Elevate, Escalate Fashion Show

I've been EXTREMELY busy developing a small collection of garments in collaboration with a good friend of mine Joco Comendador.  He's a fabulous and bold shoe designer and always thinks beyond when it comes to creating his unique shoes.  I was extremely fortunate when he invited me to design for his upcoming show!

To be honest, I was kind of nervous because my aesthetic is not as dynamic as his, but with a little brain storming, Endless re-runs of Big-O, Black Coffee and help from Joco, I got back on the horse and worked my ass off!

The theme of the show was Poison Ivy, photosynthesis, black and neon green.  This was a fun challenge for me.  When I usually create, I usually sketch and plan everything out.  This time around, I found that using that method made me not like the work as much.  I just laid out the fabrics and started to piece them together.  After that, it's all history.  I just started to manifest on its own and this love child/bastard came to be :)

Joco designed these shoes for his show.  Pictures don't do these justice.

This was the only decent pic I took during the show.  I couldn't focus on taking pictures, but thank Buddha that Tricia was there to take pictures. The rest of the photos were taken by her :)  If you like her work, just shoot her an e-mail! :)

Another worthy note, Nadine, and Armin did the hair and make up for most of the models :)  I think they did a really good job at capturing the mood and theme of the show :)

 I played with texture and mixed wool, pleather and Hounds tooth together.  Raiza embodied the girl that wears my clothes :)  Strong and sophisticated :)

This is a baby doll dress with pleather sleeves and trimming.  I thought Melissa looked so elegant in this look. I kept changing who would wear what because sometimes a look just works and sometimes it does not.  When I first saw her I knew she was right for this look!  

I hand dyed an old teal blouse charcoal and made a pleated pleather skirt. :)   

Bey is an Amazonian.  She was really tall and I liked the thought of the skirt making her even more statuesque and gorgeous :)

The coat took me FOREVER to get it right!  It has a pleather collar and the zipper placket is the same thing.  The purple dress was actually an old piece I had lying around.  Joco and Bernie just  freshened it up with embellishments :)

This is a trapeze dress rendered in the same fabric.  They both had 60's vibes to them.  

Hhahahah Andie is game for the show! The giant to the left is Darren.  He was the stylist for the show and I think he embodied the overall theme of the show very well.  Excuse how exhausted I look.  I'm very haggard prone unfortunately.  

That's the end of the show! :)  I love these pieces a lot.  A lot of time went into sewing and designing these pieces.  Thinking of parting with them makes me sad hahaha.  I'm really thankful for Joco for being one of the few people that believe in me and giving me the opportunity to show my work.  I'm also thankful for everyone who was involved, the models, make-up and hair artists and friends who came to see the show :D  I can now rest for 10 years! 

Any comments, suggestions or questions?  Leave me a comment or feel free to contact me. 

-Jason

Strapless

Sorry I've been M.I.A for a couple of weeks.  It was midterms at my school and I had to haul ass and rearrange some things.  I have basic design foundation classes and so far (they're not very challenging) granted that I have already taken these before at my old school before I transferred here.  Can I just say that the color wheel is the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE?!  Anyway, I finally had some time to  blog :)  I really missed blogging, even though I was only gone for a little while.  It's starting to get all rainy and typhoony (yes, I made those words up,)  it's a blessing and a curse.

I recently got referred to some people looking for designers and they asked to see samples :)  Of course I was excited and their style is up my alley.  Wearable, street chic fashion is what they're all about.  They're new players to the market and I can't wait to see them emerge and offer Fashion with a Korean flavor to the Philippines.

I've been sketching like crazy and just whipped something up for my clients.  I decided to make something sexy but demure at the same time.  I thought something simple like a strapless mini dress.  Not the skanky kind you see people at clubs wear and they end up looking like Vienna Sausages.  I was thinking something Taylor Swift would wear and write breakup songs in for 10 tracks in an upcoming album.  I digress, here are the pictures :)

I chose these two textiles because I love the texture and pattern.  If you read further, you'll see  that the navy fabric is woven into a houndstooth pattern as well.  It's really gorgeous and really thick.  I like to think that if Zooey Deschanel wanted to be a hipster Batman, she'd wear this dress with black tights and booties and a cape with a mask.  Quirkiness is charming.  Being charming >Slutty

The bustier was the most difficult to sew.  Drafting the pattern was pretty simple, but constructing it and putting in the boning was really time consuming.  I'm really happy the way it turned out though.  It took me about 5 hours from start to finish.  I would work in 2 hour increments and rest in between.

