PH Embassy Features T’nalak in London Fashion Week

Madame Linda F. Lagdameo, spouse of Ambassador to the United Kingdom Antonio M. Lagdameo, officially welcomes the guests to “T’nalak: Unravelling the Secrets of the Dream Weavers.” (Eric Ricafort photo)

LONDON 04 March 2019 — “Weaving is not only a treasured skill handed down from generation to generation in the family; it is also a community endeavor whose end product is a visual and tactile representation of the collective experience of a particular society,” said Madame Linda F. Lagdameo, spouse of Ambassador to the United Kingdom Antonio M. Lagdameo, in a speech she delivered to an audience of ASEAN diplomats and diplomatic spouses, and representatives of U.K.-based cultural and fashion institutions during “T’nalak: Unravelling the Secrets of the Dream Weavers” at Romulo Café on 22 February 2019.

The talk was hosted by Madame Lagdameo under the Philippine chairmanship of the ASEAN London Committee, and is the Philippine Embassy in London’s official London Fashion Week event.

The talk is the first in a series aimed at raising awareness on Philippine design, and on the heritage, cultural significance and the traditional and contemporary uses of Philippine textiles.

According to Madame Lagdameo, the woven cloth is both practical and spiritual, ordinary and symbolic, and it contains markers of a community’s identity, culture, history, and dreams.

Third Secretary and Vice Consul Stacy Danika Alcantara-Garcia led the discussion about T’boli culture and the t’nalak.  Third Secretary and Vice Consul Alcantara-Garcia highlighted the significance of the t’nalak in T’boli culture, and shared with the guests the common threads that bind t’nalak and the process of weaving it with other similar Southeast Asian weaving traditions.

“If there is one take-away from today’s conversation that I would want everyone to have, it is the realization that the Philippines’ textile and weaving heritage is not an isolated design tradition, but one that is interwoven in the greater tapestry of Southeast Asian design,” Third Secretary and Vice Consul Alcantara-Garcia said.

Apart from the talk, the Embassy through its Cultural Diplomacy Unit mounted a capsule exhibit juxtaposing the traditional and contemporary interpretations of the t’nalak and the traditional attire of the T’boli.

Featured brands included T’nalak Home and VESTI, both Mindanao-based brands which continue to work closely with the T’boli community in incorporating t’nalak and T’boli cultural elements in contemporary designs. END

For more information, visit www.londonpe.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/pg/PHLinUK and @philippinesinuk on Twitter.

Madame Linda F. Lagdameo (centre) explains complex process of weaving the t’nalak to Madame Thipayasuda Suvanajata (left), spouse of the Thai Ambassador; and Madame Hana Afija Satrijo (right), spouse of the Indonesian Ambassador. (Eric Ricafort photo)

Vice Consul Stacy Danika Alcantara-Garcia, the Cultural Officer of the Philippine Embassy in London, leads the discussion on the common threads shared by the T’boli weaving heritage and the greater Southeast Asian weaving heritage. (Eric Ricafort photo)