One for the dogs

I spent twelve hours, from 10 in the morning to 10 at night, on a perfectly lovely Saturday locked inside an edit suite. I haven't had to work on a Saturday in nearly 6 months, and I've never had to stay so late at work during the entire time I've worked here in Singapore.

I guess you could say my weekend had gone to the dogs.

Luckily, this charming little fella was around to keep me company!

Milo is the darling mascot of the production house I was working with. He spent most of the afternoon snuggled up by my side on the client couch. I was tempted to comment on how catlike he was, but then I realized that it's the other way around and that I have a very doglike cat. 

When I took on this freelance job, an ex-colleague of mine remarked: "You always get to a point when you feel miserable and hate everything and wonder why you even bothered to say yes. Then you'll remember the money. And just suck it up and keep going." So true!

All tressed out

a freebie hair treatment from the kerastase institute last friday = an article that came out in the philippine star's ystyle section today.

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All tressed out
By Deepa Paul
Friday, September 28, 2007

It isn’t easy being curly.

Born into your curls? You are a rarity among the infuriatingly swingy- and sleek-haired heads of the typical Pinay — and prey to the caprices of stylists who seek to torture the curl out of your hair by all available means. That is, if you don’t already do that yourself.

I grew up with big fat sausage curls that distended into long, loose and oddly uncontrollable waves, so I get you loud and clear. I once had a hairstylist refuse to cut my hair until I had it relaxed, whereupon I marched out of the salon — and started learning how to use Mom’s blow dryer. It was an inauspicious start to a lifetime of manual and chemical struggle with my curls. Fast forward to the present day: my hair is alarmingly poofy when left alone and requires an armada of styling products and tools to sort it into an appreciable shape. I’ve grown to like my hair, sort of, but after all it’s been through, I don’t think it likes me very much anymore.

Or let’s say your strands are of the stick-straight variety in the age of the digital perm. You thought your hair was boring; you zapped some curl into it. People liked it; you did it again. And again. And again. Now you’re left with repeatedly processed hair, an amorphous form of curl, a ton of new hair products, a bone-crushing understanding of why your curly-topped friends used to stroke your pin-straight strands with such longing, and maybe the occasional itch on your scalp.

Congratulations, your hair is now not just curly — you might just have blow-dried, relaxed, rebonded, permed and possibly even colored it into dryness, too. Faced with stressed-out curls, what’s a curly Sue to do?

Rx for stressed-out curls

Stop experimenting with a new product every other week, give the ceramic iron a rest, and head to the Kerastase Institute, where science is about to become your hair’s new best friend.

Using the Kerastase Professional Diagnosis System, a trained consultant takes a camera to your crowning glory to decree, once and for all, the truth about your hair and scalp. Your days of frowning over the staggering array of shampoos and conditioners at the grocery and decoding which of the cleverly-cooked-up-by-marketing labels describes your hair (Spongy and puffy? Damaged or dry? Rebonded then permed? Colored but not highlighted?) are at their merciful end.

Seeing your scalp magnified up to 500 times can be quite disconcerting. I personally thought it was nice to have a scalp so blinding white — until I was shown a picture of a perfectly healthy and normal scalp, which was as smooth and pink as a baby’s bottom. Whiteness meant I had a scalp like the Sahara. Eeep. Thankfully, my hair itself had some hope. Despite the occasional crack in the hair shaft, dryness hadn’t penetrated past the outer strands. My poor, colored, curly hair simply needed plumping up with a little nutrient TLC — and that was just a few minutes away.

Choosing your cocktail

After diagnosis, a Kerastase expert prescribes the right hair or scalp ritual for your particular situation. This is selected from over a dozen treatments for hair types ranging from normal to moderately dry hair (Aqua-Oleum, which uses nano-nutrition technology to zap instant shine and softness into locks) to the driest and most damaged strands (the heat-activated Kerathermie).

Got shiny strands, but a scalp like the Sahara? The experts at Kerastase may prescribe a Nutriose scalp ritual to soothe and cuddle your poor scalp back to life. Pumped full of lipids, proteins and glucose, one of the fab bonuses of this treatment — and a scalp that’s back in the pink — is lush, healthy hair growth.

For frizzy hair, the Masque Oleo-Relax softens and nourishes hair while keeping it frizz-free — despite infuriatingly off-the-charts Philippine humidity levels. Addicted to rebonding or relaxing? This treatment is also a perfect breather to the chronic grip those chemicals have on your hair.

