THERESE MELLIZA: the Sinulid Emerging Creative Awardee

by VESTI

Therese Melliza (right) with her custom Disco bag

This week Vesti had the opportunity to interview the awardee of the Sinulid Emerging Creative Award - Therese Melliza. As Vesti was given the opportunity to collaborate with Therese with one of the fashion accessories featured in her collection, we were able to ask her a few questions regarding her creative process that led to her amazing collection for Sinulid. Sinulid is the annual fashion show and exhibit of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde's Fashion Design and Merchandising program wherein Melliza was given the biggest award of the night.

VESTI: Sinulid is the annual fashion show and exhibit of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde's Fashion Design and Merchandising program. For this year's Sinulid the theme was Altered Translation. How did you interpret the given theme?

MT: Each collection in Sinulid showcases a different perspective on one main concept: we want to change what is initially known by the people. For my collection, it’s about femininity. Femininity is about the nature of being a woman. Women are expected to be shy and reserved. ‘Feminine dresses’ are often associated with floral dresses and skirts, too. but, I want to redefine stereotypical femininity by using different shapes, beadwork and gradient colors as my representation of the modern woman.

VESTI: Would you mind walking us through your process for this exhibit? What inspired your collection? What were the initial concepts and ideas you had like?

MT: I’m mostly inspired by women of today and how they are opening up more and showing more of their real selves without the fear of judgment. I want women to embrace their true selves and their femininity and celebrate it through my creation. Initially, my concept was about the biblical character Eve and how she shows the true nature of being a human. She’s not often talked about in the story of Adam and Eve, which I found very interesting.

VESTI: How would you describe the overall design process you went through for this collection?

MT: It took almost a year to prepare the whole collection. I have three terms for the senior year; each term is a step in building up the whole collection. For the the first 2-3 months of the term, I struggled mostly on the conceptualization. I remember listening to a song by Dua Lipa called Garden and it gave me an idea on what I want my initial concept to be. After I have finalized the concept, I began sketching my initial designs while experimenting on fabric manipulations that would fit my concept. During the second term, I created the prototypes or what we call “toile”, where each designs are made using Muslin or Katcha. Toile is a french word meaning “canvas” and is also referred as a test garment. For the last term, it is where I finalized all the fabrics, fabric manipulations before sewing the final pieces before the show.

VESTI:  You were awarded the title of Sinulid's Emerging Creative. Walk us through how that moment felt like for you. What were your immediate reactions?

MT: I was really surprised. My first thoughts were “did this just happened?” or “is this for real?”. I am genuinely happy about the award but it took a day for everything to sink in. I started to feel very emotional the day after the show realising all the challenges that I went throughout the making of my whole collection.

VESTI: Moving forward, what can we expect from you in the near future? Do you have anything exciting that you are working on now?

MT: Right now, I’m working on a few more designs for a very important person. In the near future, I’m planning to study more about my field in a school in London. I’m looking forward to learn more and to enhance my skills because I need to prepare myself before I open my atelier in the next following years.

VESTI: Lastly, what advice could you give to anyone who wants to pursue a career in fashion?

MT: Go for it. To be in fashion is exciting yet challenging and remember to not take criticisms too seriously, it will help you as a designer to be better. Don’t be afraid to not allow yourself to study fashion because you think you’re not good enough in illustration, you’re in school to learn and to enhance your skills as a designer.

Vesti was given the opportunity to work and meet with Therese when she reached out to our brand and asked if she could create a custom design for our Disco bag. Photo credits to Status Magazine.