Through the Eyes of the Needles: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Filipino Fashion Designers in the State of Qatar, A Phenomenology

Background: Fashion could be dated back as to when humans had started evolving. The history of clothing began when humans had lost their fur and needed to protect themselves from the cold nights and the burning sun. Ever since clothes became in demand, the demand for quality and aesthetically pleasing clothes has never diminished. Looking around the State of Qatar, one can find numerous tailoring stores run by foreign designers or tailors, mostly Indians. The number of Filipino Fashion Designers in the country may even be less than a hundred. Different research studies regarding Filipino Fashion Designers are mostly rare as well. With much thought, the researchers have focused on the lived experiences of the Filipino Fashion Designers in the State of Qatar. Methods: This study made use of the qualitative approach focusing on phenomenology to fully understand the story of the unsung heroes of fashion designing with the central question, how Filipino fashion designers deal with challenges when it comes to providing designs. An in-depth was conducted among the participants to get what one designer has gone through in his/her day-to-day life. Findings: With the gathered data, the researchers were able to come up with three (3) main themes with three (3) sub themes; (1) Fashion Literacy: (1.1) Academics (1.2) Experience (1.3) Capabilities; (2) Stress and Mitigation: (2.1) Challenges (2.2) Adjustments (2.3) Fulfillment; (3) Fame and Association: (3.1) Collaboration (3.2) Recognition (3.3) Simulation. Recommendation: The results of this research study may be beneficial to students and other people with an interest with the topic being discussed in this paper. With the results of this phenomenology, one may continue an in depth analysis of the life of the Filipino designers, proposing new studies related to this paper. One may also gather information that can be used in studying the life of other nationalities when it comes to fashion designing as the results may differ for other people.