OVER breakfast not too long ago, my good friend, fashion designer and ?Knit Queen? Lulu Tan-Gan, dangled the possibility of indulging in a possible dream-come-true: a career in fashion design.
Turns out she, along with Inno Sotto, Rajo Laurel, Jojie Lloren ?basically a who?s who in the Philippine fashion industry ? would be offering short course design workshops at the STI College in their new facility at the Fort, across Ayala?s Market Market. I confess I have moments of ?fashion obsession,? when I imagine a career in design, so I was definitely intrigued.
I have always enjoyed fashion from an observer?s point of view and been inspired by its many creators, but except for those ?moments,? I have never seriously considered it a potential career. So I was wary of attending a real design workshop, especially on Saturday afternoons, my ?chill out from crazy week? day. But in pursuit of a story and maybe the opportunity to discover if I would have as much fun designing fashion as wearing it, I signed on for Draping 1.
Lulu and her daughter Jess urged me to take the class, saying, ?You might surprise yourself and become a domestic sewing Goddess after attending a session.? They knew that unlike my talented homemaker sisters who enjoy cooking, I throw dinner parties by ordering take-out. So they emailed me a list of the items to buy for a draping class which would be taught by Jojie Lloren.
Jojie I knew because one of his first brides was my cousin Sandy Prieto, almost a decade ago. So I felt comfortable in his class, even if it was not really a beginners? class per se as students should have undergone a prerequisite foundation class.
I was already delinquent on Day 1, arriving 15 minutes late. Lucky for me, ?fashionably late? applied, as class had not yet started. My second mistake was tasking the household cook to get the items necessary for class, resulting in the purchase of the wrong pins. Note: steel pins are like the ink in your pen for a fashion design class. Again, lucky for me, my seatmates, two very lovely and talented designers (one of them a teacher for another session) lent me steel pins as my multi-colored push pins were suitable only for a high school cork board.
Jojie?s draping to pattern class (which he learned in a premier school in Paris) was ?hands-on? from the get go, with very little lecture discussion. He gave initial guidelines and then tasked us to test our eye for proportion by putting ribbon guidelines aka ?landmarks? on the figure forms of ?our canvas? of key body parts e.g. bust, waist, hips, neck, sleeves, etc. This sounds much easier said than done because these measurements have to be extremely precise as they form the foundation of all your garments.
Ever wonder why some cheap outfits fit funny? It?s basically because they got their figure measurements wrong from the beginning. This is a painstaking process and has to be exact. It took the class the entire two hour session to get this correct. There was minimal chatting as everyone was focused on the task at hand.
Just attending this one class (there are nine to 10 classes per session) already opened my eyes to what designers have to go through to succeed in this business. From dedication to perfecting one?s technique to developing an eye for the smallest detail, it was quite a learning experience. Although I have yet to discover if I have the discipline or talent to pursue a career in design, the one thing I learned in class that will apply to one of my favorite pursuits ? ?shopping for clothes? ? was to work on developing my eye for proportion. That one class alone ensures that all my future purchases will be better proportioned. Definitely well worth the sacrifice of a couple of hours of my Saturday afternoon. ?
STI Center of Arts and Tan-Gan present Designer Fashion Workshops, conducted by a group of respected industry experts who have come together to share their knowledge with aspiring designers. Top professionals Jojie Lloren, Lulu Tan-Gan, Inno Sotto, Joey Samson, Patrice Ramos-Diaz, Robi Lolin, Roy Gonzales, Pidge Reyes, Numer Esconde, Noel Manapat and Millet Arzaga are among the faculty.
The Designer Fashion Workshops? July-August sessions will continue on July 31 and August 7, 14 and 21. The September-October sessions will be held from September 4 to October 23. For inquiries, e-mail designerfashionworkshops@gmail.com or call tel. 0918-8031322 and (02) 994-5592.
