By Vennette Lailani Seprado
Patricia Santos walked into the room and instantly shattered any preconceived notion about her persona and her status as one of the country’s fast-rising evening and bridalwear designers with her disarming smile and easy grace. Casually dressed in tan, wearing layers of delicate gold jewelry – it’s easy to see the parallelisms of her personal style to her design aesthetic.
Patricia started designing six years ago. Her initial focus was on ready-to-wear pieces but at the urging of a friend who saw her potential in the bridal market, she joined a bridal fair and almost instantly found her niche. Since then, she has established an atelier, a growing celebrity clientele and a portfolio of covetable Pinterest worthy gowns.
Once upon a dream— In the local fashion industry, she is known for her stunningly ornate designs accented with the finest crystals, glass beads, and luxurious feathers. What sets her apart from the other designers of her caliber is the way she manages to make her garments lightweight and dreamlike. She uses embellishments with gusto but has a magical ability to come up with pieces without being heavy-handed. If she had said that her designs were conceived from dreams, spun from a silver thread, sprinkled with fairy dust and made by elven hands, we would have believed her.
New romance– Last September 10th, Patricia launched her highly anticipated RTW wedding collection called “New Romance”. Her sophomore offering has thirteen uniquely handcrafted pieces to make a bride feel her most beautiful.
“RTW doesn’t mean it’s not special. This collection is simpler from what I normally do in my custom made line but I made sure it still had a wow factor. Not all brides want something sparkly so I came up with creative ways to add interesting details” she explains.
“For this collection, we still did intricate embroideries but one of the techniques I used was to layer different kinds of lace that I sourced abroad. I wanted some pieces to be sexy and cut close to the body without being vulgar.”
She has a variety of silhouettes in this collection to fit any type of bride from a mini dress to classic A-line gowns. Motifs are romantic by using foliage appliques and laser-cut scroll patterns with fine 3D embroidery. She used a wide array of lace, tulle and illusion mesh making the patterns appear as if they’re delicately tattooed on the body.
The unlikely inspiration– It’s generally accepted that brides are made to feel like queens on their big day so it was refreshing to learn about Patricia’s insight on what inspired her to create this collection.
She says, “Usually weddings and wedding preparations focus on the bride so much that women sometimes become really focused on themselves amidst all the planning and they tend to forget about the groom. I wanted to develop a collection with a consideration of how a groom might feel– and remember — the moment he sees his bride walk down the aisle. These are memories for the couple years down the line and I want the grooms to be moved by the remembrance of how beautiful their brides were on that special day.”
Patricia created a beautiful collection and made it available for brides who wish to wear her eponymous label at a more affordable price point. Her RTW collection, as well as her custom line atelier, will soon be housed at her new headquarters at the Bonifacio Global City providing brides and potential clients an exclusive bridal shopping experience.
For inquiries, please visit patriciasantos.ph