For starters, I was prescribed the Concentre Vita-Ciment ritual. Engineered for chemically-treated hair, this potent potion promised to fortify the cracks in my hair shafts, rebuilding them by as much as 56 percent. Plus, it would prep my hair to receive the full benefits of my Masque Oleo-Curl, whose curl cocktail of softening oils promised perfectly defined curls (or waves, too) and anti-deformation protection. Sounds good, I thought, but it was just about to get a whole lot better.

Reveling in the ritual

The Kerastase Institute uses the word “ritual” instead of treatment, and it was just as well. After all the torture your hair has survived, it certainly deserves to be given the royal treatment, nay, practically adored back to life. (And maybe you do, too.) This is where the fluffy robes, satisfying hair bath, mind-numbing, eyes-rolling-back-into-the-head scalp massage and sigh-inducing back rubs of the Kerastase Institute do their best work.

After your chosen product is slathered on, your hair is popped under the Kerastase Micro-Mist Machine to be softened like no other salon steaming machine can. A blast of cool air from the machine ends the ritual, fixing the product from within. An expert blowout from the adjoining Salon ESA reveals the results of the ritual — gorgeously defined curls and vibrant shine, as promised. And if you have any doubts about the efficacy of the treatment (or are just innately suspicious, as I am), you can always have your hair re-diagnosed just to check.

Baby’s bottom my scalp is not (yet), but it definitely isn’t the Sahara anymore. And now I know to make a beeline for the shampoos labeled dry (not damaged) when the time comes to buy a new bottle of shampoo. Less time at the grocery, and hair that bounces at my beck and call once more? Love it.

* * *

The Kerastase Institute is located at Salon ESA, 6750 Ayala Ave., Makati City. Call 819-1040 or 819-0886 for an appointment.

Welcome to Boracay

after an hour-long flight in an aircon-less, stewardess-less aircraft that i will always cherish in my memory as the "coaster na may pakpak", i barely remember my first glimpse of the fabled white sands of boracay. i think i might have been a little underwhelmed -- the sun was hiding behind thick gray clouds, dulling the colors of everything.

what i do remember vividly, is almost weeping upon seeing the room that would me mine (mine, all mine! moooahahahaha) for the next two days. ah, how the centavo-scrabbling writer of "paradise at a steal" had moved up in the world! first i wanted to twirl around and fall into bed a la julia roberts. then i started really missing marlon. *insert crude thought here*

welcome sight # 1: my room at the boracay beach resort.

home sweet home

the people from fila (i swear! grace under pressure ang mga ito!) treated me and paolo, the photog, to lunch. i believe the frozen lemonade i had at the regency set the tone for the rest of my boracay trips -- i went on this two-week long citrus frenzy which included countless calamansi/lemon/mango-lemon shakes, calamansi muffins at real coffee, and the aforementioned lemon cheesecake at lemon cafe.

then we went to work. or rather, paolo went to work.

while i pretty much watched, chatted, looked over some of the clothes, and ogled various boys pointed out to me by a woman more than twice my age and in better shape than me. i played photographer, too.

welcome sight # 2: teams practicing for the dragonboat races that weekend.

score one for the hype.

this is when boracay really started wowing me. i'd never seen the ocean that soft, pearlescent almost-white shade of turquoise before. and the sand was just absolute talc.

my first pair of havaianas. i totally get the addiction now -- which is not to say that i actually have an addiction of my own

and presenting the finest welcome of them all: the obliging male-models-for-a-day of the bugsay boracay dragonboat team.

welcome sight # 3: care ko sa girls?

work it! work it!

aside from daniel and sebastian here with their prepare-for-glowy midsections, there were also various groups of men around me at this point flexing muscles, lifting heavy weaponry (isn't the dragonboat a war vessel or something) and going "harrumph harrumph!" (or "awoo awoo!" as jeline would say). it was all very 300.

i remember marveling at all these extremely fit and tanned specimens (in fairness, pati ang mga girls) and wondering briefly whether this was what God had intended human beings to be. i felt almost sure that beer bellies and thunder thighs were not part of the divine plan.

then it was five thirty, "work" was done, and i was left to enjoy my first boracay happy hour -- and my first boracay sunset.

