ALBAY, Philippines – Whereas many celebrated the inclusion of two transgender fashions on the Victoria’s Secret 2024 runway, marking a milestone in world vogue, streets in Legazpi Metropolis in Albay have additionally grow to be a vibrant runway of their very own. Right here, younger artists have turned the normal kumot to “kumhaute” to make a strong vogue assertion for gender equality.
Kumhaute is a play on the Filipino phrase kumot, which suggests blanket.
Jaune Jacob, a budding artist and editor-in-chief of the student-led vogue journal iPose, fondly recalled utilizing a skinny and floral kumot as her robe in childhood, pretending to be a magnificence queen or mannequin.
Rising up queer in a conservative neighborhood, Jacob’s first vogue breakthrough wasn’t on a stage however within the personal corners of her house, shielded from prying eyes and judgmental stares.
“After I was younger, I’d at all times use kumot as my robe whereas I slipped into moments of twirling and posing, secretly having my vogue present when nobody was house in order that I’d not be caught. Each time the door creaked open, I’d faux to be asleep, panicking and hiding due to my concern of being judged even by my family,” Jacob recalled.
Like Jacob, numerous different Filipino queer youngsters are pressured to cover their gender identification and expression as a result of stigma and prejudice that stay prevalent in Philippine society at present. Many of those youngsters are additionally targets of teasing, bullying, and harassment, notably in faculties and different social settings.
The parade occurred over the last week of September the place the kumhaute assortment was first featured. Draped with the blanket ensemble, the witty fashions gave a daring efficiency that instantly stirred consideration from spectators.
It was, in keeping with Jacob, a means of “residing a life as a proud trans.” She stated it enabled them to “showcase magnificent and great creations” outdoor and never behind closed doorways.
Gender icon
With out transgender fashions to look as much as, Jacob and lots of of her mates struggled to know their sexual orientation, gender identification, expression, and intercourse traits (SOGIESC).
She stated, “Earlier than, the idea of trans was nonetheless not common; it wasn’t straightforward to search out out about our identification as a result of the LGBT neighborhood idea was tremendous obscure and bullied again then.”
The “Kumhaute Couture” episode of the third season of Drag Race Philippines impressed her and different younger artists, together with promising Bikolano vogue fans.
The artists at the moment are behind a group used to champion the reason for making a extra inclusive and safer atmosphere for queer youngsters and different members of the LGBTIQA+ neighborhood.
“I used to be out of the blue reminded of our SOGIESC discovery journey and the way arduous it was when there have been little to no gender icons for younger gays or trans,” she stated.
There was a scarcity of position fashions for queer youngsters then, and media illustration of the LGBTIQA+ neighborhood was problematic and deceptive. Movies and reveals typically portrayed homosexuals as sexually promiscuous, additional perpetuating the stigma in opposition to queer folks.
Dwayne Jared Pasadilla, the inner vice-chairperson of the Performing Arts Union Built-in for Tradition, Arts, and Nature, and one of many fashions who showcased the kumhaute assortment, emphasised that the outfits draw inspiration from the heat and luxury of a kumot, which many flip to when in search of a protected place to exist.
“Kumot was our witness every time we cried alone and opened our weak facet, particularly after we wanted firm when the world was too filled with discrimination and heavy emotions,” Pasadilla stated.
Advocacy assertion
Other than the tales behind the great assortment, Gibo kan Soultero proprietor Lorenzo Andes stated the outfits additionally pay homage to the intricate tradition of the Philippines. This gave him the thought of making the kumhaute outfits in collaboration with different artists from their group.
“Wherever you go within the Philippines, you’ll at all times encounter the identical design of kumot. The familiarity with Filipino design and its use in a really unconventional vogue piece is an announcement of how we’re altering the narratives that we used to develop up with. After all, we purpose to make it extra vibrant and inclusive,” Andes stated.
Selling artwork and vogue designs that problem hetero-binary norms, Andes makes use of his designs to additional his advocacy of elevating consciousness and preventing discrimination, whereas additionally pushing for environmental safety and conservation by upcycling supplies which can be typically disposed of and wasted.
Andes referred to as for extra help for artists who add new flavors and reimagine Filipino tradition to create revolutionary items of artwork that foster range, fairness, and inclusion (DEI).
“We have to create extra artwork like this not just for aesthetic values, however most particularly to signify the struggles and aspirations of the youth and members of the [LGBT] neighborhood,” he stated.
Francis Esguerra, president of the Gayon Albay LGBT Group Included, stated artwork and vogue traits just like the kumhaute couture can empower marginalized sectors, notably the queer neighborhood.
“Creative expression is a strong device to lift consciousness and problem stereotypes, particularly in locations like Bicol the place cultural identification is powerful. We want these sorts of arts to foster conversations that can encourage actions for gender equality,” Esguerra stated.
Final September, Gayon spearheaded the formation of the primary DEI community within the area, named Magayon, a Bikolnon phrase which means stunning. With their advocacy for growing extra inclusive areas and dealing for authorized protections and equal rights for all, they hope that the kumot of each Filipino queer individual would sooner or later by no means be used to dry tears however as a substitute symbolize hope for a kinder and extra simply world. – Rappler.com
Reinnard Balonzo is a senior journalism pupil at Bicol College-School of Arts and Letters. An Aries Rufo Journalism Fellow of Rappler for 2024, he’s additionally chairperson of the School Editors Guild of the Philippines-Bicol.
