The new barong: Art to wear
MANILA, Philippines - For the out-of-town fashion shoot to promote Kasuotang Pilipino this month, Jean Goulbourn of Silk Cocoon collaborates with top Filipino artists to come up with a unique and exciting collection of Art-to-Wear.
Neo-realist Arturo Luz, 1997 National Artist for Visual Arts, creates a modern abstraction of lines in cubes cleverly interpreted in silk thread on black linen to illustrate his famous geometric design. The result is an elegant, streamlined and subdued barong that reflects so much of the artist’s personality.
The innovative sculptor Impy Pilapil, known for her mixed media creations in glass, stone and steel, showcases her fascination for water as she depicts, in silk frisson, surging water in motion. Rendered on handwoven silk (Silk Cocoon’s exclusive fabric) in silver gray, Pilapil’s barong design also features scattered flat beads to cleverly simulate water drops and sprinkles.
Jean Goulbourn, on the other hand, presents a visual abstraction on handwoven silk that pays homage to African art. Utilizing African embroidery, coco beads, raffia, shells, and other tribal accessories, Goulbourn successfully combines all these exotic elements to come up with an Africana-inspired Barong Tagalog in celadon green.
Silk Cocoon’s Art-to-Wear collection was photographed at the turn-of-the-century ancestral house of Dr. Teodoro Alava located along the town plaza of Pila, Laguna which was declared a National Historical landmark in 2000. The town of Pila shares this rare honor with only three other localities in the country: Vigan in Ilocos Sur, Silay City in Negros Occidental and Taal in Batangas.
