Fashion Designer, 2020 Fashion Week San Diego (FWSD) Top Designer, and Benilde Fashion Design and Merchandising alumna Bea Cruz
Filipino artist and 2020 Fashion Week San Diego (FWSD) Top Designer Bea Cruz has received the Ashley Nell Tipton Top Designer Award as she launched her latest collection at Fashion Week San Diego in California.
Labelled Bright Young Things, a nod to the 1920s phrase referring to the young, the 20-piece collection is inspired by one of the most glamourous decades in the history of fashion.
Godet sequined tulle dress (Photo from Anthony Mitchell Studio and Fashion Week San Diego, courtesy of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde)
The collection features silhouettes and heavy sparkling hand-sewn beadwork reflecting Cruz’s flair for elegance— a soft tulle ensemble with two kilos worth of gold crystal seed beads, glittered organza dress with shoulder trains, white sequined peplum top, skirts and frocks, godet sequined tulle dress and black gowns with acrylic chain straps, detachable trains, and beaded bust cups, hem tassels and floor-length robe.
Sequined dress with fringed ostrich hem detail, mulberry silk scarf, and hand-beaded gloves (Photo from H Photography and Fashion Week San Diego, courtesy of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde)
The line also has a sheer top with wide-leg pants, a gold dress with high slit, sophisticated accents and accessories such as fringed ostrich feathers, mulberry silk scarf, sheer gloves and chain belts to complete the look.
In Bright Young Things, Cruz looked back on the dashing era of alluring skirts, feather headbands, rhinestone pieces, long pearls, evening of jazz and overflowing booze, even as she dreamed of a brilliant future.
“It is reminiscent of the time when people, after being struck by the Great War and the world’s deadliest pandemic, the Spanish flu, craved for light, speed and celebration of life. This is so fitting for what we are battling in the present,” she said.
“This collection is about my vision—the kind of life we aspire to take back after the coronavirus,” she added. “I wish this would shed a little ray of hope we can hold on to in these trying times, as we have a lot more roaring centennial years to come.”
Black dress with hand-beaded bust cup and hand-beaded hem tassel, floor-length robe with hand-beaded sleeve detail, hand-beaded gloves (Photo from H Photography and Fashion Week San Diego, courtesy of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde)
Cruz was given the special top emerging designer award named after the guest judge, designer Ashley Nell Tipton, the first plus-sized fashion specialist who triumphed in the popular Project Runway series.
Cruz is a 23-year-old designer from Victorias City, Negros Occidental, who honed her creative and design skills under the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts.
The artist first turned heads when she bagged the Art & Beauty Behind Fashion Team award in the prestigious 14th International Virtual Art Renewal Center (ARC), the largest realism art competition hosted by Sotheby’s New York. She was the youngest and the sole Philippine representative in the event.
Black back-detailed gown with acrylic chain straps and detachable train (Photo from H Photography and Fashion Week San Diego, courtesy of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde)
In her debut abroad in San Diego in the 2020 FWSD, she received the Top Designer award for Vivirá, a 10-piece autumn collection which brought a new dimension to the classic baro’t saya, panuelo, and barong.
Cruz showcased Philippine craftsmanship in the 15th ARC Salon Exhibition, where she interpreted the oil and aluminum artwork Bound to Hinderance (2020) by American-Iranian oil and figurative painter and art professor Pegah Semaie into a fully-sequined lace applique she meticulously hand-sewn for 72 hours.
