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By Gionna Cabrera
ASK most fashionistas anywhere in
the world when the highlight of their fashion calendars are—and
most will tell you it’s fashion week, with a prime on the F. from
Paris, London, Milan and New York, fashion reporters and store
buyers view the designers’ collections in seasonal semesters,
where every minor detail means business.
Figures consist of production
costs, model fees, photographers and cameramen, hair stylists and
makeup artists, accessories and invitations—all part of the mix
where the frantic pace is felt across continents—especially in
Asia. Zooming in to Manila, the fastidiousness of Philippine Fashion
Week competes in the world marathon of more than just trend-setting.
The city’s marquee event
attracts hundreds of social, cultural and media celebrities, and the
fashion industry elite who are the major voters/ “veto” clients
in this kind of campaign. Elections are up, and the
designers/couturiers have their platforms—whether they are the
fashion czars or the pampered apprentices in design, collections
speak for themselves in the most awaited visceral experience.
Having modeled for half a decade
already, I have been used to seeing ‘the works’–backstage,
where the real action is. While models wait for their cues and hang
around after their hair and makeup have been perfected, designers
make sure that everything is visible, intact and at most flawless
come show time. Stage directors organize the sequencing, as
technical concerns are also repeatedly checked.
Despite the grueling pace and the
runway frenzy, the fashion troops always managed to squeeze in time
for a little shopping, dining or people watching. Being part of the
models’ lineup in the year’s Philippine Fashion Week, I was able
to ask around during break time on the players’ take on:
What differentiates Philippine
fashion week from other cities’/countries’ concept of fashion
week?
Joey Espino, executive
producer/director of Runway productions: First, it is uniting
Filipino designers as one on the context that we’ve never been
together as a single entity, in a sense that we are thinking as a
group irregardless of the sector/economic background contributing to
the whole being of our nationality; it is perhaps the only fashion
week in the world where the designers have no financial assistance
from the government in which other cultural groups usually would
invest in this industry to further enhance the businesses and
capacities of several talented designers to earthen their creations,
to better innovate their original ideas into works to be sought
after not only locally, but internationally as well.
Raymond Villanueva,
fashion/lifestyle brands director: It is the mixture of fashion
cultures from our 7,100 islands. We bring you the culture of the
different places through the clothes, the weaving, the indigenous
materials incorporated in the designs, and in the entire collection
of the designers which give life to the diversity of these cultures.
What makes Philippine Fashion
Week the most awaited event in a designer’s calendar?
Oscar de los Santos: It would
help us in marketing to more clients and let our artistry propagate
by staging fashion forecasts for this season.
What makes the Philippine
Fashion Week exciting?
Raya Mananquil, professional
fashion model and yoga guru: It is an honor to be part of the
Philippine Fashion Week because I get to work with the country’s
talented artists and designers. As a proud Filipino, creating and
awareness for local talent is important to me, and fashion is a
reflection of our arts and culture.
Knowing about their point of
views clarifies the layman’s question not only about fashion but
it is also a celebration of brotherhood, sisterhood and genuine
camaraderie. Philippine Fashion Week 2007 absolutely distinguished
from other fashion events, soars on a more solid, international
scale. Chiquettes would definitely be completing their lists upon
heading to the next best thing in show or destination. But then
again, it’s all about procrastination.
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