Last October, I watched the Ready-To-Wear fashion show during the Philippine Fashionweek Spring/Summer 2011 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia.
The show highlighted the works of twelve designers namely Emi Alexander Englis, Harley Ruedas, Jian Lasala, John Guarnes, Louis Claparols, Mike Lavarez, Nixon Marquez, Reian Mata, Ricky Abad, Simon Ariel Vasquez, Ziggy Savella, and Joyce Penas Pilarsky.
Very summer-ready and eye-catching are the 10-piece collection presented by Germany-based Filipina artist/fashion designer Joyce Penas Pilarsky. On seeing the cut-out patterns on the colorful taffetta and matte-silk cocktail dresses, I was at once reminded of Bulacan's famous pastillas wrappers. And my hunches were proven right when Joyce Pilarsky confirmed this herself after the show, saying that she has drawn inspiration from the said wrappers and its intricate designs, among others.
Joyce Pilarsky also volunteered that she used laser to cut the design patterns into the cloths. I would say that Pilarsky's adaptation of the idea of the colorful pastillas wrappers as something that one can, in fact, wear for the summer/spring, is noteworthy, ingenuously tweaking "delicateness" and "intricateness" as something one can actually slip into, adding freshness and choice to an otherwise drab wardrobe. The collection also tastefully put "pride of place" as the message of the inspiration behind the dresses, without being preachy about it. Interestingly, Pilarsky also designs her own accessories, and these accessories wonderfully accentuated each collection, with the models emerging onto the catwalk as summer/spring goddesses of sorts.
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See photos below:
