“Creative people are critical: they don’t stop with the given and the (supposedly) “obvious.” They are imaginative. They make a habit of thinking in more open and simple ways, keeping their minds two steps ahead of things as they are. They are inventive. They consciously seek to devise new ways of thinking. And creative people are disciplined and persistent – creativity can require a certain kind of playfulness – but it does not mean just letting go. Creativity takes work.” –Anthony Weston, Creativity for Critical Thinkers, 2007.
Sthanlee Mirador, Bessie Badilla, Alan del Rosario, David Tupaz (back row); Janet Nepales, Michael Cinco, and Alexis “Bong” Monsanto Taken by Ruben V. Nepales at Lisa Lew’s Hollywood residence
“I thought I was on top of the world,” proclaims designer Alan Del Rosario after seeing the gown he made on a mannequin perched on the house’s rooftop in Hollywood.
Speaking of the world, our creative spirits were frozen by a million plus deaths of coronavirus in America Dec. 4, 2021, and worldwide, more than six million perished.
That was enough to scare folks into hibernation, but not the brave ones like Janet Susan R. Nepales. Little was going on in terms of public events, schools, offices, Broadway shows, movie houses, and school activities, except meetings on Zoom.
Janet Susan R. Nepales launched ‘FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World,’ on Dec. 3, 2021, while hundreds braved to join her outdoors in compliance with COVID-19 protocols.
Janet envisioned a museum to house all these finest gowns made by fifteen Filipino designers around the world: Manila, Dubai, Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, and San Diego. Wondering how she would do it, two folks rose to the occasion.
Without any footsteps to follow, Lisa Lew and David Tupaz actualized her vision. Mannequins were shipped from Las Vegas, dressed with Janet’s haute couture gowns, and placed in the host’s home.
In keeping with the atmospheric plan of the author, even cookies were imprinted with Janet’s logo, and artistry was predominant. She referred to Lisa and David as her “creative geniuses and her angels.”
Define fashion
Still, my overthinking brain asks, “What is there to celebrate from single bolts of fabric? Is this my subconscious bias?”
Recall how 10 ruffled yards of a light blue gown with a lavish train wrapped Lady Gaga’s body with such elegance?
Much like her song, excerpted here:
“Step into the room like it’s a catwalk
Fashion!
Singing to the tune, just to keep talking
Fashion!
Walk into the light
Display your diamonds and pearls in sight
Fashion!
Married to the night
I own the world, and we own the world
Are these scholastic or subversive products from the imaginative minds of irrepressible spirits drawn to create worldwide?
Is this what Bessie Badilla’s definition of fashion is? A composite of three elemental C’s: character – do I choose age appropriate or my mood for the moment?; confident – how I want to feel for a party, wedding, or event; comfort – her first criterion in looking for in trying out clothes. Or a fourth C? Did it connect?
‘Connected’
I was still looking for a writing muse until I attended the bridal shower of my niece, Jessica, who used the fourth element of fashion, the concept of being connected to the dress.
Janet Nepales inside Michael Cinco’s Dubai shop, taken from her Facebook post.
‘Connected’ was the descriptor Jessica used and how it made her feel. Jessica Del Rosario was dressed in a long dress with intricate lace and daisy flowered designs, with spaghetti straps, with her well-kept hair untousled and tidy. She told us in a bridal shower that she tried on 50 dresses in three dress shops, to which I quipped silently, she had that patience? As she was about to give up, a darling bridal gown ‘connected to her.’ Even more meaningful was that her mom, Rachel, also got her bridal gown from the same shop three decades ago.
She was raised as an artist with free-flowing imagination. During childhood, she drew with crayons and pentel pens. Her creativity was visible in a ‘DIY’ bridal shower, save-the-date cards, invitations, flower arrangements with stems wrapped with lemon slices, and choices of registry gifts. Every little detail reflected her sensibilities and quality standards, including twenty-four framed photos of the bride and groom’s nine years journey.
My query continued, reaching down to recall memories of my mother.
Was that fashion that I saw from my mother, Asuncion, daily? She was confident, composed, and happy when she donned her street clothes, coordinated in patterns and colors from dress, bag, and shoes. She was a diligent science and math teacher who commuted in Manila and took three buses from Cerritos to Los Angeles to teach for four decades in Catholic private schools, public schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the Artesia, Bellflower, and Cerritos School District.
Janet R. Nepales signed her book at Michael Cinco’s Dubai shop. Photo courtesy of Janet Nepales
I am seeing more connectedness. Might this be my divine push to write about what Janet’s book has achieved?
Jessica’s excited response: “How cool of a book that showcases Filipino designers!”
It is a collection of 15 fashion designers’ work in a coffee table book: Alan del Rosario, Alexis “Bong” Monsanto, David Tupaz, Ezra Santos, Francis Libiran, Furne One Amato, Josie Natori, Kenneth Barlis, Michael Cinco, Monique Lhuiller, Oliver Tolentino, Puey Quiñones, Rajo Laurel, RC Caylan and Rocky Gathercole. They hail from Manila, Dubai, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Diego.
The thematical categories are Roots, Home, Imagination, Hollywood, Tradition, Culture, Femininity, Architecture, and Beauty of God’s work in what we do.
‘Connected’ to a lifestyle is a criterion used by Alan Del Rosario, who reportedly can just sight see a woman as an example, Janet Nepales, a world-traveled journalist. From looking at her, he can design her fabulous clothes.
Colleagues at the Cannes Film Festival wondered how big Janet’s suitcase is. She showed them how small it is. Del Rosario’s gowns are packable and unwrinkled, a fundamental for traveling public figures like Janet.
She wore an original Tiffany-blue colored dress, embossed with flowers and a cape by Del Rosario when she accepted her multiple awards this year from the Los Angeles Press Club. Instead of Janet asking celebrities who made their dresses, she reversed this trend unwittingly when KCAL news anchor Pat Harvey stopped her to ask who designed her dress.
