Intern Leila Alsugair finishes up the seams on the Carl Jan Cruz x Vogue Philippines vanity bag. Photographed by Kim Santos
When Carl Jan Cruz set out to create a vanity bag for Vogue Threads, there were discussions opened up on the cutting room floor in the process: on specific obsessions, on Filipino sensibilities, and on embracing the word “vanity.”
Team Carl Jan Cruz keeps a reference library within one of the rooms in their three-story atelier. Images are neatly lined across nearly floor-to-ceiling mood boards, tacked on with handwritten notes on the motifs that are presently inspiring them: abstract fabric manipulation, lacework, archival fashion. There are the city landmarks—vintage photos of Divisoria and the First United Building in Escolta, bustling with the same life that weaves through them to this day.
Zero in on one cluster of ideas, and you’ll find topography maps. Contour lines ripple over and across Philippine islands, and, within Carl Jan Cruz’s broad scheme, they almost mimic the language of electric pleating or wisps of fringe set in motion.
These maps were the starting point of the Vanity Bag, their latest release in collaboration with Vogue Threads. It features their signature stripes in the peach-toned and candy hues that sometimes make specklings in their Pambahay line and Pique pieces. “The material that we used for this vanity bag is a cotton ribbed jersey, which we custom-make with our mill in Cavite, whom we’ve been working [with] for about a decade now,” the founder of the brand CJ Cruz tells Vogue. “And the colorway that we chose was actually inspired by the topography map of the Philippines.”
These colors are what were readily available at their mill, he further explains. “So I guess it’s a big mix of being practical but also being creative.” But throughout the process the design team would circle back to Filipino sensibilities and the urban landscape of Metro Manila. “We really see, you know, the painted exteriors of the homes, or when you would go and see the mundane musings on the streets.”
CJ envisions that a wearer could use the vanity bag from daily, casual, or utility use “to like probably something fun and, you know, [something] to add a bit of glamour and vibrance into your outfit. Or, just what you feel like.” The shape of the handles offers up ways to wear; you could hold it as a top handle, or you could hold it with both handles and create this “squish silhouette,” to be worn as a sort of functional bracelet.
Admittedly, the piece wasn’t a difficult ask from the design house. A vanity bag is simplistic by nature, CJ says, but the idea of it spurred open-ended discussions on the cutting room floor.
“We definitely developed and crafted this product and design on how we would approach any of our products. There’s much thought,” he explains. “That is, it starts with this very simple but very inspired concept or theme. And then we explore that from there.”
There are always references to the brand’s archive: what they stand for, and what they constantly set out to do. At the moment, it’s to work toward what defines Filipino contemporary fashion; much like their body of work, it constantly moves and shifts.
“I think it’s broadened our understanding of who else is out there that are interested in the brand or what we even do,” he continues. “If [we] are constantly in creation mode, I think we also forget what’s out there, and this process is a beautiful reminder, and a realistic one, for us, to connect or create a dialogue through a process.”
This constant dialogue informs the moving parts of Carl Jan Cruz: the wardrobe denims, pique collections, and rib bags that the vanity bag itself directly mirrors. It inspires them to keep building on their signatures, finding something that speaks directly to their clear yet ever-evolving point of view. There were even ideas circling around the word “vanity” and how it ties into the brand’s humor.
“I think it just took a lot of specific obsessions,” CJ reflects, “especially with materiality. And it’s beautiful that now it got simplified towards this vanity bag. When this project came about, I think everything was sort of in place for us to kind of like grab on from our references, from our resources, from our technical knowledge to our artistic ideas.”
These are pieces that stay with you through seasons. Themes of craft and creativity always circle back to the mundane. What do we see as we move through this city? How do we live in our clothes?
“I think there is always a space to create newness by working with what’s already there and is familiar,” he says. “But like honing your skills, your ideologies, your concepts, and combining all of these together can definitely create a new concept. And I would say that from experience.”
Photography by Kim Santos. Managing Editor: Jacs Sampayan. Art Direction by Wainah Joson. Produced by Trisha Enriquez. Project Implemented by Michaela Acilo. Written by Chelsea Sarabia. Shot on Location at the Carl Jan Cruz studio.
