Q+A with Micah Wong
Parsons BFA 2026
UGAT
In Next Gen / No Kill, we spotlight standout fashion graduates whose work opens up new conversations and possibilities. From New York’s top programs and beyond, these are the designers shaping a future of fashion defined by intelligence, creativity, and intention.
What is the inspiration or concept behind your collection?
Ugat is a deep rooting and remembrance of ancestral and spiritual Filipinx practices lost to us as a result of colonization- especially felt as a member of the diaspora born in the United States. Deeply inspired by Indigenous Filipinx craft, Ugat presents a series of regalia birthed from rectangular hand woven textiles, swathed and wrapped around the body, and never cut. These intricately patterned textiles are paired with foraged and natural materials: beaded, woven, and bound together into ceremonial adornments. Feathers, shells, nuts, sticks, yarns, fibers, shards, and beads become multi-sensorial portals of ancestral channeling and vessels for intention and manifestation.
Through community centered ceremony, Ugat encourages us to remember where we come from, reconnect with the Land, and root ourselves deeply in love. Whether or not you know where you come from, Ugat encourages us to trust our intuition. Our bodies remember so much more than we could ever imagine.
Our ancestral practices are woven into our DNA, and when you finally find them, you can feel it. Ugat asks, “what type of ancestor do you want to be?” Now do it. Become. Remember. We are in this together.
What’s one material or technique you’re currently obsessed with?
Currently, weaving on a floor loom deeply resonates with my soul. Woven textiles in Philippine culture bear our stories, our identities, and can even be vessels of spiritual bridging. My woven textiles are intuitive syntheses of my growing relationships with my culture and spirituality.
What does fashion mean to you today?
I deeply center the ideology that we don’t need more clothes. We have enough clothes to dress generations, and the industry is killing our planet and contributes directly to modern colonization. If we’re going to make something, it needs to be for a really good reason, otherwise we are complicit. For me, it’s to reconnect and continue the lineage and traditions of my ancestors. Indigenous Filipinx craft is so sacred to me, many of our traditions were erased through Spanish and American colonization. My craft allows me to explore my ancestral relationships and share it with others. Because of this, I don’t view this body of work as being fashion or as a collection. They are ceremonial regalia, archives of lineage, vessels of the Land, and expressions of my soul.
What’s one thing you wish the fashion industry would leave behind—and one thing it should embrace?
As a Filipinx trans femme living in America, I wish we could leave behind the idea that a suit and tie is THE pinnacle archetype of formal wear. There are so many other cultural garments we can embrace from our lineages, or ways of dress that come directly from our queerness. Not to say that we should abolish it, because I have friends that find a lot of affirmation and power in a suit. But to some of us it is a cage, a white masculine standard. My ancestors were shunned for their cultural dress and were forced into these standards. I just wish that more people would realize we don’t have to dress that way, and embrace that. It’s decolonization and reclamation!
Who or what has shaped your design values most?
My culture, my intuition, my community, my spirituality, and my relationship with the Land. My craft and spiritual practices are deeply intertwined, and so it’s very important for me to imbue my values and intentions into every step of the way. I often meditate throughout the process, and use my intuition when it comes to foraging and craft practices. I’ll be doing research later, and learn that the things I naturally did are actually ancestral practices, like venerating and giving thanks directly to the plants I forage. My work feels beyond just me, so I hold a lot of reverence for the things I create and as well the process and methods for creating.
If you could design for anyone in the world, who would it be—and why?
For one, I really want to keep dressing my community- specifically other queer Filipinos who are also doing the work to bring our culture forward with us. But if I were to choose one person outside my direct community, I’ve been really wanting to dress Bretman Rock lately. It hit me when I saw this video of him prancing around in his backyard unapologetically wearing a bahag, it’s like a Filipino loincloth. It made me smile a lot, and I love the way he embraces our culture. Plus she really is that diva and she knows it. <3
Three things keeping you sane right now
My friends, my family, and dance. I’m so grateful to have a strong support system and community. I would not be able to create and do the things I do without my community. Dance has always been a way for me to express myself, it’s how I regulate and ground myself in my soul and body.
One word to describe your design approach
Intuitive. Channeling.
Where can we find you online? @micahwong
