Design students take different concepts to make their denim creations. |Michelle Joy Padayhag
CEBU CITY Philippines — How stylish are you when you wear your favorite denim brand?
In SM Seaside City Cebu, everything was celebrated during the ‘Denim Academy, The Runway Show’ held at the Mountain Wing Atrium on July 31, Wednesday.
Marylou Labrador Neri, the regional operations manager for SM Visayas 2 said it was the first time that SM Seaside City Cebu gathered its top denim brands and Cebu’s top design schools in a runway event.
“It (denim) captivated our hearts for over the years and becomes a fashion statement for men and women all over the world,” Neri said in her speech.
Thirty-six design students from different design institutions in Cebu and five young Cebuano designers produced collab-creation with denim brands such as American Eagle Outfitters, Dickies, Forever 21, Guess, Levi’s, and The SM Store in SM Seaside City Cebu.
Each school has created different concepts for their collections which proved that denim is more than a textile.
A model parades one of the design student’s denim creation. | Michelle Joy Padayhag
For Southwestern University (SWU) Phinma, it centers on improving raincoats.
Kishia Lesko, one of the participating students told CDN Digital that the concept was chosen to change the impression of raincoats being tagged as “boring.”
They used plastics and neon fabrics to showcase raincoats in different aesthetics. The collection is described as futuristic, fun, and exciting as they collaborate with American Eagle Outfitters.
Design students collaborate with denim brands to create their denim designs. | Michelle Joy Padayhag
The Fashion Institute of the Philippines (FIP) students took everyone to Japan for their ‘Sutorito’ collection in collaboration with Forever 21.
Design student Keirby Empleo said it is a traditional way of Japanese national costume in a modern age.
Neutral colors were chosen to make it more masculine because the cuts look feminine.
Fashion designers and students work together to make the students’ denim concepts be realized. | Michelle Joy L. Padayhag
The Fashion Institute of Design and Arts (FIDA) Cebu wants to spread awareness on depression with denim brand from The SM Store.
Claude Bautista, one of their students, told CDN Digital that they used silhouette like armors to create a barrier or wall that symbolizes distance of one’s self from others.
Different colors were associated with different emotions like red (anger), blue (sadness), gray (hopelessness), and black (someone who wants to end it all).
This one of the creations of the design students during the “Denim Academy: Runway Show” at the SM Seaside. | Michelle Joy Padayhag
Completing the denim institution who were part of the runway event was Cebu Institute of Technology- University (CIT-U) for American Eagle Outfitters and University of San Carlos (USC) for Guess.
Cebu’s young designers Celine Borromeo, Edward Castro, Rei Antoni Escario, Pinky Magalona, and Mike Yapching also showcased their collab-creation for the brand Levi’s. /dbs