The next step for Cesar Gaupo

Please don’t ask me what’s my inspiration," Cesar Gaupo warns before breaking into his signature laugh – so delicious and loud one is tempted to ask what he’s on and might we have some of it?

Less than a week before, his latest collection capped the Metrowear fashion series. You could just imagine how many from the media posed the dreaded question: "What is your inspiration for this collection?" He is tired of it, to tell the truth. He’s been tired of the question for years – and the guy’s been in the business of designing collections for more than three decades.

But if indeed one is a follower of Gaupo, be it his collections for the runway or for SM, you’d know his work is largely about playing with proportions and shapes, new ways of cutting and a daring use of colors. He’d be lying if he said his collection was inspired by his latest trip to Cambodia, a detail of a painting by Degas, or the color of the sky in China. And he does sometimes seem pressured to give a dramatic answer when the truth, plain and simple, has always been that the inspiration is the woman who wears his name.

"The clothes are not really outrageous, eh," he says of his holiday collection at Metrowear, a repertoire of cropped opera coats, silk satin trapeze dresses, mod-ish tunic tops long enough to reveal a champagne-pink bubble skirt underneath. "Everything is wearable. And the clothes are kind of modern and young. It is for women who love feminine clothes, women who adore romance, luxurious fabrics."

If a visual peg is necessary, it could easily be Gina Leviste, that ’80s model-turned-actress famous for her classic patrician nose, alabaster skin and wild curls – Gaupo’s first and only image model, sort of a fiercer Shalom Harlow overflowing with personality.

One could also look at Cherie Gil, who used to come to him in the ’80s for made-to-order clothes (he also did the actress’s wardrobe in some of her films, including Ishmael Bernal’s swan song Wating) and who had recently sent him, through a friend, this request: if he could possibly do a collection with her in mind.

Gina and Cherie are the essential Gaupo women: very sophisticated, inherently glamorous, possessed of that air of romance and a stupendous kind of femininity, a little daring and kooky. The perfect fitting forms for his lithe, knee-length dresses in very light jerseys and georgettes, and those opera coats.

While the Metrowear collection was generously applauded, the clothes were actually just the designer’s way of introducing his latest venture: his own line of elegant footwear. The pairs that walked the Rockwell Loft runway shared equal glowing notices with his clothes. The debut shoe collection will be unveiled when his store officially opens this December 6 at The Peninsula Manila Hotel.

Cesar was meeting with his partners regarding preparations for the opening when we visited him at his Bel-Air home for this interview. He yells, rising from his seat in his backyard foyer, to welcome us, holding a small bag of unflavored popcorn he’s been munching on. For a designer who is already considered an institution in Philippine fashion and achieved an international name as former creative director for Shanghai Tang, Cesar remains youthful and spirited.

Cesar’s light-as-air, sunny personality provides a contrast to the dim living and dining area surrounded by huge antique jars, dark wood, heavy Buddha icons and equally heavy coffee-table books, most of which are about fashion’s old guard.

He immediately invites us to the spread of pasta, chicken pie and suman his partners have brought for merienda before turning on the CD player to play a James Blunt album. He is wearing his signature look: white shirt, a pair of black drawstring pants and black sandals. He would for a moment remove his left sandal to slip on a satin brown stiletto, one of the pieces to be photographed for this story.

"In fairness, I have nice feet," he laughs. And it’s true, too, since the shoe fits him well. The shoe is a stunning four-inch-heel piece with a zip-up detail and pleated ankle strap in satin. Luxurious. Modern. Young.

"And it’s very comfortable," he says, standing up.

The same can be said of the rest of the 20-piece initial collection, mostly three-and-a-half to four-inch heels, with a price range that begins at P14,000 a pair.

Clearly, these are not your everyday footwear. There is a pair of black pumps in suede that is quite a piece of modern architecture, much like the wave-like canopies of a Frank Gehry structure, quietly but dramatically feminized with a black French lace overlay.

There is the pointy-toed ankle boot made of two tones (a light turquoise and brown) of crocodile leather, and the very fancy satin stiletto decorated with a gold snowflake studded with Swarovski and Preciosa crystals.

What is perhaps most Gaupo of all: a pair of peep-toe brown suede medium platforms with a padded insole covered in brocade – easy and relaxed, a royal mix of modesty and luxury with a hint of humor.

