One of the more interesting shows at Philippine Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010 was the Ready-to-Wear/Visions & Trends group collections presentation. It displayed garments that can actually be worn, but not the regular department store clothes because it does have the words “visions” and “trends” in it. Wearable but visionary—did the participating designers manage to find the balance between these two seemingly opposing concepts? See for yourself…
A swimwear-dominated set, Anna Leah Salvador’s runway consisted of sun-suitable apparel ready for next year’s bikini season. Looks were constructed with equal parts modesty and adventure, via pieces that show a lot but leave some to the imagination. Her dresses were decidedly summer, with blooms on the fabrics and a cheery palette.
Color scheme is integral in a collection. It sets the tone and represents the designer’s outlook. One of the most innovative young designers of the moment, Ciege Cagalawan chose a more low-key approach this season. The resort-friendly collection had an ivory base and worked around the concept of introspection. Had he chosen a darker color scheme (which he reserved for the last three looks), it would’ve been totally gloomy. But white balanced out the depressing undertones, resulting in optimism.
Many designers take a single fabric in a single color, twist it around, make a dozen variations of the same design and call it a collection. Sticking to a single color—red—all throughout, Lizanne Cua’s collection seemed repetitive. The shapelessness of most of the pieces didn’t help in distinguishing the subtle differences among them.
Jian Lasala went a different way, choosing bright summery hues. Although two-dimensional was the intention, his solid-colored pieces were too literal, redundant and boring. It’s like no thought was put into designing them at all.
Alodia Cecilia knows that’s not how a real collection should be. Her output was a decent mix of wearable items with hauteur elements like sculpting and crumpling. The colors flowed from earthy to girly, while maintaining a spring feel to it. Pier Lim similarly showed diversity in his print-intensified presentation with modern silhouettes. The slouchy trend for both men and women, on the other hand, prevails on Don Protasio’s runway. Loosely draped pieces, with emphasis on hoods and other veiling garments, constitute his pale-tinted set.
More unexpected silhouettes came from Ava Paguyo. She concocted a graphic-heavy line with the edgy details that have become her trademark. But the wearability factor remains visible. Also utilizing lots of draping and some eccentric details, Dimple Lim’s 10-piece was a little odd. While a majority of the ensembles had utter symmetry and deliberate dollhouse aesthetics, one, in particular, looked like a shapeless straightjacket with a disturbing print. Save for that one instance, the collection’s creepiness was in a good way.
Reian Mata went for comparable aesthetics but paid closer attention to geometric lines, making the set more cohesive. It was fresh and the use of denim was out-of-the-box. Half of Kristel Yulo’s metallic dresses and separates also showed fashion-forwardness but the other half just seemed to serve as filler pieces.
The only one who went back in time was Tippi Ocampo with reviving the butterfly sleeves and modernizing them. It’s not the first time someone’s doing this and some updates show little success. But this is a good one. She created a collection centered on the era that popularized the style, using lace in other garments to tie up loose ends. The translation makes sense and blends in easily with today’s trends with no hints of irony.
The Ready-to-Wear/Visions & Trends show at PFW was presented by Cream Silk.
