Michael Cinco Does Eco-couture for Tyra Banks and Dresses up Royals’ Pets

Michael Cinco, another Dubai-based Philippine Fashion designer, was featured twice on the popular America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) last year—as guest designer in Cycle 16 early in the year, and as finale designer in the last quarter’s Cycle 17 ANTM All-Stars. After about a decade in the Gulf, Samar-born Michael, a fine arts scholar of the University of the Philippines, is moving into the international limelight. He shares how he got on the ANTM show.

“One of the producers of ANTM Cycle 16 is a Filipino. His name is Michael Carandang, and he contacted me via Facebook. I submitted my designs and he showed them to Tyra Banks. My clothes were made out of recycled materials. [My episode was] shot in a landfill by Nigel Barker.” “Tyra Banks asked me to create haute couture pieces from recycled materials for ANTM. After that shoot, I found out that I could use things that we usually throw out as beautiful ornaments on couture dresses that look like expensive gemstones.” He has worked with recycled materials such as rubber bands, broken mirrors, and garbage bags. “I recycle them into fabulous haute couture pieces. I want people to be aware that they can create beautiful pieces from garbage,” he expressed.

Michael’s second ANTM episode was shot in Greece. It also featured the Filipino clothing brand Bench and international model, Georgina Wilson. “I was so happy when I learned that other Filipinos were in Greece for the shoot. The ANTM staff was in awe of Georgina Wilson’s beauty… It made me so proud to be a Filipino.” “To be chosen as the final runway designer like Roberto Cavalli and Vivienne Westwood is one of the biggest achievements in my career,” he added.

“I stayed for almost a month in Greece. We did the shoot last June. Aside from the final runway, I did the clothes for the motion editorials and the shoot with the remaining finalists directed by Tyra Banks.  They asked me to create the designs for the six remaining finalists. The clothes were done in two days… I was so inspired from the place that I made the designs for my collection in my Red Cross Show in Shangri-La Hotel Makati last October, my solo show, and Slim’s show in Philippine Fashion Week, also last October.”

Michael has been in the Middle East since 1997. “Dubai is a melting pot in the Middle East. You usually experience racial discrimination anywhere in this world. Most of my clients are women from the Gulf area. At first I had clients who had doubts about me because of my nationality. But the moment I am able to convince them with the beautiful creations I make for them, they become confident. “Women in Dubai love haute couture. I think the best flagship stores by the top designers in the world can be found here. They travel a lot and most of them are educated abroad so they are updated with the latest trends in fashion,” he commented.

 “My dream is to dress up Angelina Jolie and Cate Blanchett in a red carpet event,” he said when asked who his dream clients may be. Cinco is now the creative director of Michael Cinco Haute Couture in Dubai that specializes in wedding gowns and evening dresses. “It’s a dream come true,” he says. When asked about the Philippine fashion scene, he replies: “It’s going global.”

Cinco also designs other clothes apart from wedding or evening gowns. “I have clients from the royal family who love exotic animals as their pets. One princess asked me to dress up her leopard pet in animal print, another one asked me to make a cat suit for her python, and yet another client inquired if I could do crystallized clothes for a chimpanzee,” he reveals. “I don’t know if I’ll still be “normal” after that,” he jokes.

"Dream great dreams. Believe in yourself and in God. Believe that impalpable dreams do come true.” - Michael Cinco

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Greek-Inspired Michael Cinco Collection

A year after his colleague Furne One drew raves for his Alexander McQueen-esque collection, it will be the turn of another Philippine Fashion Designer based in the Middle East, Michael Cinco, to shine as he presents a 40-piece collection in the annual Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) Fashion Gala on October 16 at Makati Shangri-La’s Rizal Ballroom.

Inspired mainly by his recent travel to Greece, particularly Athens and the remote island of Santorini, the collection is a play on soft and hard, rigid and fluid elements. “It can be anything, from the statues to the columns, as well as colors and barely seen details of elements I chanced upon during my travels,” said Cinco, who’s been based in Dubai since the late ’90s. “The sources are endless, to be honest.” Cinco, who was attending to a client in neighboring Abu Dhabi, replied to our questions through e-mail.

