Local designers like Tippi Ocampo have been framing their collections around questions concerning culture and identity. For someone who’s been attending fashion shows for the past two years, it’s clear to this semi-novice attendee that there’s been a more concerted effort to utilize local materials. I’ve written more about indigenous fabric in these past six months alone than I’ve ever done in my entire life – not that life before this gig involved much interaction with woven or natural fibers like piña.
But Tippi’s always made these materials a part of her vernacular, creating party dresses out of frothy chiffon and then adding a dash of stiff piña or banana fiber just for the heck of it. It’s part of her charm and the charm of her clothes that make something as matronic as banana fiber into a fun frock for the night.
"I tried to figure out what a Filipina could wear for summer," Tippi says over the phone from home. "Lots of cotton and graphic patterns. It’s colorful but I utilized a lot of black and white to clean it up." Her current dresses are pure summer: bright patchwork dresses in feminine cuts that cling to the body without resorting to overt sexiness. But it’s this playful reworking of Philippine culture that adds depth to a series of collections that have been inspired by the local lifestyle.
"A recurring thing I find myself doing is thinking of what’s Filipino in the moment," Tippi says thoughtfully. "Not a caricature," she adds, referring to the Maria Clara and Pepe the farmer looks that everyone wore during Filipiniana day at school. "When you think of the Filipino, it’s either the dalagang bukid or someone in a baro’t saya."
"It’s the little things that you might not notice that are quintessentially Filipino – like making things out of scrap, not wasting materials." Inspired by urban arts and crafts, her collection veers away from the common shabby chic style, popularized by lifestyle guru Rachel Ashwell. "It’s the kind you see in Manila’s side streets like those patchworks used to make rags." Indeed, there’s a familiar, pleasing quality about the materials that nip gently at the model’s waist or fall languidly by the calf. Like something out of a vague childhood memory of trees dappled with banderitas during fiesta or jeeps lining the park on lazy Sunday afternoons, they are real representation of life here today, a direct link to a culture that often doesn’t find itself mentioned in travel magazines and tour guide brochures.
"This was my idea of the Filipina in the city now," she says of her barong dress paired with jersey on the back. "A lot of it was inspired by mixing Filipino elements, not necessarily traditional Filipiniana, but things that you see and typically relate to the Pinoy."
Her knack for noticing the most mundane of details has made her a designer to love. Teenagers come to her for prom dresses, professionals for sophisticated gowns and stylists for looks that are consistently contemporary and fresh. She takes her cues from the most unlikely of things, taking note of the minutiae that might serve as inspiration for a T-shirt or belt or dress. "The idea doesn’t always have to be big. It can be anything."
"In life, as in travels, it’s the hidden streets, unpaved pathways and unmarked doors that open up and lead us to discovering wonders both big and small, in and outside ourselves, lengthening our lives in ways that stretching the years never would," she wrote eloquently in an article entitled The Unbeaten Path in this very same publication in early 2004.
"A lot of designers abroad take inspiration from their roots," she says. "They try to make it relevant and current. I’m also inspired by other cultures but I keep coming back to ours." She found it – inspiration, that is – in the palengke. "I wanted it to look urban, but not too citified. Think of the side streets. It’s the kind of aesthetic of a girl who goes to a palengke."
She doesn’t mean it literally, although you could, of course, head to the nearest wet market in your pretty patchwork summer dress if you like. Tippi was just referring to a breezy effortless style that she associates with Filipinos. "I wouldn’t call it boho – the only thing it shares in philosophy is the mixing and matching. The lines here are cleaner, more graphic, no frills," she explains. "Aesthetically, we’re not as minimalist as Germans or as refined as Italians. The people on the street don’t dress up like Parisians. We’re casual."
Her dresses reflect the kind of laid-back sensibility Filipinos are known for. "It’s easy to put on and put together," Tippi adds. "The dressiest thing I made is the barong dress which you could wear with sandals. It’s not stiff and uptight."
"When I was working in advertising," she shares, "my boss was an expat from Britain. He would talk about street culture and people wearing Adidas, etc. For him, the street food, the weird but funny things written on jeepneys, that’s our culture."
"It’s okay to look outward for inspiration," she concludes thoughtfully, "but at some point, you’ll have to go to your own backyard to start digging for inspiration."