It all began with old postcards
Twenty years ago, a simple act of generosity jumpstarted my interest in collecting postcard photographs of women wearing the mestiza dress. My mentor, the late National Artist Salvador Bernal, gave me a brown envelope containing old postcard photos that had been deteriorating in his office at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. I gladly took them and kept them as personal sources of research for my theater productions.
Thereafter, more vintage photos from the bauls of my senior friends like Gilda Cordero-Fernando found their way into this modest collection. Gilda always had a generous spirit, which compelled her to share these treasures that had been stored in her bodega. Other friends followed this act of generosity by sending me postcard photos of strangers as well as ratty ternos from their homes.
Hundreds of photos later, I realized how valuable the pile had become as resource
material for design and history. A desire to publish a tiny photo album to share these resources compelled me to approach a number of people including Mark Higgins, who thought that it would be a great research and inspirational tool for design students. He, too, was compelled by generosity (or foolishness) to give so much of his time to make this project happen. Sandy Higgins took pity on us as we desperately tried to organize ourselves and decided to crack the whip on us. An initial grant from the SLIMS Legacy Project allowed us to assemble a mock-up of the book with the help of graphic designer Efren Prieto and illustrator Rafael del Casal, who both donated their time to help us sell the idea.
This mock-up was then presented to Ben Chan, who immediately understood how much the project could contribute to education. An enormous act of generosity from Bench expanded the little book project to a 300-page resource material that has gone beyond the intended “little picture album.”
We were later joined by scholars Sandra Castro and Petty Benitez-Johannot, fashionistas Joan Bitagcol and Michael Salientes, and Lizza Nakpil to complete the book team.
Toto Gonzalez, Mike Santos and Ramon Villegas, opened up their aparadors to reveal materials that would help us tell this story of the national dress.
Tonight, we salute Bench for another act of generosity for granting our design students a subsidy to make the soft cover versions of the book very affordable. We also thank everyone, who bought our books this evening. Your purchase will help lower the cost of the soft covers for the young design students. An entire generation of Filipinos will benefit immensely from your kindness and help keep the national dress alive in their consciousness