Edwin Ao's Recent Mutation: Mutilate

CEBU, Philippines - Shining like a beacon for young designers is enfant terrible Edwin Ao, who will represent the country in the 2010 Asian Designers Collection in Tokyo, Japan on March 23 to 28 at the Tokyo Midtown Hall. Held in line with Japan Fashion Week Autumn - Winter 2010, this exposition is sponsored by the Japan Fashion Week Organization co-sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and Kashiyama Co. Ltd.

Ao, a dynamic member of the Fashion and Design Council of the Philippines or FDCP, will represent the Philippines to the 2010 Asian Designers Collection, which will be the closing event of the Japan Fashion Week. A total of 10 young Asian designers from China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan were invited to debut their collection this year. Each of the designers are handpicked for the event, which is Japan’s way of helping other Asian countries create a stronger fashion image in the region.

Ao’s collection for the event is inspired by the twisted body shapes and the expressive lines that characterize 20th century painter Egon Schiele’s works. The artist’s mastery of exhibitionism brings Ao’s collection to life. Why do we conform to what is ordinary and traditional? Are we dictated by the normal things that we encounter everyday? Why do we seek individuality and are afraid to try the unusual? These are the questions that guided the designer while working on the collection.

The concept behind the designs is mutilate - to make something imperfect by altering parts. The collection aims to seek new uses of common design elements from the collar, the sleeves down to the pockets. Design elements are created to be intentionally displaced or rearranged. It answers to the new proportion of imperfection. The color black and beige represents the periods of highs and lows of imperfection and alteration, wherein every garment is represented. The collection confronts the limitations of fashions, wherein new silhouettes will be introduced. It will be in distorted forms, lopsided, asymmetrical lines, voluminous, undulating wavy lines and curves, change in motions and surrealism. The collection concentrates on the technical aspects of construction. It is an ample use of draping techniques, twisting, pleating and playing around with layers of fabric sheers that are structured alike in different textures. Ao also employs a tailored approach in creating the collection, wherein each garment is dynamic, undulating and flimsy but structured without sacrificing the clothes’ wearability. A strange mix of fabric is used, from the natural shade of the Thai silk combined with the softness of the English flannel wool, a misjudged fabric combination that proves worthy of a strong fabrication and also a combination of the east and the west.