How would you describe your personal style?
I would have to say that I love wearing a mix of bohemian, tailored and vintage (plus my personal art on it), sort of being able to express thru the clothes I wear, that I can look and feel relaxed yet in a polished and chic way. I always feel the need to add something or alter most of the clothing that I have. The colors I love to play with are mostly earth tones, it gives me a feeling of being one with nature amidst the urban environment.
What is the theme of your designs?
For my summer collection, the theme was to be able to lovingly construct designs that are very fun, unique and much wearable for the summer and can also be worn in different seasons by means of layering.
Each piece was meant to be one of a kind and will not be replicated in exact detail.
What are your future goals as a designer?
As a designer, I plan to continue producing more unique pieces and hopefully, be able to market them to a much larger scale and be known for the passion and hardwork that I poured in each piece.
I am aiming to have my own local store built here in my country someday.
How did you get started?
I have always been a critic of my own style, and it changes every time. Every change serves as an inspiration for me to express “who I am” by altering the clothes that I have. I have been this way ever since I learned how to sew by hand. And being a member of a family where we don’t really have the luxury to shop all the time for every “new look” that arrives in the market, I learned to be more practical and it helped me a lot to be who I am now as a designer. I do understand what a customer wants, nobody wants to look like everyone else, each of us wants to stand out, but some just don’t have the time or the skills to make their own clothes, and worse is that most unique and fashionable pieces you see in the market are so expensive so the customers settle for buying “what’s in” but what everybody already has.
This made me realize that I have to start making my own pieces and share them. So, by February of 2008, I finally bought a sewing machine to start on a new venture. My summer collection is already out and I’m working on my 2nd collection that should be released by August of 2008 which you can check on my current website.
Where do you get the inspiration from for your designs?
Whenever I plan to make a new piece, I usually go to the fabric store FIRST to shop for materials, the color and type of fabric and the accents that I choose particularly depends on my mood or emotions during that time. And when I get home, the challenge of designing what I can make out of what I bought is what inspires me the most. And then I just let my imagination run, backed up with the music I play in the background and then I start my work.
I guess this is the reason why it’s hard for me to replicate a piece, it’s because the moment is just not the same anymore, and the passion that I had with the original piece won’t be the same to make another copy as identical as the original.
* thank you, Brandy.
