Exhibit honors National Artist for Fashion Ramon Valera
VALERA AND THE MODERN: An Exhibit on the Life and Work of National Artist for Fashion Design, Ramon Valera, will be launched on Aug. 31 at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB).
The opening will coincide with the designer’s birthday, and likewise marks his 45th death anniversary.
Valera’s work will be set against Modernism, the design paradigm in the Philippines prevalent during the Post-War period. Examples of the scale models and old photographs of the art, architecture, interior graphics, and furniture design from the period spanning from the 1950s to 1970s will be will be shown in order to situate Valera in the context of a country recovering from the war and how design was utilized in forging the identity of a newly declared nation.
Event partner Tantoco-Rustia Foundation president Zenaida Tantoco, together with art patron Danny Dolor, restoration and conservation specialist Tats Manahan, the family of Jose Carlos Garcia-Campos, the designer’s niece and nephew Peching Zulueta-Gomez and Bambi Zulueta, are instrumental in loaning family memorabilia, the long gowns, and assisted in sourcing pieces owned by prominent families.
A favorite of many of the country’s elite when it came to formal Filipiniana, Ramon Valera’s name invokes the look that has been identified as being uniquely Filipino.
The exhibit will likewise introduce his innovations in fashion design to a new generation. As inspired by Valera, DLS-CSB’s Fashion Design and Merchandising program students will design and interpret his classic terno.
The show is the first La Salle production on Valera, an alumnus of then De La Salle College and the recipient of the 2007 DLSAA (De La Salle Alumni Association) Distinguished Lasallian Awardee.
Valera and the Modern will be on view until Oct. 14 at the SDA Gallery, DLS-CSB School of Design and Arts Campus, 950 Pablo Ocampo St., Malate, Manila. For inquiries and details, contact the Center for Campus Art at 230-5100 local 3849 or e-mail campus.art@benilde.edu.ph.
