The immortal Pitoy Moreno
By Florina Capistrano Baker
Two years ago, my friend Ramon Moreno called me from Basel inquiring about the possibility of celebrating his Tito Pitoy’s 100th birthday in a special way. Since that groundbreaking phone call, we find ourselves here tonight, celebrating the formal opening of the exhibition TIMELESS: J. Moreno.
Why a fashion exhibit in an art museum? The study of clothing, textiles, and ornaments offers important insights into our history, culture, and national psyche – and should not be isolated from other aspects of material culture. Inquiry into the philosophy and psychology of dress is increasingly gaining traction in the fields of art history, anthropology, and culture studies. The exhibition TIMELESS: J. Moreno presents fashion and dress as Art. You may notice this as you walk into the galleries, in the way the dresses are positioned, and treated with the same respect that we accord paintings and sculpture.
The curatorial narrative traces Pitoy’s artistic journey from his early days designing dance costumes for Bayanihan, the National Dance Company of the Philippines; to his illustrious career as a designer for various occupants of Malacañang Palace and his ascent to the world stage, breaking barriers and waving the Philippine flag overseas, showcasing Philippine fashion, fabrics, and fine craftsmanship through his impressive body of work.
The curatorial vision was made tangible by multiple hands too numerous to mention individually – though, I would be remiss not to single out our dedicated team of dressers who customized the mannequins, adding or subtracting contours, hips or chests, where needed, quickly adopting the “secret” dressing technique (used in the Philippines for the first time in this exhibit) generously shared by our outstanding technical and curatorial consultant, Clarissa Esguerra, curator of fashion and textiles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or LACMA. Thank you, professors turned dressers, Joseph Bawar, Olive Lopez, Fernando Escora, Trina Peñaflores (all professors in fashion studies at the College of St. Benilde, & Philippine Women’s University), Leo Lorilla of the Bayanihan museum, Pitoy’s nephew Jimmy Cruz, and longtime staff Lilibeth Esllamado.
I thank my co-curator Ditas Samson who collaborated closely with the hardworking M staff – Ian, Rico, Remi, Julia, our technical wizard Martin, moving image designer Cocoy Lumbao, and exhibition designer Stanley Ruiz.
The exhibition may be viewed and enjoyed on multiple levels. For those who personally knew Pitoy or those who wore – or are tonight wearing – his creations, viewing the works exhibited here may revive distant memories in the most tangible way.
For those who knew him only by reputation, the works displayed may evoke the spirit of eras past – the glamour of the 1950s-1960s, the disco culture of the 1970s-1980s, the Bagong Anyo extravaganzas of the 1970s, Binibining Pilipinas competitions, and the unprecedented global exposure of Philippine fashion overseas.
For the younger generation who did not know Pitoy and are unfamiliar with his work, we offer you this glimpse into an artist’s life and work, a lifetime dedicated to – love of beauty and love of country – as we simultaneously aspire to inspire a new generation of designers.
Among Pitoy’s favorite textile motifs that you’ll see in the exhibition are large, swirling images of the long-tailed Chinese phoenix symbolizing immortality and rebirth, and the graceful Japanese crane in flight, which in Japan is said to live for one thousand years. Through this exhibition and the book of the same title that we launch tonight, we hope that, like his immortal phoenixes and cranes, Pitoy will live on in our memories for the next thousand years.
Art historian Florina Capistrano-Baker was the curator behind the retrospective exhibit “TIMELESS: J. Moreno.” She delivered these remarks during the February 26 opening of the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University in New York City.
