Mia marches On

CEBU, Philippines - Friday, March 7, marks a week before the ides of March, and this year it is the day for welcoming the city's freshest face in fashion - Mia Arcenas. Mia is a second generation designer in the family. She is the daughter of the very chic Irish Fernan Arcenas, the driving force behind the family owned Ferimar Import-Export Inc., the famed costume jewelry and handbag manufacturer with an equally stylish showroom located in Nivel Hills overlooking the city.

 The ides of March this time is quite special in that it is preceded by a fashion event that signals the end of cumbersome summer clothes. Titled "MIA ARCENAS - Fluorescence Spring/ Summer 2014" the show features her summer/spring collection for 2014. The entire set she presents tonight at the new Oakridge Pavilion (in Oakridge Business Park, 880 A.S. Fortuna St.) in Banilad veers away from pieces that spell rather tacky in the guise of airiness.

The focus is on separates in its diversity, of layered evening wear-cum-resort dresses slips, caftans, and tunic jackets; all inspired by the ocean in its openness, coolness and fluidity. The pieces comprise of easy, free-spirited silhouettes from the 70s, and full and feminine silhouettes from the 50s, each with detailing borrowed from nature, of floralia and animal prints and patterns not far from the works of her favorite artist, Georgia O'Keefe.

Not one to leave a detail amiss, Mia Arcenas accessorizes her debut line with materials like fresh water pearls, semi-precious rocks and stones, Austrian crystals, gold-plated chains etc. "I always try to balance soft and hard, modern and traditional, loose and fitted, faux and natural for this collection. I would say it is about balance and contrast, of fashion years back and fashion now," quips the perennially tanned svelte young lady with a penchant for high heels and pretty clothes that are in perfect equilibrium with comfort and style. "For its reference, the collection is a fresh, modern, young take on 70s/50s fashion from my point of view," Mia adds.

 Each piece boasts of its own details, like a detailed beading and original line drawings of a mini ecology. An all women collection, there are form-fitting vis-a-vis fluid silhouettes with pastel-colored palette. Keywords like breezy and easy and chic are the definitive credo in every piece, to create a kaleidoscopic fashion feast.

 Sure to stand out are chiffon skirts and dresses, skin tight or loose, and printed animal patterns that are wonderfully pretty and feminine.

Mia Arcenas possesses a progressive attitude and a sense of creativity that prompted her to get formal education in fashion at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles, California, where she finished a course in Apparel Manufacturing Management with the highest honors. The young designer has also developed an obsession for "the fusion of yin and yang with the anatomy of tailoring to create something that is both elegant and edgy." (FREEMAN)