When a panel of judges announces a winner in the apparel category and another winner in the accessories category of the 2016 LOOK of Style Awards (LOSA) on March 31, 6 p.m., at the Samsung Hall of SM Aura Premier, the two lucky designers will receive a grant for a three-week fashion course at the famous Istituto Marangoni London School Of Fashion.
The school has produced four generations of students from five continents, and has helped launch the careers of over 40,000 professionals in the fashion and luxury fields.
Dolce & Gabbana’s Domenico Dolce and Moschino’s Franco Moschino are among its distinguished alumni.
Amina Aranaz Alunan and Loralee Baron Soong, co-founders of SoFA Design Institute, graduated from the Istituto Marangoni in Milan.
Tailor Giulio Marangoni founded his eponymous school in 1935, initially for pattern makers and seamstresses.
Today, the international school of fashion, art and design has campuses in Paris, Shanghai, Milan, Firenze and London.
The London school is located in a former textile factory at 30 Fashion Street, Shoreditch—described as a cool and vibrant part of central London.
Among the courses offered here are Fashion Design, Fashion Image and Styling, Fashion Business, Fashion Visual Merchandising, Fashion Trend Forecasting and Fashion Buying.
A collaboration of LOOK Magazine, Inquirer Lifestyle and the British Council, LOSA is the only apparel and accessories design competition that sends its winners to the UK for further studies.
For the past six years, the British Council has been making arrangements with fashion schools in London to host the grants of the LOSA winners.
The 2016 LOSA has Bench as major sponsor.
Past winners have attended short courses at the prestigious Central Saint Martins and Sheffield Hallam University.
“I am a Filipino designer” is the theme of 2016 LOSA, the annual nationwide search for the next big talent in Philippine fashion.
Finalists in the apparel and accessories categories are challenged to produce clothes
and accessories using local materials and techniques that
define who they are as Filipino designers.
Previous winners of LOSA include Pablo Cabahug (2010), Geoff Gonzales (2011), Roland Alzate (2012), Rei Escario (apparel 2013), Neil Felipp (accessories 2013), Vina Romero (apparel 2014) and Nere Ku (accessories 2014).
LOSA launched their fashion careers.
Free workshop
On March 30, 9. a.m., at Function Room 1 of SMX Convention Center in SM Aura Premier, Taguig City, Emanuele Colombo, lecturer at Istituto Marangoni’s Shanghai and Milan campuses, will hold the free workshop “From Style Alphabet to Fashion Tales.”
The workshop is open to the public.
After graduating with honors from a fashion design course in Istituto Marangoni in 1999, Colombo worked for renowned designer Giorgo Armani, then embarked on creative stints with Italian sportswear brand X-Cape, menswear and accessories brand Verri, and international textile company Carvico.
He’s come full circle since; at Armani, where he returned in 2005, he served as backstage coordinator for the designer’s fashion shows. And in 2011, he accepted the post of lecturer at Istituto Marangoni’s Shanghai and Milan Campuses, teaching courses in fashion design and fashion styling.