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| Edelweiss de Guzman with her model |
A Filipino-American artist and former official of the Filipino-American Community of the Carolinas Inc. (FACC) will join in the Condom Couture Charlotte event scheduled at the Fillmore Charlotte center on Feb. 24.
Edelweiss de Guzman is representing the Philippines in this fashion show aimed to benefit and promote the Planned Parenthood South Atlantic group.
Edelweiss said it is a unique runaway fashion show where local designers use condoms to create fashionable, wearable art in order to promote safe sex.
This is the fourth time that de Guzman would be participating in the show and she is excited about joining anew after a one year hiatus during which she did volunteer work for the FACC.
Edelweiss's concept is Reyna Emperatriz (Queen Empress) St. Helena of Constantinople during the Santacruzan based on a yearly event in the Philippines.
The dress adorned with pearls styled like the Philippine archipelago is known as “Perlas ng Silinganan” (Pearl of the Orient).” “The Santacruzan is a yearly festival that I enjoyed while growing up in the Philippines,” Edelweiss said.
Every month of May in every year, all the beautiful young women in town would join a procession casting a flower and a cross, Edelweiss explained. Her Filipino-American model would carry a cross and flowers at the runway.
Edelweiss will have only one dress for the show which will have 1,000 pieces of condoms on it. She already ordered 1,300 condoms for the dress. The first condom couture dress Edelweiss made was in 2015 and it was later auctioned off.
“I have 50 percent to the organization, Planned Parenthood. The concept of that 2015 dress was cosmos, supernova, time, space and distant memory,” Edelweiss said.
Her dress reflected her fascination on the perception of life and the universe. In 2016 she was inspired by expressionist movement film and theater in creating her dress.
“The year 2016 was a homage to German expressionist film. This particular style can be also seen on American filmmaker Tim Burton’s film and art. I am a huge fan of Tim Burton,” Edelweiss said. She wasn’t surprised that she found out later that Burton was also inspired by German expressionists.
Last year, Edelweiss created a dress made of white condoms that was inspired by a 1910 icouture homage to the Industrial Revolution.
She called the dress style as steampunk couture in which the past is the future and the future is the past.
Edelweiss said Planned Parenthood was defunded in 2016 and they gave all the proceeds of the fashion show.
De Guzman is a co-founder of the Art Ecologie group, a collective of artists who use eco-friendly materials in their work.
She grew up in the Philippines and moved to the US when she was 18. Her works include illustrations, paintings and haute couture made from recyclable materials.
De Guzman is an immediate past 2nd Vice president of the FACC and chaired the FACC Gala Event in October of last year.
The fashion show would be hosted by Ramona Holloway, co-host of the Matt and Ramona Show of 107.9 The Link. Music for the show will be from Miami Dice and DJ Spider while the NC Dance District will deliver a dance performance.
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