For a world in flux, Akong Gugma returns with a capsule collection that will make both its wearer and perceiver regard each gesture with intention.
There are no random details in Akong Gugma’s capsule collection comeback. Popularly known for its wild, sculptural blooms, its articulated essential clothing line retrains the eye for the possibilities of one’s daily wear. Each piece becomes truly yours with multiple modalities — adding two nipple-like accents on the chest is very couture and statement, yet they also serve as functional buttons for a silk bib. In the same way that Akong Gugma has rewritten the rules of floral arrangement in the Philippines, its clothing line encourages the same for its wearer. No tweak and styling is wrong; I can say that some of my most hard-working and repeated pieces are by Akong Gugma.
Influenced by post-minimal artist Eva Hesse and neo-expressionist dancer Pina Bausch, Hesse’s latex, fiberglass and plastic sculpture come to mind in the slinky and sheer sensual materiality while Bausch’s Tanztheater choreography is captured in limb-lengthening cuts and column silhouettes, elongating the body with silk and lace, drawing the eye to your every movement.
“The collection explores the body as a channel for sculptural curiosity via pruned appliqués. Yielding to brusque movement, the clothes transcend tension and give — the poetry in prose,” says Akong Gugma.
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Akong Gugma’s capsule collection is available at Guava Sketches, 3rd floor, Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Makati.