THE YOUTH are our future, so the Fashion Design and Merchandising students of the De La Salle College of St. Benilde (DLSU-CSB) showed the possibilities of the future of fashion through their culminating fashion show and exhibit, Sinulid, now on its fourth edition.
BusinessWorld took a tour through the exhibit last week at the atrium of SM Aura and saw what the students have learned and earned.
Favorites from the exhibit include three pieces by student Yukari Mañalac who took inspiration from Japanese art, showing mythical beasts such as dragons and phoenixes, executed through quilting, smocking, painting, and burning. Another favorite was an exhibit by Nicole Strawford which evoked the sari-sari store through printing labels onto fabric and sewing them into ternos, somehow reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s pop art pieces.
At the fashion show, the opening numbers by Bea Araza, which showed bell-shaped skirts, showing a mastery in technique and structure. Other favorites include Puritan-meets-The Handmaid’s Tale jumpsuits and bonnets by Steven Comandante, and then tough Girl Scout outfits by Rome Oamil.
The following students, meanwhile, were awarded for their efforts: Nicole Strawford, for the aforementioned sari-sari exhibit, Darlene Rivera for Best Design Concept; Kimble Quinto for Best in Surface Design; Bea Guerrero as the Top Student Designer; and Therese Melliza as the Sinulid Emerging Creative.
The show is the second of a series for CSB, beginning with Prologue last summer, Altered Translations for this season, and Epilogue in October.
Explaining the theme, Christine Benet, Chairperson of the Fashion Design and Merchandising program said, “We’re going beyond the human form. We’re going beyond design.” By this she puts an emphasis on teaching students fabric manipulation, hence the diverse techniques seen in the show and exhibit (there’s a student who used coffee and tea to dye clothes, and another who upcycled jeans and turned them into full outfits).
The shows follow the guidelines of inclusivity, diversity, and sustainability, lending themselves to touching stories such as a student who printed the artwork of her brother with autism on her fabric. “They have to find themselves first: understand their own aesthetics,” said Ms. Benet.
The students, to be launched in the world, have already had a taste of the hurdles faced by professionals in the fashion industry. One would point, for example, at the lack of a robust textile manufacturing industry: some students had to wait for months for their fabrics to arrive, while some were forced to innovate and develop their own yarns for their fabric.
Said Ms. Benet, “In fashion, sometimes people consider it as a shallow industry. That’s how we differentiate graduates of Benilde. We don’t want them to be limited to the catwalk. Our goal is not for them to be on top, but rather to stay the longest in the industry.” — Joseph L. Garcia