Filipinas

hey, the second article i wrote for the philippine star's ystyle section has been published. i'm posting the full text below, but you can also check it out here (not for long, though).

i can type really fast without looking at the keyboard, and i was really grateful for that skill when i interviewed isa (who told me she is rina's aunt). if i had been hunched over my laptop, i might have missed how fun and inspiring she was! i was blown away by how firmly she stood for her artistic vision in the face of discouragement, indifference, difficulty and even... drumroll please... offers to buy her work, a.k.a. money. (i would have probably sold out. haha.) i was also blown away when it occurred to me that isa had become what she'd intended the women in her photos to be... real and inspiring.

her staff actually gave me a really comprehensive media kit and press release. theoretically i could have just done a couple of nips and tucks and turned those in well before deadline, but i enjoyed my conversation with isa too much to be a sly, cheating shmuck.

incidentally, i've actually been to the unesco house in paris, where isa showed her photographs. acs performed there last october.

anyway, here's the article. see if you can guess who the "false start" was.

Filipina greats

By Deepa Paul
The Philippine STAR 03/02/2007

To the public at large, Filipinas is a series of photographs of 30 Filipina women. Having first opened in February 2006, Filipinas, the exhibit, shows the faces and stories of women who are pioneers in their respective fields, whose example or leadership paved the way for other Filipina women to become more than what was expected of them. But to photographer Isa Lorenzo, creative director of Silver Lens Photography, Filipinas is "a four-year journey."

The journey began, as most do, with an idea; for Filipinas, it was Isa’s idea of an "homage to women who have reached lifetime successes." Having heard about some of these women since childhood, Isa set out to put together a list of women who had, in some way or other, gone beyond themselves in areas that were difficult. "My qualifications for inclusion in this list were accomplishment and age—they must have done a lot in their lives and they must be old enough to not screw up their achievements."

She intended her list to include only 12 women, but Isa soon realized that the Filipina’s power to inspire, and the number of lives that deserved acknowledgement, could not be limited to such a small number. "We have a lot of Filipinas who are firsts in Asia, like the first female mayor in Asia, the first Asian graduate of the Harvard school of medicine. By the way, she’s 97 and still practicing!" Isa quips.

Getting Started

List in hand, Isa’s journey had barely begun. There was the task of learning about each of the 30 women on the list and hunting down people who knew them—children, grandchildren, relatives, students, and friends—and would agree to deliver Isa’s letters of introduction and samples of her work. There was having to deal with rejection for reasons of health or vanity; an unnamed patron of the arts promptly and firmly declined upon learning that she would have to be photographed without makeup. There was the logistical nightmare of scheduling the shoots, despite the fact that Isa only required a maximum of 20 minutes of actual shooting time. "These women are so busy, it’s insane!" Isa exclaims "The most difficult was (National Bookstore founder) Socorro Ramos – we had to schedule her 15 minutes of shooting time six months in advance!"

There were false starts, too – such as the very first subject Isa chose to photograph. "As soon as I began shooting, I knew I had the wrong woman. I felt like running away! Hindi ko siya kaya!" Isa says, laughing. "I didn’t shoot for three months after that." Trauma? Perhaps, but Isa is quick to say that she used the time to thresh out her artistic vision for the exhibit, and to focus on what she wanted to achieve with the photographs she would compile. The subject of Isa’s first shoot (a larger-than-life, controversial historical figure) never made the final cut – a conscious exclusion that Isa feels "changed the nature of the project completely."

Then came the processing of the film, the edits, the search for the paper to print the mural-sized images on, coordination with the printer, meetings with various national institutions as venues for the show, and on and on. The project took roughly three years to complete.

Hitting The Road

Filipinas’ opening night at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) almost exactly one year ago was not the end of the road, but the beginning of a new and unimagined path beyond the gallery. Filipinas traveled to universities all over Metro Manila, where it faced the puzzled scrutiny of students who goggled at the size of the photos and wondered what the big fuss was about these bare-faced, deeply lined, and in many cases, completely anonymous women.

What they discovered beyond the bafflement and curiosity blew them away, much to Isa’s delight. "We brought the show to Far Eastern University, where one girl remembered that she had totally hated her high school. But she had one teacher, just one that she really loved, who made all the difference and kept her from just suffering through high school," Isa recounts. "These women are like that. It then became very real to these students that just one woman can make a world of difference." More importantly, Isa says, once students saw that, they began thinking beyond the world of "I can never be like that, I’m not from where they’re from, I don’t have what they have" to "I can make a difference, too."

