DESIGNER SARI LAZARO, who has been designing since 2016, released her ready-to-wear (RTW) summer collection for 2025 via a pop-up in Rockwell’s Powerplant Mall on April 4. The pop-up will run until April 29.
Browsing through Ms. Lazaro’s offerings, one finds easy, breezy dresses sprinkled with floral embroidery and more than a touch of indigenous textiles, including ikat and inabel. Customers’ favorites are her tops with giant appliques of flowers on them. The palette comes in bright yellows, soft pinks, and calming blues, and just a hint of red in some pieces.
In a group interview during the opening, Ms. Lazaro said that she was inspired by the Filipino spirit: “They go through dark times, but they’re still very generally happy,” she said.
She’s better known for her elegant gowns, but she is taking a breather (creatively speaking) with this ready-to-wear line. Comparing the disciplines between making ready-to-wear and her usual made-to-order, she said, “That’s like a collaboration between me and the client. This one, I have more freedom to create — from the patterns, the fabrics, the embroidery.”
Pop-ups are the first step towards getting a permanent store address: “I want to have a permanent store,” she said. “That’s my dream.” She set a timeline for opening this permanent store next year. For now, she’s thinking of continuing with these pop-ups (she had one last year as well in the same Rockwell mall), and joining the fair circuit, including ArteFino and Katutubo.
She points out that her first collection last year used many of the country’s native weaves, but for this ready-to-wear line, she had to use less due to the time-consuming nature of the fabric: by her count, one yard of fabric takes one day to make.
“My first love came from seeing all of these woven textiles, and how far it can go and how we can champion them,” she said.
The Sari Lazaro Label pop-up store is found at R2, Power Plant Mall, Makati City. — Joseph L. Garcia