10 years of Philippine Fashion Week: Should we celebrate?
March 28, 2007 | 12:00am
The worst thing that could happen to a fashion writer is to experience a mental block after viewing capsule collections of 16 designers in a span of 50 minutes. Such an occurrence could only mean two things. Either she was left uninspired or the overload has caused a temporary obstruction of ideas, leaving behind only a smattering of words with which to build her review on: fab, fug (as in freaking ugly), feasible (can be worked around to look wearable).
In my case, I’d rather plead guilty to the latter, though I soon expect to snap out of the writer’s block and come up with a more comprehensive and more constructive reportage. After all, it wouldn’t be fair to the designers that jumpstarted this year’s Philippine Fashion Week (PFW) to render an assessment with a shrug and modicum of loosely-chosen words.
Nor would it be fair to the producers of PFW. Especially now that the fashion event is marking its 10th year anniversary. It’s surprising how fast this milestone has arrived. My first PFW experience was in 2001, which means that I’ve been attending the yearly shows for more than half of the event’s lifespan. While it has always been a flurry of too many designers and more than my share of condensed reviews, PFW has never failed to elicit a slew of emotions within me: shock, giddiness, confusion, amusement, and most of all, pride  especially when a designer presents a collection that you know will be the one he or she will be remembered for.
Joey and Audie Espino, the sibling duo that founded both Runway Productions and PFW, can only marvel at how far their project has come in the last decade. "Our main objective was always to create a platform that will showcase just how exceptional Filipinos are at their craft and in doing so, help put the Philippines on the world fashion map," says Joey. While global recognition remains a slow, though steady pursuit, PFW has successfully branded a bevy of designing talents on the consciousness of the local fashion cognoscenti. Local designers, mostly young brilliant hopefuls, including regional talents from Cebu (such as Jun Escario), Davao (Dodjie Batu and Aztec Barba) , Iloilo and Bacolod have found a platform upon which to launch their collections, in some cases their careers, into the national limelight. PFW has showcased over 400 collections to date, making it the biggest continuous fashion run in the country’s history. And while it secures a bit of the spotlight for design rookies and maintains the repute of the latest designers du jour, PFW also highlights a comeback of sorts from some of the country’s most renowned style veterans. Among a bevy of unknowns, the classics resurface: design guru Ben Farrales a couple of years ago, Oskar Peralta and Renee Salud this year.
Runway Productions’ efforts in creating Philippine Fashion Week year in and year out deserves a round of applause  heck, even an ovation  despite a volley of hits and misses in each show, this year’s Gala Opening Night included.
If we can be bothered to divert attention away from the nostalgia surrounding this year’s PFW celebration, we’d realize that even 10 years still won’t get everything right. On the designer’s end anyway. These days, it’s hard to pinpoint a collection that’s bad or good, given this generation’s penchant for individual expression and couture liberty. Bad taste, nowadays, is associated with the boring, not necessarily simple lines and classic cuts, but pieces and collections that look half-baked, rushed, or simply put together for the sake of coming up with a collection.
There was a fair share of this during opening night: collections that lack the cohesion of a unifying theme and a vision that signifies not only talent but an ability to execute that talent; collections that make it hard for a fashion writer to be constructive in her review.
But, as in collective fashion shows, there were those that stood out from the pack, and, in Philippine Fashion Week’s 10th year opening stand, what merited thumbs ups were those designers, which amid a sea of blacks, browns and various shades of blues that pervaded PFW ‘07’s first night, wowed with either a new twist on a classic silhouette, contemporary utilization of traditional details, or a new play on color. They are:
• Dodjie Batu: Working with a bright aquamarine and a more subdued celadon palette, Dodjie Batu came up with a whimsical collection dotted with ruffled bodices, flowing chiffon fabric, and high necks. However, the feminine indulgence was belied by the backs Batu chose to bare open from the waist up. Talk about an about face, or more like, an about back. His is a collection I can actually see myself wearing.
• Edwin Tan: Starting off with a rather lackluster mini collection for men, Edwin Tan made up for it with his couture offering for women. Mainly minimalist from the front, Tan conscientiously detailed his backs with beautifully bejeweled straps. The heavy detailing contrasted nicely with the trapeze silhouette and soft fabrics he used.
• Joel Escober: He has built his reputation on long elegant evening gowns, yet the winning piece in Escober’s showing is a brown short mini shift dress liberally studded with copper studs. Quirky yet extremely likeable, the dress gives a contemporary twist to the ’60s short dress craze. The other pieces in Escober’s collection  desirable long gowns in brown and turquoise  also juxtaposed a modern ’60s vibe with Victorian romanticism.
• Oskar Peralta: His pieces aren’t exactly what you would call wearable  unless you’re Evita Peron on an acid trip  but you know that a lot of work went into this veteran designer’s collection for PFW. Starting with the ’40s-style brimmed hats to the oversized collars to the extensive ruffled details, and finally the mish-mash of prints, Peralta proves that there is order in chaos. His pieces are loud and theatrical, and somehow, you don’t really expect anything less of him.
• Richard Papa: Brown can actually be a fashion statement for the evening, as Papa proves. His palette, a chocolate shade with barely a hint of metallic, livens up when made into sexy, skin-baring dresses that subtly incorporate lace, frills, beading, and bodice details reminiscent of Sophia Kokosalaki’s twists. This collection actually elevates monochromatic to more elegant levels and makes the somber desirable.
• Tina Daniac: From head to toe, Daniac’s collection makes a statement. Collaborating with painter Aman Santos for her collection, she allows her black signature sexy pieces to be liberally sprinkled with elegant smatterings of paint. She tops off every piece with high, crumpled headpieces, which, on their own, elicit enough positive response.
