The spot is the intersection of Calle Iznart, JM Basa and Ledesma in Iloilo City where Plazoleta Gay is nested in downtown Iloilo City, Philippines
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The old world ambience could have rivalled the iconic fashion streets of Rue du Faubourg and Rue Saint Honoré in Paris, France by the merits of its stunning visual background of outstanding colonial architecture. Afterall, Iloilo is dubbed as the Paris of the South in the past.
Calle Real or the once known as the Royal Street of Iloilo will always give us imprints of its glorious history imbibed with international influences.
The aristocratic air of the “ La Muy Leal Noble y La Ciudad de Iloilo" por la Reina Regente de España ( "The Most Loyal and Noble City” or “La Muy Leal Y Noble Ciudad de Iloilo” by the Queen Regent of Spain) through which a Coat of Arms from the Royal Decree of 1896 recognized the loyalty of the Ilonggos to the Spanish crown, still remains in alleys of Calle Real lined with breath-taking colonial edifices.
Plazoleta is Spanish for small square. Plazoleta Gay does not refer in honor of gay people but rather it was named after the last Spanish Alcalde Mayor of Iloilo City, Jose Ma. Gay who resisted the revolutionary forces and government of Governor-General Don Diego de los Rios which thus ended the last duly constituted Spanish authority in the Philippines in Iloilo—the last frontier of the Spanish empire in Asia.
Perhaps, Plazoleta Gay marked with an obelisk monument can be the kilometer zero of the city much like the archaic women fountain in front of Casa Real, the kilometer zero of Iloilo province.
Plazoleta Gay symbolizes the melting pot of foreign influences in the city—the coming of the Chinese as early as 1600’s by which today the FIlipino-Chinese Arch was erected in the site.
It also symbolizes the American settlers in Calle Real at turn of the century bringing western style of commerce including the first department store in the country down the street of JM Basa in Hoskyn’s leading to Calle de la Rama and Muelle Loney where the British created pioneering industries and commerce ahead of any place in the country before the World War II.
Ergo, Iloilo became part of the only important key cities in the country along with Manila and Cebu in 1900’s.
Iloilo was the textiles capital of the Philippines during the Spanish period but when the British imported cotton at the international port of Iloilo at the turn of the century, the
handloom weaving industry was replaced by sugar ending the exports of textiles and commenced the shipments of local sugar internationally which created so much wealth to the Ilonggos while the balance of keeping the huge weaving workforce diminished which included the affluent districts of Molo, Arevalo, Villa and Jaro in the city alone, not counting those in the suburbs such as Miagao.
Today, with the efforts of designers, traders , government and NGO’s, Iloilo’s textile industry is on its way to its rehabilitation.
Hablon is a prime textile representing Iloilo which takes another turn of international exposure within an organized and formal virtual global commerce at the Tenun Fashion Week participated in by ASEAN countries this coming October until December 2021.
as written by
PJ Arañador
Photo: An iridiscent hablon contemporary column gown with hand painted metallic ombre of silver and gold embellished on it ruffles. PJ Arañador is an international lifestyle designer whose design philosophy embraces a sense of origin, time and space. He is a social entrepreneur with his body of works murmuring the authenticity of traditional techniques in artisanal crafts while interpreting them in contemporary forms.
VIRTUAL SHOW DETAILS
Iloilo handloom textiles hablon at the Tenun Fashion Week for ASEAN countries. Virtual World Premiere Oct. 16, 2021 7 to 9 pm GMT +8 in YouTube Channel: TENUN Fashion Week
https://www.youtube.com/.../UC.../channels
b) Facebook live on our Facebook page: TENUN Fashion Week
Designer Apparel and Accessories PJ Aranador
Artisans Salngan Multipurpose Coop Oton Iloilo Province Elsie Balidiong
Marketing Arm Panublix Noreen Marian Bautista
Photo Algie Casuela Panaguiton Jr.
HMUA Benny Che
Models Rochell Geron IMG
Salngan Multipurpose Coop
Thanks to Permanent Ambassador of the Philippines to the ASEAN Amb Noel Servigon
Iloilo Provincial Office for Culture, Arts and Tourism Bombette Golez Marin #hablon #tenun ,
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