Fashion designer creates ethnic-inspired masks to raise funds for indigenous communities

A local fashion designer has created an ethnic-inspired mask collection to help indigenous communities amid the new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Davao native Wilson Niñofranco Limon shared on Facebook that his store Niñofranco had launched #MaskofHope, a mask collection that uses different indigenous patterns from their partner communities.

Limon, the designer of Miss Universe Catriona Gray’s ethnic-inspired skirts, wrote: “#MaskofHope are the bits and pieces of the recent past we fondly remember. And we carry it on to protect us as we fight and adapt to change.”

“As Niñofranco treads carefully to the new norm, we want to give hope to our partner communities. We may not know what lies ahead of us, but somehow, we want to give them a #MaskofHope,” he added.

Using the fabrics from their past collection to make the masks, Limon shared that 20 percent of the earnings from #MaskofHope would be given to their partner ethno-linguistic communities such as Wimler Foundation, Lamlifew Association and Lake Sebu Indigenous Women Weavers Association Inc. (LASIWWAI).

Limon assured the public that the digital prints of the masks had already been approved and recognized by the appropriate ethnolinguistic authorities.

Although Niñofranco is no longer accepting pre-orders as of the moment, it assured that they will soon open again once the second batch production is finished. – Kaela Malig/RC, GMA News