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How Filipina designer ended up dressing Gucci's granddaughter for Cannes Film Festival
ABS-CBN News
MANILA -- Filipina designer Chona Bacaoco, who hails from Iloilo, is shattering barriers and achieving milestones in fashion in Milan, Italy.
In an interview on TeleRadyo on Monday morning, Bacaoco shared that she recently dressed Drusilla Gucci, the fashion icon's great granddaughter, for a red carpet event of the Cannes Film Festival.
“Actually I submitted my design and I didn’t hear back for some time so I thought maybe she didn’t pick me. So I said I will just try again next time. And then five days before the Cannes Film Festival, they called me. ‘Chona, Drusilla picked you to be her designer for her red carpet exposure,’” Bacaoco said.
Bacaoco said she was in total disbelief when she got that call.
“I could’t believe that someone like me [would dress up someone like her]. I still have a lot of things to learn in this industry. But dressing someone so iconic – her mom is a fashion critic – that actually scares me more than dressing the great granddaughter of Gucci,” she said.
Bacaoco said dressing celebrities for the Cannes Film Festival is such an honor.
“It’s like a turning point for my career professionally and also for me personally. I am still dreaming. It is really happening that they are recognizing Filipino talent here,” she said.
“Last February, I also did a fashion show with Michael Cinco here in Milan. It’s the first-ever fashion week of Michael Cinco, which I produced. I was so honored that he trusted me to produce his first-ever Milan Fashion Week.”
Bacaoco was born in Iloilo City and was raised in Guimaras. Growing up, she didn’t know that there are other brands because her mother is a dressmaker.
“I thought everyone was wearing my mother’s dresses,” she related, laughing.
Bacaoco started working at a modeling agency way back in 2016 in Milan. Three years later, she officially launched her own brand, MM Milano.
“I said I can’t just launch my brand here in Milan knowing it’s the world’s fashion capital. There will be a lot of challenges along the way but kung may tiyaga ka at lakas ng loob, [makakaya mo],” she said. “Lord thank you so much na hindi mo na ako pinaghintay ng matagal.”