AT LEAST 14 students of the Philippine Women's College (PWC) of Davao visited China from January 16 to 22 to experience the country's fashion and design industry.
Emi Alexander Englis, one of Davao's top fashion designers and faculty member of PWC-Davao, explained that the trip is the school's Fashion Design program's 4th International Industry Exposure and Educational Tour in China via Hong Kong Fashion Week, Macau and Guangzhou. Englis is the faculty coordinator for this year's tour.
Composed of four students of Interior Design, Painting and Visual Communication and 10 Fashion Design students, the week-long journey has become a platform for an interactive and interdisciplinary coverage.
"The trip aims to expose our students to global creative industries and enterprising platforms like HK Fashion Week and HK Art Festival," Englis said.
"Also, [it] provide[s] them multifarious cross-cultural engagements like a preview and director's talk of the Fashion Gala of the Tankas at the 'Fashion + Scissor, Paper & Rock Exhibition' at the HK Heritage Museum," Englis added
Apart from these things, the PWC-Davao students have also had the opportunity to meet fellow design students at the HK Polytechnic University.
"It turned out that this mix of students and exposures developed a brewing concept for their Annual Students' Art and Design Exhibition," the faculty member, who is a well-rounded designer himself, shared.
The meeting gave the students an idea on how to execute their "Conversations: When Art and Design Talk" in February and their graduation exhibition in March.
When asked about the impact of the tour to the participating students, Englis answered, "It definitely turned their perspectives and mindset at 360 degrees. They realized that their comfort zone in Davao is too small to contain the unlimited possibilities the world can pour in."
"In Hong Kong it was the industry at the forefront where key players push the envelope and set the trends," he added.
"Macao offered fresh inspirations being the new shifting gear for the creative and entertainment industry. Guangzhou remains to be the most active sourcing and manufacturing mecca," Englis said.
The seven-day trip was organized by the PWC alumnus Pia Dilangalen of Star Win Travel and Tours International and the Chancey Travel and Tours.
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