Photographed by Karl King Aguña
In this Vogue Philippines exclusive, we spoke with three Filipino designers about how they shaped the union of the year with custom wedding dresses.
For a wedding characterized by creative collaboration, cultural tradition, and personal style, the custom ensembles worn by Christian Tantoco and Siobhan Moylan were far more than mere outfits. Spanning ateliers from Paris to Manila, these garments sparked months of dialogue, meticulous fittings, and hands-on experimentation.
What brought all the designs together wasn’t a single aesthetic, but a shared ethos: craftsmanship rooted in contemporizing the philosophy of Filipiniana with love. From freshwater pearl beadwork to barong-blazer hybrids, these outfits profoundly celebrate their common heritage and shared passion for the arts.
Carl Jan Cruz and his team crafted Siobhan’s gown, Christian’s barong, and the complimentary ceremonial pieces like the unity braid and the ring bearer pillow for the wedding, exploring the concept of pang-okasyon (occasion wear) in the 21st century. It took nearly a year to build the gown, drawing influence from the corsetry of Mr Pearl, John Galliano, and Vivienne Westwood.
For one of Siobhan’s evening looks, the couple commissioned Paris-based and Manila-raised designer Jude Macasinag to create a gown. “I was deep into personal research about Madeleine Vionnet’s work when Siobhan asked me to make her a dress,” he said. “I was looking for something that lived in the liminal space between classism and contemporaneity.”
He designed a pink, bias-cut gown evoking the allure of a 1930s silver screen siren. Embroidered with scale-like iridescent glass beads, the design plays against the luminous textures of the silk lamé and mousseline like a mermaid’s tail. “The golden lamé glimmers beneath the changeant mousseline, while the glass beads sparkle in candlelight or flash photography,” he explains.
Fittings began in Paris, where the designer draped directly on Siobhan, sketching with pen and marker on fabric to map out the proportions. “It was raw, personal, just how it needed to be.” Despite its elegance, the dress is a feat of handicraft engineering, inspired by Vionnet’s pioneering bias-cut technique.
Much loved by Galliano during his tenure at Dior, cutting on the bias allows for “a certain fluidity in the garment,” giving the bride the freedom to maintain form-fitting sophistication without limiting movement. To embellish the gown with heavy beadwork, in his research, Jude discovered and employed an Albert and Marie Louise Lesage approach to retain the fabric selection and silhouette.
The embroidery itself was handcrafted by a small team in the Philippines, with whom Jude has been collaborating for almost a decade, and returned to Paris for the final finishings. “It merges old traditions with a new look,” such as the haute couture standards of “fabric edges done by hand, seam allowances reduced to a minuscule width of 2.5 millimeters, and thousands of tiny hand stitches.”
Jude quotes Valentino Garavani that “dresses should be like jewels,” and if his design had a soundtrack, it would be: “Scent of a Woman: Tango (Por Una Cabeza)” by Carlos Gardel, reperformed by Itzhak Perlman and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
To kickstart the afterparty, TOQA co-founder and creative director Isabel Sicat created looks that felt like an extension of Siobhan and Christian’s personalities: free-spirited, radiant, and built to move. “I’ve known them both for a while, and it’s been so beautiful to see their individual tastes and interests evolve over time.”
Sicat reworked a trouser silhouette she had begun developing for Christian “a year or a year and a half ago,” which became a modular, comfortable, yet striking piece. “He had seen them back then and said, ‘Let me know when you’re ready to perfect this. I’m into it.” For Siobhan, she imagined her in something “drunk, like Kate Moss,” as the bride self-proclaimed. “That phrase ended up living on the mood board,” Isabel confessed. “We all knew exactly what it meant.”
Collaborative fittings followed, otherwise known as “jam sessions,” where they “played around with the proportions, deciding which textiles would go on whom, and how much of the dyed or embroidered sections we’d use. I thrive in that kind of dialogue…the integration felt natural.”
At the beginning, the design vision for the outfits was founded in feeling rather than form. “When I looked at the deck and the creative direction for the wedding, I picked up on that forest nymph, fairy tale, forest prince energy.” Far from static, these garments were designed for movement, for celebration, for the freedom of the dance floor.
The textiles were custom-made, such as TOQA’s signature heat-treated white foam, with sheer power mesh and sheer elements that added a lightness to every layer. “Everything was meant to feel bubbly, foamy, light, and airy,” she explained.
“We went through about six different dress iterations to get the color and sheen just right,” she added. “More than anything, I wanted them to feel cohesive as a set, not just two individual outfits.” What emerged was more than fashion; it mirrored connection. “It felt personal, gratifying, and lovely for the entire process to be reflective of their attitude toward creativity, fashion, and life.”
By LAWRENCE ALBA. Photographs by KARL KING AGUÑA. Digital Associate Editor: Chelsea Sarabia. Producer: Julian Rodriguez. Shot on location at the Tantoco family residence, the TOQA design studio, and the Carl Jan Cruz 45 Bayani atelier.
