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Friday, August 23, 2002
Hail the hablon
By Emy A. Pedrosa
In a barrio in Argao, a southern town in Cebu, women make the hablon. A fabric woven by hand in a loom made of bamboo poles, the hablon is traditionally the material used for blankets and towels. Now, the lowly hablon has climbed its way to the high fashion ramp.
In the Mindanao Trade Expo last Aug. 2 held in Davao city, one of the highlights of the event was the fashion show on Mindanao and Visayas fibers.
Here avant-garde Cebuano fashion designers Minnie Yuvienco and Protacio Empaces showcased their creations of home-grown fabrics. Yuvienco, a staunch advocate in the use of indigenous materials for her ready-to-wear garments and evening gowns, presented a surprisingly wearable collection of hand-dyed hablon, Mindanao silk, and polished coconuts shells. Standouts were the cropped top of lightweight hablon embellished with asymmetrically-shaped coconut shells paired with a very long and elan skirt tied with a band made of, again, coconut shells, and a pantsuit of pristine-white hablon with the top decorated in macrame and with a shawl in floral embroidery wrapped around the hips.
And oh, not to forget the casual blouses and slip-on dresses that are dyed, painted, and beaded by hand. Yuvienco has successfully fashioned homegrown fabrics into dresses that are beautifully classic and refreshingly modern. “I am glad that we have a ready supply of indigenous materials like the hablon of Argao which can be easily styled according to the trend. With the trend towards ethnicity, the hablon can be painted on, embroidered on, and dyed into various shades – earth tones or in luscious colors,” Yuvienco said.
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