Color as transition

“In my heart of hearts, I feel that I descended from some Greek god or goddess, which probably explains my fascination with Greece. It has been an endless source of inspiration for me,” he said. Instead of grouping his pieces into suites, Cinco uses color as transition—from neutrals such as light gray to white and black, to bolder, more vibrant yellow, orange and red. “It’s not about whether they’re short or long dresses,” he added. “I don’t want to make the usual and predictable day dresses and evening gowns.”

The show is all about giving Manila fashionistas an idea of how to wear, Cinco said, “my vision.” He also wants to give them the freedom to mix and match his pieces with clothes by other designers, depending on their mood. The plan is to devote the first segment to daywear with short, flowing chiffon dresses, and men’s suits and jackets. Beaded evening gowns will dominate the second segment; the final segment will be wedding gowns. “I want people to see a more wearable collection,” he said. “For sure, there will be embellishments. I’m toying with the idea of using porcelain and black mirror.”

He’ll also use laser-cut ceramics, acrylic and mother-of-pearl shells on jackets and short dresses. Cinco will also unveil “out-of-this-world” prints—actually minute embroideries and sequins. But the pressure, he admitted, is on. Cinco, who had the chance to show his range as a designer a few years ago in Philippine Fashion Week, acknowledges that this will be his biggest show in Manila. “I’m excited and nervous at the same time, as I’m showing to a different audience,” he said. “I’m flattered as well because Tessa (Prieto-Valdes) and Kaye (Tinga) gave me the chance to showcase my collection to raise funds for a worthy endeavor.”

Fourth year

This is the fourth year Valdes and Tinga are co-chairing the event to raise P3 million for the benefit of PNRC Rizal Chapter and Assumption High School Class of ’81 Foundation. Tickets are at P10,000 per seat. Tables are also available at P100,000 each for groups of 10. The show’s main presentor is Megaworld, with Audi, Etihad Airways and Smart Infinity. Other sponsors are Sun Life Financial, HSBC, Pond’s, Resorts World Manila, Makati Shangri-La and Fila. “I have been working on my collection for months now,” Cinco shared. “But welcome breaks such as my travels have helped me to evolve the concept. When I finally did my mood board, I coordinated with the director to discuss the concept in detail.” This year’s show will be directed by Ariel Lozada and styled by Noel Manapat. Patrick Rosas and his team will do the models’ hair and makeup.

Comparisons between him and One are also in order. Cinco is ready for centerstage. “I must say that Furne did an amazing collection last year,” he said. “Furne and I respect each other. I’m so happy for him that Filipino audiences accepted his work. I hope they do the same to me. After all, I’m also a Filipino who simply wants to take part in this worthy project.” Cinco grew up in Samar with images of Hollywood goddesses Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn swimming in his head.

Their public personas, magnified a thousand times by their fabulous outfits, and his lush rural surroundings inspired him to go into fashion. By 1988, Cinco was a fine-arts scholar. He took up fashion courses at Slim’s in 1991 before becoming a designer a year later doing hotel and office uniforms for a Japanese firm. Encouraged by a friend to try his luck in Dubai, then a booming financial and cultural hub in the Middle East, Cinco made the big move in 1997. His first job proved to be daunting, as he was tasked to change the image of a big but slightly staid fashion house. Word soon spread of how good he was, and before long, Dubai’s fashionable women were beating the path to his door. Rather than sit on his laurels, Cinco left Dubai for a yearlong sabbatical in London and Paris to soak up the fashion scene and study special fashion courses at Central Saint Martins.

He went back to Dubai in 2003 to open his own couture house. As creative director of Michael Cinco Haute Couture, he caters mainly to women in need of elegant, one-of-a-kind wedding gowns and evening dresses.

Apart from being a regular at Dubai Fashion Week, Cinco has had the chance to show his pieces to international audiences during such events as Swarovski 7even and Miami Fashion Week. His clothes have also been worn by celebrities, including British pop singer Lilly Allen and American socialite and recent Manila visitor Paris Hilton. Most recently, Cinco’s “eco-couture” creations were featured in the latest season of “America’s Next Top Model,” impressing host Tyra Banks and judges Nigel Barker and Andre Leon Tally.

“I’ve been designing for more than 20 years now,” he said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else other than fashion.”

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