Did Alan create them with specific geometry of architectural forms, shapes, and synchronicity of shifted proportions, given his background on civil engineering? Imagine how that mannequin, if an actual person, felt while perched on that rooftop? Secretly, I wish to have a dress made by this designer.
Ten years ago, Oliver Tolentino designed for my sister Sion and her daughter Jennifer’s bridal gown. Both felt confidently beautiful, as I did. Oliver designed for me an off-shouldered, muted red gown. I had broad smiles wearing the gown.
Tolentino will be the first Filipino American designer to join Austria’s fashion week in September 2022, held in Vienna, the site of 400 balls every year.
Novel or novelty awaits Austrians. In the meantime, let’s find out more about this uplifting passion project.
Immersion in social creativity and diversity: The process
Social creativity is a process of drawing in people, a rich set of interconnections, contacts and initiating many layers of dialogues. It is drawing in diversity, a multiplicity of perspectives to usher new ideas from and to receive them with cultural humility, a stance that I don’t have all the answers to.
With diversity and openness to various ethnic perspectives, where in Los Angeles alone, 220 distinct languages are spoken, how do you do it when you are in Dubai, Italy, France, and Hollywood?
How do you combine social creativity and diversity, I asked Janet in a one-on-one interview in Dec. 2021?
PD: Given this passion project of a coffee table book, from its conception to planning to execution, please describe the creative process you took.
JRN: ”You are the first one to know that. You are the first one I told even before you published your own book. Now, I am happy to share with you my book.”
Janet preselected the designers based on her interviews. She identified the fashion icon images she wanted to include from decades of covering Hollywood celebrities as an officer of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. She then had to contact all the designers and secure their permission, including all their photographers. The work was laborious. She chose her team, an editor, her husband, Ruben V. Nepales, and her friend, Bessie Badilla as the curator and digital artist. In a few months, they were ready to publish the book.
Bessie has the reputational title of supermodel, earned from being on global magazine covers, as a Balenciaga asset. She is treasured by photographers for her ability to work with many cultures, easy-going personality, a sense of humor, and camaraderie. I experienced that while with her, taking photographs of the fog-covered Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise years ago.
I was curious as to the transition from supermodel to photographer and now a digital artist and her creative design process.
Her creative design process as a digital artist/curator: “After a successful first coffee table book for Sir Ruben, I took some months off from layout designing and publishing. The adrenaline high and excitement of actually completing an ambitious project like ‘Through a Writer’s Lens’ needed to calm down before I could start my next publication. I told Lady Jane to continue to mold her ideas of a red carpet book while I took a short break. I needed to clear my mind so I could start fresh on the book. In less than two months, I asked Lady Jane if she had a title for her tome, she responded: ‘FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World.’ I immediately went to work! If there were any low points, it was having to reject [hundreds of photos] that were too small that the program I was using (Adobe InDesign) would not accept.”
Not only did Bessie take the time to learn digital software to work with, but she also had a work ethic.
Her work process: “I worked on the book after dinner when our household quieted down. I would work until 3-4 in the morning in case I had any questions for Lady Jane, and then, she would be awake in Los Angeles. I enjoyed doing the layout and design of this book because the topic was easy for me. I understood the aesthetics of a good red carpet photo wherein both celebrity and dress complemented each other. I know fashion. It was my life, and I was successful in it.”
Note her confidence. Still, I was curious about the designers featured in this book. I asked Janet to share the first thing that comes to mind about each of them.
Alan is very structured — a person who followed his heart to become a fashion designer after majoring in civil engineering. It is a dream come true to see him dressing up as Michele Pfeiffer, Paula Abdul, Paris Hilton, and Lea Michele.
Michael Cinco has dressed up five beauty queens in the latest Miss Universe pageant. He is the ‘go-to’ designer of beauty queens. “Everybody feels like a princess when they go to the red carpet. He has dressed up Hollywood stars like Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Sofia Vergara, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and Beyoncé. He is bold,” Janet asserted.
Stunning Lady Gaga at the Golden Globes. Photo was taken by Sthanlee Mirador
Oliver Tolentino exhibited his gowns at LA Fashion Week. Janet affirmed his creativity and said, “He surprised me, he went over and beyond,” it is as if his creativity stepped up to higher levels.” He has dressed up Pia Wurtzbach, Jennifer Lee, Debbie Reynolds, and Carrie Fisher.
This coming Sept. 14, Tolentino will showcase 30 Fall/Winter outfits in Vienna, Austria Fashion Week.
Janet on Rocky Gathercole, “I was the last journalist to interview him before he passed away. Including him is a tribute to his work. He is an avant-garde. He dressed me up for a New York event, one of the fashion shows with Renee Salud.”
On Kenneth Barlis: “This is what the future will be. His work is being copied too.”
Alexis “Bong” Monsanto – “His works are out of this world, [it] should be fantasy. Something you will want to wear if you want to be somebody else, daring, can stand out.”
RC Caylan – “He is daring, not scared of his critics, was on the Dubai runway, and [he] showed his creativity and originality.”
Furne One Amato – “Think of fantasy, think out of this world, futuristic and spectacular.”
Monique Lhuillier – “You think of a princess on the red carpet. She started it all. She even dressed up Former First Lady Michelle Obama.”
Ezra Santos – “He is part of the respected trilogy, the top three designers in Dubai, all in Vogue. Yet, he is humble, soft spoken, simple and his works speak for himself.”
Puey Quiñones – “He recently got married and came out with a shoe line. He dressed me up, my daughter Bianca, the bride, my younger daughter Ella, the Maid of Honor for Bianca’s wedding. He created simple, feminine dresses perfect for the occasion, a garden wedding.”