That's not puckering, my iron broke -__-  I chose to do a gathered a-line skirt because I like the silhouette.  Think of the prom dress Andy made in "Pretty in Pink" BEFORE she ruined it.  I always tend to make the dress slightly larger in fear of it not fitting correctly even though I've trued the pattern numerous times, I just get so paranoid hahaha.

 Close Up of the material.  I bought the last bolts of this houndstooth and It was only about 1 to 2 USD for 5 yards.

One thing I love about fashion is Texture.  It looks so comfy and safe you know?

I used a plaid lining fabric.  I love cute linings.  It may sound weird because you never see it anyway, but It's the fabric closest to you and you don't notice it.  It makes sure you're comfortable and at ease and doesn't expect anything in return.  Think of it as Ji hoo from Boys Over Flowers and the outer fabric as Gu Jun Pyo.  Sorry I got all cheesy hahaha.  I almost forgot, I used a 10 inch zipper.  I used a normal one because Invisible ones are really annoying to put on with out the invisible zipper foot for the sewing machine.

 My preliminary sketches.  I couldn't find a black to match the houndstooth so the navy was the next best thing.  My friend saw the sketch and said the girl with black hair looked like Lupin the III.  I agree.
The post-it notes were suggestions I wrote down so next time, the dresses would be perfect.  I need to use more fun colors.  I always default to muted or subtle colors out of habit.  You know what they say, branch out :).

I'm planing to create more separates.  What do you guys think?  Hopefully, when time permits, I can have an actual person TRY on my clothes for the camera :)  Got any suggestions, comments, passive aggressive ramblings to throw my way? Feel free to leave them in the comment box and I'll respond as soon as I can :)  

Little Plaid Dress

When I used to live in a place with colder weather, my closet was FILLED with plaid.  I think I wore it everyday and it came to the point where the only thing missing was a full beard, an axe and a fetish for chopping down trees to make my log cabin.  Since lumberjacks consume massive amounts of smoked and cured meats, I was prepared for such situations. (As long as you took away the manual labor, I'm only it it for the bacon, axe and clothing.)  Back to the topic,  uh, plaid, yes plaid!  I think it's a very classic pattern and everyone should have at least one plaid shirt.  They're so warm and soft when they get worn in and they give/have so much character.  But this time, I'm talking to the ladies(or lady boys).  I love plaid, and I love baby doll dresses.  I've always been into 60's silhouettes and the 1995 movie Clueless.  Put the two together and you have a plaid, baby doll dress!  This dress isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'm sure with some personal styling it could appeal to a wide audience.

I started by drafting a pattern from an existing garment and I altered it drastically by making the bodice shorter and eliminated the zipper.  I love these tools!  They make sewing and my life much easier.  The tracing wheel makes me think of a pizza cutter and I get so hungry for pizza when I draft patterns.  JESUS, WHAT I'D GIVE FOR A PIZZA RIGHT NOW.

Please excuse the HIDDY lighting.  I'm just starting out with my fancy camera and it's gotten so cloudy that I was lucky to get these in.  It's super short and I would hope the wearer would pair this up with tights and a pair or flats or ankle booties :)  She'll have legs for DAYS!  Think Twiggy and Cher from Clueless combined!  

 The fabric is a navy plaid with maroon and green accents that are quite subtle.  I left the selvage edge  because it doesn't fray and I think it adds a nice charm to something so neat and clean.  The belt is detachable and it can be slipped on really easily.  I just wanted to practice my sewing and made this dress in a couple of hours.

I little sketch I made when I was planning out the dress hours ago.  I love how long her legs look (well I drew them that way so hurr durrrrr)  I'm planning on having a 60's themed photo shoot with a friend modeling it.

I think it looks really gorgeous in natural light.  I miss simple, Classic pieces rather than those sheer blouses and blog shop dresses that have become fast fashion and girls end up reselling them or throwing them away :/  Maybe it's the hoarder in me but, clothes should be an investment and not a way to keep up with others so you can fit in.  Find the best quality, not quantity.  Nothing is more stylish than a piece that has you written all over and is classic.  I'm not the most fashionable person, but I can see it when someone just puts something on just because they think it's the new 'it/in' thing.  Excuse the preaching, but I really abhor people becoming Lemmings.  (Apparently, mass suicide among these rodents are a myth Disney created, creepy!)

P.S
I've recently had an exciting opportunity come up and I have to postpone my personal projects and focus on a new project :)  I'll fill you guys in once stuff starts to get get finalized.  I can't wait to share with you guys :)

Any comments, suggestions, refutations against my stance on fast fashion, therefore labeling yourself as a lemming? Leave me a comment.  I'd love to hear from you!