Edwin Ao's urban renewal

Year 2005 marks the 17th year of the Asian Young Fashion Designers Contest (AYFDC), the only regional talent search that showcases and gathers up-and-coming talents from all over Asia under one roof to pit their craft against each other. The big event will be held on October 22, at the Raffles City Shopping Center. AYDFC '05 will feature the works of designers hailing from different countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, China, Singapore and the Philippines.

Changing Patterns is this year's theme for the competition and one of Cebu's top, young designers - Edwin Ao - is representing the country together with Jerome Ang from Manila. Edwin's experience with past design competitions like MEGA Young Designers Competition and the Paris Competition back in 2000, paved the way for Edwin's re-entry into the spotlight. I caught up with this hip, young designer and here's what he has to say about his entry:

A.D.: What can we expect fashionwise in the next few years?

We've had it up to here with Y2K prophesies, but what about beyond the moment? Innovations in both material and design will have a great impact on what we'll be wearing in the coming days. New ideas for finishing fabrics will be important. Fabrics can be melded by heat, so there will be no seams. Laser sewing machine is on the horizon, so you won't need a thread.

The various challenges in technology parallels the changes in fashion. As fashion gets more and more uniform, those who rebel against the uniformity will be searching for fashions that express their sense of individuality and the projection of their image. We veer away from what is mediocre; we switch to what is ordinary. As we evolve to the modern age, the DNA that composes every living being evolves, as well. Thus, this collection is inspired by the intricacy of the DNA formation. Each has a unique quality, each has a distinction and so is the world of fashion.

A.D.: Tell me about your collection.

Urban Renewal is a collection that speaks of new silhouettes and new proportions, where a modern woman is ready for the big change and a modern man is ready to express his softer side. The women's wear is structural, inferential, draped, puckered with advanced layering properties. Men's wear is adventurous, edgy, precise shifting from conservative to looks that hint of sinister glamour.

A.D.: What colors did you use for this collection? What about the fabrics?

The colors involved the marriage of organic and cosmic colors, such as charcoal gray, camel, ochre, browns with a hint of turquoise. Fabrication is of evolutionary denim, silk and hand dyed jusi. It offers a concept of doubles, two in one; as the reverse, duality and transpositions. Cultivating the masculine-feminine fashion to obsession by twisting; of hacked up suits metamorphosized into subtle exercises of deconstruction and reconstruction.

A.D.: Tell me more about the cut and the fabric treatment that you've infused this time.

Under the scissors, seams are twisted, reversed; fabrics are overlaid and rolled. A remarkable work on fibers and fabrics change the appearance of the material, making a mixture of threads that desires to abandon all sexuality.

This entry intends to change the old school beliefs, aims to aid in confronting the future where genetic engineering has been perfected and clothes will be for the enhancement of the human figure over and above protection. Instead of escaping into the past and doing revivals, we should confront the future bravely to create new fashion structure. Time to ditch those conventional clothes that jingle and jangle with junk. The coming of new silhouettes is something to shout about. As the human evolves, the technology rises and so will fashion. Urban Renewal hails the awakening of a fashion evolution! Good luck and more power to this young style arbiter. We hope to make Cebu proud once again. For more on style and fashion e-mail me at [email protected].