LA UNION AMAZES AND DAZZLES

by Lavinia Otilla

Last March 2, 2012, La Union celebrated its 140^th Foundation Anniversary. A beauty pageant was done to choose the Queen of the Province for the year. Activities were lined up to celebrate the anniversary. Part of the activities of the pageant is the electric parade that was followed by the Town Costume Competition last March 1, 2012. La Union is composed of 19 municipalities and 1 component city. The 19 Municipalities are composed of Agoo, Aringay, Bacnotan, Bagulin, Balaoan, Bangar, Bauang, Burgos, Caba, Luna, Naguilian, Pugo, Rosario, San Gabriel, San Juan, Santol, Sto. Tomas, Sudipen and Tubao. The lone component city is the City of San Fernando.

The concept of the town costume is to make a costume that will show the culture of the town by using the “One Town One Product” model. The costume should depict the town’s product or culture and they will be judged according to their creativity.

Agoo and Aringay

Agoo’s costume is made up of corn leaves that were curled and placed at the skirt portion of the costume.Other corn leaves were in more crumpled forms and formed the upper portion of the skirt. An interlocking belt made of bean seeds was made to put delineation between the bodice and the skirt. The sleeves are made of squash fruit and patterned as a puff sleeves. The bodice is made up of different bean seeds. String beans were strewn in the middle of the bodice to give further accent. The candidate was holding the Holy Grail to signify the religiosity of Agoo as a place.

Aringay used a costume made of anahaw leaves that is woven into a mat. The mat is painted with the seascape and it was further accentuated with milkfish. She has a head dress that is adorned with milkfish and a wooden bar that looks like the staff of Neptune. But the bodice is further adorned with Shitake mushroom. Obviously they have woven the three concepts of the products of Aringay – anahaw leaves that are woven into a mat or fan, the milkfish and the mushrooms which are Aringay’s products aggressively marketed for economic reasons.

Bacnotan and Bagulin

Bacnotan presented a simple costume which is a butterfly costume with multicolored adornments in the bodice. They are promoting the silk industry of their place and since silk comes cocoon of butterflies, the butterfly concept or the fairy concept came about.

Bagulin showcased its soft broom industry. It used a circular back drop decorated by the special grass used for broom making. The costume skirt seems to be made of raffia fibers. 

Balaoan and Bangar

Balaoan presented a peacock style costume by decorated with tobacco leaves. It maintained however a terno look style when the skirt is placed down. On the other hand,

Bangar showcased the “Abel Iloko” (Ilokano Cloth) by presenting a Maria Clara designed dress. The cloth is hand woven by the people of Bangar themselves. They have a thriving cloth weaving industry that is still surviving until now.

Bauang and Burgos

Bauang presented a modified terno gown with only one butterfly sleeve at the right side. The sleeves are adorned by grapes and she is holding a mask which is also adorned by grape fruits. The bodice shows grape designs. It has a modified serpentine cut with the lower portion with layers and layers of cut frosted organza cloth. Grapes are one of the agricultural products promoted by the town of Bauang aside from guapple (large guavas).

                                                                                                                                       

Burgos also showcased the soft broom industry that they have. It was done through a bouffant designed gown made of woven palm leaf. The adornments of the woven palm leaf gown were fan-like blubber grasses which were multi-colored. For accent the head dress and the lone butterfly sleeve were sunflowers that are commonly found in the place.




Caba and Luna

Caba presented a costume made-up of bamboo materials. It has a Japanese motif big fan. She presented also a head dress made of chicken feathers. This showcases the town’s bamboo craft industry as well as the burgeoning poultry business.

I was expecting Luna to present a costume made up of the small rocks that it is famous of. However it presented a Filipiniana gown with an uneven hemline that has a train at the back. It was further accentuated by an umbrella. The gown was intricately made-up of rice stalks and hay. This costume is to showcase that Luna is one of the rice granaries of the province of La Union.

Naguilian and Pugo

Naguilian used dyed corn leaves for the costume. And the ornaments that went with it are peanuts in silver painting. The head dress is a combination of the fibers and that it was highlighted with an earthen jar in the middle. This is to showcase the town’s sugar cane wine (basi) as it is being promoted as a livelihood project.

Pugo’s costume at a glance looked like a Thailand costume but on closer look it had a Thai design only. The skirt was painted by the inland resorts that they had. While the designs on the shoulder and the head dress are made up of wood works that Pugo is famously producing.

Rosario and San Juan

Rosario’s costume is a terno with a modified bouffant skirt. The gown is rusty brown colored with a head dress. The gown is adorned with glittery contraptions and with flowers. However, I hardly find meaning about the costume except probably the rosettes in the dress. The contraptions were made from wood materials that were beautifully made into rosettes and flowerettes. This was done to showcase the wood working industry of La Union.

San Juan however, showcased a mermaid costume. It is reminiscent of one of the costumes presented in a Victoria Secret fashion show. It was elaborately made. The shell  back drop is awesome and even the mermaid costume is breathtaking.

Santol and San Gabriel

Another town that showcased a soft broom industry is Santol. It is a creative costume which has the trimmings of a terno. The blubber grasses were made in to fan-like designs and were used to adorn the dress.

San Gabriel used a simple Spanish looking costume. It was adorned by big flowers at hemline and at the connecting portion at the bodice. In previous years, San Gabriel makes use of the blubber grass to make their costumes but I think they veered away from that because there are at least 5 towns that has the soft broom as a source of livelihood for most of its people.

Sto. Tomas and San Fernando City

If one looks at the costume of Sto. Tomas from afar, it looks like a Spanish costume with two big fans ready to dance the Paso Doble. However, if one looks at it closely, the gown was intricately designed with dried fish. The skirt, the head dress and the fans are designed with fish locally known as espada. On the other hand, the bodice was intricately designed with small fished. Furthermore, the costume is accentuated with shells and synthetic pearls carefully emblazoned in the gown. It is no wonder that this gown was adjudged as the biggest winner of them all. It is twice in a row that Sto. Tomas won this honor already including last year.

San Fernando City presented a gown which was adorned with colorful flowers and had a head dress made up of peacock feather. It is showcasing San Fernando City as the Botanical City  not only of La Union but also that of Northern Luzon. Why the peacock feathers? Well if you have a botanical garden, then you will also have a thriving wildlife in the place just like the peacock.

Sudipen and Tubao

Sudipen presented an Aztec like costume made of a special type of bamboo (bamboo bolo) which is very common in the place. The head dress was made of such and it was intricately designed just like an Aztec head dress. The gown is intricately adorned by bamboo leaves.

Tubao’s costume seems like it is made up of paper-mache that was intricately cut. It had appliqué looking designs but in reality they are made-up of bean seeds adorning the gown. The other contraptions are made up of other seeds. There were also lights that were placed in the gown probably to glitter during the electric parade where these gown were ogled at by the spectators.

Truly this event is a stroke of genius. And it is doubly genius to showcase the creativities of the La Union fashion designers –they have shown how daring, how diverse and how unparalleled they have become. They have made great leaps and bounds beyond their artistry and such a display of ingenuity and imagination should be appreciated here in our country and beyond the borders of the globe. Hail to La Union.  You have amazed and dazzled everyone in this activity. More power and expect me to come back once again to marvel at the greatness of such artistry. .

Photo Credits: Jay Orros
Additional Gown descriptions : Airwind Bautista