Classic Modernity

CEBU, Philippines - For this season’s Fashion Watch Holiday 2011 – 2012 at The Shangri-La Makati, style veteran Philip Rodriguez quipped of his 40-plus-piece presentation “I didn’t want the collection to be cold or distant. Classic and dreamy yes, but not cold.” No chance of that. His are the kind of of-the-moment, but elegant clothes made for raising, ahem, emotions at even hardcore worshippers in the altar of style. With the forties and eighties as reference points, Rodriguez turned out blanc et noir dresses in stretch matte jersey and French gipure lace appliqués with slightly low décolleté and baring hints of flesh with restraint; camel-colored pantsuits with fitted jackets and razor-slim pants. But this fashion alum isn’t a one-note boy wonder. Touted as Cebu’s fashion czar, he has been producing classic and chic clothes for not just Cebu society but for the whole country, as well, not to mention his foreign clientele. Monique Lhuillier is a self-confessed fan of his before she became big. It can’t be easy maintaining a fashion business at a time like this, but Rodriguez’ polished technique means he’s here to stay like a shining beacon.

In an abrupt shift from last season’s nostalgia, inducing sixties and seventies-inflected color blocked sheaths, his red carpet style is indeed perfect for the well, red carpet  Backstage he explained he wanted to explore the dichotomies between strength and fragility, modern reality and fairy tales. At the outset, it was hard to see where the fragility came in, so potent and imposing was the first model out in full glamour regalia. A second glance, however, revealed that the gipure lace appliqués were stitched roughly like sutures.

The fragility motif continued throughout: Sometimes the stitches were taut, revealing just a flash of skin between the curving seams of a pair of narrow pants; other times, Rodriguez took a looser approach, as when knitting together the detailing in a stretchy hourglass dress. The make up and hair styling, meanwhile, provided another suggestive element. A modern take on the halcyon days most definitely. The blood red evening dresses flashing décolletage and thigh weren’t for the faint of heart, either.

As any piece de resistance by Philip Rodriguez, the confidence of his technique and vision would suggest that this old guard can be new again.

Credits: Bon Ace for the minaudier, fine jewelry by Florencio Jewelry (mezzanine floor Shangri-La Makati) and footwear by Janilyn (FREEMAN)