Model turned fashion designer Criselda Lontok knows how to stay relevant. Working as Rustan’s in-house designer for the past three and a half decades, she has dressed generations of Manila’s most fashionable and influential women, and still does to this day.
Mentored by Rustan’s matriarch and founder Gliceria Rustia-Tantoco, her principle to staying relevant is creating clothes that are elegant and timeless yet practical and can be worn by women of all sizes and ages.
“The most precious lesson I learned all these years as a designer is that style and comfort should never be a paradox but a fusion,” shares Lontok. “That customer satisfaction should be first and foremost together with the elegance and practicality of the designs.”
As Lontok celebrates her 35 years of transformative style, she boldly looks forward into the future, the next generation of women—young influential ladies—who look up to their mothers as their own personal icons, the very same women who have followed and stayed true to her style philosophy since the label was created.
This year, a new vision for the Criselda brand emerges from the chrysalis.
Lontok recently presented the Criselda Lontok Holiday 2018 collection featuring classic styles with contemporary twists worn by her 19 fashion muses—the Criselda Women—that included women from different generations.
Bea Jacinto, Erica Concepcion-Reyes, Wendy Yuchengco, Natalia Jacinto, Mia Borromeo, Alana Montelibano, Tania Fricke Lichauco, Stephanie Zubiri-Crespi, Dina Tantoco, Audrey Tan-Zubiri, Frannie Jacinto, Zelda Kienle, Natalia Peña, Patricia Prieto, Marivic Vasquez, Tessa Prieto-Valdes, Linda Ley, and Rissa Mananquil-Trillo walked on the runway of The Peninsula Manila.
The muses donned Lontok’s designs, from Maria Clara-inspired tops with contemporary structures, to long gowns that improve the traditional silhouettes. This inimitable fusion of style and comfort, fluid and structured, modern and classic took center stage.
With the blending of bright colors and prints with an integration of modern and classic designs, this timeless collection is made for women who are beautiful, stylish, and feminine.
As she marks another milestone in her illustrious career with this latest collection, Criselda Lontok demonstrates why her brand remains synonymous to elegance and sophistication.
The Criselda Lontok Holiday 2018 collection will be available first week of September at Rustan’s Makati, Shangri-La, Alabang, Gateway, and Cebu.