Underwear shows happen with frequent regularity, but not a fashion show staged by the legendary and unapologetic Chito Vijandre, who rarely makes dresses these days. But when he does make clothes, whether for a show or for an actual event, expect them to be maximalist and tongue-in-cheek affairs deliberately meant to put you on the edge of your seat.
By Alex Y. Vergara
As far as “box-office” goes, last Sunday’s edition of the recently concluded three-day Bench Fashion Week Holiday 2024 proved to be the most attended, with long lines snaking outside Bench Tower in BGC hours before doors opened. Thanks to “Vernissage,” Bench’s latest iteration of its steamy underwear show, albeit scaled down in size this time compared to mammoth pre-pandemic editions held at such huge venues as the SM Mall of Asia Arena, Day Three invites instantly became the hottest tickets in town.
But “Vernissage” can’t claim all the credit for racking up such a record-breaking attendance, as true-blue fashionistas in the SRO audience were lured from their Sunday slumber for a totally different reason: to again witness and be amused by fashion designer-turned-lifestyle arbiter Chito Vijandre as he once more brings to life his unique brand of whimsical fashion on the runway.
Underwear shows happen with regularity, but not a fashion show staged by the legendary and unapologetic Vijandre, who rarely makes dresses these days except for a select group of friends. But when he does make clothes, whether for a show or for an actual event, expect them to be maximalist and tongue-in-cheek affairs, from the layered materials’ colors and textures, down to his use of prints on prints and piles upon piles of accessories. Like his clothes, there’s never a dull moment once Chito wills himself to stage a show.
Thus, a Vijandre show is a once-in-a-blue-moon event that wasn’t to be missed. And, as soon as he agreed to take part in Bench Fashion Week several months back, Chito readily settled on a theme that reflects his and partner Ricky Toledo’s era—the disco.
“It started with Gino Gonzales’ comment when we were mentoring contestants for the last Ternocon,” Chito shared in an exclusive interview with PeopleAsia.
Gino, the seasoned costume and production designer, of course, is much younger than Ricky and Chito, but when he called the two “mga taga disco-era” (from the disco era), referring to those wild, carefree days of “sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll” that peaked from the mid ’70s to the early ’80s, Chito quickly settled on the disco-era theme when Ben Chan asked him to do a pocket collection for Bench Fashion Week.
“After the pandemic and with all the upheavals in the world today, there is a natural gravitation towards this era when there was new-found freedom and a sense of liberation. At the same time there was a search for new creative solutions to challenges the world faced. Admittedly, it was also a recollection of fun times and wild abandon,” Chito said with a wink.
To flesh out his vision, Chito extended the scope of his inspiration, going further back in time and drawing images and ideas from the late ’60s, when futurism, as reflected in the clothes of such designers as Paco Rabanne and Pierre Cardin, was so in vogue. Thus, from the mildly eerie alien invasion music down to the cheeky platinum wigs Chito’s models wore for his first suite, the entire exercise reeked, in a good way, of course, of the future as people envisioned it back in the swinging ’60s.
He simply calls the segment “Retro Futurism.” From there, it quickly segued into the “Age of Aquarius” suite, as the designer mined inspirations and images from the early ’70s.
“For Retro Futurism, I used silk jersey for the minis and pantsuits with overlays of pinafores in linked paillettes and gilded metal discs. I cut the jersey on the bias, so it clung to the body, providing a feminine sensuality to contrast with the ‘armor’ overlay,” he said.
His featured looks for “Age of Aquarius” was decidedly looser and more relaxed, with layer-upon-layer of pieces consisting of silk caftans, tie-dyed materials and a panoply of the brightest and most eye-catching brocades from China, Tibet and India. The entire segment had a boho-meets-peasant-meets fortune teller vibe that would have put a smile on the faces of such designers as Alessandro Michele and the late Roberto Cavalli and Yves Saint-Laurent, among others, who once dabbled into bohemian-cum-peasant inspired fashion.
“Again, the flared and hotpants, all made of silk velvet, were cut on the bias,” said Chito. “I went out of my way to mix textures and materials as well as cultures and eras to achieve a luxe boho feel. My last suite, ‘Disco Glam,’ also consisted of looks made up of various fabrics, prints, textures and eras. But this time, the pieces were more for partying.”
And his models did just that, dancing with near abandon on the runway to the classic disco-era OPM hit “Annie Batungbakal” while carrying disco ball-like balloons during the fashion show’s equivalent of a curtain call.
Of course, Chito had to update his pieces or risk producing costumes meant for some travel-back-in-time party. How did he do it?
“I’ve updated the fabrics and colors for today,” he said. “For instance, the flares and hotpants that were originally made of denim and polyester back in the day are now done in silk velvet and silk Mughal prints. I also went out of my way to make the color and print combinations more contemporary.”
Chito, who, together with Ricky, is busy with other endeavors, particularly the pair’s home store business, worked at a slow but steady pace for several months to come up with the collection.
“It involved research to sketching, sourcing for fabrics and accessories, to experimenting on cuts, construction and final execution,” he shared.
When Ben asked him to take part in Bench Fashion Week, saying no, as far as Chito is concerned, wasn’t an option.
“Ben is a good friend, and we lived through the ’70s until now together. He completely understands and appreciates my ideas and work,” said Chito.
And since Bench has always been at the forefront of promoting and advancing Philippine design through such annual events as Ternocon and Bench Fashion Week, Chito, as an exponent of fashion and the arts himself, felt that it was only proper for him to step up to the plate to answer such a call. And he did it, eerie music, platinum and Cleopatra Jones-like wigs and all.
