Promising Young Designer: Vee Jay Floresca

A friend's daughter is celebrating her 18th birthday on June 11. When she consulted me for a possible theme, I suggested "Secret Garden".  She loved the idea so our next agenda was to look for a designer. Filipinos designers should realize that there is money in social events (life cycle events).  For weddings and debuts, clients would always set aside an amount for the gowns' budget.

Last night, I brought my friend and her daughter to one of my favorite young designers, Veejay Floresca  I fell in love with his work before when I saw one of my clients/brides wearing his gown.  I always use everyday people (brides, mothers, entourage members, ninangs or guests) and not celebrities as a basis for evaluating the work of a designer.

For the said June 11 event, Vee Jay will be creating 2 ball gowns and 1 cocktail dress for the debutante. After finalizing the fabric and the colors, we were surprised Veejay charged us 50t Php for the 3 pieces. It was such a good deal that my friend decided to add another 10t Php to the budget for the Swarovski beads. She liked Veejay so much that she handed him the full payment after the meeting.

This is what happens to good people. Next Thursday, my friend is bringing her other daughter, niece and sister to Veejay for their gowns. Keep up the good work Veejay and I know blessings will continue to pour your way. I admire you for your creativity, sincerity, honesty and enthusiasm.

To all brides-to-be out there, I asked Veejay as to how much he charges for wedding.  Here are his rates as of February 18, 2011 which I believe are very fair:
between 60t Php to 70t Php  for a beach themed wedding gown
between 70t Php to 110t Php for a couture wedding gown depending on the design and the material
110t Php up for a Filipiniana wedding gown because of the price of the material

To clients who want to get in touch with Veejay, his mobile number is 0917 501 3535.
By the way, he requested me to tell everyone that he is very much single too.

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Wedding Gown Tragedy

Photos courtesy of MangoRed

A few months ago, model Vanessa Matsunaga, sister of Brazilian-Japanese model/actor Daniel Matsunaga, married photographer Jun Sunga in BELLAROCA, Marinduque.   A week before the wedding, when she received the wedding gown from the designer, she was shocked.  The disastrous wedding gown did not meet her expectation.  She was very disappointed!  When designer friends heard about this tragedy, they volunteered to help Vanessa.  In the end, it was John Herrera who produced the new wedding gown of this bride in seven days.  Kudos to JOHN!

Do you know who the disastrous wedding gown designer was?  CLUE??

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Apology from the Designer

Before going to my class this morning, I received a text message from Jae de Vera Pickrell of StyleBible.ph. asking about the Fashion Scam post I made. A few hours later, she sent me another message to inform me that the designer already issued an apology.

Apology from the Designer
Source: http://www.stylebible.ph/fashion/style-report/the-dansen-debacle

Last Tuesday, a scandal made the rounds of social networking sites Twitter and Facebook, which involved an engaged couple and a Filipino designer who reportedly scammed them. Based on the threads, the story is as follows.

The groom, Jhon Maala, ordered a custom-made suit from designer Puey Quiñones for his wedding to Shea Gamboa. After several arduous tries to meet with the designer for fittings, in which the latter frequently did not show up, a suit was finally delivered to Maala, for which he was charged P30,000. But he discovered it was not what he had ordered. He received a suit carrying two labels: BOBON by Puey Quiñones, and a Dansen care label tucked into the suit jacket's hidden pocket. (Dansenis a brand carried by SM Department Store.)

Kat de Castro, a dear friend of Maala and Gamboa, posted the following photo of the jacket in question on her Twitter account, with the caption: "The designer asked 30k for this suit. Pero bakit may Dansen tag? Sa SM ito di ba? Napeke kaya yungfriend ko?"

The fiasco quickly spread online, with Chuvaness retweeting de Castro's post and Michael Lim uploading the photo on his Facebook account together with a photo of an unaltered Dansen suit, intact with the Dansen logo and care label, which retails for P3,300. Lim's post generated over a hundred comments, some of which hint at other malpractices by other designers.

Maala and Gamboa are undoubtedly upset about the situation, but they have already taken steps to resolving the issue. "I talked to Puey already and we're trying to fix everything legally and emotionally," Maala says in the Facebook thread.

Gamboa has also absolved BOBON, commenting, "To the owner of Bobon... just want to let you know that the transaction was between the couple and the designer. So don't worry. You're out of this." BOBON has also issued an official statement, declaring that "BOBON is not in any way involved in the design, production or sale of the suit in the photo, or the affixing of the 'BOBON by Puey Quinones' label to the suit."

Quiñones, meanwhile, has expressed his regret in an email to this writer. "I have been so stressed by this issue and I hope that this statement will finally bring an end to all of this. I just want to move on and focus on more worthwhile things in life."

The following is Quiñones's official statement and public apology:
Regarding the recent “fashion scam”, I regret that all this happened. First and foremost, I would like to apologize to the couple for all the trouble that it has caused them.
I was simply pressured to create a suit and found a perfect blank canvas to develop. I know the entire situation could have been handled better but now it has just been blown out of proportion and affected so many others.
I assure all concerned that I am doing the best that I can to fix this situation. I have been in contact with the party involved and intend to settle this peacefully.
To the couple who brought attention to this matter and to everyone else that have raised concerns over the quality of my service as a designer... I am sorry.
I am doing all that I can to make sure that this does not happen again.
Thank you for your understanding and for your concern.

We hope Maala, Gamboa, and Quiñones will resolve this issue peaceably, and that both parties will move on with strength and courage from this unfortunate incident. We also hope that this fiasco will be a deterrent to delinquent designers who do not always practice proper business ethics. The Philippine fashion industry is gifted with too many truly talented and hardworking designers to be besmirched irrevocably.

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Official Statement of BOBON

After Ulysses King read my post on Facebook, he called me to clarify the relationship between BOBON and the designer in question.  He told me that BOBON will release an official statement.  Here it is!

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Fashion Scam

Fashion Tweet of Kat de Castro:
"The designer asked 30k for this suit. Pero bakit may Dansen tag? Sa SM ito di ba? Napeke kaya yung friend ko?"

A client went to the designer to have a wedding suit custom made. He paid 30t for the suit only to find out that the designer bought the suit from DANZEN (SM?)

Message from BOBON's Management:
Spoke to the owner of BOBON (the store), he explained that the said designer is no longer a partner but apparently still uses the tags/labels left with him. I feel bad for the owner of BOBON.

Message from the CLIENT:
To the owner of Bobon... just want to let you know that the transaction was between the couple and the designer. So don't worry. You're out of this. By the way, I just hope that we'll be the last couple to be treated like this.

Update:
The supposed owner of this suit will be wearing Francis Libiran to his upcoming wedding on March 5.

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