A lifetime of mentorship and invaluable learning—Jojie Loren and Akio Barreiro talks about the standards of fashion education and what it takes to be masters of one’s craft
This Designer Profile is an excerpt from MEGA’s September 2024 Issue.
When did your fashion journey start?
JL: I would say that it started when I changed my course from hotel and restaurant administration to clothing technology. The only thing I liked there was the cooking part, after that, nothing—it’s all calculus and chemistry. I’ve always wanted to do fashion. But at that time, there wasn’t any school providing fashion education. I know of the existence of clothing technology before and that being a fabric designer involves a lot of science, which I was avoiding!
AB: I knew I wanted to pursue fashion as a career when I watched a documentary on Yohji Yamamoto called Notebook on Cities and Clothes by Wim Wenders. But I was in high school then, and I ended up taking a different course in college. I took up marketing management. After graduating from there is when I found out about F.A.B. (Fashion+Art+Business Creatives). It felt like perfect timing that I finished one thing and I was planning for the next and then happened to see this school. When I read the article and interviews of the mentors, it really resonated with how I felt about fashion. So, I took it as a sign and now I’m here.
What is your design ideology or fashion identity?
JL: Well, I’m a minimalist and you know I also love architectural designs. I like to say that my clothes are seemingly simple, but in actuality they are very complicated.
AB: I think in terms of aesthetic, I lean towards tailoring. But in terms of the bigger picture, I think it’s very translational and referential—I like to take inspiration from movies and books.
How does your creative process work?
JL: All my collections have been based on what I am passionate about during that time. So whether I’m depressed or sad, that will be the source of inspiration for me. It’s very seldom that I get inspired by, let’s say, an artwork. It will be, of course, part of the concept but it’s not the driving force behind the collection. There was a time when one of my collections was called “Rage of Gaea.” It was right after the devastating tsunami in Japan. Of course, I gleaned then in history in terms of silhouettes, but I developed the designs around the tsunami and the vortices.
AB: So, may science din pala, sir?
JL: Of course! That’s how I would work when it comes to designing. Music is not always a part of it, but if I needed more drive, just to set my mood, it would have to be a sad melody. Usually I would play the aria from Madame Butterfly when she will kill herself already. I don’t know! Maybe it’s because my mind is so dark. The main inspiration for my pieces today was my mother. She died, but prior to her death, you know, she was sick already. All the ideas were centered to that: her ailment and then eventually her death. I saw a lot of ugly things when she was sick, so I want to transform those ugly things into something beautiful. I offer that to her.
AB: Up until now, I’ve been saying that my process usually starts with a reference. But, recently I’ve been thinking about my own imagination and how to use that rather than take so much from references. Time and place, like urges to be somewhere else, and then taking from that very specific imagination and then dressing that up in a way. But yes, up until now, everything I’ve shown has been very much referential. I like to reference subcultures and take elements from different things that I’m paying attention to, whether it’s literature, movies, or music. It does feel very eclectic when I take from so many things. I think that has been my mission so far: to express myself in a way that feels coherent.
You first met each other in the school set up. What were your first impressions?
JL: Parang, ah okay, Japanese-looking—rich kid ‘to! But, he was so quiet that time so I said, okay, maybe he’s serious with what he’s doing. It was in 2019 so it took a lot of years for them to finish. How about you? Contrabida?
AB: No! He was also very quiet at first. And so, initially I was intimidated a little bit. But, it was coming from a place of respect. I know he has a very respectable reputation. As I continued in the course and got closer to Sir Jojie, I would see why he had that. And
JL: Akala ko sasabihin niya, hindi pala!
AB: I was wrong—first impressions don’t count pala! I could see how much he cared for the craft and how much knowledge he had to impart to us. I was really grateful that that first impression was in fact true.
Sit in and listen to the conversations of the masters in MEGA’s September 2024 issue, now available on Readly, Magzter, Press Reader, and Zinio.
