Patis Tesoro’s Filipiniana is Forever honors the cultural icon’s legacy of empowering women in the creative industry while raising funds for projects that support Filipinas and children nationwide.
Patis Tesoro, the woman who practically stitched the term Filipiniana into our national consciousness, is back, and she’s not here to whisper. She’s here to make a statement—or rather, a hundred of them. Filipiniana is Forever, presented by the Zonta Club of Alabang, isn’t your typical terno show. It’s a celebration that comes alive with movement, a love letter to a craft that refuses to fade.
After years of creating stunning terno pieces (and watching them sell out before she could even hold a show), Tesoro finally returns to the runway on November 4, 2025 at the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt BGC. “For a while, it was hard for me to actually get a full collection together. Even then, I began building the black and white pavilion on my property where I envisioned doing a show,” she shares in a statement.
Her 100-piece collection explores what it means to be Filipina, both in fashion and spirit, through designs that radiate strength, unapologetic sensuality, and exquisite detail. Inspired by the delicate image of a woman’s nape peeking from behind the baro (the country’s traditional lightweight embroidered blouse), Tesoro sought to capture the quiet allure of these garments. “When you are Filipino, you are attractive when you wear the baro’t saya. Traditionally, it is folded at the back to reveal the nape. It is also an evolving, wearable piece of art,” she explains.
Patis’ Filipiniana is Forever collection will also include dasters, or house dresses, a favorite everyday garment of the fashion icon. Naturally, these are elevated with handwoven details, patchwork, and intricate embroidery. Other highlights include Maria Clara gowns (a formal evolution of the baro’t saya), alongside Kimono jackets inspired by Freddie Mercury and hand-painted barongs, all making a striking presence on the runway.
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Where Human-Made Authenticity Reigns Supreme
“I wanted to emphasize the beauty of handmade things,” Tesoro expresses. “95% of the collection is handmade. Fabrics are handwoven, hand painted, hand embroidered, hand beaded. Everything is changing so fast now because of technology. And there is a movement of people making technology secondary. They are returning to nature and things made by hand–something that AI can’t touch.”
Indeed, every piece in Filipiniana is Forever is testament to the steady, practiced craftsmanship that can only be achieved through hard work and patience. This kind of authenticity also extends to the unique, traditional design elements that run throughout the collection, a rebellion against the homogeneity one might notice in today’s increasingly globalized world of fashion trends.
“When you look at how everyone dresses on an ordinary day, everyone looks the same!” Patis observes. She notes how this shift has blurred the lines where dressing for cultural identity is concerned. “We express our identity and even status through clothing.”
“What is the Filipiniana today?” she asks. The designer conducts a rich symphony of colors, textures, and patterns with the precision of a maestro. She works with handwoven fabrics—piña, jusi, tropical linens, and rare weaves from across the archipelago—as her canvas, her blank sheet of music. Her process embraces maximalism, layering details like the notes of a soaring crescendo. “It comes together as I see the materials,” she explains. Her brilliance lies in her instinct for design, knowing precisely when and where to pause or go all out.
When Fashion Meets Purpose
Her collaboration with the Zonta Club of Alabang transforms this creative indulgence into an act of advocacy, and one that aligns with Tesoro’s lifelong mission of empowering fellow Filipinos, especially women, who make up 90% of her creative team. Proceeds from the show will fund Zonta’s various projects, ranging from equine therapy for children with cancer to women’s health initiatives across the country.
“Her work is meaningful because she brings Filipino artistry, craft and techniques to the next generation, ensuring that it will live on,” shares Kathleen Liechtenstein, President of Zonta Club of Alabang.
At its heart, Filipiniana is Forever isn’t a trip down memory lane, it’s a pulse of renewal. Patis Tesoro isn’t trying to freeze the past in fabric—she’s breathing new life into it, one embroidered sleeve and stitched story at a time. When the lights come up on the runway, it’ll be impossible not to feel it—that mix of pride and possibility.
Tesoro reminds us that heritage doesn’t have to sit quietly behind museum glass. It’s meant to be worn, lived in, and reimagined. The terno, once reserved for portraits and pageantry, now walks boldly into the present: relevant and beautifully Filipino. She’s showing us that our craftsmanship doesn’t have to compete with the world. It already speaks its own timeless language.
And, true to form, Patis never stops at pretty. Every piece she creates tells a story of women—of makers, wearers, and dreamers—joined together by tradition and shared purpose.
Patis Tesoro’s Filipiniana is Forever is a benefit show presented by the Zonta Club of Alabang. It will happen on November 4, 2025 at the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt BGC. Tickets are available via https://qlickpass.com/. You may also email: [email protected]
Photos courtesy of Before Deadlines.
