TENORIO-JORGE: Filipino Specimens on Fifth Avenue

Photo of Tenorio by Alfred Mendoza, Jorge by Patrick Uy

 

NEW YORK - This May, Filipino designers Brian Tenorio and Emi Jorge celebrate quintessential beauty and exoticism in their Fifth Avenue shoes and accessories exhibition, “Tenorio/Jorge: Filipino Specimens on Fifth Avenue”.

Jorge’s artisan-crafted purses and Tenorio’s exquisite footwear redefine Filipiniana as a contemporary form in the world’s art and fashion capital. Together, the designers embody the male and female archetypes of Filipino ingenuity, beauty and design-intelligence.

Tehran-born Filipino-American Brian Tenorio is the most widely publicized shoe designer from the Philippines. Tenorio’s Dreams collection is his first foray into the New York subconscious—a subversively beautiful and horrifying blend of the magical and macabre, of East and West, of real and imaginary. From the Eight Leather Monster to Tenorio’s masculine version of duckbills —Hammerheads, to his past loves (the Dudu), to family ties (A&A and Ms. T named after his sister), Tenorio’s Dreams Collection enlightens us on the workings of the mind and emotions of one of the Philippines’ most popular sapateros and New York’s newly adopted designing son.

The Eight-leather Monster is an exhibition of texture-excess, meticulous stitching, and very significant ecology. The upper is stitched onto an arched stacked-leather heel on a hand-buffed leather sole

 

Onyx Engagement - Spanish calfskin slip-on with a one-and-a-half-inch emerald-cut solid slab of real onyx. Sheepskin leather lining, hand-buffed leather sole

 

Apen and Angelina - Spanish calfskin mini-boots with two-layered Origami knot details. Sheepskin leather lining, hand-buffed leather sole

 

Emi Jorge is one of the Philippines’ foremost women’s shoe and accessories designers. On her 10th year of retail success, she debuts her eponymous brand with the poetry of nature. 14 exquisitely handcrafted minaudieres give form to stories from home: the graceful curve of the carabao’s horn in a vessel of wood and metal; the ruby red of fireflies in semi-precious stone; and the azure sea mirrored in blue-tinted seashells. Jorge’s collection is a sculptural homage to her nomadic travels to Banaue, Donsol, and Bohol, and other places of rediscovery. From Conquistador to Carabao and Ani, from Rice Terraces to Symphony No. 9, the pieces epitomize natural forms and patinas, and the current bold global sensibilities in fashion.

Apple of the Aye - Wooden minaudiere trimmed in yellow brass frame and a hexagonal detail in black lip and white lip oyster shell

 

Naloleon's Home - Aquamarine inlay of Abalone shells with metal casted Coral detail, trimmed in Ebony Makassar

 

TENORIO/JORGE: Filipino Specimens was especially selected by the Philippine Consulate General in New York for its “The Best of the Philippines on Fifth Avenue” Project which features Filipino artists and artisans who have received global acclaim for the excellence of their craft. Tenorio and Jorge’s designs will be on public view at a window display on Fifth Avenue from 29 April to 22 May, 2010. Their actual (indoor) design exhibition will be at the main hall of the Philippine Center from May 10 to 23, 2010.

As a backdrop to Tenorio and Jorge’s designs are two of the most-photographed faces in the Philippines, Piolo Pascual and Angel Aquino (as styled by Peps Silvestre and Eileen Ramos) — both excellent specimens of quintessential Filipino beauty. Photographed by acclaimed Filipino photographer Juan Caguicla (whose work was recently auctioned off at Sotheby’s), rendered with radial references to traditional Filipino patterns and scallop-styles are by multi-awarded fine artist Christina Dy, and curated by Isa Lorenzo of the Silverlens Gallery, the backdrop discusses a contemporary perspective of Filipino beauty, contrasting cold and harsh urban reality with elegant old-world fire.

Tenorio/Jorge: Filipino Specimens opens with a pre-launch party at Greenhouse Lounge in SOHO on Saturday, 15 May 2010, starting at 9PM. The Exhibition Gala Night is on 21 May 2010, 6 to 9PM, at the Philippine Center, 556 Fifth Avenue, New York.

The Filipino Entrepreneurs & Resources Network, Inc. (FERN, Inc. -- maker of FERN-C: the leading brand of Vitamin C in the Philippines) with the Department of Trade and Industry of the Republic of the Philippines, support the exhibition launch of designers Emi Jorge and Brian Tenorio in New York.