MANILA, Philippines - In Gary Shteyngart’s funny yet heartbreaking novel Super Sad True Love Story, set in a not-so-distant future, power has shifted from the west to the east — China, in particular — and people of different cultures are coming to grips with the changes it has wrought, from the economic sphere to the realm of personal relationships.
In real life, power and influence have been shifting from west to east, the field of fashion design included. But unlike in Shteyngart’s imagined world, this particular shift isn’t bleak, only exciting. With Asia on a rapid economic momentum for the last few years, there is now an interest in engaging its fashion market, especially with the region’s projected spending power of over US$30 trillion. Add to that the rise of more Asian names in international mainstream fashion — the likes of Monique Lhuillier, Alexander Wang, and Philip Lim — and Asia is poised to become the latest player in the global fashion industry with its fashion-savvy consumers and emerging brands and designers.
With all the possibilities that this development brings, a unified effort to organize and strengthen the Asian fashion market was suddenly needed, and in 2010, Singapore held the first Asian Fashion Exchange (AFX). A holistic platform that encompasses and supports the four vital sectors of development in the fashion industry (trade, talent development, business conferencing, and the consumers), AFX aims to capitalize on the region’s unprecedented development, especially with more western buyers interested in what Asia has to offer. And in just two years, this fashion event has tremendously grown: from only 56 Asian brands participating in the Blueprint trade show in 2010, the following year drew in more than double of that amount with 120 brands joining. AFX also attracted more than 250 buyers from all over the world last year, including Saks, Harvey Nichols, and Selfridges, and its four-day Audi Fashion Festival (AFF) was attended by more than 12,000 guests and watched by 500,000 viewers in 91 countries through live streaming, making it Singapore’s biggest fashion event of 2011 with an international media value pegged at S$24 million. This year’s AFF presentation is expected to draw in bigger numbers with international labels and designers such as Thierry Mugler (with Nicola Formichetti) and Roland Mouret participating in the festival.
The most exciting aspect of AFX, though, is its talent development through the yearly Audi Star Creation, an Asia-wide competition for young designers. With US$10,000 cash prize from Audi, a year-long work attachment with leading Asian fashion retailer FJ Benjamin (known in Manila as the brand RAOUL), and a chance to present a capsule collection at this year’s AFX, Star Creation attracted 144 design entries from 11 participating countries last year, with Young Designer Award recipient Hiroyuki Watanabe of Japan currently under the mentorship of Yuji Yamamoto at RE.BIRTH.CO.
From the province to the international scene
Among the 144 participants, only one Filipino made it to the 2011 finals: then-21-year-old Mike Yapching of Cebu, who joined Star Creation almost at the last minute at the encouragement of his designer friend Edwin Ao.
Yapching is no stranger to design competitions. In 2009, he joined the Mega Young Designers Competition, and although he did not officially place, Mega’s then-editor in chief Carla Sibal declared him in interviews as the first runner-up to winner Vanessa Ang. It was the young designer’s first time to compete, followed soon by other local competitions.
Admitting to not being well-traveled, Yapching’s first out-of-the-country trip was for his Star Creation presentation at Singapore; it almost didn’t push through due to passport problems. “I was both proud and intimidated; there was a fear of being in an unfamiliar environment,” he says of his AFX experience. “I was anxious about talking to the other designers, plus there was the pressure of being the only representative from the Philippines.”
For the competition theme (“Internationally Asian”), Yapching used silk cocoon, soft tulle, and wool in executing his idea of a single line growing into complex shapes and silhouettes. “The different fabrics I used in my Spiral in Motion collection represent different Asian cultures and my choice to use blue as the predominant color in the collection reflects new beginnings,” he explains. His six-piece showing was designed with “a mid-20s jet-setting woman in mind, a woman on the go. Because she’s busy, the clothes can go from day to night with ease and are made with light fabrics. All the individual pieces can be mixed and matched; by putting together the different elements in the collection, you can almost have a whole month’s worth of wardrobe just with this collection.”
Despite not winning, Yapching is happy to have taken the risk. “During the nine days that I stayed in Singapore, I met fellow young designers from all over Asia and made friends; we still keep in touch. I also learned about brand establishing and marketing from the speakers at the Fashion Summit, and I got to meet designer Mario Schwab and members of international press.”
Bringing global to local
Yapching grew up watching his dressmaker lola make customers happy with the clothes she custom-makes for them. “I wanted to do the same thing she did.” Her grandmother’s sewing shop became his training ground as a designer, where he learned of traditional sewing and pattern-making techniques. “The good thing about learning the basics first is that after you’ve mastered them, you can delve into more complex patterns — the ones that maybe have never been done before.”
Despite his being a “promdi,” Yapching was able to build on his sewing skills by developing quite a contemporary and global design aesthetic, one that got him a spot in the Star Creation finals. Aside from doing constant fashion and design research on the internet, he also turns to visual art for inspiration. “I especially like looking at paintings because they give me a million ideas that can be translated into clothing design in ways that are not too literal.” He is particularly drawn to surrealist works such as those of Elsa Schiaparelli and to neo-realist art. In fact, his Mega YDC collection was inspired by Vicente Manansala paintings.
Yapching is currently still based in Cebu, finishing his degree in fashion design at the University of San Carlos. He is also involved with the online fashion and design magazine Blanc, a collective project between him and his friends, working as an associate editor. “It was a conscious decision for me to go back to school and finish my degree after competing in Singapore,” he states. “There are many job opportunities in fashion design offered to me in Cebu but I want to finish college first as a way of giving back to my family. I know it’s more common for young designers to strike while the iron is hot, but for me, I don’t want to do too much, too fast, too soon. There are more benefits, I think, by going the slow but steady route.”
Yapching dreams of opening his own store in Cebu first in the future then progressing on to establishing a career in Manila like his fellow Cebuano, designer Jun Escario. “Maybe I’ll present a collection at Philippine Fashion Week.” As for an international career, given the connections he has made at last year’s AFX, Yapching admits, “My heart really lies with custom-made clothing; that’s what I grew up and was trained in. The Asian scene, though, from what I’ve observed, is more inclined to the ready-to-wear market. But we’ll see. I’m not completely forgetting that possibility.”
He cannot stress enough, though, the need for other young designers to take their chances at Star Creation. For this year’s competition, which will be held on May 14, only six entries came from the Philippines out of all the 255 Asian designers from 13 countries who joined — a dismally small figure compared to Thailand’s, South Korea’s, and Vietnam’s 50-plus representatives. “The competition was a great chance for me to share my design vision and to know how good I really was,” Yapching says. “It’s also a great platform for local designers to break into the regional industry and to learn about the other aspects of having a career in fashion.”
With western buyers, trendspotters, and kingmakers now coming to Asia, Filipino designers looking to go global don’t have to go far to get much-needed exposure as there is an increasingly popular fashion hub just an hour-long flight away. Singapore Tourism Board area director for the Philippines and Brunei Sherina Chan, a converted believer in our local talent, attests, “I hope more Filipinos will take the opportunity to showcase at international platforms like AFX. I hope that, through our small ways, we can elevate young Filipino fashion talents.”
The 2012 Asia Fashion Exchange will be held May 14 to 20 in Singapore. For details, visit the Singapore Tourism Board’s website www.stb.gov.org.