"Shoes are just accessories for whatever I do with clothes," says Cesar. "But it’s really very vital for me because they’ve always been my problem in the past. I make a collection and the footwear gets overlooked. So the envisioned look is not complete. I will have to ask the models to bring their own. Or even with clients, they will ask: gold shoes or silver shoes? It’s a shame and it’s a pity. I was asking myself, is this as far as it can go?"

So when the opportunity arose to explore the footwear business, he readily said yes. "I got excited because we have the same goal: to make good shoes."

To hear the designer tell it, there is nothing unique about the way he designs shoes. But the perplexing thing here is: the shoes look magical. He employs the same discipline he uses for clothing. "You have to look around for the right material, you have to conceptualize. Whatever you do on clothes, you follow the same story, you just play with material and texture, construction. But you do the same pattern as developing a line, you start from scratch and then you end up editing and then, finished product!"

His experience with shoes goes way back to when he was in-house designer for SM Department Store. While he was tasked to produce women’s ready-to-wear, he would assist Tessie Sy in supervising the buying of shoes from suppliers. "You more or less learn proportion, structure, and fit. It’s very architectural in nature."

The vision for the Gaupo footwear label, in contrast, is not as basic as the designer is wont to explain. The Peninsula store is just the tip of the iceberg. Cesar is planning to sell the shoes outside the country. The most immediate to-do on the agenda is to join the APLF trade fair in Hong Kong come fashion week in January, and then the shoes are headed to New York. Cesar has his spring/summer collection already twirling in his mind and he can’t wait for the fashionistas of New York to see them. The scale of this new venture is fueling Cesar’s excitement to no end. There is no hint of doubt in his voice. This is, after all, the guy who left the stability of his top-brass position at an international fashion and lifestyle house to move on and do other things. "How long can you make ’30s Chinese-inspired dresses naman kasi?"

But Shanghai Tang really helped Gaupo further cultivate that rare gift of being an artist with an informed business savvy. At the same time he was really able to see his potential – the length and breadth of what he could do; that he could still go out there and compete with the best of the international titans.

"When I was still in Hong Kong, people were already telling me, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." Hence the courage to push through with the dream of making the Gaupo label earn its place abroad. "I really have to go out and see the potential, and the reactions. Am I really good enough to make shoes?"

Which brings us to what essentially inspires the designer – or what drives him, anyway: the next big undertaking. He is driven by new ideas and the energy of what’s happening in the rest of the design world. "I get thrilled when there are new designers (he admires the creations of the young guns now, such as the latest collections from Ivarluski Aseron and Joey Samson). I really look around and get excited to know what’s going on beyond my territory. You will learn a lot of things from these young minds. Not that you have to go out with them. But you have to be aware of what they’re doing, and it’s very challenging at the same time."

New fabrics and materials inspire him, hence, he really goes out of his way to travel abroad, which he is not particularly fond of. "The very first question in London when I was interviewed for Shanghai Tang: ‘Do you love traveling?’ I said, ‘Oh, my God, should I lie?’ But with that job, you really have to travel. ‘Only for business, yes, but aside from that I don’t really love traveling.’ If I can get an opportunity for business, I will travel. But just for pleasure? I don’t think so." These days, he’s content staying at home or spending time with family.

Ultimately, there will always be that single inspiration that drives each and every Gaupo collection, be it clothes or footwear: the woman. Even when he is in the most enchanting places abroad, the vistas sort of fade in the backdrop. "Let’s say I’m in the Maldives and I’m feeling and thinking summer. And I see a woman walking, and then that woman gives me that inspiration because she has that kind of bearing, when she talks, when she moves."

By the time this interview winds down, Cesar is still in full throttle, laughing endlessly, walking here to there, attending to a client and to the photo shoot and to this interview, and being funny. Just for playfulness’ sake we go about asking Cesar the dreaded question: So if the inspiration for the shoes was the clothes because it was born from there, what was the inspiration for the clothes?

"I like your question," he says, then answers, "The shoes." And then, laughter.

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The Gaupo shop will open in December at the basement of The Peninsula Manila. For more information or an appointment, call Terry Falcon at 0917-518-2120.