Alumnus places second in national design tilt

Winners of the Balintawak category pose with models wearing their winning designs: (L-R) Bronze medalist Santi Obcena from Quezon City, Gold medalist Marlon Tuazon from Pampanga, and Silver medalist Dan Ryan Duran from Negros Oriental. Photo from Bench/ lifestyle + clothing Facebook page

Fashion designer Dan Ryan E. Duran, an alumnus of Silliman University, won second place in the Balintawak category of TERNOCON 2018, a nationwide terno-making convention and contest for regional designers. He was awarded during the event’s culmination night at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on November 11.

TERNOCON gathered 30 designers from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in a workshop where they were mentored by notable Filipino designers: JC Buendia (for the Luzon group), Cary Santiago (Visayas group), Len Cabili (Mindanao group), and Inno Sotto as the Chief Mentor. Each designer was tasked to create two ternos to compete in two categories: the Balintawak or the country version of the terno, and the formal evening terno.

TERNOCON aims to showcase creations of Filipino fashion designers and celebrate the terno as a traditional formal attire.

Duran graduated from SU in 2008 with a degree in Bachelor of Mass Communication before studying fashion design at the School of Fashion and the Arts on a full scholarship. A true-blue Sillimanian, he also completed his high school (2003) and elementary (1999) education in SU.

As a fashion designer, Duran has interned with Amina Aranaz-Alunan and JC Buendia and has worked as an in-house designer in Dubai, UAE. He also received a Preview Emerging Fashion Talent Award from Preview Magazine in 2011. Duran now manages his own made-to-measure business in Dumaguete, specializing in custom evening and bridal wear. More of his works can be seen on his Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/dandvran/ and https://www.facebook.com/dandvranbride/