Pop of culture

CEBU, Philippines - “The summer and spring collection is all about street comfortable wear with a twist to our classic stripes by introducing bright colored and abstracted stripes,” says Nia Aldeguer, creative director at Loalde and Fish 18—two of the few Cebuano fashion houses that have scattered nationwide. Ever since she took full authority over what goes to the boutique racks, a lot of ideas have been remodeled, and now, she’s ringing one more cue: time to change prints.

In the coming months, the stores will look like a kaleidoscope. Garments will be arranged—as rule of thumb—according to beauty: The acid tones will replace the dark, gloomy pieces of last season’s in the front row. So see, it’s quite a surprising discipline for a line that stands on the single merit of corporate fashion.

“The trend now is very inspired by the 60s pop neon colors and the vintage hippie patterns like tie-dyes,” Aldeguer explains. “Loalde always carries classic stripes. We just updated our designs by adding a pop of color and a combination of abstracted stripes. We also added more texture and patterns with our fabrics, like the tie-dyes.”

Take note that summer is still not a season of predictability. She’s even given us the licence to wear knit in a tropical country by creating stretched version of it. Also consider surprising styling schemes as a must-do, say, the blue tie-dyed long sleeves polo paired with the maroon, low-crotched pants (not really too low to be considered harem cut), or a fine tailored blazer over a tie-dyed t-shirt. And here’s more: pants are now sewn in cotton, no longer denim-dependent.

But the real eye candy is found below the belt. “The two-layered waistline is a Texan vintage inspiration. Itoriginated to hold holsters; now, it’s a fashion statement,” she announces. Well, you’d better have big eyes to see, boys—the devil resides in the detail. (FREEMAN)