THE kink that saw the announcement that the Mindanao Tapestry Show for the Miss Universe 2017 to be held in Davao was cancelled has been ironed out and the show will go on as originally scheduled. This was announced by Department of Tourism Undersecretary Katherine "Kat" de Castro, who was the one who announced the cancellation earlier because of some misunderstanding between the local fashion designers and the Manila organizers.
"TULOY ANG MINDANAO TAPESTRY SHOW SA DAVAO CITY! Lahat naman ay nadadaan sa mabuting usapan. A few days ago, I decided to cancel the Davao leg of Miss Universe. This was because the parties involved would not compromise at that time. But after a long conversation with my boss, DOT Secretary Wanda Teo (who is a Davaoena herself), she decided to push through with it because that's how much she loves Davao and its people. I was asked to fly to Davao City and talk to the upset designers. After a couple of hours, we were able to sort things out. Mabuhay ang mga designers ng Davao City!!!" de Castro shared in her social media account.
The Davao Fashion and Design Council Foundation Inc. (DFDCFI) earlier protested the exclusion of Mindanao designers from what was named Mindanao Tapestry Show. The fashion show was to be an auxiliary event of the Miss Universe pageant.
"We are not saying we want to dress all the 40 candidates, but what we want is to showcase Davao designers by dressing some of them, DFDCFI member Dodjie Batu was earlier quoted during the Habi at Kape media forum at Abreeza Mall in Davao City, Wednesday, December 14, 2016.
At that time, only showbiz designer Renee Salud was designated as designer and overall director of the Mindanao Tapestry Show while the local designers were allowed only to dress local models in a separate event. an act considered as an insult by the local designers.
On Saturday, Usec de Castro, through Secretary Teo's orders, along with DOT Regional Director Robert Alabado III met with eight members of the DFDCFI, Davao haute couture icon Alfonso "Boy" Guino-o, and 13 independent designers at Marco Polo Hotel to settle the matter.
Present also were production director Cata Figueroa and manager Concon Siniel with the organizing committee for Davao, the Red Ties Events. "DOT had a dialogue early today with Davao designers, led by Alfonso Guino-o, and were finally given a significant number of Miss Universe candidates to dress up for the Davao fashion show. Davao Fashion and Design Council members were also in full force. The number of designers will be selected yet by the Miss Universe organizing committee after evaluation of credentials and bodies of work hopefully over the weekend. It was a good meeting with good insights as well. At least now everything is cleared already," Emi Englis, of the DFDCFI and program chair of Fashion Design at the Philippine Women's College of Davao told SunStar Davao through Facebook chat.
"Davao is rooting for half but again will depend if we have the number approved by MUO (Miss Universe organizer) based on the credentials and bodies of work of the designers. Apart from that there will also be an even equitable opportunity to accommodate more designers for a special show at the same venue featuring more local and regional designers. The other details could not be released yet until the approval of MUO," he added.