Front row at Philippine Fashion Week
MANILA, Philippines - In 1997, Joey and Audie Espino of Runway Productions envisioned a platform for all Filipino designers, amateur or established, to showcase their talents at an occasion known as Philippine Fashion Week. Today, it is the much-awaited event that sets the climate for Philippine fashion, and the ultimate runway showdown that designers work towards for months on end.
The idea began with Joey Espino, who, after watching New York Fashion Week, decided that local designers should be given the same opportunity to market their creations and promote awareness of the latest trends and styling techniques. At around the same time, Runway Productions was tapped by the Ayala Center to come up with an event for Glorietta that would entice people to do their shopping there. PFW was the perfect merger of these two goals.
Right from the start, PFW projected an international feel as models from different parts of the world walked the runways wearing local designs. This proved to be the right move as the mall shows were a resounding success, with sales being made left and right.
Realizing that that they were at the forefront of a milestone in Philippine fashion history, local designers and brands began to take their designs to greater heights by upgrading the quality of their pieces, aiming to create looks and styles that could rival foreign labels.
By 2000, fashion fever caught on and PFW’s roster of participants became more varied — from the high-end franchisees and designer labels to local brands, both big and small. The following year, 2001, saw the partnership between PFW and major cosmetic brands such as Avon, prompting local designers to step up their game and make one clear statement in their runway shows: that Filipino designers are on par with their international counterparts.
Since then, the ever-increasing audience led PFW to transfer to bigger venues to accommodate the crowds that came year after year. From the Glorietta Activity Center to the Hotel InterContinental, NBC and Rockwell tents, it most recently has made the SMX Convention Center its home, with additional shows at the SM Mall of Asia — the result of a partnership with the SM Group of Companies.
In 2008, PFW received government support for the first time, much like Fashion Weeks in other countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia, through the Department of Agriculture and the Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA).
With nothing but praise for local talent and skill, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap made a generous contribution to last year’s Fashion Week through the provision of luxurious local fabrics to some of the country’s biggest fashion stalwarts like Ben Farrales, Aureo Alonzo, and Pitoy Moreno. It was also last year when big local brands such as Bench, Bayo, Plains & Prints, Folded & Hung, and Penshoppe made a comeback on the runways.
As a response to the ever-changing direction of global fashion, 2008 also saw the introduction of PFW as a bi-annual event. Following the two-season timetable used by Fashion Weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris, Philippine Fashion Week now happens twice a year, six months ahead of the season — enough time to present the newest fashion forecasts and allow stores to incorporate these trends into their clothing lines.
With the upcoming second run of PFW, the stage is once again set for the unveiling of Filipino designs that make what is local into something globally relevant. Philippine Fashion Week has ingrained in us an awareness of fashion as a constantly evolving force, propelling us forward along with the changing times. Late fashion designer Oleg Cassini said it best: “Fashion anticipates… (It is) a mirror of the time in which we live, a translation of the future, and should never be static.”
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Philippine Fashion Week spring/summer 2010 runs from Oct. 21 to 29 at the SMX Convention Center and SM Mall of Asia.
