Designer Edgar San Diego puts down the needle and picks up a paintbrush
AN upcoming exhibit combines art and fashion, reflected in paintings of clothed figures by fashion designer Edgar San Diego.
The exhibit, titled “Baro’t Saya: Tuwa at Ligaya,” is slated to run from Oct. 9 to 15 at the ground level of the SM Mega Fashion Hall.
In a statement, the designer explained why he turned from fashion to painting. “I turned 60 last March 13, 2020. And then after two days, the lockdown was imposed. I thought that it was only going to last for a month or two. So, to keep me away from boredom, I cleaned the house, reorganized my cabinets and did things that I neglected when I was busy with my dress shop. However, when I ran out of things to fix, I decided to pick up my brushes and called my canvas supplier. Luckily, she was open all the time to accept my orders. What I did was to order an extra four to six canvases which eventually gave me no excuse to stop.”
In a Facebook message, Mr. San Diego said, “From then on, I kept on painting. I gave myself a quota to finish one [painting] every Friday and post it on Facebook and Instagram to know how people will react to it or see their comments. Aside from the many likes and favorable comments I’d get from my posts, some of my friends started to buy my artworks.”
It seems as if a skill had spontaneously been born under lockdown, just like many who have learned to cook or bake during the pandemic. But that is not really the case.
It turns out that painting was a long-cherished ambition.
“I finished Fine Arts, major in Advertising in UST and my two favorite subjects then were fashion and painting,” the designer explained. “My mother had a neighborhood dress shop when I was young and when I graduated, she allowed me to take over and expand it. If not for that, I could have gone straight to painting. But I remember my father’s apprehensions regarding my course — he said that I might just be a poor painter who sells my paintings on the street for my next meal. That’s why painting was never an option for me then. Now that I have more time in my hands, I’ll do something that I’m longing to do, paint!”
He used to hand-paint on formal clothes for established designers during his UST Fine Arts days. He was also a display-window artist at the Plaza Fashion Mart where he had a chance to meet fashion directors, models, and more designers whom he eventually worked with after college.
In his career, Mr. San Diego has promoted Philippine fashion and culture through fashion shows with Filipino communities in New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Atlanta, Missouri, Chicago, Guam, Honolulu, and London, and his solo gala fashion shows were also presented in Manila, Honolulu, Jakarta and Melbourne.
Fashion design was not his only world — costumes allowed for a more flamboyant expression. Among many milestones, he won the Grand Prix Best Costume Award in the Carnival in Rio in Manila, which brought him to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1990. He is also a five-time winner of the Annual Flores de Mayo at The Manila Hotel. He has designed costumes for several theater companies including Repertory Philippines (The Wizard of Oz, M Butterfly, among others), Trumpets (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Little Mermaid), and Newport Theater (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) and has worked on movies.
Mr. San Diego discussed the differences between making art with fabric, and now, with paint — one is a more collaborative pursuit, the other, solitary. “Couture starts from choosing the right fabric and color, then after, the long process of designing, pattern making, cutting, sewing, fitting, finishing with embellishments follows. Each stage of the process involves skilled workers such as a pattern maker, cutters, sewers, finishers, etc.,” he said. “Unlike in painting, you’re on your own from start to finish. Some painters even stretch their own canvases on wooden frames. Hence, business-wise, with painting, the overhead is low but there are more hits and misses since you still have to wait for buyers. Couture pieces are always made to order.”
Still, there are similarities in the process. “In painting, just like in couture, you have to find your own niche. Every artist or designer have their own style, color palette, story whims, etc. Once you develop it, you shall create your market.”
“The fashion industry is at its low point now,” he said of life during the COVID-10 pandemic. “Businessmen like me will have to diversify and reinvent ourselves. For now, we try to engage to other avenues that will require less or zero man power, home- based and with less capital such as online food and plant business,” he said.
Mr. San Diego’s exhibit is themed a “Tribute of Joy to the Filipina and her Traditional Dress amidst the Pandemic,” and the paintings feature clothed figures. Still, his mind turns to the catwalk. “I already imagine my paintings on my couture collection. Especially with today’s technology. They can reproduce, enlarge and print my paintings on fabrics. I’d love to explore that.
“After my exhibit I’d like to develop some new looks in my paintings but still keeping the Filipiñana theme.”
A percentage of the sales from “Baro’t Saya, Tuwa at Ligaya” will be donated to the Special Services of Jose Reyes Medical Center through Rheez Chua. — Joseph L. Garcia