A crowning moment for Ezra Santos
Santos’ metal accessories were an obvious ode to the National Artist, who often used the sarimanok as a motif, making it his signature piece.
Dubai-based fashion designer Ezra Santos.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF TERNOCON
Dubai-based designer Ezra Santos was the fitting finale at Ternocon’s recently concluded fourth edition. Following this year’s theme of paying tribute to 20th-century Filipino painters, sculptors and architects, Santos’s 16-piece collection took its inspiration from National Artist Abdulmari Asia Imao.
Unlike Imao’s color-saturated paintings, Santos opted for a palette that brings to mind Pantone’s color of the year — mocha mousse — and its many shades and tints, as well as its metallic iterations. He gave his high-profile clientele a choice of formal Filipiniana gowns, ranging from the understated — fluid chiffon, streamlined skirts, soft drapes — to the flamboyant — shiny fabrics, bubble hemlines, sculptural details.
THE designer incorporated his own versions within the collection’s fabulous crowns, headpieces, neckpieces, breast plates and embellishments.
His portion of the show opened with separates, starting with white tops embellished with geometric paillettes. These segued into a combination of floral-print bottoms with long trains or bubble hems. Menswear pieces featured gold, puffy jackets that resembled metal armor. Several flowy, nude chiffon ternos seemingly evolved into a fairy-tale creature dressed in sculptural, shiny bronze.
