Every day, I get reminded of the great talent young ones have in them. And Rapha Camcam, this ambitious 18-year-old I know, made a splash with her debut show to prove just that.
My Valentine’s Day wasn’t like many others. While everyone’s getting heart-shaped everything, I was getting cultured at the Pinto Art Museum. I waited anxiously with the rest, my curiosity reaching a fever pitch just before Rapha unveiled the collection she finished.
Apart from scouting Sabina Gonzalez—Tweetie’s unica hija-slash-supermodel in the making—I saw a flurry of Filipiniana clothes, and they don’t look quite the way we were used to. There were tops, dresses, skirts, and barongs that echo patterns of the old, which were etched on indigenous fabrics that fit a fashion show more than a Buwan ng Wika showcase.
That’s mainly Rapha’s point. That beautiful locally made materials aren’t just the stuff of monthly national appreciation, but pieces of an ever-vibrant culture. “I just felt it was probably time to make a change, especially now that the younger generations (my age and younger) don’t really see or learn how to appreciate the beauty of what we have in our own backyard,” Rapha tells me.
Passion runs strong in this girl, but so does good luck. “I was offered this huge opportunity by Dr. Joven R. Cuanang when he saw how interested I was in buying the fabrics from Pinto Art Museum. He walked up to me and ask, ‘Is fashion what you want to take up in college?’ And I answered, ‘Yes, yes it is.’ And he said, ‘Well, you are doing the fashion show on the 14th of February,’” she recalls, “It wasn’t even a question. There was no backing out from there.”
Thank God she didn’t. If she had, there wouldn’t be this refreshing throwback show to our weaving industry and heritage. This was her way of saying, “We can use our native materials for high fashion.”
You see, nobody said we can’t. Just look at what she’s doing.
