RCXY: Jail Bird

Jail Bird

by RCXY and Ryan Conrad on Martes, Marso 8, 2011

Hi. Welcome to my new blog (again).

Last Friday, I got a call from an old-time friend who is an ex-model and is now a denim designer asking if I could help him in his line. Being an old-time friend, I said yes right away and decided to drop by his office over the weekend to discuss what exactly he wanted me to do. He said that his brand, Jail Jeans, is doing very good in the international market and that he needed an extra creative mind to help him come up with new designs. He said he chose me because back in his modeling days, he would remember the things I would do/create during fashion shows when I was working as runway stylist. He also said that his own designs are selling very well and that in order to expand the market, mixing in products with different look would welcome a different set of customers. The meeting was great timing because lately, I'm in the middle of a career switch from styling to designing. I realized that after years of working as a stylist, I am expected to level up as a designer (or a politician's secret gay lover). Truth is, I'm in the process of starting up my own label called Ryan Conrad (my real name), which I intend to market as Women's Designer Wear. The idea of designing Made-To-Order was an issue for me at first because although I believe I can do the job, I don't want to give up the edgy creative work I do when I am styling. It took me months of pondering until I recently decided that I'm up for the change and challenge. I know that this two different jobs will become crazy when both Jail Jeans and my label starts to pick up but until then, what I will learn from here I will never learn anywhere. The real deal-maker here is that Jail Jeans is giving me total creative freedom on my designs. He said that I could treat this like my own line and that I can do whatever I want. As the office, the money, the production area is not of a problem, how can I say no.

JAIL BIRD

It was my first day of work yesterday. The way up to the office literally looks like a scene from a jailbreak movie. Dark, dirty and smells like someone's always frying fish. The office is on the 4th floor, a good daily cardio so I can't complain. Though the way up is not quite of a scenery, the office area is pretty much okay. It has that jail theme going on, with chains, cuffs and other industrial touches. There's two of us working as designers, there are 6-8 tailors and cutters, a couple of beaders and a graphic artist. I'm quite used to the atelier culture and environment so it's not an unfamiliar territory. I never made friends yet because I'm so excited to sketch and get inside my own world. I don't have my own table yet so I will just have to find my own space and make do with it.
Also, the idea of working in two very different design houses would make a good blog topic, hence this blog. I think it would be fun to document the clothes I wear, the things I do and all the contrasting stuff for both houses. While Jail Jeans claims to be edgy I think my RCXY-side will fit in here very well. And when I'm into softer fabrics, and beads, and gowns, you can go check out my other site here .