remembrance of things awry

Josefina “Pitang” Buyson-Eusebio was the very best-dressed of the best-dressed Capampangan ladies.  Ever.  She was Jackie Kennedy, Babe Paley, Marella Agnelli, Gloria Guinness, Mona von Bismarck, Millicent Rogers, and The Duchess of Windsor all rolled into one.  That was why she was “La Suprema”…

Dr. “Taddy” Buyson Gonzales, her nephew, shared many stories about his Tita Pitang…

For starters,  Tita Pitang was born an heiress to an affluent, landed, educated, and significantly, an urbane and sophisticated family from Bacolor, Pampanga:  the Buyson family [ pronounced “Bwee-son” ].

Tita Pitang was educated along with her sisters at the exclusive Saint Scholastica’s in Manila and her contemporaries later became the grande dames of Manila society [ At that time, only Saint Scholastica’s with the German and Belgian nuns and the Assumption Convent with the French nuns were considered suitable for the daughters of the rich ].  Among them were Josephine Beley Murphy [ later Mrs. Eduardo Cojuangco Sr. ] and Remedios Goquiolay [ later Mrs. Arellano ].  Remedios Goquiolay recalled:  “At Saint Scholastica’s in those days, our desks had removable tops under which were compartments where we stored our pencils, papers, and other supplies.  But when one lifted Pitang’s, one found “colorete” make-up instead!!!”

Tita Pitang was dressed most of the time by “the” redoubtable Ramon “Ramoning” Oswalds Valera, the greatest of Filipino couturiers.  He created some of his most fantastic dresses for her.  He adored her because she was so chic and cosmopolitan and her dress sense was way ahead of the ladies of her time.  She reciprocated her highly preferred status at Ramoning Valera’s atelier by settling her couture bills with blank cheques.

Oddly enough, Tita Pitang did not care for magnificent, serious jewelry.  She infinitely preferred expensive fashion accessories from New York, Paris, and Rome which she felt coordinated more effectively with her couture dresses.  In that sense, she was already a “fashionista” and truly ahead of her time…!!!  Luz Sarmiento-Panlilio [ elder sister of international jeweler Fe Sarmiento-Panlilio ] recalled that Pitang was disinclined to buy diamond jewelry, because she did not find it “exciting” enough…

On the day of a party, which was often, Tita Pitang would have her hair done, by the leading hairdresser no less, in her bedroom after lunch.  Then she would lie down on her bed for her afternoon “siesta” using an antique Chinese porcelain pillow to support her neck just so her coiffeur for the evening’s fete would be undisturbed.  Once in bed, Tita Pitang refused to turn her head left or right, up or down, for fear of unraveling her coiffeur!!!  She would conduct conversations looking straight ahead.

She was always the sybaritic cynosure of the annual high society “Mancomunidad Pampanguena” Ball, as she was always dressed fantastically by Ramoning Valera, a master couturier to Manila high society whom even uberrich Capampangan ladies were hesitant to approach.  Often, her dancing partner was the dapper and flamboyant Alfonso “Ponceng” de Leon, a younger brother of the first Pampango multimillionaire Jose Leoncio de Leon.  Old Pampanguenos remember the time when Ponceng wore a shocking, avant garde “barong tagalog” handpainted with a peacock to the “Mancomunidad” Ball, literally becoming the “Pavo Real,” which is the classic definition of the Capampangan gentleman.

One time, Tita Pitang fell gravely ill and was bedridden.  The ambulance from Makati Medical Center came.  She stubbornly insisted that she did not want to arrive at the hospital in a stretcher.  She sat down on a French style, silk-upholstered armchair [ by Sisenando Baluyut, no less ] and told the mesmerized emergency staff that that was how she wanted to arrive at the hospital.  When her worried sisters arrived at the MMC Emergency Room looking for her at the various beds, they were surprised to see her seated elegantly on her French style armchair, dressed in a silk gown, and fanning herself [ with an ivory Spanish fan of course ] as if she were at a party!!!  What Style!!!

*unfinished*