Tela Hunting at Divisoria

Last weekend, Yeng and I went to Divisoria to canvass for fabric that we will be using for the suits of our male entourage. We parked by J. Luna St. (PhP50 for first 3 hours) and even if we didn't know how to get to Divisoria via public transport we boarded a Divisoria San Nicolas jeep. After getting stuck in traffic, we just decided to get down the jeep and asked around how to get to Ilaya.

We eventually found ourselves in Tabora St. which is famous for souvenirs and abaca crafts. We looked at some shops and canvassed for some materials we thought might look good on the invite and as added accents for the wedding reception.

We walked farther along and upon reaching CM Recto we turned right and right again to Ilaya St. This street is famous for fabrics. We looked around and asked for the prices of some fabrics we liked. We saw one that we liked but it was over our budget. We then went to a stall referred by our friend and though the prices of the fabrics were very good, we did not find any fabric that we liked.

Now hungry and tired, we walked back to J Luna. On the way we bought a couple of huge seedless oranges (4 for PhP100) from a swidewalk vendor. We also dropped by Mcdo to grab lunch.

After lunch, we headed to the Tutuban mall and we looked for this store famous for papers. We were greatly disappointed at the stocks that we saw at Papermart, and I personally think that Nat'l Bookstore had more variety.

We headed to the next building were we saw some fabrics. We found one fabric that was exactly the same as the expensive fabric we saw at Ilaya but was only 60% of the price. After a little bit more haggling we got to a price point that we were comfortable with and we bought 45 yards of the fabric. We also bought a darker shade of fabric to be used by our respective fathers.

If you are looking to save money and have the time, patience and grit to walk the streets of Divisoria, I would recommend that you do so. It will save you a couple of thousand pesos. You'll also get some cheap but delicious juicy oranges too.

Tailored vs Off The Rack

There was a time once when the groom's attire was an afterthought. A mere side dish to the main course that was the bride's wedding gown. For suits, RTWs would be the norm, as long as the tie matched the motif. And for the barong, altered off-the-rack pieces from Onesimus would be just fine. Anyway a suit is a suit and a barong is barong. Right?

I remember my first tailored barong (more formally know as the barong tagalog). It was for my Kuya's wedding and I was a secondary sponsor. It was tailored in Lucban, Quezon where residents claim is the birthplace of the Barong Tagalog. I'm not sure about that, but if it were then I won't be surprised. That barong had, what I believe, a classic barong fit: a little bit long and a little bit wide. Nowhere near the slim fit pieces preferred by the younger generation nowadays.

I've had a couple of barongs tailored since then, mostly by the tailors of the groom having the wedding I'll be wearing the barong to. And each time I had a barong tailored the more I would appreciate a tailored piece vs. off the rack. It may be because of my (limited) height and wider than usual shoulder that off the rack pieces don't really fit me.

Now, my first tailored suit was made last year. It was always so difficult getting an RTW to fit me that I always had it altered anyway, so I thought I might as well just get a tailored one. Not only did it fit me better, it also cost less! It was tailored at Anicete's tailoring where I'll have my male entourage's attires tailored as well. You may contact them at 0918 3181238. Look for Mr. Anicete.

Now, for my own attire, I'm again looking at getting a tailored suit. Some may say that getting a known suit designer would cost a lot, but after doing the math, it's not far from what you would pay for a nice suit at Zara. A suit at Zara costs about ~8k and matching trouser would cost ~3.5k. A nice inner shirt would be about ~3k, and  a vest if you could get one to match your suit would be about ~3k as well. A tie at Zara would set you back ~2k. Now that's almost ~20k! If you were to contact some of the more well know designers you'll be very surprised that their pricing isn't that far from this number. With a tailored suit, you'll be paying almost the same but will be assured of a better fit.

I've already met with three designers and I'll be making my decision soon. All of their designs were great so it just comes down to pricing and the rapport I had with them.Of course going for Mr Anicete is cheaper, but I want to stand out from my entourage hence a proper designer is in hand.

Hopefully, when our wedding day comes, my suit won't merely be a side dish to Yeng's gown, but something that would compliment her gown. It can be the puto to Yeng's dinuguan. Complimentary yet the star is still the dinuguan. 

Yeng, if you reached this point, I know you've just cringed at my analogy. Hehehe.