Teamwork

"The strength of the team is each individual member.

The strength of each member is the team."

~Phil Jackson, American retired basketball coach

This is the team behind Team Manila (see yesterday's post), a graphic design studio which is now popularly known in the country for t-shirts and accessories with distinctly Filipino designs. The company was founded by college friends Raymund "Mon" Punzalan (fourth from the left) and Joseph Lee "Jowee" Alviar (the only guy in a white shirt), who both took Fine Arts in the University of Sto. Tomas.

Octopus arms

"There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves."

~Jose Rizal (1861–1896), Philippine national hero

A couple of friends and I spent Philippine Independence Day, June 12, at the Ayala Museum. We got to silkscreen our own t-shirts courtesy of Team Manila, which brought its ScreenMachine for the event. In keeping with the occasion, the design they chose was a stylized Philippine flag with the year that the country declared its independence from Spain, 1898. The shirt in the foreground is still missing the red part, which is the pattern on the silkscreen frame on the right. Notice that the ScreenMachine just holds the tees and silkscreen frames—the printing still has to be done manually. In a country with a 7% unemployment rate and an 18% underemployment rate, I completely approve of Team Manila's production choice.

Cake topper

"Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?"

~George Gobel (1919–1991), American comedian

Cakes decorated with French macarons—very original, I thought. Then I noticed the shoe cake toppers and realized I wasn't looking at the display of a bakeshop at all. It's a shoe store called the French Sole by Jane Winkworth.

Dressed like royalty

Of all the handwoven fabrics available at The Manila Collectible Co., it is the inaul that I found most beautiful. Crafted by weavers from the province of Maguindanao, inaul is traditionally used as a malong, a tube skirt used by both men and women. For The Manila Collectible Co., the weavers also created smaller pieces, perfect as shawls or scarves. I found them so beautiful, I couldn't resist buying one—a magnificent jewel-toned, iridescent shawl made of the softest silk. Now I need to find an occasion special enough to use it.

Wasted trip

When it comes to fashion, I try to buy local brands as much as possible. Many of the shirts and blouses I use at work are from Folded&Hung, so I finally visited their outlet store along Quezon Avenue. I was disappointed in the selection, though; most of the items on sale at the store were the casual stuff like jeans, tees and sport shirts. Oh well.

Fringe

There are many lovely modern interpretations of the Maria Clara gown, a Spanish colonial-era style of dress now considered formal Filipiniana attire. Unfortunately, I don't consider this one of them. This would make me feel like I was wearing curtains or a bedspread! I am not going to identify the designer, for obvious reasons.

Old world elegance

The ladies who welcome guests to Sofitel Manila wear elegant Maria Clara gowns.

Last of the season

The Zamboanga Peninunsula of the Philippines, like the rest of Mindanao, has a large Muslim community, so the group assigned this region for the Ateneo de Manila University Christmas Parks chose to clothe Joseph, Mary and Jesus in the richly-patterned fabrics common to many Muslims in Southeast Asia.

Yesterday, the Feast of the Epiphany, marked the last day of the Christmas season for Roman Catholics, and the Ateneo de Manila will begin dismantling the Christmas Parks today. I regret not being able to take photos of all sixteen parks, but I did better than last year, when I wasn't able to take a single photo of a single park. The Christmas Parks has been mandated by the university president as an annual project—a new tradition, if you will—so I will have another chance this coming December.

Eye candy

Jan Leeroy New, the same artist who draped the Rizal Library Special Collections Building with the creepy, red "Balete," also had an exhibit at the 2012 Art In The Park (see yesterday's post). Aside from his booth, he had two girls walking around the park in his fluorescent plastic "Wearable Art." I can't quite decide whether they look more like flowers or underwater creatures. And no, they aren't for sale.

Burberry

No taxi driver in the Philippines can ever afford a real Burberry jacket on what they earn.

Modern Maria Clara

Since I mentioned Spanish colonial era clothes yesterday, here is another modern interpretation of the Maria Clara—a style of women's dress now considered formalwear named after the fiancé of the main protagonist of Jose Rizal's novel "Noli Me Tangere." Maria Clara would have loved the elaborate lace and pattern, but I doubt if she would have been comfortable with Eddie Castro's slim fit and starkly graphic colors.

White

An all-white bedroom in the ancestral home of the Legarda family displays the wedding gown of one of Alejandro and Ramona's daughters. Isn't that train just magnificent? • LEGARDA ANCESTRAL HOUSE #7

Urban ethnicity

Of all the projects at the Ateneo School of Management Business Accelerator (SOMBA) Program fair last week, Ethnu was the one that made me weak in the knees, with their neo-ethnic jewelry. The materials—stone and shell beads, brass bells—are sourced from the tribes that inspired the jewelry, but the designs, created by fashion designer Louis Claparols, are very modern. They currently have three beautifully-named collections which showcase the intricate work of three Philippine ethnic tribes. On the left is Brass Dreamweavers, from the T'boli of Southern Mindanao. On the higher table at the right is People of the Earth, from the Ifugao. On the lower table is Peacock Warriors, from the Kalinga. The Ifugao and the Kalinga are two of several ethnic groups in the mountainous Cordillera region of Luzon which are known collectively as Igorot. If only for purely selfish reasons (I want those necklaces!), I want this company to succeed, but of course, it's much more than that. Any company that can bring Philippine ethnic accessories and fabrics to the world stage has my support, especially if that company applies fair trade principles in their dealings with these usually marginalized and exploited ethnic groups.



