Vogue Philippines 1st Anniversary Issue Takes Us to Batanes in 'Origins' Story AOC Fashion

Models Jo Ann Bitagcol, Lukresia and Rina Fukushi cover the September 2023 issue of Vogue Philippines [IG], celebrating the magazine’s first anniversary.

Sharif Hamza [IG] is behind the lens, so proud of this anniversary issue cover story styled by Melissa Levy under fashion director Pam Quinones. / Hair by Mong Amado; makeup by Gery Penaso

In the words of Ticia Almazan, the first anniversary cover story ‘Origins: Retracing Our History in the Highlands’ invited over a dozen designers and artists to interpret their beloved country’s homegrown high craftsmanship and artisanal techniques.

In Batanes, “a microcosm of a sustainable world,” we find our people’s beginnings—a story of earth, sky, craft, and boundaries broken.

Often compared to Scotland or New Zealand, Batanes exists as a visual contrast to Philippines’ beaches. This visually exquisite terrain is home to the Ivatan people, the first settlers of the Philippines who arrived 4,000 years ago in small boats from the island we now call Taiwan.

Their spread didn’t end there, and they continued to travel to other nearby isles and toward Luzon, then outward, settling all of Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands to the east, and Borneo and Madagascar to the west. The Maori of New Zealand were among their most recent progeny, establishing themselves only 800 years ago.

Marian Pastor Roces has strong academic credentials as an expert in this particular migration pattern of the Ivatan people. “Nearly all of today’s Filipinos, Malaysians, Indonesians, Polynesians, and a significant majority of the people of Madagascar share one parent stock,” she writes in her book A Delicate Balance: Batanes Food, Ecology, and Community. “The descendants of the Ivatan are now more than an astounding 400,000,000 people.”

Return to the top of page for a link into the English language story that is the best kind of longform writing. All the product credits from these images are discussed in detail. ~ Anne

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