MANILA, Philippines - Tea dresses seem like a reasonable tribute to Monet, Rosanna’s Ocampo’s inspiration for her Privé collection. Instead, the young designer showed vividly-hued spring dresses cut open to reveal plenty of collarbone and cleavage. “The theme of my collection was ‘The Giverny Gardens,’” Ocampo says.
Updating the floral dress into something young, modern and sexy led Ocampo to turn to 12 muses to inform her designs. The likes of Joey Mead, Vicky Abari-de Leon, Stephanie Delfour Zubiri, Kelly Misa, Claudine Trillo, Nicole Jacinto, Juana Manahan-Yupangco, Anna Angara and YStyle’s Jackie Cohen-Antonio, among others, set the scene for the party as the muses, garbed in Ocampo’s florals, showed off their personal styles.
“I chose these muses because they represent exactly what my design philosophy is and who I really cater to — fun-loving, confident, coquettish women of the now,” Ocampo explains. “They’re modern, jet-set, cultured, career and family-oriented and great lovers of fashion.”
Ocampo isn’t interested in the formulaic, insisting instead on melding influences from three different decades into one show-stopper of a dress. “My strength lies in mixing colors and patterns,” she adds, “and I love throwing in ’20s-inspired appliqués, flower power and abstract prints from the ’60s and feminine shapes of the ’50s all in one dress.”
Catering to the old-fashioned society set isn’t her main objective; she prefers to dress modern women who know what they want and aren’t afraid to go for it. Think: less ladies who lunch, more girls who party.
So what does the modern woman want? “Chic, versatile pieces that easily translate into the many roles she plays as a woman of the 21st century,” Ocampo intones. And she’s just the woman to deliver it.
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E-mail me at jackieoflash@yahoo.com.