MANILA, Philippines - Men ruled the runway when six of the country’s top menswear designers recently got together to design for six popular retail labels in the country’s leading department store during the SM Menswear Designer’s Collection show at Philippine Fashion Week.
Making fashion history in local meanswear, the creative collaborations were both exciting and groundbreaking: Randy Ortiz for Uberto Duranti, Rhett Eala for Main Street, Louis Claparols for Markus, Ivarluski Aseron for Coco Republic, Frederick Peralta for Michel Andre, and Rajo Laurel for Wharton.
This also brought men’s ready-to-wear fashion to a new stature as these renowned designers bring wearable and affordable fashion to the market.
In his collection for SM’s in-house Uberto Duranti label, Randy Ortiz showed the different sides of men and of their style. He said, “It’s a little bit dandy and quite elegant, also showing how clothes can be fun but also wearable. And that’s very important to me.”
These clothes were designed with the contemporary man in mind: modern tailoring, slim fit, and long-sleeved shirts that can be worn from day till night with slacks and vests. It was sophisticated, modern tailoring at its finest.
Rhett’s Eala’s Main Street collection of relaxed everyday corporate wear for young executives consisted of relaxed fitted day jackets, blazers, long and short sleeved shirts, as well as slacks and vests in fun colors and silhouettes. To these items he brought in color as well as exciting new details.
With Madonna’s American Life song as his inspiration, Louis Claparol’s collection for Markus was a play on the military look with its cool colors and textures. The collection consisted of trendy fashion pieces for teens not afraid to experiment: slim-fit cuts, prints and stitching details. It’s all about being young and hip yet clean and polished.
Ivarluski Aseron’s collection of relaxed resort pieces for Coco Republic was designed for the man who works hard and plays hard. These light and crisp linen pieces have that laid-back, relaxed and cool, comfortable appeal. The look of the brand was very basic with edgy touches and unconventional details.
Frederick Peralta brought his superb tailoring to the Michel Andre collection at SM, combining elegant men’s dressing innovative functionality. There were reversible two-in-one and three-in-one jackets that can be worn for leisure or formal occasions. Fabrics come from India, China, Taiwan, Japan, Austria and Italy with the latest applications in fabric finishing.
Peralta said that the movie Dick Tracy inspired him when he was designing his collection. In the amniotic movie, “the suites are all in solid colors.” He uses the colors of the outfits in the movie to come out with the collection.
Rajo Laurel’s collection for Wharton was a take-off from his desire to modernize the national costume. Designed for men of fashion and in fashion, it had playful and artistic graphic elements. The collection’s beautifully hand-crafted elements gave a new twist to the conventional barong.
The collection will be available at the SM Menswear Department.