So far sew good

We found the black invitation embroidered in gold DMC thread very hard to resist, and it read: "There was a little girl who had a pretty curl, right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very, very good and when she was bad she was" (fill in the rest).

Ironically, the same could be said of Mich Dulce’s recent collaboration with French thread company DMC.

Presented in a 30-piece fashion show at Rustan’s Makati’s cosmetics floor, Dulce’s collection proved indeed that when she is good she is very, very good and when she is bad, well, you fill in the rest.

Directed by Melvin Mojica and styled by Michael Salientes, the show was at least painless to sit through and photographers were grateful that models were decently paced for us to take a good photo.

The music, done by Mojica and Jude Mancuyas, was flawless and created an exciting mood for the show.

Certainly Mich Dulce is currently one of the more creative young designers in town. She has a look all her own and sticks to it come what may.

Known for voluminous silhouettes, draping, uneven hemlines, ruffles and artsy hats (sometimes all in one go), Dulce’s designs can be too much of a good thing.

Her style is evidence of her having lived in London, trained in fashion design and millinery at Central Saint Martin’s and interned with Marjan Pejoski of the famed swan dress Björk wore to the Oscars.

Problem is, while her designs would probably fit right in in London town, it seemed very hard for the local models to pull it off, save for the very mestiza ones, like Jasmine Maier Hofer and Helena Belmonte who are round-faced dolls.

While Dulce dared to mix primary and secondary colors Filipinos would rather avoid, she also came up with unexpected editorial pieces in black and gold, reminiscent of nostalgic Barbies.

Dulce pulled all the stops by creating a very girly range of hats and bags that reflected two sides of the designer. While the hats leaned towards nostalgia and artsy, the bags and accessories were more pop and teenybopper patterned after boom boxes and cassette tapes, and some with skulls embroidered in gold.

Another Side Of Dulce

Dulce’s fondness for all things British and exotically layered may have alienated her from a commercial audience one that, as designers like Rajo Laurel know, pays the big bucks.

Only in this latest show Dulce’s most grown-up to date has she finally accomplished something most designers want: a viable collection that’ll fit the needs of a growing consumer market with a hankering for wearable local designer goods.

In between poufy dresses cinched at the waist and trousers cut close to the body and draped at odd points, she showed a series of printed frocks, done in a kitschy print of gems and baubles, layered over colored tights, some embellished with gold pumps.

There was some seriously grown-up stuff here, like long column dresses with a sedate bow loped over the bust and little black dresses that wouldn’t look out of place at a sophisticated function. Not that that’s a bad thing.

But Dulce didn’t forget to up the ante with camp-quality accessories, which pitched such slogans as "Money can’t buy love." Taking advantage of DMC’s in-house embroiderers, Dulce embellished skirts, bags and belts using a font that some observed was very similar to the one used by Baby Phat.

Perhaps the preciousness of such elaborately embroidered pieces in girlish swirly script was meant to leave an off-kilter impression.

Just like the consumers who ended up wandering into Rustan’s cosmetics floor, only to find themselves right smack in the middle of a fashion show, scratching their heads in confusion as models in ‘80s-inspired makeup took to the aisles, perhaps we’re supposed to wonder what the real Mich Dulce is all about: the wannabe sophisticate with her grown-up suits and dresses or the colorful kitschy kid playing dress-up with her Barbie?

We’ll just have to wait and see.