SAN FRANCISCOPhilippine International Aid and Wells Fargo are presenting Holiday Double Exposure 8, a fashion show to benefit disadvantaged Filipino youth in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the Philippines, on Sunday (November 15) at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.

Featured designers include Lulu Tan-Gan, Dita Sandico Ong from the Philippines and Filipino-American Tala Banatao.

Newcomer Tala Banatao is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Her childrens clothing line, set to launch in Spring 2010, is called Tala Bee. Her design philosophy is influenced by the eclectic city of San Francisco and her Filipino heritage.

Designer Lulu Tan-Gan is known for her elegant and timeless knitwear for the confident, fashionable, and active female market of today. She has developed her unique signature of simple, fluid, and functional clothes unhampered by any personal constraints. In 2003, Tan-Gan was conferred the Chavalier DArts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture & Communication for her dedication in ensuring Philippine entries to the Concours International Des Jeunes Createurs de Mode.

Petite Dita Sandico Ong is a standout in any crowd wearing her three-dimensional sculpture wraps made from indigenous, organic materials such as cotton linen and banana fibers in a rainbow of vibrant hues. She is shaping the future of Philippine fashion by making innovative pieces with global appeal, promoting the use of native fabrics, and at the same time, helping the local weaving industry. She runs the Earthlike Foundation, an organization that aims to preserve culture through arts and crafts and Earthaven, a 27-hectare eco-village in San Mateo, Rizal.

Philippine International Aid (PIA) was established in 1986 in San Francisco, California by its founder, Mona Lisa Yuchengco. PIA provides assistance to disadvantaged and indigent Filipino youth in the areas of health and nutrition, shelter, rehabilitation, cultural immersion, gang prevention, and education. Currently, there are about 1,000 children who are enrolled in various public schools in Metro Manila and are beneficiaries of other programs funded by PIA in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the Philippines.

Teddy De Rivera, executive vice president at Wells Fargo, is excited about this sponsorship.

Wells Fargo is proud to be a title sponsor for this event. We have worked with PIA a number of times and we are happy with the professionalism they display. We are glad that we are able to help the less fortunate in our society.

Wells Fargo recently donated $100,000 through the American Red Cross for the victims of storm Ondoy (international codename: Ketsana) in the Philippines.

Philippine Airlines is providing the airfare and baggage allowance for the two designers while Hotel Adagio is providing the accommodation.

General admission is $80 per person and includes entrance to the bazaar and auction, lunch and show. Doors will open at 10 a.m. for people to shop at the Christmas bazaar and silent auction.