For the last 35 years since Filipino designer Josie Cruz Natori founded the lingerie company that bears her name, she’s been reaching for natori, which also the Japanese word for “highest form of art.”

One of the hottest and most flamboyant personalities in the fashion industry – may it be in Dubai or Manila and Los Angeles – Michael Cinco shines brightly with his amazing collection of achievements, especially this 2012.

“I got into art simply out my frustration to create. I stick to it because I want to create without a reason. I’m an Art Director by day, and everything I do in the day has a reason. My personal work has none, yet it exists to please me.” Art Director, Illustrator and Street Photographer Rafael Gregor Valencia talks about his preoccupation.

The glitzy Middle East couture industry is teeming with Filipino designers who are known and acknowledged for their definitive edge in fashion design.