Hand-me-downs

When I was nineteen I created my first fashion collection utilizing the clothes that my parents once wore as its main textile. As I cut through my parent’s hand-me-downs, it felt as if I were cutting through decades of family ancestry -- as if every fiber of the fabric carried a part of my parent’s history. Every detail in that fashion collection represented more than just me, it also represented the hardships my family had to face. These garments were more than just some old hand-me-downs, they were a symbol of the past. In my perspective, creating the textiles and garments by hand felt like an extension of the skill set and passion embedded in the DNA of my existence. I am just a fragment of the generations before me that have paved the way for one another as I pave the way for future generations. My collection created with hand-me-downs are what make up my family, and the textiles created with them are a preservation of every single detail that led to the creation of my family.

Hand-me-downs are an intrinsic part of my upbringing. The only other luxury I had growing up was the moments of laughter that I shared with my family. When I developed my first collection, the only tools I had available were my mother's old sewing machine, some fabric shears, and the intention to make my family proud. Little did I know, the ideation of those garments led me to uncover a deep-rooted curiosity for my culture and an insatiable need to create a movement that would unify myself with other immigrant families like my own. The worn denim jeans I used to make new garments reflected years of hard labor and sacrifice that my family put in to create a livelihood for ourselves in America. Being a part of their legacy means the world to me, and to be able to create an accessible space in fashion for the benefit of others in my community is something that brings me endless joy. It is an integral part of my well being that I am able to utilize my skill sets in fashion design to not only create happiness for myself, but to understand that my role in this lifetime has the potential to open doors and to inspire others with stories similar to mine.

Fashion brings me more than just happiness, it also provides me with eternal bliss. Fashion enables me to express myself creatively, while also allowing me to pay tribute to my heritage. I flood with emotions everytime I see the reactions that fill my family members faces when seeing garments that are reminiscent of our history. Being able to be proud of my Filipino culture, and having the ability to project those emotions through fashion design is a reality I am blessed to have. With my family's immigration to America, the process of developing garments feels like more than sewing fabrics together, but moreso a continuation of my family's journey. When I am designing I feel an apex of happiness, because designing allows me to create collections that not just unify people, but unify the past, the present, and the future.

When I look at hand-me-downs I feel a sense of belonging and familiarity -- I feel only happiness for their involvement in my creativity. The clothes that my parents wore were all they had when they came to this country, and those same clothes have given me all the resources I need to cultivate a community within fashion. The clothes that were once theirs are now and always will be one of a kind heirlooms. With my family's hand-me-downs, I was able to create a collection that is also a physical portrayal of the transformations of my family. To understand the happiness I feel for fashion design and the creation of this collection is something that can hardly be put into words; it's the type of happiness that is so indescribable it can only be experienced.