Amir Sali has a revelation: “First and foremost, [fashion] designing is just a part-time job. My main job is serving the Lord. Everything I do, I want to give to the Lord completely. My spirituality is attached to my designs. I don’t go for magazines, I go for the Bible. I focus on the Word of God, so I got my inspirations from there.”
Sali unleashed an astonishing collection at the intimate Philippine Fashion Week (PhFW)Holiday 2017 presentations at Discovery Primea in Makati City.
“Amir Sali came from overseas. He’s good there. He earns a lot. But at the end of the day, when God touched his heart, he came back home. He doesn’t want to be known as a Saudi Arabian designer but as a Filipino designer. [He] is a servant of the Lord—Filipino talent at its best,” Joey Espino Jr., executive producer of PhFW with his brother Audie, said in his introduction.
Relying on his spirituality, Sali went back to our religious past for inspiration. “The first page of the Bible—in the beginning, when God created the heaven and the earth. I was inspired by the Garden of Eden before God created man. So I was focusing on the creatures, the creations of God like the flora and fauna. They’re very inspiring. Before God placed man, He put beautiful things around us first,” he explained.
The 25 looks were created using mixed media, he added: “I’ve been using different materials. In one dress alone, you see not only one or two components. It’s taken from different places. Each dress is carefully created, even the details. We made our own fabric. We did our own prints by computer and by hand.”
Sali hails from Zamboanga, grew up in the Visayas, labored in Saudi for 20 years and now has set up his shop in Valle Verde in Pasig City. In between, he honed his craft in Paris by studying at the Ecole Lesage, where he learned the secrets of broderie d’intérieur embroidery.
The mind-boggling embroidery greatly enriched Sali’s “Genesis” collection, and should be seen up close so you can appreciate the intricacy and the painstaking work he did. An example are the butterflies on the gown worn by New York-based supermodel Charo Ronquillo.
“A lot of people are scared of the butterfly because it supposedly brings bad omens. I want to show that God did not create anything bad. It’s just how you accept things and how you enjoy them,” Sali explained.
Just as eye-catching are the accessories made by his brother Edgar, some inspired by the outsize chandelier earrings at Christian Dior Haute Couture in the late 1990s.
In most of the dresses, Sali used tulle as the dominant fabric. “I like transparency because during the Creation, God created man and woman naked,” he said.
“There are a lot of creative Filipino designers. I believe that. We are ready to be globally competitive. I believe in the Filipino talent, that’s why I decided to stay home,” Sali added. “There’s no place like home. You can’t find banana cue in Paris!”