Photo by Renzo Navarro
Photo by Renzo Navarro
In an exclusive interview with Vogue Philippines, the Carl Jan Cruz team talks customized mannequins, the luxury of time, and reeling the world to local ground.
In the Carl Jan Cruz boutique on 45 Bayani Road, there are bespoke mannequins in the measurements of the CJC team. Unlike the usual fiberglass or plastic body forms on many retail floors, CJC’s have quirks of their own: slightly uneven figures standing tall on a pair of plush split-toe feet. Here, in the homey three-storey atelier, the clothes are molded to fit the body and not the other way around.
“I do love to create clothes focusing more on just a great neckline, a good armhole, a great hand,” explains CJ Cruz, creative director and CEO of his namesake label. “As much as we love collaborating with models (and you know, actual human beings), in a controlled environment, like in Silverlens, the mannequins adjust to the measurements of the garments that we have.”
These static models were manufactured specially for the brand’s latest project dubbed “2023 Collection: International Interbarangay,” which launches publicly tomorrow on July 17 at Silverlens gallery. It marks the beginning of a countdown to the brand’s 10th anniversary next year, and is simultaneously a celebration of the gallery’s second decade in operation. The collaborative one-day event is a veneration of the many places, faces, and phases that made the collection. It is also the brand’s first collection in a while, after having spent the past four years perfecting and innovating their mainstay textiles like piques, denims, and ribbed fabric.
Developed over a period of two years, the luxury of time allowed the clothes to gestate over cycles of trials and errors, including two to three months devoted to making toiles, and eight months dedicated to production. Part of what made it possible was an internal recalibration of their organizational structure. If in the past each team member had a hand in design, textile development, fabric manipulation, and 3D work, each member is now assigned to a single department based on their strongest skill set. They are now divided into 3D, design, fabric, and administrative departments. They work in various workstations in a single space, like patches forming an eclectic tapestry. With the team having grown up in different parts of the world from Cabanatuan to Laguna and London to Oman, the studio is a microcosm of what the collection, and the brand, stands for.
The title “International Interbarangay” is rooted in the word “barangay,” which is the smallest administrative and political unit of the Philippine government. It is a “fundamental base,” an intimate community. The term “international” references the brand’s consistent pursuit of scaling for a global audience while keeping its roots firmly planted on Philippine soil, both literally and figuratively. All operations remain headquartered in Metro Manila, but the wares produced here have gone on to showrooms in London, Paris, Canada, and Tokyo. “For me, putting these two words together is this feeling of reeling people into our home court, to be able to go out there and be international,” CJ expounds.
Consisting of only three to six editions each, the garments are made from abaca silk, abaca cotton, poplin, denim, and found fabrics from the now-closed designer-go-to fabric store Fanbi. Head 3D designer Ian Mercado points out his favorite look, a structured ensemble in varying shades of cream and pale blush, its most prominent detail being the dress’ protruding peplum hem patterned after the butterfly sleeves of the terno.
However, the heart of the collection isn’t solely the garments, but also in the experience of them shapeshifting into other visual and sonic translations. Enlisting the expertise of longtime collaborators, film director Judd Figuerres, photographer Renzo Navarro, and music producer King Puentespina, “this collection exists in other formats, besides just the physical clothing,” says Maia Panlilio, the team’s marketing communications associate. “We just wanted a different way of presenting this collection that included all those different aspects.”
The ephemerality of the one-day event isn’t lost on the team, who leans into it. In a gallery context, CJ points out, the show is short compared to weeks or months-long exhibitions. But for a fashion industry accustomed to 15-minute runway presentations, the eight-hour viewing is more than enough. It is the team’s aim to challenge the conventions of fashion presentation, to push forward the choice to view the clothes and art at your own time; a leisurely Filipino pace.
As he reflects on the collection, CJ reveals that it feels as if a new chapter is unfurling for the brand, signaling a personal and professional growth. Marga Herbosa, brand manager, echoes this sentiment: “I think for me, the reason why we’ve gotten to this point is because all of us came in here with an intention, whether that’s personal, or as a brand. I feel like even our personal intentions have sort of bled into the brand.”
CJ continues, “I’d say I’m very fortunate to have had a team that has given their time and that there is also tenureship. It really needed to go through that journey to kind of realize that this is the brand that we want to be right now. We’re sat in this room with the 2023 International Interbarangay collection, and I really see everyone’s DNA of the brand, and how I’ve creatively directed that and edited that. It takes a barangay.”
