RAJO LAUREL, LAHI, AND THE LONG JOURNEY

I met Rajo Laurel when he was just starting out, when his atelier was a modest walk-up in Población, Makati.

- MONCHET DIOKNO OLIVES

No signage to speak of. Just stairs, fabric, paper patterns taped to the walls, and a young creative already serious about his craft. That was before the stages, before the weight of reputation.Those were also the years when Margie and I still dressed for events in earnest. Rajo made many of her early pieces — clean, thoughtful clothes that traveled easily from formal functions to quieter dinners. (When she puts one on, we say “vintage Laurel” in jest) Even then, he understood that garments had to work beyond sketches. They had to survive real life.

From that narrow staircase in Poblacion to a couture presentation in Bangkok, Rajo Laurel’s career has followed a steady arc.

And then there was me.

At that time I weighed 360 pounds. Most designers, faced with that reality, become cautious or formulaic. Rajo did not. He approached my body as a design problem worth solving. He built me linen tops that moved with heat and gravity. He gave me drawstring pants that provided comfort without sacrificing structure. He never disguised my size. He respected it. That early experience told me everything I needed to know about his design values: he designs for real people, not imaginary bodies.

That sensibility remains his anchor to this day.

A CAREER BUILT ON PROCESS, NOT NOISE

Rajo’s career did not arrive in dramatic leaps. It unfolded through long seasons of work — couture, fittings, experimentation, retreat, and return. Starting young, he crossed multiple eras in Philippine fashion: from the intimacy of atelier culture, through the spectacle of fashion weeks, Metro Wears, through the quieter years when attention thinned, and now into this new age of speed and visibility.

What stayed constant was his refusal to dilute craft for attention. Trends passed. Platforms changed. The work remained.

This is why Lahi does not feel like a reinvention or a pivot. It feels like accumulation.