Meeting a renowned Pinoy designer, Michael Cinco, was the highlight of my nth trip to Dubai last month. He is so unassuming that I almost forgot how famous he is. Some of his A-list Hollywood clientele include Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Minogue, Mila Kunis, Paris Hilton, Tyra Banks, Rihanna, Toni Braxton, Fergie, Nicole Scherzinger and Christina Aguilera.

Michael’s regular clients are Anne Curtis, Marian Rivera-Dantes, Kathryn

Bernardo, Liza Soberano, Ruffa Gutierrez and Bea Alonzo.

Miriam Quiambao and I immensely enjoyed bonding with Michael. He treated us to an authentic Lebanese dinner at the resto below his plush condominium right across the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa. Kudos to Michael for being the only Filipino designer who was invited to present his collection at the Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week’s “Couturissimo,” held last July 3.

He’s world-class yet down-to-earth. That makes him all the more remarkable. Pinoy Pride is something Michael wears so well. CincOoh la la! (Visit michaelcinco.com.)

Here’s my chat (via Facebook) with Michael:

What was the Paris Fashion week experience like?

About 15 years ago I was strolling along the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries. I was so in love with the place that I had a vision and a dream… I said to myself, one of these days I’ll have my show in this stunning garden. So when Asian Couture Federation approached me to have a show in Paris, I immediately begged to hold it in Jardin des Tuileries. Showing my collection in Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week has always been my ultimate dream. Seeing your collection on the runway of your dream garden is one of the greatest achievements in my life.

Among local celebs, who are the five best-dressed on your list?

Marian Rivera, Anne Curtis, Cherie Gil, Kathryn Bernardo and Liza Soberano. They all wore my couture dresses and they all looked amazing.

Any memorable moment with the celebs?

To be honest, I never met any of them. I dressed up some of the most beautiful Filipino Celebrities and Hollywood celebrities wore my clothes on the red carpet and in their music videos. When the producers of the movie “Jupiter Ascending” asked me to go to London to meet Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum, I declined because I was too shy to meet them. The stylist of Jennifer Lopez asked me to meet her backstage. Also, the manager of Kylie Minogue asked me to go to her room for fitting but I just sent my assistant because I was scared and shy.

Who is the easiest celeb to dress up?

Most of them are easy to dress up because they all look fabulous in my couture dresses.

What are your three fashion do’s and don’t’s?

Do’s: Be yourself; create your own style; wear something that will make you feel confident.

Don’t’s: Don’t wear a dress two sizes smaller than your body; don’t follow someone else’s style; don’t try to achieve what you see in glossy magazines—they are all photoshopped!

If you were asked to design an outfit for President Duterte, what would it be like?

A bullet-proof couture barong.

What’s your advice to aspiring designers?

Young designers of today should realize that fashion is not all about glamour. The fashion world is very cruel. You will be judged, criticized and rejected.

It takes hard work, patience and strong determination to achieve your goals. Create clothes that people will wear. If you want to create art on clothes, make sure they will sell.

Lastly, be humble and never give up. Believe that anything in this world is possible. Believe in your dreams and if you have faith and confidence in God, all of your impalpable dreams will come true.Read more at:http://www.marieaustralia.com/bridesmaid-dresses | www.marieaustralia.com/long-formal-dresses

Tyra Banks was the first person
I touched myself to the thought of.
I didn't know what genitalia was
But her *******
seemed
so
inviting.

Inside my heart lives an angelic devil
She has possessed me with her charming demons.
Every last word I utter is shadowed by a heart shaped smoke
And every time I feel weak she lift me up with her broken wings.

She full fill my incomplete dreams
Like tyra does to her next top models.
When she walks on the idle with he penicured devil nails
I am afraid not to expose the scars she planted with her sharp nails on my garden.

She is my volcano, when I see her I can taste the lava from the layer of my stomach
And feel the heat through my throat.
As my heart impatiently wait for the lava to evaporate
She would melt it down with her icy lips and snowy breath
As if she knew the temperature my body couldn't withstand.

When she smiles my heart earthquakes
And my soul floats inside the hole of Satan.
I wonder how she does it, stretching her wings with missing furthers
And fly like an hungry owl.

She's an angel with horns
Horns where all her strength lies on.
She's an angel with a long tale
A tale that measures the existence of our love.

