Last Saturday I was witness to a super blessed event! It was the one year anniversary party of Rags2Riches. More than a year ago I was invited to dinner by my good friend Ange Benavides, I did not know that this dinner would create a change in me and in many ways make a better person. In that dinner were a group of young men and women dedicated to change the lives of the people in Payatas.
Payatas is one of the poorest communities in Metro Manila, this is where you find the infamous smokey mountain. They asked me how I could improve the rags that they were making? The minute I saw the
rags images of fashionable accessories flashed in my mind, I call it my light bulb or AHA moment ( I am a true disciple of Oprah. LOL!) ! I started folding the bags and showing them my ideas. I took the rags to my studio the next day and by evening I had the first prototypes. I showed it to the board and then asked if I could meet with the people doing this so I can teach them. They responded very well to the project and the rest as they say is history!
From 20 nanays when we started,we now have 300 nanays in the project ! The Rags2Riches project has won several international awards, you can read them all in our website rags2riches.com
To celebrate our one year anniversary, we invited famous artists to create limited edition bags that we auctioned! We had National Artist BenCab do an original painting on the bag. Anita Magsaysay-Ho
who is a very respected artist gave us permission to reproduce her paintings and had these plastered on our bags as well. My good friend Raymund Isaac showed his savvy and style by creating uber fashionable versions of the bags. Stylist to the stars Jenny Epperson together with her gorgeous daughter created a fun and chic collection that elicited many oohs and aahhs! I also did 5 limited editions pieces that reflected my design aesthetic.
The BenCab bag! This bag fetched a whopping P360,000.00!!!!
Check this out! Super limited edition Anita Magsaysay-Ho bags that were all sold out in the first hour of the evening!
Another version of the Anita Magsaysay-Ho bags: there were only three produced!
The Jenni Epperson collection! Love the graphic details designed by her talented daughter Arianna.
The mabuhay Shopingera bag, by Jenni Epperson!
This is my Bag, inspired by Malachites and sliced agates.
This is my full collection! the price ranged from P3,000.00 to P7,000.00 ( well-priced no?)
This is the collection of Raymund Isaac! I loved his fringed inspirations, very '20s!
The evening was a huge success! We would have not been able to achieve this without the help of the Intercontinental hotel who provided the Bahia and the super yummy food and wine! We also had Bombay gin as a sponsor (making everyone loosen there purse strings more LOL!). Cream silk was also there to lend a huge hand. A huge thanks to Saga, specifically Robbie Carmona he created the beautiful space and made sure that it was spectacular! Finally to my angel Tessa! She hosted the event and raised….well a lot of money…. a few thousand shy of 1 million pesos!
My real life Angel! Tessa Valdes, she hosted that evening.
Raymund with his Mom. She was the inspiration behind the collection! A lovely lady indeed!
Me with Ate Cynthia, she was the first "Nanay" I taught to do our bags!
Bro Javi, he is the president of Rags2Riches!
Sisters? Naks! Jenni and Ariana Epperson, talent really runs through the family!
My gals! Malu and Leica!
Cris Badiola! Who won the coveted BenCab bag!
Mandy, with my Malachite clutch which she won in the silent auction!
The fur trim doubles as a fetish tool! LOL!
Tessa with the Eppersons: she was gaga over the bags!
Family Santos in full force! Thank you for the support!
The entire Rags2Rices family! LOVE YOU ALL!
I experienced a really blessed event! Proving that by doing good intentions the circle of goodness just gets bigger and bigger!
See you soon!
HUGS!
RAJO!
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