A different allegory of little red’s wolf inspired me for my holiday collection. Looking back in my childhood, I realized that it is the first ever character I encountered that ever cross-dressed; and with today’s spectrum of gender identity and information, I had an epiphany: “what if the wolf is transgender, what if the reason he is after little girls is because he wanted to be one?”
My collection revolves around that question and then I created a retelling of the wolf’s story through my clothes segmented into 7 looks: red, strangers, flowers, grandma, devour, hunter & drowning, and I called it “howling: a wolf’s longing.”
While my first collection wanted you to chase and live your childhood dreams in the “wanderings of a child prince;” this collection wanted you to look at a villain differently, to look at yourselves differently; whether or not you are living your truth.
I chose to do this retelling because there are so many misunderstood people out there, people who are still hiding from who they truly are, and people who are still longing- pretending to be under other people’s skin.
Days before the launch of this collection, the farmer’s restroom incident happened and situations like that are reasons why most of us are afraid to be our authentic selves, I hope my retelling of the wolf’s story sheds light that belonging doesn’t always just end beneath our skin; the wolf maybe a ferocious big bad on the outside but it is how he feels inside is what matters: “his longing to be her.”
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In a design aspect, you can see how I incorporated familiar feminine colors and silhouettes to predominantly menswear pieces to showcase her realization and transition. And to make my looks wolf-like the sleeves are cut as if they were hind legs of canines and the bucket hats are shaped as if they are comical wolf illustrations.
I used 95% of surplus or recycled fabric as materials; even the zippers are recycled. I always wanted to somehow lessen the carbon footprint we cost to this planet; so I always choose to go green and dive into thrown fabrics from designer and furniture houses.
I used grey knits, grey felts and ivory twill to resemble the wolf; feminine brocade upholsteries to represent the grandmother’s clothes; plaid whites for the hunter; and the ripple print nylon fabric which I bought in 2015 from a junk fabric shop in Bislig to represent the wolf’s drowning.
The remaining five percent are the woolen yarns that we used to make the crocheted orchid brooches and earrings.
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Credits:
Photographed by Briann Tan
Photographer's Assistant Isabel Lopez
Styling by Gee Jocson
Style Assist James Bradlee Gomez
Creative Logistics Nina Amoncio
Modeled by Gio Guevarra and Andrew Smith of Certeza Modeling Agency