Ethnu is the brand of Ethnocentricity Incorporated. They are on Facebook and can also be emailed at ethnuaccessories@gmail.com.

High fashion

Most Manileños know pandan only as a food flavoring and these young students of the Ateneo School of Management Business Accelerator (SOMBA) Program are on a mission to re-educate us. P. Nouvelle, with the help of Filipino fashion designer Arnold Galang and two partners from the Department of Trade and Industry, produces gorgeous bags made out of pandan leaves. Sustainable, ethical, green fashion—any takers, ladies?



P. Nouvelle Developers Inc. can be found in Facebook and their email address is pnouvellebags@gmail.com.

Paper bags

Many of the student groups in the Ateneo School of Management Business Accelerator (SOMBA) Program are concerned with the environment, sustainability and social enterprise. Like yesterday's shoes, the bags of Papelle use recycled materials. In this case, what looks like traditional basketry is actually made of handwoven paper from old newspapers and telephone directories. Don't they look fantastic? The paper bags are laminated so they're water resistant. The design on the left, which is reinforced around the body, is strong enough to carry five kilos of weight. What's more, Papelle (a French-ified play on the Tagalog word "papel" which means paper) bags now provide a livelihood to previously jobless residents of the barangay of Natipuan in Nasugbu, Batangas.



Papelle is manufactured by The Twillery, Inc. They have a website and can be emailed at papellebags@gmail.com or TheTwillery@gmail.com.

If they can stop a plane…

Continuing with the entrepreneurial fair of the Ateneo John Gokongwei School of Management: This product was a big hit among the students: casual shoes made of recycled materials. Named "Soule," the uppers are chosen from used clothing or excess fabrics, and the soles are made out of used airplane tires. It would have been interesting to find out where the kids got the tires, but they were busy with their stock when I passed their stall. According to their brochure, the soles are lightweight and durable, and I was thinking: the tires may be worn out, but only for the standard of airplanes. For people, the traction must still be quite awesome.



Soule is made by Cultura Verde Footwear, Inc. They have a website and their email address is culturaverdefootwear@gmail.com.

Hybrid

I have featured several formal Filipiniana gowns in this blog already. Now here is an example of formal Filipiniana menswear. The Barong Tagalog (literally, Tagalog clothes) is usually made of piña (pineapple) or jusi (abaca) silk fabrics which are both very thin and translucent. The even tone and smooth texture of the fabric of this shirt marks it as being made of jusi, piña being more textured. This particular Barong Tagalog is also a fusion piece, incorporating ikat details at the collar, cuffs and shirt front. The ikat weave is common among many South American and Asian countries. In the Philippines, ikat weaving is practiced mostly by ethnic tribes in Mindanao.

Fashionable

While walking the streets of Binondo, I came across this sweet little Chihuahua in his (her?) denim jeans and sneakers, and "Lacoste" shirt. I didn't get his name, but isn't he just the cutest thing?

Old guard

The security guards in the historic walled city of Intramuros are dressed in uniforms patterned after those worn by the Guardia Civil during the Spanish colonial era.



I have one question though: did they have rubber boots back then?

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It's that time of the month for me to bug CDP bloggers again! Our theme for April 1 is Red and the May theme day poll is up—don't forget to vote!

The mice will play

Just before guests were expected to arrive at the gala night of the sarswela "Walang Sugat" at the Ateneo de Manila University, the ushers in their formal Filipiniana clothes took turns posing in front of the photo wall made of wood and capiz shell. These panels echo the windows and screens found in old Spanish colonial houses, rarely seen nowadays except in a few preserved historical homes. I loved how Nico and Tonette were so un-selfconciously enjoying themselves hamming it up for the photographer that I decided to snap a photo of them myself.


Last Saturday's gala was a work night for me too so I didn't watch the play nor get other photos. I hope to watch this weekend and since they're allowing photos, as long as you don't use a flash, expect a few from me in the near future. In the meantime, I have a little information about the sarswela form here, and the university website has some photos of "Walang Sugat" here.

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May I please ask you all to help me welcome Mia of Life in Manila.... and elsewhere to CDP? Mia lives and works in the southern part of the metro, and works for a foundation that supports many social development and charity organizations, and you'll be seeing many photos from her that I will probably never have on my blog. Mia is also a personal friend of ours and this is her nth blog—she keeps starting one then stopping, starting and stopping, you get the idea. If she gets a warm welcome from the community, then just maybe, she'll be inspired to continue this latest one. Thanks, everyone!