Designers show art deco, fluid silhouettes at Fashion i series launch

MANILA, Philippines - Resorts World’s “Grand Fiesta Manila” showed Cebu-based designers Philip Rodriguez, Oj Hofer, and Jun Escario with Maureen Disini, held at the Genting Club. The four designers highlighted trends and moods for the launch of the Fashion i series.

Philip Rodriguez: Modern romance

In a nod to romance and femininity, Philip Rodriguez’s collection makes use of lace as an accent mixed with chiffon, gazar, organdy, and tulle. Lace was deftly cut to form shapes within the pieces, creating textures in a mix of sheer drape, lace underlay, or cutout. Employing cuts that kept to the waist — the pencil skirts hugged the body for the knee and above-the-knee variants, while the longer skirt lengths held their ground like columns or in some instances, mimicked the movement of lightweight fabric against the wind. With a palette of black, gold, and red, the collection evokes an elegant feel. Philip reveals having culled inspiration from the movie Nine as well as from his muses.

Oj Hofer: Simple silhouettes

Fluidity and refinement characterize the collection of Oj Hofer, as he plays around with a spicy palette of cinnamon, dried rose pink and bay leaf green, matched with Schiaparelli pink, blush, gray, and black; and reduced the silhouette to the barest of forms. With utmost simplicity, he kept to classic cuts — necklines ranged from Sabrina to asymmetrical, halter, and turtlenecks — yet he added points of interest on the clothes through his draping technique, ornate striated belts, and the flashes of gold and shimmer from an accent lining or an accessory. The clothes cling to the figure in a bid to celebrate, according to Oj, women who have the confidence to dress subtly, “who can wear the simplest clothes yet stand out in the crowd… for the woman who knows that ‘fierce’ is not a way of dress but a way of being so she doesn’t make a spectacle of herself.” Refusing to consider trends when creating a collection, Oj instead references history, the arts, music, architecture, and other design-related fields, in his work.

Maureen Disini: Purity of form

Fresh from her fashion business course at Istituto Marangoni in Paris and having just taken on designing full-time, this Istituto di Moda Burgo graduate of fashion design took her fascination with draping on feminine forms to produce easy, and deceptively simple pieces. Her stint in Paris reinforced her appreciation of French couturier Madame Grès who is similarly known for her pleating and draping work. Working with purity of form rather than an ostentatious display of material, Maureen effectively focused on the feminine silhouette, highlighting assets and masking imperfections. To keep up with the soft glamour theme, she makes use of strong hues like royal blue, magenta, teal green, and black.

Jun Escario: All that bling

Jun Escario curates his pieces around the glitz and glamour of art deco, taking on the whimsy of the ‘20s jazz age, with a twist. For the black, white, and gold pieces, lines created textures as seen with tassels in silver and gold, making a contemporary statement on flapper chic, while the lines of metallic piping are reminiscent of the symmetry and geometry of art deco. On the other hand, the loose, less-structured gowns and tops evoke a certain old-world display of figure, as if the woman is a statue gilded in evanescent silver. Citing “bling” as a major trend for evening, he makes use of the drop waist and tasseled details for a liquid metallic effect.

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