Aside from the famed Indak-indak Sa Kadalanan and Pamulak Float Parade, another colourful event I always look forward to see every year is the Moda Mindanaw, a fashion event of vivid colour and pageantry held annually as part of the celebration of Davao City’s Kadayawan Festival.
Moda Mindanaw is an annual Fashion Designing Competition that aims to feature the fashion designs and creations of the up-and-coming fashion designers and accessory artists from different sides of Mindanao highlighting the vibrant culture of island through their intricate designs and creations.
Moda Mindanaw is a festivity that pays tribute to Mindanao’s rich and colourful cultural heritage. Through the years, it has become a perfect affair to showcase the best of Mindanao-inspired fashion creations. In fact, it has gone far and has evolved from promoting the island’s indigenous materials to showcasing Mindanao’s different hand woven textiles and various fibres.
What’s more, this multi-coloured fashion event has become a center stage for young and vibrant designers to showcase their craft. For years now, Moda Mindanaw features what is hip and fashionably in while preserving that Mindanaoan identity in each creation. Individual fashion creations and designs are showcased every year in a new and different concept yet these creations exude Mindanao originality and uniqueness.
This year’s Moda Mindanaw highlights the culture of the 10 tribes of Davao City – the tribes of Ata, Matigsalug, Ovu-Manuvo, Klata-Djangan, Tagabawa, Tausog, Maguindanao, Maranao, Kagan, and Sama. These ethnic groups that comprise the 10 different tribes of city are among the reasons why Kadayawan Festival is celebrated every year. The celebration is a way of paying tribute to their contribution to the rich cultural heritage of the city. And this year’s Moda Mindanaw showcases the different colours and patterns of these tribes.
As part of this year’s Moda Mindanaw, 36 of Mindanao’s up-and-coming fashion artists were required to pay tribute to the 10 Tribes of Davao. With their interaction with these tribes, they are expected to come up with street and evening wear for men and women and accessories which reflect the culture of the ethnic group assigned to them. And as expected, these talented fashion artists showcased the best of creation incredibly inspired from the rich culture of Mindanao.
MODA MINDANAW 2013
MEN & WOMEN STREET WEAR COMPETITION






MODA MINDANAW 2013
EVENING WEAR COMPETITION













Personally, watching the grand stage of Moda Mindanaw for another year is another opportunity for me to see and be mesmerized by such fabulous creations that depict the rich culture of my own identity as Mandaya, Dabawenyo and Mindanaoan.

Moda Mindanaw, a fashion showcase of what is truly “made in Mindanao”.