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John Ablaza

Fashion workshops conducted by John Ablaza, the international designer from the Philippines, in the country recently are set to transform the lives of the participants.

Ablaza conducted workshops in Bulawayo and Harare on design techniques, use of natural materials and avant-garde design as well as collaboration with artisans.

The workshops and collaborations culminated in a fashion show held at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe this month.

So impressed was Ablaza with the talent and creativity among the designers and artisans he met at the workshops and he is committed to working with at least three designers to mentor them through, but more significantly, open doors of opportunity to the international fashion arena by inviting them next year to the Philippines and the USA.

Next year, marks three decades of Ablaza working as a top-flight international fashion designer, and preparations are underway in the Philippines to celebrate this major milestone. The three Zimbabwean designers can expect to be part of the cast at this showpiece.

“It is my mission to help Zimbabwe fashion go somewhere on the global fashion arena,” he said in an interview before his departure.

“The people here have a very positive attitude and their creativity oozes. There were also workshop participants whose designs and creations were really amazing. They show so much potential.

“I also work with top models, but when I saw Zimbabwean models, they were really good. I will help them to secure international modelling contracts.”

The 30th anniversary celebrations of his fashion designing career are just one of the highlights planned for next year. He says discussions have already commenced with people in San Franciso, where again, participants from Zimbabwe will have a platform to showcase their creations.

Apart from the Philippines, Ablaza also conducts fashion shows in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto in Canada, and South Africa, Asia and Europe.

“The responsibility of coming here to conduct the workshops is really huge. I really need to do something after the workshops. I want to mentor each and every one of them. I see so much creativity. The workshops were really fascinating, amazing, in fact. The workshops ignited the designers’ imaginations.

“I want to help raise the profile of Zimbabwean fashion designers, artisans and models and make Zimbabwe fashion highly visible on the global fashion arena. I found the designs really amazing and I therefore wish to play my role as an ambassador more effectively,” he explained.

If this was how Zimbabwe fashion designers, artisans and models impressed him in the short period he was here, how much impact would they have registered if the time allowed?

He concedes that this was the limitation he had to work with, adding: “I really did my best to make the workshops more effective.”

The result was he packed so much into the workshops. But he hopes there will be another opportunity with generous times so that he can undertake intensive training. To this end, he is hoping to rally support from the Philippines and the USA to partner him in getting more Zimbabwean designers, artisans and models onto the global fashion arena.

He shared his experience of working in the industry at an international level for the past 29 years and how to work even with limited material. There were surprising results of “very special and spectacular creations”.

The excitement in Harare, he points out, was matched by that he found in Bulawayo, adding: “Their creations should be somewhere else.”

Ablaza taught the participants, what he describes as fabric manipulation, where he introduces artisans to collaborate with fashion designers, resulting in amazing creations.

An example of fabric manipulation is accessorising creations. This explains the presence of organisations such as Mustard Seed. This collaboration is critical because as his own background shows he has created sustainable livelihoods with ethnic groups — the Mangyan Tribe of The Philippines — who in conjunction with the Ayala Foundation have come up with innovative ideas to infuse native materials in Ablaza’s designs while the Mangyans build a better future for their families from the proceeds.

The purpose of his visit was to motivate and inspire the fashion designers and then “let them advance their careers” to launch themselves into something bigger that enables them to compete at the highest level internationally.

Ablaza believes one of the ingredients that will be a differentiator for Zimbabwean designers would be to work primarily with local fabrics — a distinguishing factor — as well as others from elsewhere, and “let their imaginations run wild”.

He urged the designers to adopt a global perspective, while researching and acquiring more experience. This approach, he explains, would enable him to position them elsewhere.

Ablaza was in the country at the invitation of the US Embassy and delivered a series of educational and inspirational workshops together with photographer Jeaniffer Morales-Evans of Jhenny Evans Photography and model Bea Rose Santiago.

For the Harare Photography Workshop, Morales-Evans presented photography training for fashion photographers, including photo-documentation of designer and artisan collaboration projects that were displayed at an exhibition at the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe.

Collaborating with the US Embassy for this trail-blazing initiative were Zedlabel, Kusika Design Centre, Hunnar Management Agency, Mustard Seed Africa and the Zimbabwe International Film Festival Trust.

Ablaza is an “eco-fashion” designer specialising in fabricating garments using sustainable materials like seeds and coconut shells. With his passion for horticulture, the planet and people, he aims to provide a new perspective on the future of fashion. He is truly a unique designer bringing fashion and culture together to create haute couture.

When asked what inspires him he says: “The environment and the people — the things that I see around me everyday — when I get to work with the Mangyan Tribe. They really inspire me when they come up with something really great. It inspires me to create more exciting designs that will connect with them in such a way, that I could create jobs for them. So when I design, I make sure that I incorporate techniques and designs to give work to these people.”

In addition to being an international eco-fashion designer, Ablaza is very conscious of giving back to his community.

His main drive and passion is to create livelihood for the artisans back in the Philippines, whether through providing jobs, working with the Mangyan tribe of the Philippines, the Ayala Foundation or through his charity which takes care of children suffering from autism and down syndrome.

Ablaza’s couture and culture fashion show has showcased in several international continents including the United States, Canada, parts of Europe and Asia as well as his home country of Manila, Philippines.

In 1998, Ablaza was appointed to re-create a replica collection of Philippian National Hero, Dr Jose Rizal for the Rizal Museum under the Philippine National Centennial Commission.

As a celebration to the centennial Independence of the Philippines community, the Rizal Museum successfully travelled to various cities of the Philippines and Europe, showcasing the Iberian culture and clothing of the legendary Filipino hero with warm reception from the Filipino community and the international audience.

His passion in sustainable production and environmentally friendly materials has seen him collaborate with the Mangyan tribe of Puerto Gallera in Oriental Mindoro where under the Ayala Foundation, Ablaza has provided training skills and guidance in basic dressmaking and embroidery to help the women from the Mangyan community to better sustain themselves and uplift their livelihoods.

Ablaza is also the author and founder of a coffee table book titled “Ramp Diva Filipina”; a tribute book to honour the runway divas and models of the Philippine modelling industry from the 1970s to 2000.

With a career that has spanned over 25 years, John Ablaza is a designer that seeks to make the world a better place by bringing fashion and culture together to create haute couture. — Panorama Magazine/Arts Reporter.