In Cebu, A New Breed of Wedding Gown Designers Rises
The day after Manuel Jacob “MJ” Jamio won the wedding gown design competition at the Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort, he was already back at work by 7 a.m., preparing and writing financial advice documents.
Jamio, who graduated with a BS Mathematics degree from the University of the Philippines Cebu in 2016, said designing is just a side hustle for him. His job is to prepare financial documents for planners who deal with their clients.
Bride of Paradise, a design by Manuel Jacob “MJ” Jamio (right) won the wedding gown design competition hosted by the Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort. With him are his mentor Ia Coca and beauty queen Kasley Libres, who is wearing the dress
“I don’t have the means to pursue design so I took on a corporate job as a paraplanner, a back office work for Australian financial planning advisors,” Jamio told Esquire Philippines during an interview after he was named winner of the first “Beyond Happiness by Sheraton Curation Designing Competition” last October 6.
Jamio’s winning entry, Bride of Paradise, was a two piece woven ensemble inspired by the palm trees at the beach. It won over six other entries by emerging designers like him.
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The wedding gown can be detached and worn separately as a halter dress and a mermaid skirt, “making it sustainable and practical for future occasions beyond the wedding day.” The bride can mix and match the dress and skirt for other occasions.
“I'm also into weaving,” Jamio said on the introductory video of his winning piece. “I said to myself that I'd like to play on the texture, so it's kind of structured and dreamy at the same time.”
This entry by John Luman-ag, mentored by Axel Que, breaks the traditional silhouette and “ensures the bride to fully stand out on her most special day,” the designer said on his Facebook page
It took the designer a week to finish weaving the dress. He would work as paraplanner from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and go home to finish creating the dress. He also had to make time for choir practice as a member of the UP Cebu Serenata.
The dress, modeled during the competition by Kasley Libres, was made of polyhemp, which is a blend of abaca fiber and polyester, and sourced from the southern town of Argao in Cebu. Other materials used were “end-of-roll lace trimmings” and strips of frayed chiffon.
The design struck a balance between tradition and modernity with its classic silhouettes and unconventional materials, organizers said in introducing the entry.
Designer Ruby Maglinte with her entry “Nulla” for zero as starting point for a limitless future. She is shown with her mentor Hanz Coquilla and model Akanksha AS. In a Facebook post, Maglinte dedicated her achievement to her mother, who has passed away. “I hope you're happy there, seeing me slowly reaching my dreams,” she said
Asked if he would pursue designing full time, Jamio said no. He will continue doing it on the side.
His competition mentor, however, thought otherwise.
Jamio should go “all in” on designing, said prominent Cebuano designer Ia Coca.
“It's definitely time, definitely time to go all in. This is really proof that he can do it, you know. He should really resign now and start building his brand,” Coca said.
He described working with Jamio as “a breeze.”
“I did not need to do much because he already had ideas and all. I just needed to guide him and it was very easy to do so,” Coca said after the awarding.
This piece is inspired by the sainthood of St. Philip Neri, the patron saint of Joy and Happiness, according to designer King Rosales (right). He is shown with his mentor Edwin Ao and model Marcus Congmon, who is wearing the entry
Jamio won P100,000 as cash prize in the competition held at the ballroom of Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort.
Coca praised Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort for holding the competition, describing it as a good platform for up-and-coming designers “to have that spark to push themselves further and to push their careers up there.”
The “Beyond Happiness” initiative is part of Sheraton’s push to make the brand the top destination for weddings. In Cebu, it was co-presented by the AppleOne Group, the company that owns Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort.
“Cebu can truly become a top wedding destination in Asia, and even more so, we are confident that Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort can be at the forefront of wedding tourism in the region through a growing preference for premium destination weddings,” said AppleOne Group AVP for Hospitality Samantha Manigsaca.
The design competition was the culmination of the “Beyond Happiness: Weddings and Socials Expo" held at the resort last October 5 to 6. Apart from the design competition, they also held a contest among students on cake decorating and table setting.
Dottie Wurgler-Cronin, Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort General Manager, said sustainability and working with the community were central in their conceptualization of the wedding event.
The designers and their mentors, who are top wedding dress makers in Cebu, after the fashion show that highlighted their entries
“What do we represent? What is beyond happiness for us? It is beyond the commercial aspect of doing the business here. It's really being part of the community, giving it back. And we also would like, I would say, really highlight we as Filipinos, you know, the creativity of the Filipinos. And it doesn't matter whether you are educated in a fashion design school or you graduated from a university,” Cronin told reporters.
The resort decided to make mentor-mentee teams central to the contest to make it sustainable for the entrants and improve their experience.
“Most of them are really financially challenged,” said Marketing and Communications Manager JM Ceniza- Sequihod. “Most of them cannot establish a business because they don't have the funds. That's why the designer mentors are also quite generous enough to share to them their resources.”
