LOS ANGELES — Amid the high volume of fast-turnaround fashion here, it might seem like the lure of quick bucks for $50 T-shirts and $150 jeans would dissuade an entire generation of new designers from the more complicated — and riskier — ventures into ready-to-wear.
Not so. Much more than contemporary and denim lines is on this week’s fashion calendar. Magda Berliner and Michelle Mason have returned after a hiatus. But standouts generating plenty of buzz are new kids Juan Carlos Obando and Carlos Rosario, showing back-to-back Friday.
Juan Carlos Obando
If style is in the eye of the beholder, Obando began honing his perspective when global ad firm Young & Rubicam recruited him as an art director to work on campaigns for BMW and L’Oréal Paris — at the age of 17.
Less than two years later, he relocated to New York City from his native Barranquilla, Colombia, working as an art director at Saatchi & Saatchi for seven years and splitting his time between Manhattan and here. In 2002, he traveled frequently to Milan, consulting for midsize footwear brands, with the secret plan of eventually starting his own line.
“In Milano, my focus was not on design but on the construction and production. That is what intrigues me,” recalled Obando, whose clothes reflect better craftsmanship and complex detailing. But when he began his own line of sexy, goatskin heels he found himself designing the outfit to go with them, too.
With a silent backer, Obando launched his line at the last fashion week here. His fall collection wholesales from a $120 cotton blouse to a $1,500 silk gown. His sharp, provocative stretch satin dresses and swimsuits, which he sells from his West Los Angeles studio, evoke a Helmut Newton woman.
“I create outfits for an Alpha woman,” he noted. “But she can be powerful and sensual without being born beautiful.”
Carlos Rosario
If almost a decade of illustrating and designing cinema costumes taught Rosario anything, it’s the allure of a heroine who exudes strength, attitude and a sharply tailored, knockout silhouette.
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“The kind of woman I want to dress knows what is independent, aggressive, powerful,” Rosario said. “She knows her masculine side and knows how to play with it. And that is part of her seduction.”
To that end, Rosario uses pinstripes and other traditional men’s wear fabrics, and borrows from the more structural, graphic shapes of the late Thirties. He emphasizes his point with the labor-intensive use of seams, pin-tucking and piping to accentuate waistlines and other womanly curves.
Rosario also had a field day with knits, from coat dresses made of honeycomb and spider-web weaves layered over charmeuse to a cap-sleeved bolero of mohair made with Lycra that has a dense, spongy effect.
He uses knits to illustrate texture and graphic detail — two recurring themes as he describes his inaugural collection. He also created two prints: an oval spiral and a pixilated bubble that look as retro as they do futuristic — two more effects he strove for. A third he designed is more of a silver-beaded pattern of anonymous faces on metallic tulle. The handwork took two months to make in his native France.
Rosario was born to Spanish parents in the town of Perpignan. At 18, the once-shy teen headed north for Paris to study both the design and technical aspects of fashion. He talked his way into an apprenticeship at Christian Dior Homme, where, he recalled, he reinforced his enthusiasm for men’s wear fabrics, exact tailoring and the influence of cinema.
Within a year, Rosario was on an ashram in India and designing for two Italian prêt-à-porter companies based nearby.
A year later, it was off to Hollywood. As a costume illustrator, his first gig was 1997’s “Batman and Robin.” Most recently, he worked on “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.” He’s also increasingly served as assistant costume designer, the latest being the Johnny Cash bio-pic “Walk the Line.”
“He’s extremely dedicated and driven, and with a European sensibility that stands out in Los Angeles,” observed the film’s costume designer Arianne Phillips, who Rosario also assisted on the Lenny Kravitz video “Lady.”
Only last October Rosario decided to finally realize a rtw collection, which wholesales from $250 for a wool jersey top to $1,500 for a silk charmeuse gown. He is represented by People’s Revolution here. He enlisted seamstresses he knew from his day job, including one who’d worked for years with James Galanos and understood the level of craftsmanship Rosario demanded.