‘Ampersand’

In preparation for Fall/Holiday 2014, the fashion house R2R has launched its latest collection called Ampersand. R2R has been one of the country’s most successful social entrepreneurial companies dealing in fashion and home accessories. Founded by Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, R2R aims to enable Filipino artisans to earn a living as it strives to make design, entrepreneurship and progress an inclusive venture.

R2R’s chief designer Christian Cera shares, “Wanderlust takes the R2R Advocate to a great adventure — a journey that leads to an appreciation of global unity and yet, opens a door to self-discovery, too. Embracing the craft of artisanal women from other communities, she also looks inward and takes pride in her multi-faceted existence. The collection celebrates this multiplicity with styles that take sustainability and versatility to another level.”

The main feature of the whole collection then became the ability to do different configurations in one bag.

“Issa” is a classic tote perfect for work, unzip the sides and the tote expands with a different fabrication for weekend use.

“Danella” can be worn as a fold-over shoulder bag, strap detaches to become a clutch, strap attaches to the mouth and bag becomes a taller body bag; exterior pouch can also be detached and used on its own.

With “Alessa,” unbuckle the double straps from the tote, turn the mouth inside out to reveal a different fabrication. It becomes a shorter, zip-closure shoulder bag using a detachable shoulder strap.

“Arriane” is a fold-over evening bag that can also be worn as a taller body bag by simply just repositioning the chain strap.

“Casey” can be transformed from a flat tote to a trapezoid tote, a hand-held satchel to a shoulder bag, all by snapping and unsnapping leather tabs.

These features reflect the “different spaces” the bags take you to. Symbolically, the collection also represents the R2R woman’s multi-faceted personality. The materials come from three different weaving communities: R2R’s signature upcycled scrap cloth basket weave; binakol from Ilocos, a traditional material whose repeated optical patterns are aimed to scare away bad spirits; and ilaglis from Kalinga.

The formal launch was held recently at the Power Plant Mall, which also introduced  R2R’s latest advocate, blogger Kim Jones.

(For more information, visit ampersand.rags2riches.ph, www.rags2riches.ph or call 632-531-5396.)