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Pinoy Abroad

Pinoy designer wins Japan fashion competition


For an all-black ensemble made of unique textile he helped fuse from cotton and piña — a fabric found only in the Philippines — Filipino fashion designer Jerome Allen Lorico won the grand prize at the 48th Japan Fashion Design Contest at the Meguro Gajoen Hotel in Tokyo.

Lorico’s win marked the first time that a foreigner won in the prestigious competition after 47 years, the Philippine embassy in Tokyo said in a statement. For his piece, entitled “Ink and Water," Lorico won the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award (Grand Prize) and two special corporate awards from the Japan Cotton Industry Association and Onward, one of Japan’s biggest apparel companies. The theme of this year’s contest, organized by the Dressmaker Fashion Educational Promotion Committee and Sugino Gakuen (Sugino Fashion College), was “Steer for the Future 2020 Autumn/Winter." The young Filipino designer topped 50 finalists in the Oct. 16 contest, which were short-listed from around 2,500 entries worldwide, after a rigorous and stringent screening process. Lorico received a trophy, certificates, commemorative gifts, and ¥1 million (over P500,000) in cash prize. Two other finalists were also Filipinos, Nicole Michael P. Mori and Marian V. Andrada. Lorico is also known for designing a stunning set of Barbies for Ballet Philippines, which are now considered collectors’ items. The judges in the contest include some of the most prestigious names in Japan’s fashion industry, including designer Hanae Mori, Tamae Hirokawa of fashion house SOMARTA, Boutique-sha CEO Akira Naito, editor in chief Kosuke Nagamatsu of Tokyo-based fashion magazines Senken h and INFAS, editor Kazuyuki Yamamuro of WWD Japan. In its 48-year history, the Japan Fashion Design Contest has always been a highly anticipated Tokyo event that serves as gateway to the global fashion industry. Filipinos who earlier entered the contest also fared well including a finalist winning a special incentive award in 2007 and three finalists in 2009 with one bagging an award in the fashion design category and another in the sketch category. — DM/VS, GMANews.TV
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