Fashion: Black Cloud

My client, Lyan wanted a vintage themed tutu dress,
What makes this project so unique is the time element...
I had less than a week for this one.

Time.

Pressed for time, my best option was to utilise fabrics that were readily available in the studio. I used dupioni for the bodice. Obviously, a tutu dress isn't a tutu dress without the tulle skirt. Also, old lace and some leather that I cut into swallows for the embellishing.

Vintage.

I avoid doing or at least calling this a period piece as I feel like I'm disrespecting a certain era of fashion by not really capturing the substance but merely the form (plus it's very easy to go way over the top with period pieces and end up with a dress looking too costume-y so I guess my bit of reluctance is 'healthy'), With that in mind, I exercised a bit liberalism in the details to balance out that 'old world glamour' with something more current and unique and fun like steel zipper for closure and leather swallows.

Ultimately, my aim was for this to be a subtle but firm statement of who I am as a designer (as always, but I only seem to have articulated who I am and what I want to be as a designer a few days ago). And that is sensible but still clearly bespoke and one of a kind clothing.

For contact:

chua.mara@gmail.com

Travel: Fashion: Migrant

In a few hours, I won't be around the city and married to the laptop for a good number of days. :)

I'm leaving you guys with another piece from my 2009 'Migrant' collection.

The premise for the exhibit where 'Migrant' was included was to showcase both Filipino young blood and Filipino indigenous textile to the very international audience of New York City.

Taking a modernist, practical and what was then relatively new approach, I mixed local textiles and weaves like pinya and jute with leather, wool and knit; and making clothes that will undoubtedly be considered as daywear. (The exhibit was staged September, so I was thinking Fall/ Winter ;plus ironically, despite coming from a tropical country, I excel more in designing outerwear and leatherwear.)

I expressly chose the theme 'Migrant' both for its topical relevance in the Philippine and American setting; and on a more practical level, its relevance to travel and wash friendly clothing. Easy to wear clothing you can throw in your luggage and wear in different occasions- which is my usual train of thought when making my clothes as I love repeating my clothes and largely frown upon disposable trendy things.

About the outfit: Cocoon jacket made of leather and jute. Cotton double head tank top. Pinya and wool pencil bubble skirt with steel zipper fastening.

More Relevant Matters: The Cost of Your Dress and That Nice Lady Who Makes It

Stemmed from a conversation I had with my mom earlier today.

Injustice.

I really find great injustice in how people treat the local fashion designers... especially when it comes to the labor side of things- which involve 2 kinds of people under my direct employ

a) the seamstresses and b) the pattern maker/ cutter (the embroiderers and embellishers and the iron/ steam lady and the quality control are excluded in this discussion because most the the time the same people double for the said jobs and of course, for the purpose of simplicity.)

It infuriates me that people (clients) can take for granted the extremely highly specialized and skilled type of labor these people (seamstresses and pattern makers) can offer and ask for DISCOUNTS. Armed with the thinking that sewing and pattern making are 2 very easy jobs! How dare they?!?!

Here's a reality check:

I function as the designer and the master pattern maker in the studio.

I've been doing this for at least five years (3 years semiprofessionally and 2++ and counting professionally.) In that time span, an entry level employee in any corporate office setup can make his/her way to a junior manager position on average.

Pattern making for the uninitiated involves geometry. I employ 2-3 of the 12 postulates every time I do my patterns. Yes, aside from the pythagorean theorem and pi, I also use the sin, cos , tan functions. While, cutting involves precision, cutting right before the outline, nothing more, nothing less.

To be honest, I don't mind being paid less than a junior manager because I acknowledge the fact that the bulk of the labor comes from my seamstresses.

Nice ladies who expertly and perfectly piece together intricate puzzle pieces made of fabric to make that dress, YOUR DRESS. AND that's just the beginning... I could go on and on and on about the 1/16" double hemming, the hand draping, the blind stitching, the hand finishing and those zippers! that you think takes no more than 5 minutes to sew can make fledging designers cry with frustration. Let's not forget, you want SWAROVSKI on your dress too! that's countless hours of individual application of crystals and beads.

Here's an even bigger reality check, any man can till the soil and plant rice stalks. Any man can fry chicken, burger and fries. Any man can mix up coffee and cream and syrup and reheat that puff pastry in the display. Any man can lay hollow blocks on top of one another and put cement in between (fine, any strong man can. I went through a bit of construction worker phase too, so I know how hard it is). BUT, to sew a perfectly straight line takes weeks of practice and then you move on to sewing a perfectly curved line and then to piecing fabrics together while you avoid puckering at all cost... NOT any man can do that.

And to pay them 402 PHP/day (minimum wage in Manila, Philippines, that's around 9-10USD for the foreign readers)?!?! Tell me junior manager how your ass would feel if you get paid the same amount for that much work. Take note, my seamstress might me the more useful and productive employee between the two of you.

So the next time you go to your local designer. Please think about this. All of us, me and my seamstresses would have to shoulder that discount you ask for. We can't make our prices like the ones they have in SM Department Store because a) we don't have the capacity to produce enough to simply demand a wholesale price and b) you don't have the capacity to buy 1000pcs of the same design per color per size to even dare to demand an SM price.

Please bear in mind as well that what you're paying for isn't just a dress but also personalized service. Don't expect me to dish prices like ZARA because unlike ZARA, I make clothes that will fit you and only you. Unlike ZARA, your dress is one of a kind.

Ask for discounts if you can make your own dress and still think it's a piece of cake. Until then, you avail of my or any of my co designer's services precisely because it's beyond your capacity and skill to make a dress. It's high time you value the hard work that goes into what you wear because honey, it's a lot more complicated than you could ever imagine.