Bianca Jimenez weaves her life in Piña

Many Filipinas of a certain generation have “Maria” attached to their name. Sometimes it just runs in the family. “The brand name Ma., which is pronounced Maria, is named after the Maria in all of our names,” Bianca Jimenez explained during the brand’s launch recently. “I am a Maria, my mom is a Maria, and my lola is also a Maria. But the truth is nobody goes by Maria. I go by my name, Bianca. My mom is Maria Editha and goes by her nickname Gidget, while my lola is Maria Teresita.”

In the US where she studied, all her IDs had the name Maria Jimenez. “That is actually what caused me to be a bit curious about that part of my name. I share it with so many people but it is not who I am. I tried to flip it and realized that that is something I share with so many people,” Bianca relates. It is something very Filipina.

“Basically, the whole heart of the brand, Ma., is pushing Filipino culture. I want to explore different ways to exhibit Filipino culture,” Bianca explains. “In this first collection, Life in Piña, you see piña being used. From the 1600s all the way to the 1900s, they used to wear piña every day. It was very common. It did not have the stigma that it has today — that it is so expensive, so itchy, outdated, only for formal wear. So I wanted to create a collection that brings back that idea to wear piña every day, in the way that people like us used to wear it.”

It is an interesting proposition. “This is a byproduct of my thesis, specifically pertaining to indigenous textiles,” says Bianca who graduated in 2018 from the University of Pennsylvania where she took up visual studies, a course that is a mix of philosophy, fine arts and art history. “My thesis was ‘Is fashion a viable form of preservation?’ and my conclusion is that it is, to a certain extent. But it’s really hard because you are working with a lot of different people.” During her internship, she was able to take trips and was able to talk with and learn about the indigenous people who would become the source of her raw materials.

Her main source for the piña fabric is a factory based in Aklan. “I decided to use piña because so many people are working with a lot of indigenous materials already, like the inabel and tinalak. I felt that piña is more relevant to us as Manileños, because this is really something we can do as city dwellers. Way back years ago, people who lived where we live now were wearing this.”

And now it’s trending again. “My target market would be people like me, young millennials, 20 to 25 years old,” she says. “I guess a lot of older women like titas and lolas, they appreciate the culture because they grew up with it. Now you have a lot of trendy options, also because of globalization. You find a lot of different types of materials. I am going back to the traditional material. I am using the traditional piña, piña seda and piña shifu, which is a blend of piña with abaca and also piña cotton-linen.” The price range for Ma. is quite reasonable, she says, from P3,500 to P6,000, “depending on how much material is used.”

There are about 13 pieces in this first collection, a lot of tops, two bottoms and three dresses. “My design is very simple but with a twist. It can be worn multiple different ways. You can dress it up or down. Like this outfit I am wearing, when paired together, it looks very formal, but if paired with jeans or khaki, and you wear sneakers, it can be dressed down.”

The material lends itself to simplicity. “Working with the material was also difficult because you have to find the proper lining that is comfortable but also light,” Bianca remarked. “Once I found that, that was like the secret sauce.” 

“Her style is traditional-modern. She is very much into traditional material but her design is modern and versatile,” says her mom, who writes children’s books under the name Gidget Roceles Jimenez. “There is a resurgence of interest in local fabrics and she wanted to raise awareness in the proper use of indigenous materials. She worked with the Katutubo Foundation.”

This is Bianca’s first business venture. “I’m proud of her because she is trying this for the first time on her own,” says her grandma, Kay Jimenez. “She is initiating something that no one else did before. People shy away from piña because they think it is too expensive, too fragile. But she was able to twist it to make it good for everyday wear.”

The launch was a pop up one-of event. She is opening an online store. (Visit her Instagram @ma.collecta and website www.ma.collecta.com.)  “The reason why it is ‘collecta’ is because, through this brand, you can understand it as a collection or a collective,” Bianca explains. “I hope to collaborate with a lot of people in the future. I also want to create a community where Filipinas appreciate their culture and history by raising awareness.”

“Whatever she sets her mind to do, she does it,” says her dad, Joel Jimenez, who returned to the Philippines from the US to work with his father, Menardo Jimenez, one of the founding fathers of  GMA Network. “Bianca was already in high school when she took ballet, and she wanted to be on pointe right away,” Joel recalls. “Her teacher said it’s too late, she should have started as a kid. But, she said, if you are willing to work hard on it, I am willing to teach you.”

In two years, Bianca was on pointe. She is determined. “Even with this pop-up. She is very hands-on.”

 “I’m really interested in a lot of different things. I did all the branding, the graphic design, packaging. The whole concept was really kind of me, because I wanted to use all of my interests,” Bianca says. “I guess I’m just a designer, not a fashion designer. My medium is graphic arts. It’s really multi-media, mixing them all together.”

There are plans for her to take her master’s at the University of Pennsylvania where they have a graduate program that marries three disciplines — engineering, business (through the Wharton business school), and fine arts.

“We just want our kids to find out what they want to do and to do whatever they want to do,” says her dad Joel. “I just hope that she continues to pursue her dream, even if it’s hard because it’s hard to be an entrepreneur,” her mom, Gidget, says.

“To sum it up, the brand Ma. is really about investigating a lot of different aspects, so this first collection may be just a one-off. I also want to look into other types of materials, not just piña,” Bianca explains. “But it will all be Filipina, specifically about women culture.”