Part of this article were published were published in the Manila Up Magazine August 2016 issue.
Special thanks to ate Sonia Bermejo, Editor In Chief of Manila Up Magazine, Ate Weng Yap Butalid for always believing in me, Katiana Borja my muse and Haydee Abraham for capturing the moments.
Enjoy reading how i end up as a designer
Carmelo Andrada Jr or Carl is known in the Filipino community in Los Angeles for his Philippine inspired costumes made from natural and unconventional materials .
He has a 9 year visual merchandising experience in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain handling high street fashion brands such as Topshop/Topman, River Island, Oasis, Dorothy Perkins to name a few.
In 2009, he moved and decided to settle in the sunny California where he took dressmaking classes in an adult school and eventually fashion design classes at the Los Angeles Trade Technical College.
He started making Philippine inspired costumes for his all Filipino acapela choir Prime Note Ensemble wherein he is the resident costume designer and stylist. Eventually friends has been approaching him to design costumes or dresses for beauty pageants and at times weddings.
In September 2015, he joined and won 3rd place in the Metropolitan Fashion Week Costume Design competition held in the New Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles his winning in the said competition made way for him to participate in the finale of the Metropolitan Fashion Week held in the Warner Bros Studios.
His participation caught the attention of Miss Giselle Reinberg, Miss Earth Suriname 2015 who was looking for a unique costume appropriate for the Miss Earth Pageant to be held later that year in Vienna, Austria. Carl eventually design the national costume and evening gown of Miss Reinberg which caught the attention of some pageant bloggers for its uniqueness and intricate design
In 2016 Binibining Pilipinas USA pageant , his Ati-atihan inspired costume made from “banig” and tambo grasses won the Best National Costume award, also in the said pageant Carl design and created 4 other costumes and 3 evening gowns where it was well received by pageant fans.
Being a pageant lover, Carl have been dressing pageant contestants fo Miss Philippines USA, Binibining Pilipinas USA, the MIss Californina and MIss California Teen USA pageants Miss Earth and Miss International Queen pageants held in Thailand
Because of his unique design style he was invited by the Metropolitan Fashion Week to present a full collection on September 22,2016 for the opening show. Wherein he showed costumes made from indigenous materials from his country of birth the Philippines. And also was asked to design a blue dress for a fashion gala benefitting Autism Speaks foundation worn in the runway by The Real show host Adrianne Bailon
During the Filipino History Month which is celebrated here in the US in October he presented a Philippine Inspired Costume collection for the scholarship launching of the Filipino American Law Enforcement Officers of Los Angeles held at the Bicycle Casino Hotel as well as the Phllippines Mabuhay Filipino Heritage celebration in Las Vegas, Nevada held at the Treasure Island Hotel
This coming June 25th he will showcase his Philippines Inspired Costumes for Gandi Wellness 2018 Calendar GIrls in Holiday Inn Buena Park, where he will be using indigenous and natural materials from the Philippines in his collection but before that he is headlining the Temecula Fashion Week on May 20, also he is one of the participating designer of the Miss Philippines USA FAshion for a Cause show benefiting Operation Smile on June 4 at the Indigo Hotel.
He will again showcase his Philippines Ispired costumes for the Fililipino American Law Enforcement Officer of Los Angeles (FALEO) 4th Annual Scholarshio and Awards Luncheon in LOng Beach, CAlifornai.
And before the end of the year he will be doing shows iin New York, Seattle and Vancouver, Canada.
He hopes to have his own showroom and launched his own brand before the end of the year in downtown Los Angeles as well as in his hometown in Capiz in the Philippines
Here are other notable fashion shows he did
- 2015 Philippine Independence Day celebration of the Los Angeles Filipino American City Employees(LAFACE) held in the Los Angeles City Hall June 13, 2015
- ASEAN Ladies Circle Fashion Show Sheraton Hotel Universal November 13, 2015
- 2016 Philippine Independence Day celebration of the Los Angeles Filipino American City Employees(LAFACE) held in the Los Angeles City Hall June 24, 2015
Credit to all the owners of the photos publish on this blog
carlandrada 