What a lovely sight it is to see Filipino fashion take up this much space in Hollywood. For the premiere of Forgotten Island, Liza Soberano arrived in a pink Mark Bumgarner gown with butterfly sleeves and thousands of hand-sewn paillettes cascading down its skirt. H.E.R. was in Bumgarner, too, wrapped in white pearl fringe that swung with every step. If one look on a Hollywood carpet is cause for celebration, we’ll happily take two.
The occasion couldn’t have suited them better. Forgotten Island takes Philippine folklore somewhere it has rarely been allowed to roam at this scale: a DreamWorks fantasy. Directed by Joel Crawford and Filipino-American filmmaker Januel Mercado, the animated feature follows best friends Jo and Raissa, voiced by H.E.R. and Soberano, into the mythical island of Nakali.
Liza Soberano Brings Pahiyas to Hollywood With Mark Bumgarner
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Soberano already knew what she wanted for the moment. “Liza wanted to wear a Filipino designer for the Hollywood premiere, and we were thrilled to dress her,” Bumgarner tells MEGA.
Her Philippine manager, Pia Campos of W Talent Management, made the introduction to US stylist Katie Qian. A few sketches followed. Black and white were initially requested, though Soberano had been wearing plenty of both, and Bumgarner was ready to see her in color. Soft pink it was.
“I wanted Liza’s look to feel like a celebration of her and where she comes from,” he says. “The pink has the energy of a Filipino fiesta, while the butterfly sleeves give it a distinctly Filipiniana silhouette. The lower part is covered in thousands of hand-sewn fabric paillettes that evoke kiping, the colorful rice wafers used to decorate the Pahiyas Festival in Quezon.”
Qian and Soberano stayed involved throughout, receiving updates from Bumgarner and weighing in as the design developed. Sometimes Qian asked him to push a detail further; other times, she pulled him back.
H.E.R. Dips Into the Mark Bumgarner Archives
H.E.R. and stylist Britt McCamey, meanwhile, already had their eye on Bumgarner’s white fringe number. Their request came two weeks before the premiere, giving him little time to reshape the neckline and bustline and add more pearls to the strands.
“I loved the movement of the fringe for H.E.R. It’s an archive design, but we made this version specifically for her,” Bumgarner says. “I reshaped the neckline and pearl strands to add more texture and make it feel like her own.”
“I wanted the fringe to move with her,” Bumgarner says. “The silhouette shows off her figure, and the white looks beautiful against her skin.”
Getting both women into his work made for quite the evening, though Soberano’s request was especially close to home for the designer. “It’s a dream to dress a fellow Filipino on a global stage,” he shares. “Seeing Liza wear our work at her Hollywood premiere makes me proud, both as a designer and as a Filipino. It’s a moment we can all celebrate.”
Bumgarner is already looking past one premiere: “A Hollywood premiere puts Filipino design in a global conversation. People may not recognize the references in Liza’s dress right away, but they can feel its joy and appreciate the work that went into it. If that makes them curious about the terno sleeves, even better. For me, the real opportunity is to show that Filipino designers have a distinct voice and that our work belongs on the world stage.”
For one night in Hollywood, his clothes got plenty of room to speak.
Photos courtesy of FORGOTTEN ISLAND MOVIE and MARK BUMGARNER
