The infernal desires of Yvonne

"I prefer the movies," answers Yvonne Quisumbing-Romulo in interviews whenever asked about fashion. "Or books – I like stuff like H.P. Lovecraft, Angela Carter or whatever friends recommend to me that they think I might like." To be honest, besides being one of Manila’s most awarded young fashion designers, Yvonne is – to put it in the words of a friend – a bit of an "oddity in the fashion scene." Hardly goes out and hardly photographed or interviewed, she stays at home and works most of the time. Besides, the girl is afraid of parties and would rather watch schlock films and zombies for kicks.

Not surprisingly, she got into fashion by chance. Originally a painter, Yvonne was set on studying at the U.P. College of Fine Arts where her elder brother Anton, now a sculptor, was enrolled. However, her brother dissuaded her and encouraged her to take up a course at the Philippine School for Interior Design instead. Finishing her graduate thesis, she then took her general subjects at the College of St. Benilde. At the time, no less than fashion master Inno Sotto started teaching a class and, upon the urging of a guidance counselor, she decided to take the class. "Inno was such a big influence on me and he really pushed me to pursue fashion design," she recounts. Listening to his advice, she took up the extra degree.

That early, though, her penchant for the weird was already blooming. For her thesis, she made a dress that had a motor pumping air into concealed balloons on an intricately carved top that made the upper body look as if it had several hearts beating wildly outside of the chest. A few months short of graduation, she competed and won an award in Japan for a dress made of abaca and ping-pong balls. "It was only a special prize," she says modestly but it gave her the confidence to continue in the field. Of course, more was to follow.

She first won the Grand Prize for the Fashion Design Council of the Philippines’s (FDCP) "Concours International des Jeunes Creatures de Mode in 2001. (Don’t ask her; she doesn’t know what it means as well.) Her winning entry was called "Slumber" and was a tempered balance between her wayward imagination and the discipline she learned from Sotto. Her mentor for the world competition, internationally-recognized designer Jojie Lloren, also stressed the need for a method to the madness and encouraged her into an intense study of technique.

After, Yvonne set up her own fashion label called ummagumma that she took from the only Pink Floyd album she’s never actually heard. With the help of the Young Designers Guild – to whom she was invited to join after the competition – her work, if not the designer herself, became visible in Manila’s runways. In 2004, she became partners with photographer Juan Caguicla to form HG, a creative styling group that was formed with the express purpose of providing photographs to showcase Yvonne’s little chimeras of dresses. Last year, Mega magazine put her on its cover with Angel Locsin and Wawi Navarrosa among others and named her as one of the "Women to Watch" in 2005. It was also this time that she got bored with fashion and decided to paint again. "I wanted to do something different," says Yvonne.

Her ongoing show, curated by HG, at Gallerie Astra Pavilion called "Infernal Desire Machines" explores the possibilities suggested by Gabriel Barredo with his term "wearable art," merging the mediums of fashion, sculpture and fine art. The two first met over a decade ago and the sculptor has acted as Yvonne’s primary artistic inspiration ever since. (She affectionately refers to him as her "second mother".) "Among other things, he really guided me and taught me the concept of functional art, the idea that art can serve many purposes," she relates. For the show, Yvonne prefers to call the clothes she’s made as "soft-sculptures, wanting them to be worn but also displayed in specially-designed light boxes. "The idea to put them in frames came from stylist Millet Arzaga actually," she says. "She told me that she was going to frame a blouse I made for her after she wore it."

For the opening, Yvonne also wanted something different to illustrate the multi-faceted aspects of her works. She hit upon the concept of a performance based on the title, "A Dressing Room for Mutant Women," a phrase she just thought up while at work. "I just saw this film by David Cronenberg – a low budget movie called The Brood," she laughs. The woman in that movie was expressing her anger at her husband by giving birth to humanoid dwarfs that set out to murder him. I don’t know the connection really but I was looking at the stuff I was coming out with and it sort of made sense." To see the concept into fruition, she sought the help of people in and out of the fashion world.

I’ll be exciting because I’m working with such a talented team for the whole thing," she says. To direct and choreograph the models, she enlisted fashion show director Melvin Mojica. Upon seeing the works, Mojica suggested use of the theme from Rosemary’s Baby for the opening and convinced Yvonne that she had found the perfect collaborator. "It’s the film where the hero gives birth to the anti-Christ," she says, bemused herself at the confluence of ideas.

For the special lighting effects, she tapped film director/cinematographer Lyle Sacris after she remembered a conversation she had with the filmmaker (while she was making her own short film for the Mowelfund Film Institute) about new ways of doing fashion shows. "He had really bizarre ideas," she smiles.

The problem of matching music with visuals was solved within the first minutes of listening to some tracks made by young electronic musician enigmatically known as Moon Fear Moon. According to Yvonne, she was convinced that he was the only one who could do it. "Before I asked anyone else, I asked him if he was willing to be part of it, and it took him almost a year to say that he could do it," she recounts.

Another vital collaborator she also met during this time was electronic musician/producer Malek Lopez. One-half of pioneering duo Rubber Inc. and sound-scaper for pop act Drip, Lopez also scored Barredo’s recent show at the Ayala Museum. "He said there was something aside from Moon Fear Moon that could be done with the sound," Yvonne says of the Berkley-educated musician. "Basically, with Malek, you just nod your head and let him do what he wants even if you don’t know what he’s talking about. But this time Noel (de Brackinghe of Rubber Inc.) and he were talking about how sound can physically affect you, like hold you down or something. I liked that."

"I’m also exhibiting what I call hair-sculptures that hair stylist Nerson Bajado and I developed with Bergmann Hair Systems, which I think may be a new way to look at hair extensions, presenting them as art accessories the same way as you might wear an earring," she says of the oddly-shaped creations that Bajado painstakingly created more than half-a-year prior to the show.

"Everything from the makeup (by Neva Talladen and Shiseido artists Lee Roberto and Rolly Aduca) has been planned for specific effect," she says of what was originally supposed to be just an exhibition of her paintings. (Actually the show was slated to open in August but Yvonne was named a finalist in the Metrobank’s nationwide painting contest this year and was prohibited from staging a one-man show.)

This year, she won the Grand Prize for the FDCP’s annual Young Designers Competition but this time for an accessory she designed for the show. "It’s like a cap but it has tails that droop down over the torso and can serve as bags," she explains. In December, she’s going to Paris again to compete.

"Even if I like unconventional things I still get inspired by beauty – especially beautiful people like… my mom, my aunt Vilma Valera, clients like Ruby Roa and Gabbie dela Rama, Celine (Lopez) and my adopted full grown ‘daughter’ (HG stylist) Mads Adrias. None of them look alike but they have something that fills me with joy when they wear my stuff," says Yvonne.

She also hopes to attract a diverse crowd, one that combines fashion mavens and art connoisseurs, and initiate more of an interaction between the two. "I just want to be able to create anything I can possibly imagine and find an audience for my work," she says. "Then I’m happy."

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"Infernal Desire Machines" will run until Nov. 30 at the Gallery Astra, 2nd Floor LRI Building, Reposo St., Makati (in front of Alliance Francaise).