Imbibing the Filipino spirit

Dizon’s drive is what got her a slot in Fashion Week Brooklyn. For the past 12 years, she has regularly joined fashion competitions. You might recall her as a contestant for the show Project Runway Philippines in 2009, but it was her stint in Solis Magazine’s “Fashion Designer Competition” in September—where she ended up placing third—that paved the way for her New York show—and it wasn’t easy. “[My team and I were] working during the height of typhoon season in Manila. I commend my staff [for] pulling [through] floods just to finish one look. The editor-in-chief of Solis Magazine even told me that the first and second placers weren’t able to do the show this season, because of the short production time, which I totally understand,” Dizon recalls.

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Dizon and her team's resourcefulness is perhaps what makes “Pinoy Pop Life” so Filipino. In an online post, Dizon laments how she wanted to buy “top class—fabrics,” but it was too expensive. As an alternative, they created a collection that combined indigenous Philippine fabrics with ready-made and familiar materials.



Mutya ng Pilipinas 2015 First Runner-up Julee Bourgoin walks for Tracy Dizon in a bougainvillea-inspired summer ensemble. PHOTO: Michael Maniago

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PHOTO: Courtesy of Tracy Dizon

This familiarity is what you'd see in a terno made with denim, embroidery inspired by jeepney stickers, and a sinamay hat shaped like sapin-sapin. The designs are reflections of Dizon’s life in Manila. She recalls how the traditional rice cake was a childhood favorite, especially since her mother would often bring it home from work. One of her floral hats call to mind fallen bougainvillea in summer.

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The jeepney references aren’t just standard Philippine pop symbols, but mementos of when Dizon had to set aside P20 fare to get home from school. She was a part-time student in college, then a working single mother, and—finally—a fundraiser for her own collection.



Tracy Dizon meets with Consul General Claro S. Cristobal in New York. PHOTO: Courtesy of Tracy Dizon

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Self-doubt was only one of the many challenges that Dizon has had to hurdle in her journey as a designer, who never gave up in the face of failure back home. "I [could] never even book a show in Manila," Dizon wrote in a Facebook post. Now, she is participating for the second time in Fashion Week Brooklyn.

When Dizon is asked, what's it like to be living your dreams? She muses, "I think the key is not to think that this is the end game. I constantly remind myself where I came from. I want to remember those days when I was at the bottom so now that I have elevated a little, I will keep in mind how difficult it is for those who are starting up."

Looking back on the time when she was just starting out, she can't help thinking about what she would say to herself back then: "Just work. " For Dizon, "it is a true test of passion to continue pushing on despite unpopular remarks and feedback."