From gallery to university to retail spaces and malls, Filipinas continued to move and inspire with its clean, stark images and powerful message. It was only a matter of time until its journey proved to be entirely unstoppable. So unstoppable, in fact, that in December last year, one of the world’s biggest organizations came knocking with an invitation.

Paris And Beyond

Upon the suggestion of Filipinas curator Deanna Ongpin-Recto, Isa had tossed off a letter to UNESCO in July 2006 – and had promptly forgotten about it. So the invitation to show the exhibit at the UNESCO House in Paris came as a total, yet welcome, surprise. Filipinas was chosen by the UNESCO Section on Women and Gender Equality to be shown for a full week, in celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8. Isa was also asked to speak about the photographs and bring her UNESCO audience face to face with a few of the women whose photographs were part of the exhibit.

Paris marks Filipinas’ first step outside Philippine borders – and that, Isa feels, makes a huge difference not just to the photographer and her subjects, but to Filipinas and the Philippines. "The face of the Filipina known to the world is the OFW. But these women are not that. Not many people know about this side of the Filipina," Isa emphasizes. "People will see that the Philippines has something more to show. It will be acknowledged on a different level, on a global platform." It is Isa’s belief that that global recognition will pave the way for greater acknowledgment and appreciation where it truly counts – back home.

After being parked in Paris until late spring, Filipinas will continue its journey across Europe in May 2006, visiting Madrid, Rome, Geneva and "somewhere in Germany, maybe Berlin." The Department of Foreign Affairs has taken Filipinas under its wing and put Philippine embassies to work finding places to show it in Europe; no mean feat, considering the difficulties posed by an election year. "The embassies’ minds are on anything but arts and culture," Isa says wryly. "But Filipinas is apolitical, neutral, it’s para sa bayan – and they get that. That made it easier, in a way."

The photographs have been compiled into a book for publishing in June, and arrangements are being made with the Undersecretary for American Affairs to bring Filipinas to the United States later in the year. Having enjoyed a lengthy run uncommon to most local exhibits, Isa is committed to propelling Filipinas as far into the future as it can possibly go – a commitment that stands in the face of offers to buy or borrow select photographs. "This is not a selling show, where the work gets broken up into pieces for sale," Isa emphasizes. "It was so difficult to gather all of these women. Why will I ever take them apart?"

After traveling abroad and going down the publishing route, what else lies ahead in Filipinas’ path? Isa thinks back to the beginning for the answer. She remembers assembling the list, being extra careful about inclusions or exclusions, combing through fields of society and far-flung communities for exceptional lives, and scrutinizing these lives for ethical value. "It was so hard to find good people who are still good and still at it," Isa says. "But there are more out there. I just haven’t had an opportunity to meet them, and photograph them, just yet."

* * *Filipinas is open for public viewing at UNESCO House, 7 Place de Fontenoy, Paris, until March 9. It is presented in cooperation with the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Department of Foreign Affairs, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and Cultural Center of the Philippines. For more information, visit www.filipinas.silverlensphoto.com/about.htm

My inner ditz, published

hola from barcelona! -- where i am sitting in a rather nice hostal waiting to meet my friend miikka for dinner. while killing time surfing the net, i discovered that my very first fashion piece has been published -- it's in the philippine star's ystyle section.

i love clothes and i love writing, but somehow forcing them together in this article was one of the more daunting assignments i've taken on. again, i like clothes, and i'm not completely clueless about designers, but ask me about trends du jour and brands and collections... ehhhhh. some people are wired to thrive on this stuff (there's a multimillion dollar industryful of these people) -- after writing this article, i discovered i´m definitely not one of them.

but i enjoyed the writing exercise of trying to wrap my brain around this and at least sound coherent. and since it got printed, i´m assuming i did fairly well. and i'm proud to have done it without resorting to my pet peeve, that ubiquitous, not-applicable-in-the-philippines fashion writing clutchphrase -- "this season".

you can read the article online, but i don't think the star keeps archives of its web stuff. so i'm posting it here anyway for everybody's entertainment.

