Peers remember designer’s style, passion, inspiration
Cebu’s fashion industry is grieving over the loss of one of its respected designers.
But instead of dwelling on how she died, colleagues , friends and patrons of slain designer Joy Bernaldez said they will celebrate her life as a fashion designer and a philanthropist, who inspired fellow designers and colleagues.
In the late 1990s Bernaldez founded Clothes for Life, a charitable foundation of designers, stylists, models and make-up artists, who mounted fashion shows to raise funds for the benefit of the elderly and battered women.
“We will make it survive and continue this in her memory,” said designer Arcy Gayatin, a close friend.
“She’s a big loss,” said Gayatin, who remembers Bernaldez as a “very doting and helpful” mentor to young designers like the late Salvador Malto and Ren Manabat, who worked for her before making their own mark in the fashion industry.
Gayatin said Bernaldez impressed on them solid work ethics which helped them establish their own careers.
Another pillar in Cebu’s fashion sector, couture designer Philip Rodriguez said the Clothes for Life foundation united designers and other stakeholders in the industry through their activities.
In terms of style, he said Bernaldez was known for her feminine dresses and gowns.
“She reinvented Filipiniana with a modern twist,” said Rodriguez.
He was referring to Bernaldez’s unique line of handpainted “jusi” made of silk-like fabric for day separates and evening ensembles in a collection called Masterpieces in 1999.
“I will always remember her laugh, her smile and gaze. She was a very prosperous designer,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez knew her in their college days in the University of the Philippines as someone with an eye for good style, who laughed a lot and loved clothes. He wasn’t suprised when Bernaldez opened her own shop along P. del Rosario Street and made a name for herself.
“She was doing very well. She was strong (with clients) in the Chinese community,” Rodriguez said.
Bernaldez’s first shop was in Manila, then expanded to Cebu, Bohol and Davao until 2009.
Her first clients were students at the nearby University of San Carlos, who had her design their prom dresses and day wear at a time when ready-to-wear clothes were not yet readily available in the market.
“I was a customer way back in college,” recalled Gayatin.
“My barkada and I would go to her shop. I liked her designs. She was one of those who already established a name. She was very innovative and modernized Filipiniana wear,” Gayatin told CDN.
Gayatin said she was one of the first friends to learn about Saturday night’s shooting through her son, who is a close friend of Bernaldez’s son.
“It seems surreal. We in the fashion industry have the same emotions. Her death has really touched all of us in the industry. I consider her one of my closest friends in the industry. She was very passionate,” said Gayatin.
Milestones in Bernaldez’s three-decade career include the visits of former President Cory Aquino and other local and foreign dignitaries at her atelier in Cebu City to sample her hand-painted jusi creations.
She also mounted a fashion show at the Philippine Center in New York. In the 12th ASEAN SUMMIT in 2006, Bernaldez was one of three designers in the country commissioned by the government to make the traditional pina Barong Tagalog for the heads of state and the hand-painted evening gowns for their spouses also in hand-woven and hand-dyed pina.
Bernaldez has three sons and a daughter, Jackie, who also pursued fashion design and launched a collection of ready-to-wear clothes for J. Berns in shows in Manila and Cebu for FashionTV in 2007. Jackie now lives in Australia, where the family relocated in 2005. /Reporter Marian Z. Codilla
