Five Filipino designers, two global fashion events—the veteran artists and rising talents who are reinventing the global fashion scene
This is an excerpt from MEGA’s December 2022 – January 2023 Fashion feature.
Late this year, two major fashion events took place: Arab Fashion Week and Los Angeles Fashion Week. With a multitude of fashion designers, brands, and houses coming together, standing out is not an easy feat, but these five Filipino designers made it barely a challenge.
LA Fashion Week
Chris Nick
Chris Nick’s collection, which was heavily inspired by ’90s minimalism, grunge, and tuxedo, featured 20 ensembles that scream youth and sophistication. This was his first-ever global presentation, and so it has to personify his identity as a designer.
He utilized styles and elements that he felt were quintessential to his identity and brand: “Lots of black and lots of tuxedo elements. Sensuality and elegance to the front.”
Francis Libiran
Francis Libiran is the epitome of innovation. No designer has experimented with diverse concepts as successfully and committedly as him. For his Spring/Summer 2023 collection, Libiran marries art and intimacy with his artistry. It also served as an entourage to this spectacle of a show.
In order to create wearable art ensembles that are on brand and capture Libiran’s brilliance, lines and structures were taken into consideration when designing the most recent collection, “Mosaic.”
Avel Bacudio
The Filipino culture and identity were the heart of the Spring/Summer 2023 collection that seasoned designer Avel Bacudio showcased at the Los Angeles Fashion Week. Consisting of 33 ensembles, the collection “Native Opulence” featured native textiles and Filipino elements that include subtle yet fierce contemporary touches.
Bacudio also championed the Filipino heritage by incorporating traditional architecture in his collection’s embroideries and jacket prints. He even crafted voluminous silhouettes and intricate patterns inspired by local ensembles from the past, like the baro’t saya.
Arab Fashion Week
Furne One Amato
Distinguished by his idiosyncratic and ethereal vision, Furne One conquered the skies with his Autumn-Winter 2023 collection called “Birds of Prey.” In a quest to bring something staggering and new, One turned to the hypercarnivorous bird species for inspiration.
Poised to be ready-to-wear, the all-black collection was still never short of lavish ornamentations and intricate threadwork. From feathers to laces and tulles, the 33-piece collection was rich with textures that captured One’s artistry. The collection and the show itself were a monument to One’s fashion philosophy: edgy, bold, and dramatic.
Rian Fernandez
Combining fluidity and intricacy is where Rian Fernandez constantly revolves around. Through Fernandez’s new collection, “Timeless Heritage,” he flared up a new era with a jubilant riot of color and avant-garde ornamentation.
Fernandez is already known for his couture outfits inspired by his fondness for traditional Filipino handcrafted workmanship. This time, he drew his vision from the city where his admiration for fashion began: in the summer capital of the Philippines, Baguio City.
Read this full Fashion feature in MEGA’s December 2022 – January 2023 issue now available in Readly, Magzter, Press Reader, and Zinio.