This devil is an angel.
This angel is devil.
It breaks my heart and quickly mends it.
It marks my garden with its nails and gives me the reason to leave but I fail to
For those marks are a the lines she trace in search of me.
She drew a map on my garden! This angelic devil is smart!

Inside my heart lives an angelic devil
Burning every vein that keeps my heart awake
Man this heart burn feels so phenomenal.
She is fire, she burns our bond with no smoke.

****-take mushroom & ZZ muffintop
Midnight Mini Stirrings
Stank *****
Farta fartus stuffed
Stank ***** toot morass ed. Kamikaze! Breaking divine wind
Darkmatter meseeks
Dubh black dove
******* city
Dead beat deity
The shipyard - hindquarters
Erotici, inquisition, questionable greek behaviours, 20 questions of sexytime
"Έλληνες”— Hellenes not all Greek to them
Lokas of Control
Ayo shorty, el shaddai
Blodiau flowers
Veer to where we look - the human body vessel
Empath/Narcissist Identification Battle
Boning a FROG
Self-save spiritual checkpoint
Phi-low-so-phi's lodestone powerbottom beastmode
It is se on. Super se on
Lumatic highway
Hippos, whales and guinea pigs, whoop science.
Cymraeg comerades
Is it actually pleasing a person, the people or is it just complex placation?
Arose from the dead the re-in-carnation
Can't find your sol-song singing somebody else's words, relatability doesn't mean originality, cover songs still deviate, bring newness, otherwise it's just a rendition.
"Past life" knowledge doesn't excuse ignorance of this existence, stories change, or maybe were never comprehended to begin why it passed instead of kept...
Why? R U ikigai?
Late Game Strategy
'Ohelo papa = hawaiian strawberry
Kyrios or kurios (Ancient Greek: κύριος, romanized: kū́rios) is a Greek word that is usually translated as "lord" or "master". Curios-city
Military Swinging
Thic phuc tap, like complicated
Cheating for leaderboard status just confuses
Animal crossing guilt lording trainer
Playing highlander with scarecrow... still losing, dummy thicc
Moose will pu. Svenga kuin hirvi.
Iphimedeia - thirsty crotch, seawater4poisideon
Great big mari sea horse
Sartanistic evolution leaves crabby animals
Mustakala kalmari
Every year it rains fish lluvia de peces en loro
Lackey, lost their chi, the key, the qi
Nyawww nho little
Elementary school, deities in the basics, dirt bodies, aetheric breath, water flow, fire chest/divine spark
Dubh snake moana
Aleph tau indicative of spirit soul, not faux alpha ommegid, cyclical abuser and gaping *******
That's Cap!
Robert's Stafford, friar tuck'd, made a mary out of men
Femme bots and gay frogs are like **** mosquitos
ascended self-mastery not ***-ended self master bait story
Cuckoos & Cowbirds
Invasive self-replicating mutant lobster-like creatures
Marmorkrebs have arrived into ontario
Harwell Dekatron
Dome is slick circulation system - vector curve argument heats up
Ich ky, selfish
Polish this Hungarian milk is klingon scientist - tej, thats french, jeter dumped it/threw it down my trivial extensible job-submission
Toki, usagi, konijn, tho, shasha/shosho, coney
War Tortle & A Half Shiell'd Maiden legend of zelva
Minogame, Chelona, Teknosbeka
Jigglypuff's song - tone, support, attempts
Orchestration, blue whales & summer of salmon hats
lend me your external auditory meatus
Llama glama
Persian carpet flatworm esque ****** fencing alpha omeggids for dominance
Lies and thievery need other people, stay in own lane means more success.
repeated bout effect - can learn almost anything with normalization, but why?
Queen Tyra. KeyRa.
Silvas & Kin - forests & gold
Zena warrior princess
Here kai di kai di
Air bhioran = Scottish gaelic excited
Address and listen to the man
Paying damages vs. Demonstrating repentance with bonus joy
Dzieki polish apppreciation, dzjinke czech out this djinn, jinkies, scoobie!
Velma willhelmet wilhelm william
Shalom implies wholeness
A shiva, a she ra, aethera
Win-win-wind condition

Fibula Dragula bone placement

Well, she didn't call the police
So for that I can give thanks

I wrote of Ancient Greece
Aristotle, not Tyra Banks

I'm still Good Will Hunting
Counting down the days

I take real risks
Study Lost Highways

          Celtic Cross
              I prays