Fresh takes on figure-friendly favorites

Four years after appropriating the Philippine map and making it an iconic symbol that turned a reputable but staid brand like Collezione into the height of cool, Rhett Eala’s transition from made-to-order to ready-to-wear designer is now complete. But what does he do for an encore?

The answer was plain for everyone to see at a recent Collezione C2/Due fashion show Eala staged at the Peninsula Manila’s Rigodon Ballroom.

Collezione C2, of course, is the updated version of the original ’70s unisex brand Collezione, while Due, which dominated the show’s latter part, is Eala’s resurrected RTW brand of women’s dresses and separates.

Eala downplayed the map as well as the bold shades C2 is known for, and opted for a more somber color palette of gray, black, olive and various earth tones. He confined splashes of color like fluorescent orange, kelly green and fuchsia to certain key pieces to break the monotony.

With Phil and James Younghusband as his star models, Eala unveiled a mix of staples like black polo shirts, striped hoodies, bomber jackets, and shorts juxtaposed with edgier pieces like layered and partly draped armless jackets and collarless, long-sleeved jersey tees.

He tweaked even supposed staples such as cargo pants and shorts by providing them with unusual and exaggerated flaps on pockets, or by fusing together two contrasting materials. Huge side pockets and the loose crotch area, for instance, were made of a shinier material, which set them apart from the rest of the pants.

Eala capped off the show with the Younghusbands wearing fitted and partly embellished dinner jackets, which the designer dressed down by paring them with black polo shirts and slim-cut pants.

Thanks to globalization and easy access to the Internet, said Eala, Filipino men—both straight and gay—are now more adventurous when it comes to casual dressing. He’s confident that his “Himalayas-inspired” Sherpa-chic accent pieces would do well.

“You’d be surprised,” he said during a post-show interview. “A growing number of men want to wear my pieces. Perhaps not the entire look, but key pieces. My gauge this time are the Azkals. They love the clothes.”

Apart from getting the Younghusbands, Eala also tapped the services of fellow Azkals Anton del Rosario and Nate Burkey. He also cast a good number of Brazilian and pan-Asian models.

More discerning

But people behind the show should have been a bit more discerning. Apart from wearing a pair of Topsiders that were probably two sizes too big, for instance, a muscular male model was also made to wear a pair of shorts that only managed to emphasize his disproportionately thin “chicken” legs.

Eala also belied certain observations that he channeled Filipino-American designer Melissa Dizon’s aesthetics. Eairth, Dizon’s RTW clothing brand consisting of edgy, layered and loose-fitting cotton ensembles exported to the US, also comes in earth colors and bright shades made from natural dyes.

“I know Melissa Dizon, but I’ve never seen her work,” he said. “There was no conscious effort on my part to get inspirations from her.”

Of the 70 looks the designer showed, 20 percent consisted of party dresses, some with beaded bodices and see-through skirts, and loose, figure-friendly separates for Due.

Using such materials as tulle, rayon, cotton and stretched jersey, Eala fashioned a mix of tailored and draped pieces, including tiered skirts, ponchos, and loose-fitting tops and dresses with capelets, drop shoulders, and long, roomy Dolman sleeves that harked back to the late ’70s and early ’80s.

He also juxtaposed opposing silhouettes—loose top with fitted pants, bodycon dress with matching billowing coat—in a number of looks. Although Eala’s collection for Due wasn’t exactly revolutionary, he managed to have fresh takes on a number of pieces that drew heavily on the past by tweaking silhouettes and proportions.

His decision to use neutral colors such as black, gray and taupe also worked, as they bolstered the clothes’ wearability and versatility. Like a blank canvas, the clothes became an ideal medium for stylist Luis Espiritu to play with.

But Eala’s eye for editing seemed to have eluded him this time, as he kept sending out permutations of key looks both for Collezione C2 and Due that had already been established earlier in the show.

One can only take so much of ponchos, Dolmans and capelets in one night before getting visually swamped from all that fabric. It seems only Eala’s constant use of the Philippine map in every imaginable color and size during past collections is immune to such a pitfall.