It was a rocking weekend in Boracay when 26 teams from Australia, Canada, Holland, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, the United States and the Philippines competed during the Dragon Boat Festival, natch.

But the dazzling star was none other than Fila as the Guardians and Boracay Bumshell, the men’s and women’s teams from Fila, were declared champions.

For the stunning sunset party, Fila pulled out all stops, starting with cool cocktails at the “Fila beach house,” dahlings.

Famous hotspot Epic was the place to be when Meg magazine held its end-of-summer bash, which gathered the most beautiful people on the island headed by Fila’s Cris Albert.

Divine Lee and Victor Basa were declared Fila Skeletoes’ sexiest couple, along with Brazilian models Zaydan Timpani and Luana Reis.

Hotshots included Tatler’s Anton San Diego, doing photo-shoots on the island; Tim Yap, Marc Gueco, CJ Jaravata, Ruby Anne Ching and Maxene Magalona.

At Discovery Shores was shot a pictorial for Tatler by acclaimed actor and theater photographer Jojit Lorenzo, starring Mylene Dizon, Zaydan Timpani and Cris Albert.

So, how awesome was your weekend, palanggas?

Porcelanosa

One of Spain’s most reputable companies, Porcelanosa Grupo, has landed in Cosmo-Manille, bringing with it state-of-the-art products, eye-catching designs and high-end technology.

The design house opened its flagship 700-sq-m showroom in Infinity Tower at Fort Bonifacio. Porcelanosa now has 400 awesome  showrooms in over 100 countries worldwide, dahlings. Aside from Porcelanosa, its brands include Venis, Gamadecor, Systempool, L’Antic Colonial, Butech, Noken and Urbatek.

“This (the latest showroom) guarantees the firm’s presence in all five continents, providing faithful clientele with the latest designs,” said Silvestre Segarra, chair of Porcelanosa Grupo.

“At last, we have opened in Manila,” Segarra added. “This new showroom is a product of everyone’s hard work and sacrifices and it truly represents technology, quality and design.”

He was joined in welcoming the guests by Jay Ong, Casa Europa Inc. president.

“We are very glad to be the Philippine partner of Porcelanosa, because the market is ready for their products,” said Ong.

Segarra and Ong led the toast of the bubbly together with Spanish Ambassador Jorge Domecq and his wife Rosa Rufino de Domecq.

A guest was Kevin Belmonte.

Porcelanosa’s international endorser is renowned Filipina-Spanish beauty Isabel Preysler, ex-wife of Julio Iglesias and the mother of Enrique Iglesias, and wife of former Spanish finance minister Miguel Boyer.

Après that, we all circulated around while enjoying wine selections from Barcino, jamon Serrano and cheeses from Terry’s, and an assortment of Spanish dishes by Kai, naturalmente.

In the meantime I had a long chat with Señor Segarra about Spain and my longtime friend Isabel Preysler. He immediately took out his cell phone and shot me. “I’ll send this to Isabel and tell her that we have met,” he told me.

Banking on 35 years of experience in the industry and recognized by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Financial Times, Porcelanosa has made its most important milestone when it was granted the “Royal Warrant by HRH, the Prince of Wales” in recognition of its quality products and services, with testimonies from renowned brand ambassadors such as George Clooney and Nicole Kidman.

Check out Porcelanosa’s various products and services, dahlings. It’s a haven for architects, interior designers and home builders, palanggas.

Art of the fan

Multitalented designer Rachy Cuna gave us a flight of fantasy when he presented “Abaniko” at the lobby of InterContinental Manila, dahlings.

The must-see exhibit features 18 art installations using Chinese fans as their canvas. Seashells, jade, flowers, antique Chinese coins, bamboo and even chopsticks were fantastically used as embellishments.  “Eye-catching,” “contemplative,” “soulful” and “unique” are adjectives that invitees used to describe the visual feast, palanggas.

Doing the opening honors were InterCon’s general manager Christian Pirodon and Consul General Shen Zicheng of the embassy of China.

Among the invitees were South Korea’s Dong-gu city deputy mayor Kurak Ha-Hyeong; fashion czar Pitoy Moreno, with sister, poetess Virgie Moreno; Susan Calo Medina, and television host Boy Abunda.

Also among the guests were Western Visayas Region Tourism Council chair Victoria Ramos-Antonino; Ayala Museum’s Ken Esguerra, Marivic Vasquez, Bayanihan National Folk Dance Company executive director Suzie Benitez, Edd Fuentes, National Book Store’s Xandra Ramos-Padilla, Inquirer Learning section editors Chelo Banal-Formoso and Linda Bolido, Japanese Embassy press officer Kenji Hira, travel exec Liela Salgado, and the Zamora-Cuna clan led by Rachy’s mother Patsi and brother Ricchie, no less, dahlings.

My favorite among the works was—without batting an eyelash—the serene yet incredibly hypnotic “Nirvana” fan, wow!

One lady guest openly wanted to buy and bring home two of Rachy’s gorgeous fans. “You name the price,” she told the artist, who shyly said: “I’m sorry, but it’s not for sale,” much to her disappointment.

Her disappointment was understandable. After all, dahlings, loud whispers came my way that “Abaniko” would be brought to other InterContinental hotels abroad, soon.

Take that well-deserved bow, Rachy Cuna!