Rajo Laurel – “Pia Clemente, the first Filipina American Oscar nominee in 2005, was dressed by Rajo Laurel and David Tupaz. Rajo is a pioneer, meticulous, and perfectionist. He creates simple, daring, and classic dresses.”
Francis Libiran – “He supports Philippine fabric weavers and uses a lot of indigenous textiles from different parts of the archipelago. His favorite is jusi, a mixture of pineapple threads and silk; piña, made from pineapple fibers and abaca, made of banana tree fibers and abaca plant fibers. He has dressed up Darren Criss, Billie Porter, Tyra Banks, and Gwen Stefani, among others. He has also dressed up Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Gray who are both Miss Universe holders and Megan Young, Miss World title holder.”
Josie Natori – “She was the first to bring fashion to the lingerie world.” Janet said that Natori shared: “After the Grammys. in 2019, you can see from our website, Lady Gaga came out with our bra…literally; she was just wearing a panty hose, a coat and a bra. Amazing.”
David Tupaz – “He was already dressing up Hollywood stars like Cris Jenner, Lisa Rinna, and Christine Baranski and the like as early as I can remember. They were even walking the runway for David even before it became a trend.”
Confidence begets confidence, the feeling one is home. And in being home to oneself, one can confidently be fashionable.
On being on the red carpet, Janet described that when she puts on the gown, “Being myself, but also a different persona is being expressed, the gown brings out something in you. You end up giving life to the dresses. It is like hidden personalities, the little Janets, the Miss Janets, putting on the elegant dress, and you become yourself plus more.”
Janet described how Bessie Badilla captures the impact of walking the red carpet. She becomes a different Bessie on the runway. “She knows what would move folks, as she has the eye, the innate creative aesthetics, just like how she picked out Rita Moreno wearing an original Pitoy Moreno gown, a classic to be included in my book,” she added.
Thelma Sioson-San Juan, a lifestyle editor based in the Philippines, considered this fashion book to pierce the invisibility veil. She writes, “there is no pigeon-holing the Filipino fashion design, not even on the red carpet. It is minimalism one moment, maximalist next (without visual breathing space), restrained now, flamboyant next, classic now, and cutting edge next.”
To me, this book was a brave shout-out to the world-class artistry of Filipino designers from Manila, New York, Dubai, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Diego. It gave folks upliftment, a source of connecting with friends from the community, and also for Hollywood mainstream producers to get a taste of sisterhood and coming together for Janet’s book.
It is also the first book to assemble the finest works of Filipino designers, with Janet and Bessie as critics with good eyes, capturing icons’ images taken mostly by Sthanlee B. Mirador about who is leading the culture.
It is also a book that illustrates what’s functional and what’s beautiful, but also the embedded creativity and hard work behind fashion, where sewn beads, crystals, sequins, lace, buttons, and sashes are crying out to be seen as beautiful and appreciated as more than just the stereotypical debauchery of the rich.
Fashion is wearable art, a canvas where each designer left their valuable imprint and signature in stitches.
I have now come to terms with what I experienced with Jessica, my niece; Asuncion, my mom; and Janet’s beautiful book for Filipino designers. I look forward to her next book about her interviews with these designers and how their creative instincts were nurtured from home or nature.
Within a few weeks in December 2021, all hardbound copies sold out. There are paperbound copies now available on Amazon. Don’t miss taking this book home, if to just enjoy the colors, textures, fabrics and the icons of Hollywood and their insights and humble beginnings against all odds.
I had intimate moments exchanged with my husband’s brother, sister, nieces, and their partners. It was a lot to process. But the most beautiful image was the release of 20 homing white doves from Irvine back to their home in Hacienda Heights.
First, CJ, the spouse who cared for her during her illness, released the first dove. It flew. Then, the three children, M, G, and M all released the doves at the same time, and they flew in unison. While the four flew, they waited for five more to join them until all twenty were released from their wooden cage. One lingered behind and did not fly, instead, the dove trainer caught the dove while all nineteen flew together, back to their home, except for the one that dilly-dallied.
It was a perfect metaphor that we all strive to be home, our eternal resting place, believing in life, death, and everlasting life, as practicing Catholics.
During the burial, I sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit: strong winds that blew down all three wreaths. The winds gave us a brief respite in the 87F weather, and the rest was still air and heat.
It was a day after my 70th birthday when we attended the wake and viewing to say goodbye to Sarah Flores Delacruz.
You could sense how she was endeared highly by her family and her faith community. I was proud of my daughter, C who described holidays spent in Irvine with her cousins, now sisters to her.
All came dressed in white, a uniformity we appreciated, uniting in grief, as we approached the burial site, the next day, perched on a hilltop.
Wish I could write more, but in deference to the family, not to social media, these snippets are to memorialize the love I felt.
I spoke to her spouse and said, “You showed her sterling love, the finest example.” He then shared what were some of his inner thoughts, ideas, and feelings.
Thank you, Holy Spirit and family organizers, for these beautiful days of grieving, full of love, rosary, prayers, open mic, and mass. The reception had tastefully curated foods that Sarah liked, and the tables were tastefully decorated with wildflowers.
On my 70th birthday, Aug. 11, I want to say a prayer of appreciating my two precious gifts from God. Thank you po Lord, for my C and C, as also, my precocious enjoyable wholesome #princess2015la
Of course, my adventurous husband who took us to more than half of the national parks, and lots of state and county parks. Maraming Salamat po and thanks google for surfacing these precious photos.
And after more than 40 years of grassroots organizing, over 30 years of public service and over 14 years of being a community journalist/features writer, I have met hundreds of beautiful soulful folks.
———-
Snippets of virtual messages I got:
Haluhalu Tita Prosy, happy happy birthday. Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, today and every year, for the rest of your life. Please know that you’ve always been a blessing and inspiration to everyone around you.
