How Nat Manilag stitches up his dreams

Despite the fashion photographs in my column today, I still will not attempt to write a fashion article. Instead, I will write a passion story.

One’s passion determines one’s success. One may encounter stumbling blocks in one’s pursuit of one’s dreams but always, always, the passion to succeed will serve as one’s beacon of hope. Nat Manilag, a fast-emerging fashion designer, has proven and tested this formula. As early as Grade 3, Nat already discovered his passion for drawing and sketching.

“I already had the desire to create gowns and clothes for both genders. I could even still remember how I envied the Barbie doll of my seatmate in class because I liked the idea of making stylish clothes for the doll. That left me with just imagining a doll of mine and make sketches of clothes for my imaginary doll,” he told me in between genuine giggles.

Nat’s desire for sketching continued in high school. “We had a dressmaking class and my classmates would ask me to draw a pattern for them. They would insist in paying me for every sketch. There I realized that I could earn from my innate talent. It became my goal then to be a designer someday,” he said.

After graduating from high school in Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte, Nat wanted to enrol in a fashion school. Due to financial constraints, however, he just took up Associate in Arts at Urios College in his hometown just to somehow get a college degree “which my parents had been sadly deprived of due to poverty.”

“But my dreams were far higher than that and I made it a rule to myself not to settle for what is just available,” Nat mused.

After finishing college in 1998, with high hope and firm determination, he went to Manila, the place where he thought would give the answers to all his dreams. “Manila is not what others think it is. The big buildings, amusement centers, among others are just all façade of what Manila really is. It is a place wherein your sweat and tears would literally meet. It is not easy to live in a place wherein there is no one to turn to when your stomach is empty and when what is left in your wallet is nothing but a picture of your family. A picture which would remind you all the time, that these are the very people who believe in you and who dream with you. They are the people whose dreams would stop if I fail from dreaming,” Nat recalled.

In Manila, Nat accepted odd jobs just to survive. When he was employed as an account executive at the Club Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, he worked in the morning and right after his duty, he would dash to study fashion design at the Fashion Institute of the Philippines. It was not easy for him to juggle work and study but he managed to do both.

“Fashion school for me was challenging. At first I felt so little because my classmates had background in design while I was just the poor probinsiyano who knew nothing but sketch for my imaginary doll. However, that did not stop me from doing my best,” he recounted. Amazingly, during the culmination of the course, Nat won the contest for the designer of the year and his design was published in newspapers. That strengthened his desire to become a fashion designer all the more.

With the help of his aunt who worked in London, Nat was given the opportunity in 2006 to study in one of the famous fashion schools in the world — the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

“It was something I dreamt of but never really imagined that would come true. It was another great experience. My classmates were from different nationalities and I was scared at first that there would be discrimination. But, in my desire for learning and excellence, my mentors and classmates saw the talent in me and I became one of the top students in class. I was highly recognized for my works and that is a good feeling since I used to think that foreign designers are hard to reach,” recalled Nat who showed his latest Holiday 2009 collection at the Philippine Fashion Week last Friday at SMX, Mall of Asia. He was recently part of the Metrowear 100, a stellar gathering of 100 best Filipino designers.

When Nat came back to Manila, he opened his own shop — Nat Manilag. He struggled at first but he never believed that failure was an option. Now, he is a favorite designer of TV and movie personalities, businessmen and politicians. 

“After all the things that I have been through, I have realized that in this lifetime, you can never achieve your dreams by just dreaming. The reality sets in that for dreams to come true, you have to push yourself to the limits. You don’t just do what is required but you must do what is needed to achieve that dream,” he said.

Nat Manilag’s journey in stitching up his dreams continues. 

(For your new beginnings, please e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. Have a blessed Sunday!)