Beyond Vision and Art: Antonio “Jan” Garcia on Being a Maximalist Fashion Designer
There are people who can just astound you, not just with their exquisite ingenuity, but with their affable energy. For me, one of those people is legendary and genius Filipino fashion designer Antonio “Jan” Garcia.
For our shoot with Stylish Magazine cover girls Sunshine Cruz and Angelina Cruz earlier this year, Sir Jan’s one of the few designers who did not hesitate on lending us his oh-so-brilliant creations. With his stature, I could not help but feel humbled, honored and grateful to showcase his designs in a fashion editorial in our platform.
I was in awe upon first seeing his masterpieces delivered to my home, with the help of my ever so talented styling collaborator and friend Kathrina Vapor. It was certainly one of those moments when I was reminded why I fell in love with fashion in the first place, because how could you not? Staring closely at Sir Jan Garcia’s couture pieces and touching them can just amaze you with the clever intricacy of his art, and his obvious mastery of his craft.
To say that Sir Jan Garcia grew up in a fashionable household is an understatement. His mother, Rosa Garcia, was a member of Fashion Designers Association of the Philippines in the 1980s. So you can just imagine how creativity, glamour, vision and style were easily a part of his formative years.
“My mom was a designer in Manila at a time when there were not a lot of female designers. You could just imagine then me growing up with sewing machines and fabrics in every part of the house. Back in nursery school, I have vivid memories of sketching gowns before I could even learn my ABCs,” the designer shared with me in an interview for this story.
Born a Fashion Visionary
Before eventually graduating as summa cum laude at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, California in the US, Sir Jan recalled how a whole collection of Sears mail catalogues in their home library exposed him to the visual world of fashion as a kid. These would inspire his early sketches of elegant gowns and lovely dresses.
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“Clearly, there was never a question of my career direction in fashion as I was sketching dresses, except for the accompanying drawings of a friendly sweet ghost character: Casper,” he narrated. “I always expected that in a creative field, you prepare yourself by going to school to learn the rest in real life; teaching yourself to constantly learn what is there to learn is constant.”
“I attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles Advanced Design program where I graduated summa cum laude,” he said. Aside from being the top of his class, Sir Jan also competed in various international design competitions known for their prestige, like the famous ‘Recontre Suisse de Jeune Talent’ in Switzerland.
“I won the grand prize in this competition in St. Galle, Switzerland- – the ‘Recontre Suisse de Jeune Talent’, the Swiss International Young Designers Competition,” he said. He fondly recalled that the judges for the said contest included iconic designers Herve Leger and Ted Lapidus.
“That same year, I’d also been lucky to win and represent the United States in the Air France Design competition in Paris, France.”
It was a winning streak back then for Sir Jan, as he also won the Hispanic Designer Competition in America.
“That one was a total surprise because for some reason, I was the first Filipino heritage winner and there was so much explaining to do. Apparently, not a lot of Americans know of our Hispanic descent. I think I just got away because of the name I used back then, which was Antonio Garcia, my passport name.”
Starting His Own Label
There are certainly a lot of Filipino fashion designers today that are celebrated in the global stage. But it is note-worthy that Sir Jan is truly one of the pioneers who raised the Philippine flag in the international fashion scene, as he became the first-ever Filipino designer to showcase a collection in New York Fashion Week in the early ’90s. He did the feat almost right after finishing college, when he was formally launching his own fashion line Antonio Garcia.
“I formally started my fashion career in the US right after college in 1993 under my name, the Antonio Garcia label. We manufactured out of Los Angeles in California, and established a showroom on 7th Ave. in New York,” he said.
“I was the first Filipino to have a show at New York Fashion Week. After which we were lucky enough to get into the designer floor of Saks Fifth Avenue. I practically threw up when I saw my clothes were on the window and were hanging with the likes of Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera. I get lucky sometimes as I still chance upon some of my pieces being sold as designer vintage online.”
Raised by a mother who’s a fashion entrepreneur and designer, Sir Jan learned the ropes of the fashion business so early on in his life.
“I was an active participant in my mom’s ready-to-wear business then, as we supplied to Shoe Mart (SM). This was before they found out about China,” he narrated. “I didn’t even have to convince my family to back up my career back then. For them, there was never a question about my career and business direction,” he said.
