Dennis Lustico’s ‘Filipino Luxe’ holiday collection brings local craft into a contemporary wardrobe

Dennis Lustico photographed by Jo Ann Bitagcol

For Dennis Lustico, fashion began with something as simple as watching a friend sketch. While in high school, Lustico saw a friend drawing fashion sketches during class. What started as curiosity slowly became a daily habit. He began sketching himself, then learning about fashion designers, models, and the world behind the drawings. At first, he thought it was only a fascination. Over time, however, it became something he could no longer ignore.

“Parang you feel an affinity with it,” he recalled. “You feel it in yourself.” That feeling eventually led him to take crash courses in fashion illustration and pattern making during college. At the time, Lustico was not certain that fashion could become a stable career. Like many young artists, he was aware of the doubts surrounding a career in the arts.

“But somehow, you can’t run away from the feelings that you have towards something,” he said. “In the end, it’s like falling in love with someone that you surrender to it.” Lustico eventually followed that feeling. In 2000, he established his own brand, marking the beginning of a career that has now spanned 26 years.

For much of that time, his work has centered on formal wear and made-to-order pieces. But for Lustico, designing is not simply about producing clothes for special occasions. What keeps him interested is the process that happens before the finished piece reaches the wearer.

“The most gratifying aspect of the whole profession is actually product development,” he said. For him, that means discovering forms, mixing colors, working with details, refining them, and eventually turning an idea from a sketch into something wearable. The satisfaction does not necessarily come from being seen or receiving recognition. It comes from seeing an idea develop into a finished piece. That process has also changed as Lustico’s relationship with materials has grown. Today, he finds himself particularly fascinated by fabrics. Rather than forcing a predetermined concept onto a material, he allows the fabric’s fall, color, and texture to guide the direction of a design.

“The material tells you somehow where you’re leading or where you’re going,” he said.

This approach has brought him closer to local fabrics and Filipino craftsmanship. Lustico sees the growing interest in local weaves and materials as an opportunity to rediscover resources that have long existed within the country. He describes it as “looking into your backyard”—paying attention to what has been there all along.

Among the materials that have become especially meaningful to his work is piña. Lustico said working with it has allowed his team to discover possibilities beyond its traditional use, including embroidery, embellishment, and fabric manipulation. The availability of suppliers who are willing to experiment has also encouraged him to explore what the material can become. One piece he is particularly proud of is an opulent kimono made from piña, featuring embroidery and hand beading. Its appeal, however, is not limited to its craftsmanship. Lustico sees the piece as versatile enough to be worn with different types of clothing, from shirts to dresses, and even a simple T-shirt.

For him, this versatility is part of a larger goal. As a designer known for formal and occasion wear, Lustico wants his work to communicate the refinement he sees in Filipino culture. He looks at the way Filipinos have historically dressed for different social and family occasions—from entertaining guests and attending church to fiestas, baptisms, and weddings.

“I wanted to emphasize the refinement in us,” he said, referring to the way Filipinos dress, prepare things, and pay attention to details. But looking Filipino, for Lustico, does not mean making clothes that feel stuck in the past. His current direction is to make Filipino fashion something that can exist comfortably in a contemporary, international setting.

“I think that’s our mission right now as a brand,” he said. “We wanted to show that, like other international brands, our brand can also stand along with them in international showrooms.”

That goal is also reflected in his move toward ready-to-wear. After years of working primarily with custom-made pieces, Lustico now sees ready-to-wear as another avenue for reaching a more diverse market while maintaining the same attention to design and product development.

His vision for the future is not to make clothes that look Filipino simply for the sake of looking Filipino. Instead, he wants to create pieces that can appeal to people from different backgrounds while remaining distinctly Filipino.

“I want to offer things that are aesthetic for every nationality, but distinctively Pinoy,” he said. For Lustico, the balance lies in versatility, elegance, restraint, and refinement.

This October, Lustico’s second pop-up collection will be showcased at Powerplant Mall. He calls the collection “Filipino Luxe,” a contemporary, transseasonal wardrobe shaped by his thoughts on refinement, materials, and design that lasts beyond a season.

Dennis Lustico presents ‘Filipino Luxe,’ the new transseasonal and contemporary holiday collection |  Photographed by Jo Ann Bitagcol

As he prepared the collection, Lustico considered how local materials could be worked into garments to transcend seasons. “I wanted to tell the story about how materials feel to the touch, and how intentional design can be untouched by time,” he shares. “I made a deliberate choice to create a contemporary collection. Pieces were crafted so that you can wear them abroad or for any occasion all year round. There is a global air about them while still highlighting local craft.”

The Callado Kimona and Maria Overlay return as best-sellers, alongside 15 new styles that form what Lustico calls a distinctly Asian capsule wardrobe. “It’s remarkably Asian in terms of coloration, embellishments and detailing,” he elaborates. “’Filipino-ness’ is anchored on craftsmanship.”

“’Filipino-ness’ is anchored on craftsmanship.” | Photographed by Jo Ann BitagcolAlthough the collection is intended as ready-to-wear, its pieces retain couture attributes. Piña and binakol—a traditional abaca-pina material from Aklan—are woven, tucked, and dyed by hand. “All the local weaves were made by local artisans especially for the collection,” says Lustico.

A corset piña callado is among the pieces through which he explores the fabric. He says it was created to showcase the piña’s qualities and properties. The pineapple weave is also paired with French and Italian fabrics, Indian linen, and silk dupioni, while macramé adds another texture to the collection.

Corset Piña Callado | Photographed by Jo Ann BitagcolSilk blousons are cinched with wooden rings wrapped in matching silk threads wound by hand. A light blue piña barong with callado needlework is made into a shirt dress. Camisa de Chinos, shift dresses, and tops feature needlework inspired by local life. The beadwork motifs include malunggay leaves, kalabasa leaves, emblems, insignia, windows of ancestral homes, and betel nuts.

The silhouettes are easy and tailored, with details that balance elegance and elaboration | Photographed by Jo Ann Bitagcol

Though the collection arrives for the holiday season, Lustico’s palette moves away from the usual fall colors. “I’ve been perfecting the fusion of colors and texture,” he says. “There are so many things happening in the world today that I felt more drawn to colors that are subdued and calm–natural tones, mauve, light blue, denim blue, and ash gray.”

The brand describes refinement as a constant pursuit throughout Lustico’s career: honing his attention to detail and finding new ways to showcase the qualities of fine fabrics. Balance, precision tailoring, and cohesion are central to the collection, alongside his instinct for creating pieces unaffected by time and trends.

Lustico also reflects on how a designer’s aesthetic and artistry develop, and on the continued work of refining a craft and discovering what it means to create with restrained elegance.

Outside the studio, he finds another kind of reset in nature. Being around trees and sunlight, he said, helps him step away from work, ease stress, and refresh his mind. It gives him the space to return to his craft with renewed energy. After 26 years in fashion, Lustico is still looking ahead. His next challenge is to become more well-versed in ready-to-wear and to continue exploring how Filipino materials and design can reach a wider audience. His work suggests that preserving Filipino fashion does not always mean recreating the past. Sometimes, it means taking what has been handed down—the materials, craftsmanship, attention to detail, and traditions—and asking what they can become now.

For Dennis Lustico, the answer is fashion that carries its Filipino identity quietly but confidently, with enough versatility to belong anywhere.