MANILA, Philippines - What happens when 12 of the country’s most respected personalities in the fashion industry get together with the desire to help others who want an inside look at the world of fashion?
The result is a lot of fun, and a lot of class — well, make that classes.
The STI Center of Arts and Lulu Tan-Gan present Fashion Workshops, month-long courses whose curriculums are designed to instill in students basic skills of their chosen craft, as well as open their eyes to the realities of the field.
The faculty, all of them respected veterans of the industry, is composed of Jojie Lloren, Inno Sotto, Dennis Celestial, Patrice Ramos-Diaz, Joey Samson, Noel Manapat, Roy Gonzales, Pidge Reyes, Robi Lolin and Rissa Mananquil.
Circle of friends
“Lulu and I met one day and in passing mentioned that both of us wanted to teach,” says Jojie Lloren, who will be teaching Basic Flat Pattern Drafting and Draping.
It was easy to find like-minded designers, all of them at the top of their fields, all of them eager to share their knowledge. “This is a great project for established designers to pass on knowledge to the next generation, in a way like a mentorship program. I wish I had this when I was just starting out,” says Patrice Ramos-Diaz, who will be teaching Experimental Fashion.
Another important factor, one that their students will appreciate in the long run, is that the instructors are all good friends. “We’ve known each other a long time,” Noel, who will be teaching Fashion Styling, says “Working together creates a very stimulating environment, one that we think will benefit potential students because they will be exposed to a group of people who like what they do, who have been doing it for a long time and who work well together.”
Class act
The teachers stress that while their workshops aim to equip students with the basics of each craft, the biggest thing that they encourage is still creativity and the ability to make a project one’s own. “We would like them to put their personal touches in their finished product,” says Pidge, who is teaching Creative Exercise in Sewing and Creative Exercises in Hat Making. “Because a hat is just a hat, but it becomes special when someone injects their vision into it.”
Aside from learning the basics (or in some cases, like in Joey Samson’s Modern Menswear Design class, an advanced skill), something important that students can expect to take away is better knowledge about whether fashion is really something they want to get into. A lot of people think that fashion is all about glitz and glamour, but as anyone who has been in the industry for a long time will tell you, it also involves a lot of hard work. As Lulu says, “The workshops are ideal for those who are just about to plan their careers in fashion, and just so they’re not confused about being a fashionista versus someone who actually wants to create and make fashion.”
Filipinos are known for their creativity. It’s all a matter of constructively harnessing this creativity and pointing it in the right direction. For the student, it means less time-wasting mistakes, as well as the opportunity to study under some of the country’s biggest names in fashion. “We already did the dirty work,” Dennis says. “Now they can benefit from that.”
Now that’s class!
* * *
May sessions start on April 26. Classes available are Draping, Sewing, Stying and Introduction to Fashion Design. Other classes will be offered in June. For inquiries, call 994-5592, 0918-8031322, e-mail stifashionworkshops@gmail.com or visit www.sti.edu/fashion.