Before reaching these notable milestones in his career, Sir Jan recollected that he also did the usual slew of assisting for other design companies while studying in Los Angeles, before eventually starting his own label after graduation.
“When you’re young and in the crossroads, you have a single definite plan in your life. For me, inspired or not, I’ve always had one sure goal, and that is to study fashion and do my own line under my name, Antonio Garcia,” he said.
A Method Thematic Designer
With his jaw-dropping sculptural creations and elaborate gowns, it is easy to categorize Sir Jan as an avant garde designer. But he sees his aesthetic as something more than that.
“A lot of people label me here in Manila as avant garde. But I just think that I’m a method thematic designer,” he said. “When I say ‘method and thematic’, I mean I have a personal formula of starting an imagined design visually in my head, and the usual grind of translating, associating and referring it into a more tangible subject or idea. All these with a venerable belaboring of research on what is currently happening in fashion, ‘what is now?’,” he said.
He further explained, “The result of my work, no matter how capriciously crazy they can be, is still a product of what I’d like to say is still a very well-thought-of process.”
“I can say I am bursted out of the 90s fashion school discipline, coupled with its climate of 90s grunge and minimalism, which I reacted against. I came up with my customized versions of what was I think my nod to the new ‘maximalism’, back when the term wasn’t even used that much.”
“I had this design teacher who I remembered never favored excessiveness in my aesthetic style, who would comically quote lectures on minimalism at every chance he got by saying: ‘Constraint inspires creativity!’,” he said in jest.
“One of my biggest fears is being labeled as ‘costumey’, which I think is somehow not far from the truth. What I would really love for people to know and think is that my design derives its intentions from my leanings towards era references, and how I manage them into what is currently relatable, something modern.”
Staying Creative
These days, Sir Jan is working on his upcoming collection. He stated that the lineup will be “short and sweet, about less than 20 pieces”.
“I draw inspiration from a mix of cubism and impressionism. I know it’s a trail mix of pretentious terms denoting an ambitious collection and may as it well be!” he enthused.
“I titled it ‘Kasinghuni’. The overall mood is light and happy delivered through big, outspoken clothes. We can’t afford to be so grim these times of unsafe.”
The series will feature personal curated pattern manipulations Sir Jan has devised through the years with a lot of nod to mid-century couture, “like Balenciaga et al”, as he described.
“There will be unexpected volumes and some not-so-subtle silhouette engineering like pane padded hips, and cantilevered shoulder spikes. I have most of my fun with my building on construction and execution as I let that breathe more in my design, so I use humble and pure fabrics such as piques and constructed wools and brocades.”
Teaching the Next Gen
From 1999 to 2001, Sir Jan came back to his alma mater in Los Angeles, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM), to impart his expertise and knowledge in Fashion Design. The natural educator eventually started teaching the next generation of Filipino designers too here in Manila in the recent years by providing consultancy to professors and students in his beloved field.
“I have been consulting for De La Salle College of St. Benilde Fashion Design, and FAB Creatives Fashion School in the last couple of years. And it has been selfishly therapeutic for me to work with future fashion designers- -not to mention the challenges and insecurities they pose on me through their undeniable talent.”
This humble designer seems to be not aware of his impact to the Philippine fashion industry.
“I always tell them that I may not be the best source on how to become a super popular designer, after all I had to introduce myself to them on the first day of class each time. But I have a few nuggets of cliches I can very well impart. The most important of which I think is being prolific.”
He further expounded his advice to the next gen of designers. “We are designers in an era that needs to see visual tangible proofs of our intentions. There is not much of a reception to mere sketches and rough storyboards or even sales talk. As designers, we are expected to show clothes and let our work speak for us. And lots of work there is to do. So just keep on making clothes as much and as often as you can, and showing them ‘in fashion’,” he said.
I would like to conclude this feature with a quote from Maya Angelou:
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
Antonio “Jan” Garcia is the personification of this profound statement, because indeed, his audacious creativity is just overflowing, and just keeps on giving and inspiring.
If you want to be furthermore mesmerized by Antonio Garcia‘s fantastical designs, you may follow this fashion creator on Instagram @jangarciadesigns, and on Facebook at facebook.com/Jangarciadesign.
