Life and times of Ben Farrales

"The life of Ben Farrales is like his couture gown: Richly textured, bewitching, original. Oftentimes inspiring, sometimes scandalous, it’s a life that’s very human, very recognizable as our own." Thus writes Abe Florendo in an engaging small book entitled, Ben Farrales, Fifty Years in My Fashion.

Farrales, according to Abe, is the "dean of Filipino designers". His genius in couture, Abe continues, "is a gift, polished and sharpened through hands-on experience – he likes to say that everything he knew about making a dress he learned in the fitting room. With an amazing mix of brilliant intuition and practiced craft, he has done stylish and classic ouvres – dresses that appeal to contemporary tastes without being trendy – and his signature look, his coup de theatre in the Eighties, the Muslim-inspired gown, fertile with visual and scholarly references to a Philippine culture, specifically Muslim Southern Mindanao culture, which no one else before or after him had mined with such dynamism and inspiration. In this new millennium, when the country is beleaguered by Muslim terrorism and separatism, is there a prescience somewhere in the Muslim evocation that Farrales has made his signature look and style?"

Yet, even if Farrales did not make another Muslim-inspired gown, he would still be an influential couturier. Says Abe: "His modern Filipiniana ternos and Western-style gowns would be enough to cement his reputation as one of the country’s best, and most enduring, designers. And not another one like him."

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Ben is the youngest of ten children of the late Salvador Medina Farrales of Narciso, Zambales, and Paulina Samio of Sta. Cruz, Manila. He was an industrious boy, working the streets of Manila while he was studying high school in San Beda College; he was a shoe shine boy, and hawked boiled corn on the cob and matamis na bao spread on pan de sal which the stevedores loved. Before he could finish high school, he knew what he wanted to be a dress designer. He "apprenticed" himself as an errand boy at Aurelia’s, one of the more popular dress shops then. His parents were naturally shocked and embarrassed by his preference and enrolled him in pre-Med at Letran, but he repeatedly flunked math. He then took Fine Arts in UST, and finally earned a bachelor of arts degree at San Beda.

It was his sister, Aida, who married a Muslim politician, Salipada Pendatun (who later became senator and congressman), who encouraged him in his pursuit of a designing career. Aida was proudly and unfailingly donned on the Muslim attire – beautifully modified by his kid brother Ben.

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Abe’s book recalls the fashion scene in the Fifties. The dominant fashion designer then was Ramon Valera, who on Feb. 12, 1947, created the sensational New Look which, writes Abe, "in one breathtaking stroke, rendered everyone’s clothes in their closets obsolete." Valera made his own mark with his "shocking restyling of the country’s traditional formal dress, the terno," whisking away the primly modest panuelo to reveal an expanse of bosom, scandalizing no end the modistes of those times. At the threshold arrived Ben Farrales, Pitoy Moreno, Aureo Alonzo and other young designers. After the death of Valera in 1976, they continued to set for their times the character and direction of Philippine fashion.

In 1954, Ben found a partner, the hairstylist Zorro David, who financed his first shop on Mabini Street in Malate. He became a favorite of Manila’s top society figures and debutantes. The society figures went to him – Edith Rabat, Elvira Manahan, Chona Recto Ysmael Kasten.

In the Fifties, despite the supremacy of Valera, the market for good stylish clothes was big enough for every designer. "Women had money to spent," recalls Ben. Women changed clothes twice or three times a day, society pages covered the fabulous theme parties of high society. In 1958, Ben was elected president of the Philippine Couture Association.

Ben was one of a select group of designers that went on a Karilagan show to Seattle, bringing with them some of the country’s most beautiful women, including Amalia Fuentes, Joji Felix Velarde and Conchitina Sevilla. The second Karilagan show was followed by other invitational shows abroad, which enhanced the reputation and popularity of the designer back home, and gave him valuable pictorial coverage in the newspapers’ lifestyle sections.

In 1984, Ben put up his career-defining solo collection, "Maranaw", an all-Muslim inspired collection, "the synthesis of cultural influences and modern styling, with emphasis on craft and couture, that would become the unique mark, the distinct signature of Ben Farrales." The show went on a tour of the US and Canada.

In 1990, the Chona Kasten Foundation produced Farrales’ gala show, which featured a stupendous 200-plus collection. "My last gala," he said. "I wanted to prove I can still do wearable clothes." That same year, he was named into the Hall of Fame by the Fashion Designer Association of the Philippines, the Manila Fashion Designers Association, and Fil-Hair. Ben was proclaimed "a national treasure."

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In addition to his creative work, Ben spends time in his apostolic work with the Congregacion del Santisimo Nombre de Niño Jesus, an organization of devotees of the Child Jesus.

In addition to his devotion to the Santo Niño, Ben finds fulfillment in the mutual love and devotion between him and his three adopted sons.

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On the fund-raising project of my latest advocacy, the Center for the Promotion of Peace and Development of Mindanao, which is holding a fund-raising Speaker Jose de Venecia Cup Golf Tournament, additional donors are the Korean Embassy, Richwell Trading, DHL Worldwide Express (Phils. Corp.), Amado and Chari Bagatsing, Liela Salgado, Green Thumb, Consumable Corp., Lita Salvador, and Leni Alano Cabili.

The Thai ambassador, Busba Bunnag, will go with 2nd Secretary for Protocol Appinya Vipattipumiprates. Yudhistiranto Sungadi, political counselor of the Indonesian Embassy will play. Representing Malaysian Ambassador Mohd. Taufic (who plays tennis, not golf) will be Trade Commissioner Raihan Shariff and Consul Ahmad Faris Ahmad. First Secretary Ong Cheliong and 2nd Secretary Stephen Boh of the Singaporean Embassy, and Senor Jose R. Rodriguez will be attending. So will Upsilonians including Reynolds Philippines president Boy Versoza, Rico Merioles and former Undersecretary Dion de la Serna and son David and Baron Alqueza. RCBC bank managers Eduardo Masangcay, Matias Paloso and Isagani Pastor. Other players: Dr. Manuel Hechanova, and Joey V. de los Santos, chief executive officer of the De Los Santos Medical Center.

Golfers interested in helping CPPDM achieve its goals may contact Ms. Joabi at tel. 6715273 or 6311466 or register at the Villamor Golf Course on the day of the tournament.

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My e-mail address: [email protected].