FULLERTON : Designs on Cultural Diversity

Dressed in vibrant clothes from Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines and other countries, Asian-American students at Cal State Fullerton held a fashion show Wednesday as part of the university’s Asian Week festivities.

“Today is a time of cultural pride,” said Reena Torres, a 22-year-old Filipina-American who watched students parade across the stage in costume. “You need a cultural identity as well as self-identity.”

But for Torres and many of her friends, it takes a lot of work to build that cultural identity.

Torres said she came to the United States at age 2 and speaks only a little Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines.

“When I was in high school, if you spoke Tagalog, you were considered FOB--fresh off the boat,” Torres said. “But I really regret that my parents didn’t teach me. . . . Now I feel left out.”

About 5% of the freshmen who enrolled last fall reported that they are of Filipino ancestry, and about 22% of the other freshmen identified themselves as of Asian descent, according to university records.

Torres said she’s now learning a lot about Filipino culture in the Pilipino-American Student Assn., which has about 60 members. Some of the group’s members were in the fashion show. Others are organizing a cultural night on Saturday in Brea, at which Filipino heroes will be remembered.

“I think you should know where you came from,” Torres said. If she has children, she will teach them Tagalog and take them on trips to the Philippines, she said.

At the outdoor fashion show, attended by about 300 people, Torres’ friend Emilyn Neri, 20, walked on stage in a Filipino dress with a glass balanced on her head and one in each hand. The glasses are part of a dance that pays homage to the way many women in the Philippines carry water and other things on their head, Neri said.

Neri began studying the dance about three months ago with a few friends, she said. “We started with tuna cans and moved our way up to glasses,” she said, and laughed.

Neri, who left the Philippines at age 4, said she wasn’t very involved in Filipino culture as a high school student, but now she enjoys learning about her heritage.

“A lot of the students who are growing up here are forgetting it,” she said.

Neri, who wants to be graphic designer, said the student group is a source for friendship, as much as for history.

Calvin Phimsipasom, 20, president of the Laotian Student Assn., said the fashion show makes people aware of the diversity of the campus’ Asian-American population.

“A lot of people don’t know our customs and how colorful our costumes can be,” Phimsipasom said, as he waited to take the stage in a bright silk outfit that is for a traditional wedding party.

Many students don’t even know where Laos is, Phimsipasom said. “You have to tell them, ‘We’re close to Vietnam,’ ” he said.