with my curls. Then I coerced photographer Dix Perez to do the shots. It was a near impossibility to put this together but it all worked out. The creativity among my friends… just oozing! I love it. I can’t wait to share the final product.

Meanwhile, we put up our tree this weekend. We’ve been using the same artificial tree from our first Christmas together 9 years ago. I’m thinking of changing it one day. But the ornaments will always stay. And no, I will not buy a real tree (for safety reasons).

I bought these tin toys when I was pregnant with our first child, Sophia. I got sets of a train, a rocking horse, airplane (to symbolize my dad) and a boat. They are very special. Of course I didn’t know I was going to have 3 daughters. LOL. I tell the kids these symbolize their future life full of exciting travels.

I have a couple of these beautiful breakable-metallic vintage-looking Santas. My mom gave them to me.

Lily got this from her ballet teacher, Abby, last year. It goes well with the vintage feel.

Every year I think of re-doing our tree to make it more designer-looking. But I am so attached to our ornaments. And the kids love the stories behind each. So I think we’re not going the polished designer-look ever. Our tree will be home-made and naive-looking forever. Just like us.

I got the newest style of Daphne Linens the other day. It now has my new logo and packaging. I love this style. It’s called Flair. I was thinking of Scandinavian crafts and ikat prints. And this is how our designers at the factory translated the inspiration. It turned out well with the deep blue, grey and white. Pardon the shameless plug, but if there’s a must-have for the new year, it should be new bed linens. You spend 1/3 of your life in bed. Think about it.

This is how it looks like at my home. I included the little add-on accessories like the bolster pillow, breakfast pillow, two pillow shams and Euro shams.

Daphne Linens are in SM Homeworld and Our Home. And only the ones with my name and logo fall under my brand. The rest… not.

This morning we changed our sheets and used Daphne Linens from last year. This is called Couture. It has the loveliest ruching patterns. It comes in beige which is like the colour of clouds.

The husband’s comment this morning. “We have too many bed linens. We should edit.” But I know he’s just saying that because the linen closet is bigger than his. And our bed is better dressed than we are.

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November 30, 2011

Six years and still making them. Hand-painted medals from Europe, set in 14k gold made in the Philippines.

Dropping off these medals in Accessory Lab, 2/F Power Plant, Rockwell this weekend.

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November 30, 2011

I am very excited about this. For some reason, I am invited to meet Yves Carcelle, chairman & CEO of Louis Vuitton. I could only think it’s because of this blog, for my traditional media (my TV show) doesn’t merit invites to meet CEOs of luxury brands. This is a great opportunity to meet the man who led Louis Vuitton since 1990; and who, according to FT, “is credited with having made Louis Vuitton one of the most profitable and ubiquitous luxury goods brand.”

In other news… I went to the St. James Bazaar in Ayala Alabang over the weekend. Now I can’t say I’m a fan of bazaars. I have not been to a bazaar in the past two years. I just sort of missed it, so I went to St. James. It was so much fun. Filled with lots of new products from creative entrepreneurs. The only things I bought though, were hand woven basketry by the Mangyan tribe and this card wallet. It says it’s “Italian Leather.” But it was only P700. I hope it holds up for a few months.

I bought it because of the rows of card pockets on both sides. This is exactly what I need to hold my discount cards, shopping points cards and other IDs.

This old Fino card holder has served me well. I’m overdue for a change.

I also got this gift to self. Not at the bazaar, but at the Kate Spade shop in Rockwell. I’ve been using a green wallet for many years. I heard from someone that green wallets give good luck. Should I be nervous about going with a gold wallet? I figured, gold will probably attract more gold? I liked the size and shape and I’m all about the zipper. All the better to hold my stuff in.

I got my first Christmas gift over the weekend. Isabel Gatuslao gave me the prettiest present. I normally open presents on Christmas Eve, so I don’t know what’s inside. Doesn’t matter, really, because the packaging alone is so pretty! I love the Crane’s gift tag. She bought them in National Book Store. But the wrapping paper – she designed it herself. So lovely! I love artichoke. To look at and to eat. You have to read her story on why artichoke. Isabel had to have a minimum order of sheets printed in order to meet the printer’s policy. So she ended up selling rolls of these beautiful artichoke wrapping paper in Kish at P250/10.

K I S H
233 N. Garcia St., Bel-Air
Makati City 1209
Philippines
t: 02.896.8366

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