Japan-based Filipino beauty queen mounts first kimono show in Manila

Myla Villagonzalo-Tsutaichi (center) presents her kimono collection./ARMIN P. ADINA

Four years since her coronation as Mrs. Tourism Ambassador International in Malaysia, Myla Vilagonzalo-Tsutaichi is still active onstage. But this time she is not the main star of the show, but her creations instead.

The Japan-based international beauty titlist has stopped chasing crowns and is now instead designing her own kimono line, the first Filipino to have done so.

Tsutaichi, herself a Japan-certified kimono teacher, mounted her first ever fashion show in her home country at a Christmas celebration jointly hosted by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and the Network of Independent Travel and Allied Services Philippines Inc. (NITAS) at the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City on Dec. 2.

Among the pieces she presented were the “Furisode” for young, single ladies, the “Tomesode” used by married women for formal events, and the men’s “Hakama” used by the “Samurai.”

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There were also formal hakamas for both ladies and gentlemen, and the “Uchikake” as the finale piece, a highly formal kimono that the ladies use as bridal garb.

Among those who walked the runway for Tsutaichi’s kimono collection were titleholders from various pageants in the Philippines, including reigning Misters of Filipinas-Fitness Supermodel World Denver Argana. 

Tsutaichi said it had long been her dream to mount her very own kimono show, and she found it to be very special having this realized in her motherland. She has been teaching about kimono in Japan for several years already.

“I have been living in Japan for 26 years, and it is my husband’s wish for me to embrace the Japanese culture. I did, and fell in love with it. That is why I have been wanting to share it with Filipinos for a long time already,” she told INQUIRER.net in Filipino.

Tsutaichi is also the head of the annual Mrs. Tourism Ambassador International Japan pageant that seeks Japanese and Japanese-Filipino delegates to various international competitions.