Cover Rajo Laurel on the concept behind his all-menswear collection ‘RAJOMAN’ (Photo: Courtesy of Rajo Laurel)
Rajo Laurel on the concept behind his all-menswear collection ‘RAJOMAN’ (Photo: Courtesy of Rajo Laurel)
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Through RAJOMAN, Rajo Laurel delves deep into memory and notions of masculinity to challenge the way Filipino men dress
“Things come in their own time,” according to Rajo Laurel. And when the designer was invited to showcase at this year’s BYS Fashion Week, he thought the opportunity was the perfect time to challenge himself creatively, delving deep into his memories to create his first menswear line in his three decades-long career.
Unofficially entitled ‘Pieces of Me,’ and released under his prêt-à-porter line RAJOMAN, he calls the collection an autobiographical ode to memory, of growing up with the men he had loved and who had planted the seeds that grew into his flourishing design career.
He was especially inspired by his grandfather, Lolo Pepe, the first Filipino to graduate from the Imperial Army Academy of Japan. He had instilled in the young Laurel an appreciation for the Japanese way of design. At the same time, the designer fell in love with the sharp shoulders and practical structure of army jackets. “I also looked back to the things I really enjoyed in my youth,” he says.
Laurel began his fashion education in the Eighties, the advent of the New Romantics, when the ideology of gender fluidity began to seep into aspects of pop culture. “I was first introduced to the likes of Boy George and Annie Lennox. “Those things formed this mindset within me.”
More from Tatler: Botanical creations: Rajo Laurel talks about his ‘Hardin’ collection
On the runway, one could have anticipated a parade of solely three-piece suits, pressed trousers and tuxedo jackets, but Laurel intended to veer away from anything “stereotypical” and instead confront the boundaries that dictate what menswear should look like. He says, “I wanted to create a dialogue around gender conformity, around all the regulations that would define menswear, especially in the Filipino context.” The show had male models in flowing chiffon dresses and cropped lace blouses—not in a manner of cross-dressing, but living proof of an artist making a case to recontexualise masculinity.
Those familiar with Laurel’s work can say that his look is guided by a veneration for traditional textile, combined with his proclivity for avant-garde silhouettes. “We used a gamut of material,” he admits.
And there it was: rough linen and piña woven with lycra, and chiffon embellished with broaderie anglaise, and washed silks. “These [materials] are not usually associated with menswear, so those choices provided an interesting proposition to that clothing category.”
See also: Home tour: A peek into Rajo Laurel and Nix Alañon's weekend home away from the metro
There was also a drive to brush off rigidity and uniformity in men’s clothing, habits that Laurel believes are rooted in Filipino culture. “I wanted to add this more fluid fleeing to the narrative,” he comments. While his primary discipline is womenswear, exploring this collection allowed him to view things from a different perspective. The devil is in the details, from the way fabric falls off a man’s shoulders and his hips or how French tulle moves with a man’s stride.
“All of these creative tensions were explored.” Familiar codes of the Rajo Laurel lexicon could still be found, like the designer’s knack for fluid lines and draping material into sculptural proportions. “The way you drape a woman’s physique is so different from the way you drape a man’s,” he had observed.
Naturally, the sentiment carried over to the presentation itself—a 40-minute showcase set to music ranging from sombre ballads to ambient electronic to orchestral pieces. Friends, clients and muses filled the seats. Nadine Lustre made her third BYS Fashion Week appearance as the only woman in a lineup of clean-shaven male models. She channeled Eighties androgyny with her hair cropped short, donning a cream oversized suit and a geometric champagne bib.
The collection’s subversive concept is a passionate topic for Laurel, as he poses the question: “In terms of the radicality of putting a man in a dress, is that you start to ask, ‘Why not?’” He believes that this challenge to traditional gender norms is one of the fundamental exercises of this particular project.
Through questioning preconceived notions of masculinity and femininity, he seeks to create garments that make space for fluidity. “There’s something to be said about how softness and sensitivity can also be quite masculine.”
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About
Julianna has been interested in leading a literary life since she first read Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess at eight. Before working with Tatler, she was an archive intern at The Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York. She is a textbook Pisces who devotes most of her spare time to her crochet projects, watching classic films, and going through her never-ending pile of unread books. She studied creative writing, global literature and art history at Sarah Lawrence College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2022. Toni Morrison, Nora Ephron, Clarice Lispector and Jia Tolentino are among her all-time favourite writers.
Work
Julianna writes about fashion, beauty, sustainability, and the arts. She is always keen on conducting interviews with talented women who are changing the game in their respective fields.
For event invites and story leads, hit her up at julianna.cabili@tatlerasia.com
