The country’s official presentation brought together indigenous textiles, sustainable design, and expert craftsmanship in a multidimensional fashion celebration featuring the works of visual artist Maria Angelica Tan.
Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo is not only the official fashion week of its namesake city but also Japan’s premier fashion industry event, attracting over 50,000 onsite attendees each year. As a key platform for Asian fashion creatives, it offers an ideal gateway for Filipino fashion to make its mark on the global stage—and the Philippines did just that with its official showcase at the fashion week’s 2025 Spring/Summer edition.
Presented by The Embassy of the Philippines’ Commercial Section, the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) field in Japan, and under the PH MODE x TYO banner, this year’s presentation turned the spotlight on contemporary streetwear by Filipino designers Alodia Cecilia of AC Design Yard, Ellis Co and Aya Reika Mayani of .ARCHIVES, Adrienne Charuel of Maison Métisse, and Aoi Yamaguchi of Uttrykk.
Inspired by the theme “Beyond the Loom: Philippine Indigenous Textiles, Visual Art, Coconut & Pineapple Innovation in Sustainable Fashion,” the collection showcased the very best of Philippine and Japanese craftsmanship through the use of indigenous textiles and textile translations of original art by Filipina contemporary artist Maria Angelica Tan.
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About The Featured Designers At Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo 2025
The featured designers at the Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo 2025, while different in technique and style, share a similar future-forward ethos that uses tradition to fuel the modernity of their innovative works.
Alodia Cecilia of AC Design Yard
Known for her unique blend of maximalist and minimalist aesthetics, Alodia Cecilia fuses intricate detailing with functional silhouettes, drawing inspiration from medieval Eastern and Western ethnic traditions.
Ellis Co and Aya Reika Mayani of .ARCHIVES
.ARCHIVES is a conceptual wear label defined by a bold, futuristic streetwear aesthetic. The brand experiments with silhouettes, textures, and visual storytelling to push beyond conventional fashion categories. Its designs feature sleek tailoring, sculptural forms, and otherworldly inspirations, offering a glimpse into the future of next-generation fashion.
Adrienne Charuel of Maison Métisse
Adrienne Charuel is the artist-designer behind Maison Métisse, a French-Philippine brand rooted in craftsmanship, cultural reverence, and social impact. By collaborating directly with women weavers and marginalized communities, the label provides holistic support, enabling the creation of timeless garments that champion slow fashion, handmade artistry, and mindful living.
“Working with Maria Angelica Tan was an intimate and inspiring journey between artist and artisan. Together, we developed her artwork for the printed textiles, including the wabi sabi seashell-inspired polka dots, guided by the Maison Métisse vision: organic, poetic, and reflective of singular clothing,” shares Charuel in an interview with Lifestyle Asia. “This collaboration allowed us to create fabrics that carry intention and story, embracing imperfection and celebrating the artistry inherent in each design.”
She adds: “The collection was inspired by the concept of becoming—my journey as a weaver, seeing ideas come alive from the mind to the textile as it unfolds, and transforming them into the poetry of singular clothing. Embracing mistakes as part of the process, I explored how garments can carry memory, craft, and intention. Presenting these handcrafted pieces at Tokyo Fashion Week was a profound honor, reaffirming that clothing can be both a tactile and poetic experience, rooted in heritage yet speaking universally.”
Aoi Yamaguchi of Uttryk
Kyoto-born designer Aoi Yamaguchi is celebrated for her elegant, emotionally resonant approach to contemporary womenswear. In 2014, she founded Uttrykk alongside pattern maker Shujiro Wada, with a vision of using clothing as a medium to express individuality, vulnerability, and strength. The brand is known for its minimal yet striking silhouettes, transforming everyday wear into poetic statement pieces.
Balance: The Art Of Maria Angelica Tan At Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo
A graduate of Columbia University, Tan is an emerging Filipina artist whose works often tackle themes of identity, cultural duality, and spirituality. She has participated in several international group exhibitions and has also held solo shows in various galleries across New York.
Her paintings are distinct in their use of bold primary colors and emotive forms, yielding amorphous figures that transcend definition through a paradoxical blend of tactility and immateriality. Tan’s participation at the Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo 2025 exhibition was facilitated by Salcedo Auctions, her works printed digitally onto textiles using the eco-conscious, direct-to-fabric technology of the Seiko Epson Corporation—a global pioneer in precision technology. This was done in partnership with Hamada Senko Co., Ltd., a Japanese company that’s been specializing in textile dyeing and finishing since 1968.
The exhibit’s featured designers then used these pieces to create a runway collection of 20 sophisticated yet daring streetwear looks, with Filipino surface pattern designer Monica Castillo ensuring Tan’s works were translated seamlessly into textiles.
The featured artworks were adapted from the artist’s Balance series, each one reflecting themes of reimagined Filipino identity. The result was a seamless translation of Philippine indigenous materials for modern fashion audiences, told through a contemporary artistic lens.
“Collaborating with talented Filipino and Japanese fashion designers who reinterpreted my paintings into their own creative vision was deeply honoring—it feels perfectly aligned with celebrating seven decades of our nations’ diplomatic partnership,” the artist tells Lifestyle Asia. “Seeing my paintings—where each stone represents a wish and prayer—turned into textiles using Filipino piña was amazing to witness. It’s a beautiful example of how art and sustainability can work together.”
Photos courtesy of Maria Angelica Tan (unless specified).
