That must be why, on most occasions, foreigners consider our home country the ultimate tourist heaven. Driving down Roxas Boulevard on a regular weekday, I encounter busloads of tourists – cameras in tow and travel brochures in hand – walking around Luneta, trying to distract the officers standing guard over at the Rizal Memorial. On a work trip to shoot a fashion editorial at some swanky resort in Palawan, most of the people we encountered were Korean. Often dressed incongruously in black or in loud, colored floral shirts and shorts and visors, they trooped around the white sand beach taking pictures of one another and the surrounding scenery.
On my first trip to Korea a few years ago, it was refreshing to hear people compliment my country, calling it a luxurious destination, instead of the usual griping I hear from their western counterparts. Instead of mentioning our "unstable" political climate or asking whether I lived in a hut perched precariously on some coconut tree, they were asking my advice on which beach to visit. (True story: When my friend was a high school exchange student in the US in the ’90s, her classmates were awed by her language skills and constantly asked her if she lived in a tree.)
On the plane trip back to Manila, a Korean couple next to me was poring over travel brochures. "We’re going to Cebu," the woman said, "for our honeymoon." She was in her late 20s and was visiting the Philippines for the first time with her husband. "Is the sand really this white?" she asked, showing me a picture they had printed from the internet.
Instead of preparing a booth covered in photos of the Philippines, the DOT tried a different tack. They tapped designer Nono Palmos, known for his contemporary Filipiniana wedding ensembles, to present a collection merging traditional Korean wedding attire with Filipino elements.
"This year, the Philippine presentation pays tribute to the ties between the Philippines and Korea," said Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano. "More than just to celebrate the union of couples or an effort to further attract the Korean honeymooners market, it’s also our goal to strengthen the bonds of friendship and cultural exchange between the two countries through the universal language of design and fashion."
Palmos debuted a collection called hanbok na hinabi, the designer’s take on the traditional Korean dress. Tired of pushing "ethnic" gear, a cliché and one-dimensional look at Philippine culture, the designer updated the hanbok, a multi-layered voluminous ensemble Korean women have been wearing for centuries by incorporating locally-made woven fabrics. Hablon, a cotton-based fiber, was the canvas for the heavily-embroidered pieces.
Elements of Spanish colonialism, found in the floral embellishment that decorated the hemline, sleeves and bust, were incorporated into the dresses, while colors like a fiery rust and vivid amber were juxtaposed against emerald green.
The hanbok’s traditional silhouette is a long pocket-less dress, cinched at the bust in an empire cut and layered with a long-sleeved, cropped jacket and fastened with a long sash that trails behind the bride’s back. Palmos updated the costume by creating removable jackets, making a complete empire-cut dress underneath.
He also used the popular Koreanovela Jewel in the Palace as inspiration. "I got hooked as soon I saw the characters in full regalia," he said.
"I incorporated tailored elements into the garments," Palmos said of the hanbok’s construction. "The jacket is more structured, which I thought was necessary since I made it removable."
He used tulle to create volume for the skirt, while the bodice was tightly wrapped around the models’ chests for a more dramatic silhouette.
For menswear, Palmos took certain details from the barong and incorporated it into the men’s segment, making them dressier and almost urbane. While the usual barongs were paraded down the runway at COEX, he made versions in black, which had the appearance of a rather tailored, dressy shirt.
"It can easily make the transition between Western and Philippine garb," Palmos said. "It won’t look so out-of-place on a foreigner."
For the show, the models were paired as couples, coyly flirting with each other on the stage. Director Chi Narvaez wanted the fashion show to celebrate the Filipino’s sense of style in celebrating romance. The models walked down the runway in formal wedding wear to the sounds of remixed habañera music.
"This year’s theme was fusion," Narvaez explained. "So, I wanted to pay tribute to our countries’ friendship. I highlighted our Spanish influence, which makes us unique in Asia, by pairing the gowns with nontraditional music."
"The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive," said Narvaez.
From the Philippine booth, Palmos also launched an all-white collection, ideal attire for beach weddings. Staged within the booth, Narvaez went for a lighter mood, something more in key with the younger styles.
Made of bagong habi, another woven fabric Palmos is fond of using, the collection featured a refreshing set of contemporary men’s and womenswear. A trapeze dress, made of salinghabi with ginitling (tufts of cotton randomly dotting the material), was loose and lovely. A tube dress with a sweetheart neckline in piña and noel silk was elegant and refined. Even an Oscar dela Renta-inspired dress took on a different life in a mixture of cotton, silk and piña fiber.
"Europeans prefer minimalist silhouettes," Palmos said. "This is the kind of resort wear you bring to a wedding in Amanpulo."
He certainly delivered with pared-down, figure-hugging trousers and fitted barong-inspired dress shirts for men. Just as Carson Kressley of the now-defunct but much-loved show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy always recommends, the men’s shirtsleeves were "tzuzhed" or folded and then pushed up to create a trendier, more casual look. It certainly made the woven shirts look more current.
"This is exactly what we want to present to consumers here in Korea," says the charming Tourism Undersecretary Eduardo Jarque, "an image of Filipinos as stylish and contemporary, and the Philippines as the ideal destination."
With locations like Boracay, Cebu and Palawan raking in big business from Korean tourists (and the country’s market share of vacationing consumers increasing annually), no doubt the fashions presented only helped secure the image of our country as a culture-rich hybrid of the old and new world.
"We didn’t want to do the same old thing," explained Maricon Ebron, head of DOT’s Team Korea. "At the end of the day, we want to attract Koreans to the Philippines. What’s better than showing them how beautiful our fashions are?"