thestylemongers: METROWEAR 2011: FILIPINIANA NOW.......

NOW, Filipiniana. The collections were directional, 100 designers created 100 parts, evoking mixed styles that promote the psyche, the vision of one nation, one dress. While the brigade crumbled to present their platform and identity, sense and sensibilities focused on their skills. Metrowear melted the best in the crop to sashay its way onto the national fashion map to celebrate our identity as fashionably Filipino in Filipiniana.

The show was a surprise, few dramatized and rendered their interpretation of the national garment on the runway with utmost care. Innovations failed to make the deserved impact. There were more variations in shape and silhouettes....but to execute the venerable Filipiniana, a "complete designer"- GLORIOUSLY DIVINE CREATORS, who can give justice and life to clothes, not necessarily old-schooled, BUT have the artistic prowess to reinvent, to recreate the "NOW FILIPINIANA"....fierce, global and glamorous. Over all...the show did not leave a lasting aftertaste, too many clothes with less breathing spaces.

THE 10 FABULOUS, FILIPINIANA COLLECTIONS ARE:

1. EZRA SANTOS

EZRA, in his early outings as a fashion designer in the Philippines, was so enamoured by the butterfly sleeves, so aptly immortalized by the social butterfly of her own era, the legendary Imelda Marcos. It is stiff and protrudes where the shoulder blades end. The fabric is often made of pineapple fiber indigenous to the Philippines, and lined with "cana maso" for the standing effect. The complete ensemble is usually cut empire to achieve a soft, voluminous draping in the bodice, perhaps to contradict the sharpness of the sleeves. It became de riguer for the flamboyant erstwhile Filipino First Lady to wear to state dinners and official foreign visits in her more than two decades of rule that it became her trademark look. Needless to say, it is reminiscent of the halcyon days of a not so distant past, of pomp and pageantry, of an almost mythical era that exuded sinful decadence, and excesses and intrigues.

And in true renaissance form, EZRA takes pride as he reprises the iconic sleeves, albeit subtly. In his trademark masterful cutting and precision tailoring, he has done away with the cumbersome pleats that stiffen and form the semi oval sleeves and make it appear seamless. He adroitly softens the look and gives it a much more feminine edge and a universal look.

And yet again, EZRA never disappoints. He has truly mastered his craft. He is a purveyor of good taste and all things beautiful and elegant. He creates. He trailblazes. He invents and reinvents. And no wonder, he revolutionizes the butterfly sleeves. And in the bigger scheme of fashion, imagine what else EZRA is truly capable of.

words by VAL TAGUBA

2. FERDIE ABUEL