Renz Reyes’s collection “Archtrivial” considers the unheeded and more intimate moments in the humdrum and the mundane
At the MEGA Young Designers Competition 2024, designer Renz Reyes’s carefully structured creations hit the runway. It is a collection of fashion laden with well-executed silhouettes and a flexibility of different fabrics and construction techniques. These pieces sprung from a concept of turning things normally unnoticed to something pronounced and significant—to art. Renz ventures to transform the ordinary into the spectacular, finding inspiration in the overlooked and often disregarded.
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With confidence and conviction, Renz offers the fashion industry with a rich, well-balanced, complex process of design treatments, an indefinable marriage between the ordinary and the not. His wardrobe encompasses ideas that are distinctive, imaginative, and unique. He fits these into looks that focus on the excellent use of textiles and embroidery. “Clothes need to be interesting and special,” Renz tells MEGA. “There are so many clothes out there in the world—so why make something uninteresting? When you’re a designer, make something that’s substantial and impactful.”
For Renz, that is “Archtrivial.” In the course of his journey, the designer imbues the techniques he’s developed through the years and an immersion in the art of the everyday. “When I was doing this collection, I was taking pictures as I walked in Manila,” he reveals. “The concept became: things that seem mundane, unimportant, but when you look at it with a more critical or whimsical eye, you’ll see something more to these things.”
That “more” is emphasized in Renz’s desire to change the paradigm of fashion as a whole by planting a no-holds-barred pool of inspiration on the most authentic side of his fashion. “Archtrivial” is an assemblage of layers with intricate stitches and patches, a blend of earthy and natural colors, the deconstructing of materials and threading them together with zippers, sashes, and pockets, asymmetrical silhouettes, and a different shapes fitted around the body—a fusion of off-the-scale couture with elements native to Renz’s signature style.
Photography JHARWIN CASTANEDA. Creative Direction BRIE VENTURA. Sittings Editor MIA CASTRO
Runway Photography by ED SIMON of KLIQ INC.
Official fashion fund and grand prize partner SECURITY BANK
Co-presented by BYS PHILIPPINES
Special thanks to AYALA MALLS, LILY AND MATILDA, and HILLTOP BY EVERYDAY COFFEE ROASTERS