Bessie Badilla advocates for indigenous fashion

A top Filipina model for nearly five decades whose first visit to the UAE was in 1981 for the “Aureo Alonzo Fiesta Filipina World Tour Group” in Dubai, and who cat-walked for Michael Cinco at the “Dubai Fashion Week 2023,” has said that fashion from her home country has been at par with the world’s best. Bessie Badilla, whose accidental entry into the glitterati of haute couture happened, when Manila hosted the 1976 “International Monetary Fund-World Bank Annual Meeting” at the then newly-opened Philippine International Convention Centre, also said that the intensifying interest-cum-awareness of even the Filipino youth concerning their indigenous fibres and artisanship would strongly impact on the so-called colonial mentality which historians from decades back had imaginatively labelled as “300 years inside the convent (Spain) and 48 years in Hollywood (USA).

- Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

The first Filipina model for Balenciaga since 1982 who went on “world tours” with the Philippines’ “fashion giants” such as Pitoy Moreno, Ben Farrales, Auggie Cordero, Joe Salazar, as she has been working as well with the UAE-based Amato (Furne Uno), reminisced that even in 1970s to 1980s, “Philippine fashion was already up at par with European fashion. Our shows were greatly applauded and images of our shows made it to international fashion magazines. Guests went back stage and made sure they had proper information about our designers so they could order garments directly from them.”

Thirty years of immersion in the industry, Ezra Santos who set up his own atelier in Dubai II years since his 1993 landing, said that Filipino fashion is no longer “emerging” since “our talent, our stories, and our craftsmanship, especially with traditional textiles and embroidery, are now being recognised on the world stage.”