The latest crop
The first time I see designer Rosanna Ocampo’s line, a collection of sexy, swingy frocks that are loose and far from clingy yet leave little to the imagination, I can’t help but remark that her clothes are “a little debutante meets disco queen.” She laughs and replies, “Close! It’s Pollyanna charm school girl meets disco diva.”
That’s the kind of precociousness you would expect from a hyper-stylish figure like Ocampo, who seems to know everyone (at the shoot she was chummy with the hairstylist and good friends with photographer Sara Black, who she’s known since high school) and seems to be everywhere, from weeknights at Embassy to weekends out of town.
Ocampo discovered her love for fashion in high school, when the family business (which involves pre-need insurance and money remittance) failed to incite lust like a pair of high-heeled Jimmy Choos. Instead, her mother, who runs her own handicraft export company, Manila Handicrafts Inc., served as her reference point, helping her hone her creativity by taking her shopping to work on crafts. “As a little girl, she would take me with her to Kamuning to buy fabrics, since she’d have her own clothes done by a sastre,” Ocampo recalls, “and I would just stare in awe at the rolls and rolls of fabric while touching the different materials.”
Pretty soon she was dabbling in fashion, having designed her own prom and grad ball gown herself. She interned under Lulu Tan-Gan a week after college graduation and immediately began consigning at Ishq, the boutique in Ortigas that had all the girls swooning over girly apparel by young designers. Ocampo cut her teeth designing her first collection for Tyler, which she dubbed “updated equestrienne,” and debuted in the first quarter of 2003.
She hightailed it for that epicenter of fashion, Milan, soon after, taking a one-year course in fashion and textile design at Instituto Europeo di Design in 2003 and then a master’s in fashion PR at the Istituto Marangoni the following year.
Retail and the perks of working with esteemed labels lured her to the likes of Livia Gregoretti. “The company was the main distribution office in all of Europe for roughly 12 luxury brands like Sonia Rykiel, Lanvin, K for Karl Lagerfeld, Nina Ricci, and Vera Wangs Lavander Label which I personally handled,” explains Ocampo.
“It was an amazing experience to have worked in a city that truly lives and breathes fashion,” she says. “You’re always in the middle of everything. It was an incredible advantage that the job entailed dealing with the buyers of Europe’s cream of the crop shops, like Milan’s Corso Como 10 and Paris’ Collette, and department stores such as Harrods and Gallerie Lafayette.
These days, she caters to folks like Stephanie Delfour-Zubiri, Alexi Alunan, Kriska Ponce–Enrile and lots of other bold-faced names. Though this is hardly her first foray into retail, Ocampo’s already diversified her label, selling at House of Laurel. And within a couple of weeks, shops like Tint and Carbon will soon be stocking her pieces.
Her latest collection consists of cropped, bold-colored shift dresses and swingy just-shy-of-trapeze frocks. “My cuts are very clean and easy,” she explains. “I make sure they are comfortable to wear.” Ocampo veers towards designs that are flowing since she likes a lot of movement in her clothes. “I’m very fond of draping and I always, always use color. I love mixing bold bright and colors and prints. Personally, I have around five pieces of black clothing in my cabinet!” Not surprising, as this young designer name-checks Fendi, Pucci and Etro as her inspiration.
“You can expect a lot more variety on my cocktail line,” says Ocampo of her future collection. “I’m also already planning the spring/summer beach collection. I’ll be doing a lot of lounge dresses that you can carry from Nami’s champagne brunch to sunset sessions at The Tides.”
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Rosanna Ocampo’s clothing line is available at House of Laurel and will soon be sold at Tint and Carbon within the next two weeks. For made-to-order garments, contact the designer at 0917-5342024 or e-mail sans_o@yahoo.com. Prices range from P1,600 to P2,500 for tops, P4,500 to P6,500 for short cocktail dresses and P7,500 to P9,500 for long gowns.
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E-mail me at oohbea@gmail.com.
