I am very proud of my culture and heritage which is the Philippines. In every project that I do, I will take inspiration from my own experience and making it relatable to most people.
For me designing is not all about pretty clothes, I tend to design clothes that tells a story that makes people feel something – it can be that nostalgic feeling or making them feel included in society through clothes.
INSPIRATION
My collection is a narrative of what I went through and what the LGBTQIA+ go through in the stages of coming out. Due to Spanish colonialism in the Philippines, this has heavily influenced the people to obey and follow their traditions and beliefs. I grew up with a Catholic belief that being homosexual is a sin and up to this date this is still universal problem.
I want this collection as a statement of my personal story, where each design will represent the past, present and future. This is for people to relate to it and for them to know that we are all going through it and things will be better. This is also to educate the rest of the world through clothes that we are all human and we deserve happiness, to love whoever we want to love, to wear what we want to wear and be who we want to be in this world.
DETAIL
I explored different shapes for each look by looking at silhouettes of historical images from Philippines. I played with different techniques such as gathering and pleating to give each look some volume. I want my collection to be bold as I want it to make a statement, that we can be who we want to be in this world and not let religion and society change us for who we really are.