Preparations are under way for the World Costume Festival (WCF) 2013 to be held in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur, from April 26 to May 2.
“WCF 2013 will showcase costumes designed for live performances such as theater, festivals and events,” says project director Rolando “Rollie” de Leon. “We have invited international and Philippine delegates, both professionals and students, to join us and exchange and share ideas for future collaborative work.”
The festival will feature lectures, conferences, workshops and master classes on costume-making taught by international experts.
It will also have a trade exposition and exhibit featuring Filipino and international fabrics and materials used in costume, fashion and accessories.
“The festival will showcase demonstrations on indigenous weaving traditions such as batik, abel, piña, etc. from different regions of the Philippines,” says De Leon.
Outstanding design
The festival will have a competition for Outstanding Design Costume. “The winner will receive a Golden Kneeling Carabao trophy, the highest honor of the festival.”
There will also be a body-painting competition—whose winner will have a chance to represent the Philippines in the World Body Painting Showdown in Austria in July.
WCF 2013 will be part of the city’s annual Viva Vigan Binatbatan Festival of the Arts.
A Unesco World Heritage Site for its Spanish colonial architecture, Vigan boasts of cobblestone streets where the festival’s costume parade will unfold.
First time
A set and costume designer, De Leon served as national curator for the Philippine entry to the 2011 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, an international theater festival considered as the largest scenography event in the world.
WCF 2013 will coincide with the annual international meeting of the Organization of International Scenographers Theater Architects and Technicians (OISTAT) Costume Design Group. De Leon is a founding member of OISTAT’s Philippine counterpart, the Philippine Association of Theater Designers and Technicians.
“OISTAT is a global and active organization of professionals and educators from seven continents who practice the discipline of designing for performance,” he says. “For the first time in the Southeast Asian region, OISTAT representatives will come to the Philippines to explore and learn Southeast Asian design practices.”
“WCF 2013 will also serve as the Philippines’ preparation for OISTAT’s upcoming World Stage Design festival in Cardiff, Wales in September,” he adds. “We plan to choose Philippine designs to represent the country in World Stage Design 2013.
“If we don’t chart the wide and stormy seas beyond the Philippines, we won’t be able to share the art and culture necessary to inspire every Filipino,” he says.
Deadline for registration is March 31. Contact wcf2013@ yahoo.com.ph, tel. +63-412 1575, or +63916-3346607.