Cebu goes bag to basics

Manor-born and city-bred Joanna Maitland Smith loves flowers and adores beautiful things. Like most graduates of the University of London, with a hard-earned degree in interior design, she wished to put to good use what she had learned in school and hoped to create works of art. It seemed it was all just a matter of time.

However, she met good-looking entrepreneur Michael Lhuillier – he with an unyielding drive for business – married him and happily settled down in Cebu. The doting mother of three adorable boys, namely Michael James, Matthew and Myles, instead turned homemaker par excellence. But the dream lingered on… consciously or otherwise.

All it took was a thoughtful gift of a bag from loving sister-in-law Yvette Warnod, who resides in Paris. Admiring the functional design and scrutinizing the flawless craftsmanship, Joanna instinctively knew that she could come up with similar products with a difference, with her own specifications in colors she loves best, executed with Filipino ingenuity using materials sourced from all over the globe. With talent that knows no bounds and a perseverance that is rare to find, Joanna took up the challenge.

The popular Monsignor Achilles Dakay recently called upon the heavens and beseeched the One Above to bless a modish boutique in a little corner located strategically on the ground level of the Shangri-La Mactan Island Resort. Here, fashionable handbags reign. Angeling Lhuillier, the grand matriarch of the clan, mom Diana Maitland-Smith, very English in her captivating gracious ways, who jetted in from London, and mother-in-law, the extremely fit and always resplendent Amparito Llamas Lhuillier, shared the honors of the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon.

Gladly browsing through the impressive limited collection, each individual handbag is lovingly named after a flower ("I just love flowers," admits Joanna). It is truly a joyful experience, reminiscent of a leisurely stroll in a garden in full bloom.

Cebu’s fashionable icons were accounted for. Among them were Rosebud Sala, eternally elegant, who fell in love with the incredible use of satin, while Annie Aboitiz, forever on-the-go attending to her several worthwhile charitable projects, was drawn to a particular leather bag that was somehow more subdued yet undeniably chic. Nelia Neri, the dean of the island’s lifestyle editors, was completely sold on the tote summer bags in punchy colors of lime, tomato red, turquoise and tangerine, the perfect gear for weekend sailing with husband Julius. Teresing Mendezona, the more-than-just-a-party planner and eventologist with impeccable flair, and Vivina Chua, the doctor with élan, could not wait for another tomorrow to claim one and take it home.

And before long, I humbly predict and sincerely believe, Cebu’s women of substance and ladies of style will be entranced and enchanted to surrender to the charm and succumb to the desire of owning a Joanna Maitland Smith-Lhuillier handbag, a work of art, a treasure for life.