“Aloha and “Hau`oli Lā Hānau” to you. Hope that you are still holding up well after the past few years. Take care.”
“Your birthday is going to be so great. I’ll make sure of it by praying to the Lord through the intercession of St. Anthony of Padua, that may this new stage of your life will come full of successes and blessings and may grace be poured out upon you.
Stay safe and well always, Tita Prosy
God bless you always
Best Wishes with love and virtual hugs,
Bro. Luke, rcj
PS
I hope you enjoy your birthday celebration with your family and keep in mind that God’s love is always with you. Happy Birthday!“
Describe dress worn in Golden Globes 2023 made by David Tupaz. Bag specially made for Janet Rodriguez Nepales by Mercedes Jewel Brunelli
“Creative people are critical: they don’t stop with the given and the (supposedly) “obvious.” They are imaginative. They make a habit of thinking in more open and simple ways, keeping their minds two steps ahead of things as they are. They are inventive. They consciously seek to devise new ways of thinking. And creative people are disciplined and persistent – creativity can require a certain kind of playfulness – but it does not mean just letting go. Creativity takes work.” –Anthony Weston, Creativity for Critical Thinkers, 2007.
“I thought I was on top of the world.” Alan Del Rosario, 2022, in seeing the gown he made on a mannequin perched at the house’s rooftop in Hollywood.
Speaking of the world, our creative spirits were frozen from a million plus deaths of Coronavirus in America Dec. 4, 2021, and worldwide, more than six million perished.
That was enough to scare folks into hibernation, but not the brave ones, like Janet Susan R. Nepales. Little was going on in terms of public events, schools, offices, Broadway shows, movie houses, and school activities, except meetings on Zoom.
Janet Susan R. Nepales launched ‘FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World,’ on Dec. 3, 2021, while hundreds braved to join her outdoors, in compliance with Covid-19 protocols.
Janet envisioned a museum to house all these finest gowns made by fifteen Filipino designers around the world: Manila, Dubai, Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas and San Diego. Wondering how she would do it, two folks rose to the occasion.
Without any footsteps to follow, Lisa Lew and David Tupaz actualized her vision. Mannequins were shipped from Las Vegas, dressed with Janet’s haute couture gowns, and placed in the host’s home.
In keeping with the atmospheric plan of the author, even cookies were imprinted with Janet’s logo and artistry was predominant. She referred to Lisa and David as her “creative geniuses and her angels.”
Define Fashion!
Still my overthinking brain asks, “What is there to celebrate from single bolts of fabric? Is this my subconscious bias?”
Recall how ten ruffled yards of light-blue gown with a lavish train, wrapped Lady Gaga’s body with such elegance?
Much like her song, excerpted here:
“Step into the room like it’s catwalk
Fashion!
Singing to the tune, just to keep talking
Fashion!
Walk into the light
Display your diamonds and pearls in sight
Fashion!
Married to the night
I own the world, we own the world
Are these scholastic or subversive products from the imaginative minds of irrepressible spirits drawn to create, worldwide?
Is this what Bessie Badilla’s definition of fashion as composite of three elemental C’s: character – do I choose age appropriate or my mood for the moment?; confident – how I want to feel for a party, wedding or event; comfort – her first criterion in looking for in trying out clothes. Or a fourth C, did it connect?
‘Connected’
I was still looking for a writing muse until I attended the bridal shower of my niece, Jessica, who used the fourth element of fashion, the concept of being connected to the dress.
‘Connected’ was the descriptor Jessica used, how it made her feel. Jessica Del Rosario was dressed in an intricately lace with daisy flowered designs long dress, with spaghetti straps, with her well-kept hair, untousled, and tidy. She told us in a bridal shower that she tried on fifty dresses in three dress shops, to which I quipped silently, she had that patience? As she was about to give up, a darling bridal gown ‘connected to her.’ Even more meaningful was that her mom, Rachel, also got her bridal gown from the same shop, three decades ago.
She was raised as an artist with free flowing imagination. During childhood, she was drawing with crayons and pentel pens. Her creativity was visible in a ‘diy’ do it yourself bridal shower, save the date cards, invitations, flower arrangements with stems wrapped with lemon slices, and choices of registry gifts. Every little detail reflected her sensibilities and quality standards, including twenty-four framed photos of the bride and groom’s nine years journey.
My query continued, reaching down to recall memories of my mother.
Was that fashion that I saw from my mother, Asuncion, daily? She was confident, composed, and happy when she donned her street clothes, coordinated in patterns, colors from dress, bag and shoes. She was a diligent science and math teacher who commuted in Manila, and took three buses from Cerritos to Los Angeles to teach for four decades in Catholic private schools, public schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Artesia, Bellflower, and Cerritos School District.
I am seeing more connectedness. Might this be my divine push to write about what Janet’s book has achieved?
Jessica’s excited response: “How cool of a book that showcases Filipino designers!”
It is a collection of fifteen fashion designers’ work in a coffee table book: Alan del Rosario, Alexis “Bong” Monsanto, David Tupaz, Ezra Santos, Francis Libiran, Furne One Amato, Josie Natori, Kenneth Barlis, Michael Cinco, Monique Lhuiller, Oliver Tolentino, Puey Quiñones, Rajo Laurel, RC Caylan and Rocky Gathercole. They hail from Manila, Dubai, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Diego.
The thematical categories are: Roots, Home, Imagination, Hollywood, Tradition, Culture, Femininity, Architecture and Beauty of God’s work in what we do.
‘Connected’ to a lifestyle is a criterion used by Alan Del Rosario, who reportedly can just sight see a woman as an example, Janet Nepales, a world-travelled journalist. From looking at her, he can design her fabulous clothes.
