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For renowned fashion designer Josie Natori, being woman-centered in her work helps her highlight the intricacies of women\u2019s personalities through clothing.<\/p>\nClothing began as a necessity \u2013 protection from the elements, a tool for survival. But over the centuries it transformed into one of humanity\u2019s most powerful aesthetic languages, allowing humans, particularly women, to express identity, emotion, and artistry through what they wear.<\/p>\n
For renowned fashion designer Josie Natori, being woman-centered in her work helps her highlight the intricacies of women\u2019s personalities through clothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said my biggest asset is being a woman, second is being Asian. That\u2019s inherent in the work we do, where a woman is able to express herself through the kind of clothes that we make. I think women have many moods \u2013 you can go very simplistic, you can go from just black to a lot of colors \u2013 it depends on what she feels. And that\u2019s part of it, because fashion is a way of self-expression,\u201d said the renowned fashion designer.<\/p>\n
Natori is one of the earliest and most successful Filipino\u2011American designers, and one of very few immigrant women who turned corporate success into a global fashion empire. After a historical career in finance on Wall Street at Merrill Lynch, where she became the first female Vice President in investment banking, she founded The Natori Company in 1977.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said that everything we create in Natori is about enhancing a woman\u2019s life and making her feel good \u2013 it\u2019s for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond fashion, Natori has long been active in arts and cultural work. One of her most recent ventures is the special staging of\u00a0Intramuros Evenings: La Voix Humaine\u00a0(The Human Voice) by The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and Intramuros Administration (IA), where she was costume designer.<\/p>\n
La Voix Humaine is a one-act monodrama by Francis Poulenc, based on a play by Jean Cocteau. The opera centers entirely on a woman\u2019s telephone conversation with her former lover, who is leaving her for another woman.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be frank, this is a very sad story. It centers on the feelings of a woman in one of her most vulnerable states,\u201d said Natori. \u201cTo me, being able to dress a woman in this stage of her life where she\u2019s obviously suffering is a very rewarding part of my work. It\u2019s important to provide some sort of vessel between the wearer and what they wear in order to give them power \u2013 even if they are in anguish,\u201d shared Natori.<\/p>\n
The original 1958 production was given new life by the brilliant collaboration of Gawad CCP Para sa Sining awardees Nonon Padilla (director), Gino Gonzales (production design), and current CCP Trustee Monino Duque (lighting design).<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel honored that they want Natori, that we\u2019re able to be a part of that,\u201d gushed the designer as she went on to express her excitement on having multiple talented artists working in one production. \u201cI love the interrelationship of art, culture, and fashion, so it\u2019s a joy to have all of this in La Voix Humaine. I\u2019m always proud of the creativity of Filipinos because art is very special and close to my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Natori, fashion goes beyond style. Beneath the layers of fabric is a story, an identity, cultural pride, and empowerment. And for her brand, a significant portion of the manufacturing remains in the Philippines \u2013 a testament to her commitment to Filipino craftsmanship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that the biggest assets of Filipinos are their creativity. There\u2019s so much potential here that should be discovered, unleashed, and nurtured. And it\u2019s wonderful to see that we have so much more appreciation and respect today for people in the arts,\u201d Natori mused. \u201cFilipinos are just oozing with artistry. You can put all the other neighboring countries together and they will not amount to the iota of creativity this country brings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over her career, Josie Natori has earned many honors. In 2007, she received the Order of Lakandula, one of the highest civilian honors in the Philippines. She has also served on the board of the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) since 1995, and in 2023, was elected Chair of the Board of Trustees. Through ACC and other organizations, she continues to advocate for arts, heritage, and cultural dialogue between Asia and the West.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mission is always to bring art to life. When you\u2019re able to put them together \u2013 that\u2019s the kind of life you should live. That\u2019s art.\u201d<\/p>\n
Intramuros Evenings will return for its final installment with\u00a0Christmas Harmonies\u00a0on December 13. It will celebrate the holiday season with select winners of the Andrea O. Veneracion International Choral Festival – Eastern Chamber Singers, FEU Chorale, Koro Ilustrado, and Letran Singing Ambassadors, in a night of timeless carols and beloved Filipino Christmas classics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Excitement awaits in my latest story!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,18,20],"tags":[16738,11972,41,15692,16737,16677,2834],"class_list":["post-30195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-events","category-latest","category-special-feature","tag-costume-design","tag-cultural-center-of-the-philippines-ccp","tag-happeningph","tag-intramuros-evenings","tag-josi-natori","tag-la-voix-humaine-the-human-voice","tag-opera"],"pageone_source":{"pageone_source":"CCP","author_name":"Camilo Mendoza Villanueva, Jr"},"_pageone_source":"CCP","zyndk8_nxtgen_metadata":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happeningph.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happeningph.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happeningph.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happeningph.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happeningph.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/happeningph.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happeningph.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happeningph.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happeningph.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happeningph.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}