May 23, 2007 8pm
The site is still under construction. Please bear with us.
Definitely, Dahlia Mia Barlaan is sure to be the youngest wedding gown maker in the Philippines at 27. But her ability to make fabulous and very wearable and affordable wedding gowns should not be discounted since she grew up around sewing machines, fabrics, designers and dressmakers. One of her parents’ businesses was then RTW (Ready to wear) dresses.
Mia, who was born in 1980, was exposed to her parents’ work of supplying leading department stores with high-quality ready-to-wear dresses, which started in 1977. Mia’s parents were one of the pioneer suppliers of SM Department Store in SM’s early years. There were only three SM outlets then. Mia’s part in the business during those times was to act as a receptionist in her parents’ made-to-order clientele at Ali Mall in Cubao, Quezon City, at age four! As a little girl, she also enjoyed immensely watching Bb. Pilipinas at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, in which her parents had always dressed up one or two candidates for three years. Lunch-time fashion shows at the Hyatt Regency Hotel along Roxas Boulevard was a fad then, and Mia Barlaan could not be stopped from being present almost everyday from watching those very tall and pretty models, who were dolled up by Mia’s parents, sashaying on the ramp.
Mia started her schooling at the Assumption College in San Lorenzo Village, Makati, a prestigious all-girls school at age five. She stayed on until she graduated from high school in 1997. Assumption College has cultivated in Mia a taste of simplicity and muted elegance that is still reflected in the gowns she produces presently.
After graduating from high school, she enrolled at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, Laguna where she graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in 2001 and subsequently finished a Diploma Course in Computer Science from the same university in 2003. The University has instilled in her the disposition and belief of accurate and good workmanship and good interpersonal skills.
After graduation, Mia taught at the AMA Computer University for two years and at the De La Salle Integrated School for one and a half years, while taking up her Master of Arts in Education Major in Special Education at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her skill in time management and in the allocation of work amongst her trusted and dependable artists and staff has enabled Mia Barlaan to simultaneously do her real love of creating wedding gowns for those brides who trust her ability. Consequently, due to the high demand of her bridal gowns from her clients and their referrals, Mia has finally decided to concentrate on producing wedding gowns and formal wear in January 2007, while finishing her post-graduate studies.
She has showcased her gowns in various bridal fairs and bridal fashion shows which were held at the Philtrade Center at Roxas Boulevard, the World Trade Center at Roxas Boulevard, Villa Immaculada of Tamayo’s Catering at Intramuros Manila and at the Manila Hotel and Edsa Shangrila Hotel.
Although creating a one-stop- wedding shop has been very appealing since it could give Mia greater earnings, she has chosen to focus on creating only quality wedding gowns, as she believes that branching out to other bridal products (i.e. flowers, bridal car rentals, photography, bridal coordinators and souvenirs) will disperse her attention, consequently affecting the quality and craftsmanship of the wedding gowns she creates.
At date, Mia has a wedding gown shop located at 479 Aaron Building Alabang-Zapote Road Almanza, Las Piñas, fronting SM Southmall. She also supplies wedding gowns to a prominent and leading wedding caterer/one-stop wedding store in the Philippines for two years and has been invited by a leading men’s haberdashery in Nagoya, Japan to supply them with wedding gowns.
