MANILA, Philippines - After its successful stint in Berlin recently, the Mindanao Tapestry: Neo Ethnic Fashion by Renee Salud and Mindanano Weavers by Renee Salud (photo) was staged in the Grand Ballroom of Marco Polo Ortigas, eliciting standing ovations and applause from the discriminating audience. It was directed by Cata Figueroa Jr.
Among the 21 models were 2006 Miss Tourism Queen International Justine Gabionza, 2015 Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International Leren Mae Bautista, 2012 Miss Supranational third runner-up Elaine Kay Moll, 2013 Miss Earth Top 8 finalist Angelee delos Reyes and 2015 Bb. Pilipinas first runner-up Hannah Ruth Sison.
Department of Tourism (DOT) Undersecretary Kat de Castro, who represented DOT Sec. Wanda Tulfo-Teo that night, said that Teo’s advocacy is to feature the wonderful Mindanao fabrics to the rest of the world.
The fashion event took the city of Germany by storm when the Department of Tourism presented it to the annual Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB), the world’s largest travel trade fair with 180 countries participants, last month.
The fashion entourage is set to showcase Salud’s creations using fabrics woven by Mindanao’s tribeswomen in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Doha, Qatar, starting today until May 1. More shows: on April 27 in Malacañang Palace for the visit of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, with Raymond Villanueva as director, and a five-city show in Canada in August and another five-city show in Italy in October, with Villanueva and Figueroa Jr. as director, respectively.