Quirky and show-stopper

Filipina streetwear and milliner Tracy Dizon made a big hit as she made the Fashion Week Brooklyn Spring Summer 2019 Closing Finale for the Season on October 6  at the Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York. The Spring Summer 2019 collection featured complete looks from her clothing designs  and millinery brand Tiara by Tracy Dizon.

Her collection, titled “Pinoy Pop Life: The Nostalgia of Growing Up as a Filipino”  was an autobiographical statement of her life growing up in the capital of the Philippines.

The collection included 12 looks, each taking inspiration from a variety of Philippine cultural references: from dirty ice cream to the signboard of the jeepney to  the paper mache Taka Horse – all of which  integrated modern designs and vibrant colors.

It was a pure emotional moment, being the closing finale for S/S 2019 Season of the FWBK and to have son, Travis Atreyyu Dizon, join the Final Walk as the mother and son duo have always been inseparable.

 This wasn’t the first time Tracy won an international design contest. Last year, she won the Rise Sport’s Rise Art&Design Fashion Design Competition, which opened the opportunity for her to launch her Miss Hanoi collection in Fashion Week Brooklyn Spring/Summer 2018 at the Borough Hall in   Brooklyn. As part of her winning, she also launched a limited edition of sunglasses with Rise Sport that matched her Collection’s aesthetics last Spring /Summer 2018.

I did not see Tracy Dizon’s 12-piece finale presentation on October 6,  but the photographs sent me shows, in my own words, crazy and wild pop costumes that are eye-stoppers.  The pieces are made from different Philippine traditional fabrics like Ifugao textiles, Cordillera fabrics, Yakan, and Abel Iloco, which are incorporated with modern aesthetics to create a modern “Maria Clara.”

One of her key pieces is a doll dress made out of traditional Ifugao printed textiles. The collared doll dress, with butterfly sleeves, its skirt above the knees, can be worn either for both formal and casual occasions. Another piece is a hat inspired by the Philippine rice cake, sapin sapin, where Tracy experimented with shape and colors that are very Filipino and festive. She says,  ”More often than not, Filipiniana clothing would often feel too traditional and old that the younger generation may feel disjointed with the culture. I would like to exhibit a fresh creative perspective to Filipiniana clothing that hopefully, someday soon wearing Filipiniana would not be just limited to formal occasions and national holidays.”

Tracy wrote me that she made the collection “with a big heart of sharing my beautiful culture in the form of fashion. I want to share the undeniably show-stopping beauty of the Philippines. I wanted to present both the nostalgic essence of growing up in the Philippines and at the same time moving forward towards promoting the unique hodgepodge of Filipino pop culture.”  

Walking for Tracy’s runway were a mix of New York runway models,  and was notably opened by Miss New York US Nation 2018 Jackie Paras; Mutya ng Pilipinas 2015 first runner up Julee Bourgoin,  and closed by Miss World Elite 2018 Jeannette Josue, and Filipina beauties.

Attending the show were noted guests such as Kerwin Orville C., Tate Deputy Consul General of PCG NY; Club Kid Richie Rich (seasoned designer and founder of Heatherette), and Filipino artists Sarah Gaugler and Paolo Peralta (the power couple behind TuboGoth).  Tracy was thrilled that these icons attended her show. Philippine Consul General  Claro S. Cristobal of New York welcomed the designer’s  pre-show.

Tracy was born in Manila, the eldest of five children. Her fashion designing career may have begun when at age 5 she was playing with Barbie dolls, made her “fashion magazine”,  and drew clothes she would put prices on. At the Miriam College Pep Squad, she drew uniforms and jackets, made classmates’  prom dresses, and was pleased beyond words when at the high school baccalaureate mass and graduation, the school “prophet” predicted that Tracy Dizon would become a top couturier.

For college, she enrolled at the UP Diliman for a BS in clothing technology. She said she is a fashion “kontesera” starting  in college “not because I was super galing, back then. I entered fashion contests to save my grades for extra points.” But she did not finish her college course as she could not stay long hours in the lab that took half or even whole days in school. “That is still one of the loose ends I would like to finish eventually.”

Luckily she was hired  by ABS-CBN as a head stylist turned costume designer with a local fantasy TV-series,  “Plastikman,” “Imortal” and “PHR: Pintada.” She also designed costumes for “Corazon,  Ang Unang Aswang.”  But, she said, “Styling and TV film were  something I did for my bread and butter for my son.  I really yearned to create something of my own, of my own brand.” Her son  Travis survived a rare brain tumor called Extraventricular Neurocytoma.

Still, she went on doing fashion-related jobs like being a merchandizer for a retail company, and as a  magazine contributor and fashion stylist for music videos and commercial stints. She also made accessories, even worked as a  kids’ wear designer,  and had “a super cool and amazing collaboration” with a local retail company – BoardwalkPH that had her designs, her name and face in a national billboard ad campaign in 2013. “That’s one cool gig, not all designers will get to have a billboard on a national highway. On the side, I was still joining fashion contests that eventually led me to finally designing on my own, from doing odd hat samples made out of bra pads, eventually developing my millinery brand, Tiara by Tracy Dizon.’’  Her most famous client is Tessa Prieto-Valdes, who ordered her hats in bulk because, she told Tracy, “Mas baliw ka pa sa akin.”  Another one of her regulars is Maxene Magalona for whom she makes Kitty Ears.  “I guess my designs  are not for everyone, but I take comfort with my regular clientele who just want to find something unique, quirky and cute which is limited out in the fashion market.”

Her quirky designs made her get selected as a finalist at prestigious fashion contests here  and abroad. As a finalist in the Fashion Design Council of the Philippines’ design competition in 2006/2007, she was like a “lost lamb,” contending with super big time-designers like Eric Delos Santos, John Herrera, Aztec Barba, Pablo Mendez, Gershwin Cua, and  Ziggy Savella.  Shortly thereafter, she was selected as a Philippine representative to the 47th Japan Fashion Design Contest in 2009 with Veejay Floresca and Nicole  Mori. “Japan opened a whole world of love and appreciation for my weird child-like aesthetic. That’s when I realized maybe I should try penetrating the international market where options are wider and more open  to my different bold and playful designs.” It was all good.  Every contest and misadventure was like a journey of honing my skills, enjoying the game and meeting fellow dreamers and now friends in the industry.”

 She has been a member of Manila FAME’s Manila Wear brand since 2016 and was mentored by Josie Natori, who urged her to expand her product segments to include clothing other than hats and head pieces, gearing toward developing a lifestyle brand.

 She has persistently joined numerous fashion contests for the past 12 years, including  the Japan Fashion Design Contest in Tokyo, Air Asia Runway Ready Designer Search in Malaysia, Emerging Designer in Vietnam,the  Philippine Fashion Design Competition and Project Runway Philippines before she bagged the Rise Art & Design Fashion Design Competition in New York in 2017 and was3rd runner-up in Solis Magazine X FWBK Fashion Design  Competition in September 2018.

Email: [email protected]