IVARLUSKI Aseron laughed nervously when he said it was the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao that had inspired his collection for the Fashion Watch Quartet Series, presented Tuesday at the Makati Shangri-La.

“Structural, architectural,” he said. Then adding almost apologetically, “As usual.”

He had nothing to apologize for.

Successfully combining the sinuous and rigid lines that mimic Frank Gehry’s titanium-limestone-glass masterpiece in his 25-piece collection, his work—the second to the last of the Nokia-Mastercard Femme Visa series for 2008 (Cesar Gaupo will show next Tuesday)— proved that his reputation as one of the industry’s genuine talents isn’t all hype.

With his style often copied by some upstarts and wannabes—often in disastrous turns, such that the exercise has become a pet peeve of fashion scribes (“nagpapaka-Ivar”)—Aseron stuck to a singular silhouette—linear and fitted—as base for his designs.

Lace peeking through sleeves, hems, cut-away sides and backs provided the feminine-sexy foil to his otherwise severe tailoring. His palette was neutral—ivory, slate and black, with three pieces in sage-green.

Striking

In some of the pieces, undulating bands were looped around bodices and necklines, while the same bands appeared as peplums, with modest, stand-away bustles in a piece or two.

The latter technique was one of the most striking elements of Aseron’s design: some parts of the garments appeared to float from the body, like a pinafore dress with a lace undershirt.

He first used this technique four years ago—and only once—for a one-shoulder dress which was part of a collection that paid tribute to his mother.

Worth noting was the workmanship and refinement employed in the sage pieces, cut like jigsaw-puzzle pieces and “sewn together” with tiny strips of a contrast-color fabric lined vertically side-by-side, creating grilles that allowed for slivers of skin to show. This collection was done in three weeks flat.

Also notable was a short dress made of two panels on the front, each half of the panel cut in one piece, from bodice to sleeve, and folded into a continuous, triangular sleeve. It called to mind Cristobal Balenciaga.

We especially liked some of his more minute details, like a flimsy string with a toggle around the neck that seemed to hold the entire dress onto the wearer.

Buzz

Aseron, following his friend Joey Samson’s lead who showed last week with several celebrity models (John Lloyd Cruz, Victor Basa), had the Shang’s Lobby Lounge buzzing when, for his finale, out came Gretchen Barretto in an unstructured ivory dress quite unlike the silhouette of his entire collection.

A rumored paramour of the actress was spotted in the audience.

Barretto, who bought at least 10 pieces from Aseron’s collection for the Inquirer Fashion show several years ago, is one of the designer’s celebrity clients whom he said “could pull off any of my experimental designs.”

Why he decided not to highlight Barretto’s much-envied physique, Aseron said, “Everyone already knows she has a great body. It didn’t matter. I wanted her dress to be different, and she liked it.”

But even a man as talented as Aseron may have a tendency to overwhelm a single collection with a multitude of details. Toward the end of the collection, he brought out a piece with severely pleated accordion sleeves, the same element repeated as an accent on a couple of other pieces. We failed to see how they connected to the undulating lines he had talked about.

Then again, small aspects as this, or even the high-wattage gossip-fodder of a celebrity guest model, couldn’t detract from Aseron’s polished and often witty rendering of a high-concept idea. As usual.