Philippine Fashion Week is not going away

For the first show, with designs made by EsAc, Anthony Nocom, Boyet Dysangco, Jian Lasala, Lyle Ibanez, and Sydney Perez Sio, products such as headphones, laptops and phone cases were modeled alongside the clothes. Some models slipped on the shiny new runway, while a cleaner came out at the end of every presentation to wipe the runway clean (at one point, he came out with a mop).

Things seem to be looking up for Philippine Fashion Week -- there had been some predictions of disaster after several designers left the fashion extravaganza to join other shows. “Remember, last season, we only had nine [designers showing], right?” said Joey Espino, co-founder of Philippine Fashion Week. “Remember, with our reorganization, we talked to designers who are willing to come up with 25-piece collections… from the first nine [designers], we doubled it to 18.”

While the venue change was partly due to a booking mishap, Mr. Espino noted that the choice of a mall venue was to get closer the customers. “Another reason why we got closer to a mall is to get closer to the market,” he said. “When we’re in a secluded area, nobody knows that the clothes are already available.

“[T]he thing that we really want to rally for, would not just be a plain show or beautiful clothes, but clothes that people can really wear, and clothes that people can buy. These are the types of designers that we want to really promote,” he said,

“For the past 19 years that I’ve been doing it... they see fashion week as a sort of entertainment, wherein they have to get all the applause... but at the end of the day, the designers weren’t really selling.”

For the past few seasons, Philippine Fashion Week has been presenting outfits almost straight off the runway onto racks right after the show. The past season also saw the opening of an e-commerce platform for the fashion designers. “Those two did very well,” said Mr. Espino. “Because most of the designers, even after Fashion Week, they were getting orders; they were getting inquiries.”

The fashion show’s advance in the online scene continues. “Actually, for next season, we really want to reach and open Fashion Week to the world. We think of doing live-streaming.”

This season, no fashion brands showed their collections on the runways, the show relying instead on designers and collaborations with tech brands from the Power Mac Center. “For the next season, we [will] have brand shows again... whenever there are brands, designers play second fiddle. I don’t know if you noticed that. What we really want is to give them the spotlight this time,” said Mr. Espino.

One guest noted that Philippine Fashion Week started later than usual this year -- the Holiday collections were shown late in May last year, instead of early in June. This prompted rumors that Philippine Fashion Week was bound to disappear, but Mr. Espino was quick to dispel these rumors: “Hindi totoong wala na. Hindi mawawala ang Fashion Week, okay? (It’s not true that it’s gone. Fashion Week isn’t going to disappear, okay?) To begin with, this is our 19th year, and so far, we are the longest-running Fashion event in the country. We will always be doing this because it is our passion, our commitment, and we believe in what we do.”Read more here:celebrity dresses