MANILA, Philippines - Designer James Reyes was thinking of women, the kind who sun themselves silly before summer makes it debut, when he was crafting his latest collection. “I have a lot of friends and clients who travel during summer,” Reyes tells YStyle. “Some of my pieces can be worn as cover-ups over bikinis. It’s for women who love to show off their legs.”
Working with bold color blocking and graphics, Reyes was channeling Patrick Nagel’s illustrations. “I love his graphic approach to portraiture and his colors remind me of my summers back in the ’80s.” Rounding out the trifecta are Janina Dizon-Hoschka’s clutches (“The clashing combinations of basic and acid colors gave off a rock vibe which I love”) and Lego (“You know how you play with lego and just randomly pick up bricks just to create a shape? That’s how I wanted to treat my coloring for my collection, play with three to four clashing colors and just go wild with the combinations.”).
Reyes was working on the summer uniform — the cotton tee — as his basic silhouette.
“My initial idea was to explore the T-shirt shape. I wanted to manipulate the basic tee shape and give it a luxurious look.” The results are silky dresses, in liquid jerseys, velvet satins, Swiss cotton and heavy jerseys, that cut away from the body but cling to the figure.
Reyes was happy with the results, telling us he enjoyed the transition from monochromatic somber hues, a signature of his previous collections. “This collection was a personal triumph in terms of coloring. This is the first time I used vibrant colors and was even daring enough to put together color clashes. I’m very pleased at the outcome so you can expect more visually assaulting collections from me! Maybe prints next time? ”
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Completing this season’s Fashion Watch are Joel Escober and Jojie Lloren (Sept. 15), JC Buendia and Patrice Diaz (Sept. 22), Francis Libiran and Dennis Lustico (Sept. 29), OJ Hofer and Jerome Lorico (Oct. 6), Joey Samson and Len Nepomuceno(Oct. 13), Ferdi Abuel and Norman Noriega (Oct. 20), Lulu Tan-Gan and Ito Curata (Oct. 24) and Ivar Aseron and Philip Rodriguez (Oct. 27).
Fashion Watch Quartet boasts industry greats working behind-the-scenes as well, including Patrick Rosas and team as the force behind hair and makeup, Grace Molina as project coordinator and Inno Sotto as creative director.
Fashion Watch 2011, held at the lobby lounge of Makati Shangri-La from 3 to 6 p.m., is open to everyone. Call 840-0884 for more info.
Fashion Watch 2011 is presented by The Philippine STAR, Olay, Makati Shangri-la Hotel, Preview, Starworld and Stylebible.ph in cooperation with major sponsors BMW and Metro Pacific Investments.