Fashion Event in HK Fuses Traditional Filipino Fabrics, Modern Styles

Consul General in Hong Kong Antonio A. Morales opens the Katutubo Haute Couture 2018 event organized with the Hong Kong-based non-profit Likhang Pamana at the Sheraton Hotel Hong Kong on 10 November 2018. (Hong Kong PCG photo)

HONG KONG 15 November 2018 – Filipino woven fabrics and fused traditional and contemporary styles were the focus of a fashion event organized by a newly established Hong Kong-based organization promoting Filipino textile at the Sheraton Hotel Hong Kong on 10 November 2018.

“Katutubo Haute Couture 2018,” which was conceptualized and executed by Likhang Pamana, in cooperation with the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong, gathered some 200 guests for an afternoon cocktail reception and charity gala dinner where a weaving demonstration, auction sale, and fashion show were held.

Consul General to Hong Kong Antonio A. Morales officially opened the event with a speech wherein he praised the event for “highlighting the beauty and vibrancy of Filipino culture seen through different works in fashion and traditional indigenous weaves and textiles.”

“We hope that through this event we get a better appreciation of our Filipino identity, recognizing our country’s multi-cultural heritage, and harnessing the power of culture as a means, not to focus on differences but to bring our commonalities and humanity to the fore,” he said. 

Through the event, Likhang Pamana sought to shine a light on family and social enterprises engaged in generations-old traditions of handloom weaving, whose activities contribute to the economic development of Filipinos in rural and remote communities in every corner of the country.

Likhang Pamana Operations Director Ana Briones-de Guzman stressed that the group wanted to introduce the work of both established weavers and a new wave of Filipino designers from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao who employ modern design techniques for indigenous sustainable materials to produce ready-to-wear and haute couture fashions.

Featured designers and exhibitors at the event were Narda’s, Kandama Weave, Joanique, Zarah Juan, Jaki Peñalosa, Wilthe Popelo, Joy Anya Lim, Regine Sarabia Espinosa, Galleria Camaya, and Everyday PNay.

The event also featured a live weaving demonstration of hablon by Concepcion Atijon, a traditional weaver from Iloilo. Ms. Atijon showed how to weave hablon on a traditional hand loom flown in all the way from Iloilo.

Born to a weaving family, Ms. Atijon enhanced her product design skills through a training program ran by the Department of Trade and Industry in the mid1990s. Her craft has received wide recognition in fairs and demonstrations not only in Manila but also in Canada and Australia. She is a recipient of local awards for entrepreneurship and design in 2010, 2017, and 2018.

On 11 November 2018, Likhang Pamana organized an open-air Philippine ethnic cultural performance and exhibition, showcasing the weaving industry of the province of Antique, among others, as a way of promoting cultural diversity and sustainable tourism in less well-known areas of the Philippines.

Likhang Pamana is a non-profit organization founded and run by Hong Kong-based Filipinas Ana Briones-de Guzman, Myrna Pama Hill, Catherine Tating-Marsden, and JL Timbreza-Siao, with the aim of promoting Filipino woven fabrics and textiles and its related social enterprises. END

Consul General in Hong Kong Antonio Morales congratulates the Hong Kong-based non-profit Likhang Pamana for successfully organizing the 2018 Katutubo Haute Couture event at the Sheraton Hotel Hong Kong on 10 November 2018. (Hong Kong PCG photo)

Philippine Consulate General officials, led by Consul General in Hong Kong Antonio A. Morales (fourth from left), and Likhang Pamana Directors toast the opening of the 2018 Katutubo Haute Couture event at the Sheraton Hotel Hong Kong on 10 November 2018. (From left) Consul Roderico C. Atienza, Deputy Consul General Germinia V. Aguilar-Usudan, Ms. Catherine Tating-Marsden, Ms. Ana Briones-De Guzman, Ms. Myrna Pama Hill, Ms. JL Timbreza-Siao, and Vice Consul Robert D. Quintin. (Hong Kong PCG photo)

Traditional weaver from Iloilo Concepcion Atijon gives a live demonstration of Hablon weaving on a traditional hand loom flown in all the way from Iloilo during the cocktail reception of the 2018 Katutubo Haute Couture event at the Sheraton Hotel Hong Kong on 10 November 2018. (Hong Kong PCG photo)

For more information, visit www.hongkongpcg.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHLinHK/.