Streetwear is generous to anyone with a good idea. You can find it in a shirt printed with a joke only your friends would understand, or in jeans someone took apart and stitched back together. It lives close to the people who make it, so it naturally picks up pieces of their lives along the way.
One example comes from Orchard Road Fashion Week in Singapore, where Swash Originals by Jeth Torres, Dell Morales by Wendell Buenaventura, and Milkwear by Carlo Chu presented collections informed by their respective worlds.
Jeth Torres Knows One Filipino Word Can Say Plenty
For Swash Originals’ Jeth Torres—and for most Filipinos—pambihira is usually said when you’re exasperated. Or annoyed. Or both. By definition, however, it can also mean extraordinary.
Torres has been working with Philippine mysticism and Filipino culture through his label since he founded it in 2015. Thus, his interest in anting-anting, seen in the protective inscriptions adorning his pieces, comes from familiar territory.
It’s refreshing to be reminded that our culture has plenty of contradictions that can serve as inspiration. We’re religious as a country, yet we still have an inherent penchant for superstitious beliefs we can’t shake off.
Wendell Buenaventura Has an Appetite for Survival
Wendell Buenaventura called his collection Eat or Be Eaten, Kill or Be Killed. The Dell Morales designer was preoccupied with relevance and what people are willing to sacrifice for it. He wrote of people losing pieces of their humanity in its pursuit and forcing others to swallow the truth to protect their reputations.
It’s the bleak other side of the coin when Filipinos are praised for being resilient. We look for ways to be resourceful because we’ve had to, but ambition can also bring out the worst within ourselves. Buenaventura is honest about the ugliness that can come with wanting to get ahead. It’s an unforgiving way to think about self-improvement, but Eat or Be Eaten, Kill or Be Killed was never interested in being comfortable.
Carlo Chu Would Like You to Look Up
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As a much-needed dose of optimism, Carlo Chu offers a nice place to spend the afternoon with Under The Blue Skies, where clouds, fields, and the pleasure of a clear day inform Milkwear’s image of “Fresh Streetwear.”
Did you know the designer founded the label during the pandemic out of a desire to create positivity during an uncertain period? As Chu sees it, joy is perfectly reasonable creative material. It’s very Filipino of him. A blue sky can give him somewhere to begin and a cloud can end up on a runway, with nostalgia and childlike wonder finding their way into clothes intended to offer comfort and escape.
Superstition, resilience, joy—we Filipinos know all three quite well, and in the hands of Torres, Buenaventura, and Chu, these familiar parts of ourselves found their way into streetwear through the things each designer already cared about. An entire culture is still theirs to play with, and the possibilities only grow once personal experience enters the picture.
Photos courtesy of ORCHARD FASHION WEEK
Frequently Asked Questions
Jeth Torres of Swash Originals, Wendell Buenaventura of Dell Morales, and Carlo Chu of Milkwear presented collections at Orchard Road Fashion Week in Singapore, each drawing on distinct aspects of Filipino culture and identity.
Jeth Torres draws on Philippine mysticism, including anting-anting (protective amulets), reflected in the protective inscriptions on his pieces, a theme he has explored since founding Swash Originals in 2015.
Wendell Buenaventura’s collection, titled Eat or Be Eaten, Kill or Be Killed, explores the darker side of ambition and resilience, examining what people sacrifice, including parts of their humanity, to stay relevant.
Milkwear is a streetwear label founded by Carlo Chu during the pandemic to create positivity during an uncertain period; its collection, Under The Blue Skies, channels joy, nostalgia, and childlike wonder.
Superstition, resilience, and joy connect the three designers’ work — Jeth Torres exploring Filipino mysticism, Wendell Buenaventura examining the cost of ambition, and Carlo Chu channeling optimism through his “Fresh Streetwear” aesthetic.
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