the color of the year according to Pantone- the world's foremost authority on color is honeysuckle,
i know this post has been late in the coming but i have been a lazy ass recently,....oh alright I've been a bomb since January, the temperature's changed and is a lot more comfortable now, (i'm spouting bullshit again haha)

honeysuckle

anyway, I've been seeing this color a lot in runways in the states, not so much in much in France, and almost nonexistent in the Philippine's version of fashion week, with  the exception of Salvacion Lim Higgins (more about her later), who though dead for a while now managed to show of her talent beyond the grave.
the most famous examples of this year's color were flaunted in this year's Golden Globes (image below)

from left to right

Claire Danes in Calvin Klein, Natalie Portman in Viktor and Rolf, Julianne Moore in Lanvin, and Megan Fox in Giorgio Armani Privé

other examples of this year's color by other designers

even weddings are being influenced by this year's take on color, and it looks amazing even if i say so myself :D

but of course the first thing Pantone influences are paint and fabric industry players and designers are snapping up their products, the results are a little too girly for my taste but chic nevertheless 

the years is looking pink hehehe :)

FLOWERS AS INSTALLATIONS

some of the most jaw dropping things i have seen done to flowers, are when they are used to create installations. among my faves is this installation done for VIKTOR AND ROLF promoting the launch of their perfume "flowerbomb"

made of roses, gerberas and a lot of other flowers, I'm sure the installation smelled like a "flower" bomb

another is a wall of Gerberas made as backdrop for a hotel bar

and then an installation of flowers made to look like an assortment of animals

i can't wait to see what the world's best florists have up their sleeves next :D

NICOLE DEXTRAS// artist of the green revolution

 one of my favorite artists, i have a soft side for all things natural, so naturally i found her works appealing

to see her bio follow the link below:
http://www.nicoledextras.com/files/-bio-2011ariel-lethead-.pdf

she deals mainly with ephemeral plant materials, fleeting, transient things that are found in gardens, backyards and woods, and turns them into floral (but not always) sculptures of unimaginable beauty

below are some samples of her work

made of various Brassicas(cabbages)

 

 

yucca leaves and flowers

camellia contessa :D

for those who'd like to see more of her work go on to the following link :D
http://www.nicoledextras.com/

La Mode Pour Nature// DESIGNS for accessories

THE DESIGNS ARE OUT!! :D

unfortunately several changes have been made, the show, slated to come out on the 30th of April has been moved to another date, now set on the 25th of June (last Saturday of June)

due to time constraints, production of accessories have taken a lot longer than expected so we requested for a longer production time, 

no longer a summer show, it will now showcase underwear creations of some of Manila's respected veteran designers, and accessory designs by Castillo Fuentes, as well as body paintings by the Angono Neo-Artists, they will be featured on some of the country's top Filipino and Brazilian Models, as well as upcoming talents of the country's fast rising star agency MODELINEA.

the first act// INTO THE WILDS

was inspired by the four seasons, represented by the things most abundant during that time of year, it symbolizes man's inherent desire for peace, appreciation and a longing for a return to nature. And being  created from organic as well as man made materials, it also symbolizes a sort of equilibrium, a sort of message we wanted to send across, that we humans have to strike a balance in this world that we live in. nothing too HIPPY LOL

the following are mere teasers :D 

above:THE banner design of the entire collection

the following are two variations of the same theme: SPRING

male SUMMER

the Female SUMMER

the male version of FALL: made exclusively from lace  

female FALL

 my absolute favorite among all of the designs are those for female and male forms WINTER and the FINALE piece

female WINTER

male WINTER

FINALE PIECE

that's all i can share for now, thanks for looking people :D

if you are wondering why the figures in the illustrations  have nothing on aside from accessories, it's because someone else will be designing the underwear, also please pay no notice to the capes, i'm just too lazy to edit them out hehe, capes are major fashion faux pas, UNLESS of course if you are above 60 and is attending a gala ball at the MET, or somehow involved in the world of magic.

TORD BOONTJE/ "use what you've got"

been surfing around the net today, i came across a video by one of my design idols Tord Boontje,
he talked about how people's creativity shapes the future, and how Local is better than global and a lot of other things.
what stuck in my head however was the phrase he said which was  
"use what you've got"
i had memories flooding in me of a lot of school projects and junk art competitions, that we've had over the years, the use of junk as well as found objects to be able to create art has always been one of our favorite forms of craft. here are images of some of his work

http://www.designindaba.com/speaker/presentation/tord-boontje-2010 

for full details check out his website :)
http://tordboontje.com/

CREDITS :D

i should have done this way before i typed, "first post"

we would like to thank, the uber talented JorgeNomar14 of photobucket.com, for his exquisite image of a male model.
also we would like to thank the amazing and inimitable Tord Boontje, for the floral graphics that we used to edit the male model image, as well as to grace the background of our  humble blog.
these images were edited and aren't the way the original creators intended them to look like, for actual images follow them to their personal web pages

for Jorge Nomar
http://s788.photobucket.com/home/JorgeNomar14
for Tord Boontje
http://tordboontje.com/

thank you very much :)

ACCESSORIES :D

like i said nowhere to go but up,
it feels serendipitous actually, that after having decided to own up to what we can do, a former professor of ours turned visionary producer and choreographer extraordinaire Mr. Bernard Y. Maybituin, approached us for a project of his;
we have worked together before, mostly in school related events and in several landscaping and costume making projects, and he trusts us and we trust him, and we make absolute magic when we collaborate on projects.

Sir Bernard as we call him, decided to hold an event in our hometown of Angono, Rizal, Philippines, entitled La Mode Pour Nature (yes, it is grammatically incorrect, but it sounds a lot better than the proper la mode pour la nature) the show is dedicated for the protection of mother earth, expressed through an artistic fusion of fashion, dance, theater and visual arts. 
and he needed us to design accessories for the summer and swimwear collections that will be exhibited on the catwalk.
we said YES! for it has always been a joy to work for him as well as to create artworks that can be worn.
designed to bring awareness to the townspeople and to raise the standard of shows here in our town. in Filipino Slang "level up" the quality of productions in Angono (touted as the art capital of the country)


I'd love to give you guys a preview of the designs, but Sir hasn't seen them yet, so I'll just give you guys a taste of what we can do :)

these are old designs from former collections hope you like them :)

for a relationship to start, there is this one formality that has to be observed before everything else can be said, it is the act of "inductum", the induction of another person into your world view, the introduction :)

first of all, CASTILLO FUENTES is an identity composed of two people, an individual that divided into two, that is to say that the two people mentioned are twins. Paolo Dorotheo Castillo Fuentes and Carlo Antonio Castillo Fuentes.

P D.Castillo Fuentes

  C. A. Castillo Fuentes

together, we're a culinarian and pastry chef, painter/visual artist, a horticulturist, 

interior, landscape, accessory, fashion, props and costume designer, and lots of other things.

we're not saying that we are the best, off course we're not!! there will always be someone out there who's better than us, it's just that we enjoy doing a lot of things, did i say enjoy? actually WE LOVE IT!!

our parents support us in everything that we do, it's just that they're kind of tired seeing us doing a lot of things and yet not gaining anything.

after our grandfather died from an advanced Alzheimer's, we decided that it's now or never.

having been face with our gramps mortality, and ultimately realizing the "fragility of our own existence", we  made the decision to finally stand up and to own up to everything that we believe we can do, for My gramps taught me that when you're at rock bottom, there's no way to go but up, either you succeed in what you do or you die and go to heaven (i don't believe in hell)

in our case we'll try to go beyond that haha :)

FIRST POST