Designers rocking around their Christmas trees

Trust fashion designers to give the Christmas tree a different twist. When the Ayala Malls Group asked the Filipino Zone designers of Greenbelt 5 to dress up fresh Christmas trees, the designers all eagerly agreed to do it and the result is a dozen trees that represent each store and each designer’s aesthetics.

It doesn’t only look like Christmas at The Gallery, it also smells like it, too. The fresh seven-foot trees give that nice yuletide smell as they stand proudly on the steps.

The looks range from traditional to industrial, the colors from purple to black and white, the materials from pearls to ordinary Styrofoam balls.

They are a reflection of the designers’ personalities, and to some extent, the way they see Christmas. The trees are treated with a sense of humor, a reverent nod to the spiritual aspect of the season, a practical twist to the times, and all of them with childhood glee. 

Fashion designer Patrice Ramos-Diaz’s fascination with the movie Narnia carries over to her tree called “Endless Winter.”

“I love the movie,” she says. “The witch is so beautiful, even though she is a witch. You cannot ignore beauty like that. I really wanted stark-white ornaments but didn’t want the tree to look too glammed up; I wanted it a little bit raw and natural. I used ordinary components to achieve the feel of endless snow.”

She sprayed white paint to get that snow-covered look and also sprayed glue to make the tiny Styrofoam balls stick for that fresh-snow effect. Then she added pieces of white lace, eucalyptus leaves and cascaded LED lights on one side of the tree. “I wouldn’t be able to achieve the effect with yellow lights,” she explains of the almost bluish tint of the lights. “LED lights work well for the look, but they’re 10 times the price of the regular!”

The color-on-color style can also be seen on interior and fashion accessories designer Ana Rocha’s tree, “The Real Spirit of Christmas is Jesus.” Ana created five styles of the cross — all in red and all jeweled (clear red plastic that achieve a sparkling effect — who would have known?) and added red lights. It’s a glowing tree for sure. 

“Sometimes we put so much effort into buying gifts for Christmas, which is the fun part, but the real spirit of Christmas is that Jesus was born,” she says. “It’s a fun time, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that it’s about Jesus Christ. The tree gets that message across. I chose red because Christmas is really fun in red and green. Red is such a happy color for the season, not just for children but for adults, too.”

Ana styles about 250 Christmas trees every year — for commercial establishments, private residences and her family. Ironically, she hasn’t put a tree up in her house!

Last-minute decorating is also happening at Lulu Tan-Gan’s own home. She has a 12-foot tree that she just recently took out of storage; a couple of years ago, she trimmed her tree two days before Christmas! “But hey, I made it, right?” she says with a laugh.

For her “Neat Knit Tree” at The Gallery of Greenbelt 5, Lulu used knit balls and ribbons as ornaments — her own raw materials for the knitwear she designs. She also interspersed gold leaves made by the inmates of Bilibid Prison from plastic softdrink bottles. The colors range from baby pink to fuchsia and magenta.

Like Lulu’s, the “Myth Tree” reflects the store of its designers. Myth the lifestyle store is a collaboration among designers and stylists Randy Ortiz, Jojie Lloren, Ivarluski Aseron, Denis Lustico and Joey Samson. The store also features the artworks of Doltz, makeup by Henry Calayag and hair products by Jing Monis.

Randy says the colors — and inspiration of the tree — reflect the current collections at Myth. “It’s all in sync.” Plus they’re “taking austerity measures,” he adds with a laugh, “so the tree materials are also austere. We used alambre or copper and silver wires and what we call uhay in Ilonggo formed into wreaths.”

In fact, he and Doltz fashioned all the ornaments into wreaths, save for the dried branches of a tree that are stuck to the Christmas tree. There are also bowties in patent leather, remnants of a leather ottoman in the store.

Because they’re all designers, many of them used the retaso lying around their ateliers to create the ornaments: Vic Barba, Choc Religioso, and Butch Carungay with Mia Florencio.

The black-and-white “Barba Tree” epitomizes the eponymous store. Vic says, “I’m into prints and textures and the ornaments are pretty much a representation of the store — lots of blacks and whites.” They’re all Styrofoam balls wrapped in the fabrics, from lace to eyelet to polka dots, which he used for his collections in the past 10 years. “The top of the balls are just tied with a silver string — At home my tree is all white with crystals. It’s always a little left of center, which is how I position myself in the market. It’s not radical but just a little quirky.”

