MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Fashion Week (PhFW), considered the longest-running fashion event in the country and one of the biggest fashion weeks in the Asia Pacific, recently celebrated its over 25 years in the industry with a relaunch in Ayala Museum, Makati City, to introduce its new programs, vision and management, Amorada Inc., led by Chief Vision Officer, Nikky Nicandro III.
Espino brothers Joey and Audie were at the relaunch to announce the major changes they have done with PhFW, which they founded in 1997.
In an audio-visual presentation, Joey admitted that he and Audie almost gave up and nearly shut down the fashion week for three to four times in the past due to certain "challenges."
“If you don't have the challenge, there's no trying, there's no room for you to fail. So this kind of things, it's really beyond money,” Joey stressed.
How Philippine Fashion Week began
Joey recalled starting out as training for ballroom dancing choreography together with Audie, until his continuous creativity led him to direct his first ever fashion show in Hilton Manila at 17 years old. Later on, he and Audie were able to work and be friends with some of the country’s best designers such as Louie Mamengo and “Dean of Philippine Fashion” Ben Farrales.
In the same AV presentation, Audie shared that in the ‘90s, just as when Australian Fashion Week started, Joey went to New York. There, Joey saw six to seven New York Fashion Week shows.
“I want to have something like this in my country because I couldn't let my country to be not doing anything like this when the rest of the world are doing it,” Joey said of what he thought after seeing the New York shows.
Following a brainstorming with Audie, the brothers chose the name “Philippine Fashion Week” among choices like “Art Week” and “Manila Fashion Week” because “I didn’t feel I can be doing a small version of our country because it should be for everyone,” explained Joey.
Through PhFW, the brothers were able to help launch hundreds of brands and careers here and abroad.
“It's giving a lot of chances to a lot of Filipino designers, Philippine brands, celebrities and all the other things, and the great experience that Philippine fashion was able to come up with through Fashion Week,” Joey, in an exclusive interview with Philstar.com, said of what he is most proud of from the fashion week these past 25 years.
“Filipinos, they may not be in the great fashion places abroad, but you could see the cravings of our Filipino designers, they are really good,” he assured. “That's why I really work hard to give a platform to all of them. And with this thing coming again, the world needs to continue to see what we are capable of doing. And at the end of the day, we are all Filipinos. We have to be happy, we have to be comfortable with our own skin.”
Expansion
Since founding the fashion week over 25 years ago, “the world has evolved and even social media has (changed) tremendously,” Joey told Philstar.com. As such, he and Audie feel PhFW should transform, too.
“We want to embrace everyone and we want to tell to the rest of the world that Filipinos are good and we have something good to share,” he noted.
Hence, PhFW is now “seeking creative and meaningful collaborations” from here and abroad and not just from the world of fashion, but from seven territories “where exquisite style” are “most intrinsic.”
As Joey put it, the new PhFW is all about “telling to the world that we Filipino designers are not just plain designers.”
The new PhFW, therefore, will showcase not only fashion shows, but also exhibitions, incubator programs and other related events as a launch pad for what’s fresh in these seven territories: Fashion, Dining, Beverages (Wine & Spirits), Home, Travel, Arts & Entertainment, and Wellness.
The new fashion week “sets its sights toward greater influence on a global scale,” Joey underscored.
“Fashion in the Philippines could be like a platform, our 25 years of presenting collection and collaborating with the brands, global brands. Now, we're taking this further…” he declared.
From a “niche,” he and his team envision PhFW 2.0 as a holistic lifestyle for everyone. Among their goals is to help designers not just to get their names out there but also to run their businesses.
“The number one requirement of any business is capital. That's why we don't succeed in the fashion industry,” Joey fretted. “We have very good designers and talents. Now, we have to have the business packaging. We have to have great support because the fact is that… Filipino designers are not only worthy of global exposure…
“Fashion is actually business. It's all about sales. Because if you can’t sell, it's not business, the brand, the design, if it doesn't sell, it doesn't do business,” he expounded on their plans of collaborating with other fashion weeks abroad and opening PhFW even to foreign brands to widen Filipino designers’ exposure and horizons.
“We won't hear about it if you say we are prostitutes, commercialism and money. But how would you even succeed if you don't sell?”
He clarified, however, that although PhFW is expanding, it is still open to small or big businesses alike.
“So whether (the business is) big and… I will use the word small, we all have our roles and as long as you choose where you want to be playing well, getting into the future, we would want to expand, make a bigger business. And that doesn't necessarily mean more with numbers…”
According to him, the fashion week has featured anyone and everyone from “the oldest to the biggest, to the shortest, to the prettiest, to the not so pretty (and) to the richest,” and just the same, the new PhFW is open to “all shapes and sizes” – from designers, to brands and even models and other players.
“Our mantra is to become a global destination,” enthused Joey.
“If we put the right ideas in our minds, these things can happen. Uplifting each other is what we need. By the time there's support, then we are doing something, beginning with something, we could expect greater results.”
2025 comeback, schedule
“We're looking at around March or April in 2025,” Nicandro disclosed to Philstar.com in an exclusive interview PhFW’s upcoming series of shows, which could span from three to four days, but this has not yet been finalized. Even the venue is still not set in stone.
“Also, that’s going be the holiday collection. And then the next event will be sometime in October, which is basically the spring-summer and then in between, as I mentioned, since we're going into seven segments of the business. So we're looking at around doing like about five to seven bespoke programs and activities that they are truly, truly inspiring and fresh ideas.”
For now, PhFW has seven confirmed Filipino fashion designers who will join the first series of shows next year. The fashion week, however, still has slots for more designers – even for those from abroad and from big names such as Chanel or Versace.
“As I mentioned in my speech, we wanted to collaborate with even the other fashion weeks of the world and also business institutions globally because we want to create opportunities for many any chance next year,” Nicandro said.
“We also want to also bring together global talents for collaboration because I think we should open up our doors for huge collaborations that are new and unique and have never been done before… So we wanted to bring the collaboration to life, to be able to bring various talents and skills, to be able to come up with new products and innovations born out of collaboration, F&B, wellness, travel, or it's going to be like on-ground events and programs but very bespoke and very intimate room. It will be basically global in terms of approach.”
Although the past 25 years have been “challenging” for PhFW, Audie promised everyone that the fashion week will have a “very, very bright future.”
“We have positioned ourselves to be, to ensure that we are in a better platform to move forward,” he said in his speech.
“So I'd like to invite everyone who would be interested to live and believe in their dreams, moving on forward. It will be a gift to us and it will be to our country.”