Suyen Corp., the company behind homegrown lifestyle brand Bench, among other foreign and local retail brands, trained the spotlight on both fast fashion and couture, as it also showcased the collections of such designers as Joey Samson, Rhett Eala, Nicolo Perez, Gabbie Sarenas, Jo-Ann Bitagcol and Carla Zhang.
By Alex Y. Vergara
Day One of the recently concluded Bench Fashion Week S/S 2024 at the Playground ended on a high note with the featured designs of model-turned-photographer Jo-Ann Bitagcol, veteran talent Rhett Eala and Terno Con winner Gabbie Sarenas.
The first-day show again reaffirmed the depth and breadth of Filipino talent as each featured designer drew from their respective strengths, experiences and aesthetics to produce unique collections that could stand toe to toe with the best in the world.
Rhett for Kashieca, one of Suyen Corp.’s in-house brand, hued closely to his girlie-girl aesthetics, fashioning embroidered dresses, lace ensembles and skirts made from brocades designed to flatter the Filipino woman’s figure, sensibilities and skin tone. Providing Rhett added inspiration is newest Kashieca brand ambassador Gabbie Garcia .
Jo-Ann and Gabbie Sarenas both opted to go Filipiniana, producing totally different results. While Jo-Ann, with her loose silhouettes and signature X-ray printing of her photos on fabric, produced a decidedly edgy collection, Gabbie went youngish, romantic yet current with embroidered and appliquéd piña and linen ensembles fit for a resort wedding.
It was a delight to see Jo-Ann produce a full-blown collection fashioned from cotton, piña and various woven fabrics, which, taken as a whole, was decidedly the biggest surprise of the night. And she did it in a breathtaking way!
Suyen Corp. also trained the spotlight on La Vie en Rose, the Canadian underwear, swimwear and loungewear brand it exclusively represents and distributes in the Philippines.
Day Two featured designers Nicolo Perez and and Carla Zhang, as well as fast fashion brands Cotton On and Human.
Carla reminded us that fashion can and, with enough motivation and talent, will always be an art form, as the accessories and clothing designer of her own brand Le Ngok tried to capture the initial confusion and frustration she felt before her depression was diagnosed and treated.
Putting method in the madness, Carla, who is originally from China, but has chosen to live and work here in the Philippines, fashioned a seeming cacophony of pieces that were quite bold, literally and figuratively, for their loud colors, unusual juxtaposition of materials and embellishments, and lack of the usual pegs or inspirations we commonly see in most collections.
One piece, a floor-sweeping coat, for instance, was embellished with hundreds of plastic bubbles containing faux pills and capsules. But if you look close enough, you would see the painstaking craft that went into each piece that if watered down could be the very ingredients of a well-made ensemble
Nicolo, on the other hand, showed mastery in control, as he fashioned smart and crisp tailored pieces made mostly of denim and organdy. Visual flourishes were confined to contrasting zigzag stitching and amorphous-looking appliqués and patchwork that, to the designer’s mind, were representative of nature.
Despite their youth, Carla and Nicolo showed that talent and a mastery of one’s craft are still an explosive combination that enables one’s collection to rise above the clutter.
Joey Samson’s latest collection on Day Three Bench Fashion Week has once and for all reaffirmed who among the country’s top designers is the “King of Tailors.” There are, after all, tailors and there are master tailors!
Joey has always been in his element doing clean, impeccable tailoring, preferably on neutral-colored fabrics nearly devoid of bling. And this was on full display in his latest outing.
This time though he went much, much further using mostly light, airy and almost see-true fabrics such as embroidered piña, organdy and tulle.
He deconstructed certain pieces by resorting to such visual flourishes as judicious layering, exaggerated proportions and seemingly disjointed panels of fabrics that form part of an entire garment.
He doesn’t call himself the Garment Surgeon for nothing. From where we sat, it was like seeing the anatomy of a particular look divided and further dissected for our viewing pleasure.
One of his coats, a semi-shiny brocade number in white with one of the model’s black gloved hand peeking out from an opening on the side was like a private joke between the designer and his regular clients.
People who’ve had the privilege of having their clothes designed and constructed by Joey would get the humor behind it instantly.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Joey eschews putting labels with his name on his clothes. Instead, a happy client who walks out of his atelier carries with him his prized Joey Samson possession in an opaque garment bag signed by the designer himself. Who knew that Joey would someday use something as mundane as a clothes bag for inspiration?
And by contrasting certain looks by pairing heavy, solid pieces like wool jackets and coats with delicate ones made of tulle and organdy, Joey managed to create ensembles that are from heavy.
But if you look closely, you would see all the painstaking detailing and fabric manipulation that went into majority of his numbers. It is this subtlety in approach without inducing yawns from his audience that keeps Joey several steps ahead of many of his rivals.
Day Three ended with a rip-roaring visual ode to the 1950s and early 1970s with no less than a live band dishing out Elvis Presley, Little Richard, The Rolling Stone, Chuck Berry and Roy Orbison covers as models, beauty queens and movie stars like Katryn Bernardo, Max Collins, Kirk Bondad, Michelle Dee, Celeste Cortesi, Ariella Arida, Sunshine Cruz and Ina Raymundo, among others, strutted, no, danced down the checkered run way dressed in various Bench ensembles — from varsity jackets and cropped jeans, to swimsuits and underwear. Indeed, nobody knows the power of the culture of celebrity and how to effectively tap into it like Bench does. It was a fitting ending to what has become the twice-a-year event that fashion watchers look forward to.
Day Three also trained the spotlight on arguably one of the best fast fashion brands on the planet today— Urban Revico. The brand, which originated from China, is a total departure from the dime-a-dozen fast fashion brands that have flooded the market of late. It’s cool, it’s hip, and it doesn’t produce “disposable” clothes as opposed to some brands out there.
Teeming with European and Japanese vibes, Urban Revivo is not for the timid and shy. It’s for the brave, daring and maverick dresser who’s raring to conquer the world one article of clothing at a time. After Urban Revivo, all the other RTW brands out there, yawn, seem boring.