Colleagues in the Cannes Film Festival wondered how big Janet’s suitcase is. She showed them how small it is. Del Rosario’s gowns are packable, and unwrinkled, a fundamental for travelling public figures like Janet.
She wore an original Tiffany-blue colored dress, embossed with flowers and a cape by Del Rosario,when she accepted her multiple awards this year from the Los Angeles Press Club. Instead of Janet asking celebrities who made their dresses, she reversed this trend unwittingly when KCAL news anchor Pat Harvey stopped her to ask who designed her dress.
Did Alan create them with specific geometry of architectural forms, shapes, synchronicity of shifted proportions, given his background on civil engineering? Imagine how that mannequin, if an actual person, felt while perched on that rooftop? Secretly, I have a wish to have a dress made by this designer.
Ten years ago, Oliver Tolentino designed my sister Sion and her daughter Jennifer’s bridal gown. Both felt confidently beautiful, as I did. Oliver designed for me an off-shouldered muted red gown. I had broad smiles wearing the gown.
Tolentino will be the first Filipino American designer to join Austria’s fashion week in September 2022, held in Vienna, the site of 400 balls every year.
Novel or novelty awaits Austrians. In the meantime, let’s find out more about this uplifting passion project.
Immersion in Social Creativity and Diversity: The Process
Social creativity is a process of drawing in people, a rich set of interconnections, contacts and initiating many layers of dialogues. It is drawing in diversity, a multiplicity of perspectives to usher new ideas from and to receive them with cultural humility, a stance that I don’t have all the answers to.
With diversity, an openness to various ethnic perspectives, where in Los Angeles alone, 220 distinct languages are spoken, how do you do it when you are in Dubai, Italy, France and Hollywood?
How do you combine social creativity and diversity, I asked Janet in a one-on-one interview on Dec. 2021?
PD: Given this passion project of a coffee table book, from its conception, to planning, to execution, please describe the creative process you took.
JRN: ”You are the first one to know that. You are the first one I told even before you published your own book. Now, I am happy to share with you my book.”
Janet preselected the designers based on her interviews, and identified the fashion icon images she wanted included from decades of covering Hollywood celebrities, as an officer of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. She then had to contact all the designers, secure their permission, including all their photographers. The work was laborious. She chose her team of editor, her husband Ruben V. Nepales and her friend, Bessie Badilla as curator and digital artist. In a few months, they were ready to publish the book.
Bessie Badilla has a reputational title of Supermodel, earned from being on global magazine covers, as a Balenciaga asset. She is treasured by photographers for her ability to work with many cultures, easy going personality, a sense of humor, and camaraderie. I experienced that, while with her, taking photographs of the fog-covered Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise years ago.
I was curious as to the transition from supermodel to photographer and now digital artist and her creative design process.
On her creative design process as a digital artist/curator: “After a successful first coffee table book for Sir Ruben, I took some months off from lay-out designing and publishing. The adrenaline high and excitement of actually completing an ambitious project like, “Through a Writer’s Lens” needed to calm down before I could start my next publication. I told Lady Jane to continue to mold her ideas of a red carpet book while I took a short break. I needed to clear my mind so I could start fresh on the book. In less than two months, I asked Lady Jane if she had a title for her tome, she responded: “FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World.” I immediately went to work! If there were any low points, it was having to reject [hundreds of photos] that were too small that the program I was using (Adobe InDesign) would not accept.”
Not only did Bessie take the time to learn a digital software to work with, but she also had a work ethic.
On her work process: “I worked on the book after dinner when our household quieted down. I would work until 3-4 in the morning in case I had any questions for Lady Jane, then she would be awake in Los Angeles. I enjoyed doing the lay out and design of this book because the topic was easy for me. I understood the aesthetics of a good red carpet photo wherein both celebrity and dress complemented each other. I know fashion. It was my life and I was successful in it.”
Note her confidence. Still, I was curious about the designers featured in this book. I asked Janet to share the first thing that comes to mind about each of them.
Alan Del Rosario is very structured, who followed his heart to become a fashion designer, after majoring in civil engineering. It is a dream come true to see him dressing up Michele Pfeiffer, Paula Abdul, Paris Hilton and Lea Michele.”
Michael Cinco has dressed up five beauty queens in the latest Miss Universe pageant. He is the ‘go to’ designer of beauty queens. “Everybody feels like a princess when they go to the red carpet. He has dressed up Hollywood stars like Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Sofia Vergara, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé. He is bold,” Janet asserted.
Oliver Tolentino exhibited his gowns in LA Fashion Week. Janet affirmed his creativity and said, “He surprised me, he went over and beyond,” it is as if his creativity stepped up to higher levels.” He has dressed up Pia Wurtzbach, Jennifer Lee, Debbie Reynolds, and Carrie Fisher.
This coming Sept. 14, Tolentino will showcase 30 Fall/Winter outfits in Vienna, Austria Fashion Week.
Janet on Rocky Gathercole, “I was the last journalist to interview him before he passed away. Including him is a tribute to his work. He is an avant garde. He dressed me up for a New York event, one of the fashion shows with Renee Salud.”
Kenneth Barlis – “This is what the future will be. His work is being copied too.”
Alexis “Bong”Monsanto – “His works are out of this world, [it] should be fantasy. Something you will want to wear if you want to be somebody else, daring, can stand out.”
RC Caylan – “He is daring, not scared of his critics, was on the Dubai runway and [he] showed his creativity and originality.”
Furne One Amato – “Think of fantasy, think out of this world, futuristic and spectacular.”
Monique Lhuillier – “You think of a princess on the red carpet. She started it all. She even dressed up Former First Lady Michelle Obama.”
Ezra Santos – “He is part of the respected trilogy, the top three designers in Dubai, all in Vogue. Yet, he is humble, soft spoken, simple and his works speak for himself.”
