Three Filipino designers will be featured at the ongoing Singapore/Asia Fashion Week, in a special show with other Asian fashion forces.
On October 27, Steffy Misoles-Dacalus’s brand Steffy de Mylo and Melody May Parrel-Pimentel will present their collections at the “Asia Fashion Designers Showcase” while Albert Andrada will present his couture creations in the “Best of Asia” suite.
“The SG AFW is the Mercedes-Benz Asia Fashion Week that happens in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This year, however, because it’s election time in Malaysia the organizers led by Timothy Chen decided to hold the event in Singapore instead. After all, the organizers are Singaporeans,” discloses Dong Omaga-Diaz, head of the Philippine contingent.
“The Philippines has been participating in AFW for five years now and it was inevitable for the organizers to invite us again this year, perhaps because we’ve been consistent in sending good designers,” Omaga-Diaz says.
In the first two years of AFW, Omaga-Diaz was invited as a judge. On its third year, he was invited to sit as a member of the board of advisers together with shoe mogul Jimmy Choo. From then on, Omaga-Diaz was tasked to nominate Filipino designers for the event, with the final say for their participation coming from the Singaporean end.
“My nominees were asked to submit their folios to gauge their capabilities to show at the prestigious event. Every year I try to get designers from our three major regions—Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. I’d like to give our designers from outside Manila a chance to show their worth in the International stage. After all, Manila is not the whole Philippines. Our country is blessed with so many talents waiting to be given their moment to shine. I choose designers who, I think, are capable and able to deliver, and are good team players as well,” Omaga-Diaz, a former president of the Fashion and Design Council of the Philippines, said.
The shows are staged at the National Gallery on Saint Andrew’s Road from October 26 to October 28.
Andrada, who won the “Most Connected Designer Award” in 2014 in Kuala Lumpur and who is known for dressing up royalty, celebrities and beauty queens, needs no introduction.
In their own words, fashion designers Misoles-Dacalus and Parrel-Pimentel shared their concepts for their SG AFW with Interaksyon Lifestyle:
Steffy Misoles-Dacalus
“I worked on the same malong materials I had used from a show I did in Canada recently. They were woven by T’boli women who are considered dream weavers. Basically, from a series of consultation with Dong, I came up with the sartorial look. I’m keen on using tailored pieces with a twist of avant-garde. The overall look appear as vintas, a sail with colors that represent the colorful history of the Muslim community. In most of the 10 pieces, I infused the malong as accent with amber and burgundy but more on the maroon-ish purple color that brings out the malong, and with black and white chevron print to give it a refreshing look.”
Melody May Parrel-Pimentel
“The collection runs along my personal favorite shades and colors of beige, nude and black. Every piece created has different types of patterns like stripes and polka dots associated with embroideries, laces and trimmings. Different types of fabric were used to make the evening glam collection even more textured with the materials used such as silk cocoon, piña-abaca, brocade, linen, gazar silk, glittered lace and mesh.”