The big bag theory
By Deepa Paul
The Philippine STAR 11/17/2006

Wallet, iPod, Motorola Razr. Full-to-bursting kikay kit. A pair of shades. The prescription glasses you vow to wear more often, but don’t. Twelve-inch MacBook in its snug neoprene sleeve, its charger and a spare battery pack. Red Moleskine notebook, a couple of pens. A jacket, since your office is Siberia in Manila. A slinky black cami for after-dinner drinks with the girls. And since you simply can’t bear the thought of wearing your black work pumps with said cami, a pair of killer patent stilettos. A selection of cuffs and chains to accessorize. A book – just in case you get stuck in traffic. A change of underwear – just in case. The house keys. The kitchen sink. And then some.

This is your life, and you’d be nuts to try and stuff it all into a precious little satin clutch or a darling mini satchel (although you’ve tried more than once). Thankfully, now you don’t have to. The perpetually busy and style savvy can literally live large without having to resort to shapeless sacks, staid boxy suitcase-like contraptions, bulky backpacks, or (horror of horrors) very large paper bags – because in 2006, the big bag is back in a big way.

From Frumpy To Fashionable

Once considered the frumpy old maid aunt of the slim clutch and sleek handbag, the big bag has been refreshed and refurbished with style, enjoying a resurgence on fall runways. Fashion’s biggest names have eschewed flimsy miniatures in favor of more practical, large bags without sacrificing form for function. A number of designers have already invested in big bags, making them a key for look both the current and coming retail seasons – and making the lives of on-the-go urbanites easier and choicer well into 2007.

Inspired by the frenetic lifestyles of New York women, today’s big bags are built to hold everything one could ever need to dash off from work to after-hours pursuits, be it a dinner, yoga class or a evening out on the town. More importantly, these bags sport a stylish gloss that allows a whopper of a bag to transition flawlessly from day to night. So you can cart the kitchen sink to work and back if you so desire, and still look your chic and sexy best – because the big bag has gone from frumpy to fashionable.

Luxe Leathers, Soft Silhouettes

To catapult the big bag from dowdy to divine, designers from Anya Hindmarch to Zac Posen have dipped into an equally immense bag of tricks, which includes a variety of luxe materials, a plethora of details, and a bag hag’s candyland of shapes and silhouettes. But only one size – large, of course.

Luxe leathers figure prominently among the recent harvest of huge bags, with finishes that make the big bag whisper "touch me" rather than shout "I have a million and two things to do today, and damned if I’ll carry one of those silly armpit bags." Distressed, pebbled, quilted – texture is the name of the game, as shown by the recent runway crop: outsized totes from Prada and Marc Jacobs in deerskin and quilted leather, respectively, as well as pebbled leather hobos from Burberry and rich buffalo leather shoulder bags from Valentino.

The belt isn’t the only accessory that’s going patent and huge as of late; the big bag is hot on its trail. Pick up a huge tote or bowling bag in black patent, resist the urge to match it with your wide patent belt (there’s always tomorrow), and you’ll be all set. Look to Jimmy Choo’s gold-buckled totes and to Anya Hindmarch’s roomy, luxe bowling bags for a little black patent inspiration.

And while we’re on the subject, bowling bags have found fashion favor once more. Bowling shapes abound on fall runways; Marni has released bowling bags in cream and dark brown, dressed up with chains and discs, while Chloe has beefed up its Paddington line with metallic bowling bags. Apart from bowling bags, the hottest big bags come in relaxed and rounded shapes, boasting soft edges, curved frames, and of course, lots of room.

Get The Look

For bag hags who are on the hunt for the new and improved big bag, hie off to SM for the latest textures and silhouettes – without the mind-blowing price tag. Load up on details and embellishments; fall’s harvest of bags are decidedly un-minimalist. Go nautical with stripes and braided (keep one eye peeled for braided handles), equestrian with straps and buckles.

Channel rocker chic with rings, studs, chains, medallions, chunky charms and enough metallic hardware to make any pierced rock icon a happy camper. Don’t be afraid of contrasting metallic embellishment – take your cue from Alexander McQueen’s tan leather-trimmed Novak tote, which features gold medallions, silver stitching and dark brass hardware all on one giant workhorse of a bag. Hot tip: take a cue from the fall fashion shows and carry your big bag of choice by its handles. Not only does it prevent you from bending to one side, helplessly overwhelmed by your own bag, but you’ll look as impossibly chic as the models who carted all of those giant totes down the fall runways.

So don’t be afraid to cart around everything you need to live your jam-packed, hectic and on-the-go life. In 2006, there’s no lack of large bags to help you look fab while doing it. Now if only one could look equally chic and effortless while rummaging for the house keys in that gorgeous but cavernous suede hobo.