Puey Quiñones – “He recently got married and came out with a shoe line. He dressed me up, my daughter Bianca, the bride, my younger daughter Ella, the Maid of Honor for Bianca’s wedding. He created simple, feminine dresses perfect for the occasion, a garden wedding.”
Rajo Laurel – “Pia Clemente, the first Filipina American Oscar nominee in 2005 was dressed by Rajo Laurel and David Tupaz. Rajo is a pioneer, meticulous, and a perfectionist. He creates simple, daring, and classic dresses.”
Francis Libiran – “He supports Philippine fabric weavers and uses a lot of indigenous textiles from different parts of the archipelago. His favorite is jusi, a mixture of pineapple threads and silk; piña made from pineapple fibers and abaca made of banana tree fibers and abaca plant fibers. He has dressed up Darren Criss, Billie Porter, Tyra Banks, Gwen Stefani, among others. He has also dressed up Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Gray who are both Miss Universe holders and Megan Young, Miss World title holder.”
Josie Natori – “She was the first to bring fashion to the lingerie world.” Janet said that Natori shared:”After the Grammys. in 2019, you can see from our website, Lady Gaga came out with our bra…literally; she was just wearing a panty hose, a coat and a bra. Amazing.”
David Tupaz – “He was already dressing up Hollywood stars like Cris Jenner, Lisa Rinna and Christine Baranski and the like as early as I can remember. They were even walking the runway for David even before it became a trend.”
Confidence begets confidence, the feeling one is home. And in being home to oneself, one can confidently be fashionable.
On being on the red carpet, Janet described that when she puts on the gown, “Being myself, but also a different persona is being expressed, the gown brings out something in you. You end up giving life to the dresses. It is like hidden personalities, the little Janets, the Miss Janets, putting on the elegant dress and you become yourself plus more.”
Janet described how Bessie Badilla captures the impact of walking the red carpet. She becomes a different Bessie on the runway. “She knows what would move folks, as she has the eye, the innate creative aesthetics, just like how she picked out Rita Moreno wearing an original Pitoy Moreno gown, a classic to be included in my book,” she added.
Thelma Sioson-San Juan, a lifestyle editor based in the Philippines, considered this fashion book as piercing the invisibility veil: “there is no pigeon-holing the Filipino fashion design, not even on the red carpet. It is minimalism one moment, maximalist next (without visual breathing space), restrained now, flamboyant next, classic now and cutting edge next.”
To me, this book was a brave shout out to the world-class artistry of Filipino designers from Manila, New York, Dubai, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego. It gave folks upliftment, a source of connecting with friends from the community, and also for Hollywood mainstream producers to get a taste of sisterhood and coming together for Janet’s book.
It is also the first book to assemble the finest works of Filipino designers, with Janet and Bessie as critics with good eyes, capturing icons’ images taken mostly by Sthanlee B. Mirador, about who is leading the culture.
It is also a book that illustrated what’s functional, what’s beautiful, but also the embedded creativity, and hard work behind fashion, where sewn beads, crystals, sequins, lace, buttons, sashes are crying out to be seen as beautiful and appreciated as more than just the stereotypical debauchery of the rich.
Fashion is wearable art, a canvas where each designer left their valuable imprint and signature in stitches.
I have now come to terms with what I experienced with Jessica, my niece; Asuncion, my mom; and Janet’s beautiful book for Filipino designers. I look forward to her next book about her interviews with these designers and how their creative instincts were nurtured from home or nature.
Within a few weeks in December 2021, all hardbound copies sold out. There are paperbound copies now available on Amazon. Don’t miss taking this book home if to just enjoy the colors, textures, fabrics and the icons of Hollywood and their insights and humble beginnings against all odds.
Photo 1 : Sthanlee Mirador, courtesy of the artist.
Photo 2: Sthanlee Mirador, Bessie Badilla, Alan del Rosario, David Tupaz (back row); Janet Nepales, Michael Cinco and Alexis “Bong” Monsanto. Taken by Ruben V. Nepales at Lisa Lew’s Sunset Blvd.house.
Photo 3: Janet Rodriguez Nepales signing her book at Michael Cinco’s Dubai shop, taken from her Facebook post.
Photo 4: Janet Rodriguez Nepales at Michael Cinco’s Dubai shop, taken from her Facebook post.
Photo 5: Taken at Lisa Lew’s house by Ruben V. Nepales. The designers with Janet Nepales holding her book.
Photos 6, 7, 8: Janet Nepales inside Michael Cinco’s Dubai shop, taken from her Facebook post.
Photo 9: Janet Nepales at the Cannes Film Festival in an Oliver Tolentino original, taken by Ruben V. Nepales.
Photo 10: Jessica Del Rosario, the bride to be, in her bridal shower dress, taken by Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz
Photo 11: Stunning Lady Gaga taken by Sthanlee Mirador, photo taken by Sthanlee Mirador via Bessie Badilla
Photo 12: Bessie Badilla, taken by Filbert Kung
“It is compassion that removes the heavy bar, opens the door to freedom, makes the narrow heart as wide as the world. Compassion takes away from the heart the inert weight, the paralyzing heaviness; it gives wings to those who cling to the lowlands of the self. “ Nyanaponika Thera
“Courage is the essence of faith. Only the brave can have faith. A wise person is willing to fight his battles within himself. He eventually becomes established in a higher state of mind.“ Swami Ashokananda
“To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life. But to feel the affection that comes from those whom we do not know, from those unknown to us, who are watching over our sleep and solitude, over our dangers and our weaknesses – that is something still greater and more beautiful because it widens out the boundaries of our being, and unites all living things.“ Pablo Neruda, Childhood and Poverty
“The writer cannot be a mere storyteller, he cannot be a mere teacher; he cannot merely X-ray society’s weaknesses, its ills, its perils, he or she must be actively involved shaping its present and its future.” Saro-Wiwa
OTaken today at 928am, the fog partially obscures the horizon in the breakwater cove and creates a mysterious aura of what’s next? What’s next for US democracy, obscured by the fog of greed for power? Yet, even with the obscurity, the light shines and is reflected by the clear waters below, the people who care about American democracy.
