Titled Finding Beauty and Power in Struggle, the collection is comprised of five different looks that become progressively lighter and less bulky, as they gradually include fewer furniture elements.
Each piece incorporates pieces of deconstructed chair frames and buckle-like elements, as well as layers of drapery made from lycra jersey and silk satin.
For the first look in the series, the teal-coloured garment, Macatangay attached several bent copper tubes to the front of a chair he had at home. The chair is known as a butterfly, or Hardoy, chair, and the designer used epoxy and rivets to give the frame more volume and a more interesting shape.
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The second, olive-green, look and the third orange garment both incorporate parts of a bent-wood armchair frame, which was deconstructed and spray-painted to achieve a chrome effect.
The final yellow and red looks saw the designer wrap fabric around mitred MDF wood squares to create buckle-like shapes, that represent "the tiny remaining fragments of struggle" before sewing them to the back and chest of each garment.
The process of making each garment and the materials used were adapted at the last minute as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and despite the unexpected hurdles, Macatangay finished his collection in two months, and found that it added to its value.
Source: Natashah Hitti
