Celebrating like we mean it
Filipinos do not halfheartedly show up to anything. Not to a table, not to a room, not to the business of making something beautiful. That is not a small thing. In a time when everything feels either too loud or too uncertain, there is something grounding about a culture that still knows how to mean it.
Two events, two days made me feel exactly that way.
The first was on May 14 at Greenbelt 5. The second, the following afternoon at The Westin Manila. Different rooms, different energies, but the same thread running through both: Filipinos celebrating with full conviction in their own taste.
On dressing well
It started the afternoon before at Opulence Design Concept, a luxury brand house on the third floor of Greenbelt 5 that carries European names like Fornasetti, Versace Home, and Dolce & Gabbana Casa. There, Filipino fashion designer Andrea Tetangco launched her capsule collection, “Opulence in Motion,” as an exclusive pop-up timed during the Mother’s Day weekend.
Tetangco has always understood that a woman contains multitudes, and her clothes follow suit. Her palette ran through black, white, blush pink, and warm brown; colors that have nothing to prove and work on any day of the week, not just a celebrated one. The cuts are structured without being stiff, the kind of clothes that look intentional, whether you are running errands or walking into a room.
In the space that evening, the guests arrived dressed with clear intention: color, personality, nothing phoned in. The room looked the way a fashion launch should. Against it, the collection held its own without competing.
The collection was unveiled through a runway presentation featuring Atty. Karen Jimeno, interior designer Grace Tan, Miss Universe Philippines 2017 Rachel Peters, and Tricia Centenera, a cast that reflected exactly the kind of woman Tetangco designs for.
“This whole collection is inspired by the modern woman right now, the modern mom,” Tetangco tells Lifestyle Inquirer. “You can still dress up despite the heavy days, hectic days, breastfeeding, errands, and everything. You can still dress up and feel good about yourself.”
It’s why the pieces move with the body instead of against it. They don’t demand a specific mood to wear well. They create one.
Placing fashion inside a home décor space could have read as a curatorial stunt. But it didn’t, because both sides were working from the same foundation. “We share the same value,” Tetangco says. “We share the same quality and craft.”
Jinky Sy, who owns Opulence, saw it the same way. “Opulence is not just one kind of mom,” she says. “We cater to the modern moms, the young moms. Andrea is a perfect fit.”
On gathering
The next day belonged to Let’s Celebrate! Expo 2026, and before I even sat down at Aire32 inside The Westin Manila, I was already in the mood the event was built for.
The room had the kind of energy that comes from people who genuinely respect each other’s work. Being around people who are building things, pushing things forward, and doing it with taste does something to you. It reminds you why the work matters.
Teddy Manuel’s tablescape was a conversation between two cultures that have shared more history than either fully accounts for. Red carnations, the national flower of Spain, are placed against crab flowers representing the Philippines. Terracotta slabs as the base. The florals rose dramatically upward, a movement Manuel said was inspired by flamenco dancers mid-performance, hands lifted, bodies caught between stillness and motion. It was an arrangement that knew exactly what it was doing.
Lunch was by chef de cuisine Álvaro Romero-Abreu Raya, trained at Michelin-starred restaurants in Spain, including Mugaritz, with Cantabria holding a Michelin Select designation.
The menu moved through Spanish technique without performing it: a wagyu and ikura tartlet that was precise and indulgent in equal measure, a seafood and tiger prawn paella that anchored the main course, and Cantabria’s regional delicacy cake served with cheese ice cream and a berries coulis to close.
The destination partner for this edition is the Spain Tourism Board. “Filipino travelers place great value on meaningful celebrations, family connections, and unforgettable experiences,” says Marta Fernandez Martin, director of the Spain Tourism Board for Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. “Spain offers a unique combination of culture, history, hospitality, gastronomy, and unforgettable venues.”
It is a pairing that is historically grounded rather than commercially convenient. Spain is not a place Filipinos admire from a distance. It lives inside the culture: in the structure of the feast, in the weight Filipinos give to a gathering done right, in the understanding that hospitality is a form of dignity.
Two days, two rooms, one argument made in different registers
There is nothing accidental about the way Filipinos celebrate. The attention to the table, the care in the clothes, the instinct to make a gathering feel like it means something. That is not circumstance. That is culture, and it is worth owning without reservation. Two rooms in Makati did exactly that. We showed up, and we meant it.
Let’s Celebrate! Expo 2026 runs from July 18 to 19 at Space, One Ayala, Makati. The Andrea Tetangco x Opulence pop-up is available at Opulence Design Concept, 3rd Floor, Greenbelt 5, until June 14
