The Young Fashion Designer Breathes New Life Into Local and Narrative Weaves

'Europeans See My Collection as 'Ethnic': Only Filipinos Can Truly Understand.'

- By IO CARPIO

When a professor asked her to describe what kind of consumer would be drawn to her graduation collection with one word, Anne-Marie Dimanche responded, "Opinionated."

In late June, in a humid warehouse in North Amsterdam as Japanese metal music screamed from the speakers, DOG EATER dominated the runway with its loud Filipino weaves and audacious silhouettes. Distorting the Maria Clara and employing the fabrics from the indigenous peoples of South Cotabato, Ifugao, and the Cordillera Region, DOG EATER was less an opinion and more of a statement. It was the final exasperated breath of someone tired of rigid narratives.

Dimanche's own story of getting into fashion was a break from expectations. Arriving in Amsterdam in 2018 to pursue biomedicine, she abruptly switched to the arts in 2021 after realizing that a life in medical research wasn't for her, despite constant reminders that it held more financial stability. "I think I'll want to die if I hate doing what I have to do every day," she said.

"I always wanted to do something creative," she continued, rubbing her tattoo-covered arms. "It's something that felt intuitive. Nothing ever felt intuitive. During COVID, I would play dress-up, and my friends and I would do makeup and take pictures everywhere. (...) Fashion also felt very interdisciplinary." She added, laughing, "You can actually have job prospects, compared to painting."

Switching tracks was not the only struggle she faced in art school. At the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, her unrelenting and persistent work ethic was seen by classmates as an attribute to her being Asian and not an inner passion for the art she was creating.