The 6th of January, 2021 was remembered when the former 45th US President hang onto power that resulted in over 140 injured, deaths of police officers, and 4 suicides. His greed for power resulted in families losing their loved fathers, brothers, sons, and husbands.
“Mon’s performance at Catalina was the alarm clock [that] my jazz spirit needed to wake from its catatonic dormancy throughout the pandemic! It was a great jolt of jazz as Mon covered standards, new materials, and Tagalog songs (with his children Carlo and Nicole along for the ride!) The great Hoagy Carmichael (who wrote my dad’s favorite “Stardust”) penned another great composition called “Skylark” which Mon sang with such finesse and elegance. One of my personal highlights was Mon’s performance of the Gregory Porter tune “Take Me to the Alley” (I actually heard Gregory Porter sing that when he opened for Diana Krall at the Hollywood Bowl a few years ago). All in all, [it was] such a wonderful night of music by a consummate performer.” – Ted Benito, a jazz impresario/producer.
The tree and me
Accomplished. Consummate. Generous. Kind. Mon David generated results that were more than exquisite, more than a matter of techniques, more than the expressions of his feelings; he entered the realm of spirit.
It felt like a person kneeling in prayer, hitting every note, every emotion, every cadence, on pitch.
Songs about homecoming, family, being in love, planting trees that provide comfort, shade, “rather plant a sapling tree, lay my ashes, throw my body…our seeds will scatter far and wide across God’s fertile countryside, the tree and me,” he sang.
Ted Benito described Mon’s rendition, “which he dedicated to the frontliners [the nurses, the doctors, the first responders] became a call to action. Not for anything physical or political… for just being human…feeling compassion…respecting humanity.“
It makes us recall that in every man’s life, there comes a time, sooner or later when his soul draws the line. One starts to think, as one listens, “Who am I? But, truly who am I? Am I an isolated spark of dust, briefly lit, and destined to fade forever? Or am I a fragment of a greater humanity, waiting to return to my own Home? It is a passionate inquiry, having an urgency born of our encounter with life and proximity to death,” as Zalman Schacter-Shalomi, a Rabbi wrote in “From Ageing to Sageing.”
Why not, when close to two years into the Coronavirus pandemic, we are mourning 770,891 deaths in the US, in a population of 331,000,000. But not just in the United States, the virus has claimed 5,145,045 lives worldwide in over 190 countries. In recent months, Facebook posts from the Philippines were on untimely deaths: musician, filmmaker, civil rights lawyer. Sampaloc in Manila had 80% of its residents, afflicted with Coronavirus.
Mind you, it was not Halloween and we were past Dia de los Muertos or All Souls Day. Yet, it felt somber, still, but also joyful, a bit apprehensive to be indoors.
I had an unusual reaction to the “homecoming” title — was this a prelude to retire perhaps? Yet, he told us his hometown is in Santo Tomas, Pampanga and now, Canoga Park, while singing “No more blues, I am going home, Home is where the heart is, no more tears…no more fears.”
Could he be yearning for another home? Or simply saying: “LA, find a place for me. City of Angels that’s where I wanna be. Been living here 15 years…living in this beautiful City of Angel’s parks, beaches,” a Bill Withers song adapted to Mon’s sentiments for the night.
The band and the origins of the lullaby
When Mon sang “Lullaby for Nanay,” many were moved, some choked, and even a few more wiped away their tears, men included. It must have been perhaps that we were all collectively suffering while mourning hundreds of thousands of deaths, including Mon’s own mother, Ima who passed away in 2020.
“From the moment I heard NY – based harpist, Ms. Riza Printup played it at one of the Fil-Am Jazz festivals at Catalina Jazz Bar and Grill, the ‘Lullaby for Nanay’ melody has been etched in my heart and inspired me to write the words. Lalo pong naging matingkad noong nagpahinga na si Ima during the covid period. (It even became more intense when Ima died during the covid period). It was quite a challenge in front of a live audience, dahil iniiwasan ko ang bumigay habang inaawit ko. (as I tried not to give into my grief, while I sang it). I’m always reminded of her habilin at patnubay (of her last will and guidance) -“Monching, pursue what’s in your heart and surrender everything to God.”
“Kalinga mo, baon ko, pakakaingatan ko – Your nurturing care is my provision, I will take good care of it,” Mon sang with the intensity of his love for his Mom.
We felt his pain. We saw his struggle to maintain composure. “Bawat sandali at bawat galaw laan ko at alay ko sa iyo Nanay.patnubay mo ay baon ko…pagibig mong dalisay.” (Every moment and every move, I dedicate and offer to you, Nanay, your guiding lesson is my provision as your unconditional pure love).
It was as if his soul was imprinted not just by his Ima, but many jazz artists he paid homage to, that night: Beatles, Gregory Porter, Billie Holliday, Oscar Brown, Jr., John Hendricks and Leonard Bernstein, the composer, conductor, pianist and humanitarian.
As generous as Mon was in his sharing his feelings and his experiences, so were his bandmates in the way they accompanied him. In synch. Respectful. On cue. Not competing in volume with the vocal space.
Larry Koonse, Mon’s self-declared birthday gift, was simply prolific on the guitar, yet nuanced and quite playful.
Tateng Katindig played with very few music sheets and improvised with flair, as he made the piano keys feel like butter, playing the entire range of sounds on the piano.
Abe Lagrimas, Jr. was as prolific with drums as his ukulele that at times, he is referred to as a one-man band, and Mon asked him in jest, not to consider entering the ‘world of voice’ onstage or else, he will be muted by Abe’s talents, and Edwin Livingston who played the bass quite well.
