The Terno Trend: This, this and that!

CEBU, Philippines - You may think you have seen it all. But the beauty of couture culture is that it is always creating new designs you never knew existed. But then again there are the time and tested names and formulae. The recently concluded Santacruzan sa S.M. 2010 at The Northwing had a lot to live up to—if the Clothes for Life designers had any doubt about that, they could have glanced at the front row in the select audience and gotten very nervous indeed. Under the tutelage of newly-elected president Cary Santiago, it’s no mean feat to gather 53 ladies and team them up with 53 names (some seasoned, some new) in the biggest Santacruzan this side of the globe. There were the alumni who have gone great lengths to spark up the religious pageantry: Philip Rodriguez, Arcy Gayatin, Albert Arriba, Marichu Tan, Jun Escario, Salvador Malto to name a few. Also gathered were ranks of industry new guards the likes of Wendell Quisido, Alejandro Godinez, Ivan Belocura, Pewee Senening and Jp Cabigon vis a vis newbies like Barbie Alvez, Mique Yapching, Joseph Navales, Elmer de Venecio, Harvey Cenit and Edward Castro who were exceptionally true to their craft (as evident by the construction of their terno’s tricky sleeves).

Why do all and sundry turn out to inspect what is, after all, a re-enactment of an ancient religious tradition? One reason could be to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, another is to take the temperature of what young people are thinking, and yet another reason is to be the first to spot the next star.

 This year, though, stars emerged, with a couple of outstanding collections. The first was from Barbie Alvez, who used giant biased pleating on bonded organdy gown in the shape of a serpentina. Others such as Jp Cabigon—who swept up a new following with a fashion forward terno made out of chunky architectural tiers, which had been inspired, he explained, by “Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. Yapching is another talent to join the likes of Edwin Ao and Protacio, the former knitting up a minor storm with his satellite sleeves—collectively stirring interest in extreme, cobwebby, multi-patterned, and sculpturally textural effects (and a rising craze for the altered state of the terno). Ditto for Ivan Bilocura whose bubble gum pink terno had skeleton sleeves with a faux fur trim.

On the whole, though, an unusually subdued and polite cohort passed out in this year’s Santacruzan, a group more focused on making wearable ternos that don’t scream costume-y. Is that a sign of the times? Stay tuned!