Tailor-Made Art

CEBU, Philippines - When shorn of their latent grandiose definitions, technical demarcations and at-times loopy semantics, fashion design and visual art are interrelated, bound together by one glue: both are art forms that frame beauty, but in its varied multi-faceted forms.

This relationship shared by the two creative disciplines is the binding factor of an exhibit that's currently ongoing at the Seaview Wing Atrium of SM Seaside City - featuring the fineries that were worn by reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach in last year's Miss Universe Pageant in Las Vegas.

Mainlined by the creations of Filipino couturier Albert Andrada, the exhibit presents the now-iconic royal blue serpentina gown which Wurtzbach wore during the Miss Universe pageant's evening wear segment, the capiz-adorned terno which she wore for the pageant's national costume segment, and the gown which she wore during the Bb. Pilipinas pageant's national costume segment.

A convergence of classic and contemporary design themes, the exhibit's showcased pieces are standout masterworks by their own accord - with aesthetic elements that validate their being elegant attirements and as works of art.

As eveningwear pieces, discerning the amount of detail that was put into the gowns' making is in no way eye-straining - just as recognizing that their overall tailoring was threaded together by a solid understanding of the "less means more" ideal.

As works of art, the fineries bear contemporary treatments of traditional art conventions - qualifying them as wearable renderings of various modern art movements like the line-and-basic-shape baselines inherent in suprematism and the process-oriented inclinations that are innate in expressionist styles.

Ongoing until June 13, the exhibit accentuates - instead of demarcates - fashion design's kinship with visual art. (FREEMAN)