‘In My Life’
As we said our goodbyes to Nicole David that night, an excited Rex Sampaga, a music industry professional, shared his feedback: “’In My Life’: a very nice waltz-like arrangement in ¾ time, while keeping the integrity of the melody and song written by Lennon/McCartney. I think that both Beatles would have approved of this thoughtful and jazzy arrangement.”
Nicole sang the opening bars with her velvety smooth voice, hooking us up to hear more of the new arrangement.
Even Michelle Sy was equally moved: “But one song that truly touched me deeply (and it always does) is ‘In My Life’ a duet by Mon and his daughter, Nicole. A duet between father and daughter in itself touched me even more because of what the song imparts – the love we all remember as the most significant, the deepest of them all. And as I reminisced (as I always do when I hear this song) I am always reminded of how important it is to love one’s self in the most unconditional way because it is through this love that I know I can give love and kindness and compassion to others – to family, to friends, to extended family, to strangers. It is a melancholy song if seen with earthbound eyes. But it is a spirit-filled song when taken as a spiritual homage to what we spiritual beings do as we walk through this life here on earth. It is truly a very powerful spiritual song in my book.”
Do you recall earlier what I wrote about Mon reaching the realm of his spirit? Much like MJ Harden, a singer in Hawaii, featured in Hawaiian Elders Speak, who said: ”Every person is an individual. I think what counts is your expression, your personal feeling, When you hear a song, you learn it, you know it, and you take it down and strain it through your heart. Open the ears of your heart and you can hear something good all the time.”
As Nicole called his brother, Carlo onstage to do a Tagalog song with Mon, she asked him “what do you recall about Dad that had the most impact for you?”
Carlo responded that at 14 years old, he was helping out as a production assistant onstage during his dad’s concert. One waiter admired Mon’s Barong Tagalog (an intricately hand-embroidered formal shirt made of pineapple fibers or jusi). After the concert, Mon took it off and gave it as a souvenir gift to this stranger.
The true benefit of Mon’s generosity is beyond the material gift to this waiter.
It is an inner revolution, a lesson learned by a 14-year-old Carlo, but also, it gave “fire to the soul” of Mon to become more fluid, to be more willing to take a risk and the boundaries disappeared between him and the stranger/waiter, and together they merged into whole, a humanity that Michelle Sy became part of, feeling one with father, daughter, and Carlo that evening.
It was a moment touching the deepest strata of our beings, as Piero Ferrucci wrote in the “The Power of Kindness,” “for the generous person, borders are permeable. What is yours – your suffering, your problems is also mine. This is compassion. What is mine – my possessions, my body, my knowledge and abilities, my time and resources, my energy is also yours. This is generosity.”
When Nicole sang “Two is Better than One,” a song by Taylor Swift and Martin Johnson, we were seeing the synergy created by a loving dad who calls his daughter Gel, short for an angel, a mom who pushes to connect to her creativity, to her craft, that moments earlier before soundcheck, she was giving her twins their bath so they can come with their dad, who was just getting off work, so all can join Mon for his birthday concert.
“Two is Better than One” truly is a gift from Nicole’s beautiful velvety voice that gives meaning to “Maybe it is true I can’t live without you, maybe it is true two is better than one.
And while Carlo sings, as he plays the guitar, he glances at where his family sat: Tala with her mom, Hanika.
An endearing walk back through the past, with APO singers that Mon was part of, the family of Mon, Carlo and Nicole sang a homage, a Song of friendship, Awit ng Barkada, a song for the ‘tribe’, ‘the clan’, the ‘close friends group’ and instead of friends, this family of singers: “Hirap at ginhawa, kasama mo kami, kasama mo, kasama ninyo,” (In struggles and in comfort, I am with you, with you, with all.)
Mon leaves nothing but love towards the end of his show, and even as he sang Kalakbuhay, a journey mate, he reminds us with Gregory Porter’s song “Take Me to the Alley,” a favorite of Ted Benito’s, as ours, the expressions on Mon’s lyrics as he sang these: “Take me to the afflicted one, take me to the lonely ones that somehow lost their ways, let them hear me say, that I am your friend, come to my table, rest in my garden, you will have a part. the hungry ones, the tired ones, I am your friend.”
And with the untiring generosity of Ann’s, his wife’s unconditional support, Mon’s children: Paolo, Nicole, Carlo and Mika who all attended with their spouses and partner with Mon’s grandchildren: Noah, 7 years old; Nico and Leo 4 ½-year-old twins; Bella – 3 years old and Tala – 2 ½ years old who all joined Mon to greet him a happy birthday, the audience saw first hand a joyful sight of family love onstage.
That evening, our hearts were warmed up, uplifted by the songs of Mon David and family, nurtured by a very loving Ima, that continues to lit Monching’s hearts, as Ann’s heart to us all, we were all moved to give the Barkada David an enduring standing ovation.
A mother’s heart, now deceased Ima, still welcomed us all through her son and his family! Mabuhay kayong lahat David family! Long live the David family! There is no singing family like yours, kept alive by your circle of love and love for the community!
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Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz, J.D. writes a weekly column for Asian Journal, called “Rhizomes.” She has been writing for AJ Press for 13 years. She also contributes to Balikbayan magazine. Her training and experiences are in science, food technology, law and community volunteerism for 4 decades. She holds a B.S. Degree from the University of the Philippines, a law degree from Whittier College School of Law in California and a certificate on 21st Century Leadership from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She has been a participant in NVM writing workshops taught by Prof. Peter Bacho for 4 years and Prof. Russell Leong. She has travelled to France, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Costa Rica, Mexico and over 22 national parks in the US, in her pursuit of love for nature and the arts.
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