FDCP social design competition unearths young talent with a mastery of local materials

MANILA, Philippines - Last Tuesday saw the culmination of the Fashion Design Council of the Philippines’ (FDCP) Weaving the Future: A Social Design Competition. The latest edition of the FDCP’s Philippine Fashion Design Competition (PFDC), “Weaving the Future” aims to integrate fashion with community building and nation-building, delineating from the PFDC tradition of discovering and honing new talents for design competitions abroad by bringing focus back to the local fashion industry.

Winning in the Accessories category is Adante Leyesa, whose elaborate necklaces that look like garlic bulbs strung on delicate chains are made of piña, nito, hinabol, and pearls from Antique. For the Apparel category, the top prize went to Roland Alzate for his capsule collection of dresses, which ranged from a ‘50s style silhouette to a body-conscious shift, that displayed the flexibility of indigenous weaves and fabrics.

The runway presentation of all 19 finalists at the PAGCOR Grand Theater was a testament to an exciting, refreshing and socially relevant dimension that local materials and fabrics can bring to the fashion industry. There was nary a Filipiñana gown in sight; almost all of the pieces reflected the young designers’ very contemporary tastes and considerable construction skills. The accessories were also all statement pieces, with the variety of textures, weaves, and colors used and how they were combined quite remarkable.

Special awards were given to Marian Andrada (the Smart Choice Award) for her designs that were deemed to have the most social impact and to Mark Tamayo (the Technomarine Choice Award) for design excellence.

The finalists for the Apparel category: Benjie Alvarez, Concordio Sajorda, Jr., Genesis Alcantara, Harvic Dominguez, Marian Andrada, Mark Tamayo, Niño Angeles, Noelle Llave, Pristine de Guzman and Roland Alzate

What distinguishes “Weaving the Future” from other design competitions is the challenge it presented to the designers to use 100-percent indigenous weaves and materials in their pieces. There is also emphasis on the designs’ economical impact on the communities that produce raw materials; aside from their sketches, the designers were also required to present the judges with a developmental business plan that will outline the social impact of the production of their designs. In the course of the competition, the finalists were assisted by selected communities of weavers and craftsmen whose livelihood depends on the manufacturing of local textiles and fabrics.

Leyesa and Alzate each won P200,000 from PAGCOR, a year of mentorship under FDCP, a two-year scholarship in fashion and marketing courses at the School of Fashion and the Arts, six months’ worth of free subscription to the PLDT myDSL residential plan, and special prizes from sponsors Samsung and Technomarine. The special prize awardees will also receive a year of mentorship on social entrepreneurship and community development from Smart. Leyesa’s and Alzate’s designs will be mass produced at Atelyer, the fashion house built through the the tripartite partnership between PLDT-Smart, FDCP, and Gawad Kalinga’s Center for Social Innovations in Bulacan, and will be sold at Kultura Pilipino stores nationwide.