Three stars are born! A leading model, an in-demand stylist, and an unknown artist diagnosed within the autism spectrum find a perfect venue to showcase their other talents for the world to see and appreciate.
By ALEX Y. VERGARA
Apart from being a regular showcase to advance fashion, the biannual Bench Fashion Week has become a platform for emerging talents. Or what was simply called back then, pre-digital age, as a venue for giving deserving individuals a break.
Day one of the recently concluded three-day Bench Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2025 at the Bench Tower’s Playground was no exception, as it showcased the collections of model-turned-designer Ria Bolivar and stylist-turned-designer Roko Arceo. And for good measure, the segment featuring ready-to-wear pieces from youth-oriented brand Human highlighted the reproduced artworks of Vico Cham, a 33-year-old artist diagnosed within the autism spectrum.
Both Ria and Roko aren’t leaving their established careers anytime soon, but the offer from Ben Chan himself, founder and chairman of Suyen Corp., and his collaborators to showcase their talents in designing was too good to pass up, as each presented their respective visions of resort wear fashioned mostly from crocheted pieces.
Although handknitted looks dominated their respective collections, how they achieved and presented them were totally different from one another. In the case of Ria, one of the country’s leading models, she tapped workers composed mostly of stay-at-home mothers and students from her native Iloilo to produce crocheted dresses, jackets, halter tops, tank tops, miniskirts and corsets, which she incorporated with more conventional woven pieces by her designer friends.
Using a combination of muted earth tones and ice cream colors—from mango yellow to orange, butter to pistachio—Ria produced mostly one-size-fits-all ensembles that are perfect for the beach or a day of leisure in the farm or even in the city. Although some looks revealed plenty of skin, others functioned as figure-friendly cover-ups that even women twice the slim Ria’s size would find beautiful and useful.
“It all started while I was spending some downtime in the province,” Ria shared in a mix of Filipino and English. “My first pieces were composed of crocheted bags before I started venturing into crocheted articles of clothing. For my first collection, I stuck to basic knitting patterns. Just the basics. The main challenge was to produce pieces that looked happy and pleasing to the eyes.”
To echo the positive vibes she wants to project through her clothes, Ria named her brand Reveri. They’re sold mostly at pop-up ventures like Katutubo.
For his part, Roko, also in keeping with his clothes’ brand name—Maligaya Clothing Co.–and theme, which was “Maligayang Mundo,” also channeled joy in the form of bright colors and neutral pieces mostly in white.
“Maligaya is happiness, and this is my POV of what happiness is, shades of white and bursts of bright colors and Filipino inspiration in the form of fruits using colorful patchworks made of retaso (remnants of cut fabrics) from my earlier collections,” he said.
“Having started as a stylist, I believe, is an advantage in my new role as a designer,” Roko added. “For one, as a stylist, I know how to curate items. I’m also very much aware of trends. What’s going to be in and what’s not working.”
For Roko, part of being “positive” is also being mindful of the environment. Although he has been selling his clothes online for a couple of years now, it was his first time, he said, to present a collection to an audience composed mostly of fashionistas, journalists and bloggers.
As Noel Manapat, Bench’s stylist-in-chief, pointed out, while Ria did knitted pieces from scratch, Roko fashioned his pieces by fusing together vintage crocheted items like centerpieces, table runners, doilies, pillowcases and curtains.
His eye as a stylist was very much evident, as Roko matched and sometimes even fused the body-hugging crocheted pieces with shirts, jackets, overlays and sleeves made of either vintage or virgin linen in varying thickness.
Finally, it was also Vico’s time to shine, as models strutted the runway wearing ensembles from Human with the artist’s sketches reproduced and splashed on the clothes. The segment also featured three denim jackets—two blue and one white—featuring Vico’s actual hand-painted acrylic artworks.
Vico started painting in 2012 soon after his mother, Cathy, discovered his talent and appreciation for color after watching his favorite animated show Blue’s Clues.
“We gave him painting materials, including a 26” X 24” piece of paper,” said Cathy. “In 20 minutes, he was able to produce his first artwork featuring the characters in Blue’s Clues. We were surprised and delighted at how beautiful it came out. That was when we confirmed that Vico is an artist.”
Prior to joining a group of Filipino artists with autism to New York a few years ago to participate in a fashion show, Vico underwent training on hand-painting with fabrics for a canvas. He used his talent and training to good use in New York when he was asked to hand paint a gown made of piña, which he finished in a little over six hours.
“Vico also hand painted a number of other pieces, including a barong,” said his proud mother. “He was so cute when he saw the models sometime ago wearing clothes from Human with his artworks on. ‘That’s mine, that’s mine, that’s mine,’ as he pointed to the models. I told him, of course, Vico, they’re all yours. Those are your drawings!”
