Talenthouse

Women's Apparel, acrylic and oil paintings, mixed media art pieces, graphic designs via photoshop, silk screen art pieces, fashion illustration

Location Philippines, City of Manila, manila

Bio Art has been at the forefront of my everyday life even as a child. I enjoyed experimenting with different mediums, styles, and techniques, even using rubbings of jellybeans on a page. Art not merely transformed the prosaic into an exploration of underlying meanings, but became an important vehicle for self-expression.

Further on, I became aware of art’s similarity to fashion design which allows me to delve into the construct of one’s persona, glimpsed in a fleeting moment.

My interest in fashion design as a career took a decisive turn during a Grade 3 Art/Literature project on the novel, ‘The Cat Who Went to Heaven’ by Elizabeth Coatsworth. By drawing, I transformed sceneries, the elegant form of a swan, and the billowing grace of elephant ears into formal gown designs. From then on, my interest in visual arts evolved, culminating in the desire to specialize in the fashion industry. I tried to ¬¬become better versed in both fashion and the arts. I read about fashion designers such as Valentino and Paul Smith. I drew my own apparel designs and sewed bags using red zebra stripes, green Chinese silk, and outrageous flower patterns. Because I valued my creations I never considered selling them; they now form part of my personal collection.

Once, at the Tate Modern and Metropolitan Museum, I marveled at the compositions of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and the daring colours of Roy Lichtenstein. I’m also in awe of Filipina, Nena Saguil’s, use of enigmatic dots. Oliver Wendell Holmes’ quote: ‘Man’s mind once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions,’ galvanized my commitment to explore the intricacies of mixing fashion and art. Nancy Macdonnel Smith’s ‘The Classic Ten,’ and Kim Johnson Gross’ ‘Women’s Wardrobe’ became constant references. As a result, I conclude that fashion is an appreciation of attitudes. Wendell Holmes’ words inspired me further when I undertook the rigorous International Baccalaureate Program. IB did not offer Visual Arts, but to compensate, I incorporated fashion into my studies; my Extended Essay in Literature focused on a fashion-oriented topic investigating how writers, Collins and Dickens, used clothing to symbolize contemporary gender roles in their time.

I aspire to be a fashion designer who will produce clothing that is versatile, elegant, and timeless, such that they transcend the wearer’s physical flaws. I aim to redefine women as humans, rather than objects of lust or utility. I am inclined towards inspiring evening wear for women, yet I delight in designing for both genders, for all ages, and for all seasons and events using recycled and sustainable materials.

I believe I can truly excel in Fashion Design, because despite the challenges I have and know will encounter, I revel in the entire process – from encapsulating cultures and harnessing a personal quality on paper, to experimenting with diverse styles and materials, to fussing over meticulous details, to endless retouches, to envisioning the outcome, to eventually tapping into a theme, and finally creating a whole line of apparel. When I create, everything is aflame.

- That was my RISD personal essay. I'm deferring one year. So since then, I've completed this incredible fashion course, I've been making paintings to sell, distributing note cards with my art works on them, learning and preparing my fashion blog, learning about photography, and joining competitions and networks such as this.

Influences My mom, she really hammers the right values into my head; experience; failures; stories; that which is deemed quotidian; dance; circular patterns (literally and metaphorically)/arguments; oscar de la renta; valentino; basso and brooke; delfina delettrez; bea valdez; oscar wilde; my sister who's at RISD and works her ass off; oh yeah that which i stated in my bio; the news; alexis canter and mabille; viktor and rolf; camilla skovgaard; disney; sartorialist; proenza schlouer; sandra backlundse; paul smith; ana sekularac; clare tough; jean pierre braganza; nina ricci; abstract expressionism and culture.