Inside TernoCon 2025: The Show Starts When You Arrive

On its fourth edition, the CCP and Bench’s landmark TernoCon continues to showcase how cultural preservation can be both ceremonial and chic.

Butterfly sleeves fluttered through Manila’s cultural district last Sunday, congregating towards the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). While they battled the traffic and road closures with the Grand Sto. Niño procession unfolding nearby, here was a different celebration of faith, one in Philippine fashion identity. It’s TernoCon, back for its fourth edition.

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There are fashion shows that fill our calendars with some predictable regularity, yet TernoCon arguably stands apart in scale and purpose. The biannual gathering presented by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and Filipino retail brand BENCH transcends runway spectacle. It is, in part, a competition for young designers. The selected participants are put through a year-long mentorship program with seasoned designers, culminating in a showcase and awarding ceremony. But it is also so much more. The convention preserves a living, breathing piece of Filipino identity through the promotion of the national costume, the terno.

Show Starts When You Arrive

Even before the first model took to the runway, the vision of TernoCon materialized in the lobby. The terno dress code transformed the space into a living gallery. The guests, representing the world of Filipino fashion, arts, and culture, were both spectators and participants.

Cris and Tere Villonco arrive, wearing Gabbie Serenas and archival terno from the collection of Armida Siguion-Reyna, respectively

Sampaguita headpiece on Jet Acuzar in Jacqui Pisano

Myrza Sison in Jun Escario

Mavis Fuentabella in Rhett Eala

Bea Elizalde in Len Cabili

Let us share some of the little side conversations on attire. Monique Villonco, one of this year’s TernoCon judges, arrived with her daughter Tere, both wearing pullouts from the wardrobe of 70s noontime show Aawitin Kita, which had been hosted by Villonco’s mother, veteran actress Armida Siguion-Reyna. In a fitting tribute to Filipino fashion history, Kai Lim wore vintage Ramon Valera, our first National Artist for Fashion Design. These archival treasures blended with contemporary interpretations of the national dress. Xandra Rocha Araneta wore a creation by this edition’s mentor Lulu Tan-Gan. A clever trompe l’oeil pañuelo seemed to hang on the neckline of Vicki Delgado, wearing Ivar Aseron.

Tere and Monique Villonco in archival ternos from the collection of Armida Siguion-Reyna

Kai Lim in archival Ramon Valera

Vicki Delgado in Ivar Aseron

Xandra Rocha-Araneta in Lulu Tan-Gan

The terno’s journey, as TernoCon founding artistic director Gino Gonzalez captures in a 2015 essay for Fashionable Filipinas, embodies an ongoing cultural dialogue. The introduction of Western influences by the Spanish was not an “introduction” of our national dress but rather a “refashioning” of the existing indigenous clothing. Pieces like the tapis skirt and baro tunic were paired with the Western saya, creating something uniquely Filipino. This year, the dress code highlighted the pañuelo, the traditional kerchief of the terno ensemble, which traces back to the pre-colonial alampay. Over the decades, the terno has been a symbol of evolution that still finds root and inspiration in its history.

Blend of Fashion and Cultural Presentation

Now, settle down, folks, the show is about to begin. Guests moved towards the transformed main hall of the PICC, cleverly designed so there were only front-row seats.

BENCH CEO Ben Chan, wearing a Joey Samson barong, formally opened the evening with a welcome message. CCP President Kaye Tinga, also in Joey, followed, reflecting on fashion’s unique role in cultural identity.

“Art shapes our cultural narrative,” she said, “but fashion adds a unique dimension because it is accessible and interactive, connecting directly with the individual wearer.” This year’s brief for the designers, collections inspired by 20th-century Filipino artists, distilled paintings, sculpture, and even architecture into a wearable form of art.

The Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group set the tone of cultural presentation with the putungan ceremony. It was a touching performance of respect and thanksgiving with the traditional crown of flowers placed on TernoCon chief mentor Inno Sotto. Later, the dance group’s presentation of the pandanggo would serve as an intermission between the twelve TernoCon finalists’ presentations of their three-piece terno collections, the culmination of the year-long TernoCon mentorship program.

On the Runway

As tradition, the winner of the previous TernoCon edition Yssa Inumerable presented a collection. In line with the brief, she was inspired by Anita Magsaysay-Ho. The collection unfolded to a live soundtrack of Philippine folk songs.

The mentors’ showcase bridged the cultural conversation between generations. Rhett Eala channeled Lao Lianben’s minimalist black-and-white aesthetic, Lulu Tan-Gan interpreted Ang Kiukok’s bold geometries, and Ezra Santos brought Abdulmari Imao’s cultural motifs to life.

The highlight of the evening came with the announcement of the prestigious Pacita Longos Award. The award is named after the pioneering Filipino fashion designer of the 1920s credited with conceiving the iconic terno sleeve we see today. This year’s honor went to Peach Garde, whose collection drew inspiration from National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin. It was beautiful symmetry, gold confetti showering Garde’s architectural interpretations within the grand lobby of PICC, itself a Locsin masterwork of brutalist beauty. To borrow a phrase, it was a past tense, future-perfect kind of night.

One of the twelve TernoCon finalists, Peach Garde’s collection was inspired by National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin.

Yssa Inumerable, who won the Pacita Longos Award in TernoCon 2023, presented a collection inspired by Anita Magsaysay-Ho.

Lulu Tan-Gan was one of this year’s mentors. She presented a collection inspired by National Artist for Visual Arts Ang Kiukok.

The collection of mentor Rhett Eala drew from the art of Lao Lianben.

Mentor Ezra Santos was inspired by National Artist for Visual Arts Abdulmari Imao for his TernoCon collection.

The Pacita Longos Award was given to Peach Garde of Iloilo.

All photos by Gabi Bechtel.

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