FIDA: Nurturing the Passion for Fashion

CEBU, Philippines - By end of this month is the graduation show of the latest batch of fashion designers this side of the globe. Dubbed "The Premier Showing, a Graduation Show and Awards Night," the occasion showcases the collections of fresh young talents, as well as those of their veteran professors at the Fashion Institute of Design and Arts (FIDA) Cebu.

The creations of fashion aesthetes Philipp Tampus, Lord Maturan, Babes Garso, Barbie Alvez, Edwin Alba, Angela Dado, Mark Masa, Hannah Lim, Mel Maria, Edward Castro and Joseph Ong are also featured. The show unfolds at the grand stairway of the Shangri-la Mactan Island Resort and Spa on April 30 at 6 in the evening, with mannequins from its modeling agency partner, Models Association of Cebu (M.A.C.).  There's also the launching of Lipstick shoes, the official footwear of the event.

The Fashion Institute of Design and Arts Cebu is the second offering of the FIDA network, which started in Davao four years ago. FIDA Cebu opened its doors in September 2011, with the noble aim of bringing fashion education to Cebu and the Visayas, with curriculum and practices patterned after those of the leading fashion schools all over the world.

FIDA founder and academic director Christine Dumatol-Munda took up studies at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, California, USA, and had decades of fashion teaching experience at such institutions as UP Diliman Clothing Technology Dept.; DLSU-College of St. Benilde, School of Design and Arts; and LaSalle College International of Montreal, Canada. She had also opened School of Fashion and Arts (SOFA)-Manila.

FIDA Cebu offers courses in Fashion Design and Merchandising, Fashion Design Technology, Fashion Styling and Communication, and Fashion Branding and Merchandising. The courses run from three months to two years.

The school is at the top floor of M2 Business Center on Escario St. corner Clavano St., in the city's central Capitol district.  Facilities include a sewing room with high-speed industrial machines, draping dress forms, fully-airconditioned cutting, design & lecture rooms, and a fully-stocked fashion library. FIDA prides of its competent and experienced faculty.

"We mold each of our students into well-rounded fashion designers grounded in the basics of design, fabric and illustration; skilled in the globally-accepted technical models of sewing, draping and patternmaking; and entrenched in the evolving concepts of corporate merchandising, trending and fashion entrepreneurship," says FIDA Cebu director Marissa Gapud Ceniza.

FIDA aims to be the best provider of fashion education in the Philippines. Students are given access to materials and equipment necessary to learn the trade, and are even made to travel abroad for hands-on industry immersion. The school - its students, administration and faculty - has been attending both the Hong Kong Fashion Week and the Philippine Fashion Week every year. (FREEMAN)