A Trashion Extravaganza 

By Jo Ann Dumlao 

Everybody's getting excited. Everybody's talking about it. Some people ask me whether it will be as phenomenal as last year. Who isn’t looking forward to 1 December 2024?

The 2023 Trashion Show was such a success, would we be able to do it again? This year we came up with a twist for the event. My fellow domestic worker, Ian Bojo (co-coordinator of KAUGNAY) and I decided we wanted to open the Trashion Show to migrant domestic workers of all nationalities, not only those from the Philippines. We shared our idea with the KAUGNAY committee and they all agreed. So many fellow domestic workers wanted to register, but sadly we couldn't take them all. The response was amazing.

Our 2024 Trashion Show featured 9 Filipinos, 9 Indonesians and 1 Indian contestant. Initially we had 26 registered candidates, but some had to back out as the event date drew nearer for valid reasons which we, the organizers, understood. We can't risk losing our job just because we joined an event. I must say this was one of the more challenging parts in organizing this event, but it didn’t stop us. The show must go on!

Credit: @marliesgerritsenphotography

Credit: @marliesgerritsenphotography

Both the organizers and the candidates were juggling time and schedule constraints. We are all migrant domestic workers and some of our candidates don’t have every Sunday off—the only day when they can do rehearsals and photoshoots. No rehearsal had perfect attendance. The limited time we had pushed us to work hard to make sure that everything would be alright and polished. The night before the event, I couldn't sleep. I hadn’t yet prepared my welcome speech, not a single line. I told myself, whatever will flow in my mind, I will have to say. Que sera sera.

Credit: @marliesgerritsenphotography

Our panel of four judges all have expertise in fashion or sustainability. Apologies to you, if we gave you a hard task. It's only because we believe that you can do it. We also had four math-wizard tabulators, who were very careful in the computation of the scores given by our judges. 

Credit: @marliesgerritsenphotography

It is not an exaggeration to say that the artistic candidates of the Trashion Show 2024 put so much thought, effort and time into their creations. The way they styled their creations was great. The finishing touches, nerves, excitement and worry—it's a big deal! We‘d like to thank them all, their participation is very much appreciated. You all are amazing, your creations are spectacular in spite of you having had a limited time to work on them. To sum it up, every single candidate had a fabulous creation. It blows my mind how you came up with them. Congratulations to all!

The winners of the Trashion Show 2024 Major Awards Winner: 

(receiving a crown, a trophy, a sash and a cash prize). 

Emily Cordon- Grand Winner

Dahlia Salas- 1st Runner Up

Tasrini- 2nd Runner Up

Raquel Ello- 3rd Runner Up

Juliet Dapilmoto- 4th Runner Up

Credit: @marliesgerritsenphotography

All of the 19 candidates received gifts from our generous sponsors, a Certificate of Appreciation and a sash of Trashion Show 2024. With thanks to our sponsors: Major sponsor JC Premiere under Ms Beck Lanuza. Gift sets from Ms Junnel and friends.

Credit: Stephanie Chok

It wasn’t just the candidates who wore fabulous outfits made from recycled materials. I myself wore a beautiful skirt and jacket suit set made from an old IKEA bag and a pair of earrings made from tin tabs. Jolovan Wham from HOME wore a jacket made from fabric, plastic bags and labels from drinks and detergent bags. Jaya Anil Kumar from HOME wore a jacket made from eco bags. I even noticed one of the judges wearing a collared shirt made from cloth flour bags. 

Credit: Henry Fortaliza

All the outfits showed how we can reduce waste in a fun, fashionable way!

After the event we heard many positive, happy comments. Here are a few I picked up from the candidates:

"Thank you for giving us a space to create and celebrate every talent we have."

" For the first time, I walked on a stage like a model." 

" Mother nature did her part, I hope we do our part too. Let's spread love and care to the place we are living in."

" One of my best first time."

I got a smile on my face when the emcees announced that there would be Trivia questions for the guests about KAUGNAY and HOME ( members were not allowed to answer), with prizes for every correct answer. How much did they know about KAUGNAY and HOME? Well, the result was fair enough because KAUGNAY has only just been founded. KAUGNAY is a Filipino group of migrant domestic workers, supported by HOME. The word “kaugnay” means “being connected“. KAUGNAY consists of diverse groups: Cultural, Welfare, Education, and Advocacy. It was launched last year, on June 11th 2023.

Credit: Henry Fortaliza

We were very happy with the powerful presence of the HOME staff: Executive Director Dr Stephii Chok, Jolovan Wham, Jaya Anil Kumar, Sister Sisi Sukiato, HOME Board Treasurer Leon Perera, who imparted his words of wisdom, as well as several volunteers, Ms Karien, Ms Marielle, Ms Lisa, Ms Mei Qi, Ms Daphna - their presence was of great importance to KAUGNAY. 

We‘d like to give special thanks to Ms Marielle for helping get our venue, the Hollandse Club—your time and effort is greatly appreciated. 

To the talented performers, guests—individually or from other groups who joined us in cheering and clapping, to the generous sponsors, to the wonderful photographers, we are grateful to all of you. Cheers!

And we should not forget our beautiful event hosts, Mr Mon and Ms Cristina, the powerful duo, our deepest gratitude to you both.

The encouraging video messages from Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), Migrante International is noteworthy. Our Trashion Show was featured in SJR.SG, a Mandarin news outlet. "Dress to impress with recycled flair, where fashion meets sustainability in one fabulous runway stride!"

It was again a tremendous success. See you at the next Trashion Show !

Thank you, HOME !

Mabuhay, KAUGNAY!



Jo Ann A. Dumlao

KAUGNAY Coordinator 

MyVoice contributor 

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