Jo Ann Bitagcol celebrated her fifth anniversary as a designer with a special lunch party and the launching of her showroom. Last June 5, 2024, industry friends and select media guests gathered at Lampara Poblacion to toast the significant milestone in Jo Ann’s career.
 

“It started in 2019 through the outtakes of ‘Fashionable Filipinas’ book by Gino Gonzales and Mark Lewis Higgins, and it evolved into a clothing brand,” the model and designer said in her speech.
 

Bitagcol, Jo Ann’s brand, first released a line of silk scarves adorned with prints of vintage garments and accessories. Through the years, the brand has produced a number of collections—“Burda,” “Tao,” “Alaala,” “Tamis,” “Padron de Kolor,” and “Barong”—with the goal of celebrating the vibrant heritage, culture, and identity of the Philippines. Last March, the brand made its debut on the runway at Bench Fashion Week spring-summer 2024.
 

To mark her fifth year in design, Bitagcol launched a new collection that explores piña fabric as the canvas. Eight barongs photo prints by Bitagcol leave hints of the traditional national dress on piña shirts. Apart from the special collection, making her fifth anniversary even more grand was the opening of her showroom in Poblacion, Makati City. 
 

Like the designer, the Bitagcol showroom is warm, decidedly simple, and punctuated by modern Filipino design elements.
 

“New milestones are unfolding in the most unexpected ways,” Jo Ann said. “In the past five years, the brand has been expanding and evolving wonderfully. No one knows for sure what the next few years will bring, but I have faith that it will be Jo Ann Bitagcol with Tweetie de Leon Gonzales Gino Gonzales beautiful.”