Carolina Herrera: Innately fashionable
FROM a simple basket venture in Ifugao, Mayat- an Handicrafts has grown to be a widely successful bags and handicrafts business in the Philippines and abroad.
Since 2000, the company has brought to premiere trade show Manila FAME ( Furnishing and Apparel Manufacturers’ Exchange) International widely distinct bags and wallets that evoke a contemporary design with a native feel.
Owner and founder Rovilyn Mayat- an said that their promise is new products every six months with their every participation in the popular lifestyle and design event.
“We have always prioritized our participation in the show because the success of the company lies with Manila FAME,” she said.
“For this edition, we are launching a collection of new woven rice urns that we believe will be a hit among our buyers,” she added.
Now fully based in Baguio City, Mayat- an Handicrafts boasts a lineup of highly distinguishable products made from a combination of woven wild bamboo baskets and cloth—all meticulously handwoven and treated to meet quality standards. The company currently exports to a number of international buyers from across Japan and the US.
The native-grown company employs more than 300 women and out-of-school youth from various communities in the country’s summer capital. Looms are provided to women so they can weave in the comforts of their own homes, while young workers are given higher education.
“It is my advocacy to help our surrounding communities. I want Rovilyn Mayat-an holds a prototype of product crafted by women and out- of-school youth in Baguio to provide women with the opportunity to challenge themselves and support their own families,” said the woman leader of 13 years.
She intoned that by teaching young people about weaving, it’s also basically preserving Ifugao craft.
“We are introducing it to another generation who will then teach it to the next,” she added.
To be held on October 20 to 22 at the World Trade Center Metro Manila and the Philippine Trade and Training Center in Pasay City, the 66th edition—just like in previous years—offers a vast selection of exquisite products, such as furniture, home accents, and fashion accessories from the country’s best artisans and designers. LONG before socialite Alexa Chung created her eponymous fashion label or Hollywood twin stars Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen launched their own brand The Row, Carolina Herrera had already used her exposure to discriminating style to build a globallyrecognized fashion house.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Carolina Herrera is known in the fashion world for her elegant yet modern style from a very young age. The designer credited her grandmother for her impeccable taste, showing her to different cultures and international fashion as a little girl.
It was her dear grandma who brought Herrera to Cristóbal Balenciaga couture shows and bought her outfits from luxury fashion houses Lanvin and Dior.
Famously quoted for the experience, Herrera has therefore always believed that her eye “was accustomed to see beautiful things.”
Herrera’s career in fashion, however, began as a publicist for Italian designer Emilio Pucci, but due to her impeccable style, Europe’s high society took notice how she dressed. By 1972, she had appeared in the prestigious International Best Dressed List and was elected to its Hall of Fame in 1980.
With Herrera’s innate style cou creative friends like Andy Warhol, creating her own brand was inevi into designing dresses for today’s women, Herrera initially wanted to design fabrics.
Thankfully, for her loyal client, legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, influenced her to create a line instead. And so in collection at the Metropolitan Club in New York.
From then on, patrons lf the brand had drawb the world’s fashionable ladies— from US First Ladies Jacqueline Kennedy, Michelle Obama and now Melania Trump, to Hollywood A-listers Emmy Rossum, Olivia Munn, Mila Kunis, Camilla Belle, Olivia Palermo and Jessica Alba.
Herrera also branched out from elegant runway looks to accessible fashion through CH Carolina Herrera, a lifestyle collection featuring ready-to-wear designs and accessories for men, women and Madrid, Spain in 2001.
Through all these, Herrera was able to create a brand that exudes elegance and integrity with a fashion-forward vision.
“I love the idea of elegance and intricacy, but whether it’s in a piece of clothing or a fragrance, the intricacy must appear as simplicity,” says Herrera, who made the ubiquitous white shirt the icon that it is today.
Besides the crisp white shirt, the designer was also able to create trademarks for her brands: the colors red, white and black, which she loved for their versatility; m lace, which she believes stands for elegance; and polka dot prints polka dots, which is her ode to her childhood.
Overall, these trademarks are utilized to create seasonal collections that modern women can wear from morning to night, without any fuss.
“I have a responsibility to the women of today, to make her feel else, beautiful,” she says.
Today, the Carolina Herrera lifestyle brand is present in over 178 exclusive stores and more than 250 shop-in-shops acorss Europe, United States, Latin America, Middle East and Asia.
Its latest store, the 15th in Asia, opened in the Philippines this month. The first stand allne boutique in the country, Carolina Herrera Philipines is located at the ground floor of Greenbelt 5 in Makati.