The Olympic Opening Ceremony Uniforms for Team Philippines Have Been Unveiled

When the flag bearers of the Philippines Olympic team make their entrance at Friday's opening ceremony in Tokyo, they'll be appropriately repping the Philippines in Filipiniana attire. This year's festivities will be more subdued as the event is expected to be a somber ceremony.
The male officials and athletes will wear a cocoon silk barong while the women will wear a cocoon silk blazer. "The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) gave me three designs and I picked those," said football association president Nonong Araneta. A shawl, chosen by Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham 'Bambol' Tolentino, will top of the uniform.
The cocoon silk barong and blazer were designed by Kultura, and the shawl or alampay was created by Rajo Laurel.
"We made an 'alampay' which is a garment used in our Mindanao tribal islands. I used northern weaves from Benguet and Illongo high land tribes. I wanted to fuse several indigenous elements into the garment. But, at the same time remain visually striking," Laurel told Esquire Philippines.
The Philippine flag bearers for the opening ceremony are Eumir Marcial and Kiyomi Watanabe. Joining them are Nonong Araneta, Philippine Swimming Inc. head Lani Velasco, Gymnastics Association of the Philippines head Cynthia Carrion-Norton, Carlos Padilla, Nolito Velasco, and Daniel Bautista.
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