Yvonne Quisumbing returns with the mesmerizing sea; Lyle Ibañez brings together strong and soft
One of the more anticipated shows this Fashion Week was Yvonne Quisumbing’s holiday collection. Part of the YDG several years ago, she made waves with romantic dresses that possessed a gritty edge, like shadows folded in a dream. An artist, primarily, whose medium is fashion, Yvonne’s pieces can be considered wearable art — she creates from concepts and ideas rather than dressing an idealized version of herself, and everything she designs comes from a deeply personal place. Her last Philippine Fashion Week show was back in 2006, and Yvonne says she had been laying low and living in Cebu, but she never stopped designing clothes, or painting and illustrating. “She’s always been effortlessly creative,” says her good friend Nikki Luna. “As an artist and designer, she’s able to simply exist and react to both, as if sharing a common thread.”
This PFW collection showed a softer, more sophisticated side. Flowing, diaphanous fabric in chiffon, organza and satin took on the textures of an ocean color scene at sunset. “Ink black depths, white and gray waves, pink sun. The soft movement of the water inspired me to use materials that are delicate and sheer,” the designer explains. Details like strips of loose fabric and shredded layers mimicked sea foam, algae, and glittery ripples of sand without looking deconstructed or messy. One outfit had the model’s face covered in a shower cap-like mask, a recurring motif in Yvonne’s work, and a metaphor perhaps for the parts that will be kept hidden, a reminder that there is always something more to this than what we see. “Her new pieces mesh contradictions of ‘bareness’ and ‘fullness,’” says Nikki. “It just breathes exquisite femininity.”
So whether or not you call it a comeback, the resurfacing of Yvonne Quisumbing in the fashion industry feels like a missing piece falling back into place, and for those who are new to her, expect to see designs that are more feminine and comfortable, and as she says, “designs that reflect positivity.”
L’Oreal Paris, a Philippine Fashion Week partner, was instrumental in completing the runway look. Yvonne was trying to evoke the gracefulness and femininity of a ballerina, so she wanted voluminous wavy curls. With L’Oreal Paris Total Repair 5, dreary locks were transformed to bouncy, healthy curls, epitomized by Anne Curtis’s thick glossy mane as she opened Yvonne’s show in a sheer red top with delicately tattered ribbons that fluttered in the breeze.
Meanwhile, the urban minimalist looks from Lyle Ibanez’s holiday collection were distinctly downtown with an avant-garde attitude — sleek and black with corseted belts, metallic fabrics and leather finishings that were edgy yet elegant. The dress worn by former America’s Next Top Model alumna Claire Unabia showed how hard and soft come together in an interesting way. The shinier the outfits got, the less they seemed to work, however, as the last few dresses looked like disco balls draped in tulle.
