Style arbiter Georgina Diaz is more than former Miss Universe Gloria Diaz’s younger sister, or aunt of model-actresses Georgina Wilson and Isabelle Daza and award-winning social entrepreneur Illac Diaz. When she’s not attending a party, she’s more often than not hosting one in her condominium or styling dinners for friends.
“I have more fun organizing parties than doing interior design. In the latter, I tend to become too involved in people’s personal lives, and they object to my ideas. With parties, they give me a free hand,” she says.
An inveterate traveler, Diaz is influenced by the entertaining styles of the Japanese and the Italians. In the Japanese kaiseki meal, food is served sequentially in artfully composed plates, highlighting the balance of color, texture, and tastes. Women are not supposed to wear perfume so that the odor doesn’t affect the food.
Like the Japanese, the Italians use seasonal ingredients and always prepare the dishes a la minute so the food is hot. “I like to present the food creatively to get the conversation going. It’s got to be fun,” says Diaz. She then shows us an Instagram posting of a suman shaped like a teddy bear, swimming in latik.
“From the Italians, I learned to pace the meal so that the food is always served hot,” she says.
For the Asian Dragon shoot, she creates a wintry theme. The main table is laden with frosted plates filled with white crystals. On white glasses, birds nestle on egg-shaped pastilles, made by an artisan from Pampanga. Antique viriñas, normally used as lighting fixtures, add decorative sparkle to the table. Hefty strawberries are caught in giant ice cubes. For special misty effect, she adds dry ice on the plates. “Dry ice adds magic to the theme,” she says.
—
Know more about Georgina Diaz and her style of entertaining inside Asian Dragon Magazine’s January-February issue.
[Photographs: Aldwin Aspillera]
