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By Ricky T. Gallardo
Well-respected designer Barge Ramos is
celebrating his 30th year in the fashion industry. One of his
fervent dreams is to be able to write a book and this year, his
dream has come true by way of Pinoy Dressing: Weaving Culture into
Fashion.
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Barge
Ramos: dream come true |
Ramos, a Communication Arts graduate of the
Ateneo, who had written scripts for Nestor Torre and Gerry Guillen
during his younger years, was introduced by schoolmate Tony Perez to
Karina Bolasco and Gwen Galvez of Anvil Publishing three years ago
at a time when Ramos was experiencing a lot of pain and heartaches.
“That introduction happened during one of the
lowest points in my life. My mother and a dear friend Rod Dula
passed away in a matter of two weeks. It was also during the
same period when I was preparing to move shop from my old atelier in
Paco to Malate. Tony suggested I take a short vacation and just
concentrate on writing the book. I told him that I already had the
materials, so he arranged for that meeting with Anvil. I brought the
tear sheets of my past columns in Malaya and presented these to
Karina and Gwen. They liked it and so was born this book,”
narrates Barge.
Barge shares that he would want the next
generation of fashion designers to get hold of this book, which he
considers a labor of love. “ I am sure that the young designers
would be in for a lot of discoveries after going through the pages
of Pinoy Dressing,” he stresses.
Barge continues, “What I discovered in the
process of writing these articles is that Filipinos have always been
dressing in an eclectic style, a cross-cultural mix of elements that
goes way, way back. For example, there is a rare photo in the book,
of a couple all dressed up in traditional Muslim fashion, but the
bride was wearing a Chinese headdress and the groom was in
Western-style leather shoes. That’s no different from the modern
groom wearing a Piña Barong Tagalog and Ferragamo leather shoes for
his wedding date; or an Imelda Marcos, for that matter, in a lavish
Christian Espiritu terno with a European tiara as a hair accent. The
Filipino style of dressing is really a mix of Western and Eastern
elements. And it is precisely this idea which inspired me to come up
with “Pinoy Dressing.”
The wonderful sketches of Loretto and the
amazing art direction of Ige Ramos will certainly make this Barge
Ramos book a collector’s item soon. Pinoy Dressing, Weaving
Culture into Fashion will have its formal launch this Friday, August
17, 6 p.m. at the Podium in Ortigas.
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