7 emerging Filipino designers

MANILA, Philippines — At the recent “Manila Fashion Festival: The Next,” a lifestyle label introduced an innovative product that fashion designers find helpful in producing beautiful clothes.

Young designers Cheetah Rivera, Daryl Maat, Jaz Cerezo, Brit Tripudio, and Sassa Jimenez were specially tapped to create capsule collections for Philips. Working on different textiles and textures, they were asked to use the latest Perfect Care Steam Iron – No Burn and Optimal Temp.

As seen on the runway at The Marquee Tent at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, each piece form the five designers had no crease, no wrinkle or crimps.

“Innovation is at the core of what we do and we see these designers as kindred spirits who push the boundaries of fashion but we want to help them ensure that their designs are commercially viable by being accessible by the public,” Pia Umayam, Business Development Manager for the brand’s Personal Health department, said in a statement.
 

Cheetah Rivera's Manila Fashion Festival (MFF) collection

Cheetah Rivera

“I wanted everything to be sharp and clean, modern and sleek. Something every woman would wear by mixing and matching versatile pieces,” Rivera said of her ensembles of sexy stripes.

Jaz Cerezo

I decided to use my go-to fabric---neoprene--- in black and create a three-piece capsule collection which defines my aesthetic as a designer. The cut is tailored to a woman’s body with drape details at the back, at the hem and on the bodice. Last, I found a very romantic lace with baroque stone leaves weaved with deep dark red roses which reminded me of the cursed castle from ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ used this as an applique for the dresses to make it more cohesive. With that, I entitled this collection ‘Forbidden’.” Cerezo explained.

Pieces from Cerezo's Philips showcase (first and second photos) and a look from his MFF line.

Sassa Jimenez

Jimenez used silk gazar because it’s a luxe fabric that usually needs a lot of ironing or steaming. “As for the silhouettes, they are oddly shaped with lots of cascading ruffles. The iron really showcased its power in handling delicate fabrics through my clothes,” she said.
 

Daryl Maat

For Maat, the inspiration was the idea of bastardizing the denim and utilizing the grommets as its main details. “I really wanted to challenge the new Perfect Care Iron and to prove that it is really scratch-proof,” he said.
 

A piece from Maat's denim collection for Philips (left) and collection for MFF (second to fourth photos)

Brit Tripudio

Tripudio looked to Japan for his inspiration. “My collection is about the fashion culture of Tokyo, the diverse and unique style of the Nihonjin, DIY (do-it-yourself) fashion pieces that I saw from walking and exploring the Harajuku street, the Cyberpunk style of Shibuya and their love for Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo (Comme des Garcons),” he shared. “It’s a combination of those and my own aesthetic. Mainly I used fabrics like dull satin and used the other side, lightweight nylon, mesh (which is my fave), cotton for the pullovers and shirtings, and denim.”
 

Tripudio's Tokyo-inspired collection

At the Bench Fashion Week

Besides the retail brands under the mother company of Bench, Suyen Corp., young designers were showcased at the first Bench Fashion Week, directed by Robby Carmona and styled by Noel Manapat. Sassa Jimenez presented her Spring/Summer 2017 collection on Day 1, Proudrace on Day 2, and Ziggy Savella on Day 3.
 
“We have so many exceptional talents in the country but we chose these three because we have previously worked with them,” said Ben Chan. Sassa has collaborated with Kashieca while Proudrace is carried at Assembly, a multi-brand store of Suyen Corp.
 
Sassa calls her collection, “Alice 2.5,” a restrained re-imagining of her techniques honed by studies at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles and at Parson School of Design in New York.
 
With tulle, silk gazar and satin as the base of the collection, Sassa focused on the mixture of soft fabrics. She wanted to “convey a movement that is unique to feminine fashion. Structure and softness work in tandem to create modern whimsy on the runway.”
 

Sassa Jimenez's “Alice 2.5" collection  Photo by Bruce Casanova

Proudrace

Industrial designer Patrick Bondoc and stylist Rik Rasos is the dynamic duo behind Proudrace. As true renegades, they opted to show pieces more suitable for colder climes: bomber jackets, a denim trench, racing gear and a badass bride in white jacket and jeans and a hoodie as veil.
 
The cult brand’s showcase is called “Re-edition,” its third season-less and unisex collection. “It’s all about appropriation and distortion of classic pieces. We’re putting these items of clothing in a different light by re-interpreting it like a rebirth of these clothes with Proudrace’s DNA,” the duo said in a statement.

Proudrace's "Re-edition" collection Photos by Bruce Casanova

Ziggy Savella

Ziggy was inspired by the American “Dirty 1930s” collection of denim and distressed textures menswear. “It merges the concepts of working-class fashion and an undiminished necessity to express personal style. It echoes the era’s individualistic yet reasonable approach to clothing, with less conservative and more relaxed silhouettes,” he stated.
 
“From a seemingly blurry idea to finally seeing in reality pieces of real hard work, everything seemed to have happened so fast. I only have Bench/ lifestyle + clothing to thank for opening its doors to a new vision, and providing a platform to showcase this collection,” Ziggy posted on his Facebook status after his well-received show.
 

Savella's collection inspired by "Dirty 1930s"  Photos by Bruce Casanova