By: Jen Castro
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 8/14/25
On Saturday, August 9th 2025, Fil-Am Fashion Week held its 4th annual fashion show at the Marriott Atrium Hotel in Seattle, WA. Known for their cultural awareness and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, FAFW (Fil-Am Fashion Week) was founded in 2021 by entrepreneurs Lou Vargas and Co-Founder Vina Vanessa Vogt who strongly support inclusivity and creative expression while promoting Filipino culture, heritage, and fashion. This year, the week-long celebration kicked off with a free educational fashion symposium at the Filipino Community Center featuring guest speakers educating attendees on the history of Filipino fashion, entrepreneurship in modeling, and self-branding. In collaboration with the Miss Philippines Northwest Pageant, a pre-show celebration all white party was also held at Rebel 1 Studios in Seattle featuring a stylish, engaging, and beautifully arranged fashion show by designers Jersey Virago, Charm and Paolo, and Casa de Lipa along with music, drinks, and appetizers. Glammed up in all white, Seattle creatives gathered together to sip champagne, network, and celebrate fashion sustainability prior to the main event the following day.
Hosted by Hassan Lovett aka Happy the Host of Tier One Entertainment Group, this year’s main event featured a variety of vendors who showcased their unique designs, accessories, and businesses including Kilvani Designs by Jessica Kilpatrick. Other fashion exhibits included designs by Jersey Virago, Santiago Alejandro, LaMama’s Hands, Boogie Musni Rivera, and Bryce Rail. Decorated beautifully with a dazzling red carpet, stage, and photo op backdrops, the venue perfectly captured the fashionable aesthetic of the event, and provided a diverse selection of vendors, models, artistic creatives, and designers. Broken down into 6 different acts including resistance, empowerment, innovation, and resilience, the runway show kicked off with Los Angeles based Filipino designer Carl Andrada of Carmelo Designs previously featured earlier this year at New York Fashion Week. Andrada’s extraordinary collection called “Noli Me Tangere” featured a color palette of gold, black, silver, and white, and featured elaborately designed gowns inspired by Filipino heritage and historical narratives. The colors were symbolic of oppression, mourning, royalty, and hope, representing the struggle and optimism from the characters featured behind José Rizal’s novel.
Explaining further, Andrada elaborates, “Tonight my collection was inspired by the novel “Noli Me Tangere” (Touch Me Not) from our Philippine National Hero José Rizal. The novel speaks of resistance and revolution in the Philippines during the 19th century while under Spanish colonial rule, “Andrada said. Adding, “The novel was written to awaken Filipinos to colonialism and the realities of having to fight for their freedom. For the collection, I used some Filipino musa fabric which is a hand woven banana fiber fabric utilized by the people who were deprived of liberty in one of the correctional institutions in the Southern Philippines. While in rehabilitation, the use and creation of the fabric helped them gain extra income and help support their families.” Andrada also featured models in exquisite pageant gowns in colors of hot pink, blue, and yellow. His overall collection perfectly captured the artistic beauty and history of Filipino heritage. The second collection featured was from Seattle based designer Priyanka Signature Couture featuring bold and vibrant colors of East Indian culture and heritage. Part of FAFW inclusivity is featuring designers, models, and creatives from all backgrounds and Priyanka’s unveiling of her “New Era Collection” was the perfect example of the event’s commitment to inclusivity. Her collection’s use of brilliant and striking colors combined with a focus on femininity and tradition made for a visually stunning presentation and captured India’s culturally rich fashion sense.
Other designers featured in the show included Kralizak, Point of View Label, and Rei Escario from Cebu City, Philippines House of Escario. Walking for Kralizak, model and designer Walace Style had an absolute blast, “I was honored to be specially requested to walk for designer Kralizak at Fil-Am Fashion Week this year, ” he said. Adding, “Allen and I have been creating magic together for 5+ years, and his attention to detail is unmatched. Each look is custom-made for every model, and FAFW always treats their models & designers like royalty, which is why I’ve been coming back since their first show.”
Rounding out the show was a featured collection by Philippine based designer Rei Escario whose collection infused femininity, sophistication and grace. Coming all the way from Cebu City, Escario’s inspiration behind his collection was “hope.” “If you see some of my clothes on the models, they have flowers on top,” he explained. Further noting, “These are Sampaguita crocheted flowers which is the national flower of the Philippines. I wanted to symbolize light and that in every tragedy or bad circumstance, there’s always hope.” Escario’s first time in Seattle, he has enjoyed his time here and wants others to know to keep loving themselves, “Express yourself with hope. Don’t be afraid to explore new styles or use color,” he said.
Giving back to the community, FAFW has always made it a priority to partner with non-profits and charitable organizations. “In the past, we have partnered with a local rotary club to help provide internet access to schools in the Philippines, and also helped support orphanages in the Philippines by providing backpacks, school uniforms, and shoes,” Co-Founder Vina Vanessa Vogt said. FAFW has also previously partnered with a mental health organization in Las Vegas to help raise awareness and support their programs. For 2025, the organization plans on providing opportunities as explained by Vogt. “We’re focusing on giving back to our own industry. A portion of our proceeds will go toward assisting models and photographers with travel expenses so they can seize the opportunity to participate in New York Fashion Week (NYFW). We seek to help elevate their careers and bring more representation to global runways.” Vogt said.
An eventful week full of fashion education, networking, and celebration, FAFW ended on a high note by exhibiting a diverse group of creatives, models, and designers from all walks of life. Until next year, follow FAFW on Instagram to keep up with future opportunities and events.
Follow Fil-Am Fashion Week on Instagram here.
Official Webpage: https://filamfashionweek.com/
