The third act

Instead of the usual Night of 100 Designers that has become a chore to sit through, somebody had this brilliant idea of making the annual Metrowear show a series of "pocket shows" featuring only one to four designers per night at the Rockwell Loft.

Presented by Metro magazine and Samsung, we caught the third night or "showdown" between industry veterans Randy Ortiz and Anthony Nocom vs. progressive designers Joey Samson and Ivarluski Aseron who are humorously referred to as the local Viktor & Rolf.

Joey Samson

Joey Samson collaborated with artist Paulo Vinluan whose "wolves in suits" paintings caught his eye.

Joey said he took elements and colors from Paulo’s work and translated them into garments of suede, double-faced twill, and satin.

Colors were shades of green, blue, and olive with minimal hints of red and orange.

His collection included hand-painted pinstripe pants and twill trousers, zippers used as piping, and a couple of origami dresses with folded fabrics.

Anthony Nocom

Anthony Nocom wanted to come up with a casual holiday collection different from his past shows and ended up doing a contemporary look for younger men.

He showed black, grey and white outfits consisting of slim-fit pants, tops in stretch cotton cut close to the body, knitted cardigans, and light-weight jackets in black denim.

Anthony said he wished to evolve slowly and was encouraged by his friends to do it. The result, he said, is a relaxed look using soft fabrics, while retaining a touch of formal.

Randy Ortiz

Randy Ortiz opened with a micro minidress in silk taffeta.

He combined various textures of moiré silk, taffeta, tweeds, silk, organdy and velvet ribbons in mostly black materials with touches of red.

Randy said he wanted to go back to his first love, which is tailoring, and that his focus was power dressing for women or reinventing suits with a twist.

Randy showed party options such as a cocoon dress in silk organdy with embroidery, a jumpsuit paired with a jacket, and a beaded dress with a trapeze jacket over it.

Ivarluski Aseron

Ivarluski Aseron’s collection was a tribute to his mom Leonor who passed away last May due to complications of diabetes.

Aside from black being a trend, Ivar says he chose the color because his family is still in mourning.

"After the burial, my dad showed us super old pictures of my mom that she kept hidden somewhere in her closet. That’s how I got the inspiration; this is how I remember her," Ivar said.

The result was ‘60s inspired with exaggerated details and space-age cutouts.

Materials were silk taffeta, metallic chiffon, Duchess satin and stretch lace in black and off-white.

"I’m sort of in the mood for futuristic details," Ivar says. "It’s something I haven’t done before."

His finale was a reference to his mom’s wedding gown.