Take a peek at Rajo Laurel’s upcoming collection, a love letter to himself and all the men he has loved and loves.
Human beings are innately social creatures. We interact with other human beings to create relationships, connections, and communities. However, people often look past how one person is a product of this social interaction. We are a puzzle, made out of pieces from the people we loved, met, and interacted with along the way. Moreover, as for Rajo Laurel, he pieced together his upcoming collection by paying tribute to the bits and pieces of himself he picked up through meaningful interactions.
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In an exclusive interview with Lifestyle Asia, Rajo Laurel bared his heart as he shared his journey in creating his new collection. “This will be the very first time that I will be doing an all-menswear collection. It is primarily an essay on my thoughts and permutations on menswear and gender,” he announced.
Built Piece By Piece
Rajo is a household name in the industry. He is known to channel and evoke awe through his designs and creations. However, for his first all-menswear collection, he looked back and saw the men he loves, and loved, as an inspiration for this collection.
“It is a collection bounded by my observation on my grandfather, my father, past lovers, and my life partner,” he shared. Each thread that stitched his clothes is a meaningful memory of a man he is sewing into his collection.
The process of conceptualizing the whole collection was personal for Rajo—the working title of his collection is Pieces of Me.
“The discipline of my work has always been focused on womenswear which in my mind is mostly a projection of my ideas and fantasies. I mold these ideas to the woman. This time most if not all of the clothes for this collection I tried on and wore. The focus shifted to how does this make me feel? As compared to how does it look?”
Born Out Of Love
This collection is a synthesis and culmination of what he has made so far. Furthermore, each piece from the collection is an exhibition of his aesthetic and some styles and silhouettes that he loves. “There are pieces that sprouted from my love of the late 80’s new wave philosophy. Think of the “New Romantics.”There is also a very strong influence on a Japanese aesthetic as for a time in my life I lived and grew up in Japan,” he adds.
In addition, the designs in this collection are a take-off from his uber-feminine designs from the past. “There is also a strong sense of gender fluidity to the collection as I try to answer what is modern menswear and how this reflects today,” he said. Such a shift is a reflection of his growth and his love for himself.
“The emotion that comes to mind at the moment is “introspection.” I wanted to evoke a thoughtful way to express this new experience. Since this is my first time doing an all-male collection, I feel a little bit of anxiety with a dash of excitement,” he said with hope.
All photos courtesy of Rajo Laurel.
