Contemporary Filipino designer Jor-el Espina unveiled his latest designs in a private fashion preview of his pieces for ArteFino Festival 2024 over lunch in Casa Buenas on Tuesday.

The event, “Adaptation: 20 years of design,” kicked off a series of pocket celebrations that will lead up to his milestone 20th year anniversary in May 2025.

“These are ready-to-wear pieces that will be showcased at this year’s ArteFino Festival. Some of the art-deco design elements in this collection will be present in the main show for the 20th anniversary next year. In that respect, you can consider this as a prelude. I chose art deco as the theme because it also happens that next year will be the 100th year of the Art Deco Movement,” he explains.

Espina emphasizes the relevance of celebrating with the launch of his collection for ArteFino. “The artisan movement opened countless doors for me–in retail, in building a brand, creating a business and being globally competitive.”

The event was filled by invited fashion personalities, selected media, Industry insiders, personal friends and family. Some guests and clients flew all the way to Manila from Iloilo.

Espina started his journey as a designer in 2005 with jewelry before clothes, and opened his atelier in 2007 when he received a lot of orders from people who saw his works from his first clients who were his relatives.

Since then, Espina given Filipino culture a new spin through his works, starting off with what is now his signature bomber jacket-barong hybrid.

When he first joined the Artefino trade fair in 2017, Espino immediately turned heads with his Bomberong jackets. “I started developing the Bomberong jacket as early as 2013. Back in Iloilo, these jackets just hung on the racks. No one seemed to mind or appreciate them,” he said in a statement.

Today, he is regarded as a designer whose distinct Filipino sensibilities carry our culture across the nation and into the world.

“We are Filipinos. We should have an identity as a Filipino. Our culture is very rich and this is something to be proud of around the world. That’s why I think we, designers, are only a tool, or one of the tools in promoting our culture in the world. I think that’s my share to the Philippines, that’s my share to our country, [which is] promoting this very beautiful heritage and culture and creating it into something different,” he told DAILY TRIBUNE.

“Filipino fashion is endless, so we still have a lot of things to create,” he added.