A THREAD OF HOPE

Through Fashion for Frontliners, JILL LAO and a fellowship of talented designers gather to create effective yet fashionable solutions, forgoing frivolity for the frontliners of COVID-19

Easy, fuss-free basics that are made to last and can be worn from day-to-night define the Jill Lao aesthetic. Trained at the Parsons School of Design and having worked with Naeem Kahn and Oscar de la Renta, Jill also lived in Paris where she saw the impact of well-done, tailored classics on a wardrobe.

A presence at the Comme Çi x Cura V The Concierge fashion concept, and with her wares sold at Lanai, things were looking up this year. And then COVID-19 burst into the scene. Jill, along with many designers, had to adjust. “We temporarily stopped production, our custom projects have been postponed until further notice,” she says, “I hope to work on my RTW collection soon.”

Before the President had announced the quarantine on March 16, Jill knew her staff members were already experiencing difficulties in commuting. “Expecting a quarantine soon, I decided to send them home early on Friday, March 13 and gave them paid leaves,” says Jill, “because my staff live offsite, our business is currently on standstill as I focus my efforts on Fashion for Frontliners.”

A COMMON THREAD

Fashion For Frontliners is a non-profit group of Filipino designers who are working together to create Personal Protective Equipment suits for donation to frontliners, who are most at risk in the current situation. Jill saw the online clamor for designers to make PPE suits, and wanted to take action but did not have the in-house staff needed for full production. “When I saw Yong Davalos starting to make her own PPEs, I asked how I could help. She tasked me to create the pattern and first prototype for our PPE suit, and the group organically grew to include now ten of us,” says Jill. The group is made of Jill, Yong, Rosenthal Tee, Jot Losa, Rob Ortega, Andrea Tetangco, Daryl Maat, Debbie Co, Vina Romero, and Bessie Besana.

Each suit is doctor-approved, made of talsan material and costs P400 to make. Along with the making of the suits, Fashion For Frontliners opened a fundraising round for the production, and as of writing, the effort reached P3,200,000 for the production of 8,000 suits. In the next few days, donations will be made to the Philippine General Hospital, the Chinese General Hospital, the Lung Center of the Philippines, and San Lazaro Hospital. While public hospitals are the priority, private institutions will also be allowed to make orders, after the initial allocations to priority locations, and at the cost of manufacturing.

ONE COHESIVE COLLECTION

“In the midst of social distancing and the skeletal workforce everyone has to make do with, I’m experiencing camaraderie and a unified rallying cry in helping in any way we can,” says Jill, noting that she is glad to have found likeminded people in the industry to tackle this issue with her. “Because there are ten of us designers collaborating on Fashion for Frontliners, we are able to do so many things and grow on a scale that I couldn’t achieve a tenth of had I gone on my own,” she says.

Right now, very few of the team have production capacities, but each member assumes different roles to contribute to the project, from accounting and product development and production to distribution. “I’m humbled by the lack of egos in our team and how everyone is working full time on this. I believe there is definitely an exponential value in working together,” says Jill.

FORM AND FUNCTION UNITE

While the Philippines is a long way away from flattening the curve, Jill hopes that this experience will have a lasting experience. “I hope this will push the fashion industry above temporary vanity and frivolity,” she says, “fashion at its core serves to clothe, to protect, and to communicate. I hope we will continue to make clothing with love and lasting purpose.”

“To those who continue to fight and to hope, there are many of us fighting together with you. Thank you for being on the battlefield on behalf of society,” says Jill, “may our God be with you, and be your strength and shield, your ever-present help in times of trouble.