Also a black-and-white tree, the “Religioso Tree” by Choc Religioso-Dayrit has ornaments that carry details of the clothes and colors that Religioso is known for. The store started as a made-to-order shop by Choc and her sister Yvette Religioso-Ilagan and became popular for their detailed tops and structured dresses. Choc wrapped the Styro balls with lace and fabrics and placed loops, ribbons, ruffles and “pillow tops,” which she usually puts on the hem of dresses, on the tree. 

Butch Carungay and Mia Florencio’s “Escape to Wonderland” tree features birds (with cute little strands of pearls around their necks), chain fringes, and poinsettias in pearls. The birds are made from upholstery fabric and stuffed with foam.

Butch explains, “Fashion is a lot about escapism, especially now in the turbulent times we live in. We want to just get away from the doom and gloom. The birds evoke flight. We used pearls because they’re supple but discreet luxury. The chain fringe denotes our present and our hope for tomorrow.”

Arnel Papa went all natural and indigenous with his red “Papa Tree.” He used capiz shells that he spray-painted in red, small bao, sinamay, abaca and pinecones, and topped the tree with an angel.

“I wanted to stick to the traditional Christmas colors of red and gold,” he says. “And I wanted to go with natural materials.” Arnel works a lot with these components, including carabao horn, in his jewelry designs. Like this one, the tree in his home is also ornamented with capiz shells but in white.

Cesar Gaupo’s “Star Tree” is, literally, all about stars. Cesar bought lighted stars that one usually hangs outside the house in lieu of colored Christmas lights. The stars just sort of cascade down — heavy at the top and thinning towards the bottom.

“The star really is the symbol of Christmas,” Cesar says. “It’s just a traditional star, nothing fancy. It symbolizes glory and honor. After all, we celebrate Christmas because of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Jesus symbolizes glory, and he deserves honor for what he has done in our lives.”

For Amina Aranaz, her “Bag Ornament Tree” is a veritable display of what she has been working on for the past years, turning her beautiful wrist bags into tree ornaments. They’re all her prototypes from past collections or her “workshop bags” since these are the bags that she produced in trying out new techniques and styles. Amina’s evening bags are so pretty — and so heavily ornamented with mother-of-pearl, shells, crystals, semi-precious stones and beading — that you can be wearing the most boring black dress and feel instantly glammed up when you wear her bag.

“These are bags that I launched in the last holiday so they’re inspired by Christmas balls, ornaments and parols. For instance, this pyramid-shaped bag is from the point of the star. It’s actually only now that I’ve had the opportunity to use them as tree ornaments.” Amina literally grew up with bags (her mother is a bag exporter) and when she was young, her classmates would always look forward to what kind of bag she would be wearing for the day.

The 30-plus bags on her tree are very special to her. “These bags are my personal collection, my trial-and-error bags when I’m practicing new techniques.”

The “Treasure Chest Tree” of Victoria Marin also features the collection of the store. Elizabeth Ma. R. Mendoza explains that the store exports to Canada, Belgium, Australia. The tree features some luscious fashion accessories and chests underneath with pearl strands and other accessories spilling out. “We are like a treasure chest where you will find everything for your loved ones,” she says.

For Kate Torralba, designing the tree was a lot of fun. She put dolls and ribbons of different colors to bring out the child in everyone. “The tree is a reflection of my personality — a hodgepodge of color, detail and fun. I’m using a lot of bows because bows remind me of presents and I love giving and receiving presents!” she says.

Apart from the trees, the Shangri-La Hotels Group has created tablesettings to highlight its four properties in the country: Shangri-La Makati, Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, Shangri-La Mactan and Shangri-La Boracay, which is set to open on the resort island. Shangri-La Boracay’s “Christmas by the Sea” table is in teal and silver motifs designed by florist Robert Biancaflor; furniture pieces are by Hive.

Celebrations at Shangri-La, just across The Gallery, has made it convenient for people to make inquiries about the three hotels’ banquet offerings and special holiday packages.

The Gallery on the second floor of Greenbelt 5 is indeed a sight to behold with its 12 fresh Christmas trees so festively decorated. It not only highlights the creativity of the designers in the Filipino Zone, it also shows us that Christmas is always a happy and a very personal season — bringing us back to the time when we were children and filling us with optimism for the future.