Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Gwen Tan: A Promising Fashion Designer

There are a lot of things happening in a Fashion Bazaar. Recently, when I attended the Times Square Fashion Bazaar at SMX Convention Center, I discovered a young talent that is so promising that she can make something out of scratch. This is something not new, but for this young lady, fashion is about an expression of oneself. It is about setting yourself an iconography of diligence and hardwork plus an eye for trends, style and glamour. These are the roots of a fashion designer. Like any other who made it big in this multi-billion dollar industry, fashion designers always have humble beginnings.


Let me introduce you to Ms. Gwyneth Tan Ong of Dela Salle University currently taking up Marketing Management. She graced here way from kinder to high school at Grace Christian College. Because of her inept ability to learn and explore new things and cultivate her different skills, she studied different art lessons every summer like oil painting, water color, sketching and oil pastel. Since she also has a passion for the glamorous world of fashion, she went to the prestigious School of Fashion and the Arts for some fashion techniques like basic sketching, mood board making, tie dye, bleaching, and T-shirt deconstruction. By the way, because of her ability to absorb ideas quickly, she was able to make fairy costumes and children's dress from scratch. She has no formal sewing lessons but she can make this? That's what I call innate ingenuity!


Now, during the Fashion Wars, an inter-school fashion design competition sponsored by De La Salle University Business Management Society, she was able to transform her creativity for fashion into a reality. 


When asked about her inspiration for the design contest, she responded that,

 "Since the theme of the contest is Love Avenue, I thought of an East meets West story. For me, the iconic Empire State building would best represent the glamour of the upper east side so that's where I got all of the Art Deco inspired lines on the model's gown." 


Look at her masterpiece! Look at what creative young minds can generate. After hardwork and leading a team of three, she was able to come up with a beautifully crafted couture gown that resembles around the monochromatic colors white and black. 

She said this about what the overall concept is all about. 

"The guy is in a hoodie because I wanted him to look like a guy from the Bronx. The girl supposed is to be like a Paris Hilton type and the guy is supposed to be like a dancer from the Step Up movie :) For this competition, I didn't look at any of the designers' gowns for inspiration because if I do, I might tend to copy their gown. I wanted to do my own interpretation of the Empire State so I got the design/inspiration from the building itself."


With a resemblance of honesty, hardwork and patience, I know that Gwyneth is one of the country's upcoming designers. Indeed, she will grow to become not only promising in the field of fashion, but also inspire and be inspired by those already in the field. I guess that one need not anymore join in a Project Runway competition just to be famous. If you have the 3 G's- guts, gift and golden opportunity (Well, with an O), you can go places! In fact, I am pretty sure that Gwyneth is one designer to watch out for. Maybe, someday in the Philippine Fashion Week or in some actors or actress look book. 

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