How designer Caroline Mangosing is bringing traditional Filipiniana style into modern wardrobes

Designer and entrepreneur Caroline Mangosing fell in love with fashion as a young girl in Manila. "It's in my DNA," said the founder of Filipino-inspired label Vinta Gallery and the newly launched Regalo Studios, who spoke with CBC Life ahead of the debut of her second line. "My mom actually had a children's clothing manufacturing company in the Philippines, so I grew up in the atelier." 

The Toronto-based designer's passion for the industry grew when her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 10, and then to Vancouver, where she went to fashion school. After graduating, however, she decided to study photography instead of taking over her mother's company. She interned in New York and then worked in Vancouver and Toronto as a fashion photographer, returning to Manila to shoot editorials. 

Mangosing's early days in fashion were eye-opening. The industry can be "pretty toxic," she said, reflecting on the experience. But they taught her a valuable lesson in the importance of safe, inclusive working conditions that she would later prioritize at her first clothing brand, Vinta Gallery.

Vinta Gallery was born out of a desire to infuse the glamour of traditional Filipiniana designs into a line for a contemporary audience. Mangosing also wanted to embrace a business model that is decidedly anti-fast fashion, focusing instead on making pieces that last. The brand specializes in ready-to-wear and made-to-measure Filipiniana and Filipino-inspired clothing, plus jewelry and wedding wear, that pays homage to heritage craftsmanship and designs. 

For the uninitiated, "Filipiniana" is the term for traditional clothing worn across the more than 7,600 islands that make up the Philippines. Mangosing's designs include modern terno dresses of varying lengths, colours and styles, separate tops and a best-selling harness that can be worn as a delicate yet eye-catching topper to any outfit.

Vinta Gallery also offers traditional barongs — embroidered button-up shirts — in cream silk organza, and more modern versions, like a cropped barong with the national flower of the Philippines — the sampaguita — stitched in neon thread. Another standout is a dramatic barong shirt dress featuring blooms of waling-waling, an orchid endemic to the country.

The idea for the label came to Mangosing in 2009 while she was working as the executive director of Kapisanan Philippine Centre of Arts & Culture in Toronto. As word about the centre's work started to spread, the phone started ringing with repeat requests. "Filipinos all over the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] started calling us, going, 'Do you have barongs there?' ... 'Do you have things for a wedding?', 'Can I order?'" she said. "I saw it as an opportunity to get back into fashion on my own terms."

After doing extensive research into industry standards, the history of clothing and colonialism in the Philippines, and vertical integration business models, Mangosing opened Vinta Gallery within Kapisanan in 2013 with the help of government funding. She worked with master couturier Estelita Lagman in Manila to establish the label's commitment to craftsmanship.

The influence of colonization is still prevalent in the Philippines, and Mangosing takes inspiration from the past — both before and after colonization — while designing for the present. "I go to the museums and buy all of the books that have illustrations of what the garments looked like back in the day," she said. 

When creating pieces for Vinta Gallery, she also considers how they will be worn for life in Canada. For example, the sleeves of her ternos are designed to be softer, and therefore easier to wear underneath a jacket, she explained. "In the Philippines, they're hard as dinner plates."

Mangosing's designs are sent to Manila to be handmade by expert seamstresses and artisans, the vast majority of whom are women. She's proud to be supporting the team that works at the atelier, paying them a sustainable living wage and making the atelier itself a comfortable space where they can bring their children or stay overnight to avoid long, traffic-snarled commutes.

"The thinking behind building the whole thing was really like, 'What would I do?' … 'How comfortable would I be doing this?'" she said.

Last month, Mangosing officially launched Regalo Studios as a sister brand to Vinta Gallery. The capsule collection is inspired by '90s modular esthetics, where one piece can be worn many ways, and features crisp tailoring and strong silhouettes. "The DNA of it being Filipino-inspired is definitely there … but it's contemporary fashion, and our main target is Gen X," she said. 

With both labels, Mangosing wants to appeal to people in the Filipino community and outside it. "It's not appropriation when you're buying from an ethical Filipino brand," she said. "It is for everybody."