Sassa Jimenez goes for high-voltage glam

MANILA, Philippines – After a successful debut last year,designer Sassa Jimenez is following up her bold entry in the ultra-competitive world of fashion with a sophomore collection that aims to relive the days when going out meant being meticulously made-up, coiffed and dressed to the nines.

The cum-laude graduate from the prestigious Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (the school that bred the likes of Monique Lhuillier, Santino Rice, Lauren Conrad and Pamela Skaist-Levy) is well versed in the hip and easy street-smart dressing that young urbanites subscribe to — being only 21 years old and falling in the exact same category. But Sassa also understands that girls want to be all glammed-up sometimes, and she’s produced a line-up that offers plenty of pieces for them to pull from.            

The femme fatales of old Hollywood’s silver screen have unmistakably inspired the sleek and sexy pieces that comprise Revelation, Sassa’s 45-piece collection set to be unveiled during Philippine Fashion Week, which opens on May 26. The designs are a departure from her first line that was all about edginess and trendiness, but apt for a young and continually evolving young designer.

“I was just excited to show another point of view and a style that I specialize in,” says Sassa. “I revealed something that people haven’t seen from my first collection. I wanted the pieces to be classic and timeless and have staying power.” And who better to inspire clothes that ooze refinement and sophistication than the greatest coquette of our time — Dita Von Teese.

The parallelism between the celebrated burlesque performer’s style and Sassa’s current pieces fit as perfectly as a form-flattering dress would. Dita dresses up like a screen goddess from the 1940s but in updated outfits that carry a fresh and modern feel. Sassa took this aesthetic and translated it into polished pieces that are totally wearable in today’s fashion clime.

Revelation fuses classic silhouettes with contemporary elements, but the strength of the collection lies in the skillfully rendered, tactile details. The careful use of fabric to highlight the flow of the garment in relation to the movement of the body references the enormous influence painters such as Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso and impressionist Edgar Degas have on the designer, who describes their “flow of lines” as being “very deliberate, yet spontaneous.”

Embellishments, on the other hand, are sparse and the subtlety is used to direct the attention to the fabric itself and to the manipulation of cut and construction that results in a play of proportions. All in all, the pieces come together to form a unified, stylish whole with a clear point of view.

Sassa says that she had to delve a bit deeper into another facet of her design persona to produce this particular collection.

“It was experiencing what another woman feels when she has clothes made. Like she’s wearing something different from what she usually wears, but without losing herself in the clothes.”

Ah yes, when you wear a piece from Revelation, you don’t turn into someone else, you’re still you, albeit infinitely more glamorous.

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For information, call or SMS Sassa Jimenez at 0915-2411236 or at her atelier Dressform Inc. at 892-1163.