WEAVES OF FASHION
Traditional Ilonggo fabrics in contemporary Ilonggo fashion

By Bombette Marin

In support for the centennial celebration of Central Philippine University, the College of Education under the leadership of the officer-in-charge of the Institute of HRM and Tourism, Mrs. Maria Amihan T. Panes with co-faculty member Mr. John Montinola and the CHARTS (Council of Hotel And Restaurant and Tourism Students), will present WEAVES OF FASHION.

A project of the Institute of Hotel and Restaurant Management of Central Philippine University, the show will be staged on February 23, 2005 at 4 o' clock in the afternoon at the Rose Memorial Hall.

The show will feature traditional Ilonggo fabrics in contemporary Ilonggo fashion and will be a proof that, in Iloilo , traditions are not discarded , but instead recycled and bestowed new life, making them significant once more to modern life.  

WEAVES OF FASHION is a showcase of diaphanous garments such as the piña , hablon and patadyong , rich textiles that mediated the way tropical sunlight discloses the privileged folks' bodies. These extra-ordinary well-crafted clothing had clothed dignitaries unto which a deep local pride was carried .

WEAVES OF FASHION teams up ANGELETTE BORJA-RAGUS . Popularly known as “ Tita Ette ,” she has already done series of successful shows, with sporting credentials to back her up and the grit and determination of her previous exposures show that she is indeed Iloilo 's Grand Dame of fashion design and is pioneering something truly great. Her recent PARANUBLI-ON fashion show for Salakayan Festival in Miag-ao , the KAWAYAN fashion show in SM City, the PASEO DE ILOILO launching fashion show for Robinsons Mall, SEPIA at the Montinola-Sanson ancestral house, are enough proof for her worth in the fashion industry.

The utter simplicity of transparent piña fabric, the full-length elaborate decorative patterns of hablon and the supplementary weft floats of colorful threads creating a patadyong , used to be worn by men and women of elite and emerging bourgeoisie families of urban, lowland Christian Philippines, once again, will be given life by the students of Tourism and HRM Department of Central Philippine University for a celebration of history.

WEAVES OF FASHION , a show we should all look forward to .