Philippine Fashion Week is co-sponsored by Avon and Hewlett-Packard.
E-mail comments to ana_kalaw@pldtdsl.net.
In my case, I’d rather plead guilty to the latter, though I soon expect to snap out of the writer’s block and come up with a more comprehensive and more constructive reportage. After all, it wouldn’t be fair to the designers that jumpstarted this year’s Philippine Fashion Week (PFW) to render an assessment with a shrug and modicum of loosely-chosen words.
Nor would it be fair to the producers of PFW. Especially now that the fashion event is marking its 10th year anniversary. It’s surprising how fast this milestone has arrived. My first PFW experience was in 2001, which means that I’ve been attending the yearly shows for more than half of the event’s lifespan. While it has always been a flurry of too many designers and more than my share of condensed reviews, PFW has never failed to elicit a slew of emotions within me: shock, giddiness, confusion, amusement, and most of all, pride  especially when a designer presents a collection that you know will be the one he or she will be remembered for.
Joey and Audie Espino, the sibling duo that founded both Runway Productions and PFW, can only marvel at how far their project has come in the last decade. "Our main objective was always to create a platform that will showcase just how exceptional Filipinos are at their craft and in doing so, help put the Philippines on the world fashion map," says Joey. While global recognition remains a slow, though steady pursuit, PFW has successfully branded a bevy of designing talents on the consciousness of the local fashion cognoscenti. Local designers, mostly young brilliant hopefuls, including regional talents from Cebu (such as Jun Escario), Davao (Dodjie Batu and Aztec Barba) , Iloilo and Bacolod have found a platform upon which to launch their collections, in some cases their careers, into the national limelight. PFW has showcased over 400 collections to date, making it the biggest continuous fashion run in the country’s history. And while it secures a bit of the spotlight for design rookies and maintains the repute of the latest designers du jour, PFW also highlights a comeback of sorts from some of the country’s most renowned style veterans. Among a bevy of unknowns, the classics resurface: design guru Ben Farrales a couple of years ago, Oskar Peralta and Renee Salud this year.
Runway Productions’ efforts in creating Philippine Fashion Week year in and year out deserves a round of applause  heck, even an ovation  despite a volley of hits and misses in each show, this year’s Gala Opening Night included.
If we can be bothered to divert attention away from the nostalgia surrounding this year’s PFW celebration, we’d realize that even 10 years still won’t get everything right. On the designer’s end anyway. These days, it’s hard to pinpoint a collection that’s bad or good, given this generation’s penchant for individual expression and couture liberty. Bad taste, nowadays, is associated with the boring, not necessarily simple lines and classic cuts, but pieces and collections that look half-baked, rushed, or simply put together for the sake of coming up with a collection.
There was a fair share of this during opening night: collections that lack the cohesion of a unifying theme and a vision that signifies not only talent but an ability to execute that talent; collections that make it hard for a fashion writer to be constructive in her review.
But, as in collective fashion shows, there were those that stood out from the pack, and, in Philippine Fashion Week’s 10th year opening stand, what merited thumbs ups were those designers, which amid a sea of blacks, browns and various shades of blues that pervaded PFW ‘07’s first night, wowed with either a new twist on a classic silhouette, contemporary utilization of traditional details, or a new play on color. They are:
• Dodjie Batu: Working with a bright aquamarine and a more subdued celadon palette, Dodjie Batu came up with a whimsical collection dotted with ruffled bodices, flowing chiffon fabric, and high necks. However, the feminine indulgence was belied by the backs Batu chose to bare open from the waist up. Talk about an about face, or more like, an about back. His is a collection I can actually see myself wearing.
• Edwin Tan: Starting off with a rather lackluster mini collection for men, Edwin Tan made up for it with his couture offering for women. Mainly minimalist from the front, Tan conscientiously detailed his backs with beautifully bejeweled straps. The heavy detailing contrasted nicely with the trapeze silhouette and soft fabrics he used.
• Joel Escober: He has built his reputation on long elegant evening gowns, yet the winning piece in Escober’s showing is a brown short mini shift dress liberally studded with copper studs. Quirky yet extremely likeable, the dress gives a contemporary twist to the ’60s short dress craze. The other pieces in Escober’s collection  desirable long gowns in brown and turquoise  also juxtaposed a modern ’60s vibe with Victorian romanticism.
• Oskar Peralta: His pieces aren’t exactly what you would call wearable  unless you’re Evita Peron on an acid trip  but you know that a lot of work went into this veteran designer’s collection for PFW. Starting with the ’40s-style brimmed hats to the oversized collars to the extensive ruffled details, and finally the mish-mash of prints, Peralta proves that there is order in chaos. His pieces are loud and theatrical, and somehow, you don’t really expect anything less of him.
• Richard Papa: Brown can actually be a fashion statement for the evening, as Papa proves. His palette, a chocolate shade with barely a hint of metallic, livens up when made into sexy, skin-baring dresses that subtly incorporate lace, frills, beading, and bodice details reminiscent of Sophia Kokosalaki’s twists. This collection actually elevates monochromatic to more elegant levels and makes the somber desirable.
• Tina Daniac: From head to toe, Daniac’s collection makes a statement. Collaborating with painter Aman Santos for her collection, she allows her black signature sexy pieces to be liberally sprinkled with elegant smatterings of paint. She tops off every piece with high, crumpled headpieces, which, on their own, elicit enough positive response.
BrandSpace Articles
<
>
